nats have big mouths….obviously to get both feet in.
"National Taieri candidate Liam Kernaghan and Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean are among several National party figures to have posted material online which is claimed to quote Labour leader Jacinda Ardern out of context."
And yet hydrogen is being promoted by the Gov….they must expect we are going to have a massive surplus of energy available in the near future which runs contrary to all the current scientific opinion.
Professor Alistair Woodward from the University of Auckland agrees with Barnett that the resulting traffic logjams showcase gaping vulnerabilities in Auckland's transport infrastructure – but he has different ideas as to how to deal with this.
That includes cutting down car numbers.
“We haven’t thought hard enough about the future. Everything is short term … you know it’s ‘bung on another lane, it’s widen the road, it’s put in a new road’.
“Of course all that does is to boost the amount of traffic. So it’s entirely predictable that if we spend squillions of dollars on a tunnel under the harbour for more roads, that they will full up rapidly as well and we’ll suffer all the environmental and social costs of living in a car-dominated city.”
I read the Link Article…if you dont mind me asking…is that you? Is very good anyway. I have an Interested Layman's uptake of Science…(and a lot of Other) Just being Informed is absolutely essential.
Personally, I'm quite a hydrogen skeptic. The energy losses involved in separating the hydrogen, then using it, is a big downside compared to batteries, pumped hydro, or other energy storage. The hazards and engineering difficulties of bulk use of hydrogen scare the crap out of me – the way hydrogen embrittles many common metals, and basically just pisses through polymer materials while degrading it on the way through is frightening. Then hydrogen has an extremely wide range of concentrations where it's explosive, much higher than any other common gases. If you're using hydrogen in fool cells, you can't add odorant (like is done to natural gas and LPG), so leaks are less easily detectable, and hydrogen flames are invisible to the naked eye.
Nevertheless, there are some positives around hydrogen as a replacement for a few fossil fuel applications.
Hydrogen is sufficiently energy dense that it is feasible for a few applications that batteries simply couldn't store enough energy for – such as medium distance aviation and cross-ocean shipping. IIf my off the top of my memory recollections are roughly correct, in terms of actual useful energy stored including tanks and after conversion to useful mechanical energy, fossil fuels can be up to around 5 kWhr/kg (in a huge marine engine) or 3 kWhr/kg for land transport. Hydrogen maybe 2kWhr/kg for marine, maybe 1.2 kWhr/kg for road transport or aviation. Batteries are at around 0.17 kWhr/kg in production Teslas now, with recent announcements they will go up to a bit over 0.2 kWhr/kg.
Hydrogen may also be a better substitute for fossil fuels for some industrial processes that require very high process heat temperatures – steelmaking gets a mention in the links above, but cement production might be another.
Activists warn Adern – Hydrogen no path to low carbon future
Members of Climate Justice Taranaki and other community groups gathered with white elephants outside today's launch of the National New Energy Development Centre by Prime Minister Jacinda Adern and Energy Minister Megan Woods. The protesters are opposed to the government's support of Hydrogen technology.
“We are repeating bad choices again from the Think Big era of the 80s that had a far reaching economic burden and many environmental impacts,” said Fiona Clark, long-standing Visual activist and Tikorangi Gaslands resident.
"As benign and fashionable a Hydrogen economy may sound, the zealous push for it as the essential route to a just transition is unfounded, both in physics and economic terms," said Climate Justice Taranaki researcher Catherine Cheung.
"The production of Green Hydrogen from water and renewable energy is extremely expensive and inefficient. Its storage and distribution, also costly and energy intensive, are fraught with technical and safety issues."
Forgot to also mention, a widespread hydrogen economy may also be damaging to the ozone layer. It's for sure hydrogen and ozone very happily recombine to make water and oxygen when they get together, the question is whether any escaped hydrogen from ground level would would actually make it to the ozone layer height before oxidising to water along the way. Modelling results seem to vary on how much would actually make it and how significant it would be. But hydrogen leakage from aircraft already most of the way up to the ozone layer would almost certainly be damaging.
They have to look like they are doing something even if there is nothing that can be done.
Unfortunately society as a whole is not yet ready to accept that the ultra high consumption era is coming to an end. Even the greens can't openly say that even though they know it.
Just be sure that airconditioner uses something like R600a (isobutane) with a global warming potential (100 year) around 3, rather than R134a (tetrafluoroethane) that has a global warming potential (100 year) of 1430.
Ah indeed. I maybe should have added that Flicking a Switch (AirCon) won't just make "it" go away….: )
"Air conditioning may not save lives
We expect air conditioning to take the strain, but may not realise just how much strain is involved.
Shade temperatures of 50C mean that direct sunlight can raise the temperature to 60C or 70C.
Bringing that back to a comfortable 22C or even a warm 27C is not always possible and requires a lot of energy — putting serious strain on the electricity grid.
A minor bit of good luck with that is the electrical demand from air-conditioners is moderately well-matched to the output from photovoltaic generation.
"Even with Australia newly emerged as being amongst the world leaders in solar uptake, the study found that as of June 2019 Australia was using less than 5% of the potential capacity for rooftop solar".
“Solar power in New Zealand is on the rise, but operates in an entirely free market with no form of subsidies or intervention from the New Zealand Government.”
Key sold the power companies, so their business model is a major impediment to getting carbon neutral, resilient and affordable electricity.
The next energy minister needs to undo Bradford's reforms and buy back the shares and nationalise the 'lecky'.
(Sorry, I have been watching Still Game, a hilarious Scottish TV series on Netflix.)
Yep, and the Electricity "reforms" that ol' nat Max Bradford set up. To the NZ Public's detriment. And of course not much has changed. Because its a Cash Cow.
Ok, Labours had the Previous 9 Years of nats…but I (and a lot of other voters) are looking for Real Change next. I really hope so….
Thanks for the link Robert. The Jessica Much Mackays of our world don't think Much. Just an entertaining "blood bath" would be her/their idea of good.
Ian Johnstone was yesterday on the Panel describing the tension in the famous eyeball to eyeball debate between Lange and Muldoon and the setting provided for the Leaders. And our current Leaders debate? Woolly questions. Poor layout. Poor moderation.
Good to see several letters in today's Dominion Post critical of Judith Collins' overbearing, aggressive, bullying tactics in the debate. And also that John Campbell had let her get away with it.
On the other hand, no letters supporting her.
Collins' childish remarks yesterday about "heat in the kitchen" further highlighted her nastiness. If anyone has stood up to the heat in the kitchen in the last three years, it is Jacinda, with the tragedies that she has had to deal with. The world has taken note and I hope New Zealand continues to do so.
So Julie tells us the wealth tax is a bottom line for the greens.
Most people in their 50s or 60s who have worked continuously, saved, and paid off the mortgage will have assets worth $1-2 million.
The greens want those people to pay $10,000 to $20,000 wealth tax per year, every year until they die. Never mind the fact that these people may not have much cash in the bank or that they may be retired and are living on a very modest pensions =the greens want your money.
Never mind that this would be a highly expensive administration nightmare for all involved
This is going to cause an unholy shit fight between the greens and labour
The point being that many people that hold 'assets' worth a pretty coin are otherwise cash poor. Point being, many in Auckland.
Another point that is not pointed out often, is that these people can't actually downsize as in this country we don't build small -or even just smaller anymore. So even if a retired couple would want to get out of the million dollar property into some thing smaller they can't for lack of offerings. – and again the chorus of ‘move to the countryside’ does not work for people who have medical needs or whose family is important and who want to live nearby. Again, this too is a problem that is studiously ignored by our betters, namely no jobs, no healthcare, etc.
So if you are on a fixed income, and your property is the ONLY asset you have this tax is neither fair nor feasable. This tax makes as much sense as TOPs tax on 'unproductive goods' like Nana's house in which she lives but does not rent in order to make a profit, Never mind that she can't find anything to rent for herself should she want to rent the good house for a profit. Cheap stupid solutions to big problems.
an unholy shit fight between the greens and labour
Nah. At most, the initial round table will see a robust advocacy from both sides. Then they will shift into negotiations mode.
Since it is not in the interests of either party to alienate any part of the wealthy middle class, the inevitable coalition policy will be a reasonable compromise.
I predict this will take the form of giving the Greens what they want (an effective wealth ceiling, to enable reduction of inequality) and giving Labour what it wants (a big enough solid voter base for re-election).
Yes and the GST increase will only cost about 3 bucks a week.
Good grief, you know its one thing to discuss these matters, its another thing to really believe what these people say and to believe that this will be paid for by the richest, who already don't pay taxes in this country. This is as idiotic as is the Grant Robertson Tax increase for people making 180.000 NZD. They are already on record for not paying tax over 70.000 NZD cause good accountants and various loopholes that neither the Green nor Labour actually propose to close. A bit like that extra 5 days of sick leave…………which thanks to loopholes are not given to a huge number of workers.
