italic; write Thousands of low-income families are enduring cold damp homes because their landlords are not taking up a government subsidy to help insulate their properties.
The government hoped its two-year $18 million programme would lead to 20,000 more homes being made warm and dry. One year in, only 3700 homes have been insulated using the subsidy.
The ‘Warm Up New Zealand: Healthy Homes’ programme splits the cost of providing ceiling and underfloor insulation in rentals occupied by low-income New Zealanders between landlords and the government – typically they pay about $1500 each.
Andrew Caseley is the chief executive for the agency that runs Healthy Homes, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. He said he suspected many landlords believed their rental properties were already insulation compliant and they might be in for a nasty surprise.
“Well, we’d certainly like them to take it up – we’d like to be able to give out those grants just as soon as we can,” Mr Caseley said.
“There are a lot of rental properties, so 20,000 is actually not a great proportion of the total, so you would think it is an achievable one – and we are doing everything we can to do that.”
Green MP Gareth Hughes said the programme was shaping up to be a massive failure and the government should be doing more to promote it.
“There are slumlords out there and it’s a tragedy, the conditions that some people live in … the government needs to be so much more proactive making sure all New Zealand homes are warm and safe.” ‘‘
New Zealand’s rich are just like the landlords of Kensington.
Greedy , selfish to the point of not caring about the lives of the poor who lives in tehir houses.
It’s ironic that the outgoing government brag and go on about insulating so many houses when being interviewed or while speaking in parliament, yet they do little to promote the incentive to landlords etc.
Meanwhile suffering continues, damp cold houses, exploited tenants and no housing WOF.
I think that’s fantastic, with 70,000 immigrants flooding our country annually, 5k over six years is peanuts. Especially when our next PM is going to cut back on immigrants, we can help more refugees, and I’m very supportive of doing just that.
65 million people in the world have been displaced, we can go on and on about looking after NZer’s first, but the outgoing government haven’t been doing that for near on a decade. Rather they’ve been putting immigrants first and bugger our citizens and bugger those who have lost everything from war.
Over the next six years with our new government, we will be able to do this, with the current government there is no way, they care more about money than people.
Self entitled landlord…??! People with mental health problems have been known to trash housing, invariably the slum landlord and the most deprived members of the community meet. THis is not eithers fault. Its simple a governing philosophy. The govts are for monied and govt has no place serving poor citizens. A civil society believes everyone has the right to basic housing, nutrition, health, security. Naffy Nat’s don’t believe in a civil society, its winner takes all, which antithetical to both democracy and capitalism, its much older type, authoritarians. Yes! The neolib is just an authoritarian under the clothes, just they select authority by how big the bank balance not what crown someone wears.
Govt need to fund housing for the poorest, else the private sector will very badly if at all.
+100
That caste indulged landlord, just like the Gnat in parliament need to be reminded of Pyaar, Daya, Nimrata, Sat and Santokh.
oops, I thought I was looking at TDB comments
Good on the Greens with both them and yourself being absolutely correct Cinny. ….
Doing the right thing and acting with humanity is good for our society in its own right ….
Historically all the waves of refugees New Zealand has offered new lives to and resettled have benefited NZ…..
From the WWII Polish orphens and Jewish concentration camp survivors … or the Dutch or other Euriopean nationalitys uprooted by WWII …. refugees are generally very grateful and work hard establishing their new lives. Their contributions have expanded our society and helped us grow well away from the backward insecure little Nation who saw a toffy english accent as a sign of superiority …. and stood up like obedient sheep to ” God save the queen” which was played in movie theaters before the film started.
On the other hand …..our immigrants laws at at present seem more like our new tax haven laws the Nacts brought in …….
Facilitating the corrupt and criminal …… caring only about the money …. and not discriminating the dirty from the clean.
Increased corruption and a sinking international reputation for NZ from this National Govt so far …..
Just heard that too. I heard through the grape vine that one of his staff left to go to canada to avoid media. I must ask the person who told me more, they are a relative of said staff member, and told me about it around Christmas time.
Where have all our trolls gone today? Are Pike River, Todd Barclay, and the fallout from Glenhill Tower too much for our neolib fans? Surely the Market will fix all these things. Come on out and play guys, we are missing your bullshit.
Really liked this post over at bootstheory, and agree except on one thing. I think it is a fundamentalist Christian view that family first are pushing, not a Christian view.
Stephanie was pretty clear that she was postulating an ideal from Family First, not having a crack at Christianity:
“They just want to push a narrow-minded vision of what our society should look like. And if you aren’t the white, middle-class, patriarchal hetero monogamous Christian family unit they hold up as the ideal, they are not going to be here for you.”
In welcoming talk of a port company sell down, Prime Minister Bill English said he was pleased to see Council looking seriously at what it could do to fund its share of the city’s infrastructure. Adding Watercare to the package would, I am sure, get the action response all Aucklanders are crying out for.
In last month’s Budget, Finance Minister Steven Joyce clearly signalled the watching brief Government is keeping on the potential for further investment in the infrastructure for our growing economy by way of, as he put it, “greater use of partnerships between central and local government, and between government and the private sector.”
Selling the port is one thing, but selling the water is totally another. It will only burden Aucklanders, especially the poor with high water bills which they will be unable to pay.
Transport issues can be simply solved by encouraging businesses to relocate to suburban areas. The concept of a CBD is outdated in this era of high speed internet, dating back to the Babylonian era when all business was conducted in the Town square.
Also if NZ is such a ‘rockstar’ economy why do we keep having to sell off our assets? Statistics tell us we have all these tourists, these amazing migrants, these overseas students all apparently essential to the Natz in WELLINGTON BUT where’s the money going from all this economic activity – because whoever is getting the profits, seems to expect Joe Public to pay for all the negatives…
Just thinking how nothing is working out for NZ. We have been running our country for over a century thinking we were approaching politics and the economy seriously. And, seriously, what have we accomplished – a farce.
So I think that we should run the country as a farce, and then we will meet the problems in a flexible way, and probably things will turn out in a seriously good way.
The method is called George Doing the Opposite approach, and here is a link to George as an individual using the method that the thinking, unhappy people of this country need to use.
One of the things is to have a another Government Department called the Department of Practical Implementation and Engineering (DOPIE) and we will pay Disney to use their icons of the little dwarfs going off to work for our logo and zeitgeist. This then will be a balance to the Ministry of Bulldust and Innovative Extenuation.
The DOPIE agency will have a relative small budget, and make small loan advances to well-presented business and tourist attraction ideas that will create NZ owned and operated business employing at least 3 people. Sort of like a grameen bank. Also regions can approach for assistance with local business already profitable and able to improve with better transport, innovation involving more workers etc.
If some are not successful, it doesn’t matter, the region will have been primed with some capital, people will have been working, and the multiplier will have been working. If big business can fail and that’s accepted as natural attrition, then small business that has a small failure rate, shouldn’t be sniffed at.
During Boris Johnson’s mayoralty, ten London fire stations were closed down; three of them within the vicinity of Grenfell Tower, something which would inevitably affect response time.
Bought to you by the ideology that bought us Cyclone Katrina, The Grenfell Tower and Pike river…
Government is not about the people stupid, it’s about protecting the interests of their donor stakeholders… not wasting money on citizens that can be easily replaced in the global market place…
Auckland volcanoes are basaltic. In a society with measuring instruments they will give quite a lot of warning before erupting. Their eruptions are pretty localized to less than 10 kilometers. The earthquakes associated with them are small. Basaltic volcanoes are almost a pleasure for emergency services dealing with evacuating people. Of course houses, buildings and businesses can’t move as easily.
