But he was the minister back in 2018. The reverse Midas touch often has a delayed reaction. There is also a rumor that the 10,000 Kiwi Build houses he promised will not happen.
just saying. And for what its worth, houses got build. And that makes him pretty much the only Labour suit that actually tried to deliver on an idea he had, compare this to any other Labour suit and National for that matter.
And NZTA is a department of ‘do nothing, only do if people are likely to get killed, and only do it then if people were to complain about people getting killed.
And to build these houses, houses also got demolished which are never accounted for when we hear how many have been constructed.
interesting that you state that he is the ONLY labour suit to try to deliver. Your comment doesn’t give confidence to the others . Perhaps Sabine you should review that phrasing 😉
…has run into "significant and complex engineering issues". The Herald understands the current design will be scrapped.
Other options are being considered but these are likely to involve substantial delays.
The problem appears to relate to the capacity of the piers to take the extra load. A replacement plan may be announced at some time in the future.
Must be some very heavy cyclists in Auckland. Or they realised when they fixed the damage from the wind powered truck incident that the bridge has probably already reached/exceeded its maximum load.
Hardly a surprise, it seemed unlikely that bolting another structure to the bridge that we have been told for years is pretty much at load capacity would be a goer…
Im sure the various parties have been well paid for their 'work ' though…
I see that the current plan was up to $360 million.
What ever happened to the $33 million scheme that was consented in 2015 and was supposed to be possible to implement by 2016? On July 3, 2015 Stuff said.
"It means the $33m public-private partnership can go ahead, and could be built as early as 2016."
NZTA's roading luddites were never going to allow a cycle crossing of "their" bridge. The $360 million scheme was proposed in the hope such a grotesquely gold plated obvious jobs for the boys scheme would be cancelled. When that didn't work they seem to have just given up on that approach and they are just going to refuse to it because they don't want to… errr, I mean because they can't design for shit…. err I mean the private sector gave them the answers there ongoing access to consultancy fees depend on.
NZTA over-engineered their solution, and I think the costs included some of the connecting cyclepath.
However I'd say they are genuinely confronting the structural limitations of the bridge that the truck crash highlighted. It may have adjusted their appetite for risk.
A cynical person would say that its NZTA sabotaging a temporary job so their second harbour crossing (in development since at least 2015) has to get accelerated.
The bridge pathway was part of the $360 million Northern Pathway, an ambitious plan revealed in May 2019 by Waka Kotahi, the NZ Transport Agency.
Of the total cost, $240m is for the bridge and $120m is to extend the pathway to the Akoranga bus station near Northcote.
At the time, Waka Kotahi's general manager of system design and delivery, Brett Gliddon, said the plans were complete and he expected construction would begin the next year, 2020.
Waka Kotahi's own surveys suggest there is 78 per cent support for a pathway for cycling and walking over the bridge.
The other one that I had asked about was behind the paywall. This one is not. Perhaps they decided that anyone who rides a bike doesn't pay to read the Herald?
You have to wonder how the long the government is prepared to tolerate such a systemic campaign of insubordination as the one the NZTA wages against it.
One would suspect the NZTA's roading mafia would not be unhappy to see the PT friendlt parts of the governments transport policy credibility subverted with private sector industry players.
One also doesn't need a degree in Kremlinology to read between the lines of the article to see the role played by Brett Gliddon in all this either.
You need to drive over the bridge south morning and post 3:00 going either direction in the afternoon, the bridge currently is not coping with the current traffic volumes. And what would the utilisation of this cycle lane be and at what cost to the commute travel times ?
honestly no idea, but consider that every bike travelling is a car not used.
Bikes should have a place in daily commuting. But the best now is to integrate bike and walkways on any new road being build. And then as BWaghorn said upthread, build a new crossing, and integrate walking and bicyling into the design and then build them.
Every bike on the road is one less car – and it does not matter if it is kids cycling to games/school etc or people to the supermarket, a night out, or to work.
Cars are built to be multi person transport. Bikes can be built to take two lengthwise usually – inefficient road space. Cars should be charged for only transporting one, credited for three or more. Hit drivers in the pocket. Bikes cannot do what cars do. The caption under rows of bikes that parked cars don't shop (sic) is seen in Nelson and considered clever, but that's stretching a point. Public transport and taxi circles should be promoted more with season tickets, or weekly tickets even, being low priced.
Have you heard of Holland? Germany? Sweden? Norway? etc?
they all have something in common.
High bicycle use to transport anything from oneself, to crates of beer – 24 0.5 l bottles a crate, to several children and even to go all the way from Germany to Italy for a holiday.
The point is not to replace cars totally – unless one really don't see a reason for them, like me – but to complement the 'public' transport and the 'environmentally friendly' option currently available.
So for example i might take the train to Britomart with my bicycle, and then i commute on my bike to where ever in town i work, and in the evenings when i am less time conscious i might cycle home on a safe and secure bicycle lane. Oh, look it, i have reduced the commute by a car in the morning, in the evenings and any other time i used my bike.
And the more bikes are on the road the less space we as a country will waste
on wasted carparks (who are the most inefficient land use anywhere on this planet), less pollution, lesser accidents, etc etc etc.
And then if one needs to transport their whole family of two or four, they can still use a car, or use a bike each.
also you might really want to rethink bicycle.
Ridiculous. Outrageous. Hopeless. These are words used by housing advocates to describe a one-bedroom property in Wellington that was on the market seeking offers over $745,000.
The 42-square metre Miramar house was described as “perfect for busy singles, or couples” in the listing by real estate group Ray White. One housing advocate instead described the house as like a “more respectable version” of the converted shipping container recently listed for $390 per week in Johnsonville.
I would click the link just to have look at the 745.000$ single wide container home, well three of them, on a standard section, with no privacy, and the deck ain't private either.
Well maybe she will find some new words to describe how she don't want to see housprices increasing any further cause the old words used sound as hollow as they were.
How about a regulation here and there and maybe a stipulation as to what is a house and what is a single wide, removable trailer.
In February alone, the median house price across the county increased by $50,000 – in Auckland, it was $100,000, or $25,000 a week.
"I'm not going to ever say or concede that what's happening in the housing market is okay; It is not," Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said last week.
She went further: "We don't want to continue to see the exorbitant house price growth that we have seen across the country in the last few months."
She made similar comments in mid-November last year: "It [house prices] just cannot keep increasing at the rate that it is".
It has to be a government housing program – everything else has been tried and failed -and any pretending that the market will do anything other than exploit the crisis needs to be rejected for the neoliberal lie that it is.
Grief of gods – well I guess we have to see. But it's not her that would need to resign if meaningful housing policy is blocked, but the the senior civil service. They're much too comfortable with the status quo. In most jobs, if you don't do 'em, you lose 'em.