Smoke and mirrors, but you get to be seen as doing something.
I'm interested to hear how one structures affairs so assets are not assets in a wealth tax regime. Income is easy because of shareholder salaries (set up companies, pay $70,000 to each shareholder annually and leave the rest of the profit in the company to be taxed at 28%), but actually hiding assets is difficult because they appear somewhere. For example, if I own 10 houses outright worth a total of $5 million, and put the ownership of them into one or more companies, I still own the shares in the companies which are worth at least the net asset values of the companies i.e. $5 million. Trusts are a bit more complicated, but government and IRD have been cracking down on tax planning using trusts for 20 years, so I'm sure that can be sorted adequately.
The European issue has been that people just move themselves and their businesses and assets into other parts of the EU without a wealth tax and without any impact on operations, but that doesn't strike me as immediately available here. A person who moved overseas while leaving their assets here would still be a tax resident here, and a person who moved their assets overseas but stayed here would also still be a tax resident here. Maybe some sectors can operate here without being here at all, but nothing we do taxes them anyway, so they aren't worth considering.
nland Revenue has found only half of wealthy individuals worth more than $50 million each are paying the top personal tax rate, despite Government moves to combat tax avoidance.
There are about 250 New Zealanders with wealth in excess of $50m, deemed "high wealth individuals" by Inland Revenue.
New figures obtained under the Official Information Act show a sample by Inland Revenue of 184 of those individuals, taken between 2009 and 2011, found 49.5 per cent had declared they had earned $70,000 a year or more. The rest declared they earned less. Those who earn more than $70,000 are in the top tax bracket and pay 33 cents tax in the dollar.
from 2014
Figures given to ONE News show many of those worth more than $50 million are only paying tax on around $70,000 dollars of annual income.
When the tax man comes knocking, most of us expect to pay our fair share. But some of us can avoid it .
Even millionaire Gareth Morgan admits he's not paying his.
"Ah no, definitely not. But that's the way the tax regime is," he says.
Inland Revenue monitors 200 New Zealanders worth more than $50 million each. Yet 46.5% of those multi-millionaires earn less than $70,000 a year, meaning they avoid paying the top income tax rate.
New Zealand's super-rich were found liable for an extra $77 million of tax in the last financial year.
The country's most well-off have paid hundreds of millions of dollars in extra tax to Inland Revenue since it set up its high-wealth individual unit in 2003.
Those who come under the scrutiny of this IRD division must have, or be in control of, more than $50 million.
According to IRD's investigation and advice manager Tracey Lloyd, the unit has identified 200 people who met the criteria.
Of these 200 people, 93 declared their personal income in the 2013 financial year as less than $70,000 – the point at which one is required pay the top tax rate of 33 cents in the dollar.
New Zealanders pay 33% tax on every dollar of personal income over $70,000. This means someone paid $700,000 a year pays the same income tax as someone earning ten times less.
The super-rich routinely find ways to avoid even the minimal tax obligations New Zealand expects of them.
“The richest one percent of New Zealanders own 20% of this country’s wealth, and they can obviously afford the best accountants in the business. They take advantage of loopholes to ensure their money is not classed as taxable income, but instead as other currently untaxed forms of wealth and capital,” says Mr Barclay.
“This must change. Most ordinary working people don’t have a choice about paying our tax, it goes out of the pay check automatically. The super-rich should not get to play by a different set of rules to the rest of us.”
this is why i am so cynical when it comes to the beige suits sprouting their wet dreams about 'tax increases on the rich' . It means nothing at all if you can already structure your assets to such an extend that someone like Gareth Morgan is on record for not paying taxes because 'its all legal, and why should i pay taxes if i can avoid them' after all he ain't a wage slave who is taxed well before you and i ever receive our money 🙂
The Greens are definitely making a mistake with this. First they're framing it as a "take it from the rich pricks to give to the poor" and that "it's only going to affect the richest 6%" – it just looks like a mafia-style shakedown that lives up to the worst caricatures of taxation, and they're forgetting about all those that aspire to get to a comfortable financial situation where the Greens would then stick them with the rich prick tax.
If they were to put the same die-in-a-ditch commitment to a capital gains tax and frame it as sharing a slice of your success back to maintaining the society that made that success possible, then I'd be fully with them. But the way the proposed wealth tax is structured is so ill-conceived that I don't think those that propose it are fit for office. It's a significant part of why it's very unlikely I'll vote Green this year.
Doesn't work as analogy due to lack of gun-carrying Green enforcers. It's actually an antique socialist policy design. Since that style of taxation did work way back, and got at least one generation of solid support in Aotearoa, it's worth a try.
An irony is that most Green voters live in affluent inner city suburbs – and are 'wealthy' according to the Green's criteria.
Many of these Green supporters will fall within the 6% of the population that the Greens define as wealthy and thus able to pay this tax.
One consequence of the Greens wealth tax, should it come to pass, is that many of those in Wadestown, Grey Lynn, Fendalton et al may decide to switch their vote to Labour. In doing this they avoid the wealth tax but still get a green friendly government.
If such a scenario played out on election day it'll be goodbye Greens. Their position is precarious enough now; this wealth tax policy only makes it worse.
I wouldn't worry Andre – given Labour's proposed timorous shift to a very slightly more progressive income tax regime, the wealth of the "richest 6% group" looks pretty safe from ‘tax grabs‘ in the short-to-medium term.
I'm financially comfortable, so have never felt a need or aspiration to belong to the "richest 6% group"; indeed such an aspiration is beyond my ken and of no interest.
Government revenue from a wealth tax such as that proposed by the Green party might fund programmes that foster wider societal and environmental resilience, so I'm all for it and will Party Vote Green.
If there's an alternative progressive tax change that would generate similar revenue from those that can afford it (as opposed to (say) a GST increase, which generates (some) revenue from those who can least afford it), then I would at least weigh up that alternative – wouldn't stop me voting Green though.
Most people in their 50s or 60s who have worked continuously, saved, and paid off the mortgage will have assets worth $1-2 million. [my italics]
Really? I don’t think so. The policy is designed so that only about 6% of the people pay this tax. That’s not most people by a long shot.
Assuming someone can save $10 of their hourly earnings and that they work 2,000 hours in a year, it would take them 50 years to save $1,000,000. They’ll have to start very young in your world.
… =the greens want your money.
Nope, they want it to go towards the public good (AKA society) and where it is needed the most.
The policy clearly has provisions for asset-rich cash-poor people.
Never mind that this would be a highly expensive administration nightmare for all involved
Nope. Assets are already taken into account for rates, insurance, tax, etc. The policy is simple and straightforward and IRD can easily manage it.
Yeah it's one of those good in theory ideas where the reality is accountants and lawyers do well arranging trusts off shore holdings etc and the actual tax revenue recieved is well below that forecasted.
If they're paying $10,000 in tax a year under the Green policy, they would own a $1 million dollar home outright, have a share portfolio worth $500,000, savings of $300,000, and have a new Tesla and an Audi in the garage.
Gosh, how is little old Mary going to survive on the pension, driving her runabout Tesla to the supermarket to buy budget bread and a weekly lotto ticket in the hope she might extract herself from the extortionate Government tax.
The greens want those people to pay $10,000 to $20,000 wealth tax per year
Nice try. It's 1% for each dollar over $1m. To pay $10k wealth tax, you need another million on top of that. For a couple, you would need a total of $4m to be paying $20k. Cry me a river.
Okay, having read the report, I get your point. It may mean a coalition isn't feasible.
A fracture has been riven into the Greens-Labour Party relationship after the Greens demanded a wealth tax be part of any future coalition government agreement. The Greens' election policies include a plan to make Kiwis with a net-worth greater than $1 million, pay 1 per cent of their wealth to the Government as a tax. Those worth more than $2m would pay out 2 per cent of their wealth as tax.
Yesterday, it was reported that Green MP Julie Anne Genter had told a small business panel discussion the tax policy was a "bottom line" condition that needed to be met for her party to join into a second coalition Government with Labour, assuming next month's election goes both parties' way.
Shaw this morning confirmed Genter’s comment, but told host John Campbell the Green Party “doesn’t do bottom lines”.
“We do priorities and we’ve got six that we’re taking into this election. Julie-Anne did use that language yesterday.
“We don’t use bottom lines because what we want to see is a Labour-led Government with Jacinda Ardern as the Prime Minister and the Green Party back in Parliament and part of that Government.”
Thanks, that's helpful. Those into facts will remain frustrated, of course. Since "Julie-Anne did use that language yesterday", according to James, while implying she was wrong to do so.
