“Superyacht supper: Huhu grubs and goat's testicles on regatta menu”
“The vessel is owned by German industrialist and superyacht builder Guido Krass. Bold was built in 2019 by Fremantle superyacht builders SilverYachts, founded by Krass in 2005.”
“While in New Zealand Bold will have repairs and maintenance done, thought to worth millions of dollars.”
Who is kidding who here ? This small ship was built in 2019 and is now thought to need millions of dollars of repair!
Yes I know , I have sailed half the world,. We used to say BOAT means Bring out another thousand. This boat was built in 2019 , they didn,t say when it was launched , so maybe has been on the water around one year. New boats don,t cost as much as old boats to maintain.
For those with any exposure to the roading industry, the recent decision by Refining New Zealand to cease production of bitumen will mean that there's no locally manufactured source for the entire roading network. Yes, our entire NZ roading network.
Not only will that focus the whole of the industry and Waka Kotahi (NZTA) on continuity of supply, it will also focus R&D departments on how to decrease that reliance. Sure hope they've got their own port and shipping slots or this could get exceedingly ugly exceedingly fast.
Queenstown Airport made a good example of this a couple of years ago.
Concrete, apart from being exceedingly expensive and hopeless for maintaining when you often have to dig it all up for new utilities required for new developments, also has a massive carbon cost – much of that carbon cost from cement production but also in quarrying and in its transport.
Bitumen is going to be a really curly one as we transition away from hydrocarbon fuels. It’s all the shit thats left over from refining the useful stuff. But really handy for surfacing cheap, flexible roads. Even when we’re all running around in electrics we’re going to need roads like we have now. Haven’t seen any alternatives coming through.
The Queenstown airport ‘green’ engineering was more for engineering pragmatism than any environmental concern. The toner cartridges gave plasticity for performance over a wider temperature range and the glass sand is used because Central Otago sands are weathered schist which are very weak and the particle sizes are all wrong for making good concretes and roads. Crushed clean glass has been added to premium concrete and basecourse sand here for a long time.
Even pulverised used tyre crumb (what to do with big piles of dead tyres) hasn't been sued extensively here. After NZTA's Kapiti Expressway surfacing debacle a couple of years back they are pretty conservative when it comes to trying out new surfacing materials.
As long as she gets charged for the length of her stay, I don't particularly care. Hell, there's even the possibility she actually has a point – that's up to the courts to determine.
If she's just a wingbat who wants to spend other wingbats' money on quarantine and lawyers for a futile gripe, ain't but a thing. If sticking thermometers up animals' butts really has shown her a nuance of informed consent that everyone else has missed, then the court case she's promising can only be a good thing.
I have sympathy for those needing to stay in MIQ for more than a week if they have to stay longer due to a new infection that requires a longer stay as a precaution, but otherwise they should pay for every day they are there, and if the rules only allow for payment up to 14 days the rules need to be changed. She is now living in Auckland, and presumably spending Australian sourced funds with our shops and possibly for accommodation – why should our government assist her by paying for a return flight? If she is financial difficulties she can contact the Australian embassy. Kneejerk reactions can be wrong; we should expect them from Judith Collins. Certainly in this case she appears to just be looking for something, anything, to criticise, but it is hard when the government set out what would happen if someone declined a test (they are not compulsory after all), and then sticks to that good policy. For those that want to send her back – would you be prepared to pay any of your money to help her? If not, why should our government pay?
When it comes to special treatment as in not following the rules the answer is a no.
She was thinking of the foster children by escorting them back to NZ. There is something going on with the process of returning the foster children. Saying goodbye would not have been easy.
Not liking the decision of following the rules about Covid-19 testing could be about challenging authority for another reason.
I am not aware of any evidence that she did not follow the rules. Not liking the rules is a separate issue – she managed to get publicity, but this article may not be what she was looking for:
After the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned Mylan about violating quality standards – including "missing, deleted and lost data" – New Zealand's medical safety watchdog Medsafe did its own investigation…
Medsafe didn't tell Pharmac about the quality control issues at the plant which manufactures Logem, and in August 2018 Pharmac signed a deal to make Logem the only funded brand of lamotrigine in New Zealand.
The deal meant more than 10,000 people taking lamotrigine had to switch brands, in a move Pharmac made to try to save $30 million over five years.
Today Medsafe takes the stand at an inquest by the Chief Coroner into the deaths of six people, who died after switching from their original brands of lamotrigine to the Logem generic.
Pharmac should have been given all the information to assist in their deliberations as to what was the safe and effective drug at the best price. That's their job, and how can they do it when a fellow agency doesn’t fully communicate with them. A pox on Medsafe!
What’s your point? There were no quality control issues with the product on sale in NZ. As far as Medsafe was concerned, it had done its job, checked, and deemed it safe.
Why did you remove this part from the text you quoted??
Medsafe's investigation closed in July 2017 and it decided that because there was "no evidence to suggest a direct quality or safety impact" a product recall was not required.
I’d call that selective quoting and it raises my suspicion.
No we dont need rent controls, thats a fucking bandaid.
What we need is state housing and lots of it, with infrastructure ie busways trains etc etc
After so much neglect and the effective privatization of state housing, The scale needed can only be meet by a govt programme backed with low cost finance.
Personally, take the very hard road and start sucking the capital out of housing as an investment.
Make no mistake it will be ugly as house prices fall, many will be hurt by negative equity and will need support from govt but what point political capital and a Lab govt if you dont spend it in a meaningful way.
I feel that the left is forgetting that the real divide in society is class… and the current govt is entrenching it…
With RNZ exposing yesterday that the smelter at Bluff had stockpiled 106,000 tonnes of cyanide-laced hazardous waste less than 100 metres from a fast-eroding beach, it's good to see Minister Parker giving them a good slam today.
The question must surely be, just as they were so weak-assed about the last contamination problem in Mataura, why is Environment Southland so shit at its job?
While I hope the remaining states follow, this is huge – Virginia has been one of the mainstays of the death penalty in the USA with the most executions in US history and second post-Furman to Texas. Also some good other progressive wins for the recent Democrat majority in Virginia as noted in the article.
According to Henry Cooke it's been three and a half years since JA mentioned shared equity schemes and/or similar, and he and housing minister Megan Woods are reporting to date there have been just 12 families successfully housed in such a way.
Beyond pathetic.
Megan Woods says it's complicated and goes on to blame low income families themselves for some reason. Not that's it's her fault. Phil Twyford should have owned this but has been found not competent at ministerial level.
If the government doesn't pull finger on housing, and importantly housing for the under $100K/pa families, this term will be their last.
At some stage this govt will be voted out, anything more than 3 terms is a big ask.
I can see, that despite the rhetoric leading up to the first term the landlord renter class divide will have grown far larger/faster than anytime in our history.
