Open Mike 21/11/2018

Written By: notices and features - Date published: 5:59 am, November 21st, 2018 - 172 comments
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172 comments on “Open Mike 21/11/2018”

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Cinny 1
21 November 2018 at 7:08 am
Wtf, money over murder.
trump has just declared he stands with the saudi’s on the Khashoggi assassination.
I guess the USA is making too much money from the war in Yemen to worry about the saudi’s lying over murdering journalists.
Despite US intelligence reportedly linking the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, President Donald Trump said on Tuesday, the US would continue to have a “steadfast” relationship with the kingdom.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/11/trump-steadfast-partnership-saudi-arabia-181120174403336.html
- Ed 1.1
  21 November 2018 at 7:40 am
  Without oil, the military industrial complex collapses.
  - Cinny 1.1.1
    21 November 2018 at 7:49 am
    True but the saudi’s are not the only ones who can supply oil.
    Re trumps Khashoggi decision, he was in a position to possibly put a halt to the war in Yemen, and he chose to sell weapons to the saudi’s to keep the war going instead. I’m really fucked off about it.
  - DJ Ward 1.1.2
    21 November 2018 at 10:40 am
    The US is a net energy exporter. The US Saudi relationship is a strategic one. Firstly to protect Israel and secondly as it’s an enemy of Iran. Was the enabler of the Iraq conflicts.
    People fought wars prior to oil. Your comment could be replaced by anything exploitable.
    The US has placed sanctions on people proven to be involved.
    Jacinda or Winston have sanctioned nobody.
    Saudi vs Yemen is a religous war that like Israel vs Palistinians has involved tit for tat events progressing into the dominate power applying complete oppression. The US was involved due to Yemens strong Al Qaeda links and attacks on shipping. They are now removing its enabling support to Saudi Arabias actions in Yemen.
    - bwaghorn 1.1.2.1
      21 November 2018 at 11:36 am
      The us has placed sanctions on the poor muppets the Saudi prince has thrown under the bus.
      - DJ Ward 1.1.2.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 11:58 am
        Well it’s actually based on the evidence gathered by Turkey. Confirmed by Saudi investigations. So you are probably correct about the Prince.
    - Draco T Bastard 1.1.2.2
      21 November 2018 at 2:22 pm
      The US is a net energy exporter.
      But not for long.
      The US Saudi relationship is a strategic one. Firstly to protect Israel and secondly as it’s an enemy of Iran.
      True and totally immoral.
    - McFlock 1.1.2.3
      21 November 2018 at 2:37 pm
      The US is a net energy exporter.
      net energy importer still, as of last year. And then there’s the fact that what’s holding it back is the importation of crude oil. I wonder where it gets that from?
      USDoE thinks you’re four years early in declaring mission accomplished.
      - DJ Ward 1.1.2.3.1
        21 November 2018 at 3:53 pm
        “The United States became a net exporter of petroleum products in 2011 and natural gas in 2017. In 2017, the United States was a net exporter of coal, coal coke, petroleum products, natural gas, and biomass, but a net importer of crude oil. Net electricity trade with Mexico and Canada was relatively minimal.”
        Once you count Trumps anti Russian gas exports to the EU which have just been signed, not accounted for in your link they become overal net exporters.
        McFlock 1.1.2.3.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 9:59 pm
        What the actual fuck does Russian exports to the EU have to do with your claim “The US is a net energy exporter”? And it doesn’t matter if the US is a net exporter of some types of energy, it’s dependence on importing crude oil makes it a net energy importer. Your statement “The US is a net energy exporter” was categorically wrong.
    - Cinny 1.1.2.4
      21 November 2018 at 10:53 pm
      Far out.
      Saudi’s keep breaking the cease fire.
      Re Al Qaeda in Yemen, crikey the USA+Saudi’s have been paying them money to leave, not fighting them, instead cashing them up and even recruiting them.
      ” Again and again over the past two years, a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States has claimed it won decisive victories that drove al Qaeda militants from their strongholds across Yemen and shattered their ability to attack the West.
      Here’s what the victors did not disclose: many of their conquests came without firing a shot.
      That’s because the Saudi/USA coalition cut secret deals with al Qaeda fighters, paying some to leave key cities and towns and letting others retreat with weapons, equipment and wads of looted cash, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. Hundreds more were recruited to join the coalition itself.”
- marty mars 1.2
  21 November 2018 at 9:06 am
  Yep he is an orange phlegm-cough. He shows his morals are non-existent – sad state of affairs.
  “In the extraordinary statement issued on Tuesday – which begins with the words “The world is a very dangerous place!” – Trump quotes Saudi officials as describing Khashoggi as an “enemy of the state”. ”
  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/nov/20/trump-saudi-arabia-jamal-khashoggi-crown-prince
  - DJ Ward 1.2.1
    21 November 2018 at 10:55 am
    As a staunch member of the Muslim Brotherhood, supporter of Osama Bin Laden with many Personel meetings and advocate for creating a global Islamic state. Yes.
    - marty mars 1.2.1.1
      21 November 2018 at 11:27 am
      Your opinions are worthless – I’m not interested in them at all.
      - DJ Ward 1.2.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 11:36 am
        You haven’t explained how Trump was in any way responsible for the murder or why you think he should be held to account for the murder. The only thing he can realistically do is punish those proven to be responsible. He has done that with sanctions.
        Or how you justify our governments inaction.
        Diagnosis TDS.
      - DJ Ward 1.2.1.1.2
        21 November 2018 at 11:51 am
        Keep up the MSM propaganda line Marty.
        If you read Wiki you will see what I said is true.
        That doesn’t justify the murder.
        Cinny 1.2.1.1.2.1
        21 November 2018 at 11:12 pm
        djward…. “If you read Wiki you will see what I said is true.”
        LMFAO !!!!!!!!!! ROFL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
        Dude, anyone with an email addy can change wiki content. JS
        And which wiki page are you referring to djward, that we need to read?
        It wasn’t just a murder, it was a pre-planned execution. Right down to a forensic expert who taught the clean up crew how to remove all traces of dna. Khasoggi was dismembered, then placed into suitcases and disposed of. It was brutal, especially for a person of the muslim faith, but they knew that, tis why thy did it that way.
        Thou shalt not speak out in the media about the saudi’s or you’ll be next.
        But it sure was well planned, even down to the person who left the embassy dressed in Khashoggi’s clothes, neglected to put on his shoes, which was the giveaway on the CCTV.
        The saudi’s lied about it, denied it ever happened, then hello, the story from the saudi’s kept changing.
        The CIA report ….”blindingly obvious” that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing.
        And trump feel’s their trust worthy enough to sell weapons to? Wow.
        trump could have turned away from the saudi’s using Khashoggi (who is a dual US citizen) as an ‘excuse’, leading to hopefully the demise of the war in Yemen. But noooooo. What a fuckwit.
        DJ Ward …
        22 November 2018 at 1:38 am
        Did you read.
        The Saudis said.
        Not Trump.
        Nobody how much you hate them should be mocked for a comment that is not theirs. Especially when its not undeniable and has supporting facts.
        The victims Wiki page.
        I’m perfectly aware of the events just as much as you are. But thanks for your recap.
        How exactly do you suggest Trump exercises his powers as a dictator to stop this war. Oh wait, the senate.
        Cinny …
        22 November 2018 at 7:38 am
        The saudi’s said what djward, so many comments am not sure which one you are referring to.
- Ad 1.3
  21 November 2018 at 9:49 am
  With all remaining large powers except the EU accelerrating their retreat from diplomatic norms that respect human rights, this statement is the official signpost to hell.
- SaveNZ 1.4
  21 November 2018 at 10:51 am
  Yep and Khashoggi was a US citizen too. So Trump takes the money over his own citizens. Well not really surprising for a right winger. (and increasingly these days a left wing government).
- bwaghorn 1.5
  21 November 2018 at 11:35 am
  Hardly surprising the Usa is always offing people .
  - DJ Ward 1.5.1
    21 November 2018 at 11:48 am
    The US had nothing to do with the events.
    Trump and the US have no responsibility to the events.
    While its appears obvious the Prince was involved, evidential links are scant.
    As the murder victim had US citizenship the US can bring the offenders to the US for trial. However they can’t get their hands on them for that to happen.
    Behind the scenes Trump has confronted this issue. He has said he has asked the Saudi leadership, and directly the Prince if the Prince ordered the killing on at least 5 occasions. The Saudi leadership deny the involvement of the Prince.
    While obviously bullshit what is Trump to do?
    Invade Saudi Arabia to get the Prince?
    Killing millions, and causing a global economic crash.
    - bwaghorn 1.5.1.1
      21 November 2018 at 12:00 pm
      Did I say they were involved in this one ? My point is the us is a murderous state so they are hardly going to get to all upset when their friends do a bit of killing.
      - DJ Ward 1.5.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 12:14 pm
        I don’t think the French care, or Germans, or Russians.
        So why put responsibility only on Trump.
        Barfly 1.5.1.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 12:20 pm
        $110 billion $US in arms sales – money or morals?
        Mind you, didn’t NZ hand over the French killers for the sake of selling sheep brains to the EU?
        DJ Ward …
        21 November 2018 at 1:03 pm
        It’s not Trumps arm sales.
        It’s private companies doing the trade.
        He needs the House (Dems) and Senate (Reps) to act to restrict the economic activity of private Buisiness.
        If he just waved a wand saying you can’t do Buisiness then he truly would be a dictator. Plus he could be sued by the manufacturer.
        The Senate drives sanctions on North Korea, Iran, Russia. Not the President. It is the Senate that oversees arm sales.
        Many of these contracts are Obama era deals. He openly traded with this mysoginistic dictatorship as well. This ‘high profile’ murder is just one of hundreds of political killings over decades. The rational for attacking Trump is no different for Obamas actions.
        The US is far from Saudi Arabias only weaponry provider.
        Gabby …
        21 November 2018 at 4:27 pm
        Come off it dud4, it’s private companies running the government.
        McFlock …
        21 November 2018 at 5:10 pm
        He needs the House (Dems) and Senate (Reps) to act to restrict the economic activity of private Buisiness.
        I do like how you pull bullshit out of your arse. It makes me research new and interesting things.
        For example, International Emergency Economic Powers Act:
        “SITUATIONS IN WHICH AUTHORITIES MAY BE EXERCISED
        SEC. 202. (a) Any authority granted to the President by section
        203 may be exercised to deal with any unusual and extraordinary
        threat, which has its source in whole or substantial part outside the
        United States, to the national security, foreign policy, or economy of
        the United States, if the President declares a national emergency with
        respect to such threat.
        (b) The authorities granted to the President by section 203 may
        only be exercised to deal with an unusual and extraordinary threat
        with respect to which a national emergency has been declared for purposes
        of this title and may not be exercised for any other purpose.
        Any exercise of such authorities to deal with any new threat shall be
        based on a new declaration of national emergency which must be with
        respect to such threat.
        GRANT OF AUTHORITIES
        SEC. 203. (a) (1) At the times and to the extent specified in section
        202, the President may, under such regulations as he may prescribe,
        by means of instructions, licenses, or otherwise—
        (A) investigate, regulate, or prohibit—
        (i) any transactions in foreign exchange,
        (ii) transfers of credit or payments between, by, through,
        or to any banking institution, to the extent that such transfers
        or payments involve any interest of any foreign country or
        a national thereof,
        (iii) the importing or exporting of currency or securities;
        and
        (B) investigate, regulate, direct and compel, nullify, void,
        prevent or prohibit, any acquisition, holding, withholding, use,
        transfer, withdrawal, transportation, importation or exportation
        of, or dealing in, or exercising any right, power, or privilege with
        respect to, or transactions involving, any property in which any
        foreign country or a national thereof has any interest;
        by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction
        of the United States.
        Basically, the pres declares something to be an emergency, then declares the related sanctions.
        Gabby 1.5.1.1.1.2
        21 November 2018 at 6:28 pm
        Watchoo talkin bout dud4?
        Are the germans still selling arms to the saddies?
    - Gabby 1.5.1.2
      21 November 2018 at 6:29 pm
      Residency surely dud4.
- joe90 1.6
  21 November 2018 at 2:21 pm
  MSB owns Javanka, so of course the orange turd is going to roll over and let him do WTF he wants to.
  One of the people MBS told about the discussion with Kushner was UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, according to a source who talks frequently to confidants of the Saudi and Emirati rulers. MBS bragged to the Emirati crown prince and others that Kushner was “in his pocket,” the source told The Intercept.
  https://theintercept.com/2018/03/21/jared-kushner-saudi-crown-prince-mohammed-bin-salman/
  https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudis-using-pompeos-plan-shield-leadership-khashoggi-fallout-says-source-1684431379
  - Cinny 1.6.1
    21 November 2018 at 11:14 pm
    Good links Joe, thanks for that.
cleangreen 2
21 November 2018 at 7:43 am
Is anyone really noticed that “climate change” is now upon us now????
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/108716716/wintry-conditions-set-to-continue-as-heavy-snow-and-rain-forecast-for-south-island
Is anyone feeling that climate change is really impacting on our lives fully now with massive rainfall amounts all over the country now and is flooding us all, and snow and hail is arriving in summer??????
Good article is here to illustrate that climate change is real and now present, so where is Jacinda Ardern on this demise of our planet now” after she was ‘preaching to us
“climate change is our generation’s ‘nuclear moment”!!!!!!!’
“So why is she not reducing truck freight for more less carbon emission transport such as rail which emits 5 to 8 times less carbon emissions than trucks per km of tonne carried each km??????.
Regional rail is not being increased under her “transformative” Government and sadly her government is one third into it’s “first term” so they had better get moving else they will be out in 2020.
Chris Trotter on TDB remarked on https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2018/11/20/making-it-through/ what Christine Rose was quoted correctly saying what is now present’;
“our chances of surviving global warming are slim indeed. And yet, if we put our faith in science, then Christine Rose’s bitter-sweet resignation; her “ecological grief” at the inevitable demise of so many living things”
- DJ Ward 2.1
  21 November 2018 at 1:13 pm
  Nope. Haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary.
  So you propose building Rail to everybody’s front door?
  You should advocate for EV trucking. Rail is useful for large quantity, long distance enterprise but generally its geographically handicapped. Inevitably a truck is needed to deliver to the door.
  Make it a EV truck and you will need something else to complian about.
  - mauī 2.1.1
    21 November 2018 at 1:33 pm
    New Zealand was built using rail and most towns and cities have some connection to it and depended on it. What country has it going to front doors? Are you actually serious?
    EV trucks? lol seriously? You know diesel engines are irreplaceable right in terms of power output?
    - DJ Ward 2.1.1.1
      21 November 2018 at 1:52 pm
      Rubish.
      EV can easily match the output of diesel plus it has a huge advantage in power at no speed. In short runs from Rail hubs and the near instant charging of Ali ion batteries its presently viable.
      - cleangreen 2.1.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 3:58 pm
        DJ WARD
        You are so such an ignorant rant aren’t you?
        Who said rail to every door?
        Secondly you don’t know that trucks have up to 32 tyres now as tyres are made from very nasty monomers/ polymers and toxic chemicals like 1.3.butadiene and styrene, all are cancer causing that the EU is now banning fro use in cities and populated areas because of the toxic poisons Tyre dust is causing to humans.
        Go away we don’t need your rubbish, we have covered this stuff before so don’t waste our time here.
        https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/aug/04/fewer-cars-not-electric-cars-beat-air-pollution-says-top-uk-adviser-prof-frank-kelly
        Electric vehicles emit no NO2 but do produce small particle pollution from the wear on brake discs and tyres and by throwing up dust from roads. A recent European commission research paper found that about half of all particulate matter comes from these sources.