Resigning and running a snap re-election to get a mandate for substantial govt action seems possible. Could also help neutralise the grey mandarins of Thorndon.
Firstly, the PM has an unprecedented mandate for change – not need to look for another, which would likely fall short of her present support level.
And secondly, if she stood down, which must be tempting as a newish mum, who in Labour could be trusted to prioritize significant action, and enjoys comparable support? No-one springs to my mind.
I'm suggesting Colonel Trotter or his sources may have confused resignation with dissolving government. I'd say the whole thing is wishful rubbish from bored Thorndonites.
But it can easily be argued that Labour has a mandate for doing nothing to scare the horses, given that’s what they campaigned on.
the big she could do is the big she ruled out last year, 'no increases in benefits', and i can't see her walk this back.
What ever she does now, in the eyes of some like me it will be band aids. They had this awesome chance last year to re-think government and they spend it doing fuck all, and they are now spending the last of the capital pissing of various industries that are in the process of dying by telling them that government is not hear to help, and that if they expect help they better be humble. That is disaster capitalism nothing more and nothing less. For lack of better words, her governments 'not coming to help' bullshit is trickling down.
I don't see her or anyone else resign, i don't see anything exiting of this PR exercise today, and above all i don't see a thing changing in regards to poverty, homelessness and the housing obscenity that is currently playing out for all to see.
The big she ruled out last year is likely to return in disguise as part of the BIG big she and her political mates are rumoured to be planning in the near future.
Btw, last year was Covid, Covid, Covid. Everything else was pushed aside. I'm glad though. It means the country can galvanise again… so much sooner than most of the rest of the world.
Labour long ago drunk the cool aid of Free market neoliberalism, and once under the spell of that obscene ideology (along with National) have done nothing but adhere too, administer, and promote the principles of this ponzi scheme ideology in NZ…these people, Grant Robertson Ardern, Grant Robertson and NZ Labour are nothing more than free market fundamentalists…just look at what they have allowed to happen to our homes..,and all the while we have to listen to Robertson trying to use the tools of the 'market' to control the market that is only operating as it was designed by them to do…and remember it was Labour who unleashed this ideology that has turned our homes into the tradable commodities they are today, and Ardern has proved she is no different.
Have a relative working for one of the big Australian banks down in Wellington. Grant Robertson meets weekly with the head honcho to talk with them about how they think the housing market and economy is going. (I'm making a presumption here, that if he is meeting with one on a weekly basis, he is meeting with most – if not all).
I suspect this relationship has been built on continued ineffective policy and strategies. I believe that this Labour government has disdained any notion of building a trusting relationship with the public, particularly those who suffer from lack of affordable housing, otherwise they would do better. And they need to do better.
I know it is like RNZ, who only ever seem to talk to banking economists about our economy, you know banks whose sole purpose is to create debt FFS!
I regularly email RNZ and politely ask them why they don't interview economists who would have a more neutral and nuanced outlook…it is just bizarre.
" And they need to do better " sorry to be a bummer here, but they won't do better, well not the kind of better we really need at this moment, the best we can hope for from Labour is their usual 'fixing around the edges' they are not and never will be transformational while they are lead by their liberal free marker ideology…a sad fact.
Meanwhile, the Marlborough District Council is building 12 one bedroom flats for seniors on 800 sq.m. for $3.7m. The rent will be set at 80% of market rents and are projected to be about $220 to #230 p.w. The rent is expected to pay for the cost of construction over time- so is self-funding.
This is what should be build more, and even up to 4 – 5 stories high, but with mixed bedroom sizes. So that young/old and families live in mixed housing.
I can't even see how anyone would want to share a standard property with three others and no privacy as the one featured in the article i linked to. And yeah, the government could rule and regulate and promote the building of these apartments as per your article. The one is gonna be a slum, the other is going to be functional housing.
Well the elitists bike riders should be rich enough to afford it, its the poor cyclists – the one that ride a bike cause cheaper – that would be shit outta luck. As always.
neither one of them is the solution of what ails the world.
And anyone thinking that POutin did not his share of unsavory shit during the time he was stationed in East Germany as the headhoncho of the USSR is deluding himself.
He is unsavory, he is deadly, and he ain't give a shit about anything, no more then the dude on the other side does. However, at least in the US the head honcho changes every now and then, meanwhile while in Russia ………………………………..
Putin is, as you correctly point out, unsavoury and deadly. However, he is a model of stability and integrity versus any of the horror shows—Bush, Obomber, Trump, Biden—that have occupied the Oval Office this century.
oh boy, and good grief, and well finally they admit that covid really has not been that good to women, but that is not because they are women, it is because they work in jobs that 'dominated' by women, and these jobs that traditionally are womens jobs – such as cleaning hotel rooms – are now industries that have been impacted by Covid.
What a phrase.
Although women have been affected worse by this pandemic, and job-creation moves in infrastructure and building have largely benefited men, that's to do with workforce composition and over time there may end up being more women in those jobs – but that could be a long, slow structural shift away.
For now, women are hurting not because they are women but because they tend to be in the workforce affected by Covid.
"So much depends on the starting point and it so happens the service sector is heavily dominated by women," says Toplis. "By definition – and I think you have to be very careful with the debate – it's not an anti-women downturn but an anti-service downturn and women are disproportionately represented."
But at least an article that admits what has been admitted elsewhere already, that Covid was not good for women, for womens income, for womens employment options, and for womens mental health. (#notallwomensomemadegoodmoneyduringcovid)
So Ardern is currently making an announcement, announcing that there will be a further announcement on the 6th of April on the possible travel bubble with Australia.
Fixed window from a given situation seems to be the criteria for the bubble to happen, so given the most recent instance of that situation the bubble is not going to happen at least for a couple of weeks.
It's not like fingers can be snapped and suddenly it's safe to have a bubble. Quite the opposite – when it finally happens, at any time there could be a loud bang over the Tasman as the bubble suddenly pops and collapses into two smaller bubbles, one isolating each nation.
Well, we are as isolated atm as can be. Short of closing borders to returning kiwis, dancers, sports dudes/ettes, and the wiggles this is as isolated as isolation gets.
shall we wager what the government is gonna do on the 6th of April?
what both governments decide will be based on conditions on the ground in April.
If we have another outbreak, Aussies could decide to put it off.
If they have another outbreak, we might put it off.
If everything's fine, they might make an announcement of the bubble happening x days later, to give hotels and airlines time to get up and running to a higher level, including their online booking.
We won't be betting on a decision, we'll be betting on whether conditions are better then than they are now.
