Instead of obsessing about the already well off, perhaps this government should do what it said it was going to do and put a human face on today’s capitalism.
Today’s viewing of RNZ, TV one + ‘Nubs hub’ showed no care for concerns about the looming climate change disaster that awaits us all.
Pathetic display of our own Dr ‘scrooge” Grant Robinson claiming “we cant do everything at once, – it will take at least three terms”.
He is an idiot as the sea is coming now to claim the coastal areas and will destroy all lives and properties well before his magic time of 9 years or more to change direction.
Shallow man that must be sacked for his reckless lack of urgency..
Grant Robertson is right. It will take decades to fully implement a new style economy that doesn’t damage the long term climate.
it means changing transport, agriculture and industrial production and energy generation. And both Labour and National have to buy into it.
It is not going to be all done (not even all the policy settings) in the next 18 months, which is all that is left of this term. Actually more like 12 months. There won’t be a huge bunch of new policy after the 2020 budget.
I note many on the Left are now crying out for radical change on climate policy to make up for the CGT decision. Basically the democratic equivalent of “let’s shoot all the landlords”. It rather ignores the fact that policies that are sustainable over decades need at least some form of consent from political opponents. Otherwise it all gets undone with a change of government.
Wayne, I agree with you on your comments re the implementation of sound climate change policy. It will take time. The "many" on the left you speak of are only a few, or are you just referring to those who comment on TS.
Wayne some of what you say is right but time is running out now and you can't stop the inevitable by saying "it will take 10 years as we don't have that time.
I have seen Florida weather change dramatically during the 1992-98 years and in Europe too , and now here on the North Island east coast so we can't let it happen when we have time to slow the change now.
If its money we can resort the the 'Reserve bank act' as a urgency need to print it now rather than later.
We are staying with friends at Whangapoua. I have just had a swim and gathered mussels off the little island off the beach. As I was doing so I was thinking just what an age old experience this is. Climate change seemed a million miles away.
The sun and sea seemed to be just as I recalled it in my childhood in the 1960’s. And yes I do recall swimming at this time of the year. In fact for study for School C, I was sunbathing in the garden in October in Reporoa. Perhaps not the most efficient way of studying, but a fond memory nevertheless.
It certainly does not feel like the “climate emergency” that has seized the protestors in London.
Wayne, you know as well as I do that we live in a moderate marine environment that lessons the impact of Climate Change in the near future. In fact because we are surrounded by the moist and cooling influence of vast oceans we are likely to be one of the last countries (if not the last country) to feel the devastating effects of global warming. Indeed the first real signs are here, and I refer to the erosion of our coastline due to rising sea levels.
Just because we can't feel anything much – yet – does not mean it isn't happening. This is the over-riding problem with society… too many people seem incapable of comprehending anything until it starts to impact on them. And when it does, they yell and scream and blame the government of the day when it was their ignorance which prevented governments from taking action in the first place.
The signs are everywhere – I don't have to list them – and it can only gain momentum unless we stop bloody well emitting Co2 into the atmosphere at the crazy rate it is currently occurring.
But you know the above so please stop playing it down and set an example as an elder statesman. It is here and the future of all flora and fauna (which includes mankind) is hanging in the balance!
Anne, the one thing we could do right away is stop chucking crap into our waterways and the sea. Plastic and polystyrene used solely for throw-away convenience purposes should not be tolerated any longer. I would give Wayne some latitude regarding his comments on realistic time frames to implement serious and workable climate change policies. I would remind him though of the high levels of plastic particles in his mussels and other sea food in our waters that he may be ingesting.
I don;t know what my local Council does. If I don't know about what is happening now, should I worry about something that might not happen for 10 or 50 years? (I believe we need to take some actions quickly, but I don't know what those first steps should be – and I'm not prepared to say that our government (and yes it is three parties) is a failure because they haven't done it yet!)
Not really disagreeing with you, though I do question the rate of change. For instance in Wellington there are a whole bunch of markers on the streets saying where sea level would be in 2030. I think they put there in the early 2000’s. There is absolutely zero chance of the sea level reaching the levels. In fact it will be hardly any different from the levels when the markers were first placed.
One point that is unclear is whether there is a tipping point not far away from the present levels. And if it reached there are runaway effects that could result in huge effects within 50 or so years. The science on this is very unclear. So far only the extreme outlier models produce these effects. I know about the precautionary principle, but in my view the risks have to have a credible basis.
I personally want Jacinda to be bold (but not extreme) on environmental policy, especially on water quality, species preservation and biodiversity.
OK Wayne that's fair enough. And yes, I agree with your final paragraph.
However the situation in continental countries is far worse than in NZ and it is going to take extreme measures to remedy – if indeed they can now be remedied.
Wayne that is such a facile comment from you at 2121. I am surprised that you could put up such a one; it verges on climate denial attitudes. If we have good weather and can enjoy environmental pleasures of yesteryear that's lucky for us.
Can you try and keep up with the play, stay in the now at the same time as remembering the past which is so sweet. Keep that memory to fuel your present activities to limit climate change effects now, which may give us more time to make changes to cope with the destructive weather patterns that will change everything for everybody, including NZ. What are you doing towards that yourself?
There are manifold ways – I was today looking at a protest against our casual way of buying cheap clothes and chucking them. The person was raising money for a union in Bangladesh – they are helpful at agitating for better conditions for workers.
Call Government for OECD/WHO/EU standards for traffic noise
Friday, 19 April 2019, 6:31 pm
Press Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre
CEAC/ residents seek health/wellbeing protection by adopting OECD/WHO/EU urban traffic noise standards.
Confirmation from several reports both from NZTA/Transit-NZ acoustical consultants have since 2001 warned residents that heavy traffic levels coupled with raising busy roads over residential zones will “lift the noise level”. (See Traffic effects) : FHWA Website on Highway Traffic Noise below the end of this report.
This may affect most regions of NZ today with high truck freight movement through residential zones.
This issue was raised to Napier residents in a report as long ago as 2001 when a “flyover” ‘overbridge’ on HB Expressway was built over several Napier residential suburbs of Greenmeadows East, Tamatea, and Pirimai.
In the press release from ‘Transit NZ’ featured in the local paper ‘HB Today’ on Friday June 22nd 2001 an article appeared in the press under “Flyover will lift noise level; report.” The article showed the traffic levels then would increase but noise levels would stay; – quote; ‘within their guidelines’ apart from two small groups of houses in two residential areas of ‘Downing Avenue, and Hamlin Place’.
• Today in 2019 (18 years later).
• the rail has almost stopped moving freight
• so the truck traffic has massively increased and all traffic volumes have trebled
• This has caused many negative noise and pollution impacts to resident health and wellbeing causing complaints from all residential zones near the HB Expressway.
Same issue for me – I am posting this on a laptop, but when I originally tried to reply on my Samsung Note 9 using Chrome mobile, the Your Comment field could not be clicked into. Had the same issue on a Samsung Galaxy Tab A also using Chrome mobile.
I remember the argument in the court of Jong Kee and friends for the incarceration of Kim Dotcom on piracy charges. He was to be held accountable for failing to take down content from his site when in breach of copyright. He was to be held responsible for what was on his website, full stop.
Why then is Mark Fuckerberg not held responsible for what is on his website? This evil robotic freak is still peddling the Christchurch murderer's video for new right wing recruits to learn from.
Dotcom's big prob is not pinched files on his website. Utube is awash with Disney. He has fallen foul of the federal laws introduced to collar organised crime groups, Gotti et al.
Dotcom romped all over his pirate competition because he offered financial rewards to those studious folk that uploaded lots of quality content and in doing so picked up the racketeering component of the charges he faces.
For obvious reasons, they are a set of laws that are not easily discounted by big dollar legal representation.
KDC pissed off the wrong guys and didn’t donate (enough?) to the right political friends at the time.
FB is more like a tool shop where the shopkeepers know way too much about the tool-time (online behaviour) of its customers and it is willing to ‘sell’ dangerous tools to deranged customers who don’t give a toss about other customers.
Bribed politicians couldn't of fixed Kim's woes. The handful of people that control the content he had on his site want his head on a plate. The racketeering component gives their case teeth, 4 dozen people that do bankroll political trajectories.
Yes, Facebook is not free. We don't get to see the invoice but we pay it anyway.
I agree with you re: They do have a degree of responsibilty for those using their tool. Just as Black and Decker are obliged to mount a sturdy guard over the blade.
Nobody reads Manuals nowadays but they are full of warnings, cautions, and T & Cs. Legal protection for the manufacturer against the consumer. Caveat Emptor.