        http://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/bitstream/JRC89231/jrc89231-online%20final%20version%202.pdf
        Abstract
        Traffic related sources are a significant contributor of particulate matter, particularly in urban environments and
        major cities. Traffic related particles can be distinguished into: exhaust traffic related particles, which are emitted
        as a result of incomplete fuel combustion and lubricant volatilization during the combustion procedure, and nonexhaust
        traffic related particles, which are either generated from non-exhaust traffic related sources such as brake,
        tyre, clutch and road surface wear or already exist in the environment as deposited material and become
        resuspended due to traffic induced turbulence. It is estimated that exhaust and non-exhaust sources contribute
        almost equally to total traffic-related PM10 emissions. However, as exhaust emissions control become stricter,
        relative contributions of non-exhaust sources to traffic related emissions will increasingly become more significant.
        The aim of the present literature review study is to present the state-of-the-art of the different aspects regarding
        particulate emissions resulting from non-exhaust sources and particularly from brake and tyre wear. For this
        reason several different literature sources such as peer reviewed papers, research project reports, technical
        publications, as well as licentiate and doctoral theses were examined and the most significant findings in terms of
        importance, physicochemical characteristics, EFs and possible adverse health effects are discussed.
        cleangreen 2.1.1.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 4:01 pm
        DJ ward
        Just remember that rail has ‘steel wheels’ not any of those toxic black ‘plastic’ tyres that are poisoning our human health and environment.
        DJ Ward …
        21 November 2018 at 7:26 pm
        Since you want cars and trucks banned your solution is returning to the horse and cart?
        You miss the point.
        EV vehicles reduce pollution significantly from what we presently have. People are not going to give up Moter vehicles. Next you will be complaining about push bikes with rubber tyres and brakes.
        The solution is not eradication and the reformation of society to suit your irrational idealism of paradise.
        It’s identifying pollution and finding engineering solutions that eliminate or neutralise those pollutants.
        Anybody would think I’ve got no green credentials based on the bullcrap I’m getting. I’ve done more in my life and achieved more in that regard to anybody on this site.
      - mauī 2.1.1.1.2
        21 November 2018 at 6:52 pm
        Nope, nothing can match the power generated by burning fossil fuels that’s why diesel engines have been used in heavy transport for more than 100 years. Having thousands of electric vehicles ferrying stuff around is also completely unsustainable.
        DJ Ward 2.1.1.1.2.1
        21 November 2018 at 8:42 pm
        Absolute rubbish.
        Electric motors can deliver any power you design it to deliver.
        That’s not the reason it’s used at all.
        Extremely large mining machines are electric powered. Not diesel.
        Compared to electricity diesel is more expensive. It’s cheaper to generate electricity in high efficiency multi stage generators with diesel for EV use than in inefficient in vehicle engines by a factor of nearly 3:1.
        Mankind advanced so fast the EV vehicles couldn’t keep up with ICE vehicle developement. ICE vehicles are not tied to infastructure like EV is. EV was handicapped by battery developement stalling with lead acid batteries.
        Once the invention of Lithuim ion and graphine occured ICE vehicles in mainstream use will inevitably become redundant technology.
        Ali ion batteries, a secondary invention to Lithuim ion batteries have a theoretical storage by mass limit 250% greater than the Lithuim theoretical limit. This is due to Lithuim having 1 free electron vs Aluminium having 3 per atom.
        Profound change is going to occur in the near future.
        Incognito …
        21 November 2018 at 9:01 pm
        Extremely large mining machines are electric powered. Not diesel.
        Some very large nuclear subs are propelled by electric motors. Not diesel.
        mauī …
        21 November 2018 at 11:51 pm
        “Electric motors can deliver any power you design it to deliver.”
        No, the example you’ve given is mining trucks which travel at slow speeds and stop and start, more suitable for batteries. Electric is unfeasible for long haul and higher speeds – the core of the entire industry. Hence why electric truck and trailer units don’t seem to exist? Electric trucking will probably only fill niche roles like rubbish collection, mining, where they work.
        New electric trucks are about 3 times more expensive to buy than standard trucks, so that rules them out for a lot of businesses. But I take your point that running costs are cheaper.
        Lithium is a very limited resource, no idea how much production can be scaled up so we can replace our car and trucking fleet.
        DJ Ward …
        22 November 2018 at 1:11 am
        Wrong. The giant diggers etc are electric, cable connected.
        EV is feasible today for long haul and high speed.
        EV can easily outperform ICE for speed, and acceleration, and torque.
        Ali ion batteries, not Lithuim. Aluminium is abundant.
        They can fully charge from flat in less than a minute. Faster than filling up with fuel.
        One Verizon tested 750,000 full charges, full discharges in just over a second to charge and a second to discharge.
        Presently it’s Lithuim but Aluminium batteries will surpass due to characteristics.
        mauī …
        22 November 2018 at 8:43 am
        Well you’ve thrown up a large digger and trucks running off coke cans as the only examples to back up your claims. An electrified trucking industry is just around the corner lol.
      - Graeme 2.1.1.1.3
        21 November 2018 at 9:03 pm
        This sounds like the Mainfreight vision of the transport industry, which will end up looking rather like the good old NZR with the road limits. Only this will be the most efficient and profitable for the carrier.
        There might be an intermediate hybrid step, but battery and motor tech might leapfrog that.
        Evidently Mainfreight is very close to not buying any more pure diesel trucks, at least for the depot – customer part of the business
    - Macro 2.1.1.2
      21 November 2018 at 1:55 pm
      http://etrucks.co.nz/
    - Molly 2.1.1.3
      21 November 2018 at 8:44 pm
      My partner works in the transport industry, and his firm is looking to replace the fleet with EV over the next few years. There are trucks on the road in Europe with good range and tare. The lack of infrastructure here for refuelling means that the first vehicles they will import will have to be hybrids.
      - Macro 2.1.1.3.1
        21 November 2018 at 9:42 pm
        Molly – if you look at my link above – you will see that for short haul trucks they are already here.
        Yes the problem in NZ for long haul trucks is that they would need massive batteries (and reducing their carrying capacity) to have sufficient range to be viable. Living in a semi-rural area I face the same problem with a car, and I find the optimum solution at the moment is a hybrid. An EV is planned for town use with the hybrid for the necessary task of a 200 km drive every 2 – 3 weeks. A Leaf, with a range of around 240 km, is just not practical. (No fast charger where I have to drive to). 🙁
- Adrian 2.2
  21 November 2018 at 3:25 pm
  You mean just like a normal spring, Marlborough has been having November snowfalls and frosts since before time began. They are even called ” A Doctor Muller frost ” after the holder and chronicler of a big sheep station in the 1800s, incidently he was the husband of Mary Ann Muller the great international suffragist writer and phampleteer.
  Nothing new here.
- KJT 2.3
  21 November 2018 at 7:33 pm
  Shipping. 34 times less.
  - greywarshark 2.3.1
    21 November 2018 at 7:51 pm
    Barges – is that the idea? Or won’t they stand up to the high seas.
    - KJT 2.3.1.1
      21 November 2018 at 9:33 pm
      Ships. Small for Auckland Whangarei, or Gisbourne Napier. Larger for N Island, S Island.
      And keep employment, taxes and profit in New Zealand, by requiring New Zealand flag.
Nick 3
21 November 2018 at 7:47 am
Why are you surprised Cinny? Trump gonna Trump on everything, the topic is irrelevant. Money, power and himself, full stop.
Cinny 4
21 November 2018 at 7:53 am
Money power and himself…… I’m going to add hypocrisy to that list.
Sad thing is the average American know’s little or nada about what is going on Yemen.
- garibaldi 4.1
  21 November 2018 at 8:43 am
  Cinny the Americans traditionally learn geography when they invade a country. Now that the cowardly bastards are doing it by drones the general population miss out on their geography lesson.
  - Cinny 4.1.1
    21 November 2018 at 10:13 am
    Unreals.
Dennis Frank 5
21 November 2018 at 8:01 am
“The leader of a media watchdog is urging Pacific leaders to “speak out” over Chinese attacks on the press. At the APEC summit in Papua New Guinea, only journalists from China’s state-run agencies were allowed to attend Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting with Pacific leaders.” https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2018/11/china-dragging-pacific-back-to-colonial-days-expert.html
“Pacific Freedom Forum chair Monica Miller says the situation is “appalling” and a “slap in the face” to journalists. “China is trying to exercise what it is allowed to do back in its own backyard here in our part of the world, where we have open and free media,” she says. “It seems as if we are going back to the colonial days and we have China trying to muscle the press.”
“Pita Ligaiula, a journalist with the Pacific Island News Association based in Fiji, said Chinese influence was among the big issues affecting the region – and it was important to be able to inform the public about its intentions.”
Money talks. Pacific islands are keen to listen to it. China says, you can, on our terms. Pacific islands say okay then, let’s do this. Pacific media have marginal relevance. Pacific governments will take the money on offer, tell their media they can comment from their margins all they like, they don’t need to be present at meetings. Neocolonialism. Offending the powers that be is never a good idea…
cleangreen 6
21 November 2018 at 8:31 am
Jacinda now read what your previous Ministers actually promised the Gisborne People when in 2016 you was in opposition.
In 2016 Labour/NZ First promised to fix Gisborne rail.
http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/2535803-135/three-parties-say-fix-rail.
Quote;
“Leaders of two political parties — including the Government’s coalition partner — along with Labour’s shadow transport minister will be in Gisborne next week to speak about the benefits to East Coast Maori of reopening the Gisborne to Wairoa railway line.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters, Maori Party co-leader Marama Fox and Labour Party transport spokeswoman Sue Moroney will address a rail forum to discuss progress towards the repair and reopening of the Gisborne-Wairoa section of the line.
Forum co-organiser Ken Crispin said supporters are encouraged by positive statements from KiwiRail’s annual meeting last week.
“It was reported that freight carried by rail in this last financial year represented a reduced heavy vehicle impact of 1.1 million road trips, with a reduced fuel input of 77 million litres. This has to be good for the economy as well as for the environment”, he said.
Rail Action Group chairwoman Mary Manuel said the action group was furthering the campaign to reopen the line “on behalf of our iwi and the generations to come”.
The forum will be on Monday at Te Tini o Porou Conference Centre, Kaiti from 9am to 5pm.”
http://gisborneherald.co.nz/business/2454149-135/labour-vows-to-improve-regions-government
ECONOMIC growth on the East Coast is being constrained by its poor infrastructure and lack of strategy from central Government, say members of Labour’s environment and infrastructure caucus committee.
The committee was in Gisborne yesterday for meetings with Eastland Port, Gisborne District Council’s regional transport committee, Wi Pere Trust and LeaderBrand.
“We are hearing from people that the region is being forgotten by the government, left out and issues not being addressed,” said Labour transport spokesperson Sue Moroney.
“Transport is a major issue in Tairawhiti, and it is going to become an even greater issue, because of a ‘good problem’, an increase in export opportunity.
“The volume of logs is expected to double, but there are concerns about how this volume of freight will impact on the way people live, and maintenance costs for roads.”
She reiterated Labour’s support for reinstating the rail line saying although they have not announced their new transport policy it was their policy at the last election and she sees “no reason to change that”.
“In fact the business case for it is building. The overwhelming view is supporting a long-term vision of what regional economic development could take place if there is the infrastructure to support it.
“If you were able to work anywhere and continue to do what you love doing, why wouldn’t you choose Gisborne.”
In line with this Labour would help businesses add value to products.
http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/2437884-135/labour-greens-united-on-rail
Again in the Gisborne Herald in August 2016 again both Labour and Green Party again also promised to re-instate Gisborne rail.
Quote – “Ms Moroney added that a policy was needed that ensured rail, road and sea were all used when fit-for-purpose and reinstating the Gisborne line was a “no-brainer”.
“NZ is pretty damn perfect for rail, yet other countries use rail to much better effect than we do. We move a lot of big stuff, often.”
However, the National Government was “ideologically opposed” to rail and their “complete and utter bias” towards road haulage in particular defied facts, information and practicalities.
She encouraged Gisborne’s vociferous rail lobby to “keep fighting” for rail.
“I just want to congratulate you on a fantastic campaign that is run here from Gisborne and Napier about getting that important railway re-established again. Keep fighting that fight, I know sometimes it seems like no one is listening but it is clear what the problem is — you simply have the wrong government in place to make it a reality.
“It’s going to feel like banging your head against a brick wall but it’s incredibly important that people don’t lose sight.”
Ms Moroney said it was not an issue that should be left to local government; it was a central government issue.
Labour’s last election manifesto had included the reinstatement of the line, and there was no reason why that would change.
So now Jacinda; – in Gisborne and HB we are waiting for your Government to honour your promises made to re-instate the Gisborne to Napier rail service now please. You are looking after other pacific counties “infrastructure, so now we want you to look after our county too please.
- Gabby 6.1
  21 November 2018 at 9:57 am
  Get away from the coast cleany, it’s a goneburger. It’s going under. Trains don’t work under water. Head for the hills cleany.
  - cleangreen 6.1.1
    21 November 2018 at 4:07 pm
    Gabby,
    We have the Government plans for placing the rail systems in areas that are secure from coastal flooding, and they were set up by Julius Vogel in 1880.
    So they knew then it was foolish if we would be placing roads and rail near any beach areas, and we need to plan for this so you are right again 100%
    The roads are to close to beaches now and will suffer badly too.
    - DJ Ward 6.1.1.1
      21 November 2018 at 9:49 pm
      Interesting.
      Are you aware that sea rise is measured.
      Are you aware that measured sea rise is very small.
      In theory it could be very large wiping out cities like Napier, parts of South Auckland.
      Are you aware that tectonic plate movement causes rises and drops in altitude faster than the measured change by a profound amount. Generally not noticed until large earthquakes. Julia’s Vogels generation witnessed the Wellington event.
      The risk of global warming sea level rise is real but the world won’t end even if the worst case occured. Surprisingly it will continue to orbit the sun.
      The sea didn’t exist once, it was all frozen.
      Not long ago the sea was 100m lower than today.
      Life was also just as prolific when temperatures were hotter, CO2 was higher, the day was shorter, and had a significantly more dense atmosphere.
      73,000 years ago earths temperature dropped dramatically. The average sea temperature dropped by 2 degrees for 1,000 years. The result of a super volcano.
      All the animals alive today including us are descendants of those events.
      Climate change needs to be taken seriously, with realism.
      Paranoia needs good medication.
Observer Tokoroa 7
21 November 2018 at 8:36 am
Clean Air – Clean Water
Unfortunately we New Zealanders have no idea that we need clean air – and clean water.
Simon Bridges is a thorough devotee of Pollution. As a Minister he banned visual protest against the Oil Industry and laid severe legal punishments on any persons who tried to bring attention to the critical dangers of Oil.
Kiwis simply do not know that Oil, processed as Diesel and Petroleum is highly Carcinogenic. Your Truck and your Car is causing deadly cancer – night and day.
Simon Bridges does not tell you that. Labour does – and gets trolled for it endlessly by National and their ignorant caucus and Corporate idiots. As such, National is a prime purveyor of Pollution.
In the meantime, our Farmers whether Corporate or Family, are permitted to shunt millions of tons of Cow Shit and Lamb Shit into all our Rivers And streams. Simon Bridges pretends not to know this.
National 24 hrs a day, willingly Pollutes our water. You have to wonder why people don’t just rub the National noses into their own Shit.
- Morrissey 7.1
  21 November 2018 at 8:56 am
  National’s disgusting water policy….