The 'soft' Nat voters that switched are getting what they paid for the core Lab voters are getting crumbs but are going to end up worse off in the long term…
My place has 'earned' more than my wife and I's yearly income in the last 12 months.
Its fucked, hell a colleague with a 900k pre approval cant manage to buy in Auckland cause anything without a fishhook that effects his finance goes to auction.
The report is back on another Universal Basic Income trial, this time in the USA. And as with the others, it shows that this policy works: After getting $500 per month for two years without rules on how to spend it, 125 people in California paid off debt, got ...
Revolutionary Formula:A new Aotearoa is on the rise. Tangata Whenua (Māori) + Tangata Tiriti (all other ethnicities who are committed to a tiriti centric Aotearoa) = the Aotearoa I believe in fighting for. - Rawiri Waititi, Co-Leader of the Maori Party.NEW ZEALAND is in the early stages of a revolution. ...
Mob Psychology: Deep down inside us dwell all manner of dark and violent impulses. In times of social stress and/or crisis, these “atavistic” urges have a nasty habit of rising to the surface like an insufficiently weighted corpse – and unleashing mayhem.ARE WE AS SAVAGE as our forebears? Would we ...
Over the past few years there's been a growing trend for bespoke secrecy clauses in legislation, excluding specific types of information (or even whole agencies) from the coverage of the Official Information Act. These pop up in all sorts of unusual places, sometimes when introduced, sometimes put there by select ...
In this week’s podcast Selwyn Manning and I discuss the ethics and practicalities involved in the so-called “conflict industry.” It includes a discussion of the who and what of the “kill chain” and the implications of Rocket Lab’s position as a major US military logistical provider. You can find it ...
Ramin SkibbaTo turn the tide against climate change, on the day of his inauguration President Joe Biden signed an executive order instituting a raft of policy changes and initiatives. One directed his team to reassess the social cost of carbon. This seemingly obscure concept puts a number on how ...
All Out Of Kindness: At her post-Cabinet media conference on Monday, the Prime Minister demonstrated conclusively that she could be cruel as well as kind. Those revealed to have breached the self-isolation protocols felt the full force of Jacinda Ardern’s displeasure – and the nation lapped it up.JACINDA ARDERN KNOWS ...
Session Thirty-Seven… our last full session in the Dreamland. So the Fae Queen was after a rematch. To the extent that she was literally willing to destroy her own forest in order to replenish her forces. I imagine one of her advisers pointed out that “destroying something in ...
Today the shabby little train of denial ran out of smoke. Payment, apology in Dirty Politics case — Newsroom Crushing defeat for Dirty Politics PR man with apology to defamed academics — The Spinoff Here’s the apology wording, below. It’s ruined only by the clearly bullshit implication that there was ...
It’s always tempting to reach for the easiest “answers” to make sense of an uncertain world. It’s a tendency that has been there for a long time, but in the time of COVID, a lot of it seems to be on steroids.Desperate people do desperate things. In ...
Why New Research? Skeptical Science exists for the purpose of improving public capacity for critical thinking about anthropogenic climate change. Effective critical analysis requires a basis of information, and for our purpose the wellsprings of fundamental understanding are found in peer-reviewed academic literature, our best grasp of how Earth's climate operates and ...
This column will be calling it out. There’s so much folx need to educate ourselves about and DO BETTER. From cis privilege to white privilege, whether it’s how to decolonise, how to handle the pronoun illiterates, this column will be an inclusive space, for ALL GENDERS and ALL IDENTITIES. It ...
by Gearóid Ó Loingsigh, Colombia, 26 February 2021 The recent decision taken in California to place men and women in the same wings of prisons as a response to the violence meted out to trans prisoners is a nascent issue in Colombia, but sooner or later it will get here. ...
About 10 years ago there was a proliferation of home wares promoting ‘Keep calm and carry on’. This adage came from World War 2 posters produced by the British Government in an effort to boost the morale of its citizens. Typically printed as white lettering on a red background you ...
Having spent most of the pandemic alternately calling for mass-death by relaxing lockdowns "for the economy", and for those who breach lockdowns to face harsher and harsher punishments, the National Party has finally made a useful contribution by calling for people told to self-isolate to be paid directly: The ...
The Ombudsman is supposed to be our core watchdog on administrative decision-making. Their central job is to review decisions by public agencies to ensure they are fair and reasonable and followed a proper process. So its more than a little embarrassing that they've been called to account by the courts ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Samantha Harrington For many, people life moved online in 2020. From preschool to dissertation defenses, first dates to weddings, video calls brought us together. To entertain ourselves, we streamed concerts and movies, played video games, and scrolled social media. Demand for internet ...
The Government has made a litany of mistakes over Covid, and we have been more than willing to forgive Labour these missteps and give them some leeway. Branko Marcetic says that when members of the public also make mistakes, we should be focusing on designing a wider system that insulates ...
Naïve optimism has been blinding everyone from Ashley Bloomfield to Case M. Josh Van Veen argues we need to be more aware of our biases in dealing with Covid – but especially the authorities. In the United States, naive optimism was at the heart of the Trump Administration’s failed ...
Cecile Meier walks us through some of the costs of a border system that has neither been able to safely scale up to meet need, nor able to find any reasonable way of prioritising entry into those scarce MIQ spaces. When Zane Gillbee hugged his family goodbye in South Africa ...
Technology lists, what’s this thing called “Deep Tech”, and thinking beyond the tech. Top “x” lists of technology developments, breakthroughs and trends aren’t hard to find. But how useful are they? MIT’s “Breakthrough Technologies” This time every year MIT’s Technology Review magazine produces a “10 breakthrough technologies” list. This ...
Having watched and read about the Conference of the Paranoid, Angry and just plain Crazy (CPAC), including the Orange Merkin’s return to the political centre stage, I am more convinced then ever that if US conservatism, and indeed the US itself, is to find its way back to some semblance ...
Back in 2019, following media revelations that bullying was widespread within the police, the Independent Police Conduct Authority announced that it would be investigating the issue. Today, they reported back, and found the police to be a completely toxic organisation: An independent report into police culture has described a ...
Dr Ben Gray*New Zealand has begun to roll out its Covid-19 vaccination programme, starting with those working at the border, including in the Managed Isolation and Quarantine (MIQ) facilities. There have been calls for prioritising other groups such as those in South Auckland [1] and meat industry workers ...
The Climate Change Commission’s recommendations span the breadth of the economy. They are required to come up with sector-by-sector climate budgets consistent with getting New Zealand with net zero emissions under the Zero Carbon Act. The sector-by-sector budgets rest on underlying models. The models build predictions about what will happen ...
Revolution From Below: The original “Long March” was, of course, undertaken by Mao Zedong and what was left of his communist military forces. They did not, however, head off for the nearest school or university, government office or medical clinic. Their goal was not to infiltrate the institutions of capitalism, but ...