Perhaps in the end the bribes donations would not have saved KDC but they might have avoided the Rambo-style raid on his home & family. Those moguls had even deeper pockets than he did. He was not squeaky clean, allegedly, but the stench coming from other quarters was almost unbearable …
Muslim extremists attack Christians in Sri Lanka. I'm over the media calling them easter worshippers – what a stupid statement from stuff and the herald. Extreme right wing muslim hate groups killed people in pray – just like far right wing white nationalists did here less than a month ago.
The media have a red button to push giving a list of pre-set headlines – probably about 10 that they can pull out and use for appropriate occasions. They have been tested by sociometric sampling checks so that each word carries a click-bait hook./sarc
Yes, I agree Adam, our media chuck petrol on the 'Us and them' fire.
"My Easter worshiping wife died whilst waiting for her usual whole grain bread to toast at the hotel's all inclusive full breakfast in the 2nd floor restaurant…To be honest I'm buggered if I know what specific church she might be connected to. She is a much loved Mum, wife, sister, aunty…what matters more than that?"
…I just made that up but sheeesh, it must be time we got a sense of…our Mums and brothers, each other, are more important than our spiritual pursuits. You and me should be the reason for our spiritual pursuits.
Fuck, I dunno. Maybe they reckon the US could do with less "Christians under attack" tiki-torchers.
I genuinely don't know.
On the one hand you're completely correct – these people weren't murdered because of their love for easter eggs.
On the other hand, fucko mcbangbang hoped for lots more of this: "Christians" vs Muslims, then "Muslims" vs Christians, back and forth until one group of "nutbars" exterminates everyone else, Christian and Muslim alike.
Seriously, who from the socially responsible commenters on this site are going Green next year?
Phil Twyford, the Housing and Urban Development Minister, said the rent-to-buy concept is part of Labour's confidence and supply agreement with the Greens, and that work is underway to explore options in that area.
As I said earlier, it looks like Labour are obsessed with pandering to the wealthy after the Kiwibuild criteria locking out families under $120K and the weak backdown from a CGT.
I won't be voting Green for their work on CC but I will be for their work in representing working people.
Something weird was going on. I didn't post today but a couple of times took a look to see if anything interesting was happening. Both times the browser (firefox) arrived at the web location, but the Standard presented me with a totally blank page.
I did wait a wee while to see if there was a text-lag, but nothing showed up. Wondered if maybe the server was having a zen day, or something. I'm not oriental enough to meditate on a blank page for longer than about 15 seconds, too impatient.
I agree A. Offshore people labouring with our garbage for $1 a day is fast being phased out. January before last China stopped accepting previously empty returning containers chokka with empty Coke bottles. Malaysian officials have declared 'No more'.
We're learned to be so studious with our recycling and in many locations, it's being bulldozed into landfill with everything else.
I think our Green Party should be acting now. Before journalists start with their "Hey folk of provincial town X, you know your recycling, here it is at the blade of the bulldozer with your general waste." stories
Make turning PET bottles into pellets a viable business. Make turning old paper/board into new cardboard worthwhile.
A friend of mine in Brisbane worked at a recycling transfer station, she stood beside a conveyor belt and plucked clear PET bottles from the passing array for 40 hours a week. Her crew had injected a degree of intrigue into their mindless task by indulging in the promotions that soft drink companies often run 'Collect all the Broncos and send the labels in', find the Schweppes label with the X etc.
They found a worthwhile profitable way to have fun with a mindless grind of a job….robots should be doing that, and unscrewing the caps.
Andrea has a large collection of what was hip in 1999 with beverage branding cast into it. Booze stuff too. Her crew shared the booty. Today it's interesting and worth not much.
Neat legacy, worth not much today but could feather her Grandaughter's nest.
Robots should be doing that – common from disconnected people on a higher plane. And can be countered by paraphrasing that remark from a minister about the unremitting advance of Nazidom on the good people both German and Jewish – first they came for one group, then for another, they werenss't my people so I didn't think about it too much, then they came for me.
There's quite a difference in opinion between activist Dems and regular Joe Dems on who they want and who they definitely don't want. Polling the regulars consistently has Sanders and Biden at the top, but the list of who the activists would be happy with currently goes Harris, Booker, Warren, Buttigieg, Sanders and Biden don't appear until #7 and 8.
As for who's not wanted, Gabbard is waaay out in front, followed by Sanders, Biden then Delaney. Going up from the bottom of the noooooo list is Harris, Booker, Castro, Warren.
Earth Quakes, Climate Change, Obscene Pollution (of all kinds, but especially water), Obsessive Trucking, Forest Fires, Quality Housing, Fair Pay, Reduction of Wealth via the well Funded.
These are the Major Tasks of Governments here in new Zealand and in other strong Nations, worldwide.
Unfortunately, the previous Government in NZ built no infrastructure, sold off housing, and allowed monstrously excessive payments to Landlords. The Previous Government Voted for Greed – and for nothing else. It allowed massive immigration. Shoved up every Cost it could!
It will be the current Government's task to disallow Greed in New Zealand. I believe it will receive a strong mandate to return Money and Property to civilised achievable distributions.
The skills of New Zealanders, especially the young persons will deplore John Key's casting them off as useless. He had 9 years to get them highly skilled. But he scuttled off to Hawaii. Billy English also called the young Useless. He will pay dearly for that.
New Zealand under this Government will be a place of Quality! of Hard Work. of Accomplishment. National is not Viable
I don't know if NZ First is viable. I doubt the Greens know what their is all about, for they are not trained in skills. They are trained in endless words. But who knows.
Perhaps NZ First and the Greens can turn themselves around and realise that Parliament is about WORK – not about sham nonsense.
People went to the British Museum 2018 to look at the BP Scythian exhibition of a culture around 900-200 BC with artifacts that have come from Siberia.
Their was also a clever protest at the way that BP was fouling parts of the far north where they have oil interests. Creative intervention in the British Museum against BP's Russian oil spills
New SATA card is in place and (finally!) performing well. I have been stressing it this evening. Had some problems installing the card because I'd been running the system in UEFI compatibility mode and needed to switch that off before the SATA cards HII system could express itself from the bowels of the UEFI system. Please ignore that sentence if it sounded like acronym city. Unfortunately I can't afford the essay time to explain what it means. Opps – yes I can -there is a wikipedia overview
I had been trying to make a few comments and put in a few links regarding leadership, but had been having some trouble. Luckily learning from bad experience, I had pasted and copied them before pushing the 'Submit Comment' icon. And so they weren't lost. Maybe I could stick them down here, and someone might notice them.
I am backing Cortez to win the American elections.
As for brexit Eric its a big MUPPETS SHOW a distraction from the reality climate change is the biggest issue for our future tamariki .
Those survival suites are good the only time I used one was a exercise I did see a Great Shark thrashing around eating a seal tho a couple of times .
It would be good to have the story of the NZ Wars taught in all NZ schools Phil served the league club for years Ka pai Some people just don't no how to love and care for animals that America lady throwing those poor puppies into a Rubbish dum star Ka kite ano
It's a crying shame to see all the plastic waste poisoning our Oceans and wild life its time to value our decendints future and do the correct things to leave them a better future than we HAVE.
Plastic pollution in the world’s oceans costs society billions of dollars every year in damaged and lost resources, research has found.
Fisheries, aquaculture, recreational activities and global wellbeing are all negatively affected by plastic pollution, with an estimated 1-5% decline in the benefit humans derive from oceans. The resulting cost in such benefits, known as marine ecosystem value, is up to $2.5tn (£1.9tn) a year, according to a study published this week in Marine Pollution Bulletin.
Plastic waste is also believed to cost up to $33,000 per ton in reduced environmental value, the study found. An estimated 8m tons of plastic pollution enter the world’s oceans every year. Ka kite ano P.S we need to love a respect our Tangaroa Seas our Tawhirirmate Environment links below
Labour are caught in Theresa May's knot. Trying to have a meeting with her determined to deliver Brexit somehow, if they raise points of order about anything they will be accused of dragging their heels or delaying tactics. What school did she go to I wonder? They turn out a determined little body with a programmed mind that always thinks along Conservative lines. Could there be a school that teaches just that way for the uppers? Or perhaps they all do at the 'public school' level.
Kia ora Newshub
I have been trying to get the TV guide TV 3 video going that’s all the sandflys can do .
Its the correction of the house market in Auckland the house are expensive there.
There you go Milisa a fuel tax does get people into buses and trains Ka pai to the Auckland Council for voting the tax in.
Its a waste of time now having all the checks and audits on the Pike River mine scandle but its too late now the main evedince has been lost.
Its cool that some people are cleaning up cemeteries we must learn to respect our tipuna .
Climate change is having a bad effect on Alot of the beautiful creatures in the Polar regions this is just the start of animals being displaced by climate change andmmoving into suburba.