To give you an idea. There is considerable evidence of Maori on the seashore across the narrow channel to Rangitoto during the last eruptions of Rangitoto about 600 years ago.
I suspect you are thinking about Andesitic (ie like White Island) or Rhyolitic volcanoes (like Ruapehu or Taupo). The latter in particular tend to go off with little warning and can cause problems worldwide. For instance the last eruption at Taupo caused problems all of the way down the Waikato to Hamilton. And then of course there is this eruption
The Oruanui eruption of the Taupo Volcano was the world’s largest known eruption in the past 70,000 years, with a Volcanic Explosivity Index of 8. It occurred around 26,500 years ago and generated approximately 430 km³ of pyroclastic fall deposits, 320 km³ of pyroclastic density current (PDC) deposits (mostly ignimbrite) and 420 km³ of primary intracaldera material, equivalent to 530 km³ of magma.[4][5][6]
Modern Lake Taupo partly fills the caldera generated during this eruption.
Tephra from the eruption covered much of the central North Island with ignimbrite up to 200 metres deep. Most of New Zealand was affected by ash fall, with even an 18 cm ash layer left on the Chatham Islands, 1,000 km away. Later erosion and sedimentation had long-lasting effects on the landscape, and caused the Waikato River to shift from the Hauraki Plains to its current course through the Waikato to the Tasman Sea.
It pays to know your volcanoes before getting too daft about them. The Auckland volcanoes that surround me are relatively safe. The ones I fear are in the central north island, and I fear that I live a bit too close to them. If I am lucky, we may get a few days warning that life will get somewhat dangerous.
Auckland Museum has a interactive exhibit about a volcano eruption – Rangitoto – in Auckland. The exhibit has the impact of the eruption simulated on Auckland’s waterfront and neighbouring suburbs.
I can’t remember how far they predicted the eruption would reach – was too busy watching Mark Sainsbury delivering the televised news segment, but I thought it was more than 10km – maybe 30.
Has anyone else been there recently that can remember?
Even if it is likely for there to be warnings about a volcano, the situation should be looked at with a worst case scenario… nowadays there are just too many situations where government seem asleep at the job in the case of a crisis.
Remember when all the power went off in Auckland. Seem to remember the civil defence was on the 13th floor of the council building, yep, lifts require electricity people. That wasn’t even a disaster and it cleared out Auckland.
There seems to be a lack of interest in actually looking at the practical reality in a disaster or even if there is a man made crisis like Electricity grid drops off.
We are pretty much doomed in Auckland because we can barely escape for the weekend out of Auckland these days in normal traffic conditions, not sure what’s gonna happen when a disaster strikes..
Many may have read this by Martyn Bradbury over at TDB but it’s good to see someone swinging wide with a baseball bat at our disastrous economy and gummint.
The National Party have nurtured and grown the speculative property bubble with open floodgate immigration and fake foreign student education because it creates a false illusion of middle class wealth that keeps them voting National.
Today – the Point England Enabling Bill is number 3 on the Order Paper.
If Green Party MPs ‘sit on the fence’ and abstain on this arguably classic environmental issues- I for one will be VERY outspoken – because, in my opinion, this is a SELLOUT.
Why on earth does Minister for Building and Construction Nick Smith, want to carve a quarter of the Point England Reserve, when, on HIS watch, there are 76 bare sections and apparently 70 empty, former Housing NZ houses already in Tamaki?
Penny Bright
2017 Independent candidate
Tamaki electorate.
(Exposing the $1.6 billion Tamaki ‘Regeneration’ – GENTRIFICATION $CAM.)
And Natz agenda is to use precedents like that to push through other developments on reserve land AND divide Maori and Pakeha AS WELL AS make Greens less trusted as environmental custodians.
Rapid spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in NZ poultry
…NZ has a long-term problem with Campylobacter infection from contaminated fresh chicken meat [1]. In addition, recently presented research on AMR has found that a tetracycline and fluoroquinolone resistant strain of Campylobacter, first detected in poultry in 2014, has spread rapidly across the North Island [2]. By 2015 this strain was causing about a third of human Campylobacter infection cases in Auckland….
Contaminated poultry is therefore responsible for about 300 of the 600 serious Campylobacter infection cases hospitalised each year [4]. About 30 of these infections will cause paralysis (Guillain-Barré syndrome [6]), and others will result in serious invasive illness and death. One example was Rod Donald, co-leader of the Green Party, who died in 2005 at the age of 49 years from myocarditis secondary to Campylobacter infection [7].
The economic cost to the country from Campylobacter-contaminated poultry runs to tens of millions of dollars [8]. This cost is largely paid for by sick consumers, employers and the taxpayer-funded health sector rather than by the poultry industry which is the source of the problem….
The Ministry of Health (MOH) should have an interest in encouraging MPI to regulate given the considerable disease burden resulting from contaminated chicken meat. Health services pick up much of the tab for these illnesses so one would expect the MOH to be highly supportive of moves to close off this source. In addition, they have a lead role in developing NZ’s Antimicrobial Resistance strategy….
Consumer action: Finally, consumers can also ‘vote with their feet’ (or wallet) and switch to safer and lower cost protein foods [16]. If they continue to purchase poultry, then changing to cooked and frozen product would greatly lower their risks of Campylobacter infection….
In summary – NZ has a serious long-term Campylobacter epidemic but now with the added hazard of rapidly emergent antimicrobial resistance. Fortunately a range of control options exist, many of which have been proven to work in the past in this country and internationally. Now all we need is the political will to act on this important and costly public health problem.
Today at 4.45pm I received an OIA reply from Minister for Building and Construction, Nick Smith, regarding evidence I have provided which proves that the Local Government and Environment Select Committee was given inaccurate advice regarding the Pt England Development Enabling Bill.
Nick Smith advised me to contact the Chair of the Local Government and Environment Select Committee – Andrew Bayly if I thought the Selecr Committee had been given inaccurate advice – which I have.
How can the House proceed with the
Pt England Development Enabling Bill if information about this Bill has been based upon inaccurate advice?
Penny Bright
2017 Independent candidate for
Tamaki electorate.
Exposing the $1.6 billion Tamaki ‘Regeneration’ – GENTRIFICATION $CAM.
This one is almost out of this world in terms of the dumb decision’s by NZ Railways management that been made in its history so far. But worst one I’ve seen so far is not in NZ, but in Oz with building of the inland railway from Melbourne port (Dryon yards) to Brisbane port well it stops short by 35km from the port. The private venture goes to port to port.
On board with the KiwiRail insanity, but I’m not sure if you have it quite right with the Inland Route:
The Kagaru to Acacia Ridge and Bromelton (K2ARB) section is one of 13 projects that complete Inland Rail. This section of the Inland Rail Programme consists of enhancements to, as well as commissioning of, dual gauge operations along the existing interstate track between K2ARB.
There is about 52km of existing track to be upgraded enabling double-stacking capability along the existing interstate route both south from Kagaru to Bromelton and north from Kagaru to Brisbane’s major intermodal terminal at Acacia Ridge.
It depends what newspaper or rail mag I seem to pickup of late. I’m starting to think may be some misinformation floating about ie between the ARTC and the Private venture? I do know there is some work has to carried out the Dryon yards in Melbourne and the bum fight in regards to Queensland’s narrow gauge (Cape gauge) in weather dual gauge or not and then you have the Wanger brothers trying to get inland railway to go via their airport. Anyway i’m hoping it doesn’t turn to like the NBN shit fight.
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Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...
Eighteen months ago, the government promised to strengthen the Bill of Rights Act, by explicitly affirming the power of the courts to issue declarations of inconsistency and requiring Parliament to formally respond to them. So how's that going? I was curious, so I asked for all advice about the proposal. ...