Australia managed to turn quarantine free travel on and off. which is essentially what this is, not a bubble. State by state too. that's 7 juridisctions able to put into place what Jacinda can only make an announcement about being able to confirm when it will be in place.
A: Because the conditions won't suit it until April 6 at the earliest.
It's just like L1-L4. There will be criteria, somehwere, that will be a compromise between whatever Michael Baker wants and whatever the business lobbyists and the nats want. I cbf'd looking for that criteria, because I think the entire complaint about people not knowing what's going on is BS.
We've had a year of this – if people haven't figured out by now that loosened restrictions depend on things like the extent of community transition in an area (rather than the whims of the PM), they'll need some extensive 1:1 contact time with professional educators to actually figure it out.
Why simply not announce that then? We don't want a bubble now, too dangerous. We want one under the these conditions and to get there we will do this that such. Announce a date for the vaccine rollout ( a very conservative, smallest amount of risk type announcement – say vaccine roll out happening for the larger public starting July – ish, finished by End of year / mid next year). Give it a time frame. Be done with it. Atm, no one can plan, no one knows anything, and lockdowns can happen any day. This is just painful, no purpose served stringing along a public because you can.
Today was another wasted PR opportunity, with nothing that could not have been said via a press statement either. “No changes to the current bubble rules.” done.
On a brighter note, we have returned from a thoroughly enjoyable sojourn around West Coast/Buller/Tasman/Malborough.
The highlights: the friendly folk and hospitality esp Hokitika, Reefton and Takaka, the great quality beer – Eddyline, West Coast Brewery, Townsend and Mussell Inn, the scenery of Buller Gorge, the Glaciers and Golden Bay.
Personal highlight @ Lyell was two parent Weka mooching amongst our feet before moving away and 'booming' to the 4 chicks that followed.
Despite thinking the swing bridge across the Buller Gorge would be easy, it was a different thing in 'the flesh'. Border-line code brown.
Finished it all off with a great day at the Nelson Beer and Music Festival.
Hot tip, I thoroughly recommend getting a cabin for the return ferry crossing. Being able to nap before driving was a master stroke.
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Citizen Science writes – Last week saw two significant developments in the debate over the treatment of trans-identifying children and young people – the release in Britain of the final report of Dr Hilary Cass’s review into gender healthcare, and here in New Zealand, the news that the ...
One night while sleeping in my bed I had a beautiful dreamThat all the people of the world got together on the same wavelengthAnd began helping one anotherNow in this dream, universal love was the theme of the dayPeace and understanding and it happened this wayAfter such an eventful day ...
This is a guest post by Oscar Simms who is a housing activist, volunteer for the Coalition for More Homes, and was the Labour Party candidate for Auckland Central at the last election. ...
Turning what Labour called the “holiday highway” into a four-lane expressway from Auckland to Whangarei could bring at least an economic benefit of nearly two billion a year for Northland each year. And it could help bring an end to poverty in one of New Zealand’s most deprived regions. The ...
Tonight’s six-stack includes: launching his substack with a bunch of his previous documentaries, including this 1992 interview with Dame Whina Cooper. and here crew give climate activists plenty to do, including this call to submit against the Fast Track Approvals bill. writes brilliantly here on his substack ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
You're in the mall when you hear it: some kind of popping sound in the distance, kids with fireworks, maybe. But then a moment of eerie stillness is followed by more of the fireworks sound and there’s also screaming and shrieking and now here come people running for their lives.Does ...
Karl du Fresne writes – There’s a crisis in the news media and the media are blaming it on everyone except themselves. Culpability is being deflected elsewhere – mainly to the hapless Minister of Communications, Melissa Lee, and the big social media platforms that are accused of hoovering ...
I don’t normally send out two newsletters in a day but I figured I’d say something about… the news. If two newsletters is a bit much then maybe just skip one, I don’t want to overload people. Alternatively if you’d be interested in sometimes receiving multiple, smaller updates from me, ...
Buzz from the Beehive David Seymour and Winston Peters today signalled that at least two ministers of the Crown might be in Wellington today. Seymour (as Associate Minister of Education) announced the removal of more red tape, this time to make it easier for new early learning services to be ...
Politicians across the political spectrum are implicated in the New Zealand media’s failing health. Either through neglect or incompetent interventions, successive governments have failed to regulate, foster, and allow a healthy Fourth Estate that can adequately hold politicians and the powerful to account. Our political system is suffering from the ...
David Farrar writes – The Broadcasting Standards Authority ruled: Comments by radio host Kate Hawkesby suggesting Māori and Pacific patients were being prioritised for surgery due to their ethnicity were misleading and discriminatory, the Broadcasting Standards Authority has found. It is a fact such patients are prioritised. ...
PRC and its proxies in Solomons have been preparing for these elections for a long time.A lot of money, effort and intelligence have gone into ensuring an outcome that won’t compromise Beijing’s plans. Cleo Paskall writes – On April 17th the Solomon Islands, a country of ...
Is speeding up the trip to and from Wellington airport by 12 minutes worth spending up more than $10 billion? Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The six news items that stood out to me in the last day to 8:26 am today are:The Lead: Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
The Government’s newly announced review of methane emissions reduction targets hints at its desire to delay Aotearoa New Zealand’s urgent transition to a climate safe future, the Green Party said. ...
The Government must commit to the Maitai School building project for students with high and complex needs, to ensure disabled students from the top of the South Island have somewhere to learn. ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey and his Government colleagues have made a meal of their mental health commitments, showing how flimsy their efforts to champion the issue truly are, says Labour Mental Health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Māori are yet to see anything from this Government except cuts, reversals and taking our people backwards, Māori Development spokesperson Willie Jackson said. ...
The Coalition Government’s refusal to commit to ongoing funding for social housing is seeing the sector pull back on developments and families watch their dreams of securing a home fade away, says Labour Housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty. ...
Changes to minimum wage and benefit indexation means many New Zealanders will get less this year, as the Government gives a big tax break to landlords instead. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Refreshed health guidance released today will help parents and schools make informed decisions about whether their child needs to be in school, addressing one of the key issues affecting school attendance, says Associate Education Minister David Seymour. In recent years, consistently across all school terms, short-term illness or medical reasons ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is streamlining high-level oceans management while maintaining a focus on supporting the sector’s role in the export-led recovery of the economy. “I am working to realise the untapped potential of our fishing and aquaculture sector. To achieve that we need to be smarter with ...
Associate Agriculture Minister Mark Patterson is speaking at the International Wool Textile Organisation Congress in Adelaide, promoting New Zealand wool, and outlining the coalition Government’s support for the revitalisation the sector. "New Zealand’s wool exports reached $400 million in the year to 30 June 2023, and the coalition Government ...