Ka kite ano
Well, I've been there, sitting in that same chairWhispering that same prayer half a million timesIt's a lie, though buried in disciplesOne page of the Bible isn't worth a lifeThere's nothing wrong with youIt's true, it's trueThere's something wrong with the villageWith the villageSomething wrong with the villageSongwriters: Andrew Jackson ...
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I don't knowHow to say what's got to be saidI don't know if it's black or whiteThere's others see it redI don't get the answers rightI'll leave that to youIs this love out of fashionOr is it the time of yearAre these words distraction?To the words you want to hearSongwriters: ...
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One last thing before I quitI never wanted any moreThan I could fit into my headI still remember every single word you saidAnd all the shit that somehow came along with itStill, there's one thing that comforts meSince I was always caged and now I'm freeSongwriters: David Grohl / Georg ...
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This is a must watch, and puts on brilliant and practical display the implications and mechanics of fast-track law corruption and weakness.CLICK HERE: LINK TO WATCH VIDEOOur news media as it is set up is simply not equipped to deal with the brazen disinformation and corruption under this right wing ...
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The decision to unilaterally repudiate the contract for new Cook Strait ferries is beginning to look like one of the stupidest decisions a New Zealand government ever made. While cancelling the ferries and their associated port infrastructure may have made this year's books look good, it means higher costs later, ...
Hi there! I’ve been overseas recently, looking after a situation with a family member. So apologies if there any less than focused posts! Vanuatu has just had a significant 7.3 earthquake. Two MFAT staff are unaccounted for with local fatalities.It’s always sad to hear of such things happening.I think of ...
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We're going backwardsIgnoring the realitiesGoing backwardsAre you counting all the casualties?We are not there yetWhere we need to beWe are still in debtTo our insanitiesSongwriter: Martin Gore Read more ...
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The right have a stupid saying that is only occasionally true:When is democracy not democracy? When it hasn’t been voted on.While not true in regards to branches of government such as the judiciary, it’s a philosophy that probably should apply to recently-elected local government councillors. Nevertheless, this concept seemed to ...
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In 1998, in the wake of the Paremoremo Prison riot, the Department of Corrections established the "Behaviour Management Regime". Prisoners were locked in their cells for 22 or 23 hours a day, with no fresh air, no exercise, no social contact, no entertainment, and in some cases no clothes and ...
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At the 2023 election, National basically ran on a platform of being better economic managers. So how'd that turn out for us? In just one year, they've fucked us for two full political terms: The government's books are set to remain deeply in the red for the near term ...
AUSTERITYText within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedMy spreadsheet insists This pain leads straight to glory (File not found) Read more ...
The NZCTU Te Kauae Kaimahi are saying that the Government should do the right thing and deliver minimum wage increases that don’t see workers fall further behind, in response to today’s announcement that the minimum wage will only be increased by 1.5%, well short of forecast inflation. “With inflation forecast ...
Oh, I weptFor daysFilled my eyesWith silly tearsOh, yeaBut I don'tCare no moreI don't care ifMy eyes get soreSongwriters: Paul Rodgers / Paul Kossoff. Read more ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob HensonIn this aerial view, fingers of meltwater flow from the melting Isunnguata Sermia glacier descending from the Greenland Ice Sheet on July 11, 2024, near Kangerlussuaq, Greenland. According to the Programme for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE), the ...
In August, I wrote an article about David Seymour1 with a video of his testimony, to warn that there were grave dangers to his Ministry of Regulation:David Seymour's Ministry of Slush Hides Far Greater RisksWhy Seymour's exorbitant waste of taxpayers' money could be the least of concernThe money for Seymour ...
Willis is expected to have to reveal the bitter fiscal fruits of her austerity strategy in the HYEFU later today. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/TheKakaMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Tuesday, December 17 in The Kākā’s Dawn Chorus podcast ...
On Friday the government announced it would double the number of toll roads in New Zealand as well as make a few other changes to how toll roads are used in the country. The real issue though is not that tolling is being used but the suggestion it will make ...
The Prime Minister yesterday engaged in what looked like a pre-emptive strike designed to counter what is likely to be a series of depressing economic statistics expected before the end of the week. He opened his weekly post-Cabinet press conference with a recitation of the Government’s achievements. “It certainly has ...
This whooping cough story from south Auckland is a good example of the coalition government’s approach to social need – spend money on urging people to get vaccinated but only after you’ve cut the funding to where they could get vaccinated. This has been the case all year with public ...
And if there is a GodI know he likes to rockHe likes his loud guitarsHis spiders from MarsAnd if there is a GodI know he's watching meHe likes what he seesBut there's trouble on the breezeSongwriter: William Patrick Corgan Read more ...
Here’s a quick round up of today’s political news:1. MORE FOOD BANKS, CHARITIES, DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS AND YOUTH SOCIAL SERVICES SET TO CLOSE OR SCALE BACK AROUND THE COUNTRY AS GOVT CUTS FUNDINGSome of Auckland's largest foodbanks are warning they may need to close or significantly reduce food parcels after ...
Iain Rennie, CNZMSecretary and Chief Executive to the TreasuryDear Secretary, Undue restrictions on restricted briefings This week, the Treasury barred representatives from four organisations, including the New Zealand Council of Trade Unions Te Kauae Kaimahi, from attending the restricted briefing for the Half-Year Economic and Fiscal Update. We had been ...
This is a guest post by Tim Adriaansen, a community, climate, and accessibility advocate.I won’t shut up about climate breakdown, and whenever possible I try to shift the focus of a climate conversation towards solutions. But you’ll almost never hear me give more than a passing nod to ...
A grassroots backlash has forced a backdown from Brown, but he is still eyeing up plenty of tolls for other new roads. And the pressure is on Willis to ramp up the Government’s austerity strategy. Photo: Getty ImagesMōrena. Long stories short, the six things that matter in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
Hi all,I'm pretty overwhelmed by all your messages and emails today; thank you so very much.As much as my newsletter this morning was about money, and we all need to earn money, it was mostly about world domination if I'm honest. 😉I really hate what’s happening to our country, and ...
A listing of 23 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, December 8, 2024 thru Sat, December 14, 2024. Listing by Category Like last week's summary this one contains the list of articles twice: based on categories and based on ...
I started writing this morning about Hobson’s Pledge, examining the claims they and their supporters make, basically ripping into them. But I kept getting notifications coming through, and not good ones.Each time I looked up, there was another un-subscription message, and I felt a bit sicker at the thought of ...
Once, long before there was Harry and Meghan and Dodi and all those episodes of The Crown, they came to spend some time with us, Charles and Diana. Was there anyone in the world more glamorous than the Princess of Wales?Dazzled as everyone was by their company, the leader of ...
The collective right have a problem.The entire foundation for their world view is antiscientific. Their preferred economic strategies have been disproven. Their whole neoliberal model faces accusations of corporate corruption and worsening inequality. Climate change not only definitely exists, its rapid progression demands an immediate and expensive response in order ...
Just ten days ago, South Korea's president attempted a self-coup, declaring martial law and attempting to have opposition MPs murdered or arrested in an effort to seize unconstrained power. The attempt was rapidly defeated by the national assembly voting it down and the people flooding the streets to defend democracy. ...
Hi,“What I love about New Zealanders is that sometimes you use these expressions that as Americans we have no idea what those things mean!"I am watching a 30-something year old American ramble on about how different New Zealanders are to Americans. It’s his podcast, and this man is doing a ...
What Chris Penk has granted holocaust-denier and equal-opportunity-bigot Candace Owens is not “freedom of speech”. It’s not even really freedom of movement, though that technically is the right she has been granted. What he has given her is permission to perform. Freedom of SpeechIn New Zealand, the right to freedom ...
All those tears on your cheeksJust like deja vu flow nowWhen grandmother speaksSo tell me a story (I'll tell you a story)Spell it out, I can't hear (What do you want to hear?)Why you wear black in the morning?Why there's smoke in the air? Songwriter: Greg Johnson.Mōrena all ☀️Something a ...
2024 is now officially my best-ever year for short stories. My 1,850-word dark fantasy piece, As Our Power Lessens, has been accepted for the upcoming solstice edition of Eternal Haunted Summer (https://eternalhauntedsummer.com/), thereby making that six published short stories for the calendar year. As always, see the Bibliography page for ...
National has only been in power for a year, but everywhere you look, its choices are taking New Zealand a long way backwards. In no particular order, here are the National Government's Top 50 Greatest Misses of its first year in power. ...
The Government is quietly undertaking consultation on the dangerous Regulatory Standards Bill over the Christmas period to avoid too much attention. ...
The Government’s planned changes to the freedom of speech obligations of universities is little more than a front for stoking the political fires of disinformation and fear, placing teachers and students in the crosshairs. ...