  https://resources.stuff.co.nz/content/dam/images/1/l/f/i/z/s/image.related.StuffLandscapeSixteenByNine.620×349.1lfi0o.png/1504501119377.jpg
Sam C 8
21 November 2018 at 8:38 am
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12163270
It looks like Hagar and Stephenson are about to be shown up for the serial, brazen bullshitters that they really are.
- Morrissey 8.1
  21 November 2018 at 8:44 am
  It looks like Hagar [sic] and Stephenson are about to be shown up for the serial, brazen bullshitters that they really are.
  Really? When has either Hager or Stephenson been proved wrong on any of their investigations into the activities of the New Zealand “Defence” Forces in Afghanistan?
  And the NZ “Defence” Force is an organization that is credible is it? Then why has that coward Lt. Gen. Tim Keating refused to front up to Paula Penfold?
  https://morrisseybreen.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-disturbing-story-behind-willie.html
  - Sam C 8.1.1
    21 November 2018 at 8:49 am
    Looks like they’re about to be proved wrong. 105 times.
    - Morrissey 8.1.1.1
      21 November 2018 at 8:52 am
      As I suspected, you’re not serious.
      - Sam C 8.1.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 9:11 am
        Didn’t you read the link? I am serious. Hager even admits in the article that “some of them are probably true” in ref the 105 errors.
        Hardly the work of a credible investigative journalist. What will you say when Palmer and Arnold dispel Hager’s theories? That they’re in on it too?
        Morrissey 8.1.1.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 9:18 am
        Palmer? Geoffrey Palmer?
        If you believe a word that old lapdog says then you are even more of a fool than you appear so far.
        AB 8.1.1.1.1.2
        21 November 2018 at 9:39 am
        Hager will be right. Every historical work contains errors, plus things that might be errors. In the latter case, there is not enough evidence to be certain either way.
        All that matters is whether these errors are peripheral/incidental, or central enough to undermine the main thesis.
        If you don’t know this you are a fool. If you do know it, but are pretending not to, you’re a propagandist.
        Anne …
        21 November 2018 at 10:55 am
        I understand that the majority of the so-called “errors” quoted by the Defence Force revolve around the one relatively minor mistake that Hager and Stephenson admitted to a long time ago. I refer to the incorrect coordinates in the book re-the position of the village that was invaded. In other words, they inadvertently placed it on a small hill not far from the actual hill. It transpired the error was caused by a faulty translation.
        If that’s all the DF can come up with, I don’t fancy their chances of success. Unless of course the hearing turns out to be an establishment whitewash, which is certainly not beyond the realms of possibility.
        Morrissey …
        21 November 2018 at 11:28 am
        Seeing one of the two people at the “hearing” is Geoffrey Palmer, that creature of Alvaro Uribe, an establishment whitewash is guaranteed.
        https://www.democracynow.org/2011/9/2/as_turkey_freezes_israel_ties_critics
        https://www.insightturkey.com/commentary/torpedoing-the-law-how-the-palmer-report-justified-israels-naval-blockade-of-gaza
        crashcart …
        21 November 2018 at 2:00 pm
        My understanding is that NZDF have video evidence recorded from the helicopters of all three raids. They sounds very confident that it backs their version of events.
        Also they seem very certain about the number of shots fired by NZDF personnel. There will be documentation on this as every round is tracked and every time a weapon is discharged it is recorded.
        Whilst I wouldn’t expect people to just take the word of the NZDF I would hope that they wouldn’t undermine the findings of the enquiry before it is even conducted. That is a very Trump thing to do.
        Anne …
        21 November 2018 at 3:49 pm
        In the mid to late 1960s, I spent four and a bit years working for the old AKTV2 as an audio technician. I’m not saying it has happened in this instance (we will never know) but I know how simple it is to edit a video in such a way as to present a different picture of an event than actually occurred. They did it to me once at a party. The result was hilarious if rather embarrassing.
        Given today’s advanced technical knowledge I doubt anyone would be able to detect if such a scenario existed, with the exception of those who were there. And that is where the bulk of Stephenson’s and Hager’s information came from – soldiers who were physically there and saw what happened.
        I have also worked on a Defence Force base as a civilian, and whilst I had no quarrel with the rank and file who were generally a good bunch of people, I would not have always said the same about some of the D.F. brass.
        Sam C …
        21 November 2018 at 4:35 pm
        Aha – they’ve doctored the video! This in spite of you not having seen it Anne. Of course they have!
        And Palmer is a corrupt puppet of the Establishment! Of course he is!
        And, and and…
        I’m having trouble keeping up.
        Anne …
        21 November 2018 at 4:57 pm
        Liar. Never said a word against Palmer in my life. If you represent the “Establishment” then God help New Zealand.
        lprent []
        21 November 2018 at 7:01 pm
        Yeah.Sam C appeals to have an intelligence issue. He is a bit short of it.
        Thick as a plank in my expert troll sniffing opinion.
        Crashcart …
        22 November 2018 at 11:33 am
        Yes video can be edited. This is not video owned or controlled by the NZDF. It is US military video. It would also not be the only evidence I would rely on. As I said simple things like rounds expended is closely tracked. There will be actual documentation from the day that will record how many rounds were issued and how many were returned. The NZDF have literally thousands of pieces of evidence. I am not saying they will all be relevant but they will build a picture.
        There is a reason why eye witness testimony is considered one of the weakest forms of evidence. It is distorted over time. Especially when the witnessing happened in a high stress situation such as combat. I am not dismissing the eye witness testimony as it is an important part of building the picture. It is not however the most defining or most robust form of evidence. All evidence needs to be weighed and considered.
        This is what the enquiry should do. The way that Morrisey has been attacking the validity of the enquiry before it has even started is what concerns me. I am pretty sure that is what Sam C is referring to with his comment about accusations of Palmer being a corrupt puppet.
        SaveNZ 8.1.1.1.1.3
        21 November 2018 at 10:54 am
        Modern litigation and distraction used successfully by tobacco and climate change deniers. You distract the entire argument around some semantic or little point rather than the overwhelming evidence against the guilty party.
- Chris T 8.2
  21 November 2018 at 8:48 am
  Always found it a bit odd that people take Nicky Hager seriously.
  - Morrissey 8.2.1
    21 November 2018 at 8:55 am
    ????
    You should read his books. At least one of them, anyway.
    What credentials do you have to make such a criticism of Nicky Hager?
    - Michelle 8.2.1.1
      21 November 2018 at 12:38 pm
      Well they raided his home so someone took him seriously and we paid for the cops balls up another one of many over the years
      - Morrissey 8.2.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 4:23 pm
        It wasn’t a “balls up”, it was systematic harassment and intimidation. They were perfectly aware it was illegal, but they went on with it anyway.
    - cleangreen 8.2.1.2
      21 November 2018 at 1:07 pm
      Morrisey
      Chris cant read that’s why he wants to be in “politics” as they preach ‘fiction’
  - AB 8.2.2
    21 November 2018 at 8:58 am
    We take him seriously because the powerful are so desperate to smear him.
    You don’t take him seriously because you want to keep your authoritarian fantasies intact.
  - Molly 8.2.3
    21 November 2018 at 9:45 am
    As Morrissey says, read his books. Randomly check his sources – and he provides them all at the back of his books. If you have the chance to listen to him in person, watch how carefully he chooses his words, and how he refuses to exaggerate, even when the interviewer is persistent in prompting.
    Then perhaps you will get some idea of why people take him seriously.
    - Anne 8.2.3.1
      21 November 2018 at 4:04 pm
      Yes, I can vouch for that.
      I have been to a couple of functions where he was the guest speaker. He is strictly fair in his presentations. If a particular matter does not necessarily equate to any wrong doing on the part of whichever part of the establishment he is talking about (in this case the Defence Force) he will go to extraordinary lengths to ensure the audience recognises as much.
  - Gabby 8.2.4
    21 November 2018 at 9:53 am
    He’s got a bit of money christy. Surely you take that seriously.
    - Chris T 8.2.4.1
      21 November 2018 at 10:07 am
      Odd statement
      Why would how much money someone has make their views any more relevant?
      - Gabby 8.2.4.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 4:20 pm
        You worship the wealthy don’t you christy?
        Chris T 8.2.4.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 6:54 pm
        I have no idea
        Ask me when I have some
    - ianmac 8.2.4.2
      21 November 2018 at 12:43 pm
      Not true Gabby. Nicky lives on the barest of income. His tastes are very simple in his home-built house.
      - cleangreen 8.2.4.2.1
        21 November 2018 at 1:09 pm
        True that is ianmac.
        Nicky lives very ”frugal’.
        Robert Guyton 8.2.4.2.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 1:29 pm
        Gabby’s referring to the payout from the police; come on guys, sharpen up 🙂
        Her teasing of Chris T also (all Righties automatically respect people with money) is elegantly done also. I’m with Gabby.
        Anne …
        21 November 2018 at 3:55 pm
        Gabby is a breath of fresh air even though I have copped one or two of her witty barbs.
  - SaveNZ 8.2.5
    21 November 2018 at 10:57 am
    I take him more seriously that the establishment fear him so much that they have to make illegal cases agains him and steal his computers.
    Searching questions after Hager apology
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/104682529/searching-questions-after-hager-apology
  - greywarshark 8.2.6
    21 November 2018 at 11:32 am
    You think a lot of odd things too, Chris T, so perhaps you are in a regular confused state.
    - cleangreen 8.2.6.1
      21 November 2018 at 1:12 pm
      Yes to that greywarshark. 100% Chris T is always confused like all his mates in National Party are.
- Gabby 8.3
  21 November 2018 at 9:52 am
  Are the kids alive and well sammie?
- greywarshark 8.4
  21 November 2018 at 1:11 pm
  8
  /sarc
Morrissey 9
21 November 2018 at 8:53 am
Free Speech continues to come under grave attack in Britain
https://azvsas.blogspot.com/2018/11/the-ihra-definition-of-anti-semitism.html
SaveNZ 10
21 November 2018 at 11:15 am
“The end of London’s ‘mega mansions’
Super-sized “mega homes” are to be banned in central London as Westminster City Council draws up new plans to ensure “real people” can buy properties.
The council, which oversees some of London’s most expensive postcodes including Mayfair, Knightsbridge and Belgravia, said it will restrict new builds over 150 square meters (1,615 sq ft), in order to preserve homes for “real people” instead of oligarchs and members of the global elite.
Westminster council argued that 150 square meters is “generous”, as it is 50 per cent larger than the average family home in the area.”
https://www.oneroof.co.nz/news/35651/?ref=nzhhome
Pity NZ did not implement something similar in the unitary plan. Yeah, nah, that’s right unitary plan was for the super rich to shaft the rest of Auckland with the woke lefties braying approval because they couldn’t join the dots and still thing ‘trickle down’ is a thing too.
DJ Ward 11
21 November 2018 at 11:22 am
Cinny asked a question yesterday, in regards to the abortion, women lying about being on the pill issue, along the lines of, go on prove it. So thank you Cinny. Your statement is far better than the victim blaming and minimise approach of others.
Others were equally dismissive of the argument, or that lying about being on the pill is a crime.
I suggest people read this. With both eyes please.
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/man-put-holes-condoms-sex-girlfriend-loses-appeal-article-1.1714830
- McFlock 11.1
  21 November 2018 at 1:36 pm
  lol
  “We conclude that where a complainant has chosen not to become pregnant, deceptions that deprive her of the benefit of that choice by making her pregnant, or exposing her to an increased risk of becoming pregnant by removing effective birth control, may constitute a sufficiently serious deprivation for the purposes of fraud vitiating consent,” the justices wrote.
  Now you just need to demonstrate that getting pregnant is substantively the same as being made pregnant without consent.
  - DJ Ward 11.1.1
    21 November 2018 at 1:41 pm
    “We conclude that where a complainant has chosen not to become pregnant, deceptions that deprive him of the benefit of that choice by making her pregnant, or exposing him to an increased risk of her becoming pregnant by removing effective birth control, may constitute a sufficiently serious deprivation for the purposes of fraud vitiating consent,” the justices wrote.
    There fixed it for you.
    - McFlock 11.1.1.1
      21 November 2018 at 1:58 pm
      Ah. So if you rewrite the judges’ decision to suit your position, it says what you want it to say.
      - DJ Ward 11.1.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 4:14 pm
        No. It says the same thing. The gender has changed. The judges comment has not changed.
        You are implying a law only applies to men, women are exempt. Theres a word for people that think like that.
        Women are free to abuse men. Which is current policy in pretty much every legal domain.
        Not that you care McFlock but this subject is actually ultimately about children.
        The more consential conception is the better the outcomes for children. Outcomes for planed, consential pregnancies are far better than outcomes for unwanted children.
        McFlock 11.1.1.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 4:24 pm
        No, I’m implying nothing.
        I’m explicitly stating that there is a fundamental difference between making someone else get pregnant and making yourself get pregnant.
        That difference might be enough to make your claims about “abuse” legally arguable. Please provide a link to a case where a woman has been convicted of sexual assault for getting pregnant.
        DJ Ward …
        21 November 2018 at 5:59 pm
        You never will have such a case. Prosecutions for any female on male sex crime is vertualy non existent. Police laugh at males who make historic sex abuse cliams with female offenders. Police also arrest males who make this particular sex abuse cliam of non consential conception because domestic violence at relationship breakdown is common. So is male suicide. This was first highlighted in the midwife initiated teenage father study decades ago. The slaughter of our boys continues.
        Women don’t even get prosecuted for having sex with drunk males when they want to get pregnant without the males consent.
        As you are aware men get sent to prison for having sex with drunk females. Despite thousands of events the investigation rate is 0%.
        I’m not interested in prosecuting women.
        That’s a fear in your mind (don’t know why).
        I asked about what is a human rights violation. The crown provides multiple opt out options for unwanted pregnancy for women. Men have no options even when technically sex abuse victims.
        The IRD makes 15 year old boys pay child support. Was it legal to have sex with them?
        Legalise the male pill!
        Incognito …
        21 November 2018 at 9:08 pm
        Legalise the male pill!
        FFS [pun intended]. Tie a knot in it or give it an ice-bath. You know, it’s mind over …. never mind.
        McFlock …
        21 November 2018 at 9:50 pm
        I asked about what is a human rights violation.
        So take it up with the Human rights Commissioner.
        The crown provides multiple opt out options for unwanted pregnancy for women. Men have no options even when technically sex abuse victims.
        “Technically” show me where, in NZ law, that is the case. With links.
        Legalise the male pill!
        Please link to the male pill that you believe is illegal in NZ even though it has been thoroughly tested and is completely safe and almost 100% effective.
        That having been said, yes, there is an issue in recognising and prosecuting sexual assault against males. I’m just not sure that your hypothetical case of women lying about being on the pill would count. It might, if one squinted a bit when interpreting the words “nature or quality”. But I’ve argued your corner for you more than you have.
- Cinny 11.2
  21 November 2018 at 10:39 pm
  That example is a four year old story from Canada, JS, but fair enough it is an example.
  As I said before one can get pregnant on the pill, doesn’t make them a liar.
  Does anyone warn the teens that drunk sex is awkward and not satisfying. Breathe in the boozy breath mhmmm I want that beer coated tongue in my mouth, why isn’t your cock working, whoops, sorry I just passed out for a bit, ewwww don’t spew up there, ffs that’s my wardrobe not a urinal.
  Re the male pill, honestly am not sure I could trust a man to take it regularly.
  Being pregnant and giving birth is no picnic, neither is an abortion or a miscarriage, leaving those decisions up to a man’s reliability on taking a pill…. yeah nah.
  But in saying that, why do men so easily trust a women when she say’s she’s on the pill? Maybe because either way there is no possibility the man will get pregnant, so no worries mate, it’s all on her.
  A word of advice, djward, you come across as a woman hater, might not be your intention, but the subjects you raise, sheez.