The Government is making legislative changes to make it easier for new early learning services to be established, and for existing services to operate, Associate Education Minister David Seymour says. The changes involve repealing the network approval provisions that apply when someone wants to establish a new early learning service, ...
Changes to the Resource Management Act will align consenting for coal mining to other forms of mining to reduce barriers that are holding back economic development, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The inconsistent treatment of coal mining compared with other extractive activities is burdensome red tape that fails to acknowledge ...
Trade, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Todd McClay has concluded productive discussions with ministerial counterparts in Beijing today, in support of the New Zealand-China trade and economic relationship. “My meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao reaffirmed the complementary nature of the bilateral trade relationship, with our Free Trade Agreement at its ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon today paid tribute to Singapore’s outgoing Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Meeting in Singapore today immediately before Prime Minister Lee announced he was stepping down, Prime Minister Luxon warmly acknowledged his counterpart’s almost twenty years as leader, and the enduring legacy he has left for Singapore and South East ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While in Singapore as part of his visit to South East Asia this week, Prime Minister Luxon also met with Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam and will meet with Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has made further appointments to the Board of Antarctica New Zealand as part of a continued effort to ensure the Scott Base Redevelopment project is delivered in a cost-effective and efficient manner. The Minister has appointed Neville Harris as a new member of the Board. Mr ...
Finance Minister Nicola Willis will travel to the United States on Tuesday to attend a meeting of the Five Finance Ministers group, with counterparts from Australia, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. “I am looking forward to meeting with our Five Finance partners on how we can work ...
The coalition Government has today announced purrfect and pawsitive changes to the Residential Tenancies Act to give tenants with pets greater choice when looking for a rental property, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Pets are important members of many Kiwi families. It’s estimated that around 64 per cent of New ...
State Highway 1 (SH1) through Wellington City is heavily congested at peak times and while planning continues on the duplicate Mt Victoria Tunnel and Basin Reserve project, the Government has also asked NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) to consider and provide advice on a Long Tunnel option, Transport Minister Simeon Brown ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have condemned Iran’s shocking and illegal strikes against Israel. “These attacks are a major challenge to peace and stability in a region already under enormous pressure," Mr Luxon says. "We are deeply concerned that miscalculation on any side could ...
Hundreds of people in little over a week have turned out in Northland to hear Regional Development Minister Shane Jones speak about plans for boosting the regional economy through infrastructure. About 200 people from the infrastructure and associated sectors attended an event headlined by Mr Jones in Whangarei today. Last ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti has today thanked outgoing Health New Zealand – Te Whatu Ora Chair Dame Karen Poutasi for her service on the Board. “Dame Karen tendered her resignation as Chair and as a member of the Board today,” says Dr Reti. “I have asked her to ...
The NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has signalled their proposed delivery approach for the Government’s 15 Roads of National Significance (RoNS), with the release of the State Highway Investment Proposal (SHIP) today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Boosting economic growth and productivity is a key part of the Government’s plan to ...
New Zealand is renewing its connections with a world facing urgent challenges by pursuing an active, energetic foreign policy, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “Our country faces the most unstable global environment in decades,” Mr Peters says at the conclusion of two weeks of engagements in Egypt, Europe and the United States. “We cannot afford to sit back in splendid ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Australian Governor-General, His Excellency General The Honourable David Hurley and his wife Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley, will make a State visit to New Zealand from Tuesday 16 April to Thursday 18 April. The visit reciprocates the State visit of former Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced that Medsafe has approved 11 cold and flu medicines containing pseudoephedrine. Pharmaceutical suppliers have indicated they may be able to supply the first products in June. “This is much earlier than the original expectation of medicines being available by 2025. The Government recognised ...
New Zealand and the United States have recommitted to their strategic partnership in Washington DC today, pledging to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The strategic environment that New Zealand and the United States face is considerably more ...
April 11, 2024 Joint Declaration by United States Secretary of State the Honorable Antony J. Blinken and New Zealand Minister of Foreign Affairs the Right Honourable Winston Peters We met today in Washington, D.C. to recommit to the historic partnership between our two countries and the principles that underpin it—rule ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Duckett, Honorary Enterprise Professor, School of Population and Global Health, and Department of General Practice and Primary Care, The University of Melbourne iamharin/Shutterstock For many people, the term “bulk billed” refers to a GP visit they don’t have to pay ...
Emmas Hislop, Sidnam and Wehipeihana discuss what’s in a name. Emma Sidnam: Hello Emmas! Thank you so much for agreeing to do this with me. My first question for you is related to what’s been on my mind for a while. It’s very important. You see we’ve recently had some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Sievers, Research Fellow, Global Wetlands Project, Australia Rivers Institute, Griffith University Chris Brown Humans love the coast. But we love it to death, so much so we’ve destroyed valuable coastal habitat – in the case of some types of habitat, ...
Josh Thomson on the 80s milk ad jingle he can’t stop singing, the beauty of The Simpsons, why Jersey Shore is as good as Shakespeare and more. For someone who spends a lot of time on our screens, popping up in everything from 7 Days to Taskmaster, Educators to Good ...
In apparent defiance of the Biden administration, the Netanyahu government has now initiated missile strikes against Iran. Last Saturday night (Sunday morning in New Zealand) Iran launched more than 300 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles against Israeli military targets. With the assistance of US, UK and possibly French forces, ...
Māori representation brings a perspective that encompasses not only the interests of Māori communities but also a broader, holistic approach to environmental stewardship and community well-being, principles deeply embedded in Te Ao Māori (the Māori ...
This week in Auckland, a group of young people took over the microphone at a ministerial press conference, to explain why they oppose the Fast-Track Approvals Bill. One young woman said, ‘We’re here because we love Aotearoa New Zealand. We want to raise our children in an environment that’s thriving, ...
The summer was wonderful. Evie was wonderful, too; finally a teenager, finally worthy of long, hot days. She shaved her legs for the first time and bought cut-off shorts from the op-shop that made them look long. She got a Warehouse singlet so tight on her new shape that her ...
When Thomas James was on his solo camp as part of Outward Bound, the keen outdoorsman didn’t find it too challenging, as others often do. In what might just be the perfect illustration of his character, he saw it as a great opportunity to solve a few problems. “I thought, ...
From the unstable and drippy to the hi-tech and pretty, here’s our ranking of all the tunnels you can drive through in this country. The first tunnel seems to have been built in 2200BC in Babylonia, kicking off a global phenomenon for digging holes in order to get places more ...
Lucinda Bennett on the art of being greedy but resourceful. This is an excerpt from our weekly food newsletter, The Boil Up. When I picture the market, it is always this time of year. Crisp air, dripping nose, counting coins with cold fingers. Sunlight pale, filtered through specks of dew still ...