The Ministry of Regulation’s report into Early Childhood Education (ECE) in Aotearoa raises serious concerns about the possibility of lowering qualification requirements, undermining quality and risking worse outcomes for tamariki, whānau, and kaiako. ...
A Bill to modernise the role of Justices of the Peace (JP), ensuring they remain active in their communities and connected with other JPs, has been put into the ballot. ...
Labour will continue to fight unsustainable and destructive projects that are able to leap-frog environment protection under National’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. ...
The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today. ...
The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces. ...
The Government’s latest move to reduce the earnings of migrant workers will not only hurt migrants but it will drive down the wages of Kiwi workers. ...
Te Pāti Māori has this morning issued a stern warning to Fast-Track applicants with interests in mining, pledging to hold them accountable through retrospective liability and to immediately revoke Fast-Track consents under a future Te Pāti Māori government. This warning comes ahead of today’s third reading of the Fast-Track Approvals ...
The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many. ...
All the Government has achieved from its announcement today is to continue to push responsibility back on councils for its own lack of action to help bring down skyrocketing rates. ...
The Government has used its final post-Cabinet press conference of the year to punch down on local government without offering any credible solutions to the issues our councils are facing. ...
The Government has failed to keep its promise to ‘super charge’ the EV network, delivering just 292 chargers - less than half of the 670 chargers needed to meet its target. ...
The Green Party is calling for the Government to stop subsidising the largest user of the country’s gas supplies, Methanex, following a report highlighting the multi-national’s disproportionate influence on energy prices in Aotearoa. ...
The Green Party is appalled with the Government’s new child poverty targets that are based on a new ‘persistent poverty’ measure that could be met even with an increase in child poverty. ...
New independent analysis has revealed that the Government’s Emissions Reduction Plan (ERP) will reduce emissions by a measly 1 per cent by 2030, failing to set us up for the future and meeting upcoming targets. ...
The loss of 27 kaimahi at Whakaata Māori and the end of its daily news bulletin is a sad day for Māori media and another step backwards for Te Tiriti o Waitangi justice. ...
Yesterday the Government passed cruel legislation through first reading to establish a new beneficiary sanction regime that will ultimately mean more households cannot afford the basic essentials. ...
Today's passing of the Government's Residential Tenancies Amendment Bill–which allows landlords to end tenancies with no reason–ignores the voice of the people and leaves renters in limbo ahead of the festive season. ...
After wasting a year, Nicola Willis has delivered a worse deal for the Cook Strait ferries that will end up being more expensive and take longer to arrive. ...
Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has today launched a Member’s Bill to sanction Israel for its unlawful presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, as the All Out For Gaza rally reaches Parliament. ...
After years of advocacy, the Green Party is very happy to hear the Government has listened to our collective voices and announced the closure of the greyhound racing industry, by 1 August 2026. ...
In response to a new report from ERO, the Government has acknowledged the urgent need for consistency across the curriculum for Relationship and Sexuality Education (RSE) in schools. ...
The Green Party is appalled at the Government introducing legislation that will make it easier to penalise workers fighting for better pay and conditions. ...
Thank you for the invitation to speak with you tonight on behalf of the political party I belong to - which is New Zealand First. As we have heard before this evening the Kinleith Mill is proposing to reduce operations by focusing on pulp and discontinuing “lossmaking paper production”. They say that they are currently consulting on the plan to permanently shut ...
Auckland Central MP, Chlöe Swarbrick, has written to Mayor Wayne Brown requesting he stop the unnecessary delays on St James Theatre’s restoration. ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says Health New Zealand will move swiftly to support dozens of internationally-trained doctors already in New Zealand on their journey to employment here, after a tripling of sought-after examination places. “The Medical Council has delivered great news for hardworking overseas doctors who want to contribute ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has appointed Sarah Ottrey to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). “At my first APEC Summit in Lima, I experienced firsthand the role that ABAC plays in guaranteeing political leaders hear the voice of business,” Mr Luxon says. “New Zealand’s ABAC representatives are very well respected and ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced four appointments to New Zealand’s intelligence oversight functions. The Honourable Robert Dobson KC has been appointed Chief Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, and the Honourable Brendan Brown KC has been appointed as a Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants. The appointments of Hon Robert Dobson and Hon ...
Improvements in the average time it takes to process survey and title applications means housing developments can progress more quickly, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk says. “The government is resolutely focused on improving the building and construction pipeline,” Mr Penk says. “Applications to issue titles and subdivide land are ...
The Government’s measures to reduce airport wait times, and better transparency around flight disruptions is delivering encouraging early results for passengers ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Improving the efficiency of air travel is a priority for the Government to give passengers a smoother, more reliable ...
The Government today announced the intended closure of the Apollo Hotel as Contracted Emergency Housing (CEH) in Rotorua, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. This follows a 30 per cent reduction in the number of households in CEH in Rotorua since National came into Government. “Our focus is on ending CEH in the Whakarewarewa area starting ...
The Government will reshape vocational education and training to return decision making to regions and enable greater industry input into work-based learning Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds says. “The redesigned system will better meet the needs of learners, industry, and the economy. It includes re-establishing regional polytechnics that ...
The Government is taking action to better manage synthetic refrigerants and reduce emissions caused by greenhouse gases found in heating and cooling products, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds says. “Regulations will be drafted to support a product stewardship scheme for synthetic refrigerants, Ms. Simmonds says. “Synthetic refrigerants are found in a ...
People travelling on State Highway 1 north of Hamilton will be relieved that remedial works and safety improvements on the Ngāruawāhia section of the Waikato Expressway were finished today, with all lanes now open to traffic, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“I would like to acknowledge the patience of road users ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister, Penny Simmonds, has announced a new appointment to the board of Education New Zealand (ENZ). Dr Erik Lithander has been appointed as a new member of the ENZ board for a three-year term until 30 January 2028. “I would like to welcome Dr Erik Lithander to the ...
The Government will have senior representatives at Waitangi Day events around the country, including at the Waitangi Treaty Grounds, but next year Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has chosen to take part in celebrations elsewhere. “It has always been my intention to celebrate Waitangi Day around the country with different ...
Two more criminal gangs will be subject to the raft of laws passed by the Coalition Government that give Police more powers to disrupt gang activity, and the intimidation they impose in our communities, Police Minister Mark Mitchell says. Following an Order passed by Cabinet, from 3 February 2025 the ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Justice Christian Whata as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Whata’s appointment as a Judge of the Court of Appeal will take effect on 1 August 2025 and fill a vacancy created by the retirement of Hon Justice David Goddard on ...
The latest economic figures highlight the importance of the steps the Government has taken to restore respect for taxpayers’ money and drive economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows Gross Domestic Product fell 1 per cent in the September quarter. “Treasury and most ...
Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds and Associate Minister of Education David Seymour today announced legislation changes to strengthen freedom of speech obligations on universities. “Freedom of speech is fundamental to the concept of academic freedom and there is concern that universities seem to be taking a more risk-averse ...
Police Minister, Mark Mitchell, and Internal Affairs Minister, Brooke van Velden, today launched a further Public Safety Network cellular service that alongside last year’s Cellular Roaming roll-out, puts globally-leading cellular communications capability into the hands of our emergency responders. The Public Safety Network’s new Cellular Priority service means Police, Wellington ...
State Highway 1 through the Mangamuka Gorge has officially reopened today, providing a critical link for Northlanders and offering much-needed relief ahead of the busy summer period, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“The Mangamuka Gorge is a vital route for Northland, carrying around 1,300 vehicles per day and connecting the Far ...
The Government has welcomed decisions by the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) and Ashburton District Council confirming funding to boost resilience in the Canterbury region, with construction on a second Ashburton Bridge expected to begin in 2026, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Delivering a second Ashburton Bridge to improve resilience and ...
The Government is backing the response into high pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in Otago, Biosecurity Minister Andrew Hoggard says. “Cabinet has approved new funding of $20 million to enable MPI to meet unbudgeted ongoing expenses associated with the H7N6 response including rigorous scientific testing of samples at the enhanced PC3 ...
Legislation that will repeal all advertising restrictions for broadcasters on Sundays and public holidays has passed through first reading in Parliament today, Media Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “As a growing share of audiences get their news and entertainment from streaming services, these restrictions have become increasingly redundant. New Zealand on ...
Today the House agreed to Brendan Horsley being appointed Inspector-General of Defence, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Mr Horsley’s experience will be invaluable in overseeing the establishment of the new office and its support networks. “He is currently Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, having held that role since June 2020. ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government has agreed to the final regulations for the levy on insurance contracts that will fund Fire and Emergency New Zealand from July 2026. “Earlier this year the Government agreed to a 2.2 percent increase to the rate of levy. Fire ...