  Either that or you are flat out trolling. Maybe it’s both.
  I do read kb, have never commented there, the language, abuse, name calling, bullying is freaking vile as. As well the moderation is pathetic. But I noticed you are a regular visitor. JS.
SaveNZ 12
21 November 2018 at 11:36 am
Should migrants who might have worked overseas for significant periods of time qualify for NZ super when they also have overseas super or private pensions that they are entitled too?
Likewise people born overseas who somehow live the high life but appear to have no income generated here to justify that lifestyle but also qualify for super having not worked in NZ much, or paid taxes here only a fraction of their life.
It does not seem fair that Kiwis who live and work in NZ most of their lives get less than those who live in other countries and thus can get 2 pensions or just never lived here at all most of their lives and somehow get a pension and free health care and rest home care that NZ taxpayers pay for .
I don’t think the pension should be means tested but if you were born overseas and have contributed little in your working life into NZ you should not qualify for a NZ pension at all nor free health care nor free rest home care.
Private insurance should be paying for those who are born overseas or who spend most of their working life out of NZ apart from refugees. so that it is fairer to people who choose to live here on often lower wages who then somehow are expected to pay for the world’s wealthy retirees who apparently come just come here and get residency after 11 days or through marrying someone after a few weeks after meeting them online.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/indepth/commercial/britannia-financial-services-pension-transfer-UK/
- bwaghorn 12.1
  21 November 2018 at 11:46 am
  Maybe part of the residency application should include the handling over of their pension to nz super
  - SaveNZ 12.1.1
    21 November 2018 at 12:00 pm
    Yes bwaghorn that is a start. And I’m not against people who can support themselves and have the morality to retire here. But there needs to be more protection to Kiwis who live and work here not to support the world’s (often wealthy) retirees and a plan if they renege on paying for their own care and how they need to guarantee their care up front before being allowed to come here in case something goes wrong once they come here and NZ taxpayers end up having to support them.
    Look at then estimated costs of retirement or aged care…
    Rest home care costs at least $1000 p/w
    Plus surgical care, hip replacements, heart surgery, eye surgery, lets say $10k per year which I think is around the cost of private cover for elderly people.
    Prescriptions $40 p/w
    Free travel with Gold card $40 p/w
    Winter payment $450 – $750
    Pension $24k per annum single or $15,600 if you are in a rest home.
    It seem very strange looking at the costs just to keep one retired person here in NZ that we are allowing so many migrants to come here to retire who can then “lose’ their money somehow or even keep it, and NZ ends up paying significant amounts for their care and even a pension somehow.
    Then there are the recent migrant prison criminals at $100,000 per annum aka Czech Smuggler.
    We are paying for this by government borrowing and assets sell offs or decreased services or low wages for teachers or doctors else where.
    NZ has to get it’s shit in order, because our government policy is making a mockery of the future of NZ in the next decade when there will be so many liabilities that our government should have prevented NOW by policy that is fair and makes sense.
greywarshark 13
21 November 2018 at 11:38 am
Good news on how we are trying to deal with plastics (soft type).
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018672146/local-processing-of-soft-plastic-starts
business environment
Local processing of soft plastic starts
From Nine To Noon, 9:38 am today
9.05 mins
The soft plastic recycling scheme, run by the Packaging Forum, has been operating since 2015 and now covers about 70 percent of the country.
Photo: Facebook / Love NZ Soft Plastics Recycling
For the first time, soft plastic collected for recycling is being processed in New Zealand, and turned into fence posts and ducting for cables.
Earlier this year, soft plastic such as bread bags, chip packets and confectionery wrappers was being stockpiled here, as the Australian plant which had been contracted to recycle it, refused to take any more.
Lyn Mayes from the Soft Plastic Recycling Scheme, run by the Packaging Forum, says there are now local processors. She says the packaging industry is trying to find alternatives to plastic.
- WeTheBleeple 13.1
  21 November 2018 at 12:20 pm
  That is good news. With viable products this type of industry might reach a point where it’s feasible to start ‘tapping’ the Pacific gyre.
  I’m dubious of any plastics left out in the sun however, like fence posts.
  What we need now is someone imaginative to come up with things they can make.
  Engineers – to your stations!
  - greywarshark 13.1.1
    21 November 2018 at 1:14 pm
    Hey wood deteriorates too. Certainly as a short term measure to deal with a present problem plastic fence posts would be appropriate especially for town use where they would give a nice clean grey or white appearance for a good many years.
    - WeTheBleeple 13.1.1.1
      21 November 2018 at 6:48 pm
      Wood biodegrades. Plastic breaks down to enter the food chain. It would be a shame to remove plastics from the ocean only to redistribute them over land.
      Just a wee touch of imagination, they’ll do just fine. Or is it all simply more green washing where Australia forced our hand to participate?
      Ducting is typically used beneath floors and above ceilings. These are places out of sunlight in which plastics might last indefinitely. A suitable product. There are many underground applications for which such materials might be suited. It is lightweight, waterproof, insulative and persistent.
  - greywarshark 13.1.2
    21 November 2018 at 1:22 pm
    Plastic –
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvh5NJpVhpY
    Jeremy Irons voices a mockumentary on the journey of a plastic bag to its home in the sea.
    (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLgh9h2ePYw
- marty mars 13.2
  21 November 2018 at 12:35 pm
  I can’t wait until we turn our back on plastic and go back to the old ways of doing stuff. Recycling plastic is like asking for ice cubes for your martini on the titanic imo.
  - mauī 13.2.1
    21 November 2018 at 1:11 pm
    Yep, what was wrong with paper bags! I now don’t use any bag at all – I carry items out of the supermarket in my arms in protest.
    - greywarshark 13.2.1.1
      21 November 2018 at 1:14 pm
      I hang my bags off my ears. Use what you’ve got I say.
    - joe90 13.2.1.2
      21 November 2018 at 2:04 pm
      Yep, what was wrong with paper bags!
      Been thinking about paper v plastic bags, so I asked google.
      http://www.allaboutbags.ca/papervplastic.html
      https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/green-science/paper-plastic1.htm
      - Andre 13.2.1.2.1
        21 November 2018 at 6:18 pm
        Those two pieces are pretty light on my biggest objection to plastic bags (and plastics in general) – the littering and harm to wildlife aspects. It really hit home for me watching a sea turtle munching a jellyfish, then start in on a plastic grocery bag floating past. And seeing exposed coral covered so thick in bags and other plastic caught on it that you could barely see it was coral underneath.
        But yeah, the extra resource usage to make paper packaging complicates the issue quite a bit. In the end though, the paper vs plastic argument obscures the bigger problem – why so fkn much packaging to begin with?
        Macro 13.2.1.2.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 6:33 pm
        Totally agree
        As for the use of paper bags – like my two (reused many times) plastic bags I carry in my hessian carry bag, I have several paper bags for reuse as well.
        My butcher understands my objection to plastic trays and bags, and is happy for me to reuse the tinfoil containers with lids which I bring to carry my purchases home.
  - cleangreen 13.2.2
    21 November 2018 at 1:44 pm
    Yep Martymars, 100%
    I was astonished yesterday when someone turned up with a plastic bubble of six muffins from Pac’n’save what a overuse of plastic that was.
    Why cant they place them in a paper bag?????
    Pac ‘n’ save need to get real here too!!!!!!
    We also have all our liquids in plastic now and even most medicines too!!!
    Haven’t the medical or the helpless NZ Health Department heard of the dangers of keeping food stuffs inside plastics???? BPA hazards; -look that up
    https://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/bpa-declared-toxic-by-canada-1.873250
    In August, Statistics Canada reported that measurable levels of BPA were found in the urine of 91 per cent of Canadians aged six to 79.
    “Health Canada considers that sufficient evidence relating to human health has been presented to justify the conclusion that bisphenol A is harmful to human life and should be added to Schedule 1 of [the Canadian Environmental Protection Act],” the federal government reported in the Canada Gazette.
    I trust Canadian authorities more than corporate US companies.
    - Puckish Rogue 13.2.2.1
      21 November 2018 at 3:00 pm
      Thats what bugs me, plastic bags are useful, very useful. I won’t go into all the uses a plastic bag has because there are many and I’m sure others have their own uses for them.
      So Countdown does the virtue signalling thing and stops using plastic bags (which is a pain in the butt) but yet still has has so much plastic packaging that can’t really be used for anything, especially around fruit and vegetables. I mean why not look at using biodegradable bags instead
      - ianmac 13.2.2.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 3:16 pm
        My kiwifruit and bananas tomatoes and potatoes have their own baggage, so guess how they get to my home.
      - cleangreen 13.2.2.1.2
        21 November 2018 at 4:17 pm
        Pucky;
        Well the science was already done on “bio-degradable bags” and say that the remains of the bags when they shed into little pieces then get digested by other forms of life in our food chain and poison our food through the transfer of the BPA components in the plastic remains, so we get poisoned this way sadly so they say don’t rely on bio-degradable plastic bags.
      - marty mars 13.2.2.1.3
        21 November 2018 at 7:35 pm
        A plastic bag doesn’t have many uses – it holds stuff – a wide variety of stuff and that is it. Other uses are just contrived.
      - Ed 13.2.2.1.4
        21 November 2018 at 10:03 pm
        Don’t buy their packaged food wherever possible.
        Use farmers markets and fruit and vegetable shops.
        Take your own bags.
SaveNZ 14
21 November 2018 at 2:33 pm
ATEED who is a COO funded by RATEPAYERS is a scrooge.
Auckland Santa Parade funding drops in favour of Pride Parade, Diwali
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2018/11/auckland-santa-parade-funding-drops-in-favour-of-pride-parade-diwali.html
- greywarshark 14.1
  21 November 2018 at 7:42 pm
  Huh gay pride don’t have as many kids as everyday people do so they don’t really have a personal drive of making a future for their children, and getting them socialised and mixing and enjoying with the community. For the gays It’s more like being a flock of male peacocks admiring each other, and the same with females who also want to enjoy the colour and drama of the male feathers. But it isn’t aimed at children.
  And Diwali can have their own day, and Chinese can have their New Year Dragon and fireworks. That just shows how multi-ethnic and open we are, and it is all beautiful and colourful. And Maori have Matariki; we have to be able to celebrate things we hold as important. But the stylish young things who are up with the play and so sophisticated are looking at creating events for visitors and overseas tourists and not focussed on the citizens – we’re still out there you know.
  We love our Santa Parades and the people who don’t like Christmas being celebrated and commercialised are nit pickers and full of cold pious budgetary efficiency. And those who object to Christmas having Christian background can just enjoy the enjoyment of others, the colour, the costumes, the decorations, the bands, the fun which is Christmas for most children and the major group of adults.
UncookedSelachimorpha 15
21 November 2018 at 3:09 pm
A good suggestion from Tim Hazledine – use Kiwibank to rein in the extreme profits extracted by the four main commercial banks:
https://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/2018671704/tim-hazledine-time-to-give-kiwibank-teeth
ianmac 16
21 November 2018 at 3:19 pm
Mike Joy has a simple solution to a complex problem aided by Norightturn.
Could it be that simple??? Reckon yes!
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2018/11/we-need-fewer-cows.html
- JC 16.1
  21 November 2018 at 3:44 pm
  “It strikes me with great clarity that if you look at the problems in isolation they each seem intractable; but when you grasp that there could be one single solution, then suddenly there is a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.”
  https://www.bwb.co.nz/books/mountains-sea
  Solving New Zealand’s Freshwater Crisis
  Mike Joy (ed)
- Andre 16.2
  21 November 2018 at 6:29 pm
  As NRT notes, a less intensive mode of farming still appears to be profitable. Of my farming acquaintances, most that have tried intensive and not-so-intensive seem to have settled on the not-so-intensive model. It seems more resilient, and the up-and-down swings in the returns aren’t as dramatic. To be sure, a good year doesn’t peak quite as high, but then a bad year doesn’t bite nearly as hard, and over the long term the average return seems a bit better. With a lot less stress, although probably not any less work.
  - Macro 16.2.1
    21 November 2018 at 6:42 pm
    Not only is there less effluent being discharged and polluting waterways and damaging soils but a return to a more natural grazing cycle can have substantial benefits wrt carbon sequestration as well as increased animal health.
    “The Potential of Restorative Grazing to Mitigate Global Warming by Increasing Carbon Capture on Grasslands”
    Summary: This white paper reviews the literature on soil organic carbon losses and potential gains through regenerative management. It finds that most literature is limited to areas considered in “agriculture” and that rangelands may be largely under represented both in terms of of losses and drawdown potential. It argues that with regenerative rangeland practices, such as Holistic Planned Grazing, the total capture of atmospheric carbon may be much higher than previously considered. An upward estimate of 88 to 210 gigatons (billions of tons) of carbon (88-210 GtC) representing a total drawdown of 25 to 60 tons per hectare on 3500 million hectares of grasslands worldwide is postulated as achievable through proper rangeland/grassland management. This represents a CO2 reduction equivalency of 41 to 99 ppm, enough to return us to the 350 ppm level mandated by the Paris Climate Accords.
    Itzkan, Seth. 2014. Upside Drawdown – The Potential of Restorative Grazing to Mitigate Global Warming by Increasing Carbon Capture on Grasslands. Draft for comment v0.9.5. Somerville, Massachusetts: Planet-TECH Associates.
    - WeTheBleeple 16.2.1.1
      21 November 2018 at 6:56 pm
      Thank you.
      Bill, you rubbished me when I stated soil carbon could make a significant difference, and then LPrent joined in for a good ol’ group kicking in which you both laughed at me and called me all kinds of stupid and ill informed.
      I got so pissed off I banned myself for months.
      Apologise.
      - Robert Guyton 16.2.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 7:10 pm
        I’m a supporter of the idea that the soil is the best repository for carbon that’s presently drifting about the atmosphere. There are clever combinations of plants and methods that can do this very quickly, with the farmers doing the biz – they can become, I reckon, the New Heroes who Save the Planet, but whether they do or not, is yet to be seen. Progress to date has been glacial, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. It could. In my view.
        Macro 16.2.1.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 9:28 pm
        A more expansive explanation of the research and science behind the above abstract is given here:
        http://www.planet-tech.com/upsidedrawdown
        eg.
        Even small percentage increases in soil carbon worldwide can dramatically reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations.
        Entering this conversation is the practice of Holistic Planned Grazing (HPG), in which livestock are herded in a fashion that replicates the beneficial grazing, trampling, dunging, and nutrient recycling dynamics with which wild herding ruminants coevolved with perennial grassland plants and carbon-rich soils (Savory & Butterfield, 1999). Decades of anecdotal evidence and recent studies suggest this practice has great promise, both for ecological functioning, including plant growth and hydrology, and for increasing soil organic carbon (SOC) (Dagget, 2005; Earl & Jones, 1996; Gill, 2009; Howell, 2009; Norton, 1998; Stinner, Stinner, & Martsolf, 1997; Teague et al., 2011; K. T. Weber & Gokhale, 2011). For example, Teague (2011) showed that land managed under a restorative grazing regimen (multi-paddock with ecological goals) had a far higher SOC value than land on a similar site managed with traditional (heavy continuous) grazing. When factoring across all soil profile depths measured, this added carbon equated to a 30 t C/ha. Additionally, Weber (2011) showed that land under a restorative grazing regimen (simulated Holistic Planned Grazing, SHGP), had significantly improved water holding capacity, measured as percent volumetric-water content, %VWC, when compared with traditionally grazed lands. Hydrological functioning is correlated with soil carbon (Feger & Hawtree, 2013; Franzluebbers, 2002).
- DJ Ward 16.3
  21 November 2018 at 8:59 pm