As the Brexit saga staggers on, the focus is naturally enough on the Prime Minister and his attempts to achieve Brexit “do or die”. But the role played by the Leader of the Opposition is of almost equal interest and complexity. The first problem for Jeremy Corbyn is that he ...
Last week, English Prime Minister Boris Johnson boldly declared that he would rather die be dead in a ditch than delay Brexit. Unfortunately for him, the UK parliament accepted the challenge, and promptly dug one for him. The "rebellion bill" requires him to ask for and secure yet another temporary ...
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...
by Daphna Whitmore Every Sunday for the past two months unionists from First Union, with supporters from other unions, have set out to the Ihumatao land protest, put up gazebos and gas barbeques, and cooked food for a few hundred locals and supporters who have come from across the country. ...
NZDF Attends Commemorations to Mark International Mission in East Timor A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent participated today in the 20th anniversary commemorations of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) mission in Dili. The commemoration ...
They’ve only been up and running for a few months, but a New Zealand not-for-profit has already made a big impact on period poverty in New Zealand. ...
The allocation of money for publicly funded broadcasting for election campaigns should be turned on it's head according to Massey University professor of communication design Claire Robinson. ...
Disappointment expressed by Fletcher Building CEO, Ross Taylor, reflects the increasing frustration held by many with this Government’s failure to protect private property rights.[1] ...
The independent Interim Climate Change Committee today launched an eight-week, nationwide call for evidence on options available to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. ...
Social Credit has lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman over the way the Overseas Investment Office is handling its official information request for disclosure of documents on the sale of Westland Milk Products to Chinese company Inner Mongolian ...
This Friday in Solidarity with the Global Climate Strike All of the SodaStream’s e-commerce platforms and head office operations will be closed to kick-off the week-long event, and employees will march the #CLIMATESTRIKE in Auckland on 27 September. ...
Federated Farmers congratulates the Auditor-General’s office on its release today of its report Managing Freshwater Quality: Challenges and Opportunities. ...
Growth has now slowed to a 6-year low, and downside risks are dominating. June quarter GDP growth came in at 0.5%qoq, in line with our expectation, and slightly above consensus. Although there were a few sensational reports of the chance of a negative print. ...
Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is calling the release of the National Climate Change Risk Assessment (NCCRA) framework a good first step in balancing New Zealand’s response to climate change. ...
Family First NZ says that a new Colorado report compiled by the Rocky Mountain High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area finds marijuana-positive traffic fatalities, hospitalisations, marijuana use, and illegal market activity have exploded since marijuana legalization. ...
This year’s Ratepayers’ Report , local government league tables released yesterday, reveals which local councils owe the most and which owe the least. ...
Rachel MacGregor welcomes the decision released today by Justice Hinton. The key issue on which all the various litigation has been based is the question, did Colin Craig sexually harass Rachel. That question has been answered – he did. Justice ...
The Rail and Maritime Transport Union (RMTU) has today ratified a ground breaking pay deal with Dunedin Railways which will see all union members being paid a living wage and the lowest paid receiving an 18% wage increase. Higher paid RMTU members ...
Inclusion for trans women/men and non-binary peoples has today been announced as the cornerstone of a new resolution for the National Council of Women New Zealand (NCWNZ). ...
It took a testy Morning Report interview this week to remind me that Simon Bridges was still the Leader of the Opposition. Until then, he had been largely invisible as the events of recent weeks unfolded. ...
The National Council of Women NZ has today welcomed the news that the Government has purchased Kate Sheppard’s house in Christchurch, the base for the NZ suffrage campaign. ...
The Māori Party supports mana whenua of Ihumātao and acknowledges their coming together to reach consensus on the future of their whenua. “We also acknowledge the leadership of the Kīngitanga who have played an important role in supporting ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union is questioning why, for the second time, Jacinda Ardern has appointed a Crown-owned company Chief Executive to Chair her “Business Advisory Council”, following her announcement that Mercury CEO Fraser Whineray ...
Responding to the Government’s decision to give around $300 million to Amazon as a sweetener for filming a TV series in New Zealand, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: “As a matter of simple waste, this is striking, ...
I am very pleased with Air New Zealand’s Decision to backdown and withdraw their application to trademark into a logo Kia Ora. I said at the time that it was an ill conceived idea and poorly thought out – more importantly it should never have been ...
NZEI Te Riu Roa members will be joining with others across the union movement by wearing black and white in support of pay equity on Suffrage Day tomorrow, and urging the Government to commit to a settlement for teacher aides this year. ...
Yesterday’s announcement from the Minister for Immigration, to improve temporary work visas for migrant workers, provides some positive changes but more detail is needed. The Council of Trade Unions fundamentally supports the principle of making ...
FIRST Union today welcomed Westpac’s public admission of the significant gender pay gap in its workforce and reiterated its call for employers to work with unions to close this disparity, arguing that this work must begin at the bottom of the pay ...
Changes to the work visa system announced by the Minister of Immigration are not all positive for employers or migrants, comments Ms June Ranson, chair of the New Zealand Association for Migration and Investment (NZAMI) , a leading voice in the ...
The Dairy Workers Union (DWU) has welcomed the announcement from dairy company, Synlait, that they will be boosting parental leave entitlements significantly for working parents. ...
In June, the Children’s Commissioner announced a thematic review into Oranga Tamariki’s policies, processes and practice relating to care and protection issues for tamariki Māori aged 0-3 months. Today the Children’s Commissioner has released the full ...
“Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues of the Western Bay region. We believe that this is ...
In response to DairyNZ's attempt to dismiss an economic report that highlighted dairy's role in the New Zealand economy is only three per cent of GDP, Fish & Game New Zealand Chief Executive Martin Taylor says: "If DairyNZ wishes to reject a report ...
Kiingi Tuuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII has successfully guided the mana whenua of lhumaatao to reach a consensus on the future of their whenua. ...
Two activists disguised as shareholders interrupted the AGM of a gold mining company in central Auckland this morning to inform shareholders their plans to mine for gold in conservation estate in the Karangahake Gorge were unwelcome. ...
The Capital and Coast District Health Board (CCDHB) has been labelled ‘NATO’ (no action, talk only) when it comes to child mental health, with just 0.6 full time staff (24 hours per week) for inpatient child psychology and just 0.8 full time staff ...
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL has awarded three New Zealand climate youth groups with its Ambassador of Conscience award, its highest recognition for human rights work, previously given to the likes of Nelson Mandela, Ai Weiwei and Malala Yousafzai. ...
The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union , in partnership with the Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance , has today published this year's Ratepayers' Report – online local government league tables – at www.ratepayersreport.nz . ...
NZUS Council executive director Jordan Small welcomes the news New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will meet with US President Donald Trump in New York next week. ...
The recent NZIER report trivialises the significant role the dairy sector plays in New Zealand’s economy – and fails to look at the specifics of the Government’s freshwater package, according to DairyNZ. DairyNZ chief executive Dr Tim Mackle said ...
This week, the New Zealand Parliament and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) will jointly host a seminar on tackling the global spread of illicit weapons. ...
In a landmark judgment issued this morning, the Court of Appeal confirmed that the Southern Response Concealment Class Action will proceed issued on an "opt out” basis. ...
Mainstream media, as the purveyors of truth and source of balanced information, took another backward step today with the announcement by Stuff that most New Zealand organisations had joined 170 media outlets from around the world in the “Covering ...
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...
"This is what Wellington boy said, after he finished his quick and bloody deed. You know what your problem is? Once a slut, always a slut": a short story by Auckland writer Eileen Merriman. ...