So she doesn't know the difference between priorities & bottom lines?? Or is there no actual difference, and Greens make it up as they go along? “We don’t use bottom lines" seems to be James using the term as a precondition of coalition entry, and rejecting such usage.
I think his approach is appropriate. Perhaps Julie-Anne used the term inappropriately, due to a slip of her tongue. Or, as Trump would say, "I mis-spoke."
THIS IS THE REASON TO VOTE FOR YOU YOU FUCKING CLOWN!!!
WHY ARE YOU NOW WALKING AWAY FROM IT?????
Perhaps James will have to educate him about the relation of Green leadership to coalition negotiating.
She did not accidentally "tell the truth", he said.
He could have helpfully explained that accidentally telling the truth is a Labour Party thing.
Shaw says the Greens aren't making the tax a bottom line because "when we get into negotiations we have got to see what the result of the election is. And it's as simple as that".
Too simple for Bomber. And there's yet another point that will bamboozle him:
Whether or not it becomes a bottom line depends on how many people vote for the Greens, Shaw says.
"shit that needs doing gets done" I look at my neighbours and see a sleepout with garage converted to a flat and the backyard soil covered with concrete to replace the garage ("we have plans"), a backyard barren of all but mown grass because it's just "too much trouble" to grow fruit trees and veges, a pile of rubbish and excavated clay where once veges grew because of willful passive aggressive ignorance. No amount of money will change this. Why bother when it's "too much like hard work" and "I get my veges from the supermarket" – like most people.
The devil in the detail lies in the differential between net wealth & modest income, and since retired folk will be concerned about that, the policy has an escape clause:
Unlikely to win the votes of their children! The interesting thing to watch for at the election is what proportion of the 94% of the electorate that the policy benefits will vote Green in support of the policy.
Say the Greens get a substantial vote of above 10% – that will indicate significant policy resonance to ensure the validity of the policy as an effective ploy.
If they don't get that, the wealth tax will become a proven marketing failure…
It's not the taking a slice of the estate that bothers me. At that moment, what was a home has been converted into a mere financial instrument. It's the way that when the first partner dies, the survivor suddenly gets lifted into the net asset bracket where a punitive tax applies at the exact same moment their income drops sharply, and will then be dealing with the psychological effects of an ever-increasing tax debt at a life-stage when debt-free financial independence is increasingly important.
yes but as soon as one of them dies the surviving partner will start paying wealth tax, financial hardship piled on top of grief. – such a wonderful thing for our aged community to look forward to, thanks Greens
yes, I got that wrong, they pay 1% on the amount above $1 million.Say the house is now worth $1.6 million, that means they need to find an additional $6,000.00 per year after tax for the rest of their life – another winner from the kind, sharing hard left.
The thought of having that imposed on my hard working parents really pisses me off.
Indeed, the surviving partner would pay $6k pa in wealth tax to live rent-free, which amounts to $115 per week. That’s not going to break the bank, is it?
The value of the property may go up (likely) or down (unlikely). When it is sold, there is no CGT. That really pisses me off.
When the surviving partner passes away, there is no inheritance tax. That really pisses me off.
How much of one’s wealth is generated through hard work and prudent living and how much is through rising property prices that prices many others out of owning a home and driving them into the rental trap? That really pisses me off.
As long as your hard-working parents are alive, they don’t pay a cent in wealth tax. Enjoy your parents’ company for as long as you can and don’t worry about something that may not happen in a long time, bless them.
Look, your relentless negativity isn't changing my mind about a policy that, while good (in my eyes), isn't likely to come about, especially as James Shaw is already walking back the bottom line quote.
In Auckland, about $3500 pa, which might get rebated down to about $2800 pa if their only income was Super. Then about $1500pa for home insurance, about $600pa for water etc etc.
its not negativity, its realism.
Seriously, how much would rates be on a property like this?
you say; Not on a super payment of $847 per fortnight, winter fuel payments and eligibility for a rates rebate. Quite doable I'd say.
IF we assume this hypothetical scenario and we look at income derived vs outgoings then Rates need to be included. How much would the rates be on a property that raises exponentially due to high land cost for example, but with no actual raise in income.
because this is an issue in many areas where land prices are going up up up and wages and super don't.
or the rates raise because of Council spending 🙂
Terre Nicholson's house in Te Kūiti is meant to be her forever home.
Two years ago she and husband Mike, a pensioner, could not afford to buy what they wanted in Hamilton, where Nicholson's job as an environmental consultant was based.
So they looked around and decided on a 1970s house on a classic Kiwi quarter-acre section (1250m sq), in the small King Country town.
But the couple didn't bank on the soaring rates in the Waitomo District.
"We knew the rates were high but the cost of the house was low. We wanted a place we could basically retire in. This is our forever home."
When they bought the house for $445,000, the rates were around $3000 per year.
"And then they went up. And now they've gone up again."
In two years the rates have spiked by more than $1000 to $4200 per year. That's $350 a month.
So why not answering the questions rather then running away shouting relentless negativity. IS that all you got?
Quote: I'm totally happy with my position and calling your relentless negativity for what it is. Ta.
But if you feel the need to go in to bat for the asset rich amongst us at the expense of the very poorest, you go right ahead. Quote end.
seriously? That is all you got? Your math was wrong, you left out an important part of home owning, Rates. Rates that are currently going up with no end in sight. Ok right. And other then that, you still have not answered a fair and square question.
But maybe its your relentless optimism that makes you just over look such important factors as Rates when you talk about finances and what is feasable on a fixed income or what is not. Its like the national dudes that do math and then discover holes in their math, but its ok.
And last but least the 'asset rich' the developpers, the slum lords etc they won't be paying that tax. They already don't pay tax.
In Wellington about $5500 plus further increases promised. Plus insurance $3600 plus parking coupons for a lot of inner city suburbs $200 plus rubbish collection. So another $6000 or so would just about wipe out a single pension or increase inner city rents something drastic . It would be over $300 a week to live in an owned home.
The surviving partner's assets have just increased by $800,000. There is a plan to tax it.. that can be deferred to sale date. Oh the humanity! Won't someone think of the children's inheritance, so they can take it.. all untaxed.
What happens when one of them dies. Normally then the house is transferred to the spouse. If he/she lives for 15 more years say, wouldn't that be 1% of $500k per year for 15 years = $75k tax …still a lot of money. I don't like it.
Legislate to cap salaries at $40,000 pa. I am paid – like it or not a shitload of money I don't need and would do what I do because I like doing it and am competent. It all assumes people work ONLY FOR THE FUCKING MONEY.
Other than it adds to the administrative costs, the Greens have already said it won't be on the family home, only on investments…. but some people want to clutch their pearls….
Please quote where the document says it won't apply to the family home. I haven't found anything that says the family home is exempt, but did find the following which certainly implies the family home will be taxed if the proposal is implemented:
Some people, particularly retired people, may have a high value home but only modest income. These people will be able to defer payment of the net wealthtax until the home is sold, just as many councils already allow with rates payments.
Perhaps you need to read what you link – Because you are telling Untruths at best, and if you truely are a Greens Supporter then making such untrue statements (Purposely) perhaps is why some cannot trust and vote for the Greens and they are hanging on a survival knife edge.
We’ll tax wealth fairly by introducing a new tax on individuals’ net wealth over $1 million. This means those who have their own wealth worth more than $1 million – not including mortgages and other debt
Treasury advice is relevant here. It would be reasonable to expect that the Greens have not factored in revenue collection feasibility.
Labour's Nash said Finance Minister Grant Robertson had ruled out imposing any wealth tax. "As the Revenue Minister, I have had a look at a wealth tax and I think it is very, very difficult to implement," he said. "It's on unrealised gains, which make it very difficult for people to pay who are asset rich, cashflow poor." https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12366702
Yep, a capital gains tax really is the much better way to collect tax from the income generated by capital. It's part of the reason why most countries actually do tax capital gains, but very few collect any significant wealth taxes.
i suspect the reason is the fact that capital gain on improved business practice is penalised whereas a wealth tax does not….capital gain on a successfully expanded business that provides employment and possibly FX is not the target…pointless property inflation however is.
A wealth tax targets that scenario and provides incentive to invest in income ( and therefore employment) generating assets rather than a state subsidised RE market that dosnt produce FA…not to mention that its a ponzi scheme that destabilises the entire banking system
Last night Ianmac posted a quote from Brian Gould about the lighting angles and camera positions in the leaders debate.
it clarified my view that the set up of the debate overwhelmingly favoured National. I also noticed quite frequently when Jacinda was replying the camera went straight on Collins.
i am sure Campbell irrupted Jacinda more cutting her short.
last night I put in a complaint to the media council. It’s pretty easy to do and I would encourage others to do it. I let the standard know how it goes
I'm sure there's a box of wet bus tickets ready for that and any other complaints.