  Farmers don’t put fertilisers on with the intent of loosing money. What a stupid thing to say. This guy is clearly still running with concepts of what’s happening from 20 years ago. Time for Mike Joy to at least learn what he is talking about.
  - Robert Guyton 16.3.1
    21 November 2018 at 9:10 pm
    DJ Ward – your commenting manner is … unsophisticated, in a not-very-admirable way – just sayin’
    Mike Joy, otoh, expresses himself with clarity and honesty. He’s very well researched and dedicated to his topic. Let’s have a look at what he says:
    “The problems faced by New Zealand’s environment, particularly freshwaters and soils are wicked, complex and intertwined. After struggling with these issues for a half a lifetime, it strikes me with great clarity that if you look at each in isolation they seem intractable; but when you grasp that there could be one single solution that addresses them all, then suddenly there is a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.
    Take, for example, a subset of the many environmental issues facing New Zealand, such as bacterial and pathogen contamination of water and soil, excess nutrients in waters, excess sediment in waterways, freshwater habitat loss, groundwater contaminated with pesticides and nutrients, and the huge loss of the mauri of waterways. Any of these issues appear impossibly hard and/or expensive if evaluated in isolation for costs, or for the difficulty or value of resolution.
    But if there was one action available that substantially addressed all of the issues listed above, then the decision would be simple – take that action. When multiple gains can be made for the cost of a single action, and the combined gains far outweigh the single cost of that one action, the next move is obvious. When it comes to the freshwater crisis, a single solution does exist – simply, reducing farming intensity: less cows.”
    - DJ Ward 16.3.1.1
      22 November 2018 at 12:59 am
      Yes I made a mistake in my comment. I responded to the repost comment. Not Mike Joys comment.
      ” It also looks to be profitable for farmers, because they don’t have to waste money on fertiliser to support overstocking.”
      Which is clearly irrational.
      I however don’t agree with Mike Joys comment for a number of reasons. As pointed out.
WeTheBleeple 17
21 November 2018 at 7:27 pm
A few years back I had a plumbing issue and the contractors cleaned up after themselves with a bulldozer blade. They left me with podzol looking soil, white chalk and clay. Two years later that strip is topsoil again, through the use of cover crops and mulch.
The large April storm revealed heart rot fungi in a big tree here which then had to come down. The mulch and cuttings of this tree have become surrounds for many more trees and garden beds, and mulch to support them.
The privet the council has failed to kill for decades is my bitch. I kill this stuff by chainsaw then hand. This becomes fuel wood, landscaping materials, poles, mulch, compost and hugelkultur. All manner of trees get planted on the privets graves.
The problems are the solutions. And often they’re f’n simple. But turning round agriculture isn’t simple. The farmers here are still convinced the world will go into starvation mode if they wean themselves off urea. Meanwhile the waterways are full of excess. But they all go on and on about their sparing use of these products, how they’ve ‘changed’.
Regenerative agriculture is absolutely the way to go. Mind your step for the vegans though.
- Robert Guyton 17.1
  21 November 2018 at 7:41 pm
  And so, WTB, have you read Daniel Quinn’s “Ishmael”?
  🙂
  - WeTheBleeple 17.1.1
    21 November 2018 at 8:12 pm
    Not read that book either. I’m gonna start asking if you’ve read the hardcore textbooks i have soon to restore my ‘well read’ ego. Just read a brief synopsis it looks good. I’ve thought the notion of human supremacy a bit far fetched in light of our overall actions; though we do have potential…
    Just trawling permie stuff and came across a very good clip on swales. Due to the paucity of clear and concise information I’ll share it here for you, your clients, farmers, the planet…
    - Robert Guyton 17.1.1.1
      21 November 2018 at 8:38 pm
      A simple explanation of the net.
      https://www.facebook.com/bbctwo/videos/2037397152946067
      - WeTheBleeple 17.1.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 8:42 pm
        That’s the sort of material that got me to university. Been obsessed with fungi for 40 years. Just get me started, I dare ya! 😉
        Robert Guyton 17.1.1.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 8:48 pm
        Me too. Must be connected by some mysterious subterranean filamentous net…
        Robert Guyton 17.1.1.1.1.2
        21 November 2018 at 8:50 pm
        And don’t ya just hate fungicides !!!
        If ever there was a product that screams “stupid humans”, it’s fungicides!
        WeTheBleeple …
        21 November 2018 at 9:41 pm
        Trichoderma is my fungicide 😀
        Robert Guyton …
        21 November 2018 at 9:55 pm
        Those turncoats!
- greywarshark 17.2
  21 November 2018 at 7:58 pm
  Don’t get down about the farmers changing WtB. We don’t believe in a flat earth any more do we? So they will catch on one day. Trouble is nobody gets old and dies now. Ninety is the new 75, so it takes longer for the churn of young people who can change to get to the top. I don’t think we have time to plod along and wait for the old to pass. And so many of all ages are wedded to the idea that having ideas is a mental disease – look at all the plonkers and noxious weeds we get here. A little bit of bare screen and up pops another stinking bindweed.
  - WeTheBleeple 17.2.1
    21 November 2018 at 8:39 pm
    Yeah. It’s that frustration that change is too slow rearing it’s head again. Must soldier on. Lumping farmers all together is a bit rough as well. Sorry Folks.
    Dairy farmers are largely responsible for cheese. So really, they’re almost Gods.
    The fact it is possible to still make significant change and mitigation to, well, mitigate… it drives me a bit nuts.
    And the onus is not simply on agriculture. We all need to be on board together.
    Section owners can sequester carbon, save money, get exercise, reduce health bills, reduce food bills, reduce food miles, reduce landscaping costs and petroleum use, provide bbq fuel, meet neighbors, get fresh air, smell the roses…
    Just by gardening with permaculture principles. They can do a course, buy books, phone a friend or youtube how to get there. The benefits listed are significant. These also include mitigating climate related stress.
    It would help tremendously. We could restore concept’s like wartime’s Victory Gardens. War on Climate Change Victory Gardens, for all!
    The more sustainable systems within the environment, the more resilience we will have, the more chance we all get.
    Preaching to the converted a bit – always with the awareness other readers read our conversations.
    - Robert Guyton 17.2.1.1
      21 November 2018 at 8:45 pm
      We need a dedicate,d well “baited” post that’s put up first thing in the day on a day when there are lots of readers. Then we’d get some great discussions and perhaps turn the blog in a positive, practical, shared-experience direction. There are a number of posters here with lively, useful, creative and inspirational ideas on this topic. Can we do that? Yes, we can!
      - WeTheBleeple 17.2.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 8:57 pm
        I’ve thought about this, but don’t want to be seen to be trying to dominate the board or indulging in repetitive bashing over heads which turns folks away. A few of us working on solutions and positive news of people implementing ideas could work however, as variety of thoughts and styles really helps communicate ideas anyway. I’m more than willing to pitch in.
        Yep. I’m in.
        It’s a highly politicised topic, I don’t think The Standard would mind us steering more conversation to this area. I’m sure they’ll chime in if they do mind.
        Robert Guyton 17.2.1.1.1.1
        21 November 2018 at 9:02 pm
        Let’s try one and see how it goes. Perhaps tomorrow, on Open Mike we could put the idea up, gather supporters, attract the attention of a mod and set the day. Whaddayareckon?
        Robert Guyton …
        21 November 2018 at 9:07 pm
        Or, maybe an author could simply post this quote from Mike Joy 🙂
        “The problems faced by New Zealand’s environment, particularly freshwaters and soils are wicked, complex and intertwined. After struggling with these issues for a half a lifetime, it strikes me with great clarity that if you look at each in isolation they seem intractable; but when you grasp that there could be one single solution that addresses them all, then suddenly there is a glimpse of light at the end of the tunnel.
        Take, for example, a subset of the many environmental issues facing New Zealand, such as bacterial and pathogen contamination of water and soil, excess nutrients in waters, excess sediment in waterways, freshwater habitat loss, groundwater contaminated with pesticides and nutrients, and the huge loss of the mauri of waterways. Any of these issues appear impossibly hard and/or expensive if evaluated in isolation for costs, or for the difficulty or value of resolution.
        But if there was one action available that substantially addressed all of the issues listed above, then the decision would be simple – take that action. When multiple gains can be made for the cost of a single action, and the combined gains far outweigh the single cost of that one action, the next move is obvious. When it comes to the freshwater crisis, a single solution does exist – simply, reducing farming intensity: less cows.”
        WeTheBleeple …
        21 November 2018 at 9:34 pm
        Yes. Gathering helpers/support is a great first step. Possibly form a core group on the topic and see if the Standard might let us write regular articles. We might concentrate on mitigation and solutions rather than climate change itself – the very nature of our posts would spell that out anyway. It might set a better tone than ‘more climate browbeating’ as the audience is relatively receptive.
        I guess put the idea, or the idea to develop the idea, out there; and see who is interested and what ideas spring forth in the discussion.
        On climate browbeating, the debate is over on climate changes existence. Deniers are trolls, professional or Trumped up.
        Should we be engaging them anymore? I guess those in positions of power need to be challenged; but the mindless troll wants us to engage them, not ideas for solutions.
        I met Mike Joy was a meet and greet for him when Generation Zero brought him to UoA. Went to the lecture and thoroughly enjoyed it. Learned a bit about stream make-up I didn’t know, the existence (loss) of significant interstitial spaces (from siltation) between the rocks. That stuff bothered me.
        The interstitial spaces were how, back in the day when living in the bush, a small creek I camped beside had an astounding abundance of life. That which I could see was merely the surface. And those layers of rocks beneath the surface, coated in biofilm, were a large part of the systems food chain where nutrient loads were captured and converted up the food chain, rather than overwhelming and filling the gaps with crud.
        Robert Guyton …
        21 November 2018 at 9:43 pm
        I reckon, don’t mention “climate change” at all – take it as a given and bypass the naysayers. The techno-solution folk as well, could do as we are proposing and raise a post to keep our “earthy” topic clear of junk 🙂 There have, of course, been plenty of very good posts by a range of authors here before, all hail those people, but we, I think, are yearning for something a bit more organic, less confrontational, more collective and …fun? I am, anyway.
        WeTheBleeple …
        21 November 2018 at 9:53 pm
        Yes. For me the important part is to be more solutions oriented. And I do appreciate the efforts of all, whether I like the approach or not. I feed into confrontational stuff too easily, but it’s not good for my, or anyone’s, mental health.
        Fun! Don’t you know we ARE ALL DOOMED!
        Working on a comedy project last night with a mate. We were in tears.
        “Pandas are wife beaters. That’s why they’re not breeding. Give them a bamboo buffet, running water, ambient music, candles, and years to figure it out. Whadda ya get?
        Two black eyes, no babies.”
        greywarshark …
        21 November 2018 at 9:50 pm
        I want to achieve something here not just say why dont they…..?
        I wrote to shane jones and stuart nash – got confirmation email but feel they will never get back to me. Tried to discuss small is beautiful but everyone else was too busy,
        but if we had a regular thread that contained an archive and we could put up useful stuff to build a data base – not quite sure how to do it however.
        Robert Guyton …
        21 November 2018 at 9:58 pm
        Something along the lines of Dark Mountain (only not dark 🙂
        There have to be poems.
        WeTheBleeple …
        21 November 2018 at 10:16 pm
        ‘but if we had a regular thread that contained an archive and we could put up useful stuff to build a data base”
        I’m not sure how to do it either, but I’m sure some folks here do.
        Absolutely we need more poetry.
        You can be the first to view this wee gem. I’m biased…
        This is Westmere.
        The ladies are out walking their goat
        With a hint of patchouli and strong smell of dope
        There’s a man in a dress eating salmon on toast
        This is Westmere
        A once was an actor with pot belly gut
        Working on ads for community stuff
        But never a nod cos he’s too cool for us
        This is Westmere
        The kids from the state houses scream with delight
        As chickens tear past them in panic and fright
        The rich kids look on through windows sealed tight
        This is Westmere
        Trophy wives training in makeup and perms
        Jogging cos fatties get kicked to the kerb
        It’s all about looks and they do look superb
        This is Westmere
        A crazy hotch potch of classes and race
        A magical marvelous mystery place
        But gentrification moves at some pace
        This was Westmere.
        Robert Guyton …
        22 November 2018 at 12:47 pm
        Is “Westmere” your own work,WTB?
        If so, congratulations; it’s very good indeed.
        te reo putake …
        21 November 2018 at 11:15 pm
        Great idea, Robert, WTB. Open Mike and Daily Review throw up some terrific discussions but dedicated posts definitely work better for engagement. There’s always the guest post option and we are always looking for new authors.
        There are serious time/work/life demands that impact on the regular authors’ ability to post, so TS does often rely on OM to cover issues that really deserve a post of their own. Anything you guys can come up with that enhances the way the site operates would be most welcome.
        Robert Guyton …
        22 November 2018 at 2:08 pm
        Hi te reo putake
        Thanks for responding to our discussion (of last night).
        I get the demand-on-authors thing and wonder if the idea that follows might alleviate that pressure. It seems (to me) that we don’t need an authored intro or topic for what we propose; we’re just looking for one step up from Open Mike, which invites comment on everything under the sun, to a thread where “the way forward” can be discussed, within parameters such as doable suggestions, successful examples, contributions from readers who support the concept (of the thread), new “takes” on the future etc. There’s no need to set a topic or change the look of the thread; we’ll know where we can go to talk in this way about these things. I have a suggestion: put up, at your or other authors discretion, a “standard” post, titled “How to get there” – it’s also the title of a wonderful Michael Leunig poem/cartoon, and illustrate the post with that very image to make it immediately recognisable and set the tone for discussions that might/will follow. Here’s the link to Leunig’s poem. I’m certain he won’t mind us using it; I’ve met him and he’s delightful 🙂
        Hi te reo putake
        Thanks for responding to our discussion (of last night).
        I get the demand-on-authors thing and wonder if the idea that follows might alleviate that pressure. It seems (to me) that we don’t need an authored intro or topic for what we propose; we’re just looking for one step up from Open Mike, which invites comment on everything under the sun, to a thread where “the way forward” can be discussed, within parameters such as doable suggestions, successful examples, contributions from readers who support the concept (of the thread), new “takes” on the future etc. There’s no need to set a topic or change the look of the thread; we’ll know where we can go to talk in this way about these things. I have a suggestion: put up, at your or other authors discretion, a “standard” post, titled “How to get there” – it’s also the title of a wonderful Michael Leunig poem/cartoon, and illustrate the post with that very image to make it immediately recognisable and set the tone for discussions that might/will follow. Here’s the link to Leunig’s poem. I’m certain he won’t mind us using it; I’ve met him and he’s delightful 🙂
        http://develop.curlyflat.net.au/images/galleries/cartoons/how-to-get-there.jpg
        HOW TO GET THERE
        Go to the end of the path until you get to the gate.
        Go through the gate and head straight out towards the horizon.
        Keep going towards the horizon.
        Sit down and have a rest every now and again,
        But keep on going, just keep on with it.
        Keep on going as far as you can.
        That’s how you get there.
        As far as moderation is concerned, I suspect those taking part will manage their own, given the tenor of the thread and its intention; could be wrong, of course, but a trial will soon test that.
        Whaddayareckon?
        I’ll post this on today’s (Thursday’s) Open Mike, in case this thread has been lost into the mists of time or you are off-duty 🙂
        All criticisms, suggestions welcomed, naturally.
        Robert
Morrissey 18
21 November 2018 at 8:09 pm
Utter morons declare their admiration for Seal Team 6
The disturbing enforcement of praise for those murderers starts at about the 2:00 mark…