Zoë Colling’s favourite piece in the ‘That’s So Last Century’ collection is a lubrication chart for a sewing machine from the ’60s. It’s about the size of a postcard, and carefully maintained. “I like it that this piece of ephemera highlights that manual and technical side of the skill involved ...
Kia Ora Gaza A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza. The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to ...
With submissions closing today, Macassey-Pickard says groups around the country have been supporting a huge range of people to make their submissions. ...
Our response to the new legislation is informed by targeted conversations with practitioners working in the system and through an implementation lens. ...
The new ‘Fast-track Approvals Bill’ would give just three Ministers the power to approve or deny development projects. They would avoid the usual checks and balances that are in place to protect rivers, land, the ocean, and communities. ...
COMMENTARY:By Eugene Doyle Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held ...
The government's released the list of organisations provided with information on how to apply - just hours before public submissions on the bill close. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milton Speer, Visiting Fellow, School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Technology Sydney Before climate change really got going, eastern Australia’s flash floods tended to concentrate on our coastal regions, east of the Great Dividing Range. But that’s changing. Now ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elizabeth Finkel, Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow, La Trobe University Sia Duff / South Australian Museum In February, the South Australian Museum “re-imagined” itself. In the face of rising costs and inadequate government funds, CEO David Gaimster, who took the reins last June, declared ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alan Pearce, Professor, School of Allied Heath, Human Services & Sport, La Trobe University, La Trobe University This week, Collingwood AFL player Nathan Murphy announced his retirement, brought on by his concussion history and ongoing issues. The 24-year-old’s seemingly sudden retirement, ...
The Mental Health Foundation provides support and resources for those facing the loss of their job, so it’s wrong in the very week the Government adds another 1000 jobs to its tally of cuts, that this is happening. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexander Howard, Senior Lecturer, Discipline of English and Writing, University of Sydney Daniel Boud/Sydney Theatre Company Decay, terror, revulsion. These are three of the central themes of Thomas Bernhard’s rarely performed play The President. The Austrian is one of the greatest ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ye In (Jane) Hwang, Postdoctoral Research Associate at School of Population Health, UNSW Sydney Shutterstock You’d be hard pressed to find any aspect of daily life that doesn’t require some form of digital literacy. We need only to look back ten ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says threats by ministers Shane Jones and David Seymour to reform or close down the Waitangi Tribunal were “ill-considered”, as legal experts say the ministers may have breached Cabinet Manual conventions. “I think those comments are ill-considered and we expect all ministers to actually exercise good ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rob Newton, Professor of Exercise Medicine, Edith Cowan University Pexels/RDNE stock project You’re not in your 20s or 30s anymore and you know regular health checks are important. So you go to your GP. During the appointment they measure your waist. ...
A new poem by Evangeline Riddiford Graham. Mitochondrial Problem I. It was long drive to Kansas for the man and his dog but you have to understand he said She doesn’t fly. Which calls to mind not carsick shitting barking or whining but a dog who chooses not to as ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)Hot off the press, this debut ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Wajnryb McDonald, PhD candidate in Criminology, University of Sydney Less than 24 hours after Ashlee Good was murdered in Bondi Junction, her family released a statement requesting the media take down photographs they had reproduced of Ashlee and her family without ...
Chief executive Shaun Robinson said it has not had any government funding cut, but government-funded contracts have not kept pace with rising costs. ...
The Ministry of Health has delayed the release of its evidence brief on the safety, reversibility and mental health and wellbeing outcomes for puberty blockers. While we wait, Julia de Bres speaks to those with firsthand experience. Best practice gender-affirming healthcare is based on trans people’s self-determination and agency. The ...
Barcelona’s city streets have gone from traffic-clogged to pedestrian-friendly. How? Superblocks. Ellen Rykers explains. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week I read a great interview with renowned urbanist Janette Sadik-Khan by The Spinoff’s Wellington editor Joel MacManus: “You can reimagine streets, ...
Student groups ‘Climate Action VUW’, Schools Strike 4 Climate and VUWSA will be on the street in Wellington today, the last day for submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Bill, with a message that the fight against the Government’s ‘War on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sofia Ammassari, Research Fellow, Griffith University Since 2014, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity has grown exponentially – and so has the formidable organisational machine of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). These two factors will be key to delivering the BJP a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brendon Hyndman, Associate Professor of Education (Adjunct) & Senior Manager (BCE), Charles Sturt University During COVID almost all Australian students and their families experienced online learning. But while schools have long since gone back to in-person teaching, online learning has not gone ...
Yes, they’re better for the environment. No, that’s not a good enough reason for me to use them. Once every 26 days or so, my period arrives, and if struck by an act of God, I am caught red-crotched without products. How, after 17 years of this, do I still ...
“It will cause significant harm to our environment and communities. It is completely at odds with New Zealanders’ relationship with nature and our need for a low-carbon, sustainable economic future." ...
The Chair of the National Maori Authority, Matthew Tukaki, has warned a Parliamentary Select Committee that fast-tracking legislation is a perilous practice that undermines the core tenets of democracy, transparency, and accountability. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Tenbensel, Associate Professor, Health Policy, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau Getty Images Since coming into power, the coalition government has adopted a simple but shrewd see-how-fast-we-can-move political strategy. However, in the health sector this need for speed entails ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Hronis, Clinical Psychologist, University of Technology Sydney Darya Sannikova/Pexels Whether you’re watching TV, attending a footy game, or eating a meal at your local pub, gambling is hard to escape. Although the rise of gambling is not unique to Australia, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Wong, Forrest Fellow, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Western Australia Have you ever wondered if there are more insects out at night than during the day? We set out to answer this question by combing through the scientific ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carol T Kulik, Research Professor, University of South Australia IR Stone/Shutterstock In Australia, it’s not the done thing to know – let alone ask – what our colleagues are paid. Yet, it’s easy to see how pay transparency can make pay ...
The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) is sounding a warning to migrants, that running foul of the law may see them leaving the country prematurely. ...
The government’s plan to get 50,000 people off jobseeker support by 2030 has had a rocky start, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Beneficiary numbers are up – and so are ...
Raglan Roast is a staple of Wellington coffee culture. But with five branches across the capital, which one is the best? I am a die-hard Raglan Roast fan. It’s consistently the most affordable cafe in Wellington, and one of the only places you can get a coffee after 3pm. So, ...
Residents of University of Auckland halls are being urged to withhold their accommodation fees from May 1, in a bid to force the university to take student concerns over rent hikes seriously.The University of Auckland is facing a strike from students over the cost of on-campus accommodation. The Students ...