There are some genre authors who like to demonstrate their edgy, iconoclastic credentials by sticking the boot into J.R.R. Tolkien. Michael Moorcock springs to mind, with the much-beaten dead horse that is the Epic Pooh essay. Each to their own, I suppose, though seeing as Epic Pooh really boils ...
John SchwartzElizabeth Kolbert lives her stories. In the course of reporting her new book, “Under a White Sky: The Nature of the Future,” she got hit by a leaping carp near Ottawa, Illinois (“It felt like someone had slammed me in the shin with a Wiffle-ball bat”) and visited ...
New Zealand has an excellent Emissions Trading Scheme covering everything except agriculture – a non-trivial exclusion, but we can come back to that later. The ETS has a cap. Net emissions from the covered sector cannot exceed the cap. So any other regulations that affect sectors covered by the cap ...
Michael SchulsonDays before the inauguration of President Joe Biden, at a time when some Americans were animated by the false conviction that former President Donald J. Trump had actually won the November election, a man in Colorado began texting warnings to his family. The coming days, he wrote, would ...
Last year, Beef and Lamb New Zealand produced a bought-and-paid-for report claiming that their industry was already carbon neutral, so didn't need to do anything to reduce emissions. The report was full of obviously dodgy accounting - basicly, it didn't bother to follow international carbon accounting rules, because they would ...
Last year, the government chickened out on clean rivers, setting "water standards" that failed to properly control poisonous nitrates. So who was to blame? MPI: The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) opposed introducing a tough bottom line for nitrogen levels in rivers over concerns the economic impact would outweigh ...
Robert Greenberg, University of AucklandThe world was excited by the news last week that NASA’s Perseverance rover had successfully landed in a Martian crater. The rover will now set about collecting samples from what scientists say was an ancient lake fed by a river. The name of this exotic ...
Faith In The Essentials: Fenced-in, almost literally, by motorways. Located, seemingly permanently, at the bottom of politicians’ priority-lists. Heaped with praise for their cultural vibrancy, but not rewarded for it by the presence of white pupils in their public schools, South Aucklanders (like people of colour everywhere) provide their paler ...
Image credit:POLITICAL BLOG I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL ...
Since the pandemic began, the UK government has restricted protests in an effort to contain the plague. But of course, they're plotting to make these restrictions permanent: Concern over the government’s limitation of the right to protest during lockdown continues to mount after it emerged that the home secretary, ...
Completed reads for February: The Dream of Scipio, by CiceroThe Dragon Masters, by Jack Vance The Dream of Scipio is Pearman’s translation. A very quiet month in the reading department… but a truly excellent one in the writing department. Better yet, this was not merely short stories, but solid ...
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Under The Influence Of The "Governance" Kool-Aid: The furore surrounding Mayor Andy Foster's "review" of the Wellington City Council's "governance" is but the latest example of the quite conscious delegitimization, and sinister re-framing, of spirited political opposition and debate as irresponsible, immature and “dysfunctional”. It shows how very far from ...
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There are times when tikanga needs to be broken for tikanga to survive.I recently gave a presentation on Māori economic history based on my Not in Narrow Seas. Its most important message was that Māori proved to be a very adaptable people continually evolving as new opportunities arose. The European ...
Some of you may remember our blog post "A conundrum: our continued presence on Facebook" in which we detailed our misgivings about and decision to stick with Facebook for the time being. So these latest developments - reposted from the Cranky Uncle homepage - might come as a bit of surprise! ...
Image credit:Quick Data Lessons: Data Dredging Oh dear – another scientific paper claiming evidence of toxic effects from fluoridation. But a critical look at the paper shows evidence of p-hacking, data dredging and motivated reasoning to derive their conclusions. And it was published in a journal shown to be ...
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by Daphna Whitmore The Department of Corrections has called in the police over a pamphlet that supports protests at Waikeria Prison, saying the material might incite another riot. The group People Against Prisons Aotearoa denies it advocates for riots and has said it “encourages persistent, peaceful protest action such as striking from ...
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Virginia has voted to abolish the death penalty: State lawmakers gave final approval on Monday to a bill that will end capital punishment in Virginia, a dramatic turnaround for a state that has executed more people than any other. The legislation repealing the death penalty now heads to the ...
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Some of the country’s most forward-thinking early-career conservationists are among recipients of a new scholarship aimed at supporting a new generation of biodiversity champions, Conservation Minister Kiri Allan says. The Department of Conservation (DOC) has awarded one-year postgraduate research scholarships of $15,000 to ten Masters students in the natural ...
I acknowledge our whānau overseas, joining us from Te Whenua Moemoeā, and I wish to pay respects to their elders past, present, and emerging. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all today. I am very pleased to be part of the conversation on Indigenous business, and part ...
Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced today that main benefits will increase by 3.1 percent on 1 April, in line with the rise in the average wage. The Government announced changes to the annual adjustment of main benefits in Budget 2019, indexing main benefit increases to the average ...
A Deed of Settlement has been signed between Ngāti Maru and the Crown settling the iwi’s historical Treaty of Waitangi claims, Minister for Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Andrew Little announced today. The Ngāti Maru rohe is centred on the inland Waitara River valley, east to the Whanganui River and its ...
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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has expressed her condolences at the passing of long-serving former Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Grand Chief Sir Michael Somare. “Our thoughts are with Lady Veronica Somare and family, Prime Minister James Marape and the people of Papua New Guinea during this time of great ...
E te tī, e te tā Tēnei te mihi maioha ki a koutou Ki te whenua e takoto nei Ki te rangi e tū iho nei Ki a tātou e tau nei Tēnā tātou. It’s great to be with you today, along with some of the ministerial housing team; Hon Peeni Henare, the ...
The Government is backing a new project to use drone technology to transform our understanding and protection of the Māui dolphin, Aotearoa’s most endangered dolphin. “The project is just one part of the Government’s plan to save the Māui dolphin. We are committed to protecting this treasure,” Oceans and Fisheries ...
Major water reform has taken a step closer with the appointment of the inaugural board of the Taumata Arowai water services regulator, Hon Nanaia Mahuta says. Former Director General of Health and respected public health specialist Dame Karen Poutasi will chair the inaugural board of Crown agency Taumata Arowai. “Dame ...
The newly completed Hibiscus Coast Bus Station will help people make better transport choices to help ease congestion and benefit the environment, Transport Minister Michael Wood and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said today. Michael Wood and Phil Goff officially opened the Hibiscus Coast Bus Station which sits just off the ...
New funding announced by Conservation Minister Kiri Allan today will provide work and help protect the unique values of Northland’s Te Ārai Nature Reserve for future generations. Te Ārai is culturally important to Te Aupōuri as the last resting place of the spirits before they depart to Te Rerenga Wairua. ...