The Government is delivering regulatory relief for New Zealand businesses through changes to the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Act. “The Anti-Money Laundering and Countering Financing of Terrorism Amendment Bill, which was introduced today, is the second Bill – the other being the Statutes Amendment Bill - that ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed further progress on the Hawke’s Bay Expressway Road of National Significance (RoNS), with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) Board approving funding for the detailed design of Stage 1, paving the way for main works construction to begin in late 2025.“The Government is moving at ...
The Government today released a request for information (RFI) to seeking interest in partnerships to plant trees on Crown-owned land with low farming and conservation value (excluding National Parks) Forestry Minister Todd McClay announced. “Planting trees on Crown-owned land will drive economic growth by creating more forestry jobs in our regions, providing more wood ...
Court timeliness, access to justice, and improving the quality of existing regulation are the focus of a series of law changes introduced to Parliament today by Associate Minister of Justice Nicole McKee. The three Bills in the Regulatory Systems (Justice) Amendment Bill package each improve a different part of the ...
A total of 41 appointments and reappointments have been made to the 12 community trusts around New Zealand that serve their regions, Associate Finance Minister Shane Jones says. “These trusts, and the communities they serve from the Far North to the deep south, will benefit from the rich experience, knowledge, ...
The Government has confirmed how it will provide redress to survivors who were tortured at the Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital Child and Adolescent Unit (the Lake Alice Unit). “The Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care found that many of the 362 children who went through the Lake Alice Unit between 1972 and ...
It has been a busy, productive year in the House as the coalition Government works hard to get New Zealand back on track, Leader of the House Chris Bishop says. “This Government promised to rebuild the economy, restore law and order and reduce the cost of living. Our record this ...
“Accelerated silicosis is an emerging occupational disease caused by unsafe work such as engineered stone benchtops. I am running a standalone consultation on engineered stone to understand what the industry is currently doing to manage the risks, and whether further regulatory intervention is needed,” says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister ...
Mehemea he pai mō te tangata, mahia – if it’s good for the people, get on with it. Enhanced reporting on the public sector’s delivery of Treaty settlement commitments will help improve outcomes for Māori and all New Zealanders, Māori Crown Relations Minister Tama Potaka says. Compiled together for the ...
Mr Roger Holmes Miller and Ms Tarita Hutchinson have been appointed to the Charities Registration Board, Community and Voluntary Sector Minister Louise Upston says. “I would like to welcome the new members joining the Charities Registration Board. “The appointment of Ms Hutchinson and Mr Miller will strengthen the Board’s capacity ...
More building consent and code compliance applications are being processed within the statutory timeframe since the Government required councils to submit quarterly data, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “In the midst of a housing shortage we need to look at every step of the build process for efficiencies ...
Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey is proud to announce the first three recipients of the Government’s $10 million Mental Health and Addiction Community Sector Innovation Fund which will enable more Kiwis faster access to mental health and addiction support. “This fund is part of the Government’s commitment to investing in ...
New Zealand is providing Vanuatu assistance following yesterday's devastating earthquake, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. "Vanuatu is a member of our Pacific family and we are supporting it in this time of acute need," Mr Peters says. "Our thoughts are with the people of Vanuatu, and we will be ...
The Government welcomes the Commerce Commission’s plan to reduce card fees for Kiwis by an estimated $260 million a year, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says.“The Government is relentlessly focused on reducing the cost of living, so Kiwis can keep more of their hard-earned income and live a ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour has welcomed the Early Childhood Education (ECE) regulatory review report, the first major report from the Ministry for Regulation. The report makes 15 recommendations to modernise and simplify regulations across ECE so services can get on with what they do best – providing safe, high-quality care ...
The Government‘s Offshore Renewable Energy Bill to create a new regulatory regime that will enable firms to construct offshore wind generation has passed its first reading in Parliament, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says.“New Zealand currently does not have a regulatory regime for offshore renewable energy as the previous government failed ...
Legislation to enable new water service delivery models that will drive critical investment in infrastructure has passed its first reading in Parliament, marking a significant step towards the delivery of Local Water Done Well, Local Government Minister Simeon Brown and Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly say.“Councils and voters ...
New Zealand is one step closer to reaping the benefits of gene technology with the passing of the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill, Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins says. "This legislation will end New Zealand's near 30-year ban on gene technology outside the lab and is ...
Cosmic CatastropheThe year draws to a close.King Luxon has grown tired of the long eveningsListening to the dreary squabbling of his Triumvirate.He strolls up to the top floor of the PalaceTo consult with his Astronomer Royal.The Royal Telescope scans the skies,And King Luxon stares up into the heavensFrom the terrestrial ...
Spinoff editor Mad Chapman and books editor Claire Mabey debate Carl Shuker’s new novel about… an editor. Claire: Hello Mad, you just finished The Royal Free – overall impressions? Mad: Hi Claire, I literally just put the book down and I would have to say my immediate impression is ...
Christmas and its buildup are often lonely, hard and full of unreasonable expectations. Here’s how to make it to Jesus’s birthday and find the little bit of joy we all deserve. Have you found this year relentless? Has the latest Apple update “fucked up your life”? Have you lost two ...
Despite overwhelming public and corporate support, the government has stalled progress on a modern day slavery law. That puts us behind other countries – and makes Christmas a time of tragedy rather than joy, argues Shanti Mathias. Picture the scene on Christmas Day. Everyone replete with nice things to eat, ...
Asia Pacific Report “It looks like Hiroshima. It looks like Germany at the end of World War Two,” says an Israeli-American historian and professor of holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University about the horrifying reality of Gaza. Professor Omer Bartov, has described Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza as an ...
The New Zealand government coalition is tweaking university regulations to curb what it says is an increasingly “risk-averse approach” to free speech. The proposed changes will set clear expectations on how universities should approach freedom of speech issues. Each university will then have to adopt a “freedom of speech statement” ...
Report by Dr David Robie – Café Pacific. – COMMENTARY: By Caitlin Johnstone New York prosecutors have charged Luigi Mangione with “murder as an act of terrorism” in his alleged shooting of health insurance CEO Brian Thompson earlier this month. This news comes out at the same time as ...
Pacific Media Watch The union for Australian journalists has welcomed the delivery by the federal government of more than $150 million to support the sustainability of public interest journalism over the next four years. Combined with the announcement of the revamped News Bargaining Initiative, this could result in up to ...
MONDAY“Merry Xmas, and praise the Lord,” said Sheriff Luxon, and smiled for the camera. There was a flash of smoke when the shutter pressed down on the magnesium powder. The sheriff had arranged for a photographer from the Dodge Gazette to attend a ceremony where he handed out food parcels to ...
It’s a little under two months since the White Ferns shocked the cricketing world, deservedly taking home the T20 World Cup. Since then the trophy has had a tour around the country, five of the squad have played in the WBBL in Australia while most others have returned to domestic ...
Comment: If we say the word ‘dementia’, many will picture an older person struggling to remember the names of their loved ones, maybe a grandparent living out their final years in an aged care facility. Dementia can also occur in people younger than 65, but it can take time before ...
Piracy is a reality of modern life – but copyright law has struggled to play catch-up for as long as the entertainment industry has existed. As far back as 1988, the House of Lords criticised copyright law’s conflict with the reality of human behaviour in the context of burning cassette ...
As he makes a surprise return to Shortland Street, actor Craig Parker takes us through his life in television. Craig Parker has been a fixture on television in Aotearoa for nearly four decades. He had starring roles in iconic local series like Gloss, Mercy Peak and Diplomatic Immunity, featured in ...
The Ōtautahi musician shares the 10 tracks he loves to spin, including the folk classic that cured him of a ‘case of the give-ups’. When singer-songwriter Adam McGrath returns to Kumeu’s Auckland Folk Festival from January 24-27, he’s not planning on simply idling his way through – he wants the late ...
Alex Casey spends an afternoon on the job with River, the rescue dog on a mission to spread joy to Ōtautahi rest homes.Almost everyone says it is never enough time. But River the rescue dog, a jet black huntaway border collie cross, has to keep a tight pace to ...
Asia Pacific Report Fiji activists have recreated the nativity scene at a solidarity for Palestine gathering in Fiji’s capital Suva just days before Christmas. The Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre and Fijians for Palestine Solidarity Network recreated the scene at the FWCC compound — a baby Jesus figurine lies amidst the ...