Michael Mann, a climatologist and famous press critic, talks to the Columbia Journalism Review about the dangers of both understating and overstating the dangers of climate change. ...
Ahead of the All Blacks first game Trevor McKewen makes some his fanciful, fraught and some hopefully on-point predictions for the Rugby World Cup.Can you take one for the team? Could you cope with the All Blacks coming up short in achieving an unprecedented third straight World Cup if it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Leigh Sullivan discusses Scott Morrison’s new family law inquiry with Michelle Grattan. They also speak of the developments in the Tamil family from Biloela’s case, and the UN barring ...
Analysis - Jacinda Ardern heads for the UN as the sexual assault scandal rumbles on at home, and Simon Bridges says he isn't going to ease off his personal attacks on the PM. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dries Verstraete, Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Design and Propulsion, University of Sydney CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change.If you have a question you’d ...
In this episode of our new tarot reading show Wild Card, The Spinoff’s resident psychic divines the outcome of the All Blacks’ opening match against the Springboks on Saturday.In the first and potentially only episode of Wild Card, we have a focus on sport. The Spinoff’s psychic-in-residence, Jo Sees, specialises ...
Recently-retired Sky TV chief executive John Fellet talks to Newsroom business editor Nikki Mandow about baseball, media, goldfish, accountancy - and more baseball. ...
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in reality television and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.With Duncan enjoying a MAFS-style beach holiday in Bali, Alex and Jane are left to cover another crazy week in reality television. Shannon Ryan has gone full beast-mode in Celebrity Treasure Island, Married ...
Dr Bryce Edwards“Diversity” is a central theme of the current local government elections – with the common criticism that incumbent politicians are generally too “stale, male, and pale” (or variations on that). Numerous commentators and candidates have lamented the lack of women, ethnic minorities, and youth in local government. ...
Editor’s Note: Here below is a list of the main issues currently under discussion in New Zealand and links to media coverage.New Zealand Parliament Buildings, Wellington, New Zealand.Today’s content by Dr Bryce Edwards.Climate change, environment Paul Gorman (Stuff): How would you spend an unlimited war chest for ...
A review into the Ministry for Culture and Heritage will look into the relationship between a staffer and the external developer responsible for a massive data breach. ...
Covering Climate Now: The Spinoff crew who took on climate change with a vegan diet for the week reflect on the highs, the lows, the pies and the fries. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!As I write, I’m tucking into ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Crisp, Professorial Fellow, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University As world chiefs and youth leaders gather in New York at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, many of us as individuals are feeling powerless and overwhelmed. Making big personal changes ...
The head of one of the country's biggest news media firms is the latest subject of criticism for darkening his face at a staff party he attended dressed as US basketballer Lamar Odom. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Coral Gartner, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland Health authorities in the United States are investigating 530 cases of lung illness, including seven deaths, reportedly connected to vaping. Some of these patients have been diagnosed with lung inflammation ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Testaments by Margaret Atwood (Chatto & Windus, $48)Obvs. (Read our review by Pip Adam here)2 Three ...
When comedy documentary Funny As was made, a lot of interviews got left on the cutting room floor which NZ On Screen quickly picked up. Here are some of our favourites.We’re a pretty funny bunch us Kiwis. Trapped on a tiny island at the end of the earth it appears ...
Auckland rapper JessB has just released a new EP and wraps up a national mini-tour tonight in her home town. Jogai Bhatt talked to her about her world travels, performing at Ihumātao, and how her community and her music intersect.It’s only been two years since JessB entered the public radar ...
A new poem by Waiheke poet Rata Gordon.PacingA deep bow to NerudaIt so happens I am sick of being a woman. It happens that I walk into BP stations and supermarkets greasy, swollen, like a cow made of soap, losing my way in a field of placentas and pesticides.The smell ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amanda Gardiner, Lecturer, Edith Cowan University In August, a 24-year-old woman appeared before the Western Australian District Court after pleading guilty to concealing the birth of her newborn baby in 2018. The charge of concealment of birth refers to hiding the dead ...
Voting papers are being sent out today, and lots of people say they won’t fill them out because they don’t know anything about the candidates. Respected website ‘The Spinoff’ is trying to fix that through its Policy Local tool. But it’s not the only one. Catherine Jeffcoat talks to the ...
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by literary editor Steve Braunias ...
Writer and cannabis legalisation expert Russell Brown watched episode two of Patrick Gower on Weed, and found it highly entertaining but dangerously light on facts. Patrick Gower is good value when he’s high. In the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you’d expect in a ...
Sydney shock-jock Alan Jones has written to Jacinda Ardern saying he didn't intend any violence towards her when he said on air that Australia's Prime Minister should "shove a sock down [her] throat". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caio Seguin, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne Brain regions exchange information by sending and receiving signals through a network of nerve connections. This exchange is crucial to all aspects of the brain’s functioning, including how we experience the world, form and retrieve ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miranda Kaye, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney Over the next 12 months, a joint parliamentary committee will examine Australia’s family law system. It will be led by conservative Liberal MP Kevin Andrews and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Barbara Allen, Senior Lecturer in Public Management, Victoria University of Wellington This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. For three years in a row, the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Moscova, Senior Lecturer in Anatomy, UNSW Women’s nipples have long been a source of fascination and controversy, from celebrity gossip stories of wardrobe malfunctions and “nip slips” to feminist movements for gender equality. Nipples even became a fashion accessory. Men’s nipples ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Holmes, Director, Climate Change Communication Research Hub, Monash University One of the great paradoxes of climate change communication in Australia is that politicians command the most attention on the issue, yet are among the least trusted sources of climate information. Research ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachael Sharman, Senior Lecturer in Psychology, University of the Sunshine Coast This story is part of Covering Climate Now, a global collaboration of more than 250 news outlets to strengthen coverage of the climate story. Thousands of school students across Australia are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin., Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Newstart recipients and other Australians on benefits get their half-yearly pay rise today (and also on March 20). This one is vanishingly small. Announced very quietly by Social Services Minister ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Warren Hogan, Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney The budget was for practical purposes in neither deficit nor in surplus in 2018-19, the final figures released by Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Finance Minister Mathias Cormann on Thursday reveal. The underlying cash deficit ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW This week NBN Co announced pricing changes for the National Broadband Network. It includes a new plan boasting a download speed of 1 gigabit per second and an upload speed of 50 megabits per second for ...
Covering Climate Now: Just how much of an impact would a shift to vegetarian diets have on the battle to halt climate change, asks Mirjam Guesgen.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Kiwi cuisine is replete with meat: fish and chips, meat and ...
It's not a risk assessment, but it's a start: an instruction manual for the experts who'll be writing New Zealand's first national climate risk report for the government was released on Thursday. ...
The Wellington Mayor's main rival in the upcoming local elections, Andy Foster, won't say how much Sir Peter Jackson has stumped up in a bid to get him elected. ...
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: GDP growth slows in the latest quarter, questions raised over utter NZDF incompetence, and NZTA sends money intended for light rail elsewhere.The numbers are in, and GDP growth has slowed down for the second quarter of the year. Radio NZ reports it ...
As climate change crumbles coasts, lengthens droughts and increases extreme weather events, New Zealand’s seed bank for threatened indigenous plants lacks on-going funding. ...
Steve Tew marked the magnitude of the day by openly attacking the Six Nations power bloc and suggesting former ABs should be free to play for Samoa, Tonga or Fiji. ...
A classical approach to freshwater policy only serves to enforce well-established views, argue Maria Armoudian and Nicolas Pirsoul. Here they offer some more innovative alternatives. ...