Today the Government has taken a key step to support Pacific people to becoming Community Housing providers, says the Minister for Pacific Peoples, Aupito William Sio. “This will be great news for Pacific communities with the decision to provide Pacific Financial Capability Grant funding and a tender process to ...
Conservation Minister Kiri Allan is encouraging New Zealanders to have their say on a proposed marine mammal sanctuary to address the rapid decline of bottlenose dolphins in Te Pēwhairangi, the Bay of Islands. The proposal, developed jointly with Ngā Hapū o te Pēwhairangi, would protect all marine mammals of the ...
Attorney-General David Parker today announced the appointment of three new District Court Judges. Two of the appointees will take up their roles on 1 April, replacing sitting Judges who have reached retirement age. Kirsten Lummis, lawyer of Auckland has been appointed as a District Court Judge with jury jurisdiction to ...
Government announces list of life-shortening conditions guaranteeing early KiwiSaver access The Government changed the KiwiSaver rules in 2019 so people with life-shortening congenital conditions can withdraw their savings early The four conditions guaranteed early access are – down syndrome, cerebral palsy, Huntington’s disease and fetal alcohol spectrum disorder An alternative ...
The Reserve Bank is now required to consider the impact on housing when making monetary and financial policy decisions, Grant Robertson announced today. Changes have been made to the Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee’s remit requiring it to take into account government policy relating to more sustainable house prices, while working ...
The Labour Government will invest $6 million for 70 additional adult cochlear implants this year to significantly reduce the historical waitlist, Health Minister Andrew Little says. “Cochlear implants are life changing for kiwis who suffer from severe hearing loss. As well as improving an individual’s hearing, they open doors to ...
The Local Electoral (Māori Wards and Māori Constituencies) Amendment Bill passed its third reading today and will become law, Minister of Local Government Hon Nanaia Mahuta says. “This is a significant step forward for Māori representation in local government. We know how important it is to have diversity around ...
The Government has added 1,000 more transitional housing places as promised under the Aotearoa New Zealand Homelessness Action Plan (HAP), launched one year ago. Minister of Housing Megan Woods says the milestone supports the Government’s priority to ensure every New Zealander has warm, dry, secure housing. “Transitional housing provides people ...
A second batch of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines arrived safely yesterday at Auckland International Airport, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. “This shipment contained about 76,000 doses, and follows our first shipment of 60,000 doses that arrived last week. We expect further shipments of vaccine over the coming weeks,” Chris Hipkins said. ...
The Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Carmel Sepuloni has today announced $18 million to support creative spaces. Creative spaces are places in the community where people with mental health needs, disabled people, and those looking for social connection, are welcomed and supported to practice and participate in the arts ...
Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little today welcomed Moriori to Parliament to witness the first reading of the Moriori Claims Settlement Bill. “This bill is the culmination of years of dedication and hard work from all the parties involved. “I am delighted to reach this significant milestone today,” Andrew ...
22,400 fewer children experiencing material hardship 45,400 fewer children in low income households on after-housing costs measure After-housing costs target achieved a year ahead of schedule Government action has seen child poverty reduce against all nine official measures compared to the baseline year, Prime Minister and Minister for Child Poverty ...
It’s time to recognise the outstanding work early learning services, kōhanga reo, schools and kura do to support children and young people to succeed, Minister of Education Chris Hipkins says. The 2021 Prime Minister’s Education Excellence Awards are now open through until April 16. “The past year has reminded us ...
Three new Jobs for Nature projects will help nature thrive in the Bay of Plenty and keep local people in work says Conservation Minister Kiri Allan. “Up to 30 people will be employed in the projects, which are aimed at boosting local conservation efforts, enhancing some of the region’s most ...
The Government has accepted all of the Holidays Act Taskforce’s recommended changes, which will provide certainty to employers and help employees receive their leave entitlements, Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Michael Wood announced today. Michael Wood said the Government established the Holidays Act Taskforce to help address challenges with the ...
The Government’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and faster than expected economic recovery has been acknowledged in today’s credit rating upgrade. Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) today raised New Zealand’s local currency credit rating to AAA with a stable outlook. This follows Fitch reaffirming its AA+ rating last ...
Tena koutou e nga Maata Waka Ngai Tuahuriri, Ngai Tahu whanui, Tena koutou. Nau mai whakatau mai ki tenei ra maumahara i te Ru Whenua Apiti hono tatai hono, Te hunga mate ki te hunga mate Apiti hono tatai hono, Te hunga ora ki te hunga ora Tena koutou, Tena ...
The Minister of Justice has reaffirmed the Government’s urgent commitment, as stated in its 2020 Election Manifesto, to ban conversion practices in New Zealand by this time next year. “The Government has work underway to develop policy which will bring legislation to Parliament by the middle of this year and ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage and Social Development Hon Carmel Sepuloni today launched a new Creative Careers Service, which is expected to support up to 1,000 creatives, across three regions over the next two years. The new service builds on the most successful aspects of the former Pathways to ...
James Elliott tries to work out what made Mike Hosking and Brian Tamaki tick everyone off this week. The week started with Aucklanders back under Alert level 3 and Mike Hosking on Alert Level 6. “Mike’s Minute” on NewstalkZB on Monday, which as usual lasted significantly longer than a minute, ...
Fonterra has confirmed what most analysts had been predicting and lifted its 2020/21 forecast farmgate milk price range to $7.30 – $7.90 kg/MS, up from $6.90 – $7.50. This should send a further surge of confidence across NZ’s rural regions, hopefully in a wave strong enough to encourage farmers to ...
A Financial Times leader delivers advice that Finance Minister Grant Robertson should (but probably won’t) consider. Essentially, the advice is to resist the temptation to involve the central bank in the challenge of slowing the rise in house prices. Changing regulation and reforming planning law is a smarter way to ...
The NZ Superannuation Fund has divested from five Israeli banks due to their suspected involvement in illegal settlement construction. Michael Andrew reports.The Guardians of New Zealand Superannuation, an autonomous crown entity and manager of the multi-billion NZ Super Fund, has divested from five Israeli banks due to their funding of ...
A contestant on the new season of The Bachelor has apologised for ‘controversial’ social media posts comparing mask wearing to ‘slavery’ and for questioning the scientific consensus around Covid-19. Stewart Sowman-Lund reports.Shivani Pragji is – according to her LinkedIn profile – a solicitor working for the Ministry of Business, Innovation ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, PhD, Media and Politics, Deakin University A couple of days ago, the musician Grimes sold some animations she made with her brother Mac on a website called Nifty Gateway. Some were one-offs, while others were limited editions of a few ...