By 1News Pacific correspondent Barbara Dreaver and 1News reporters A number of Kiwis have been successfully evacuated from Vanuatu after a devastating earthquake shook the Pacific island nation earlier this week. The death toll was still unclear, though at least 14 people were killed according to an earlier statement from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Scully, Professor in Modern History, University of New England Bunker.Image courtesy of Michael Leunig, CC BY-NC-SA Michael Leunig – who died in the early hours of Thursday December 19, surrounded by “his children, loved ones, and sunflowers” – was the ...
The House - On Parliament's last day of the year, there was the rare occurrence of a personal (conscience) vote on selling booze over the Easter weekend. While it didn't have the numbers to pass, it was a chance to get a rare glimpse of the fact ...
A new poem by Holly Fletcher. bejeweled log i was dreaming about wasps / wee darlings that followed me / ducking under objects / that i was fated to pickup / my fingers seeking / and meeting with tiny proboscis’s / but instead / i wake up / roll sideways ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Flora Hui, Research Fellow, Centre for Eye Research Australia and Honorary Fellow, Department of Surgery (Ophthalmology), The University of Melbourne Versta/Shutterstock Australians are exposed to some of the highest levels of solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation in the world. While we ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Terry, Professor of Business Regulation, University of Sydney Michael von Aichberger/Shutterstock Even if you’ve no idea how the business model underpinning franchises works, there’s a good chance you’ve spent money at one. Franchising is essentially a strategy for cloning ...
If something big is going to happen in Ferndale, it’s going to happen at Christmas. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If there’s one episode of Shortland Street you should watch each year, it’s the annual Christmas cliffhanger. The final episode of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William A. Stoltz, Lecturer and expert Associate, National Security College, Australian National University US President-elect Donald Trump has named most of the members of his proposed cabinet. However, he’s yet to reveal key appointees to America’s powerful cyber warfare and intelligence institutions. ...
Announcing the top 10 books of the the year at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Intermezzo by Sally Rooney (Faber & Faber, $37) The phenomenal Irish writer is the unsurprising chart topper for 2024 with her fourth novel that, much like her first ...
The government has confirmed its plan to break up Te Pūkenga / New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology and re-establish independent polytechnics. ...
Instead of obsessing about the already well off, perhaps this government should do what it said it was going to do and put a human face on today’s capitalism.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/04/community-groups-call-on-government-to-support-kiwibuy-low-income-home-ownership-schemes.html
Who knows, they might even accidentally build some communities.
Get into maximum debt right at the top or near top of the market? I get people are desperate for stable housing but this is not the answer.
Today’s viewing of RNZ, TV one + ‘Nubs hub’ showed no care for concerns about the looming climate change disaster that awaits us all.
Pathetic display of our own Dr ‘scrooge” Grant Robinson claiming “we cant do everything at once, – it will take at least three terms”.
He is an idiot as the sea is coming now to claim the coastal areas and will destroy all lives and properties well before his magic time of 9 years or more to change direction.
Shallow man that must be sacked for his reckless lack of urgency..
Grant Robertson is right. It will take decades to fully implement a new style economy that doesn’t damage the long term climate.
it means changing transport, agriculture and industrial production and energy generation. And both Labour and National have to buy into it.
It is not going to be all done (not even all the policy settings) in the next 18 months, which is all that is left of this term. Actually more like 12 months. There won’t be a huge bunch of new policy after the 2020 budget.
I note many on the Left are now crying out for radical change on climate policy to make up for the CGT decision. Basically the democratic equivalent of “let’s shoot all the landlords”. It rather ignores the fact that policies that are sustainable over decades need at least some form of consent from political opponents. Otherwise it all gets undone with a change of government.
Wayne, I agree with you on your comments re the implementation of sound climate change policy. It will take time. The "many" on the left you speak of are only a few, or are you just referring to those who comment on TS.
Wayne some of what you say is right but time is running out now and you can't stop the inevitable by saying "it will take 10 years as we don't have that time.
I have seen Florida weather change dramatically during the 1992-98 years and in Europe too , and now here on the North Island east coast so we can't let it happen when we have time to slow the change now.
If its money we can resort the the 'Reserve bank act' as a urgency need to print it now rather than later.
cleangreen,
We are staying with friends at Whangapoua. I have just had a swim and gathered mussels off the little island off the beach. As I was doing so I was thinking just what an age old experience this is. Climate change seemed a million miles away.
The sun and sea seemed to be just as I recalled it in my childhood in the 1960’s. And yes I do recall swimming at this time of the year. In fact for study for School C, I was sunbathing in the garden in October in Reporoa. Perhaps not the most efficient way of studying, but a fond memory nevertheless.
It certainly does not feel like the “climate emergency” that has seized the protestors in London.
Wayne, you know as well as I do that we live in a moderate marine environment that lessons the impact of Climate Change in the near future. In fact because we are surrounded by the moist and cooling influence of vast oceans we are likely to be one of the last countries (if not the last country) to feel the devastating effects of global warming. Indeed the first real signs are here, and I refer to the erosion of our coastline due to rising sea levels.
Just because we can't feel anything much – yet – does not mean it isn't happening. This is the over-riding problem with society… too many people seem incapable of comprehending anything until it starts to impact on them. And when it does, they yell and scream and blame the government of the day when it was their ignorance which prevented governments from taking action in the first place.
The signs are everywhere – I don't have to list them – and it can only gain momentum unless we stop bloody well emitting Co2 into the atmosphere at the crazy rate it is currently occurring.
But you know the above so please stop playing it down and set an example as an elder statesman. It is here and the future of all flora and fauna (which includes mankind) is hanging in the balance!
Anne, the one thing we could do right away is stop chucking crap into our waterways and the sea. Plastic and polystyrene used solely for throw-away convenience purposes should not be tolerated any longer. I would give Wayne some latitude regarding his comments on realistic time frames to implement serious and workable climate change policies. I would remind him though of the high levels of plastic particles in his mussels and other sea food in our waters that he may be ingesting.
Re plastic waste: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqrlEsPoyJk
I don;t know what my local Council does. If I don't know about what is happening now, should I worry about something that might not happen for 10 or 50 years? (I believe we need to take some actions quickly, but I don't know what those first steps should be – and I'm not prepared to say that our government (and yes it is three parties) is a failure because they haven't done it yet!)
Anne
Not really disagreeing with you, though I do question the rate of change. For instance in Wellington there are a whole bunch of markers on the streets saying where sea level would be in 2030. I think they put there in the early 2000’s. There is absolutely zero chance of the sea level reaching the levels. In fact it will be hardly any different from the levels when the markers were first placed.
One point that is unclear is whether there is a tipping point not far away from the present levels. And if it reached there are runaway effects that could result in huge effects within 50 or so years. The science on this is very unclear. So far only the extreme outlier models produce these effects. I know about the precautionary principle, but in my view the risks have to have a credible basis.
I personally want Jacinda to be bold (but not extreme) on environmental policy, especially on water quality, species preservation and biodiversity.
OK Wayne that's fair enough. And yes, I agree with your final paragraph.
However the situation in continental countries is far worse than in NZ and it is going to take extreme measures to remedy – if indeed they can now be remedied.
Wayne that is such a facile comment from you at 2121. I am surprised that you could put up such a one; it verges on climate denial attitudes. If we have good weather and can enjoy environmental pleasures of yesteryear that's lucky for us.
Can you try and keep up with the play, stay in the now at the same time as remembering the past which is so sweet. Keep that memory to fuel your present activities to limit climate change effects now, which may give us more time to make changes to cope with the destructive weather patterns that will change everything for everybody, including NZ. What are you doing towards that yourself?
There are manifold ways – I was today looking at a protest against our casual way of buying cheap clothes and chucking them. The person was raising money for a union in Bangladesh – they are helpful at agitating for better conditions for workers.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1904/S00110/damning-report-warns-environment-in-serious-trouble.htm
So we're actually quite entitled to have asset sales undone, given that they had no form of consent from political opponents.
May have to de-privatise the power companies and AirNZ to help the nation fix climate damage.
“It will take decades to fully implement a new style economy that doesn’t damage the long term climate.”
We do not have decades. Guess that makes the required changes ‘radical’. As is choosing to do nothing.
Sasha Wayne Mapp is obviously thinking climate change is not here.
Best talk to a post and we may get more sense here.
In respect to the main parties coming to a consensus I am curious as to how this happens.
Is it for the governing crowd to approach the opposition?
Is this left to minions or are the ministers the driving force?
Genuinely curious and am keen to know if there has been this sort of thing before.
I get the changes to gun laws were essentially unanimous but that was an exception.
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1904/S00229/call-government-for-oecdwhoeu-standards-for-traffic-noise.htm
Politics
• Politics
Call Government for OECD/WHO/EU standards for traffic noise
Friday, 19 April 2019, 6:31 pm
Press Release: Citizens Environmental Advocacy Centre
CEAC/ residents seek health/wellbeing protection by adopting OECD/WHO/EU urban traffic noise standards.
