Open mike 22/09/2023

Written By: - Date published: 6:00 am, September 22nd, 2023 - 66 comments
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66 comments on “Open mike 22/09/2023 ”

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  1. Tiger Mountain 1
    22 September 2023 at 6:43 am

    Dirty, filthy, Rupert Murdoch is to step down. The damage this person has done to human society is immense.
    https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/sep/21/rupert-murdoch-stepping-down-chair-fox-news-corp

    • tc 1.1
      22 September 2023 at 8:24 am

      Can't see much changes just because he steps down with all the outlets he has globally continuing on with their agendas.

      Probably gets worse as it frees him up to be involved in the day to day matters even more.

  2. PsyclingLeft.Always 2
    22 September 2023 at 8:13 am

    The potential Coalition of Chaos (unless we stop them !)

    Moderator Rebecca Wright asked Seymour if he could work with Peters.

    "Can anyone?" he responded.

    While seeming to agree a short time later he could sit down with Peters, he went on to say: "Ultimately, if a parliament's elected by the people then you make it work, but I just say it's not credible for the guy who has had more chances to fix New Zealand's problems showing up like a fireman and saying, 'I'm here to fix it all'. It's just not credible."

    At one point Davidson interjected: "Do people actually think Luxon is going to be able to manage these two, for real?" gesturing to Peters and Seymour.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/498488/cracks-appear-soon-after-show-of-unity-from-act-nz-first-leaders

    And Marama Davidson…

    Marama Davidson was nominated as the star performer by analysts afterwards

    There has been some dislike (if not worse!) for Marama on The Standard. I like her….IMO a genuine person.

  3. Roy Cartland 3
    22 September 2023 at 8:45 am

    Here's the video of the Newshub Power Brokers debate, fyi:

    https://www.youtube.com/live/db6k68wgwHA?si=Efx1NfrEivbvqMht

  5. PsyclingLeft.Always 5
    22 September 2023 at 9:17 am

    There has been criticism of Jenna Lynch on the Standard, some valid, some not….and some to do with her Husband being in ACT? Anyway..she made this comment

    It is quite incredible to watch the real-life transformation of David Seymour into a kind of low-rent Winston Peters when he hates the guy," Lynch said.

    https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/09/election-2023-newshub-nation-powerbrokers-debate-live.html

    Well…that was a pretty perceptive comment.

    • Anne 5.1
      22 September 2023 at 9:52 am

      "… that was a pretty perceptive comment."

      We'll have to disagree on that one PLA.

      Sure, they are both populist politicians and they both have a combative style, but as individuals they about as far apart as one could get. They don't appear to have anything in common apart from their lust for power for power's sake. There's plenty of politicians past and present who could be described as such.

      I'm not sure Jenna Lynch was being genuine with that comment. It almost came across as a line she had rehearsed in advance. She knew it would garner a response from the audience and she got it.

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 5.1.1
        22 September 2023 at 10:04 am

        She knew it would garner a response from the audience and she got it.

        What response do you think she wanted?

        • Anne 5.1.1.1
          22 September 2023 at 10:23 am

          Not sure to be honest. TV3 political commentators are into gotcha politics and like to stir the pot for clickbait? Pitching Seymour and Peters together like that would be one way of doing it.

          • PsyclingLeft.Always 5.1.1.1.1
            22 September 2023 at 10:38 am

            There are, no doubt, many media political commentators who like to throw in inflammatory comments…(stirrers ?). However I dont know which would be more inclined to do so? The Herald is often put forward as one..but I have seen some reporting not so… right wing ?

            Also Stuff…and others. I suppose its subjective.

            Anyway..the response to the Jenna Lynch comment I saw and heard..is on the link video, around… 5:35

            https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/09/election-2023-newshub-nation-powerbrokers-debate-live.html

            The audience didnt seem exactly happy? And that was why I made my initial comment….

            IMO Seymour/Peters still..very much Narcissist's and alike in ..however that goes.

    • Bearded Git 5.2
      22 September 2023 at 9:54 am

      Well spotted psych….Seymour may yet screw this up for Luxon

      • PsyclingLeft.Always 5.2.1
        22 September 2023 at 10:16 am

        Yea I think..(IMO of course}…that Seymour is a Narcissist. And thats possibly whereby some of his antipathy towards Winston Peters. They very much view each other as competition in the limelight regard.

        All that..would be very bad for us and NZ. And the more that is revealed..the less Chris Luxon and his chaos crew will be seen as any good.

        • Anne 5.2.1.1
          22 September 2023 at 10:46 am

          "Yea I think..(IMO of course}…that Seymour is a Narcissist."

          Absolutely. And a sociopath to boot. The two invariably go together. The way he intends to carve up some of the good work the Labour Govt. has done to assist the vulnerable in society is a case in point. [Yeah there's more to be done but it can't be done overnight.]

          For example, I am on the Super and the heating subsidy over the winter months is a godsend. He wants it scrapped. Not a thought for the welfare of most pensioners. There are numerous other examples of his sociopathic tendances as well.

          The 'vulnerable' are undeserving in his view. What a first class prick!

          • PsyclingLeft.Always 5.2.1.1.1
            22 September 2023 at 10:58 am

            Anne..that is so much, why I fear that NAct could be in power.

            I am getting older..but still able to work hard physical jobs at times..(not sure how much longer?!) and do a lot of self sufficiency.

            Its not so much for me..but for the vulnerable that i fear .

            Seymour and his cronies…would willingly institute a slash society. With them slashing…. all the way down..to the slashed at the bottom : (

            I sincerely hope they never get to do it

        • Stephen D 5.2.1.2
          22 September 2023 at 10:50 am

          For the sake of power; principles, policy, and personal feelings will be compromised.

          Seymour hasn’t come this far to sit on the cross benches. Winston will do anything to stay relevant.