New Zealand and the Philippines have signed a new maritime security agreement and stated their concerns over activity in the South China Sea, as Chinese vessels continue to flout international law. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Philippines President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos committed to signing a Mutual Logistics Supporting Arrangement by ...
The thousands of government “back-office” job cuts are causing widespread pain in the capital city. In today’s episode of The Detail, we speak to three journalists and a think tank researcher, looking at the larger picture around the cuts and what effect it will have on Wellington, a city that’s ...
Opinion: The famed American architect and urban designer Daniel Burnham once said, “Make no little plans. They have no magic to stir men’s blood!” Burnham wouldn’t have been referring to the transport plans in Aotearoa New Zealand over the past five years; projects so big they hadn’t the credibility to ...
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Opinion: With maths understanding at 42 percent for Year 8 students, there’s no doubt something has to be done. But how? The post Financial literacy should be on all of us appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Hineaupounamu ‘Missy’ Nuku has been scaling mountains in Canada for her college basketball team, the Lakeland Rustlers. Alberta is currently home for the 20-year-old point guard, who is in her first year of a scholarship at Lakeland College, where she is studying for a business degree. She has certainly made ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra When ASIO boss Mike Burgess delivered his annual threat assessment earlier this year, he stressed the rising danger posed by espionage and foreign interference. “In 2024, threats to our way of life have surpassed ...
Skypath is dead.
That is a massive govt and Council setback.
Also an industry setback.
And for cyclists.
Twyford strikes again? Anything he touches seems to have the reverse Midas touch.
Rail down Dominion Road anyone?
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/106505418/government-announces-it-will-fund-and-build-skypath-along-auckland-harbour-bridge
He's not the minister.
No this is on NZTA and its design team.
But he was the minister back in 2018. The reverse Midas touch often has a delayed reaction. There is also a rumor that the 10,000 Kiwi Build houses he promised will not happen.
it is 2021.
just saying. And for what its worth, houses got build. And that makes him pretty much the only Labour suit that actually tried to deliver on an idea he had, compare this to any other Labour suit and National for that matter.
And NZTA is a department of ‘do nothing, only do if people are likely to get killed, and only do it then if people were to complain about people getting killed.
And to build these houses, houses also got demolished which are never accounted for when we hear how many have been constructed.
interesting that you state that he is the ONLY labour suit to try to deliver. Your comment doesn’t give confidence to the others . Perhaps Sabine you should review that phrasing 😉
nope, my comment stands. I have no confidence what so ever in any of the current lot.
Agreed Sabine. The truck inspections spring to mind.
Here is a link to the RNZ story.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/438875/truck-engineers-group-backs-fiery-complaint-to-transport-minister
Good, it's bloody stupid to spend on that when Auckland needs a new crossing
+1
Is this not a party close to Gfoffloffl's heart?
If there is anyone out there who still reads the Herald? If there is are they willing to just give the bare bones of the story in todays edition.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/skypath-grounded-auckland-harbour-bridge-may-never-get-a-cycleway/C6YNBOCVXA3SWZPAIIMRJ4BM6Q/
Edit, for Ad. Snap
…has run into "significant and complex engineering issues". The Herald understands the current design will be scrapped.
Other options are being considered but these are likely to involve substantial delays.
The problem appears to relate to the capacity of the piers to take the extra load. A replacement plan may be announced at some time in the future.
Must be some very heavy cyclists in Auckland. Or they realised when they fixed the damage from the wind powered truck incident that the bridge has probably already reached/exceeded its maximum load.
Might have to build another bridge. Or a tunnel.
Thank you. If it is the basic structure and strength of the bridge it won't be easy to fix.
Hardly a surprise, it seemed unlikely that bolting another structure to the bridge that we have been told for years is pretty much at load capacity would be a goer…
Im sure the various parties have been well paid for their 'work ' though…
I see that the current plan was up to $360 million.
What ever happened to the $33 million scheme that was consented in 2015 and was supposed to be possible to implement by 2016? On July 3, 2015 Stuff said.
"It means the $33m public-private partnership can go ahead, and could be built as early as 2016."
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/69928915/auckland-harbour-bridge-skypath-approved
NZTA's roading luddites were never going to allow a cycle crossing of "their" bridge. The $360 million scheme was proposed in the hope such a grotesquely gold plated obvious jobs for the boys scheme would be cancelled. When that didn't work they seem to have just given up on that approach and they are just going to refuse to it because they don't want to… errr, I mean because they can't design for shit…. err I mean the private sector gave them the answers there ongoing access to consultancy fees depend on.
NZTA over-engineered their solution, and I think the costs included some of the connecting cyclepath.
However I'd say they are genuinely confronting the structural limitations of the bridge that the truck crash highlighted. It may have adjusted their appetite for risk.
A cynical person would say that its NZTA sabotaging a temporary job so their second harbour crossing (in development since at least 2015) has to get accelerated.
I'm not that cynical yet.
[wrong e-mail address entered 😀 ]
Thanks Sacha for an opinion that presents possible causes.
A follow-up story in the Herald – which includes the cost allocation: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/skypath-cycling-community-gutted-auckland-harbour-bridge-may-never-get-a-cycleway/YKKTN6NK6B5DUM7D3J4X5WOYAI/
Perspective
https://twitter.com/Trabaq/status/1373719912087052294
Thank you for posting that story.
The other one that I had asked about was behind the paywall. This one is not. Perhaps they decided that anyone who rides a bike doesn't pay to read the Herald?
You have to wonder how the long the government is prepared to tolerate such a systemic campaign of insubordination as the one the NZTA wages against it.
Skypath loss will make it very difficult for the industry to believe the Transport Minister's upcoming announcements on light rail.
One would suspect the NZTA's roading mafia would not be unhappy to see the PT friendlt parts of the governments transport policy credibility subverted with private sector industry players.
One also doesn't need a degree in Kremlinology to read between the lines of the article to see the role played by Brett Gliddon in all this either.
Perhaps a reform of NZTA could start there.
Just “transform” the outer lanes of the harbour bridge into a shared path for cyclists and pedestrians until there’s an alternative solution.
Like they did no optioneering?
There's about 7 years of thinking and options already done.
Jesus wept, seven years of over paid consultants laughing all the way to the bank.
It's a politely restrained chuckle I'll have you know.
You need to drive over the bridge south morning and post 3:00 going either direction in the afternoon, the bridge currently is not coping with the current traffic volumes. And what would the utilisation of this cycle lane be and at what cost to the commute travel times ?
honestly no idea, but consider that every bike travelling is a car not used.