Confirmation from several reports both from NZTA/Transit-NZ acoustical consultants have since 2001 warned residents that heavy traffic levels coupled with raising busy roads over residential zones will “lift the noise level”. (See Traffic effects) : FHWA Website on Highway Traffic Noise below the end of this report.
This may affect most regions of NZ today with high truck freight movement through residential zones.
This issue was raised to Napier residents in a report as long ago as 2001 when a “flyover” ‘overbridge’ on HB Expressway was built over several Napier residential suburbs of Greenmeadows East, Tamatea, and Pirimai.
In the press release from ‘Transit NZ’ featured in the local paper ‘HB Today’ on Friday June 22nd 2001 an article appeared in the press under “Flyover will lift noise level; report.” The article showed the traffic levels then would increase but noise levels would stay; – quote; ‘within their guidelines’ apart from two small groups of houses in two residential areas of ‘Downing Avenue, and Hamlin Place’.
• Today in 2019 (18 years later).
• the rail has almost stopped moving freight
• so the truck traffic has massively increased and all traffic volumes have trebled
• This has caused many negative noise and pollution impacts to resident health and wellbeing causing complaints from all residential zones near the HB Expressway.
Morena all, on my Huawei phone, I am having trouble replying to comments.
When I click on reply, the cursor starts in the 'Name (Required)' field, and my phone keyboard pops up.
My name and e-mail are autofilled and when I click on the 'Your comment' field, the keyboard on the phone disappears.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
Same issue for me – I am posting this on a laptop, but when I originally tried to reply on my Samsung Note 9 using Chrome mobile, the Your Comment field could not be clicked into. Had the same issue on a Samsung Galaxy Tab A also using Chrome mobile.
Test reply on ancient cellphone.
I had no problems, as you can see @ 4.1.1 with an old Samsung and using Chrome. I even used the old way of commenting/replying without logging in.
Hamster needs feeding.
I remember the argument in the court of Jong Kee and friends for the incarceration of Kim Dotcom on piracy charges. He was to be held accountable for failing to take down content from his site when in breach of copyright. He was to be held responsible for what was on his website, full stop.
Why then is Mark Fuckerberg not held responsible for what is on his website? This evil robotic freak is still peddling the Christchurch murderer's video for new right wing recruits to learn from.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12224469
Isn't blaming Zuckerburg a bit like blaming Kalashnikov for the damage done by AK 47s?
Really it is the users of FB that deserve yr vitriol.
The enablers.
Facebook content is willingly provided free by participants.
Warner Bros did not upload their entire back catalogue onto Mega Upload. It was stolen.
Kim got rich selling someone else's stuff. Zuckerberg got rich selling his own stuff.
I agree with gsays, Facebook is just a tool, we’re operating the tools.
Dotcom's big prob is not pinched files on his website. Utube is awash with Disney. He has fallen foul of the federal laws introduced to collar organised crime groups, Gotti et al.
Dotcom romped all over his pirate competition because he offered financial rewards to those studious folk that uploaded lots of quality content and in doing so picked up the racketeering component of the charges he faces.
For obvious reasons, they are a set of laws that are not easily discounted by big dollar legal representation.
KDC pissed off the wrong guys and didn’t donate (enough?) to the right political friends at the time.
FB is more like a tool shop where the shopkeepers know way too much about the tool-time (online behaviour) of its customers and it is willing to ‘sell’ dangerous tools to deranged customers who don’t give a toss about other customers.
Bribed politicians couldn't of fixed Kim's woes. The handful of people that control the content he had on his site want his head on a plate. The racketeering component gives their case teeth, 4 dozen people that do bankroll political trajectories.
Yes, Facebook is not free. We don't get to see the invoice but we pay it anyway.
I agree with you re: They do have a degree of responsibilty for those using their tool. Just as Black and Decker are obliged to mount a sturdy guard over the blade.
Nobody reads Manuals nowadays but they are full of warnings, cautions, and T & Cs. Legal protection for the manufacturer against the consumer. Caveat Emptor.
Perhaps in the end the
bribesdonations would not have saved KDC but they might have avoided the Rambo-style raid on his home & family. Those moguls had even deeper pockets than he did. He was not squeaky clean, allegedly, but the stench coming from other quarters was almost unbearable …Muslim extremists attack Christians in Sri Lanka. I'm over the media calling them easter worshippers – what a stupid statement from stuff and the herald. Extreme right wing muslim hate groups killed people in pray – just like far right wing white nationalists did here less than a month ago.
https://theintercept.com/2019/04/22/when-christians-are-under-attack-muslims-and-the-left-need-to-defend-them/
A very good read adam, thank you. Mehdi Hasan is a brave man for writing that.
The media have a red button to push giving a list of pre-set headlines – probably about 10 that they can pull out and use for appropriate occasions. They have been tested by sociometric sampling checks so that each word carries a click-bait hook./sarc
Yes, I agree Adam, our media chuck petrol on the 'Us and them' fire.
"My Easter worshiping wife died whilst waiting for her usual whole grain bread to toast at the hotel's all inclusive full breakfast in the 2nd floor restaurant…To be honest I'm buggered if I know what specific church she might be connected to. She is a much loved Mum, wife, sister, aunty…what matters more than that?"
…I just made that up but sheeesh, it must be time we got a sense of…our Mums and brothers, each other, are more important than our spiritual pursuits. You and me should be the reason for our spiritual pursuits.
Well, the wingnuts are outraged over HRC and Obama referring to the victims as easter worshippers.
Any other has beens who pushed neo-liberalism down our throat you wanna defend joe 90? I'm sure you must have missed some hack…
Fuck, I dunno. Maybe they reckon the US could do with less "Christians under attack" tiki-torchers.
I genuinely don't know.
On the one hand you're completely correct – these people weren't murdered because of their love for easter eggs.
On the other hand, fucko mcbangbang hoped for lots more of this: "Christians" vs Muslims, then "Muslims" vs Christians, back and forth until one group of "nutbars" exterminates everyone else, Christian and Muslim alike.
Depressing as fuck.
Did you read the link, he struggles with it too.
My opinion is we call them all ultra conservatives, whoes take on their respective religious text is fundamentally flawed.
Seriously, who from the socially responsible commenters on this site are going Green next year?
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/04/how-a-kiwibuy-scheme-could-work.html
As I said earlier, it looks like Labour are obsessed with pandering to the wealthy after the Kiwibuild criteria locking out families under $120K and the weak backdown from a CGT.
I won't be voting Green for their work on CC but I will be for their work in representing working people.
There's some interesting commentary on the current political situation in Ukraine
https://warontherocks.com/2019/04/russia-isnt-the-only-threat-to-ukrainian-democracy-the-impact-of-far-right-nationalist-revolutionaries/
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2019/04/22/ukra-a22.html
Mr Brunson has a bob each way.
https://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Ukraines-neo-Nazi-revolutionaries-might-be-part-of-a-Russian-plot-572704
It's almost like he's got something to hide.
https://twitter.com/ZoeTillman/status/1120396420496920577
What happened between 10 am and 2pm with The Standard today? I hope GCSB? isn't hacking us or something.
I commented freely on an iPhone 5 with iOS 10.3.3.
Sometimes old tech is good tech.
Great. I'll stick to you to explain things.
Something weird was going on. I didn't post today but a couple of times took a look to see if anything interesting was happening. Both times the browser (firefox) arrived at the web location, but the Standard presented me with a totally blank page.
I did wait a wee while to see if there was a text-lag, but nothing showed up. Wondered if maybe the server was having a zen day, or something. I'm not oriental enough to meditate on a blank page for longer than about 15 seconds, too impatient.
Yes, it was down for me too for a big chunk of the day. Never mind, I got some chores done.
More on the realities of recycling – not the guilt free image you were hoping.
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/national-sword/
I agree A. Offshore people labouring with our garbage for $1 a day is fast being phased out. January before last China stopped accepting previously empty returning containers chokka with empty Coke bottles. Malaysian officials have declared 'No more'.
We're learned to be so studious with our recycling and in many locations, it's being bulldozed into landfill with everything else.
I think our Green Party should be acting now. Before journalists start with their "Hey folk of provincial town X, you know your recycling, here it is at the blade of the bulldozer with your general waste." stories
Make turning PET bottles into pellets a viable business. Make turning old paper/board into new cardboard worthwhile.
A friend of mine in Brisbane worked at a recycling transfer station, she stood beside a conveyor belt and plucked clear PET bottles from the passing array for 40 hours a week. Her crew had injected a degree of intrigue into their mindless task by indulging in the promotions that soft drink companies often run 'Collect all the Broncos and send the labels in', find the Schweppes label with the X etc.