    • bwaghorn 5.3
      22 September 2023 at 6:45 pm

      I agree completely, seymour is definitely morning into peters , 40 years of seymour is something to look forward to ain't it!!!!

  6. miravox 6
    22 September 2023 at 10:09 am

    Thinking of the down South people – take care out there.

  7. AB 7
    22 September 2023 at 10:09 am

    Looks like the change from La Nina to El Nino in an overheated world just means different sorts of severe damage in different places. It's not stopping. But at least the delightful people of Queenstown with their guts ravaged by cryptosporidium, their town awash and tourists getting out and staying away for the forseeable, might get the tax cut they so ache for from that wonderfully decisive and 'up for it' Mr Luxon next year. That will solve all problems.

    • Sanctuary 7.1
      22 September 2023 at 10:35 am

      Food prices won't be coming down soon – El Nino will most likely hammer global food production, and "heatflation" is coming.

      You'd like to think the government at least had a plan on what to do in the case of a severe global cereal shortage (for example – re-purposing land to wheat production) but you just know that no is, and if there is a small team somewhere who even monitor this sort of thing ACT wants to get rid of them, on the basis that if the market says people must starve to death, well the market is infalliable.

    • Ad 7.2
      22 September 2023 at 10:53 am

      The 2023-36 government no matter who they are will be required to clean up multiple disasters. The current Southland floods are nowhere near as great as the 1979-1983 series that wiped out Kelso and took out large sections of Invercargill including the airport.

      But coupled with a lower-than-optimum water purification system in Queenstown we are going to see the necessity for Three Waters integrated stormwater and wastewater and water supply integrated investments at a deeper and broader level – no matter what Luxon or Hipkins want.

    • Tiger Mountain 7.3
      22 September 2023 at 10:59 am

      As an empathetic type, my “thoughts and prayers” go out to Queenstown residents, well, at least to baristas and bartenders sleeping in vans!

      • Ad 7.3.1
        22 September 2023 at 12:20 pm

        With the collapse of the milk price per kilo, in reality it's the Queenstown tourism industry propping up the country's export income. And indeed, up the workers, sleeping in their vans.

  8. Ad 8
    22 September 2023 at 10:55 am

    With diesel heading for $2.50 and 91 heading for $3.50, this government's closure and active dismantling of Marsden Point refinery could be the most damaging long term move they ever did. In Queenstown and Wanaka we are already there for diesel.

    Anyone wants to see where our main inflation driver is, fuel is about 25% of food production.

    • weka 8.1
      22 September 2023 at 11:03 am

      big incentive to transition faster.

      • Ad 8.1.1
        22 September 2023 at 11:23 am

        That's a pretty cruel comment for most New Zealanders who have no choice how they get about.

        • weka 8.1.1.1
          22 September 2023 at 11:54 am

          not really. If we don't use these pressures to transition, it's akin to saying 'sorry pandemic, we're not ready to do what is necessary, let's do it later'. The cost of living crisis doesn't exist separately from the climate/eco crisis, it's part of the same thing.

          There's no good reason to not be transitioning right now. For instance, we could be relocalising food production and adopting regenerative models. That both drops GHGs, and builds resilience by reducing our reliance on the global food supply chain.

          The block to that is industry's lack of imagination and experience on how to create a different kind of economy. The people who do know how to transition aren't the ones with the power (mostly). It's the same dynamic with tourism that wasted the opportunity from the pandemic because the industry bods were using old ways of thinking.

          Not completely, there are obviously good things happening in tourism from the more progressive side. But trying to do things like save the ski industry in its current form is just fucking nuts.

          People have a right to be fucked off and react to the CoL crisis. Chickens are coming home to roost though, and voting in a NactNZF hybrid government because of the CoL crisis will just make the situation much much worse.

          • Ad 8.1.1.1.1
            22 September 2023 at 12:14 pm

            Scolding people convinces no one. Change your tone.

            Cynically drawing on the ruptures of crisis to tilt our society very rarely goes to plan and usually makes things worse. You could always pop down to Gore right now and try to convince people about their unrighteousness.

            No one is having a block of imagination when they're at Pak n Save unable to afford a block of cheese.

            The ski industry is happily transitioning to the offroad cycling industry, from where I work in Wanaka and Queenstown. They do so when they are presented with reasonable and rational choices.

            Being fucked off in reality is just a signal for people to fuck off. So what we get as a replacement is cheap foreign labour, not some utopia where the haute-bourgeoisie and their ultra-refined tastes gradually expand. If only.

            The most organised transition towns are either in dire poverty subsidised up the wazoo by the state, or run by ultra-elites like Wanaka's WAO movement.

            This is not a moment for blunt ideological instruments and cheap shots at the poor who have no choice.

            • weka 8.1.1.1.1.1
              22 September 2023 at 12:45 pm

              stop making shit up about my views. I'm not taking shots at poor people, I'm taking shots at industry leaders who've been dragging the chain for decades.

              I'm talking to people on TS not people in Gore or Queenstown or Twizel. This is classic manipulative commenting from you. If you feel scolded, maybe that says something about your resistance to change.

              The ski industry is happily transitioning to the offroad cycling industry, from where I work in Wanaka and Queenstown. They do so when they are presented with reasonable and rational choices.

              Yes, this is my point exactly. We need the people with the imagination to bring the reasonable and rational transition choices to the table, but instead far too many BAU people are still the ones with the power.

              Mountain bike tracks are great, and they won't help people feed themselves when the shit hits the fan because we used an economy before ecology lens going into the climate crisis.

              As for tone, at times you are one of the most relentlessly negative people here. Sometimes it's like two different people commenting from your handle, you obviously bring a wealth of industry experience and sometimes some deep and clear thought. But your constant sniping at the leading edge on transition is just tedious as fuck, and it also blocks change in its own small way.

            • newsense 8.1.1.1.1.2
              22 September 2023 at 10:50 pm

              Be kind to the farmers.