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Earlier in the year the government ran a consultation on improvements to the Emissions Trading Scheme, aimed at making it actually work. Yesterday, they announced their decisions. Most importantly, the total number of units available to the ETS will be ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
23 hours ago

Small is e-Beautiful
The electric revolution on our city streets, already underway, looks much more like a scooter than a Tesla. Why? Physics. And geometry: Size really matters for both energy consumption and spatial efficiency. And both drive affordability and therefore the speed ...
Transport BlogBy Patrick Reynolds
1 day ago

On the passing of internet time.
Some years ago, New Zealand poet and scholar Michele Leggott was able to date a series of poems by Robin Hyde after noticing that one of the pages of the manuscript bore faint traces of another piece of writing. It ...
Bat bean beamBy Giovanni Tiso
2 days ago

A win for democracy
For the past few elections, local authorities have been obsessed with online voting as a way to cut costs. They were planning a trial at next year's local body elections. But now its been cancelled:The proposed trial of online voting ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
2 days ago

WINZ undermines KiwiSaver
The idea of KiwiSaver was to encourage new Zealanders to save for their retirement. But WINZ is undermining the scheme by demanding that people use their retirement savings rather than giving them benefits:The number of people looking to dip into ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
2 days ago

Member’s Day
Today is the last Member's Day of the year, but it looks like it will be taken up with local business. First off, the government is ramming through its Muldoonist Tasman District Council (Waimea Water Augmentation Scheme) Bill, designed to ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
2 days ago

Normalising The Unthinkable.
Dark Imaginings: That more and more novelists and screen-writers are reaching for the deadly virus plot-line reveals an alarming shift in the zeitgeist. Slowly but unmistakably, the mood of the world’s artists is darkening. Few now are willing to embrace the ...
Bowalley Road
2 days ago

Climate Change: Forfeiting the profits of fraud
Since 2008, the New Zealand government has pursued a climate change policy based on fraud, using dodgy or outright fraudulent Russian and Ukranian "credits" to "offset" our ever increasing domestic emissions. And we've banked the "surplus" from that fraud, and ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
2 days ago

A Polish Joke – At The Planet’s Expense.
Polish Humour: To stage a critical conference on Climate Change in the heart of Poland’s coalfields just has to be a joke. Right?KATOWICE, SILESIA. Polish humour, no? To stage a critical conference on Climate Change in the heart of Poland’s ...
Bowalley Road
2 days ago

Dances With Elephants.
When elephants dance, the wise mice stick to the wall. - Swahili Proverb.IT BEGAN so positively: wreathed in smiles and full of promise; a government of kindness and transformation. It hasn’t lasted. In a depressingly short period of time, the ...
Bowalley Road
2 days ago

South Island Kaka thank DOC for its Efforts
See the stoat creating havoc in the Kaka’s nest in this video. Then look at the impact on nesting numbers after the aerial 1080 drop was completed – 30 times more nests! This is what the battle to save and ...
Gareth’s WorldBy andrewc@top.org.nz
2 days ago

Speaker: Cannabis: make it legal but don’t let anyone make money from it
I don’t want big business marketing marijuana to my kids. This is what will happen in Canada with the recent purchase of a market-leading marijuana business by a major tobacco company. In Aotearoa, right now, we have a chance to do something different.I’m ...
Public Address
2 days ago

Dec-18 AT Board Meeting
Yesterday Auckland Transport held their last board meeting for the year and it was an important one with some key decisions being made. The big one, was that the board have approved for consultation their draft speed bylaw. This is ...
Transport BlogBy Matt L
2 days ago

Hard News: Public Address Word of the Year 2018
The years keep getting weirder, but one thing doesn't change: the Public Address Word of the Year is annually chosen by the people of the internet as the strange light fades into Christmas. Will this year's people's choice be a ...
Public Address
2 days ago

At last – A fundamental shift in social policy
The child wellbeing strategy represents the most significant shift in social policy in over four decades because of its focus on children as a population group and its emphasis on addressing structural issues in promoting economic and social wellbeing. This ...
Briefing PapersBy Ian Shirley
2 days ago

Like health care, climate policy could tip elections
In the November 2018 midterm elections, Democrats won the U.S. House of Representatives popular vote by a margin of about 8.6 percent and gained 40 seats in that chamber. For perspective, President Obama won his convincing 2008 and 2012 elections by 7.2 ...
Skeptical Science
3 days ago

Colombia: the real and bloody legacy of Belisario Betancur
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Belisario Betancur, the ex-president of Colombia (1982-1986) died in his bed on the 7th of December, 2018. He corpse hadn’t even time to go cold before he received and avalanche of eulogies from politician, ns and ...
RedlineBy Admin
3 days ago

Colombia: the real and bloody legacy of Belisario Betancur
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh Belisario Betancur, the ex-president of Colombia (1982-1986) died in his bed on the 7th of December, 2018. He corpse hadn’t even time to go cold before he received and avalanche of eulogies from politician, ns and ...
RedlineBy Admin
3 days ago

If this is “terrorism”, we should all be terrorists
Yesterday, December 10, was human rights day. And the UK celebrated it by convicting 15 human rights protesters of "terrorism":In a prosecution that has been condemned by human rights groups, Alistair Tamlit and Benjamin Smoke and the other members of ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
3 days ago

Great streets for Grey Lynn: a beauty of a reboot!
This is a cross post from our friends over at Bike Auckland. Feedback is now open on the revamped designs for Grey Lynn, which include not only neighbourhood bikeways, but great stuff for pedestrians, more trees, and quality landscaping. Here’s Auckland ...
Transport BlogBy Guest Post
3 days ago

Legal Beagle: Name suppression appeals
I recently published a tweet thread, which I thought I might copy and past here, for anyone interested.=============I have long thought that the 20 working days allowed to appeal a refusal to make a suppression order is too long, when ...
Public Address
3 days ago

Accountability
Over the past months we've learned of a crisis in NZTA's oversight of vehicle warrants of fitness, with garages allowed to issue thousands of dodgy warrants to unsafe vehicles and the work of truck inspectors not checked. People have died ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
3 days ago

A convenient failure
How many children in state care have mental health issues or have attempted suicide? Conveniently, CYFS doesn't know:A psychiatrist says it's a "failing of the system" that Oranga Tamariki, the Ministry for Children, does not know how many children in ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
3 days ago

Protest works
For the past month France has been brought to a standstill, as members of the yellow vest movement have protested against inequality, the cost of living, and president Emmanuel Macron. And today, a week after serious riots in Paris, Macron ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
3 days ago

AT’s Consultation Crunch
Consultation is an important part of the process for public agencies but getting it right is easier said than done. Sometimes the issues with consultation stem from what is included, sometimes from how the results are interpreted – only those ...
Transport BlogBy Matt L
3 days ago

Australia – Moving to Renewable Energy
Solar and Wind Australia’s six States and two Territories have always had primary responsibility for implementing policies on the transition away from fossil fuels to renewables as an energy source. As a result, there has been a significant increase in the ...
Skeptical Science
3 days ago

Public Television
Around the turn of the century, I had the privilege and pleasure of serving on the board of Television New Zealand for a period of about ten years. I enjoyed the experience enormously and welcomed the chance to make my ...
Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
4 days ago

Public Television
Around the turn of the century, I had the privilege and pleasure of serving on the board of Television New Zealand for a period of about ten years. I enjoyed the experience enormously and welcomed the chance to make my ...
Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
4 days ago

Climate Change: Punching above our weight
New Zealanders are usually proud when New Zealand ranks highly at something when measured per capita. But one measurement of that nature which we shouldn't be proud of: we're one of the worst countries in the world for per-capita greenhouse ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
4 days ago

Hard News: Music: A Teutonic Tonic
One of the many challenges posed by Christmas is Christmas music. Christmas carols are all very well, but spending the day actually listening to carols? That way lies madness, or at least an unseasonable degree of suffering. In our house, ...
Public Address
4 days ago

The First CRL Breakthrough
There was some great news on Thursday with City Rail Link announcing they’d made their first breakthrough, connecting the tunnels under Albert St to the ones built through the Commercial Bay site. CRL’s CEO Dr Sean Sweeney, say, “The ...
Transport BlogBy Matt L
4 days ago

Climate Change: Fingers in their ears
Back in October the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned that we have to limit global warming to less than 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial temperatures, and that we had only 12 years left to do so. The stark description of ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
4 days ago

The British establishment’s propaganda problem
From 1948 to 1978, the UK Foreign Office ran a secret domestic propaganda operation, the Information Research Department, which targeted UK trade unions and left politics under the guide of "countering communism". Forty years after that operation was shut down, ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
4 days ago

Hard News: A complicated pathway to wellness
He Ara Oranga: Report of the Government Inquiry into Mental Health and Addiction was published last week and while it offers a substantial list of recommendations for the way such services should be conceived and delivered, I found what it ...
Public Address
4 days ago

A victory for transparency
This morning the government announced that it will be proactively releasing ministerial diaries from January next year:Government ministers are trying to shake the image of shady politicians holding secret meetings by opening up their diaries. The State Services Minister will ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
4 days ago

Letters of Low Expectations – tomorrow’s work at Auckland Council
It seems that almost every day we learn more about the urgent need for radical action to avert catastrophic climate change. Not only are the disastrous consequences becoming clearer, but after years of relatively stable emissions, they are actually increasing ...
Transport BlogBy Heidi O'Callahan
4 days ago

What we do
With the horrible, tragic case of Grace Millane in the news, we’ve been talking a lot about what women do – and what we shouldn’t have to – to be safe in our country. So I wrote on Twitter: My ...
Boots TheoryBy Stephanie Rodgers
4 days ago

2018 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #49
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week, i.e., Sunday, Dec 2 through Saturday, Dec. 8 Editor's Pick Can 2018’s extreme weather persuade skeptics that the climate is changing? A ...
Skeptical Science
5 days ago

Raining On The White Tribe’s Parade
Santa Who? What sort of woke, politically-correct bubble would you have to be living in to think this was a good idea? Certainly, it is hard to imagine someone with little brothers and sisters, nephews and nieces; someone who remembers ...
Bowalley Road
6 days ago

RIP Pete Shelley
...
Left hand palmBy lurgee
7 days ago

New research, November 26 – December 2, 2018
A selection of new climate related research articles is shown below. Climate change mitigation Emission scenario analysis for China under the global 1.5 °C target Climate change communication Attribution matters: Revisiting the link between extreme weather experience and climate change ...
Skeptical Science
7 days ago

General Motors layoffs and how capitalism works today
The increasingly parasitical nature of capitalism today is reflected today in a number of ways. One is the artificial nature of share ‘values’ and how workers’ jobs, pay and conitions are affected by this. Below is a piece dealing ...
RedlineBy Admin
7 days ago

General Motors layoffs and how capitalism works today
The increasingly parasitical nature of capitalism today is reflected today in a number of ways. One is the artificial nature of share ‘values’ and how workers’ jobs, pay and conitions are affected by this. Below is a piece dealing ...
RedlineBy Admin
7 days ago

News from the COP24 Climate Change conference in Poland
NZ slammed by Climate Action TrackerCANA’s Cindy Baxter, reporting from the COP24 conference, says that Climate Action Tracker has rated NZ’s current policies to be “highly insufficient” and our 2030 target “insufficient”, and we are also being criticised for ...
Coal ActionBy Rob Taylor
7 days ago

Same old same old
A couple of years ago, in response to a report showing pervasive criminality within the fishing industry, the Ministry of Primary Industries finally started talking about doing something about it, via remotely-monitored cameras on fishing boats. After much foot-dragging that ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
7 days ago

A Tom Scott cartoon on Saudi Arabia…
A Tom Scott cartoon… . . The only thing is… It’s not commenting on the murder of Washington Post journalist, Jamal Kashoggi… It’s post September 11, and was drawn 2001/02. Some things never seem to change. . Published on The ...
Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
1 week ago

AT not ambitious enough with electric buses
If Auckland Transport’s Low Emission Bus Roadmap is adopted by its board next week, all new buses in Auckland from 2025 onward and all buses by 2040 will need to have zero emissions. They also are targeting to have the City ...
Transport BlogBy Matt L
1 week ago

Twitter: reinstate Meghan Murphy
Sign the change.org petition to re-instate Meghan Murphy Meghan Murphy Meghan Murphy is one of Canada’s pre-eminent feminist journalists and the editor and publisher of “Feminist Current”. Feminist Current’s reach is international. For a decade Murphy has dedicated ...
RedlineBy daphna
1 week ago

Twitter: reinstate Meghan Murphy
Sign the change.org petition to re-instate Meghan Murphy Meghan Murphy Meghan Murphy is one of Canada’s pre-eminent feminist journalists and the editor and publisher of “Feminist Current”. Feminist Current’s reach is international. For a decade Murphy has dedicated ...
RedlineBy daphna
1 week ago

Australia: racism beats “national security”
Today the Australian house of representatives is debating the government's super-important encryption backdoor legislation, which would require services like Signal to put a government backdoor in their software. Meanwhile, the Senate is debating an amendment which would require the government ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