Freedom camping, public transport and affordable housing are challenges Queenstown’s Mayor Jim Boult says he’s uniquely poised to solve – if only people would do what they’re told.The Spinoff local election coverage is entirely funded by The Spinoff Members. For more about becoming a member and supporting The Spinoff’s journalism click ...
Open Mike 20/06/2017 
We all know that bad parents simply don’t care about their children’s education. Most truants have loser parents, and grow up to be involved with crime, or in low paid employment usually like their parents. The nonsense so-called “climate strike” coming up will be attended mostly by the least intelligent ...9 hours ago
Today is the first day of the global climate strike. Led by schoolkids, people all around the world are going to protest to demand action on climate change. New Zealand isn't doing it till next Friday (join us!), but if you want to get active early, there's plenty to do ...17 hours ago
To Protect and Serve: When the Prime Minister finds herself enmeshed in the coils of a full-blown political scandal, her colleagues and party comrades have only one priority: to release her as swiftly – and with as little lasting injury – as possible. Is this what Jacinda Ardern’s colleagues and ...18 hours ago
When military leaders cover up and lie to elected civilian authorities, the foundation of democratic civil-military relations is undermined because it is those authorities who are entrusted to hold the military accountable to the public that they mutually serve. But this is only true if civilian political authorities take their ...20 hours ago
by Daphna Whitmore The long years of Netanyahu’s reign are drawing to an end. For years he has epitomized reactionary zionism as he oversaw hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers seize land in the West Bank. There are now 700,000 settlers, putting an end to the myth that Israel was ...21 hours ago
BP, Z and Mobil all insist that petrol price hikes are temporary, “in a very literal sense.” The nation’s major petrol providers are trying to allay customer fears over prices, promising that they’ll move to lower them again “immediately” when the Middle East is returned to its formerly peaceful state. ...1 day ago
South African coach Rassie Erasmus says he has no idea what they’re going to do about the boat. In a highly anticipated press conference this afternoon, All Blacks coach Steve Hansen has finally unveiled the team’s boat for its Rugby World Cup 2019 campaign. In a press conference that went ...1 day ago
Get Back Jojo! The elation in Mayor Phil Goff’s camp may be easily imagined as they watched social media light up in indignation at challenger John Tamihere’s "Sieg Heil to that" quip. Just when JT’s notoriously right-wing, sexist and homophobic stains were beginning to fade back into his ‘colourful’ past, ...2 days ago
Patrick Gower is good value when he's high. Not that I've ever, you know, got stoned with him. But in the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you'd expect in a modern weed documentary and immerses himself – first with a doctor, then a ...2 days ago
We surveyed candidates on their attitudes to issues facing the Western Bay Region, find out what they think: “Closing the Gap” Tauranga, one of the area groups of Income Equality Aotearoa NZ Inc., has surveyed all candidates in the three local body elections to discover attitudes to some basic issues ...3 days ago
Why is New Zealand climate change policy so crap? The Herald this morning has a long article on the twists and turns of climate change policy in New Zealand [paywalled / depaywall script], which shows where we've been. The short version is that the government first began worrying about this ...3 days ago
The All Blacks have been, for more than a century, arguably the most successful International sports team in the world. But they are more than that; even for those Kiwis who are immune to the charms of rugby (and there are more than a few), the All Blacks are ambassadors ...3 days ago
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Dangerous Foes: For those readers of Bowalley Road who feel disposed to dismiss any prospect of an Israeli destabilisation of New Zealand politics, the example of the United Kingdom repays close attention. Ever since the election of Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party, the Israelis have sanctioned, funded and ...5 days ago
Make It 16, the youth-led campaign to lower New Zealand's voting age, is holding an official campaign launch at Parliament this Friday from 16:30. If you'd like to attend, you can register using EventBrite here. ...5 days ago
by Don Franks It was a lovely sunny Wellington afternoon with blue skies above the beaches. In Courtenay Place, political activists packed out a stuffy upstairs room for an important meeting. The assembled pacifists, anarchists, communists and independent young radicals of Peace Action Wellington felt the need for a mission ...5 days ago
From the Wall Street Journal:Inside a room of the ornately decorated Hotel du Palais during last month’s Group of Seven summit in Biarritz, France, President Trump awaited a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi. Mr. Trump looked over a gathering of American and Egyptian officials and called out in ...6 days ago
. . This blogpost is different to my usual format of reporting on issues… Since July 1011, I have blogged on a variety of political issues; near always political and/or environmental; mostly highly critical of the previous National Government. Other issues included Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and repression of ...7 days ago
Those close to the Police Minister believe the initiative may be the result of Nash “seeing a great deal” on AliExpress. In a move that comes seemingly out of nowhere, Police Minister Stuart Nash announced this afternoon that he expects all frontline staff to don bearskin hats, famously worn by ...1 week ago
Moving And Shaking: There was a time when people spoke matter-of-factly about the “labour movement” – a political phenomenon understood to embrace much more than the Labour Party. Included within the term’s definition was the whole trade union movement – many of whose members looked upon the Labour Party as ...1 week ago
By Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern I am every bit as angry as you are. I am every bit as disappointed as you must be. The people with power, oversight and the ability to do something about these processes within the Labour Party should be ashamed. Whoever those people are, I ...1 week ago
Two-Faced? Labour insiders' commitment to the neoliberal status quo puts them at odds with their party’s membership; its trade union affiliates; and a majority of Labour voters, but this only serves to strengthen the perception they have of themselves as a special elite. Among the lesser breeds, they’ll talk up a ...1 week ago
By Simon Bridges. The following is a press release from the office of Simon Bridges, leader of The National Party. Key ora, New Zealand. Happy Maori Language Week. Look, I’m writing to you today because I want to clear something up. There’s been a lot of kerfuffle around some things ...1 week ago
Dr. Christopher Labos and Jonathan Jarry discuss the recent Canadian fluoride/IQ research. They provide an expert analysis of the paper and its problems. Click on image to go to podcast. The critical debate about the recent ... 1 week ago
An ambitious plan to fly to Los Angeles petered out into a brief sight-seeing trip and a desire to return home and get some sleep before work tomorrow. Air New Zealand has confirmed a flight to Los Angeles last night was turned back about a quarter of the way into ...1 week ago
There appears to be consensus – by omission – that the concept of indigenous futures should be accepted at face value. So I scavenged the internet to see if I could locate an academic descriptor or a framework around how we think about it as a concept, and whether it ...1 week ago
Here’s another novelty chocolate to shove in your gob, New Zealand Cadbury could be seeking to make itself great again with a rumoured new release: Pineapple Trumps, a spin on its classic chocolate-encased pineapple treat and do-it-yourself tooth remover. The global confectionery manufacturer and bumbling “before” character in an infomercial, ...2 weeks ago
Kia ora, Aotearoa. It’s that magical time of year. Te Wiki o te Reo Māori. In English, the week that frightens talk radio. As you probably know by now, all your favourite media outlets are participating, some more successfully than others. Stuff has changed its name to Puna for the ...2 weeks ago
Lost In Political Space: The most important takeaway from this latest Labour sexual assault scandal, which (if I may paraphrase Nixon’s White House counsel’s, John Dean’s, infamous description of Watergate) is “growing like a cancer” on the premiership, is the Labour Party organisation’s extraordinary professional paralysis in the face of ...2 weeks ago
NZDF Attends Commemorations to Mark International Mission in East Timor A New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) contingent participated today in the 20th anniversary commemorations of the International Force East Timor (INTERFET) mission in Dili. The commemoration ...12 hours ago
Covering Climate Now: Saying climate change is important is one thing. So why are we so incapable of having a real conversation about what actually addressing it will mean? Sam McGlennon investigates. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Up until a week ago, ...1 hour ago