They found a worthwhile profitable way to have fun with a mindless grind of a job….robots should be doing that, and unscrewing the caps.
Andrea has a large collection of what was hip in 1999 with beverage branding cast into it. Booze stuff too. Her crew shared the booty. Today it's interesting and worth not much.
Neat legacy, worth not much today but could feather her Grandaughter's nest.
Robots should be doing that – common from disconnected people on a higher plane. And can be countered by paraphrasing that remark from a minister about the unremitting advance of Nazidom on the good people both German and Jewish – first they came for one group, then for another, they werenss't my people so I didn't think about it too much, then they came for me.
That darn cat…
https://twitter.com/evilbmcats/status/1115036377656115200
There's quite a difference in opinion between activist Dems and regular Joe Dems on who they want and who they definitely don't want. Polling the regulars consistently has Sanders and Biden at the top, but the list of who the activists would be happy with currently goes Harris, Booker, Warren, Buttigieg, Sanders and Biden don't appear until #7 and 8.
As for who's not wanted, Gabbard is waaay out in front, followed by Sanders, Biden then Delaney. Going up from the bottom of the noooooo list is Harris, Booker, Castro, Warren.
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/we-asked-democratic-activists-who-theyre-backing-and-who-theyd-hate-to-see-win/
The NZ Labour Party
Earth Quakes, Climate Change, Obscene Pollution (of all kinds, but especially water), Obsessive Trucking, Forest Fires, Quality Housing, Fair Pay, Reduction of Wealth via the well Funded.
These are the Major Tasks of Governments here in new Zealand and in other strong Nations, worldwide.
Unfortunately, the previous Government in NZ built no infrastructure, sold off housing, and allowed monstrously excessive payments to Landlords. The Previous Government Voted for Greed – and for nothing else. It allowed massive immigration. Shoved up every Cost it could!
It will be the current Government's task to disallow Greed in New Zealand. I believe it will receive a strong mandate to return Money and Property to civilised achievable distributions.
The skills of New Zealanders, especially the young persons will deplore John Key's casting them off as useless. He had 9 years to get them highly skilled. But he scuttled off to Hawaii. Billy English also called the young Useless. He will pay dearly for that.
New Zealand under this Government will be a place of Quality! of Hard Work. of Accomplishment. National is not Viable
I don't know if NZ First is viable. I doubt the Greens know what their is all about, for they are not trained in skills. They are trained in endless words. But who knows.
Perhaps NZ First and the Greens can turn themselves around and realise that Parliament is about WORK – not about sham nonsense.
Lets Do it. We must Do it – We are Labour.
OT. Labour seem timid to me. They seem to be forever offering a servant's hand to the wealthy lords for fear of annoying them.
I have to hand it to the Greens. While you are right they untrained, they do have unshakable principles.
Labour is lacking in unshakable principles right now.
People went to the British Museum 2018 to look at the BP Scythian exhibition of a culture around 900-200 BC with artifacts that have come from Siberia.
Their was also a clever protest at the way that BP was fouling parts of the far north where they have oil interests. Creative intervention in the British Museum against BP's Russian oil spills
About the Scythians (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-vrk8R1tuI
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE9KBPk-jXI
Peter Jackson goes full Penny Bright, bless her.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/112200571/peter-jackson-to-council-open-your-books
Anyone get the feeling Peter Jackson thinks he owns this peninsular?
He’ll be staking a claim to the adjacent seabed next.
A bit late for Plunket to be coming to the aid of the Prime Minister after attacking her in the same manner as Hopkins for months previous.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2019/04/sean-plunket-blasts-katie-hopkins-over-jacinda-ardern-tweet.html
Fuck off, Sean. You are Hopkins.
New SATA card is in place and (finally!) performing well. I have been stressing it this evening. Had some problems installing the card because I'd been running the system in UEFI compatibility mode and needed to switch that off before the SATA cards HII system could express itself from the bowels of the UEFI system. Please ignore that sentence if it sounded like acronym city. Unfortunately I can't afford the essay time to explain what it means. Opps – yes I can -there is a wikipedia overview
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unified_Extensible_Firmware_Interface
The blank pages that some got today were a separate problem caused by the javascript minify in w3 total cache.
It is a bit of a pity that I've had a cold over the last few days. Winter caught up with me as soon as I managed a few days at home.
Bummer. Sorry to hear about your cold.
Ta for the explanation.
I had been trying to make a few comments and put in a few links regarding leadership, but had been having some trouble. Luckily learning from bad experience, I had pasted and copied them before pushing the 'Submit Comment' icon. And so they weren't lost. Maybe I could stick them down here, and someone might notice them.
Nope. No luck.
Must be a problem at my end.
Nope, failed again
It seems any comment containing a link is rejected, resulting in this error message:
Will try again. Maybe just the link alone, without comment.
https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/flight-shame-europe-sweden-a4120231.html
Well that worked.
So including links cannot be the problem.
Here is another link about leadership that I had been trying to comment on.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/04/17/bernie-sanders-raises-bar-even-further-climate-vow-ban-fracking-all-new-fossil-fuel?fbclid=IwAR3WpP7HJDztCOfCRxhKMZRipy73xyarsSQKQE1hRxrE7pf4kRWeUw53xA8
Kia ora The AM Show.
He looks just like his Dad.
I am backing Cortez to win the American elections.
As for brexit Eric its a big MUPPETS SHOW a distraction from the reality climate change is the biggest issue for our future tamariki .
Those survival suites are good the only time I used one was a exercise I did see a Great Shark thrashing around eating a seal tho a couple of times .
It would be good to have the story of the NZ Wars taught in all NZ schools Phil served the league club for years Ka pai Some people just don't no how to love and care for animals that America lady throwing those poor puppies into a Rubbish dum star Ka kite ano
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/ktvTqknDobU
It's a crying shame to see all the plastic waste poisoning our Oceans and wild life its time to value our decendints future and do the correct things to leave them a better future than we HAVE.
Plastic pollution in the world’s oceans costs society billions of dollars every year in damaged and lost resources, research has found.
Fisheries, aquaculture, recreational activities and global wellbeing are all negatively affected by plastic pollution, with an estimated 1-5% decline in the benefit humans derive from oceans. The resulting cost in such benefits, known as marine ecosystem value, is up to $2.5tn (£1.9tn) a year, according to a study published this week in Marine Pollution Bulletin.
Plastic waste is also believed to cost up to $33,000 per ton in reduced environmental value, the study found. An estimated 8m tons of plastic pollution enter the world’s oceans every year. Ka kite ano P.S we need to love a respect our Tangaroa Seas our Tawhirirmate Environment links below
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/apr/04/marine-plastic-pollution-costs-the-world-up-to-25bn-a-year-researchers-find
https://youtu.be/1qT-rOXB6NI
I see they found some old recordings of the Master Proffet Bob Marley in Britain from the 70s
https://youtu.be/meKhfr_CjQ0
His music rings so true to ECO. Maori link below Ka kite ano .
https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2019/apr/23/bob-marley-live-recordings-rescued-from-damp-hotel-basement
Boris Johnson's sister is part of a new anti-Brexit party Change UK. But one of the guys who had started it stood down quickly – an unfortunate tweet in 2017 sid he supported leaving EU because 70% of the pickpockets in the tube were Roumanian. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/apr/23/change-uk-independent-group-launches-european-election-campaign-brexit
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/apr/23/labour-says-theresa-may-unwilling-to-offer-key-brexit-concessions
Labour are caught in Theresa May's knot. Trying to have a meeting with her determined to deliver Brexit somehow, if they raise points of order about anything they will be accused of dragging their heels or delaying tactics. What school did she go to I wonder? They turn out a determined little body with a programmed mind that always thinks along Conservative lines. Could there be a school that teaches just that way for the uppers? Or perhaps they all do at the 'public school' level.
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute
https://youtu.be/h87cbH7Iogc
Whanau I went into Vags for 5 minutes and I seen 15 actor trying to play ECO Maori YEA RIGHT
Some Eco Maori Music for the minute.
https://youtu.be/34Na4j8AVgA
Kia ora Newshub
I have been trying to get the TV guide TV 3 video going that’s all the sandflys can do .
Its the correction of the house market in Auckland the house are expensive there.
There you go Milisa a fuel tax does get people into buses and trains Ka pai to the Auckland Council for voting the tax in.
Its a waste of time now having all the checks and audits on the Pike River mine scandle but its too late now the main evedince has been lost.
Its cool that some people are cleaning up cemeteries we must learn to respect our tipuna .
Climate change is having a bad effect on Alot of the beautiful creatures in the Polar regions this is just the start of animals being displaced by climate change andmmoving into suburba.
Ka kite ano