A top down review and clearcut is required at TVNZ/RNZ. Maori TV appears back on track after Maxwell's silver hammer routine national inflicted on them, doing good stuff locally and terrific movies.
However plenty of TVNZ/RNZ output fails the journalism, objectivity and what an old boss called 'intellectual rigour' bar to be broadcast. But hey we don't seem to care anymore, not seeing any party want to address it.
The woman is either an idiot, or a cynical cheat. My house was built in the early 1950s. Not a state house, but looks similar.. There were no airtight windows then.
I shut the windows tight, but in winter I can feel air leaking through. Judith Collins expecting 1930s – 1960s houses to have windows that don't let air through is like expecting a 1950s Morris Minor to have air bags and ASB brakes. (One can seal these old windows with sticky-back foam rubber tapes, if one wants to.)
Next door is a house built in the 1970s. It has the luxury of rubber-sealed alloy windows. But I notice heaps more condensation on the inside of them than I get in my place. I conclude that a certain amount of air circulation may be healthy!
What I suspect is that if Judith and her ilk do get into power (heaven forbid!) she will immediately use the 'leaky windows' argument for selling off (to the already well-off) every state house built before 1970, so that her mates can benefit ever more from rising property values and rents, while the poor who rent them will struggle to pay their rent off even 2 or 3 jobs paid at a miserable minimum rate.
A classic way of creating a hell-hole of a society, so that a profit-gouging, greedy element can have their way.
My parents were the first tenants in a state house built in Mt Roskill (Auckland) in1947 on a quarter acre section. We never had condensation but we did have an open fireplace which was well used in winter. All the houses in the street are still standing, well maintained and sheltering families. The back sections have become infill housing – the newer houses don't look like they'll last 70 years.
During the "debate" Ms Collins said she would like to get rid of all the old state houses. Some parts of Auckland have had hundreds of older state houses removed and replaced by apartments / town houses. Only time will tell how people adjust to living so close to each other. I guess after being crammed in emergency housing (single motel units) anything else will feel like luxury.
Saw a tweet the other day from someone who'd grown up down the road from the farm Collins lived on and surprise surprise, the houses looked like the state houses of the day.
To be fair, the state house design was used for accommodation by most government departments back in the day. Go to any site that either is owned by the government or was in the past, and you will find state housing.
Examples include, the towns built around the hydro dams, and the power stations in Meremere and Huntly, housing at the old mental hospitals, Forestry workers housing, and in Jude’s case, Landcorp’s predessors.
And a lot of them were moved, often several times as projects moved on. They were never quite the same after a few of those. Don't expect the windows to be square.
Come on, Campbell was feeding Jacinda answers. On the hospital question Jacinda was getting it all wrong and going on about insisting on MOH mandated budget cuts. Campbell tried to feed her the simple popular answer with the prompt, will some of that debt need to be written off? But she stuck to her position and eventually Judith got to take up the point that "obviously" some of the hospitals debt would need to be forgiven.
The original problem is the supply of capital to HB's with a certain cost to pay for it year by year. Given the current cost of debt this is windfall profit territory. The cost of capital impacts on their operational budgets and inevitably leads to deficits and over time mounting debt. Debt the government can finance far more cheaply than the boards can. And so on.
Bear with me while I tell a tale of three Rich Pricks, each with a couple mill to do something with. To illustrate how a wealth tax operates very differently to a capital gains tax.
Rick Prick the First is aware of a high value specialised substance collected from wild-growing seaweed, and conceives an aquaculture venture to farm this seaweed. He purchases a block of land fronting onto suitable estuaries in a remote part of the country (hoping to provide future employment in a depressed area), and puts the remainder of his fortune into equipment etc that would be needed to process the seaweed. As it turns out, a couple of seasons of red tide, and other developments in the area affected the water quality so the venture never takes off, and ten years later finally gives up. He recovers about 1.2M from selling the land. Under the wealth tax regime, over those ten years he has paid about $100k for the privilege of losing $800k of wealth, at least partly due to government permitting other environmentally degrading activities making his venture non-viable, and the steady suck of $10k a year wealth tax added too much continual drain on ongoing cashflow. He would not be liable for any capital gains tax.
Rich Prick the Second puts his 2mill into a block of ratty houses in a kinda neglected area, to be an aspiring slumlord. Over the next ten years the government invests a lot in renewing the neighbourhood and improving transport links, so at the end of ten years RP the 2nd sells his shabby house to a developer for basically the skyrocketed land value of 6mill. Because his clever accountants and lawyers have kept the assessed property values rising fairly slowly he's only paid about $120k in assessed wealth tax over those ten years, and trousers a capital gain of $4mill untaxed. If we just did a straight copy of Australia's capital gains tax regime with NZ rates, RP2nd would pay $660k capital gains tax on his windfall that was entirely due to government investment in the area.
Rich Prick the Third spends around 1.5M on a nice-ish house in a bush area, and invest the rest to give a little bit of income to live on. Over the ten years he puts a fair bit into keeping the bush area pest-free and restoring degraded areas. After ten years, there's been a modest capital gain of half a mill in his house (modest because the government hasn't really done anything for the area, but it's close enough to the big smoke to benefit from general increase in demand for housing) and investments when he sells up to go do something else with his life. He would pay about $120k in wealth tax over those ten years (which would soak up all of the investment income at current rates of return), plus income tax on the investment income. Under a capital gains tax, he would pay about $67k for the capital gain the government didn't do much to create apart from just maintaining society, plus the income tax.
As long as people are clear on what it will and won't do.
A capital gains tax won't fix the housing market. As long as there are is less supply than demand, there will be profits available.
A capital gains tax will simply take a slice of the profits to go back into maintaining the society that made those profits possible. That maintenance of a good society might include the state building more housing for those that need it, which would increase the supply and reduce excess demand, thereby reducing potential private profiteering from the capital intensive activity of providing housing.
i don't expect any taxes to fix the housing market. But if we could actually tax wealth at the point of sale it would work in rasing revenue, btw, that would apply to me too if i sell my business i would be taxed, right now i am not.
The housing market will need intervention that currently not one person in Goverment – irrespective of their stripes – even want to contemplate. So they rather add another few hundred thousand people to the Accomodation Benefit and they rather charge beneficiaries 25% of their benefits or low wages to pay for Emergency and Transitional Housing. – which again benefits them and their 'own class'.
and they rather charge beneficiaries 25% of their benefits or low wages to pay for Emergency and Transitional Housing
The same rate at which every other beneficiary or wage earner up to $635 for a single or over $900 for joint incomes pays for state housing, leaving them 75% each week.
State housing is a rental, stable fixed with a landlord – the government who is accountable.
Emergency housing is where ever winz send you, to what ever hovel they don't even care to expect, and it does not even have to be close to the schools your kids go to.
Not even the same. You tried this before and it is still dumb. Seriously try harder, be best or something.
If you're homeless and the government want to take much less than market rates for you to stay in a motel until you get something permanent, given the alternatives of living in your car, a garage or under a bridge, I don't think that's as outrageous as you want it to be.
Though a wealth tax on the very asset rich may make funds available to do it for free 😉
It has been revealed that a Ministry of Social Development initiative to provide emergency housing in fact made the housing crisis worse and lined the pockets of a small group of landlords and real estate agents who were in on the lurk.
The country has been paying for an emergency accommodation scheme put people in motels and hotels at market rates of more than $120 dollars per night for every room rented.
However, from 2018 MSD extended the scheme to include private homes, paying the same motel room rates to landlords for every room in the house they would rent, Newsroom has revealed.
A three bedroom house rented out at a hotel rate of up to $150 per room per night could bring in $3000 per week in areas of the country where the median rate for a similar house was $550.
From March this year, Covid-19 changed things, with motel accommodation freed up and MSD was able to consider moving people from private rentals into motels.
However, once the MSD informed landlords they wouldn't be receiving subsidies after June 30 families started receiving eviction notices and social workers began scrambling to find motels rooms for stressed out families.
Paying a slumlord up to 3000 NZD – motel rates for a week – because the last government and the current government are shit at negotiating fair rates is not the problem that the homeless have created. It is the Governments fault.
taking 25% of what ever a homeless person or family may have to -fund part of the shittily negotiated 3000 NZD motel rates per week – to make a quick buck and look a bit less idiotic, usless and like complete frauds that suck at negotiating is not fair towards the person/family who already has nothing.