Ahead of the All Blacks first game Trevor McKewen makes some his fanciful, fraught and some hopefully on-point predictions for the Rugby World Cup.Can you take one for the team? Could you cope with the All Blacks coming up short in achieving an unprecedented third straight World Cup if it ...2 hours ago
To tackle the crises of climate and unsustainability we need great cultural changes in civil society, business and politics. ...9 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra [embedded content]University of Canberra Deputy Vice-Chancellor Leigh Sullivan discusses Scott Morrison’s new family law inquiry with Michelle Grattan. They also speak of the developments in the Tamil family from Biloela’s case, and the UN barring ...11 hours ago
Analysis - Jacinda Ardern heads for the UN as the sexual assault scandal rumbles on at home, and Simon Bridges says he isn't going to ease off his personal attacks on the PM. ...12 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dries Verstraete, Senior Lecturer in Aerospace Design and Propulsion, University of Sydney CC BY-NDClimate Explained is a collaboration between The Conversation, Stuff and the New Zealand Science Media Centre to answer your questions about climate change. If you have a question you’d ...13 hours ago
In this episode of our new tarot reading show Wild Card, The Spinoff’s resident psychic divines the outcome of the All Blacks’ opening match against the Springboks on Saturday.In the first and potentially only episode of Wild Card, we have a focus on sport. The Spinoff’s psychic-in-residence, Jo Sees, specialises ...13 hours ago
Recently-retired Sky TV chief executive John Fellet talks to Newsroom business editor Nikki Mandow about baseball, media, goldfish, accountancy - and more baseball. ...14 hours ago
Covering Climate Now: The Spinoff crew who took on climate change with a vegan diet for the week reflect on the highs, the lows, the pies and the fries. The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!As I write, I’m tucking into ...16 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roger Crisp, Professorial Fellow, Dianoia Institute of Philosophy, Australian Catholic University As world chiefs and youth leaders gather in New York at the United Nations Climate Action Summit, many of us as individuals are feeling powerless and overwhelmed. Making big personal changes ...16 hours ago
The head of one of the country's biggest news media firms is the latest subject of criticism for darkening his face at a staff party he attended dressed as US basketballer Lamar Odom. ...16 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Coral Gartner, Associate Professor, School of Public Health, The University of Queensland Health authorities in the United States are investigating 530 cases of lung illness, including seven deaths, reportedly connected to vaping. Some of these patients have been diagnosed with lung inflammation ...17 hours ago
A congestion charge is needed to deter motorists from clogging central city districts at peak times, according to an economics consultancy. ...17 hours ago
Jacinda Ardern confuses Japan with China - and she's not the only one with a case of political foot-in-mouth. ...19 hours ago
Voting papers are being sent out today, and lots of people say they won’t fill them out because they don’t know anything about the candidates. Respected website ‘The Spinoff’ is trying to fix that through its Policy Local tool. But it’s not the only one. Catherine Jeffcoat talks to the ...19 hours ago
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by literary editor Steve Braunias ...21 hours ago
Writer and cannabis legalisation expert Russell Brown watched episode two of Patrick Gower on Weed, and found it highly entertaining but dangerously light on facts. Patrick Gower is good value when he’s high. In the second part of his documentary Patrick Gower on Weed, he does what you’d expect in a ...21 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caio Seguin, PhD candidate, University of Melbourne Brain regions exchange information by sending and receiving signals through a network of nerve connections. This exchange is crucial to all aspects of the brain’s functioning, including how we experience the world, form and retrieve ...22 hours ago
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Miranda Kaye, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney Over the next 12 months, a joint parliamentary committee will examine Australia’s family law system. It will be led by conservative Liberal MP Kevin Andrews and One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. ...22 hours ago
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Covering Climate Now: Just how much of an impact would a shift to vegetarian diets have on the battle to halt climate change, asks Mirjam Guesgen.The Spinoff’s participation in Covering Climate Now is made possible thanks to Spinoff Members. Join us here!Kiwi cuisine is replete with meat: fish and chips, meat and ...22 hours ago
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‘Official London Grenfell fire toll at 79, say police.’
It will go up.
We are not being told the truth according to locals and residents.
[stop spamming Ed. If you don’t know what I mean by that then ask. Count this as a warning – weka]
Local Residents accuse media blackout over 42 bodies found in one room in Grenfell Tower
Lily Allen claims Grenfell Tower death count is closer to 150 people
Please see my moderation comment above.
The brighter future………
Landlords neglect govt insulation offer.
italic; write Thousands of low-income families are enduring cold damp homes because their landlords are not taking up a government subsidy to help insulate their properties.
The government hoped its two-year $18 million programme would lead to 20,000 more homes being made warm and dry. One year in, only 3700 homes have been insulated using the subsidy.
The ‘Warm Up New Zealand: Healthy Homes’ programme splits the cost of providing ceiling and underfloor insulation in rentals occupied by low-income New Zealanders between landlords and the government – typically they pay about $1500 each.
Andrew Caseley is the chief executive for the agency that runs Healthy Homes, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority. He said he suspected many landlords believed their rental properties were already insulation compliant and they might be in for a nasty surprise.
“Well, we’d certainly like them to take it up – we’d like to be able to give out those grants just as soon as we can,” Mr Caseley said.
“There are a lot of rental properties, so 20,000 is actually not a great proportion of the total, so you would think it is an achievable one – and we are doing everything we can to do that.”
Green MP Gareth Hughes said the programme was shaping up to be a massive failure and the government should be doing more to promote it.
“There are slumlords out there and it’s a tragedy, the conditions that some people live in … the government needs to be so much more proactive making sure all New Zealand homes are warm and safe.” ‘‘
New Zealand’s rich are just like the landlords of Kensington.
Greedy , selfish to the point of not caring about the lives of the poor who lives in tehir houses.
We need to get rid of neoliberalism.
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/333390/landlords-neglect-govt-insulation-offer
It’s ironic that the outgoing government brag and go on about insulating so many houses when being interviewed or while speaking in parliament, yet they do little to promote the incentive to landlords etc.
Meanwhile suffering continues, damp cold houses, exploited tenants and no housing WOF.
Neoliberalism sucks.
Greens want to increase our refugee quota, bringing it up to 5,000 within six years.
I think that’s fantastic, with 70,000 immigrants flooding our country annually, 5k over six years is peanuts. Especially when our next PM is going to cut back on immigrants, we can help more refugees, and I’m very supportive of doing just that.
I’d rather help refugees than let in.. for example… self entitled, caste indulged landlord like we saw on The Nation in the weekend. And I’m sure anyone who has been involved with refugees would agree with me.
65 million people in the world have been displaced, we can go on and on about looking after NZer’s first, but the outgoing government haven’t been doing that for near on a decade. Rather they’ve been putting immigrants first and bugger our citizens and bugger those who have lost everything from war.
Over the next six years with our new government, we will be able to do this, with the current government there is no way, they care more about money than people.
We can,t house our own . Send them to the region’s they say . No jobs and no doctors in the region’s
I’m hearing you, but things will change over six years.
Self entitled landlord…??! People with mental health problems have been known to trash housing, invariably the slum landlord and the most deprived members of the community meet. THis is not eithers fault. Its simple a governing philosophy. The govts are for monied and govt has no place serving poor citizens. A civil society believes everyone has the right to basic housing, nutrition, health, security. Naffy Nat’s don’t believe in a civil society, its winner takes all, which antithetical to both democracy and capitalism, its much older type, authoritarians. Yes! The neolib is just an authoritarian under the clothes, just they select authority by how big the bank balance not what crown someone wears.