              Be kind to the ones who told us it was a hoax, then to be fast followers, then slow followers, and now that they already are the best in the world at efficiency (no link provided), that no one else is doing anything and that it is all a hoax any how.

              Don’t scold them Weka. Be kind.

              Also don’t scold Ad. Be kind.

              It’s going to be a long 6- 9 years with a wealth of ignorance representing our official positions or nod, wink.

              Applause for Peters at Business North Shore for strip tease climate denial:

              https://www.newsroom.co.nz/peters-predicts-being-in-government-and-a-pre-xmas-mini-budget

              Oh and Andrew Hoggard of the Federated Farmers- the rational ones- who said climate change probably exists and then joined ACT.

              We’ve been lead by blunt tools for a long time.

              For 25 years, as Chippy did when he arrived as PM, the speeches begin with ‘Now is not the time…’

              I too struggle to find a consistency of ideas with Ad. I think I might have said at a grumpier moment that he seemed like a Rogernome ready to join ACT with some of his rhetoric.

              There is no alternative to ignoring climate change. Anyone who tries policies to come to terms with it is a something or other.

              Unbelievable that Queenstown has cut back its rates to the point where they are unable to provide drinking water. It’s a preview. If no drinking water is an option for cuts, then minimal climate action isn’t going to be much more popular.

          • gsays 8.1.1.1.2
            22 September 2023 at 12:19 pm

            I don't disagree with any of that.

            What sticks in the craw, is Wood's decision (Wood's advisors decision, let's be frank) was purely a financial decision, see DOS's Newsroom link.

            Undermines our independence, resilience and puts out fuel security at the whim of foreign shipping companies.

            Of course holding this opinion makes you a nutjob, a cooker, a fringe. Hard to keep company with those who thoughtlessly use this refrain.
            See TM below, although they are far from the only one to chuck this epithet around carelessly.

            • weka 8.1.1.1.2.1
              22 September 2023 at 12:47 pm

              Closing Marsden Point looks like a big mistake from a resiliency pov. And a neolib response from someone who doesn't understand the seriousness of the crisis.

              • Graeme …
                23 September 2023 at 6:50 am

                Fossil fuels, no matter where they are refined, are a mistake from a resiliency pov for New Zealand. Either way they still have to be imported.

                When you've got to import most of the components, especially the really critical ones, that keep Marsden Point going, it makes sense to leave the refining to economies that have the engineering scale and expertise to build, maintain and run the things. Refineries are hard, and a sunset industry. It might surprise some people here but the industry sets that, which is why small, isolated refineries like Marsden Point are being closed around the world.

                This article gives an interesting 'fuel industry' perspective https://www.fuelsandlubes.com/fli-article/the-end-of-oil-refining-in-australia/

                Re security of supply

                The reality is there is little difference in fuel security risk between importing refined fuel or crude oil. A multitude of seaborne routes to-and-from Australia ensure a reasonable level of supply chain security.

                Re resilience

                The Australia Institute’s quarterly National Energy Emissions Audit has previously questioned the logic of propping up old and inefficient refineries with public money and suggested it will do little to boost Australia’s fuel security. “The best way to increase Australia’s energy security in the medium term would be to reduce consumption of petrol by rapidly switching to electric passenger vehicles and focus on diesel and jet fuel supplies as the main energy security challenge,” says Dr. Hugh Saddler, energy analyst and author of the National Energy Emissions Audit.

            • Kat 8.1.1.1.2.2
              22 September 2023 at 12:47 pm

              "Foreign shipping companies…………

              How did the crude oil get to NZ to be refined, I am sure it wasn't by post.

              • Drowsy M. Kram …
                22 September 2023 at 1:05 pm

                yes NZ exports all the oil produced here, so that small trading income stream is also “at the whim of foreign shipping companies.”

                All local oil production is exported as the New Zealand refinery is not suited to processing it.
                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_and_gas_industry_in_New_Zealand

                https://tradingeconomics.com/new-zealand/crude-oil-production

                • Adrian …
                  22 September 2023 at 1:22 pm

                  NZ oil is exported as it is very low in sulpher and is used amongst other tasks for smelting steel and high grade chemicals and is worth a lot more per barrel than the low grade stuff used for processing into diesel and petrol. Just economic sense.

                  The refinery was closed down because by the time the necessary multi billion dollar rebuild would be finished it would have been almost redundant as the majority of the transport fleet will then be electric.

              • gsays …
                22 September 2023 at 2:05 pm

                Apart from the environmental plus, do you think closing Marsden Point was a good decision?

                • Peter …
                  22 September 2023 at 4:19 pm

                  When the crap hits the fan with fuel all the Nat/Act, private enterprise/ 'Government out of business' mob will go crazy about Labour. It'll be 'they should have bought the refinery, taken it over, blah, blah blah.'

    • Tiger Mountain 8.2
      22 September 2023 at 11:08 am

      A number of anti 5G type nut jobs up here in Northland made much of closing the Refinery, but for different reasons it may indeed have been a mistake

      A person I know well was there a lot in a Union role and got to know the site’s history and the motivation of various managers. Green energy was not at all acceptable to the board, that was a potential happener on the old Marsden B site.

      Really, it goes back to Rogernomics and setting up Refining NZ which was the typical license to rake it in for the international oil industry.

    • Descendant Of Smith 8.3
      22 September 2023 at 11:36 am

      Though I had always understood it wasn't able to process Maui's oil and the reasons for closing it down had very little to do with the government. The shareholders voted to sell. I'm not sure what you would have wanted – the government to buy a refinery (and incur the future clean-up costs) from the private sector who had deemed it be closed.

      Thought you were against unnecessary government spending.