Analysis: We are able to send a blaring alert to the phone of every New Zealanders to warn of Covid lockdowns, yet we still struggle to warn them of the danger of a tsunami This coming week, it will be 10 years since Japan was hit by the Tohoku earthquake, one ...
Moa brewery sold in February for $1.9m, leaving behind an unsavoury legacy. Michael Andrew speaks to the new owner about how the brewery plans to move forward, while at the same time returning to its Marlborough roots.Moa Brewing Company’s new owner Stephen Smith has criticised the company’s old marketing strategy, ...
By RNZ News An 8.0 earthquake has struck near the Kermadec Islands, hours after a 7.4 quake near the Kermadecs and a 7.1 off the North Island coast, A 7.4 quake struck near the Kermadec Islands earlier this morning. The islands are 800km to 1000km from New Zealand. National Emergency ...
National Parks are being closed off to allow fallow deer to be bombarded with 1080 poison. The proposal has drawn strong criticism from the Australian hunting public and also New Zealand’s Sporting Hunters Outdoor Trust. Laurie Collins, spokesman ...
In the fallout from the Dirty Politics defamation hearing, how can the Food and Grocery Council and its chief continue to deny involvement in attacks on public health academics? Tim Murphy explains its stance. The middleman has 'fessed up. So where does that leave the two prominent players on either side ...
Mike Hosking is a king of breakfast radio, a lover of blazers, and deliverer of opinions via his long-running online video series, Mike’s Minute. José Barbosa absorbed three months’ worth of those opinions in one go, and lived to tell the tale. Just. To be honest, I hadn’t thought about ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller (Bloomsbury, $25)This 2011 bestseller set during the Trojan War has ...
A new poem from Melbourne-based poet Grace Yee.I have heardthat the price of a pound of gold has gone grey over the last couple of monthsthat the first sovereign lord beheaded his grandsonthat chinese market gardeners in suburbia shipped out after decades of fastingand purificationthat evil-intentioned hooligans penetrated the palace ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dave Parry, Professor of Computer Science, Auckland University of Technology Although international travel restrictions for Australia have been extended to at least June, there may still be potential for a trans-Tasman bubble with New Zealand (and maybe some other countries), according to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jamie Triccas, Professor of Medical Microbiology, University of Sydney The United States’ drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said last week COVID vaccines updated for variants won’t need to go through full randomised controlled clinical trials. The booster shots will ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Milte, Matthew Flinders Senior Research Fellow, Flinders University The final report from the aged care royal commission this week was damning. Speaking of a system in crisis, it calls for an urgent overhaul. The Morrison government has been facing difficult questions ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David John Eldridge, Professor of Dryland Ecology, UNSW After 200 years of European farming practices, Australian soils are in bad shape – depleted of nutrients and organic matter, including carbon. This is bad news for both soil health and efforts to address ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Zoe Vaill, PhD Candidate Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology Students are heading off to universities around Australia, whether for the first time or as returning students, with expectations of a year of learning, making friends and enjoyable socialising. For some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jan Thomas, Vice-Chancellor, Massey University As first-year students flooded onto campuses around the country this week, gripped with uncertainty and curiosity about their new lives, I too returned to university to learn. For the first time since what feels like forever, but ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW After years of repeatedly missing its inflation target through too timid monetary policy, in the past week the Reserve Bank has decided to get tough. Not only did it hold its closely watched cash rate target ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter McNeil, Distinguished Professor of Design History, UTS, University of Technology Sydney It’s Sydney Lesbian and Gay Mardi Gras festival time. LGBTQI people are enjoying what some call “gay or lesbian Christmas”. It’s not quite the same in the era of COVID, ...
A tech expert is warning the government could face multiple stumbling blocks if it makes QR code scanning mandatory - in particular when dealing with tech giants like Apple and Google. ...
*This story first appeared on RNZ and is republished with permission. A tsunami alert has been issued after a 7.4 earthquake near the Kermadec Islands. The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) says it expects strong and unusual currents and unpredictable surges at the shore. It says the threat is from ...
Live coverage of the snap lockdown and the search for a source of the latest infection. Auckland is now at alert level three, NZ at level two. Get in touch at stewart@thespinoff.co.nz 7.50am: Two major earthquakes strike; tsunami warning in placeTwo major earthquakes have struck off the coast of New Zealand ...
Good morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Cabinet to decide on lifting lockdown today, questions raised about the stability of the housing market, and people instinctively respond to tsunami threat after earthquake.A decision will be made today on whether or not Auckland will come out of level ...
The military is showing little sign of backing down, but the coup could have the unintended consequence of unifying Myanmar society in opposition, across significant ethnic divisions. A month ago, citing dubious claims of electoral fraud in the November 2020 election, Myanmar’s military deposed the country’s democratically elected National League for Democracy ...
A Harvard professor presenting his opinions on alien life as fact when the field at large doesn't agree is misrepresenting science, argues Dr Heloise Stevance For years now Abraham (Avi) Loeb has been a rather passionate advocate for what I call 'The Alien Hypothesis' 一 the idea that extraterrestrial lifeforms are the source of ...
Anna Rawhiti-Connell doesn't want an investment or an asset, but a home. Yet because of last century’s broken promises, she feels like an idiot fish, destined to swim against a current with other idiot fish who think their life savings and lifelong debt will guarantee them a house. We went to some open homes ...
All eyes are on the Prime Minister to schedule the rollout – or flyout – to the more remote corners of NZ and the Pacific There is growing anticipation about the announcement of the Covid vaccine rollout to New Zealand's general population and the Pacific realm countries. The schedule is close ...
Were we right to leave lockdown so early after the Valentine's Day cluster was first discovered? And was our return to lockdown a result of anything more than bad luck? Marc Daalder reports Ashley Bloomfield and Jacinda Ardern fronted a press conference on February 17, three days after Auckland plunged ...
With the America's Cup first-to-seven showdown about to begin, Suzanne McFadden asks a six-time winner how much could it come down to the helmsmen? Murray Jones knows the exact essence of what makes an America’s Cup helmsman great. A phenomenal Kiwi sailor in his own right, Jones has worked alongside ...
Rio Olympian Helena Gasson may be one of the oldest Kiwi swimmers still at the top of their game, but she's found a new gear - breaking 20 NZ records in the past 18 months. Even in the year of Covid, with her plans abruptly changed and her training schedule interrupted, Helena ...
After literally thousands of requests, we’ve finally caved. We’ve decided to rank beans in an arbitrary yet unequivocally correct fashion.A-mung the current chaos of the world we live in, there’s an inherent desire to create order. Some found that order in the first lockdown by cleaning their house or exercising ...
A bar planned for Auckland’s St Kevin’s Arcade is facing opposition from locals concerned about the character of the owner, former Married at First Sight contestant Chris Mansfield, who still faces outstanding domestic violence charges in the US.The two lots inside St Kevin’s Arcade where Chris Mansfield plans to open ...