Govt need to fund housing for the poorest, else the private sector will very badly if at all.
+100
That caste indulged landlord, just like the Gnat in parliament need to be reminded of Pyaar, Daya, Nimrata, Sat and Santokh.
oops, I thought I was looking at TDB comments
Good on the Greens with both them and yourself being absolutely correct Cinny. ….
Doing the right thing and acting with humanity is good for our society in its own right ….
Historically all the waves of refugees New Zealand has offered new lives to and resettled have benefited NZ…..
From the WWII Polish orphens and Jewish concentration camp survivors … or the Dutch or other Euriopean nationalitys uprooted by WWII …. refugees are generally very grateful and work hard establishing their new lives. Their contributions have expanded our society and helped us grow well away from the backward insecure little Nation who saw a toffy english accent as a sign of superiority …. and stood up like obedient sheep to ” God save the queen” which was played in movie theaters before the film started.
On the other hand …..our immigrants laws at at present seem more like our new tax haven laws the Nacts brought in …….
Facilitating the corrupt and criminal …… caring only about the money …. and not discriminating the dirty from the clean.
Increased corruption and a sinking international reputation for NZ from this National Govt so far …..
http://www.noted.co.nz/money/property/taking-us-to-the-cleaners/
https://www.nbr.co.nz/article/police-43m-settlement-citizen-yan-193297
“Shanghai Pengxin, under various guises, gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to the National Party;” … http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2016/04/22/national-party-4-sale/
Rather have refugees than Asian Landlords ?
There’s plenty of greedy, venal non Asian landlords to mate.
Holy shit the leaders fund for national was used to pay off Todd Barclays secutary in the tapeing fiasco . English knew according to news hub
Just heard that too. I heard through the grape vine that one of his staff left to go to canada to avoid media. I must ask the person who told me more, they are a relative of said staff member, and told me about it around Christmas time.
Dynamite.
This corrupt clique being exposed…
Found a link to the story
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/06/19/34853/barclay-payout-raises-questions-over-leaders-fund
And Todd Barclays file of denial
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2017/06/19/34827/barclay-a-file-of-denial
…taping fiasco…
When this news first broke I figured Barclay had recorded Dickson’s conversations with him.
In fact, he put a dictaphone in her office and recorded conversations with constituents. Then he denied and lied about it and made threats.
Bill English lied about knowing.
Curiously, no search warrant was sought. “Lack of evidence” is easy when you don’t look for any.
Where have all our trolls gone today? Are Pike River, Todd Barclay, and the fallout from Glenhill Tower too much for our neolib fans? Surely the Market will fix all these things. Come on out and play guys, we are missing your bullshit.
Lmfao 😀 You crack me up G.
Maybe Q2 will shine a bit more light on the outgoing governments neglect and brain fades.
ANDREW LITTLE to the Prime Minister: Does he believe that the moral standards he sets as Prime Minister are high enough?
Or Q6… Rt Hon WINSTON PETERS to the Prime Minister: Before making a statement, does he check the facts; if not, why not?
Power actually causes measurable brain damage. Another argument for term limits.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2017/07/power-causes-brain-damage/528711/
Really liked this post over at bootstheory, and agree except on one thing. I think it is a fundamentalist Christian view that family first are pushing, not a Christian view.
https://bootstheory.wordpress.com/2017/06/20/the-truth-behind-the-lobbyists-who-want-the-right-to-hit-kids/
May all child beaters fester in hell. Hitting kids is never acceptable.
Stephanie was pretty clear that she was postulating an ideal from Family First, not having a crack at Christianity:
“They just want to push a narrow-minded vision of what our society should look like. And if you aren’t the white, middle-class, patriarchal hetero monogamous Christian family unit they hold up as the ideal, they are not going to be here for you.”
I suggest you all watch “Handmaid’s Tale”, which is currently on Spark’s Lightbox service, or the grey area of The Pirate Bay.
It offers a very chilling depiction of what life would be like if Family Fist had their way.
Still trying to sell shit:
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11879290
Wonder if Goff will reply?
Selling the port is one thing, but selling the water is totally another. It will only burden Aucklanders, especially the poor with high water bills which they will be unable to pay.
Transport issues can be simply solved by encouraging businesses to relocate to suburban areas. The concept of a CBD is outdated in this era of high speed internet, dating back to the Babylonian era when all business was conducted in the Town square.
When Goff was campaigning he very clearly pointed out the economic lunacy of selling Watercare.
Hopefully Phil Goff will reply “Fuck off”.
Also if NZ is such a ‘rockstar’ economy why do we keep having to sell off our assets? Statistics tell us we have all these tourists, these amazing migrants, these overseas students all apparently essential to the Natz in WELLINGTON BUT where’s the money going from all this economic activity – because whoever is getting the profits, seems to expect Joe Public to pay for all the negatives…
Immigration is a question of workers’ solidarity:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2015/02/23/workers-rights-internationalism-and-open-borders/
Just thinking how nothing is working out for NZ. We have been running our country for over a century thinking we were approaching politics and the economy seriously. And, seriously, what have we accomplished – a farce.
So I think that we should run the country as a farce, and then we will meet the problems in a flexible way, and probably things will turn out in a seriously good way.
The method is called George Doing the Opposite approach, and here is a link to George as an individual using the method that the thinking, unhappy people of this country need to use.
One of the things is to have a another Government Department called the Department of Practical Implementation and Engineering (DOPIE) and we will pay Disney to use their icons of the little dwarfs going off to work for our logo and zeitgeist. This then will be a balance to the Ministry of Bulldust and Innovative Extenuation.
The DOPIE agency will have a relative small budget, and make small loan advances to well-presented business and tourist attraction ideas that will create NZ owned and operated business employing at least 3 people. Sort of like a grameen bank. Also regions can approach for assistance with local business already profitable and able to improve with better transport, innovation involving more workers etc.
If some are not successful, it doesn’t matter, the region will have been primed with some capital, people will have been working, and the multiplier will have been working. If big business can fail and that’s accepted as natural attrition, then small business that has a small failure rate, shouldn’t be sniffed at.
Hmmm, I’d like to second that motion.
During Boris Johnson’s mayoralty, ten London fire stations were closed down; three of them within the vicinity of Grenfell Tower, something which would inevitably affect response time.
Paul Embery, London organiser of the Fire Brigades Union, warned in 2014 that people would die:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/firefighter-organiser-2014-warning-re-closures-of-london-fire-stations/
And, of course, the Grenfell residents had pointed out last November that it would take people dying before anything was done about the safety of the Tower: https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/grenfell-fire-tenants-predicted-the-disaster/
Interesting comments by an ex-firefighter about how fire deaths are under-recorded:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/06/17/ex-firefighter-on-the-grenfell-tragedy/
To most people you would think loss of life would be the main concern with a volcanic eruption, but not in NZ…
How a city eruption would hit Auckland’s economy
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11879120
Bought to you by the ideology that bought us Cyclone Katrina, The Grenfell Tower and Pike river…
Government is not about the people stupid, it’s about protecting the interests of their donor stakeholders… not wasting money on citizens that can be easily replaced in the global market place…
http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/book/export/html/198
Auckland volcanoes are basaltic. In a society with measuring instruments they will give quite a lot of warning before erupting. Their eruptions are pretty localized to less than 10 kilometers. The earthquakes associated with them are small. Basaltic volcanoes are almost a pleasure for emergency services dealing with evacuating people. Of course houses, buildings and businesses can’t move as easily.