But it again shows that the last government and the current guvernment are shit at a. negotiating fair rates for emergency shelters and transitional housing, .b iare totally shit at creating government funded and run emergency shelters, and Labour is no better then was National when they settled homeless people with the debt of that 'housing'. Neither party gives a flying fuck about the poor.
And that wealth tax that James Shaw is running away from now is not gonna be paid for by the asset rich and cash rich of this country but by yourself and people like you.
And James Shaw and Grant Robertson know that. And they are the wealthy people that you would like to tax in the first place, and they have absolutely no reason to increase their cost of living.
Yeah, yeah, and as I wrote the other day, charging for unchecked rooms in a house probably isn't a good policy, but then you know that already if you read the reply.
Still, as far as I'm concerned, charging someone 25% of their wage to be secure in a motel rather than out on the street doesn't seem like the worst thing ever, and certainly far from disgraceful, uncaring or "bullshit"
I am against the wealth tax per se because it is is very poorly targeted. It will also severely discourage some activities that are beneficial to society, that require high capital assets but don't generate high income. Such as bush restoration. I don't see any way to adjust the wealth tax to make it work better in its effects on people's financial decisions and general well-being. Politically, it would be less harmful if it were set at a significantly higher level, say where it hit the 1% who already have to have accountants file do their taxes, not the 6% most of whom don't need accountants.
I strongly support taxing income generated from capital – which is why a support a capital gains tax, and I think things like the PIE tax rates being lower than the income tax rates are a big mistake. I also think we should have estate taxes and gift taxes – the idea that unearned income doesn't get taxed while earned income (which we want to encourage, right?) does get taxed strikes me as wrong way around.
I too think this is very poorly targeted and riddled with problems. As some one said a tax for living in Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown.
Don't forget that if the bulk of inner city properties in the main centres are hit by this tax (why would high rise multi flat student accommodation be exempt?) then it is also going to add a belt to rents – the very people this is supposed to help.
Plus it taxes those whose parents live onshore and hands it out to them plus all those whose parents live offshore in Texas or London or some where else and are not paying the taxes.
And why tax wealth if you won't tax multi million dollar salaries ( and block up the loopholes around tax being paid in companies and trusts)? Grant not lifting the trust rate was a huge no-no.
Also any deferrals (which would have interest) are basically state supplied reverse mortgages which for a single person (largely women) might apply over 30-40 years. Nobody suggests reverse mortgages are a good thing and compound interest could ensure they die a pauper.
And @Diva_Attorney: "I can't make it make sense in my head. Wanton endangerment to a neighboring apartment constitutes wanton endangerment to Breonna." pic.twitter.com/QiVxqH31Fd
What I find scariest is how all the Repugs are cheerfully going along with it all. Four years ago, I would have guessed that out of the nearly 300 Repugs in Congress, there would be at least a dozen or so that had some semblance of spine and principle and would at least attempt to slow down a few of the most egregious violations of laws and norms. But no, there's not a single one with even a hint of backbone. At most, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins occasionally appear to have faint vestiges of overboiled cartilage that slightly distinguish them from the rest of their school of jellyfish.
The Interregnum allots 35 days for the count and its attendant lawsuits to be resolved. On the 36th day, December 8, an important deadline arrives.
At this stage, the actual tabulation of the vote becomes less salient to the outcome. That sounds as though it can’t be right, but it is: The combatants, especially Trump, will now shift their attention to the appointment of presidential electors.
December 8 is known as the “safe harbor” deadline for appointing the 538 men and women who make up the Electoral College. The electors do not meet until six days later, December 14, but each state must appoint them by the safe-harbor date to guarantee that Congress will accept their credentials. The controlling statute says that if “any controversy or contest” remains after that, then Congress will decide which electors, if any, may cast the state’s ballots for president.
We are accustomed to choosing electors by popular vote, but nothing in the Constitution says it has to be that way. Article II provides that each state shall appoint electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.” Since the late 19th century, every state has ceded the decision to its voters. Even so, the Supreme Court affirmed in Bush v. Gore that a state “can take back the power to appoint electors.” How and when a state might do so has not been tested for well over a century.
Trump may test this. According to sources in the Republican Party at the state and national levels, the Trump campaign is discussing contingency plans to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority. With a justification based on claims of rampant fraud, Trump would ask state legislators to set aside the popular vote and exercise their power to choose a slate of electors directly. The longer Trump succeeds in keeping the vote count in doubt, the more pressure legislators will feel to act before the safe-harbor deadline expires
Why Trump's team are out there publicizing outlandish scenarios in which he would persuade state legislatures to just give him the election against the will of the voters. (Whole thread is good) https://t.co/dbnOQMMfst
Jobs, training. skills, income, sense of worth, companionship, socialisation not loneliness, co-operation – all draw us together. This sounds good for younger people – now something for retirees to do that gives back to society some of what the cohesive society is giving out to them.
Today, coinciding with Mental Health Awareness Week, the Bay of Plenty MP shared more of his experience in a post on social media.
“Sure, it had been a rough couple of days of media criticism, but I was heading home and had finished a couple of great conversations with mentors and supporters. I was looking forward to seeing my wife and kids before a day out in my electorate.
“It started with an intense prickling sensation in my head, followed by what I would describe as ‘waves’ of anxiety.” He said the panic attacks kept coming “with even more ferocity”, and didn't cease “no matter what” he tried. “Stretching, yoga or calming apps on my phone, nothing could stop the waves of anxiety and dread that would start the moment I woke up.
“I could tell it was impacting my performance so I was prescribed sleeping pills and anti-anxiety medication if needed to get through the weekdays in Parliament. At least this would get me through to maybe five hours sleep a night, maybe enough to function.”
Good to see him sharing his experience of the physiology. Lotsa folk still deny the mind/body interface. For a conservative to specify how it affected him makes him a valuable role model to help other conservatives get real. Farmers, especially!
Will never forget the Dr that prescribed me sleeping pills to help with severe depression when the girls were 3 and 5yrs old.
Take one at 4pm the Dr said…. fell asleep on the couch at 4.30pm kids couldn't wake me no matter how hard they tried, not good for a single parent. Thankfully Mum turned up out of the blue and helped with the girls while I continued to be zombied out. Never took one again. Useless Dr.
I went to that Dr 13 times asking for help in under 6mths, her solution, sleeping pills. Changed Dr's after that, finally got some real help along with counselling which changed my life.
Glad mental health is coming out in the opening, it's so important to have these conversations and share experiences.
Scientists in Houston on Wednesday released a study of more than 5,000 genetic sequences of the coronavirus that reveals the virus’s continual accumulation of mutations, one of which may have made it more contagious.
The new report, however, did not find that these mutations have made the virus deadlier or changed clinical outcomes. All viruses accumulate genetic mutations, and most are insignificant, scientists say.
A more infectious mutation going from being detected in 70% of global infections to a 99.9 percent prevalence in a particular location sure is hilarious.
Hilarious in the /sarc sense that it takes this long for useful information to get into the public domain. At this rate the importance of Vit D and C will probably hit the media sometime in the New Year.
I'll constrain my comments to this; in the course of this pandemic I've seen a number of issues on which my confidence in the integrity of the medical system has been severely shaken. It looks very much to me that a combination of professional arse covering, gross politicisation of the science, and an industry desire to find a nice profitable solution to COVID have muddied the waters badly. And probably cost not only 100's thousand of lives, but deeply dented the global economy in ways we are yet to discover.
NZ has been served relatively well by it's govt Health System, but elsewhere the entire episode has been a shameful wake up call.
So why has it taken damn nearly six months for the importance of the D614G mutation’s increased infectivity (Martenson talked in terms of a factor of 4) to hit the mainstream media?
Given that 40% of North Americans and 80% of Black Americans are Vit D deficient, and the numbers are typically higher among the elderly, then yes there is a strong case for supplementation. It should have been made mandatory for all care home residents ages ago.
In terms of evidence there is the preliminary Spanish clinical trial referenced here a few weeks back, plus two very large Israeli observational correlation studies, all of which confirm what has been known, as you say since May, that Vit D plays an important role in preventing serious outcomes.
In terms of treatment of hospital cases, the Spanish clinical study found that a derivative of Vit D that is immediately available to the body, gave a strong indication of being an effective tool in the treatment arsenal. Apparently a larger follow up trial is in the pipeline, but hell this is really good news if it’s confirmed.
Vit D supplementation is cheap, safe and could have massively blunted the impact of this pandemic months ago. You have to ask why it wasn't at least trialed on a substantial scale by some govt, somewhere. But no, we all have to wait for an expensive vaccine it seems.
Much more problematic is the recent corona express flight from managed QF in chch to AK.
An update on the case of the man who left MIQ in Christchurch having returned negative tests for COVID-19 and then tested positive in Auckland.