We thought the Covid messages were clear - but the latest Auckland lockdown has muddied the message. One political strategist says it's been like "putting tomato sauce on ice cream". New Zealand's Covid-19 communications response has been hailed the world over. Its success has catapulted us into the pages ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Scott Morrison has a near obsession with control. But suddenly – in the course of only weeks – he has found himself presiding over a government in a shambles, where he is reacting rather than ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rick Sarre, Emeritus Professor of Law and Criminal Justice, University of South Australia A great deal has been written and said in the last few days about the next steps in the historic claim of rape against Attorney-General Christian Porter. There are ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Carola Garcia de Vinuesa, Professor and Co-Director, Centre for Personalised Immunology, NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence, Australian National University Some 90 prominent scientists, including Nobel laureates and other leading Australian and international researchers, today called for convicted child murderer Kathleen Folbigg to ...
The threats to use car bombs at the two mosques that were attacked on 15 March 2019 are especially cruel as we come up to the second anniversary of those attacks. It shows the need for a strong national security system, with clear leadership and direction ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Royal Commission into Aged Care has now delivered its final report, and its findings are an indictment of the inadequacies of the present system. The report calls for a refocus within the aged care ...
Police have arrested two people following an online threat against two Christchurch mosques, Marc Daalder reports Christchurch police say two people arrested over an online threat against two mosques are being cooperative. One of the people arrested, a 27-year-old man, has been charged with threatening to kill. On Sunday, a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mary Iliadis, Senior Lecturer in Criminology, Deakin University The continuing media coverage of rape and sexual assault allegations faced by current and former political figures has put many sexual abuse survivors at risk of being traumatised all over again. Widespread media attention ...
“Thanks to Labour’s bungling bureaucracy, hardworking New Zealanders are locked down with their livelihoods threatened, and the Prime Minister still isn’t telling the truth. It is time for a reset. We need a purpose built, Taiwan-style, Epidemic ...
On the 27 th of February, youth across 7 cities in New Zealand came out in full force to join city-wide marches organized by Rise for Lives (RFL), a youth movement focused on bringing awareness and action for humanitarian causes. Youth members of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Peterson, Associate Professor, Flinders University Review: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, by Benjamin Britten, directed by Neil Armfield, Adelaide Festival. Transfixed, Transported. Transfigured. Three hours pass in the blink of an eye. How did this happen, or was it all just a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jacqueline Lau, Research fellow, James Cook University Gender influences how people experience and respond to climate change. This is particularly evident in developing nations where women and men adapt to climatic shocks differently. Women work harder and longer, in poorer conditions, while ...
This week on Business is Boring, Billie Jo Hohepa-Ropiha tells Simon Pound about inventing the sewer-safe wet wipe alternative BDÉT.There is a big problem lurking in our sewer pipes. Flushed wet wipes, even the supposedly “flushable” ones, are major contributors to “fatbergs” – huge clumps of wipes and other stuff ...
Over 170 scientists, researchers, local government elected members and officials gathered recently at the LGNZ Climate Change Adaptation Symposium. Discussions uncovered gaps in New Zealand’s adaptation policy and canvassed how the sector can find shared ...
The New Zealand Law Society | Te Kāhui Ture o Aotearoa appeared before Parliament’s Justice select committee today on the Arms (Firearms Prohibition Orders) Amendment Bill (No 2), a member's bill in the name of Simeon Brown. The bill proposes to allow ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Cantrell, Lecturer in Writing, Editing, and Publishing, University of Southern Queensland Let’s start by putting aside the bugbear that it is even possible to “cancel” children’s author Dr Seuss. As Philip Bump wrote yesterday in The Washington Post, No one ...
Our Beehive Bulletin We spotted the politically alluring word “free” among the latest Beehive announcements. The headline said “Hundreds more schools join free lunches programme”. This was one of two statements from Chris Hpikins since Point of Order last updated its record of of ministerial press statements. The other (in ...
Feel like you’ve already watched everything on the internet this week? Here are eight video series from The Spinoff archive you might have missed.Scratched: Aotearoa’s Lost Sporting LegendsMeet some of the unsung or forgotten legends of New Zealand sport, from Māori tennis legend Ruia Morrison’s Wimbledon run in the 1950s ...
TRIBUTE:By Frank Senge Kolma in Port Moresby Many will now try to recollect some experience, some exchange or brush with the Grand Chief Sir Michael Thomas Somare who fell to pancreatic cancer on February 26 after a long checkered career in politics as our founding Prime Minister. That he ...
At first it was about the books, but my relationship with my local library has since become about a whole lot more, writes Briar Grace-Smith, whose feature film Cousins premiered last night.I’ve done my time in libraries around the country, popping in and out of them on writers’ tours ...
The live export ship Ocean Ute is scheduled to arrive at Port Taranaki tomorrow to export thousands of cows. This is the second time Ocean Ute has exported animals from New Zealand this year. Radio New Zealand reported today that a paper has been ...
A View from Afar: Thursday March 4 @ midday (NZDST / Wednesday, 6pm USEST) Paul G. Buchanan and Selwyn Manning conduct a deep dive into the largely covert role of private enterprise in the intelligence, conflict, and war markets. Most recently, New Zealanders discovered that its national airline had been ...
Guest Post By Barrie Saunders The departure of Donald Trump from the White House was a victory for the US democratic system, which only just succeeded. If then Vice President Mike Pence had wavered under enormous pressure from President Trump and his cult-like supporters, Joe Biden might not be in ...
The reverential aura enveloping the Ardern government is beginning to fade and ministerial fallibilities are emerging. Just as suddenly, the media are offering some space to critics of the government. Richard Prebble is calling for a Royal Commission into the government’s handling of the pandemic response. ACT’s David Seymour sees ...
South Auckland is flooded with unhealthy food choices, but, as Justin Latif reports, a group of women are ensuring there’s something for those wanting an alternative.One gave up a career in the world of investment banking, while the other, as a single mum to five children, chose to take a ...
New Zealand fell in love with Precious McKenzie at the 1974 Commonwealth Games, and the feeling was so mutual he decided to stay. But the charismatic weightlifter hadn’t always been made to feel so welcome.In an apartheid-era gym advertised as “whites only”, Precious McKenzie was about to break a national ...
Chief Ombudsman Peter Boshier today released his latest Official Information Act (OIA) and Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act (LGOIMA) data[1]. In the six months from 1 July to 30 December 2020, the Ombudsman received 667 OIA ...
National's proposal to pay full wages for people self-isolating is a welcome one, says the New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union . Union spokesman Louis Houlbrooke says, “It's a version of what we proposed last year in our first COVID-19 briefing paper ...