      The refinery was closed down for commercial strategic reasons – closure was even a condition of Ampol’s takeover of Z Energy.

      https://www.newsroom.co.nz/national-cost-of-marsden-point-closure-highlighted-by-christmas-jet-fuel-shortage

      • Ad 8.3.1
        22 September 2023 at 12:01 pm

        It was Woods and Cabinet that discussed intervening in 2021 by underwriting the refinery for up to 10 years.

        So Whangarei lost 240 of some of the highest paid jobs in Northland. And they are never coming back, either as incomes or as families to our shores.

        Woods decided in her Cabinet paper on it that there wasn't enough of a case to support the continued operation on fuel security grounds.

        Should not have needed a new Defence White Paper to figure out the risk we have to the Singapore refineries.

        And of course we are quite happy to shore up Glenbrook Steel to the tune of $300 million to disable using our own ironsands.

        This world does not owe New Zealand the right to be secure.

        • weka 8.3.1.1
          22 September 2023 at 12:11 pm

          Woods decided in her Cabinet paper on it that there wasn't enough of a case to support the continued operation on fuel security grounds.

          was that an economic decision?

        • Descendant Of Smith 8.3.1.2
          22 September 2023 at 1:06 pm

          There is a substantial difference however between the government choosing not to buy it versus the government closing it down.

          In my view Douglas should never have sold it but he did. Unsure as to the wisdom of picking it up again. Here is MBIES advice which also points out that refinery's were closing/had closed elsewhere as well.

          Australia had seven operating refineries in 2010, of which only two now remain operating – supported by an Australian Government assistance package of up to A$2.3 billion announced in May 2021. According to the US Energy Information Agency, the US had 129 oil refineries at the beginning of 2021, down from 135 a year earlier, with closures attributed to falling fuel demand and increasing interest in renewable diesel production.

          https://www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/17733-fuel-supply-resilience-without-a-domestic-oil-refinery-proactiverelease-pdf

          I think the bigger mistake made in NZ was decommissioning the electrification of the main trunk line but we all have our particular interests.

          • PsyclingLeft.Always 8.3.1.2.1
            23 September 2023 at 8:08 am

            I think the bigger mistake made in NZ was decommissioning the electrification of the main trunk line

            Absolutely. But really…there was no Govt interest in continuing any Rail in NZ…at all. It was instead, more and heavier trucks ..with of course the ever increasing attendant road damage.

  9. Kat 9
    22 September 2023 at 11:24 am

    Now that the Marsden Refinery has been shut down the next move should be to dismantle the eyesore that it is and return the Cove to the beauty it once was. Whangarei is starting to look like a lovely city and a wonderful place to live. With the Bay of Islands just up the road Northland is truly a gem in the NZ crown. The marine industry for one is on a high growth curve.

  10. weka 10
    22 September 2023 at 12:22 pm

    Good short read from Kemara on Dirty Politics and Rawshark.

    https://bsky.app/profile/taipo.bsky.social/post/3k7k3hr2shq2n

    • Roy Cartland 10.1
      22 September 2023 at 12:55 pm

      Can you post the text here? That link just takes me to a Blue Sky login…? (Another thing to sign up for)

      • weka 10.1.1
        22 September 2023 at 1:04 pm

        sorry about that, I wasn't sure how bluesky displayed here. So annoying when they do that. Here's the first post, but there are ten altogether.

        9 years ago, in the year of our lord 2014, came the release of the book Dirty Politics by Nicky Hager detailing the haxored disclosures by Rawshark the great, which brought the National lead governments dirty politics division to a grinding halt.

        • Tricledrown 10.1.1.2
          22 September 2023 at 1:21 pm

          That only pushed it underground and made them more careful at not been caught.This has resulted in better coordination and funding of the Dirty politics brigade morphing into so-called independent institutes which push the right wing agenda.

        • Tricledrown 10.1.1.3
          22 September 2023 at 1:31 pm

          Nick Hager has been stalked and bullied out of politics by the right wing.The police illegally hounded him and had to pay a large sum in reparation no one charged in the police for the political hatchet job.The SIS had tabs on green activists who were protesting legally while the SIS completely ignored right wing white supremacists .No open inquiry into both organisations!

          Nick Hager's investigative journalism is missing in this country today,It takes a very brave individual to take on the very powerful.

          • Roy Cartland 10.1.1.3.1
            22 September 2023 at 1:47 pm

            Well I saw him at warehouse stationery the other day, printing out a whole lot of… something! So maybe he's not missing, but regrouping!

          • Anne 10.1.1.3.2
            22 September 2023 at 7:04 pm

            "Nick Hager has been stalked and bullied out of politics by the right wing."

            He was only one with a very high profile. It started way back in the 1960s/70s (maybe earlier) and continued to occur well into the 1990s at the least.

            Someone here recently suggested I should write a book about my experiences. What I think would be far more useful would be for an expert (Nicky Hager or someone with his level of experience) to interview those of us targeted in the past and write a book of our collective experiences. I think it would shock many people to discover what was going on in this country. I am sure the meme that 'New Zealand is the least corrupt country in the world' would take a bit of a thrashing.

  11. Dennis Frank 11
    22 September 2023 at 1:34 pm

    The collusion between the red & blue neolibs is exemplified by their campaign strategy (fake it till you make it) as dissected by RNZ here:

    This week, neither National nor Labour answered clearly how much they had planned to set aside for these costs nor how they intended to pay them. They instead focused their answers on wanting to cut planet-heating emissions more deeply inside New Zealand’s borders.

    At times, politicians seemed to confuse domestic emissions budgets with the $3b-plus added cost of buying offsets to meet the Paris target, or they made heroic statements about how much they could do onshore, without supplying the figures behind them.

    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/election-2023-the-multibillion-dollar-climate-hole-faced-by-both-labour-and-national/W4UCM54ABFAYBCY46V3YX37ZVU/

    I suppose one could sympathise with the collective horror they must feel at the challenge of having to deliver realistic long-term budgeting, but circumstances seem to be demanding that they do their job properly. We're hiring these turkeys to act professional.