There were 86 people on that flight. 70 have returned negative results, 6 were previously reported positive cases that do not require further testing; 3 are recently reported positive cases, 7 are pending.
One passenger on a 10 hour flight on March 1 infected 12 of 20 other passengers in her cabin with the coronavirus, as well as at least 3 other people on the plane. pic.twitter.com/nVboNuquHA
Vitamin D and sleep are vital to immunity – esp T cells.
Yup every rest home should blood test and issue supplements in the most effective form. Everyone infected should be blood tested and if Vit D levels are low they get a real big booster.
Maori should test and prescribe to those with low levels. And those over 50 should take it through winter (as they do not get as much off the skin as younger people do in summer).
What you have not heard about yet in MSM – is something in the bmj – British Medical Journal.
Some people seem to have immunity to this coronavirus – and they are people who have never been infected (never had any antibodies).
(PS Swine flu 2009 – those born before 1949 seemed to have immunity to that).
Despite coming in for a silly bit of flak here back in early Feb, Chris Martenson has always been well ahead of the game. Works from the principle: Perfect is the enemy of Good … in a fast-moving Pandemic, don't wait for peer-reviewed perfection … just go with the available emerging data & make a judgement call on the veracity of each … adapt to new info as you go. Consequently, 6 months ahead of WHO / CDC & even a couple of months ahead of the otherwise wonderful John Campbell (except, perhaps, on Vitamin D … I started getting Vit D supplements for both us & my Parents back in mid-Feb on advice from Campbell). Between them, Martenson & Campbell have been required viewing this year.
Yes. Someone in a YT comment thread said that they regarded Martenson as a 'leading indicator' and Campbell as a 'lagging indicator', but when they both started saying the same thing you had to be reasonably confident of the information.
Perfect is the enemy of Good … in a fast-moving Pandemic, don't wait for peer-reviewed perfection … just go with the available emerging data & make a judgement call on the veracity of each … adapt to new info as you go.
Absolutely. In a crisis demanding impractical standards of evidence is fatal; it's a form of 'paralysis by analysis'.
Martenson's recent advice on taking vitamin D supplements to maintain and/or improve one's immune system seem sound, and certainly 99% of nutritionists would agree. It's a beautiful day and the sun is shining – time for a morning walk.
"Importantly, toxicity isn’t common and occurs almost exclusively in people who take long-term, high-dose supplements without monitoring their blood levels. It’s also possible to inadvertently consume too much vitamin D by taking supplements that contain much higher amounts than are listed on the label. In contrast, you cannot reach dangerously high blood levels through diet and sun exposure alone." https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/vitamin-d-side-effects#Deficiency-and-toxicity
"This chapter focuses on the current understanding of vitamin D and immunity, with special attention to the elderly. Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency are common among the elderly population. Vitamin D plays an immunoregulatory role in innate and adaptive immunity, and low vitamin D status has been implicated in the etiology of immune disorders, such as infectious diseases as well as some autoimmune disorders. As summarized here, the aging of the immune system is well documented and indicates that both innate and adaptive immunity are impaired with increasing age. Nutritional intervention with vitamin D seems to be a valid approach to delay the deterioration of the immune system with increasing age. Based on promising results in targeting some of the impairments of the immune system in older people, supplementation with vitamin D seems to be one strategy in attempting to increase not only the lifespan but also the health span of this increasing elderly proportion of the global population."
Does Dr Martenson still believe that Covid-19 is an artificial (engineered) virus?
I watched Martenson's arguments on this in detail. In short I agree with him that there are too many unusual aspects to this virus to make the official story that it evolved completely in nature to be a satisfactory answer.
Of course no-one has proof of it being 'engineered' either, that would demand a standard of evidence we're very unlikely to ever get. It remains as far as I'm concerned an open question.
As for all the biotech people insisting it has to have been naturally evolved, you have to keep in mind that if it wasn't, this would be an absolutely catastrophe for their profession. It would be a loss of credibility far worse than Chernobyl was for the nuclear industry, so yes I do think there are some strong motivations at work here.
The same for why various cheap and effective treatments have been downplayed as well, or why the science around HCQ was so crazily politicised … again questionable motivations at work.
Martenson no doubt believed that Covid-19 was an artificial (engineered) virus when he was writing about that hypothesis months ago. I'd like to know if he still believes that, i.e. has he reaffirmed his opinion in the last few weeks?
It would be interesting, for example, to know his view(s) on the 14 Sept. Yan report, just as it would be interesting to understand why some believe that various cheap, if unproven treatments for Covid-19 infections have been “downplayed” as the official global Covid-19 death toll approaches its first million.
I'd like to know if he still believes that, i.e. has he reaffirmed his opinion in the last few weeks?
In the past few weeks Martenson has said that he's going to wind up his COVID coverage and shift his focus back to his main interest which is resilience and thriving in uncertain times. (He's really got a lot more in common with most Greenies than anyone else.) Absent any new information on where COVID came from I doubt he'll have anything to add to what he's said already.
I would guess that his position right now is similar to the one I expressed above.
Thanks RL; while I disagree with Martenson's previously expressed opinion on a hypothetical artificial origin for Covid-19, this January 2019 statement of his certainly rings true to me.
GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler introduces bill that could require genital exams for girls competing in school sports
So the GOP wants the legal right to examine teenage girls’ genitals. This is some pretty sick stuff. Not surprising at all. But sick. https://t.co/3XqXEtVvtn
Chris Hipkins, after he became prime minister, committed to defeating the cost-of- living crisis. He proceeded to make a bonfire of policies that were at the heart of Jacinda Ardern’s administration. But, as Richard Prebble pointed out this week, “the government has not just U-turned, it has repudiated the ...
There are some wellness, crystal-gazing, holistic spiritual guidance types in my disaster-hit coastal community who insist that the power of positive thinking will overcome the physical and material damages incurred by the community. They object to restrictions on road travel … Continue reading → ...
Evaluating the recent crashes of Silicon Valley Bank in the US and Credit Suisse in Switzerland plus two other banks (perhaps more by the time you read this) needs to begin with a review of the inevitable instability in the financial sector. The financial sector is inherently unstable, like military ...
1. We see here new police minister Ginny Andersen. Which larger than life NZ political figure was her great-uncle?a. Rob Muldoonb. Bill Andersenc. Richard John Seddond. Norman Kirk2. We see here archival footage of Ginny Andersen coming out of her electorate office to ask ex-tobacco lobbyist Chris Bishop if he ...
Buzz from the Beehive Stuart Nash, speaking as Minister of Oceans and Fisheries, one of his remaining portfolios after he was dropped down the Hipkins Government batting order, has drawn attention to the blue economy and its potential. Nash says the government is investing in the blue economy, or – ...
Photo by Josh Mills on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for the next hour, including:The runs on Silicon Valley Bank and First Republic Bank on the west coast of the United States that forced the ...
Roundup is back! We skipped last week’s Friday post due to a shortage of person-power – did you notice? Lots going on out there… Our header image this week shows a green street that just happens to be Queen St, by @chamfy from Twitter. This week (and last) in ...
After threatening Prime Minister Chris Hipkins of consequences if he dared to bar her entry, Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull has been given her visa, regardless. This will enable her to hold rallies in Auckland and Wellington this weekend, and spread her messages of hostility against an already marginalised trans community. Neo-Nazis may, ...
* Bryce Edwards writes – The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The deal was struck by the Albanese Labor Government as ...
Boomers voted him in, but Brown’s Trumpish moments might spook Aucklanders worried about what a change to National nationally might mean. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR:Auckland MayorWayne Brown has become our version of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, except without any of the insatiable appetite for media appearances. He ...
The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The deal was struck by the Albanese Labor Government as part of its Aukus pact with the ...
Recently you might have heard of a person called Posie Parker and her visit to Aotearoa. Perhaps you’re not quite sure what it’s all about. So let’s start with who this person is, why their visit is controversial, and what on earth a TERF is.Posie Parker is the super villain ...
The chair of Parliament’s Select Committee looking at the Government’s resource management legislation wants the bills sent back for more public consultation. The proposal would effectively kill any chance of the bills making it into law before the election. Green MP, Eugenie Sage, stressing that she was speaking as ...
Open access notables The United States experienced some historical low temperature records during the just-concluded winter. It's a reminder that climate and weather are quite noisy; with regard to our warming climate,, as with a road ascending a mountain range we may steadily change our conditions but with lots of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The Nanny State has scored some wins (or claimed them) in the past day or two but it faltered when it came to protecting Kiwi citizens from being savaged by one woman armed with a sharp tongue. The wins are recorded by triumphant ministers on the ...