Bikes should have a place in daily commuting. But the best now is to integrate bike and walkways on any new road being build. And then as BWaghorn said upthread, build a new crossing, and integrate walking and bicyling into the design and then build them.
Every bike on the road is one less car – and it does not matter if it is kids cycling to games/school etc or people to the supermarket, a night out, or to work.
Every bike on the road is one less car.
Cars are built to be multi person transport. Bikes can be built to take two lengthwise usually – inefficient road space. Cars should be charged for only transporting one, credited for three or more. Hit drivers in the pocket. Bikes cannot do what cars do. The caption under rows of bikes that parked cars don't shop (sic) is seen in Nelson and considered clever, but that's stretching a point. Public transport and taxi circles should be promoted more with season tickets, or weekly tickets even, being low priced.
Have you heard of Holland? Germany? Sweden? Norway? etc?
they all have something in common.
High bicycle use to transport anything from oneself, to crates of beer – 24 0.5 l bottles a crate, to several children and even to go all the way from Germany to Italy for a holiday.
The point is not to replace cars totally – unless one really don't see a reason for them, like me – but to complement the 'public' transport and the 'environmentally friendly' option currently available.
So for example i might take the train to Britomart with my bicycle, and then i commute on my bike to where ever in town i work, and in the evenings when i am less time conscious i might cycle home on a safe and secure bicycle lane. Oh, look it, i have reduced the commute by a car in the morning, in the evenings and any other time i used my bike.
And the more bikes are on the road the less space we as a country will waste
on wasted carparks (who are the most inefficient land use anywhere on this planet), less pollution, lesser accidents, etc etc etc.
And then if one needs to transport their whole family of two or four, they can still use a car, or use a bike each.
also you might really want to rethink bicycle.
transporting your children
https://www.acv.de/ratgeber/fahrrad/sicherheit/lastenrad-kind
transporting loads
https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/living/2020/12/15/transport-anything-with-a-long-john-cargo-bike
moving lots of people having a beer
https://www.pissup.com/munich-stag-do/activities/beer-bike-munich/
Ambassador Robert Ford on the US role in Syria's 10-year war
Interesting interview with Robert Ford, retired US diplomat who served as US Ambassador to Syria from 2011 to 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlIa5uRC5oM
surely something will be done about this…..soon……so very soon….any month now, or maybe year….something……
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/housing-affordability/124581254/is-745k-reasonable-for-a-onebedroom-house-wellington-property-draws-ire-of-housing-advocates
I would click the link just to have look at the 745.000$ single wide container home, well three of them, on a standard section, with no privacy, and the deck ain't private either.
Well maybe she will find some new words to describe how she don't want to see housprices increasing any further cause the old words used sound as hollow as they were.
How about a regulation here and there and maybe a stipulation as to what is a house and what is a single wide, removable trailer.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/remedies-for-the-hot-housing-market-what-does-grant-robertson-have-up-his-sleeve/TYV4SLL5Q6BASVN6YH2ZBEXWZY/
It has to be a government housing program – everything else has been tried and failed -and any pretending that the market will do anything other than exploit the crisis needs to be rejected for the neoliberal lie that it is.
Interesting – waiting keenly!. https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2021/03/something-big.html
Grief of gods – well I guess we have to see. But it's not her that would need to resign if meaningful housing policy is blocked, but the the senior civil service. They're much too comfortable with the status quo. In most jobs, if you don't do 'em, you lose 'em.
Resigning and running a snap re-election to get a mandate for substantial govt action seems possible. Could also help neutralise the grey mandarins of Thorndon.
I'm not fond of that scenario for two reasons.
Firstly, the PM has an unprecedented mandate for change – not need to look for another, which would likely fall short of her present support level.
And secondly, if she stood down, which must be tempting as a newish mum, who in Labour could be trusted to prioritize significant action, and enjoys comparable support? No-one springs to my mind.
I'm suggesting Colonel Trotter or his sources may have confused resignation with dissolving government. I'd say the whole thing is wishful rubbish from bored Thorndonites.
But it can easily be argued that Labour has a mandate for doing nothing to scare the horses, given that’s what they campaigned on.
well i am not getting any hopes of.
the big she could do is the big she ruled out last year, 'no increases in benefits', and i can't see her walk this back.
What ever she does now, in the eyes of some like me it will be band aids. They had this awesome chance last year to re-think government and they spend it doing fuck all, and they are now spending the last of the capital pissing of various industries that are in the process of dying by telling them that government is not hear to help, and that if they expect help they better be humble. That is disaster capitalism nothing more and nothing less. For lack of better words, her governments 'not coming to help' bullshit is trickling down.
I don't see her or anyone else resign, i don't see anything exiting of this PR exercise today, and above all i don't see a thing changing in regards to poverty, homelessness and the housing obscenity that is currently playing out for all to see.
The big she ruled out last year is likely to return in disguise as part of the BIG big she and her political mates are rumoured to be planning in the near future.
Btw, last year was Covid, Covid, Covid. Everything else was pushed aside. I'm glad though. It means the country can galvanise again… so much sooner than most of the rest of the world.
at the moment it looks rather we are falling behind. So frankly, i have no hope.
Labour long ago drunk the cool aid of Free market neoliberalism, and once under the spell of that obscene ideology (along with National) have done nothing but adhere too, administer, and promote the principles of this ponzi scheme ideology in NZ…these people, Grant Robertson Ardern, Grant Robertson and NZ Labour are nothing more than free market fundamentalists…just look at what they have allowed to happen to our homes..,and all the while we have to listen to Robertson trying to use the tools of the 'market' to control the market that is only operating as it was designed by them to do…and remember it was Labour who unleashed this ideology that has turned our homes into the tradable commodities they are today, and Ardern has proved she is no different.
Turn Labour Left!
Have a relative working for one of the big Australian banks down in Wellington. Grant Robertson meets weekly with the head honcho to talk with them about how they think the housing market and economy is going. (I'm making a presumption here, that if he is meeting with one on a weekly basis, he is meeting with most – if not all).
I suspect this relationship has been built on continued ineffective policy and strategies. I believe that this Labour government has disdained any notion of building a trusting relationship with the public, particularly those who suffer from lack of affordable housing, otherwise they would do better. And they need to do better.
I know it is like RNZ, who only ever seem to talk to banking economists about our economy, you know banks whose sole purpose is to create debt FFS!
I regularly email RNZ and politely ask them why they don't interview economists who would have a more neutral and nuanced outlook…it is just bizarre.
" And they need to do better " sorry to be a bummer here, but they won't do better, well not the kind of better we really need at this moment, the best we can hope for from Labour is their usual 'fixing around the edges' they are not and never will be transformational while they are lead by their liberal free marker ideology…a sad fact.
Turn Labour Left!