To give you an idea. There is considerable evidence of Maori on the seashore across the narrow channel to Rangitoto during the last eruptions of Rangitoto about 600 years ago.
I suspect you are thinking about Andesitic (ie like White Island) or Rhyolitic volcanoes (like Ruapehu or Taupo). The latter in particular tend to go off with little warning and can cause problems worldwide. For instance the last eruption at Taupo caused problems all of the way down the Waikato to Hamilton. And then of course there is this eruption
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taupo_Volcano#The_Oruanui_eruption
It pays to know your volcanoes before getting too daft about them. The Auckland volcanoes that surround me are relatively safe. The ones I fear are in the central north island, and I fear that I live a bit too close to them. If I am lucky, we may get a few days warning that life will get somewhat dangerous.
Yes … ask a geologist about the “Okataina Complex”.
https://www.gns.cri.nz/Home/Learning/Science-Topics/Volcanoes/New-Zealand-Volcanoes/Volcano-Geology-and-Hazards/Okataina-Volcanic-Centre-Geology
I’ve heard one speaker describe it as by far the most underestimated geo-hazard in NZ. As if we didn’t already have plenty.
Auckland Museum has a interactive exhibit about a volcano eruption – Rangitoto – in Auckland. The exhibit has the impact of the eruption simulated on Auckland’s waterfront and neighbouring suburbs.
I can’t remember how far they predicted the eruption would reach – was too busy watching Mark Sainsbury delivering the televised news segment, but I thought it was more than 10km – maybe 30.
Has anyone else been there recently that can remember?
Even if it is likely for there to be warnings about a volcano, the situation should be looked at with a worst case scenario… nowadays there are just too many situations where government seem asleep at the job in the case of a crisis.
Remember when all the power went off in Auckland. Seem to remember the civil defence was on the 13th floor of the council building, yep, lifts require electricity people. That wasn’t even a disaster and it cleared out Auckland.
There seems to be a lack of interest in actually looking at the practical reality in a disaster or even if there is a man made crisis like Electricity grid drops off.
We are pretty much doomed in Auckland because we can barely escape for the weekend out of Auckland these days in normal traffic conditions, not sure what’s gonna happen when a disaster strikes..
Many may have read this by Martyn Bradbury over at TDB but it’s good to see someone swinging wide with a baseball bat at our disastrous economy and gummint.
This is IT explicitly and well said on 19/6/2017.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2017/06/19/so-it-seems-our-rock-star-economy-was-completely-dependent-on-an-imported-audience/
For clmate change buffs and everyone else too – compact information pack from Skeptical Science.
https://skepticalscience.com/news.php?n=3786
Today – the Point England Enabling Bill is number 3 on the Order Paper.
If Green Party MPs ‘sit on the fence’ and abstain on this arguably classic environmental issues- I for one will be VERY outspoken – because, in my opinion, this is a SELLOUT.
Why on earth does Minister for Building and Construction Nick Smith, want to carve a quarter of the Point England Reserve, when, on HIS watch, there are 76 bare sections and apparently 70 empty, former Housing NZ houses already in Tamaki?
Penny Bright
2017 Independent candidate
Tamaki electorate.
(Exposing the $1.6 billion Tamaki ‘Regeneration’ – GENTRIFICATION $CAM.)
Good points Penny Bright. Get a grip Greens, you are being USED by the Natz to help push their agenda.
And Natz agenda is to use precedents like that to push through other developments on reserve land AND divide Maori and Pakeha AS WELL AS make Greens less trusted as environmental custodians.
From a 2015 report on campylobacter and chicken.
Fresh chicken is the likely source of 50% of the 600 serious campylobacter cases yearly.
https://blogs.otago.ac.nz/pubhealthexpert/2015/12/19/nzs-long-running-campylobacter-epidemic-from-poultry-now-with-antibiotic-resistance/
Rapid spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in NZ poultry
…NZ has a long-term problem with Campylobacter infection from contaminated fresh chicken meat [1]. In addition, recently presented research on AMR has found that a tetracycline and fluoroquinolone resistant strain of Campylobacter, first detected in poultry in 2014, has spread rapidly across the North Island [2]. By 2015 this strain was causing about a third of human Campylobacter infection cases in Auckland….
Contaminated poultry is therefore responsible for about 300 of the 600 serious Campylobacter infection cases hospitalised each year [4]. About 30 of these infections will cause paralysis (Guillain-Barré syndrome [6]), and others will result in serious invasive illness and death. One example was Rod Donald, co-leader of the Green Party, who died in 2005 at the age of 49 years from myocarditis secondary to Campylobacter infection [7].
The economic cost to the country from Campylobacter-contaminated poultry runs to tens of millions of dollars [8]. This cost is largely paid for by sick consumers, employers and the taxpayer-funded health sector rather than by the poultry industry which is the source of the problem….
The Ministry of Health (MOH) should have an interest in encouraging MPI to regulate given the considerable disease burden resulting from contaminated chicken meat. Health services pick up much of the tab for these illnesses so one would expect the MOH to be highly supportive of moves to close off this source. In addition, they have a lead role in developing NZ’s Antimicrobial Resistance strategy….
Consumer action: Finally, consumers can also ‘vote with their feet’ (or wallet) and switch to safer and lower cost protein foods [16]. If they continue to purchase poultry, then changing to cooked and frozen product would greatly lower their risks of Campylobacter infection….
In summary – NZ has a serious long-term Campylobacter epidemic but now with the added hazard of rapidly emergent antimicrobial resistance. Fortunately a range of control options exist, many of which have been proven to work in the past in this country and internationally. Now all we need is the political will to act on this important and costly public health problem.
Buy it frozen, and cook the hell out of it. Otherwise you are at risk. Stuff any official reassurances.
Yes I think I’ll change my MO with chicken.
Today at 4.45pm I received an OIA reply from Minister for Building and Construction, Nick Smith, regarding evidence I have provided which proves that the Local Government and Environment Select Committee was given inaccurate advice regarding the Pt England Development Enabling Bill.
Nick Smith advised me to contact the Chair of the Local Government and Environment Select Committee – Andrew Bayly if I thought the Selecr Committee had been given inaccurate advice – which I have.
How can the House proceed with the
Pt England Development Enabling Bill if information about this Bill has been based upon inaccurate advice?
Penny Bright
2017 Independent candidate for
Tamaki electorate.
Exposing the $1.6 billion Tamaki ‘Regeneration’ – GENTRIFICATION $CAM.
Get a load of this, if you think the business case study for third main in Auckland was a load bollocks. Get a load of this one WTF!
http://politik.co.nz/en/content/economy/1121/Decision-making-in-a-rush-Kiwirail-Treasury.htm
This one is almost out of this world in terms of the dumb decision’s by NZ Railways management that been made in its history so far. But worst one I’ve seen so far is not in NZ, but in Oz with building of the inland railway from Melbourne port (Dryon yards) to Brisbane port well it stops short by 35km from the port. The private venture goes to port to port.
On board with the KiwiRail insanity, but I’m not sure if you have it quite right with the Inland Route:
https://inlandrail.artc.com.au/k2arb
If you check out the map the rest of the rail route from the Acacia Ridge terminal to the Port appears to already exist. Is there more to this?
It depends what newspaper or rail mag I seem to pickup of late. I’m starting to think may be some misinformation floating about ie between the ARTC and the Private venture? I do know there is some work has to carried out the Dryon yards in Melbourne and the bum fight in regards to Queensland’s narrow gauge (Cape gauge) in weather dual gauge or not and then you have the Wanger brothers trying to get inland railway to go via their airport. Anyway i’m hoping it doesn’t turn to like the NBN shit fight.