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    When National cut health spending and imposed a commissioner on Te Whatu Ora, they claimed that it was necessary because the organisation was bloated and inefficient, with "14 layers of management between the CEO and the patient". But it turns out they were simply lying: Health Minister Shane Reti’s ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago
  • The professionals actually think and act like our Government has no fiscal crisis at all

    Treasury staff at work: The demand for a new 12-year Government bond was so strong, Treasury decided to double the amount of bonds it sold. Photo: Lynn GrievesonMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, September ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 6-September-2024

    Welcome to another Friday and another roundup of stories that caught our eye this week. As always, this and every post is brought to you by the Greater Auckland crew. If you like our work and you’d like to see more of it, we invite you to join our regular ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    2 days ago
  • Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies; Excerpt Four.

    Internal versus external security. Regardless of who rules, large countries can afford to separate external and internal security functions (even if internal control functions predominate under authoritarian regimes). In fact, given the logic of power concentration and institutional centralization of … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    2 days ago
  • A Hole In The River

    There's a hole in the river where her memory liesFrom the land of the living to the air and skyShe was coming to see him, but something changed her mindDrove her down to the riverThere is no returnSongwriters: Neil Finn/Eddie RaynerThe king is dead; long live the queen!Yesterday was a ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bright Blue His Jacket Ain’t But I Love This Fellow: A Review and Analysis of The Rings of Power E...

    My conclusion last week was that The Rings of Power season two represented a major improvement in the series. The writing’s just so much better, and honestly, its major problems are less the result of the current episodes and more creatures arising from season one plot-holes. I found episode three ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    2 days ago
  • Who should we thank for the defeat of the Nazis

    As a child in the 1950s, I thought the British had won the Second World War because that’s what all our comics said. Later on, the films and comics told me that the Americans won the war. In my late teens, I found out that the Soviet Union ...
    Open ParachuteBy Ken
    3 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #36 2024

    Open access notables Diurnal Temperature Range Trends Differ Below and Above the Melting Point, Pithan & Schatt, Geophysical Research Letters: The globally averaged diurnal temperature range (DTR) has shrunk since the mid-20th century, and climate models project further shrinking. Observations indicate a slowdown or reversal of this trend in recent decades. ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago
  • Media Link: Discussing the NZSIS Security Threat Report.

    I was interviewed by Mike Hosking at NewstalkZB and a few other media outlets about the NZSIS Security Threat Report released recently. I have long advocated for more transparency, accountability and oversight of the NZ Intelligence Community, and although the … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    3 days ago
  • How do I make this better for people who drive Ford Rangers?

    Home, home again to a long warm embrace. Plenty of reasons to be glad to be back.But also, reasons for dejection.You, yes you, Simeon Brown, you odious little oik, you bible thumping petrol-pandering ratfucker weasel. You would be Reason Number One. Well, maybe first among equals with Seymour and Of-Seymour ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • A missed opportunity

    The government introduced a pretty big piece of constitutional legislation today: the Parliament Bill. But rather than the contentious constitutional change (four year terms) pushed by Labour, this merely consolidates the existing legislation covering Parliament - currently scattered across four different Acts - into one piece of legislation. While I ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • Nicola Willis Seeks New Sidekick To Help Fix NZ’s Economy

    Synopsis:Nicola Willis is seeking a new Treasury Boss after Dr Caralee McLiesh’s tenure ends this month. She didn’t listen to McLiesh. Will she listen to the new one?And why is Atlas Network’s Taxpayers Union chiming in?Please consider subscribing or supporting my work. Thanks, Tui.About CaraleeAt the beginning of July, Newsroom ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    3 days ago
  • Inflation alive and kicking in our land of the long white monopolies

    The golden days of profit continue for the the Foodstuffs (Pak’n’Save and New World) and Woolworths supermarket duopoly. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, September 5:The Groceries Commissioner has ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • The thermodynamics of electric vs. internal combustion cars

    This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler I love thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is like your mom: it may not tell you what you can do, but it damn well tells you what you can’t do. I’ve written a few previous posts that include thermodynamics, like one on air capture of ...
    Skeptical Science
    3 days ago
  • Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt Three.

    The notion of geopolitical  “periphery.” The concept of periphery used here refers strictly to what can be called the geopolitical periphery. Being on the geopolitical periphery is an analytic virtue because it makes for more visible policy reform in response … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    3 days ago
  • Venus Hum

    Fill me up with soundThe world sings with me a million smiles an hourI can see me dancing on my radioI can hear you singing in the blades of grassYellow dandelions on my way to schoolBig Beautiful Sky!Song: Venus Hum.Good morning, all you lovely people, and welcome to the 700th ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • I Went to a Creed Concert

    Note: The audio attached to this Webworm compliments today’s newsletter. I collected it as I met people attending a Creed concert. Their opinions may differ to mine. Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago
  • Government migration policy backfires; thousands of unemployed nurses

    The country has imported literally thousands of nurses over the past few months yet whether they are being employed as nurses is another matter. Just what is going on with HealthNZ and it nurses is, at best, opaque, in that it will not release anything but broad general statistics and ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago
  • A Time For Unity.

    Emotional Response: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon addresses mourners at the tangi of King Tuheitia on Turangawaewae Marae on Saturday, 31 August 2024.THE DEATH OF KING TUHEITIA could hardly have come at a worse time for Maoridom. The power of the Kingitanga to unify te iwi Māori was demonstrated powerfully at January’s ...
    Bowalley Road
    4 days ago
  • Climate Change: Failed again

    National's tax cut policies relied on stealing revenue from the ETS (previously used to fund emissions reduction) to fund tax cuts to landlords. So how's that going? Badly. Today's auction failed again, with zero units (of a possible 7.6 million) sold. Which means they have a $456 million hole in ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt Two.