Sometimes you see your friends making the case so well on social media you think: just copy and share.On acceptance and decency, from Michèle A’CourtA notable thing about anti-trans people is they way they talk about transgender women and men as though they are strangers “over there” when in fact ...
Not that long ago, things were looking pretty good for climate change policy in Aotearoa. We finally had an ETS, and while it was full of pork and subsidies, it was delivering high and ever-rising carbon prices, sending a clear message to polluters to clean up or shut down. And ...
Comparing (and switching) electricity providers has become easier, but bundling power up with broadband and/or gas makes it more challenging. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The Kākā TL;DR: The new Consumer Advocacy Council set up as a result of the Labour Government’s Electricity Price Review in 2019 has called on either ...
Hokitika-based Westland Milk Products has put the heat on dairy giant Fonterra with a $120m profit turnaround in 2022, driven by record sales. Westland paid its suppliers a 10c premium above the forecast Fonterra price per kilo, contributing $535m to the West Coast and Canterbury economies. The dairy ...
* Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealanders are uncomfortable with the high level of influence corporate lobbyists have in New Zealand politics, and demands are growing for greater regulation. A recent poll shows 62 per cent of the public support having a two-year cooling off period between ministers leaving public ...
New Zealanders are uncomfortable with the high level of influence corporate lobbyists have in New Zealand politics, and demands are growing for greater regulation. A recent poll shows 62 per cent of the public support having a two-year cooling off period between ministers leaving public office and becoming lobbyists and ...
This is a guest post by accessibility and sustainable transport advocate Tim Adriaansen It originally appeared here. A friend calls you and asks for your help. They tell you that while out and about nearby, they slipped over and landed arms-first. Now their wrist is swollen, hurting like ...
Floating offshore wind turbines offer incredible opportunities to capture powerful winds far out at sea. By unlocking this wind energy potential, they could be a key weapon in our arsenal in the fight against climate change. But how developed are these climate fighting clean energy giants? And why do I ...
Over the past two or three weeks, a procession of Maori iwi and hapu in a series of little-noticed appearances before two Select Committees have been asking for more say for Maori over resource management decisions along the co-governance lines of Three Waters. Their submissions and appearances run counter ...
The decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue war crimes arrest warrants for the Russian President and the Russia Children Ombudsman may have been welcomed by the ideologically committed but otherwise seems to have been greeted with widespread cynicism (see Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants ...
Let’s say you’re clasping your drink at a wedding, or a 40th, or a King’s Birthday Weekend family reunion and Drunk Uncle Kevin has just got going.He’s in an expansive frame of mind because we’re finally rid of that silly girl. But he wants to ask an honest question about ...
National Party leader Christopher Luxon may be feeling glum about his poll ratings, but he could be tapping into a rich political vein in describing the current state of education as “alarming”. Luxon said educational achievement has been declining, with a recent NCEA pilot exposing just how far it has ...
Way Beyond Reform: Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have no more interest in remaining permanent members of “New Zealand’s” House of Representatives than did Lenin and Trotsky in remaining permanent members of Tsar Nicolas II’s “democratically-elected” Duma. Like the Bolsheviks, Te Pāti Māori is a party of revolutionaries – not reformists.THE CROWN ...
Buzz from the Beehive Auckland was wiped off the map, when Education Minister Jan Tinetti delivered her speech of welcome as host of the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers “here in Tāmaki Makaurau”. But – fair to say – a reference was made later in the speech to a ...
Morning mate, how you going?Well, I was watching the news last night and they announced this scientific report on Climate Change. But before they got to it they had a story about the new All Blacks coach.Sounds like important news. It’s a bit of a worry really.Yeah, they were talking ...
Always a bailout: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Government would fully guarantee all savers in all smaller US banks if needed. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: No wonder an entire generation of investors are used to ‘buying the dip’ and ‘holding on for dear life’. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ...
Wealthy vested interests have an oversized influence on political decisions in New Zealand. Partly that’s due to their use of corporate lobbyists. Fortunately, the influence lobbyists can have on decisions made by politicians is currently under scrutiny in Guyon Espiner’s in-depth series published by RNZ. Two of Espiner’s research exposés ...
Yesterday afternoon it rained and traffic around the region ground to a halt, once again highlighting why it is so important that our city gets on with improving the alternatives to driving. For additional irony, this happened on the same day the IPCC synthesis report landed, putting the focus on ...
The Beginning: Anti-Co-Governance agitator, Julian Batchelor, addresses the Dargaville stop of his travelling roadshow across New Zealand . Fascism almost always starts small. Sadly, it doesn’t always stay that way. Especially when the Left helps it to grow.THERE IS A DREADFUL LOGIC to the growth of fascism. To begin with, it ...
Hi,From an incredibly rainy day in Los Angeles, I just wanted to check in. I guess this is the day Trump may or may not end up in cuffs? I’m attempting a somewhat slower, less frenzied week. I’ve had Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new record on non-stop, and it’s been a ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
RNZ has been shining their torch into corners where lobbyists lurk and asking such questions as: Do we like the look of this?and Is this as democratic as it could be?These are most certainly questions worth asking, and every bit as valid as, say:Are weshortchanged democratically by the way ...
RNZ has continued its look at the role of lobbyists by taking a closer look at the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Andrew Kirton. He used to work for liquor companies, opposing (among other things) a container refund scheme which would have required them to take responsibility for their own ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has left for Beijing for the first ministerial visit to China since 2019. Mahuta is to meet China’s new foreign minister Qin Gang where she might have to call on all the diplomatic skills at her command. Almost certainly she will face questions on what role ...
TL;DR:The Opportunities Party’s Leader Raf Manji is hopeful the party’s new Teal Card, a type of Gold card for under 30s, will be popular with students, and not just in his Ilam electorate where students make up more than a quarter of the voters and where Manji is confident ...
When I was a kid New Zealand was actually pretty green. We didn’t really have plastic. The fruit and veges came in a cardboard box, the meat was wrapped in paper, milk came in a glass bottle, and even rubbish sacks were made of paper. Today if you sit down ...
Looking back through the names of our Police Ministers down the years, the job has either been done by once or future party Bigfoots – Syd Holland, Richard Prebble, Juduth Collins, Chris Hipkins – or by far lesser lights like Keith Allen, Frank Gill, Ben Couch, Allen McCready, Clem Simich, ...
Chris Trotter writes – The Crown is a fickle friend. Any political movement deemed to be colourful but inconsequential is generally permitted to go about its business unmolested. The Crown’s media, RNZ and TVNZ, may even “celebrate” its existence (presumably as proof of Democracy’s broad-minded acceptance of diversity). ...
Four out of the five people who have held the top role of Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff since 2017 have been lobbyists. That’s a fact that should worry anyone who believes vested interests shouldn’t have a place at the centre of decision making. Chris Hipkins’ newly appointed Chief of ...
Feedback on Auckland Council’s draft 2023/24 budget closes on March 28th. You can read the consultation document here, and provide feedback here. Auckland Council is currently consulting on what is one of its most important ever Annual Plans – the ‘budget’ of what it will spend money on between July ...
by Molten Moira from Motueka If you want to be a woman let me tell you what to do Get a piece of paper and a biro tooWrite down your new identification And boom! You’re now a woman of this nationSpelled W O M A Na real trans woman that isAs opposed ...
Buzz from the Beehive New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti is hosting the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers for three days from today, welcoming Education Ministers and senior officials from 18 Pacific Island countries and territories, and from Australia. Here’s hoping they have brought translators with them – or ...
Let’s say you’ve come all the way from His Majesty’s United Kingdom to share with the folk of Australia and New Zealand your antipathy towards certain other human beings. And let’s say you call yourself a women’s rights activist.And let’s say 99 out of 100 people who listen to you ...
James Shaw gave the Green party's annual "state of the planet" address over the weekend, in which he expressed frustration with Labour for not doing enough on climate change. His solution is to elect more Green MPs, so they have more power within any government arrangement, and can hold Labour ...
RNZ this morning has the first story another investigative series by Guyon Espiner, this time into political lobbying. The first story focuses on lobbying by government agencies, specifically transpower, Pharmac, and assorted universities, and how they use lobbyists to manipulate public opinion and gather intelligence on the Ministers who oversee ...
Nick Matzke writes – Dear NZ Herald, I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. I teach evolutionary biology, but I also have long experience in science education and (especially) political attempts to insert pseudoscience into science curricula in ...
James Shaw has again said the Greens would be better ‘in the tent’ with Labour than out, despite Labour’s policy bonfire last week torching much of what the Government was doing to reduce emissions. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Green Party has never been more popular than in some ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler Poor air quality is a long-standing problem in Los Angeles, where the first major outbreak of smog during World War II was so intense that some residents thought the city had been attacked by chemical weapons. Cars were eventually discovered ...