Passed
Last night Parliament passed the Employment Relations Amendment Act. The Act is disappointing, in that it only eliminates 90 day trials for large employers and restricts union access to workplaces. At the best, it returns the law to where it ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

Protecting the umpire
Wednesday’s flare-up in Parliament, which saw the Speaker ordering both National’s leader and Leader of the House out of the chamber while most of their party colleagues (read more ...
PunditBy Andrew Geddis
1 week ago

Climate Change: A threat to our security
If we don't stop it, climate change threatens to cause famine, migration, war, and death. and now NZDF has recognised the obvious: that all of this is a threat to New Zealand's security:Climate change has been identified as one of ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

A history of the light rail project
There have been some slightly strange conspiracy theories floating around recently about how the City Centre to Mangere light rail project came into existence. I looked at the history recently but thought it would be worthwhile taking a more detailed ...
Transport BlogBy Matt L
1 week ago

Trump’s disbelief won’t stop dangerous climate change
“I don’t believe it,” said Donald Trump when asked about the fourth national climate assessment, authored by 13 government agencies and hundreds of the US’s top climate scientists. His administration had tried to hide the report, publishing it on Black Friday ...
Skeptical Science
1 week ago

Media statement: Child poverty bill doesn’t address cause: Inequality
For immediate release Monday 3rd Dec 2018 CHILD POVERTY BILL DOESN’T ADDRESS CAUSE: INEQUALITY As Parliament prepares to pass the Child Poverty Reduction Bill this coming week, the income equality group Closing the Gap again urges MPs to tackle the ...
Closing the GapBy Marino Smith
1 week ago

Tacitly encouraging local conspiracy theories.
I do not mean to bang on about the Anne Marie Brady case but since it is coming up on one year since the campaign of criminal harassment began against her, I feel compelled to mention how the Labour-led government’s ...
KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
1 week ago

Climate Change: Helping the market
The government today announced a $100 million green investment fund to help new Zealand transition to a green economy: The Government has bankrolled a $100 million green investment fund which aims to invest with businesses to reduce emissions while also ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

NZ should sign the UN Global Compact on Migration
One of the foundations of New Zealand foreign policy has been support for international institutions and international law. Now, the National Party is opposing that foundation over the UN Global Compact on Migration, saying that "it's not for the UN ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

The causes and economic consequences of rising regional housing prices (part 1)
This is a post from Peter Nunns I stepped down from Greater Auckland at the start of the year as my schedule was about to get a lot busier. First, I was going to have a baby in August. This has ...
Transport BlogBy Guest Post
1 week ago

Après moi, le déluge
Consequences of National's austerity, part 287: the public service forgot how to deal with (and was not funded for) a change of government:Public servants responsible for the transition between governments failed to support new ministers as no-one had planned for ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

Legal advice and freedom of information
The UK government was found to have committed contempt of parliament today, and will be publishing its full Brexit legal advice as a result (and as a desperate attempt to keep government ministers out of the clock tower). Meanwhile, human ...
No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
1 week ago

HealthCarePlus Newsletter Summer 2018
HealthCarePlus Spring 2018 Newsletter ...
Tertiary Education UnionBy TEU
1 week ago

Making Charitable Gifts and Paying Taxes
The Christmas festive session is traditionally the time for charitable giving, when many of us recognise the need to ensure that the hungry can enjoy a Christmas dinner and that Father Christmas can bring presents on Christmas morning for kiddies ...
Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
1 week ago

Making Charitable Gifts and Paying Taxes
The Christmas festive session is traditionally the time for charitable giving, when many of us recognise the need to ensure that the hungry can enjoy a Christmas dinner and that Father Christmas can bring presents on Christmas morning for kiddies ...
Bryan GouldBy Bryan Gould
1 week ago

Kids in the City: Access
This three-part series of guest posts is written by Alex Bonham, a member of Women in Urbanism, who has worked as a Porse carer and is now researching “the playful city” for her doctorate. In this series of three posts ...
Transport BlogBy Guest Post
1 week ago

Gavin Hawthorn: send him to (drug) court, but not to prison
News that Gavin Hawthorn has recently been convicted of drink driving yet again has caused oodles of outrage, reported in the media. Hawthorn has already killed four people in two separate accidents.read more ...
PunditBy Roger Brooking
1 week ago

Older posts

Ngāti Tūwharetoa passes third reading
Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations, Andrew Little, today welcomed Te Ariki Tā Tumu Te Heuheu and members of Ngāti Tūwharetoa to Parliament to witness the Third Reading of their Treaty Settlement legislation, the Ngāti Tūwharetoa Claims Settlement Bill. ...
Labour
16 hours ago

Crackdown on synthetic drug dealers
Crackdown on synthetic drug dealers The Government is responding to increased drug-related deaths by cracking down on the suppliers of synthetic drugs while making it easier for those with addiction problems to get treatment, Health Minister Dr David Clark ...
Labour
19 hours ago

Milestone in Police recruitment
A milestone in Police recruitment has been achieved with the deployment of more than 1,000 new constables around the country since the government was formed. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and Police Minister Stuart Nash congratulated graduates of Wing 321 ...
Labour
22 hours ago

Government ropes in livestock rustling
Justice Minister Andrew Little today introduced a supplementary order paper (SOP) on the Crimes Amendment Bill to crack down on livestock rustling. ...
Labour
2 days ago

Small business the focus of Australian talks
Efforts to progress a seamless trans-Tasman business environment will take another step at a ministerial roundtable meeting in Sydney tomorrow. Small Business Minister Stuart Nash and Australian Assistant Treasurer Stuart Robert will co-host a roundtable meeting of senior government and ...
Labour
3 days ago

Andrew Little – Speech to Amnesty International event to mark the 70th Anniversary of the Univ...
ANDREW LITTLE - SPEECH TO AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL EVENT TO MARK THE 70TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ON WORLD HUMAN RIGHTS DAY, PARLIAMENT, WELLINGTON ...
Labour
4 days ago

Tax reforms focus on fairness
New tax legislation has been introduced to Parliament to ensure greater fairness in the way the tax system shapes commerce, investment decisions and social policies. Revenue Minister Stuart Nash has introduced the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2019-20, GST Offshore Supplier ...
Labour
1 week ago

Preventing death and injury on our roads
Police Minister Stuart Nash and Associate Minister of Transport Julie Anne Genter are encouraging road users to be alert to a new safety campaign launched today by Police and the NZ Transport Agency in the lead up to the Christmas. ...
Labour
2 weeks ago

New comms centre improves public services
A new digital services and communications centre opened on the Kapiti Coast will help transform the way Police connect with the public and work to make communities safe. Police Minister Stuart Nash has officially opened the Police Digital Services Centre, ...
Labour
2 weeks ago

MHF welcomes Government’s response to synthetic drug use
The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) welcomes the Government’s announcement that it will make it easier for those with synthetic drug use problems to get the help they deserve. ...
Scoop politics
23 mins ago

Action needed to help people with mental health issues: OECD
New Zealand has carried out major health and welfare reforms over the past decade but needs to do more to help people with mental health issues stay in work or find a job, according to a new OECD report. ...
Scoop politics
12 hours ago

New Zealand needs to take a human-rights based approach
Acting Chief Human Rights Commissioner Paula Tesoriero will highlight significant human rights issues in New Zealand with United Nations member states in Geneva this week. ...
Scoop politics
14 hours ago

Tahu-Whaoa celebrate Tūwharetoa Claims Settlement Bill
Tahu-Whaoa celebrate Tūwharetoa Claims Settlement Bill passing The Ngati Tahu – Ngati Whaoa Runanga Trust congratulates Ngāti Tūwharetoa on achieving its comprehensive Treaty of Waitangi claims settlement. The Ngāti Tūwharetoa Claims Settlement Bill ...
Scoop politics
14 hours ago

Mental Health Foundation welcomes the Budget 2019 priorities
The Mental Health Foundation (MHF) welcomes the Budget 2019 priorities released by the Minister of Finance today. ...
Scoop politics
14 hours ago

Diverse group answer Fire and Emergency’s call
Fire and Emergency New Zealand has welcomed a diverse group of 22 new firefighters at a graduation ceremony at the National Training Centre in Rotorua today. ...
Scoop politics
16 hours ago

Maintaining Illegality Of Drugs Vital For Public Health
Family First NZ says that the Government’s announcement of taking a tough line on synthetic cannabis is the right move, but maintaining the illegality of drugs is also important because we should continue fighting drugs and the devastation its ...
Scoop politics
16 hours ago

Action needed to help people with mental health issues
New Zealand has carried out major health and welfare reforms over the past decade but needs to do more to help people with mental health issues stay in work or find a job, according to a new OECD report. ...
Scoop politics
16 hours ago

Interim Name Suppression Review Petition
Interim Name Suppression Review Petition 13th December 2018 On Monday 10th December the accused of the murder of Grace Millane was declined name suppression by Judge Evangelos Thomas but defence lawyer, Ian Brookie, appealed the Judge’s decision. ...
Scoop politics
17 hours ago

Lifewise’s response to action on synthetic drug deaths
Lifewise supports the Government’s response to synthetic drug deaths which strikes a balance between giving law enforcement the tools they need to target criminal networks and changing drug law to make it easier for people to access help when they ...
Scoop politics
18 hours ago

Christmas finance offers dress up danger as opportunity
Flyers arriving in mailboxes encouraging Kiwis to “entertain now, pay later” are fuelling the pressure to spend at Christmas, even if it means racking up debt. ...
Scoop politics
18 hours ago

DSIDE. Our Plastic
DSIDE announces his new project; to spend the next four months traveling the a lap of New Zealand’s North Island, following the coasts to get to as many beaches as possible, picking up all the pollution he can, as much ...
Scoop politics
18 hours ago

Trout Farming Proposal a “Dead Loss” for NZ
A petition of a former salmon farmer calling on Parliament to pass law allowing commercial trout farming has been criticised by a national trout and rivers advocacy as ridiculous, short-sighted and “a dead loss” for New Zealand. Graham Carter, ...
Scoop politics
18 hours ago

Bar Association concerned about undermining of trial
Leading New Zealand barristers are concerned that the trial of the man accused of the murder of Grace Millane might be compromised by ongoing breaches of court orders suppressing the name and information about the accused. ...
Scoop politics
19 hours ago

Wellbeing of working people welcome budget focus
Council of Trade Unions (CTU) Economist Bill Rosenberg applauded the new approach to Government Budgets, as described in the Budget Policy Statement this afternoon, for taking into account the wellbeing of working people and their families. ...
Scoop politics
19 hours ago

City Mission Welcomes Measures to Tackle Synthetic Drugs
The Auckland City Mission welcomes the government’s announcement today that it will crack down on suppliers of synthetic drugs while investing in drug related health interventions. ...
Scoop politics
19 hours ago

New Approach to Drugs Will Save Lives
The Salvation Army says increased support, announced today for New Zealanders suffering from the impact of drugs will save lives. ...
Scoop politics
20 hours ago

Growing surpluses show need for tax cuts, not a CGT
With the Government’s OBEGAL annual surplus expected to grow to $8.4 billion by 2023, the Government should campiagn on tax cuts at the 2020 election not a capital gains tax, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union in response to the ...
Scoop politics
20 hours ago

Wellbeing approach needs more detail
The wellbeing approach revealed at the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update needs more detail before it can be used to influence policy making, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . ...
Scoop politics
20 hours ago

Safe, warm and well-fed: Making it the norm
Safe, warm and well-fed: Making it the norm The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) says that the 2018 report from the Child Poverty Monitor shows that one in five children in Aotearoa are suffering unacceptable levels of hardship and ...
Scoop politics
21 hours ago

Response to Govt crack-down on synthetic drug dealers
The Addiction Practitioners’ Association (DAPAANZ) welcomes the government’s announcement that it will make it easier for those with addiction problems to get treatment and that it will crack down on the suppliers of synthetic drugs. It does, ...
Scoop politics
21 hours ago

Māori Climate Commissioner condemns Aust’s climate denial
Māori Climate Commissioner condemns Australia's climate denial and calls on Patrick Suckling to resign ...
Scoop politics
21 hours ago

Statement on the proposed changes to the Misuse of Drugs Act
We know that effective prevention requires action to target supply chains, combined with health-focused support to reduce demand, addiction and improve people’s lives. ...
Scoop politics
21 hours ago

Statement on the proposed changes to the Misuse of Drugs Act
We know that effective prevention requires action to target supply chains, combined with health-focused support to reduce demand, addiction and improve people’s lives. ...
Scoop politics
21 hours ago

NZSIS welcomes Inspector-General’s warrants report
The New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) welcomes the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security’s report relating to applications for intelligence warrants under the Intelligence and Security Act 2017. ...
Scoop politics
22 hours ago

Public service workforce data shows sluggish improvement
The public service workforce data released today by the State Services Commission has confirmed very low pay movement, says the PSA. ...
Scoop politics
22 hours ago

2018 Public Service Workforce Data published
State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes has published the 2018 Our People, Public Service Workforce Data , which shows the Public Service is making significant progress in important areas. ...
Scoop politics
22 hours ago

Police Association conditional support to drug initiatives
The Police Association supports the government’s move to go after the manufacturers and suppliers of lethal synthetic drugs. ...
Scoop politics
23 hours ago

First IGIS review of intelligence warrants under ISA
The Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Cheryl Gwyn, has today published a report on the first nine months of intelligence warrants issued to the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service and the Government Communications Security Bureau under ...
Scoop politics
23 hours ago

Hāpai Te Hauora applauds ‘significant step’
Hāpai Te Hauora applauds ‘significant step’ towards reducing drug-related harm by Government Source: Hapai Te Hauora ...
Scoop politics
23 hours ago

Government action on synthetics drugs crisis applauded
The NZ Drug Foundation has welcomed the Government’s response to synthetic drug deaths. The response strikes a balance between giving law enforcement the tools they need to target criminal networks and changing drug law to make it easier for people ...
Scoop politics
23 hours ago

Reserve Bank publishes climate change strategy
The Reserve Bank today published a strategy focusing on how the Bank can contribute to efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change. ...
Scoop politics
23 hours ago

Dunne Speaks – Strikes and the public reaction
Just over two years ago when Business New Zealand and the Employers and Manufacturers Association were using the bully-boy and standover tactics more associated with the trade unions of old in an attempt to browbeat Government support partners at the ...
Scoop politics
24 hours ago

Simon Bridges slip of the tongue wins 2018 Quote of the Year
Simon Bridges’ slip of the tongue wins 2018 Quote of the Year Kiwis have voted a slip of the tongue by Leader of the Opposition Simon Bridges as 2018’s best quote. ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

Potential for Overseer to improve water quality
A report on whether a farm management tool used to calculate nutrient runoff could be used more widely to better inform water regulation is welcomed by LGNZ, who say that with the right investment it could be used to promote ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

Air NZ: We have a deal
After three days of mediation, the unions representing Air New Zealand Logistics and Engineering workers have reached agreement in principle with company representatives. ...
Scoop politics
1 day ago