The move to level three in Auckland, and level two across the rest of the country, has once more thrown the live arts into disarray. Sam Brooks asked some practitioners to tell us how the pandemic continues to disrupt their work.There’s no doubt that New Zealand has been able to ...
A small Waikato town is pulling together to help improve how Māori are counted in the next census, Stats NZ said today. In Raahui Pookeka, members of a local marae are driving an initiative to improve engagement in the New Zealand census. The initiative, ...
A Premium article in The Herald today.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/superyacht-supper-huhu-grubs-and-goats-testicles-on-regatta-menu/7CBF46UVNX4A3X6EYCWBRFU464/
“Superyacht supper: Huhu grubs and goat's testicles on regatta menu”
“The vessel is owned by German industrialist and superyacht builder Guido Krass. Bold was built in 2019 by Fremantle superyacht builders SilverYachts, founded by Krass in 2005.”
“While in New Zealand Bold will have repairs and maintenance done, thought to worth millions of dollars.”
Who is kidding who here ? This small ship was built in 2019 and is now thought to need millions of dollars of repair!
Virtually all ocean craft require an annual budget of !0-15% of build cost for maintenance and repairs – salt water does that.
Yes I know , I have sailed half the world,. We used to say BOAT means Bring out another thousand. This boat was built in 2019 , they didn,t say when it was launched , so maybe has been on the water around one year. New boats don,t cost as much as old boats to maintain.
More likely a refit… probably changed his mind on the interior colour scheme
The helipad may need enlarging.
Is the length of the visa dependent on them 'repairing' their boats?
Not usually, they are just visitor visas with the ability to extend a bit if repairs or storm season dictate.
What beverage is recommended with the appetizers?
Squeezed Bambi juice.
I’d go for a sparkling water with a hint of lemon.
Domestos lemon fresh.
For those with any exposure to the roading industry, the recent decision by Refining New Zealand to cease production of bitumen will mean that there's no locally manufactured source for the entire roading network. Yes, our entire NZ roading network.
Not only will that focus the whole of the industry and Waka Kotahi (NZTA) on continuity of supply, it will also focus R&D departments on how to decrease that reliance. Sure hope they've got their own port and shipping slots or this could get exceedingly ugly exceedingly fast.
Queenstown Airport made a good example of this a couple of years ago.
https://www.queenstownairport.co.nz/corporate/news-and-events/news/queenstown-airports-apron-resurfacing-project-wins-sustainability-initiative-of-the-year-award-at-the-new-zealand-airports-awards
Why are we even using bitumen though? Most countries use concrete for reading, which is far better lifespan and grip wise.
Cost, our terrain, not mention seismic activity…
concrete roading doesnt work on our soft ,ever moving ground.
That makes sense. Thanks woodart, ad and Cricklewood!
Concrete, apart from being exceedingly expensive and hopeless for maintaining when you often have to dig it all up for new utilities required for new developments, also has a massive carbon cost – much of that carbon cost from cement production but also in quarrying and in its transport.
Bitumen is going to be a really curly one as we transition away from hydrocarbon fuels. It’s all the shit thats left over from refining the useful stuff. But really handy for surfacing cheap, flexible roads. Even when we’re all running around in electrics we’re going to need roads like we have now. Haven’t seen any alternatives coming through.
The Queenstown airport ‘green’ engineering was more for engineering pragmatism than any environmental concern. The toner cartridges gave plasticity for performance over a wider temperature range and the glass sand is used because Central Otago sands are weathered schist which are very weak and the particle sizes are all wrong for making good concretes and roads. Crushed clean glass has been added to premium concrete and basecourse sand here for a long time.
Even pulverised used tyre crumb (what to do with big piles of dead tyres) hasn't been sued extensively here. After NZTA's Kapiti Expressway surfacing debacle a couple of years back they are pretty conservative when it comes to trying out new surfacing materials.
Still hilarious after all these years. And sad, at the same time
The highlight—“Scum! Russian scum!”—comes at about the 5:50 mark…
I hate to say it, but I think I agree with Judith Collins regarding this Aussie woman that refuses a Covid test.
Judith Collins calls for deportation of Australian woman refusing Covid test | Stuff.co.nz
ditto.
Meh.
As long as she gets charged for the length of her stay, I don't particularly care. Hell, there's even the possibility she actually has a point – that's up to the courts to determine.
If she's just a wingbat who wants to spend other wingbats' money on quarantine and lawyers for a futile gripe, ain't but a thing. If sticking thermometers up animals' butts really has shown her a nuance of informed consent that everyone else has missed, then the court case she's promising can only be a good thing.
who is paying for the court case, us or herself?
She'll be paying for her lawyers, us ours, and the winner might get costs.
As long as she covers her direct costs, it's not a huge deal. The judge and crown lawyers will still be doing legal stuff even without her.
so she squandered scarce resources in quarantine and isolation
now she is squandering our resources in the court that could be used otherwise.
Yeah, right ….no biggie…..and the winner can get costs back? Sounds sensible. Not.
What is it – 1/4000th of capacity for an extra fortnight?
Rather than simply deciding that a court case is a done deal so we don't even need to have one?
Which slope is more slippery, do you think?
yeah, flat fee, apparently. Pity.
Max stay in MIQ without testing is 28 days. Max charge is 14 days. According to midday news on TV 1.
I think she's more of a dingnut than wingbat.
wish collins would make up her mind. normally ,she sides with aus against her own country.
Broken clocks are usually correct twice a day. She has one more time to be correct today.
Simple virtue signalling, and she's desperate for the column inches.
I thought MIQ was to prevent a Covid-19 case from entering the community. There is a process for this which is applied before being able to leave MIQ.
You beat me to it Jimmy.
Dump her on a plane back to Aussie and tell her she's not allowed to come here again.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/judith-collins-wants-australian-woman-refused-covid-19-test-deported
I have sympathy for those needing to stay in MIQ for more than a week if they have to stay longer due to a new infection that requires a longer stay as a precaution, but otherwise they should pay for every day they are there, and if the rules only allow for payment up to 14 days the rules need to be changed. She is now living in Auckland, and presumably spending Australian sourced funds with our shops and possibly for accommodation – why should our government assist her by paying for a return flight? If she is financial difficulties she can contact the Australian embassy. Kneejerk reactions can be wrong; we should expect them from Judith Collins. Certainly in this case she appears to just be looking for something, anything, to criticise, but it is hard when the government set out what would happen if someone declined a test (they are not compulsory after all), and then sticks to that good policy. For those that want to send her back – would you be prepared to pay any of your money to help her? If not, why should our government pay?
When it comes to special treatment as in not following the rules the answer is a no.
She was thinking of the foster children by escorting them back to NZ. There is something going on with the process of returning the foster children. Saying goodbye would not have been easy.
Not liking the decision of following the rules about Covid-19 testing could be about challenging authority for another reason.