Meanwhile, the Marlborough District Council is building 12 one bedroom flats for seniors on 800 sq.m. for $3.7m. The rent will be set at 80% of market rents and are projected to be about $220 to #230 p.w. The rent is expected to pay for the cost of construction over time- so is self-funding.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/retirement/124582021/the-squeeze-council-flats-for-seniors-prompt-rent-review-amid-housing-shortage
The individual cost is just over $300,000 per unit.
Put that figure against the Miramar glorified container at $745,000!
This is what should be build more, and even up to 4 – 5 stories high, but with mixed bedroom sizes. So that young/old and families live in mixed housing.
I can't even see how anyone would want to share a standard property with three others and no privacy as the one featured in the article i linked to. And yeah, the government could rule and regulate and promote the building of these apartments as per your article. The one is gonna be a slum, the other is going to be functional housing.
What is the land that it sits on worth?
it is a standard section, so i doubt it would be 3* 745.000 dollar a tick, but then people in NZ buy stupid properties any day now.
Also, the Landlord would not answer, and the fancy container builders are really proud for the double glazing.
its a standard section dude.
walk your bike over the bridge, or take it on the ferry. A bridge cycleway is elitist and unnecessary
Ferry $8 one way to Bayswater, could be more with a bike.
Well the elitists bike riders should be rich enough to afford it, its the poor cyclists – the one that ride a bike cause cheaper – that would be shit outta luck. As always.
'a bridge carway is elitist and unnecessary'
Putin challenges Biden to live debate after president calls him a 'killer'https://abc7.com/putin-challenges-biden-to-debate-killer-russia-us/10432148/
Now there is a debate I would stay up for..
[Image resized]
neither one of them is the solution of what ails the world.
And anyone thinking that POutin did not his share of unsavory shit during the time he was stationed in East Germany as the headhoncho of the USSR is deluding himself.
He is unsavory, he is deadly, and he ain't give a shit about anything, no more then the dude on the other side does. However, at least in the US the head honcho changes every now and then, meanwhile while in Russia ………………………………..
Putin is, as you correctly point out, unsavoury and deadly. However, he is a model of stability and integrity versus any of the horror shows—Bush, Obomber, Trump, Biden—that have occupied the Oval Office this century.
stability ey?
How much did you enjoy the last four years of instability in Washington?
Absolutely, but I doubt that the Americans want to hear their own sins.
oh boy, and good grief, and well finally they admit that covid really has not been that good to women, but that is not because they are women, it is because they work in jobs that 'dominated' by women, and these jobs that traditionally are womens jobs – such as cleaning hotel rooms – are now industries that have been impacted by Covid.
What a phrase.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/divided-we-fall-the-scary-trends-in-new-zealands-two-speed-economy/YVISWHWYQOV5ZPOICRMGU3QHUM/
But at least an article that admits what has been admitted elsewhere already, that Covid was not good for women, for womens income, for womens employment options, and for womens mental health. (#notallwomensomemadegoodmoneyduringcovid)
So Ardern is currently making an announcement, announcing that there will be a further announcement on the 6th of April on the possible travel bubble with Australia.
The wheels do turn slowly.
soon, sooooooon, so sooon, i will be any day now……sooon.
Seems reasonable.
Fixed window from a given situation seems to be the criteria for the bubble to happen, so given the most recent instance of that situation the bubble is not going to happen at least for a couple of weeks.
It's not like fingers can be snapped and suddenly it's safe to have a bubble. Quite the opposite – when it finally happens, at any time there could be a loud bang over the Tasman as the bubble suddenly pops and collapses into two smaller bubbles, one isolating each nation.
Well, we are as isolated atm as can be. Short of closing borders to returning kiwis, dancers, sports dudes/ettes, and the wiggles this is as isolated as isolation gets.
shall we wager what the government is gonna do on the 6th of April?
short we lose
long we pay.
what both governments decide will be based on conditions on the ground in April.
If we have another outbreak, Aussies could decide to put it off.
If they have another outbreak, we might put it off.
If everything's fine, they might make an announcement of the bubble happening x days later, to give hotels and airlines time to get up and running to a higher level, including their online booking.
We won't be betting on a decision, we'll be betting on whether conditions are better then than they are now.
Australia managed to turn quarantine free travel on and off. which is essentially what this is, not a bubble. State by state too. that's 7 juridisctions able to put into place what Jacinda can only make an announcement about being able to confirm when it will be in place.
It's hard to stomach the constant double speak
Ok.
Q: So when will it get turned on Aus-NZ?
A:Not until April 6 at the earliest.
Q: Why april 6 at the earliest?
A: Because the conditions won't suit it until April 6 at the earliest.
It's just like L1-L4. There will be criteria, somehwere, that will be a compromise between whatever Michael Baker wants and whatever the business lobbyists and the nats want. I cbf'd looking for that criteria, because I think the entire complaint about people not knowing what's going on is BS.
We've had a year of this – if people haven't figured out by now that loosened restrictions depend on things like the extent of community transition in an area (rather than the whims of the PM), they'll need some extensive 1:1 contact time with professional educators to actually figure it out.
The linger she can delay it the better imho. Getting those vaccines in arms before the next outbreak suits me
Why simply not announce that then? We don't want a bubble now, too dangerous. We want one under the these conditions and to get there we will do this that such. Announce a date for the vaccine rollout ( a very conservative, smallest amount of risk type announcement – say vaccine roll out happening for the larger public starting July – ish, finished by End of year / mid next year). Give it a time frame. Be done with it. Atm, no one can plan, no one knows anything, and lockdowns can happen any day. This is just painful, no purpose served stringing along a public because you can.
Today was another wasted PR opportunity, with nothing that could not have been said via a press statement either. “No changes to the current bubble rules.” done.
so, was there something big happening today?
did Grant came out to say something of substance?
did J.A said something of substance?
Or was that all pushed out to April too?
On a brighter note, we have returned from a thoroughly enjoyable sojourn around West Coast/Buller/Tasman/Malborough.
The highlights: the friendly folk and hospitality esp Hokitika, Reefton and Takaka, the great quality beer – Eddyline, West Coast Brewery, Townsend and Mussell Inn, the scenery of Buller Gorge, the Glaciers and Golden Bay.
Personal highlight @ Lyell was two parent Weka mooching amongst our feet before moving away and 'booming' to the 4 chicks that followed.
Despite thinking the swing bridge across the Buller Gorge would be easy, it was a different thing in 'the flesh'. Border-line code brown.
Finished it all off with a great day at the Nelson Beer and Music Festival.
Hot tip, I thoroughly recommend getting a cabin for the return ferry crossing. Being able to nap before driving was a master stroke.