    A question of size. Small size generally means large vulnerability. The perception of threat is broader and often more immediate for small countries. The feeling of comparative weakness, of exposure to risk, and of potential intimidation by larger powers often … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Nicola Willis’s Very Unserious Bungling of the Kiwirail Interislander Cancellation

    Open to all with kind thanks to all subscribers and supporters.Today, RNZ revealed that despite MFAT advice to Nicola Willis to be very “careful and deliberate” in her communications with the South Korean government, prior to any public announcement on cancelling Kiwirail’s i-Rex, Willis instead told South Korea 26 minutes ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    4 days ago
  • Satisfying the Minister’s Speed Obsession

    The Minister of Transport’s speed obsession has this week resulted in two new consultations for 110km/h speed limits, one in Auckland and one in Christchurch. There has also been final approval of the Kapiti Expressway to move to 110km/h following an earlier consultation. While the changes will almost certainly see ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    4 days ago
  • What if we freed up our streets, again?

    This guest post is by Tommy de Silva, a local rangatahi and freelance writer who is passionate about making the urban fabric of Tāmaki Makaurau-Auckland more people-focused and sustainable. New Zealand’s March-April 2020 Level 4 Covid response (aka “lockdown”) was somehow both the best and worst six weeks of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    4 days ago
  • No Alarms And No Surprises

    A heart that's full up like a landfillA job that slowly kills youBruises that won't healYou look so tired, unhappyBring down the governmentThey don't, they don't speak for usI'll take a quiet lifeA handshake of carbon monoxideAnd no alarms and no surprisesThe fabulous English comedian Stewart Lee once wrote a ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • Five ingenious ways people could beat the heat without cranking the AC

    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Daisy Simmons Every summer brings a new spate of headlines about record-breaking heat – for good reason: 2023 was the hottest year on record, in keeping with the upward trend scientists have been clocking for decades. With climate forecasts suggesting that heat waves ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago
  • No new funding for cycling & walking

    Studies show each $1 of spending on walking and cycling infrastructure produces $13 to $35 of economic benefits from higher productivity, lower healthcare costs, less congestion, lower emissions and lower fossil fuel import costs. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • 99

    Dad turned 99 today.Hell of a lot of candles, eh?He won't be alone for his birthday. He will have the warm attention of my brother, and my sister, and everyone at the rest home, the most thoughtful attentive and considerate people you could ever know. On Saturday there will be ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago
  • Open Government: National reneges on beneficial ownership

    One of the achievements of the New Zealand’s Open Government Partnership Fourth National Action Plan was a formal commitment from the government to establish a public beneficial ownership register. Such a register would allow the ultimate owners of companies to be identified - a vital measure in preventing corruption, money ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Excerpt One.

    This project analyzes security politics in three peripheral democracies (Chile, New Zealand, Portugal) during the 30 years after the end of the Cold War. It argues that changes in the geopolitical landscape and geo-strategic context are interpreted differently by small … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    5 days ago
  • Tea and Toast

    When the skies are looking bad my dearAnd your heart's lost all its hopeAfter dawn there will be sunshineAnd all the dust will goThe skies will clear my darlingNow it's time for you to let goOur girl will wake you up in the mornin'With some tea and toastLyrics: Lucy Spraggan.Good ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • NLTP 2024 released – destroying pipeline of shovel ready local projects

    Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Waka Kotahi yesterday released the latest National Land Transport Plan (NLTP) for 2024-27. The NLTP sets out what transport projects will be funded for the next three years, including both central and local government projects. As expected given the government’s extremely ideological transport policy, it’s ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    5 days ago
  • Can Brown deliver his roads

    The Government’s unveiling of its road-building programme yesterday was ambitious and, many would say, long overdue. But the question will be whether it is too ambitious, whether it is affordable, and, if not, what might be dropped. The big ticket items will be the 17 so-called Roads of National Significance. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • New paper about detecting climate misinformation on Twitter/X

    Together with Cristian Rojas, Frank Algra-Maschio, Mark Andrejevic, Travis Coan, and Yuan-Fang Li, I just published a paper in Nature Communications Earth & Environment where we use the Computer Assisted Recognition of Denial and Skepticism (CARDS) machine learning model to detect climate misinformation in 5 million climate tweets. We find over half ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago
  • Excerpting “Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies.”

    In the late 2000s-early 2010s I was researching and writing a book titled “Security Politics in Peripheral Democracies: Chile, New Zealand and Portugal.” The book was a cross-regional Small-N qualitative comparison of the security strategies and postures of three small … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    6 days ago
  • Hating for the Wrong Reasons: Of Rings of Power, Orcs and Evil

    A few months ago, my fellow countryman, HelloFutureMe, put out a giant YouTube video, dissecting what went wrong with the first season of Rings of Power (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ6FRUO0ui0&t=8376s). It’s an exceptionally good video, and though it spans some two and a half hours, it is well worth your time. But ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    6 days ago
  • Climate Change: “Least cost” to who?

    On Friday the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment released their submission on National's second Emissions Reduction Plan, ripping the shit out of it as a massive gamble based on wishful thinking. One of the specific issues he focused on was National's idea of "least cost" emissions reduction, pointing out that ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Israeli Lives Matter

    There is no monopoly on common senseOn either side of the political fenceWe share the same biology, regardless of ideologyBelieve me when I say to youI hope the Russians love their children tooLyrics: Sting. Read more ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • Luxon Cries

    Over the weekend, I found myself rather irritably reading up about the Treaty of Waitangi. “Do I need to do this?” It’s not my jurisdiction. In any other world, would this be something I choose to do?My answer - no.The Waitangi Tribunal, headed by some of our best legal minds, ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    6 days ago
  • Just one Wellington home being consented for every 10 in Auckland

    A decade of under-building is coming home to roost in Wellington. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my top six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Monday September 2:Wellington’s leaders are wringing their hands over an exodus of skilled ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • Container trucks on local streets: why take the risk?