I am not aware of any evidence that she did not follow the rules. Not liking the rules is a separate issue – she managed to get publicity, but this article may not be what she was looking for:
https://thespinoff.co.nz/media/25-02-2021/who-is-lucinda-baulch-the-australian-who-refused-a-covid-test/
Ardern rightly manages to stick to the issues but it's hard not to feel something close to vengence towards these moronic aussies.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/124338604/return-the-favour-nsw-premier-sends-strong-transtasman-border-message-to-jacinda-ardern
I wonder if an airline/transport would carry her?
Will she get more quarantine when she lands back in Australia ?
Who or what is Medsafe working for? I think there should be some sackings from Medsafe.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/in-depth/436942/maker-of-epilepsy-drug-warned-over-quality-control
After the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned Mylan about violating quality standards – including "missing, deleted and lost data" – New Zealand's medical safety watchdog Medsafe did its own investigation…
Medsafe didn't tell Pharmac about the quality control issues at the plant which manufactures Logem, and in August 2018 Pharmac signed a deal to make Logem the only funded brand of lamotrigine in New Zealand.
The deal meant more than 10,000 people taking lamotrigine had to switch brands, in a move Pharmac made to try to save $30 million over five years.
Today Medsafe takes the stand at an inquest by the Chief Coroner into the deaths of six people, who died after switching from their original brands of lamotrigine to the Logem generic.
Pharmac should have been given all the information to assist in their deliberations as to what was the safe and effective drug at the best price. That's their job, and how can they do it when a fellow agency doesn’t fully communicate with them. A pox on Medsafe!
What’s your point? There were no quality control issues with the product on sale in NZ. As far as Medsafe was concerned, it had done its job, checked, and deemed it safe.
Why did you remove this part from the text you quoted??
I’d call that selective quoting and it raises my suspicion.
Time to legislate out of existence any real or imagined obligation to maximise shareholder value – USD 2500/day power bills
Very sad. It is a good question. What will this landlord do with an extra $100/week?
Intergenerational class divisions are opening ever wider in New Zealand and hardly anyone seems bothered by it.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/renting/124318345/my-wellington-apartment-is-depressing-yet-my-rent-just-went-up-100-a-week
60 days notice is required to increase the rent.
This couple have got their priorities right, run as soon and as fast as you can into your own place.
A $100 rent increase is to steep for a semi cell type apartment.
100 per week, 400 per month. That is not a rent increase that is extortion.
It's why we need rent controls and regulation of landlords and agents. So no-one is caught out by amateur actors in the industry.
I’d call the residential tenancy sector the wild west at the moment. People’s lives are at stake.
I need to look up how much notice the landlord needs to give to sell?
I would question the landlords motive on hiking the rent as much as they have.
Tenant needs to give 4 weeks notice to end the tenancy.
Just to establish yourself in a rental the average person is put in debt or has to save.
How many tenants rely on a credit card/s to be able to afford entering a rental agreement?
Same can be said for a loan from Work and Income to avoid being homeless.
It's 90 days now. Such a rent hike is designed to evict, but without having to evict without cause, which is now illegal.
It’s a product of this timid government’s tinkering with tenancy legislation rather than wholly reforming it.
One issue is there is still no cap on rent hikes, only the frequency, so they can do this. Hence the need for more robust rent control regulation.
Will be interesting to see what happens with the apartment when the tenants leave.
Regulation is required for a rent hike to protect renters.
No we dont need rent controls, thats a fucking bandaid.
What we need is state housing and lots of it, with infrastructure ie busways trains etc etc
After so much neglect and the effective privatization of state housing, The scale needed can only be meet by a govt programme backed with low cost finance.
I hear ya. I did say a day or 2 ago that building state homes worked.
Short term is different to long term.
What would you do in the short term to prevent rent scalping?
Personally, take the very hard road and start sucking the capital out of housing as an investment.
Make no mistake it will be ugly as house prices fall, many will be hurt by negative equity and will need support from govt but what point political capital and a Lab govt if you dont spend it in a meaningful way.
I feel that the left is forgetting that the real divide in society is class… and the current govt is entrenching it…
With RNZ exposing yesterday that the smelter at Bluff had stockpiled 106,000 tonnes of cyanide-laced hazardous waste less than 100 metres from a fast-eroding beach, it's good to see Minister Parker giving them a good slam today.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/environment-minister-slams-uncooperative-tiwai-point-he-reveals-govts-toxic-waste-clean-up-request
The question must surely be, just as they were so weak-assed about the last contamination problem in Mataura, why is Environment Southland so shit at its job?
And the answer as ever is…..follow the money
What's your evidence for that in the case Parker is describing?
Fuck there are a lot of dicks about today…why do you think NZAS buried a shit load of toxic waste in a site that wasnt monitored?
Because their good mates in industry want it that way.
Virginia about to abolish the death penalty
While I hope the remaining states follow, this is huge – Virginia has been one of the mainstays of the death penalty in the USA with the most executions in US history and second post-Furman to Texas. Also some good other progressive wins for the recent Democrat majority in Virginia as noted in the article.
According to Henry Cooke it's been three and a half years since JA mentioned shared equity schemes and/or similar, and he and housing minister Megan Woods are reporting to date there have been just 12 families successfully housed in such a way.
Beyond pathetic.
Megan Woods says it's complicated and goes on to blame low income families themselves for some reason. Not that's it's her fault. Phil Twyford should have owned this but has been found not competent at ministerial level.
If the government doesn't pull finger on housing, and importantly housing for the under $100K/pa families, this term will be their last.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300237672/home-ownership-scheme-announced-in-2019-has-housed-just-12-families
At some stage this govt will be voted out, anything more than 3 terms is a big ask.
I can see, that despite the rhetoric leading up to the first term the landlord renter class divide will have grown far larger/faster than anytime in our history.
The 'soft' Nat voters that switched are getting what they paid for the core Lab voters are getting crumbs but are going to end up worse off in the long term…
My place has 'earned' more than my wife and I's yearly income in the last 12 months.
Its fucked, hell a colleague with a 900k pre approval cant manage to buy in Auckland cause anything without a fishhook that effects his finance goes to auction.
But dont worry Jacinda cares…
I know someone in Wellington, the place cost 29 k in 1978. Bank loan for the mortgage was only 9 k. The place is now worth 1.2 mil.
Per year profit what does that work out as?
How would this look on a graph?
The cost of housing and the profit is making people dizzy. Negative equity if you need to re buy in the same city.
Gladys Berejiklian wants New Zealand to reciprocate the trans-Tasman bubble. She has been very stern with Jacinda Ardern.
Gladys might find more cooperation if Australia stopped exporting their home grown criminals.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/124338604/return-the-favour-nsw-premier-sends-strong-transtasman-border-message-to-jacinda-ardern