Steady ETS development
BusinessNZ has welcomed the announcement of the first tranche of decisions from the ongoing development of the NZ Emissions Trading Scheme. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Greenpeace upset at failure to include agriculture in ETS
Wednesday, December 12: The Government has just announced "improvements" to the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Transparent Overseer needed to regulate water quality
A report on whether Overseer is suitable for use in regulation to help clean up Aotearoa New Zealand’s rivers and lakes has been released today by the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Māori Party congratulates Bentham Ohia’s new appointment
The Māori Party congratulates Bentham Ohia on his new role as Chief Advisor Iwi and Māori Education Relationships at the Ministry of Education, and farewells him from his short time as Vice-President Tāne for the Māori Party. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Local Govt OIA practices feedback sought
The Chief Ombudsman has commenced four new self-initiated investigations into the official information practices of the public sector, the third set of investigations announced in the past eight months. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Submission from ANZASW
The Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Social Workers (ANZASW) believes that the statistics and findings contained in the Child Poverty Monitor report released by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner this week should be a wake up call to ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Creating a marine spatial plan for the Hauraki Gulf
The Auditor-General’s report Sea Change – Tai Timu Tai Pari: Creating a marine spatial plan for the Hauraki Gulf was presented to the House of Representatives today. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Investigator appointed for Retirement Commissioner inquiry
State Services Commissioner Peter Hughes has today announced the appointment of Ms Maria Dew QC to investigate allegations of bullying by the Retirement Commissioner, Ms Diane Maxwell. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Budget cuts welcome – but why not go further?
Responding to reports that the Government has ordered Ministers to cut one percent in ‘low priority’ spending across all departments, New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says: ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Report praised for acknowledging historic trauma
"How do we stop getting in the way of Maori and Pasifica flourishing, and reverse the trauma of colonisation and disadvantage?" ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Impact of rental property tax change could be huge
The impact of a law-change to ring-fence rental property tax losses could be huge and sudden because owners absorbing loss with no prospect of gain will sell, Tenancies War spokesman Mike Butler said today. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Press Release from the One New Zealand Party
The One New Zealand Party find the proposed 9 million dollars of public funding being earmarked for the reconciliation package to the Parihaka Papakainga Trust to be paramount to another act of treason by this and previous governments. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

SAFE demands a ban on greyhound racing
SAFE is demanding an end to greyhound racing cruelty, amid new figures that show the industry killed 353 unwanted dogs during the last season. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Eighty new constables graduate tomorrow
Eighty recruits will graduate as part of Wing 321 this Thursday 13 December, the last recruit graduation of 2018. ...
Scoop politics
2 days ago

Older posts

Beached Az is back, baby!
Ten years after that blue whale first waked up on a New Zealand beach, Beached Az is coming back to our screens. Below, an exclusive Beached Aziversary trailer plus details of what to expect from the new 10-episode series.The team ...
The SpinoffBy Guest Post
39 mins ago

NZ dollar trades in tight range
The New Zealand dollar traded in a tight range as the European Central Bank confirmed it will end its quantitative easing programme at the end of the month, despite a gloomier economic outlook. ...
Newsroom
50 mins ago

NZ shares rise as optimism over US-China trade deal lingers
New Zealand shares rose for a third day as investors around Asia remained optimistic that trade tensions between China and the US will ease, removing a risk to global growth. ...
Newsroom
58 mins ago

How people seeking asylum in Australia access higher education, and the enormous barriers they face
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lisa Hartley, Senior Lecturer, Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University Accessing higher education is critical for many people seeking asylum. It’s not simply a means of acquiring the qualifications and skills ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 hour ago

It’s not so easy to gain the true measure of things
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cris Brack, Associate professor in forest measurement and management, Australian National University I teach measurement – the quantification of things. Some people think this is the most objective of the sciences; just ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 hour ago

Morrison’s health handout is bad policy (but might be good politics)
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Director, Health Program, Grattan Institute The A$1.25 billion Community Health and Hospitals Program Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced this week should be awarded a big policy fail. The move sets ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 hour ago

Our cities fall short on sustainability, but planning innovations offer local solutions
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sebastien Darchen, Senior Lecturer in Planning, The University of Queensland Thirty years after the landmark Brundtland report, the debate on urban sustainability continues. Urban planners are still grappling with the challenges of ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 hour ago

Monday’s MYEFO will look good, but it will set the budget up for awful trouble down the track
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Warren Hogan, Industry Professor, University of Technology Sydney An appallingly perfect storm is brewing for the federal budget: a government with much more income than expected a federal election ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 hour ago

Vital Signs: No, Joe, America should not be copying Australia’s ‘asset recycling’ misdirection
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics and PLuS Alliance Fellow, UNSW Anyone who has been to La Guardia airport in New York can attest the dire need in the United States for infrastructure ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 hour ago

Friday essay: back to Moore River and finding family
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Aileen Marwung Walsh, ARC Laureate Research Scholarship, Rediscovering Deep Human History, Australian National University Untangling the web that is the history of the stolen generations is a very satisfying process. In October, ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
1 hour ago

Oram: Beware the beef with smoked bacon
We are not facing up to the food and farming challenges ahead, writes Rod Oram from the Polish climate change summit. ...
Newsroom
2 hours ago

The Bulletin: Govt’s all things to all people drug reforms
Good morning, and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Government pushes in two different directions with drug reforms, nitrogen runoff tool has serious flaws, and finance minister outlines ‘wellbeing’ budget.The government has launched a range of drug reforms, which somehow ...
The SpinoffBy Alex Braae
3 hours ago

The murky meth mess: why we still don’t know how much P is too much
Howls of indignation over state housing evictions based on spurious meth testing have masked the reality of New Zealand’s two-speed P standard.Veronica Crichton admitted that she and her friends had been smoking meth in their Gate Pa, Tauranga home. She ...
The SpinoffBy Maria Slade
4 hours ago

Cute news! The Spinoff readers really love having friends a lot!
The Spinoff partnered with UMR to survey the attitudes of our readers, and the nation as a whole. Today, how social are The Spinoff readers? And how much do we suck at chores?Turns out The Spinoff readers love having friends ...
The SpinoffBy Alex Casey
5 hours ago

A tribute to Leighton Smith, by Leighton Smith (also Leighton Smith & Leighton Smith)
Today one of the true veterans of NZ radio hangs up the headphones to complete three decades as the morning host at Newstalk ZB. To mark the occasion we asked a number of Leighton Smiths if they had a message ...
The SpinoffBy Toby Manhire
5 hours ago

The Spinoff Hot Take Advent Calendar: December 14
Every day in the lead-up to Christmas, open the door to reveal a Spinoff writer’s short, sizzling commentary on a weighty subject. Our arbitrary and strictly enforced word limit: 365. Today: Mark Kelliher on attitudes of New Zealanders who’ve returned ...
The SpinoffBy Mark Kelliher
5 hours ago

Grattan on Friday: Unions likely to be more challenging for a Shorten government than boats
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra In this week’s Newspoll 55% believed Labor would win next year’s election, compared with just 24% who thought the Coalition would. These are figures to ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
9 hours ago

Fiji warns ‘selfish’ countries amid Paris Agreement climate rulebook deadlock
Fiji Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama … urging world leaders to summon the courage and political will to make the switch from dirty to clean energy. Image: Fiji Times Pacific Media Centre Newsdesk Talks to draft the Paris Agreement rulebook ...
Evening ReportBy Pacific Media Centre
10 hours ago

MFAT boss defends NZ-China relationship
Top foreign affairs official says there are no "alarming signals" from Beijing about bilateral ties. ...
Newsroom
10 hours ago

Spying warrants under scrutiny by watchdog
The watchdog of the country's spying agencies has taken issue with aspects of their approach to getting warrants for intelligence gathering, under a new law passed last year. ...
Radio NZ – political
13 hours ago

A tale of two media reports: one poses challenges for digital media; the other gives ABC and SBS a c...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Denis Muller, Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne Two reports out this week – one into the operations of Facebook and Google, the other into the ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
13 hours ago

House of Drag power rankings: The all-white rap challenge
House of Drag breaks out of the Drag Race mould with an all rap-challenge, with mixed results. Look. It’s not racist to do a rap challenge with an all-white cast, but it’s something that I might give a little pause to before continuing ...
The SpinoffBy Sam Brooks
15 hours ago

The proposed National Integrity Commission is a watered-down version of a federal ICAC
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Yee-Fui Ng, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Monash University The federal government has announced it will establish a Commonwealth Integrity Commission. This new commission will be the peak body to detect and ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
15 hours ago

Many people have a hard time swallowing. Help them to ‘eat, drink and be merry’ this Christmas
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Bronwyn Hemsley, Professor of Speech Pathology, University of Technology Sydney Swallowing food, drink, and saliva is a central part of our lives. It’s something we do about 900 times a day, yet ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
15 hours ago

In long-awaited response to Ruddock review, the government pushes hard on religious freedom
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anja Hilkemeijer, Lecturer in Law, University of Tasmania Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Attorney-General Christian Porter have released both the Ruddock Panel Report on Religious Freedom and the government’s response. Given the ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
15 hours ago

The suburbs are the spiritual home of overconsumption. But they also hold the key to a better future
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Samuel Alexander, Research fellow, Melbourne Sustainable Society Institute, University of Melbourne Suburban affluence is the defining image of the good life under capitalism, commonly held up as a model to which all ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
15 hours ago

Why cutting Australia’s migrant intake would do more harm than good, at least for the next decade
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter McDonald, Professor of Demography, Centre for Health Policy, University of Melbourne Australia’s population is among the fastest growing in the OECD with an increase of 1.7 per cent in 2016-17. In ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
15 hours ago

The women wanting Kiwis to invest in the US share market
Business is Boring is a weekly podcast series presented by The Spinoff, in association with Callaghan Innovation, in which host Simon Pound speaks with innovators focused on the future of New Zealand. This week he talks to Natalie Ferguson and ...
The SpinoffBy Simon Pound
15 hours ago

I moved to London, and now I finally care about Christmas
When she lived in New Zealand, Elle Hunt never really understood the fuss about Christmas. That all changed when she moved to London, she writes in the latest instalment of her Elleswhere series about life as a New Zealander in ...
The SpinoffBy Elle Hunt
16 hours ago

We have a Christmas comet: how to spot 2018’s interplanetary bauble
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jake Clark, PhD Candidate, University of Southern Queensland We’re in for a pre-Christmas treat this weekend, as the cosmos entertains us with two equally exciting gifts: the Geminid meteor shower and the ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
16 hours ago

Resignations likely at NZTA, and Ministry under spotlight
More resignations at NZTA are likely, as Phil Twyford says the Ministry of Transport's role in the regulation scandal will also be reviewed. ...
Newsroom
16 hours ago

Mental fatigue becomes major focus in govt’s workplace strategy
The government is changing its approach to health and safety, with a greater focus on mental fatigue in its strategy for the next decade. ...
Radio NZ – political
16 hours ago

Discretion the question in synthetics response
The Government's response to the surge of synthetic deaths has won some praise - but is greater police discretion the answer? ...
Newsroom
17 hours ago

Spinoff readers are giving meat-eating the cold shoulder
The Spinoff partnered with UMR to survey the attitudes of our readers, and the nation as a whole. Today, how much meat is the country eating? And is that changing? You’ve probably got stereotypes in your head about vegetarians. You’ve definitely ...
The SpinoffBy Alex Braae
17 hours ago

MBIE officials grilled on terms of Westland Milk loan
Not knowing how much interest Westland Milk is paying on its $9.9 million loan from the government’s Provincial Development Fund leaves parliamentarians no means of assessing how much of a subsidy the dairy company is getting, said National MP Paul ...
Newsroom
17 hours ago

Hear ye, hear ye: these are the 20 best novels of 2018
All week this week we present the best books of 2018. Today: the 20 best novels.Previously: the best kids books, poetry books and non-fiction books of 2018.Past Tense by Lee Child (Bantam, $38)Reacher.Normal People by Sally Rooney (Faber, $33)Was the Irish ...
The SpinoffBy The Spinoff Review of Books
17 hours ago

The Real Pod: A star (baker) is born
The Real Pod assembles to dissect the week in New Zealand pop culture and real life, with special thanks to Nando’s.This week on the Real Pod, we suck back an ice cold taurine fizz and tackle another week of reality television. ...
The SpinoffBy The Real Pod
18 hours ago

Trade Me suitor Hellman & Friedman drops out
Trade Me suitor Hellman & Friedman has dropped out of the race to buy New Zealand's dominant online marketplace. ...
Newsroom
18 hours ago

Morrison wants Religious Discrimination Act passed before election
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The government will introduce a Religious Discrimination Act to protect the rights of people of faith, with Scott Morrison declaring he would like the legislation ...
Evening ReportBy The Conversation
18 hours ago

Hydrogen not a short-term option for Huntly
Hydrogen may be the ideal fuel to provide dry-winter power supplies but it may not be economic before 2030, MPs heard today. ...
Newsroom
18 hours ago

The Spinoff Hot Take Advent Calendar: December 13
Every day in the lead-up to Christmas, open the door to reveal a Spinoff writer’s short, sizzling commentary on a weighty subject. Our arbitrary and strictly enforced word limit: 365. Today: Sam Brooks on why cocktail snobbery is for losers.Look, ...
The SpinoffBy Sam Brooks
18 hours ago

Treasury forecasting annual wage growth above 3% over next five years
The New Zealand economy is forecast to deliver annual average wage growth of more than 3 percent a year during the next five years, although economic growth rates are seen falling gradually over that time. ...
Newsroom
18 hours ago

Parents shouldn’t be embarrassed to talk to their kids about porn
Parents surveyed for research on their attitudes to children viewing pornography has shown some are embarrassed to talk to their children. Family Planning National Health Promotion Advisor Amanda Hargreaves gives some tips on approaching the issue of relationships, sexuality, and ...
The SpinoffBy Amanda Hargreaves
19 hours ago

Christchurch mayor Lianne Dalziel intends to stand for a third term
Lianne Dalziel says the decision to stand for another term wasn't an easy decision to make. ...
Radio NZ – political
19 hours ago

I choose freedom: on being a young woman who travels alone
What does it mean to step out into the world on your own as a young woman?Three days after my 21st birthday, I jumped on a plane and went to Europe. I spent five months in London studying for a ...
The SpinoffBy Jihee Junn
19 hours ago

Fiscal policy to slow growth over next five years
The Labour-led coalition government will run a tight fiscal policy, keeping a lid on economic growth over the next five years, the Treasury's half year fiscal and economic update says. ...
Newsroom
20 hours ago

The great unknowns: The best NZ music of 2018 with
Gareth Shute digs around to create a best-of-2018 music list with one criterion: the tracks all have less than 1000 streams on Spotify.One cruel thing about online music services like Spotify is that they instantly put a number next to ...
The SpinoffBy Gareth Shute
20 hours ago

Solid growth underpins govt spending plans
A solid economy is expected to underpin the government's spending plans. ...
Radio NZ – political
20 hours ago

Robertson holds fire for Wellbeing Budget
Finance Minister Grant Robertson is keeping his powder dry for the first full Budget he will be able to put his own stamp on. ...
Newsroom
20 hours ago

Treasury sees $27b of surpluses over 5 years
The books are looking good but the Government is still holding back on much needed spending on housing and health. ...
Newsroom
20 hours ago