    This is a guest post by Charmaine Vaughan, who came to transport advocacy via her local Residents Association and a comms role at Bike Auckland. Her enthusiasm to make local streets safer for all is shared by her son Dylan Vaughan, a budding “urban nerd” who provided much of the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    6 days ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #35

    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, August 25, 2024 thru Sat, August 31, 2024. Story of the week After another crammed week of climate news including updates on climate tipping points, increasing threats from rising ...
    Skeptical Science
    7 days ago
  • An Uncanny Valley of Improvement: A Review and Analysis of The Rings of Power, Episodes 1-3 (Season ...

    And thus we come to the second instalment of Amazon’s Rings of Power. The first season, in 2022, was underwhelming, even for someone like myself, who is by nature inclined to approach Tolkien adaptations with charity. The writing was poor, the plot made no sense on its own terms, and ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    7 days ago
  • Alcohol debris and Crocodile Tears

    I write to you this morning from scenes of carnage. Around the floor lie young men who only hours earlier were full of life, and cocktails, and now lie silent. Read more ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • When Do We Look Away?

    Hi,The first time I saw something that made me recoil on the internet was a visit to Rotten.com. The clue was in the name — but the internet was a new thing to me in the 90s, and no-one really knew what the hell was going on. But somehow I ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    1 week ago
  • The decades just fly by

    You turn your back for a moment and a city can completely transform itself. It was, oh, just the other day I was tripping up to Kuala Lumpur every few months to teach workshops and luxuriate in the tropical warmth and fill my face with Char Kway Teow.It has to ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • 2024 Reading Summary: August

    Completed reads for August: Aesop’s Fables (collection), by Aesop Berserk: Volume XXV (manga), by Kentaro Miura Benighted, by J.B. Priestly Berserk: Volume XXVI (manga), by Kentaro Miura Berserk: Volume XXVII (manga), by Kentaro Miura Berserk: Volume XXVIII (manga), by Kentaro Miura Berserk: Volume XXIX (manga), by Kentaro Miura ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    1 week ago
  • Is recent global warming part of a natural cycle?

    Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park from the Gigafact team in collaboration with John Mason. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is recent global warming part ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago
  • White Noise

    Now here we standWith our hearts in our handsSqueezing out the liesAll that I hearIs a message, unclearWhat else is there to decide?All that I'm hearing from youIs White NoiseLyrics: Christopher John CheneyIs the tide turning?Have we reached the high point of the racist hate and lies from Hobson’s Pledge, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • The Death Of “Big Norm” – Exactly 50 Years Ago Today.

    Norman KirkPrime Minister of New Zealand 1972-1974Born: 6 January 1923 - Died: 31 August 1974Of the working-class, by the working-class, for the working-class.Video courtesy of YouTubeThese elements were posted on Bowalley Road on Saturday, 31 August 2024. ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago
  • Claims and Counter-Claims.

    Whose Foreshore? Whose Seabed? When the Marine and Coastal Area Act was originally passed back in 2011, fears about the coastline becoming off-limits to Pakeha were routinely allayed by National Party politicians pointing out that the tests imposed were so stringent  that only a modest percentage of claims (the then treaty ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand Honours Maori King ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • The Principles of the Treaty

    Hardly anyone says what are ‘the principles of the treaty’. The courts’ interpretation restrain the New Zealand Government. While they about protecting a particular community, those restraints apply equally to all community in a liberal democracy – including a single person.Treaty principles were introduced into the governance of New Zealand ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • The Only Other Reliable Vehicle.

    An Elite Leader Awaiting Rotation? Hipkins’ give-National-nothing-to-aim-at strategy will only succeed if the Coalition becomes as unpopular in three years as the British Tories became in fourteen.THE SHAPE OF CHRIS HIPKINS’ THINKING on Labour’s optimum pathway to re-election is emerging steadily. At the core of his strategy is Hipkins’ view ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago
  • A Big F U to this Right Wing Government

    Open to all - deep thanks to those who support and subscribe.One of the things that has got me interested recently is updates about Māori wards.In April, Stuff’s Karanama Ruru reported that ~ 2/3 of our 78 councils had adopted Māori wards in NZ.That meant that under the Coalition repeal ...
    Mountain TuiBy Mountain Tui
    1 week ago
  • Climate Change: James Shaw’s legacy keeps paying off

    One of the central planks of the previous Labour-Green government's emissions reduction policy was GIDI (Government Investment in Decarbonising Industry). This was basically using ETS revenue to pay polluters to clean up production, reducing emissions while protecting jobs. Corporate welfare, but it got the job done, and was often a ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago
  • Gravity

    Oh twice as much ain't twice as goodAnd can't sustain like one half couldIt's wanting moreThat's gonna send me to my kneesSong: John MayerSome ups and downs from the last week of August ‘24. The good and bad, happy and sad, funny and mad, heroes and cads. The week that ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Ditch the climate double speak and get real

    Long stories short, here’s the top six news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above between Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer:The Government announced changes to the Fast-Track Approvals Bill on Sunday, backing off from the contentious proposal to give ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Hoon around the week to August 30

    The podcast above of the weekly ‘Hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers on Thursday night features co-hosts and talking about the week’s news with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on the latest science of changing sea temperatures and which emissions policies actually work; on the latest from Ukraine, Gaza and ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • This Govt’s infrastructure strategy depends on capital gains taxes & new road taxes

    Billions of dollars in value uplift was identified around the Transmission Gully project, but that was captured 100% by landowners and not shared to pay for the project. Now National is saying value capture should be used for similar projects. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/ Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short; here’s my ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Weekly Roundup 30-August-2024

    Kia ora and welcome to the end of another week. Here’s our regular Friday roundup of things that caught our eye, in the realm of cities and transport. If you enjoy these roundups, feel free to join our growing ranks of supporters by making a recurring donation to keep the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    1 week ago
  • Table Talk: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.

    “That’s the sort of constitutional reform he favours: conceived in secret; revolutionary in intent; implemented incrementally without fanfare; and under no circumstances to be placed before the electorate for democratic ratification.”TO SAY IT WAS RAINING would have understated seriously the meteorological conditions. Simply put, it was pissing down. One of ...
    Bowalley Road
    1 week ago
  • Big Norm and Chris Hipkins

    It’s 50 years ago today that “Big Norm” Kirk died of a heart attack in Wellington’s Home of Compassion. Home of Compassion. Although he was Prime Minister for only 623 days, he has an iconic place in New Zealand history, particularly Labour history. When Labour leaders like Jacinda Ardern recite ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 week ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #35 2024

    Open access notables Arctic glacier snowline altitudes rise 150 m over the last 4 decades, Larocca et al., The Cryosphere: We mapped the snowline (SL) on a subset of 269 land-terminating glaciers above 60° N latitude in the latest available summer, clear-sky Landsat satellite image between 1984 and 2022. The mean SLA was extracted ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 week ago

  • Government progresses response to Abuse in Care recommendations

    A Crown Response Office is being established within the Public Service Commission to drive the Government’s response to the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care. “The creation of an Office within a central Government agency was a key recommendation by the Royal Commission’s final report.  “It will have the mandate ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Passport wait times back on-track

    Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says passport processing has returned to normal, and the Department of Internal Affairs [Department] is now advising customers to allow up to two weeks to receive their passport. “I am pleased that passport processing is back at target service levels and the Department ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • New appointments to the FMA board

    Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister has today announced three new appointments and one reappointment to the Financial Markets Authority (FMA) board. Tracey Berry, Nicholas Hegan and Mariette van Ryn have been appointed for a five-year term ending in August 2029, while Chris Swasbrook, who has served as a board member ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • District Court judges appointed

    Attorney-General Hon Judith Collins today announced the appointment of two new District Court judges. The appointees, who will take up their roles at the Manukau Court and the Auckland Court in the Accident Compensation Appeal Jurisdiction, are: Jacqui Clark Judge Clark was admitted to the bar in 1988 after graduating ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Government makes it faster and easier to invest in New Zealand

    Associate Minister of Finance David Seymour is encouraged by significant improvements to overseas investment decision timeframes, and the enhanced interest from investors as the Government continues to reform overseas investment. “There were about as many foreign direct investment applications in July and August as there was across the six months ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • New Zealand to join Operation Olympic Defender

    New Zealand has accepted an invitation to join US-led multi-national space initiative Operation Olympic Defender, Defence Minister Judith Collins announced today. Operation Olympic Defender is designed to coordinate the space capabilities of member nations, enhance the resilience of space-based systems, deter hostile actions in space and reduce the spread of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Government commits to ‘stamping out’ foot and mouth disease

    Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says that a new economic impact analysis report reinforces this government’s commitment to ‘stamp out’ any New Zealand foot and mouth disease incursion. “The new analysis, produced by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research, shows an incursion of the disease in New Zealand would have ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Improving access to finance for Kiwis

    5 September 2024  The Government is progressing further reforms to financial services to make it easier for Kiwis to access finance when they need it, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.  “Financial services are foundational for economic success and are woven throughout our lives. Without access to finance our ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Prime Minister pays tribute to Kiingi Tuheitia

    As Kiingi Tuheitia Pootatau Te Wherowhero VII is laid to rest today, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has paid tribute to a leader whose commitment to Kotahitanga will have a lasting impact on our country. “Kiingi Tuheitia was a humble leader who served his people with wisdom, mana and an unwavering ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Resource Management reform to make forestry rules clearer

    Forestry Minister Todd McClay today announced proposals to reform the resource management system that will provide greater certainty for the forestry sector and help them meet environmental obligations.   “The Government has committed to restoring confidence and certainty across the sector by removing unworkable regulatory burden created by the previous ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • More choice and competition in building products

    A major shake-up of building products which will make it easier and more affordable to build is on the way, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Today we have introduced legislation that will improve access to a wider variety of quality building products from overseas, giving Kiwis more choice and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Joint Statement between the Republic of Korea and New Zealand 4 September 2024, Seoul

    On the occasion of the official visit by the Right Honourable Prime Minister Christopher Luxon of New Zealand to the Republic of Korea from 4 to 5 September 2024, a summit meeting was held between His Excellency President Yoon Suk Yeol of the Republic of Korea (hereinafter referred to as ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Comprehensive Strategic Partnership the goal for New Zealand and Korea

    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Republic of Korea, Yoon Suk Yeol. “Korea and New Zealand are likeminded democracies and natural partners in the Indo Pacific. As such, we have decided to advance discussions on elevating the bilateral relationship to a Comprehensive ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • International tourism continuing to bounce back

    Results released today from the International Visitor Survey (IVS) confirm international tourism is continuing to bounce back, Tourism and Hospitality Minister Matt Doocey says. The IVS results show that in the June quarter, international tourism contributed $2.6 billion to New Zealand’s economy, an increase of 17 per cent on last ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Government confirms RMA reforms to drive primary sector efficiency

    The Government is moving to review and update national level policy directives that impact the primary sector, as part of its work to get Wellington out of farming. “The primary sector has been weighed down by unworkable and costly regulation for too long,” Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says.  “That is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Weak grocery competition underscores importance of cutting red tape

    The first annual grocery report underscores the need for reforms to cut red tape and promote competition, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “The report paints a concerning picture of the $25 billion grocery sector and reinforces the need for stronger regulatory action, coupled with an ambitious, economy-wide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Government moves to lessen burden of reliever costs on ECE services

    Associate Education Minister David Seymour says the Government has listened to the early childhood education sector’s calls to simplify paying ECE relief teachers. Today two simple changes that will reduce red tape for ECEs are being announced, in the run-up to larger changes that will come in time from the ...
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