Yesterday I was reading an excellent newsletter from David Slack, and I started writing a comment “Sounds like some excellent genetic heritage…” and then I stopped.There was something about the phrase genetic heritage that stopped me in tracks. Is that a phrase I want to be saying? It’s kind of ...
Brian Easton writes – Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go ...
This week marks the twentieth anniversary of the Iraq War. While it strongly opposed the US-led invasion, New Zealand’s then Labour-led government led by Prime Minister Helen Clark did deploy military engineers to try to help rebuild Iraq in mid-2003. With violence soaring, their 12-month deployment ended without being renewed ...
After seventy years, Auckland’s motorway network is finally finished. In July 1953 the first section of motorway in Auckland was opened between Ellerslie-Panmure Highway and Mt Wellington Highway. The final stage opens to traffic this week with the completion of the motorway part of the Northern Corridor Improvements project. Aucklanders ...
National’s appointment of Todd McClay as Agriculture spokesperson clearly signals that the party is in trouble with the farming vote. McClay was not an obvious choice, but he does have a record as a political scrapper. The party needs that because sources say it has been shedding farming votes ...
Rays of white light come flooding into my lounge, into my face from over the top of my neighbour’s hedge. I have to look away as the window of the conservatory is awash in light, as if you were driving towards the sun after a rain shower and suddenly blinded. ...
The columnists in Private Eye take pen names, so I have not the least idea who any of them are. But I greatly appreciate their expert insight, especially MD, who writes the medical column, offering informed and often damning critique of the UK health system and the politicians who keep ...
A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Mar 12, 2023 thru Sat, Mar 18, 2023. Story of the Week Guest post: What 13,500 citations reveal about the IPCC’s climate science report IPCC WG1 AR6 SPM Report Cover - Changing ...
Buzz from the Beehive The building of financial capability was brought into our considerations when Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced she had dipped into the government’s coffers for $3 million for “providers” to help people and families access community-based Building Financial Capability services. That wording suggests some ...
Do you ever come across something that makes you go Hmmmm?You mean like the song?No, I wasn’t thinking of the song, but I am now - thanks for that. I was thinking of things you read or hear that make you stop and go Hmmmm.Yeah, I know what you mean, ...
By the end of the week, the dramas over Stuart Nash overshadowed Hipkins’ policy bonfire. File photo: Lynn GrieveasonTLDR: This week’s news in geopolitics and the political economy covered on The Kākā included:PM Chris Hipkins’ announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but ...
When word went out that Prime Minister Chris Hipkins would be making an announcement about Stuart Nash on the tiles at parliament at 2:45pm yesterday, the assumption was that it was over. That we had reached tipping point for Nash’s time as minister. But by 3pm - when, coincidentally, the ...
Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go on to attack physics by citing Newton.So ...
Photo by Walker Fenton on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on Riverside (we’ve moved from Zoom) for our chat about the week’s news with ...
In a nice bit of news, my 2550-word deindustrial science-fiction piece, The Dream of Florian Neame, has been accepted for publication at New Maps Magazine (https://www.new-maps.com/). I have published there before, of course, with Of Tin and Tintagel coming out last year. While I still await the ...
And so this is Friday, and what have we learned?It was a week with all the usual luggage: minister brags and then he quits, Hollywood red carpet is full of twits. And all the while, hanging over the trivial stuff: existential dread, and portents of doom.Depending on who you read ...
When I changed the name of this newsletter from The Daily Read to Nick’s Kōrero I was a bit worried whether people would know what Kōrero meant or not. I added a definition when I announced the change and kind of assumed people who weren’t familiar with it would get ...
There was a time when a political party’s publicity people would counsel against promoting a candidate as queer. No matter which of two dictionary meanings the voting public might choose to apply – the old meaning of odd, strange, weird, or aberrant, or the more recent meaning of gay, homosexual ...
Photo by Joakim Honkasalo on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for the next hour, including:PM Chris Hipkins announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but which blew up ...
Even though concern over the climate change threat is becoming more mainstream, our governments continue to opt out of the difficult decisions at the expense of time, and cost for future generations. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Now we have a climate liability number to measure the potential failure of the ...
Thomas Cranmer writesLike it or not, the culture wars have entered New Zealand politics and look set to broaden and intensify. The culture wars are often viewed as an exclusively American phenomenon, but the reality is that they are becoming increasingly prominent in countries around the world, ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to speak with you today and in your busy lives turning up to this meeting. Forty five years ago, in Howick, often described as racist, and where few Maori lived because it had been a ‘Fencible’ settlement at the time of the Anglo-Maori ...
The Green Party has marked the National Party’s new education policy and given it a fail, especially for its failure to address the underlying drivers of school performance. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party after the election must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised today. ...
You will never truly understand, from the pictures you’ve seen in the newspapers or on the six o-clock news, the sheer scale of the devastation wrought by Cyclone Gabrielle. ...
Political parties that want to negotiate with the Green Party must come to the table with much faster, bolder climate action, co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson emphasised in their State of the Planet speech today. ...
We’re boosting incomes and helping ease cost of living pressures on Kiwis through a range of bread and butter support measures that will see pensioners, students, families, and those on main benefits better off from the start of next month. ...
The error Labour Ministers made by stopping work on a beverage container return scheme will be reversed by the Greens at the earliest opportunity as part of the next Government. ...
“Cabinet needs to do better - and today has shown exactly why we need Green Ministers in cabinet, so we can prioritise action to cut climate pollution and support people to make ends meet,” says Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson. ...
Biggest increase in food prices for over three decades shows the need for an excess profit tax on corporations to help people put food on the table. ...
The Green Party has today launched a submission guide to help Aucklanders give crucial input and prevent potentially disastrous Auckland Council budget proposals. ...
With calls growing for inquiries and action on bank profits, the Greens say the Government has all the information it needs to act now and put a levy on banks. ...
As large parts of Aotearoa recover from two of the worst climate disasters we have ever experienced, it would be a huge mistake for the Government to deprioritise climate action from future transport investments, the Green Party says. ...
The Green Party is celebrating the signing of a historic United Nations Ocean Treaty, and calls on the new Oceans and Fisheries Minister to urgently step up protection for Aotearoa’s oceans. ...
Attorney-General David Parker has announced the appointment of Christopher John Dellabarca of Wellington, Dr Katie Jane Elkin of Wellington, Caroline Mary Hickman of Napier, Ngaroma Tahana of Rotorua, Tania Rose Williams Blyth of Hamilton and Nicola Jan Wills of Wellington as District Court Judges. Chris Dellabarca Mr Dellabarca commenced his ...
A new Government-backed project will help ocean-related businesses in the Nelson Tasman region to accelerate their growth and boost jobs. “The Nelson Tasman region is home to more than 400 blue economy businesses, accounting for more than 30 percent of New Zealand’s economic activity in fishing, aquaculture, and seafood processing,” ...
After three years of COVID-19 disruptions schools are finally settling down and National want to throw that all in the air with major disruption to learning and underinvestment. “National’s education policy lacks the very thing teachers, parents and students need after a tough couple of years, certainty and stability,” Education ...
People aged over 50 with innovative business ideas will now be able to receive support to advance their ideas to the next stage of development, Minister for Seniors Ginny Andersen said today. “Seniors have some great entrepreneurial ideas, and this programme will give them the support to take that next ...
A cross government target for relevant government procurement contracts for goods and services to be awarded to Māori businesses annually will increase to 8%, after the initial 5% target was exceeded. The progressive procurement policy was introduced in 2020 to increase supplier diversity, starting with Māori businesses, for the estimated ...
77,000 fewer children living in low income households on the after-housing-costs primary measure since Labour took office Eight of the nine child poverty measures have seen a statistically significant reduction since 2018. All nine have reduced 28,700 fewer children experiencing material hardship since 2018 Measures taken by the Government during ...
Deputy Prime Minister Kamikamica; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Tēnā koutou katoa, ni sa bula vinaka saka, namaste. Deputy Prime Minister, a very warm welcome to Aotearoa. I trust you have been enjoying your time here and thank you for joining us here today. To all delegates who have travelled to be ...
$2.9 million convertible loan for Scapegrace Distillery to meet growing national and international demand $4.5m underwrite to support Silverlight Studios’ project to establish a film studio in Wanaka Gore’s James Cumming Community Centre and Library to be official opened tomorrow with support of $3m from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has today launched the first national EV (electric vehicle) charging strategy, Charging Our Future, which includes plans to provide EV charging stations in almost every town in New Zealand. “Our vision is for Aotearoa New Zealand to have world-class EV charging infrastructure that is accessible, affordable, ...
Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment Priyanca Radhakrishnan has today launched the Love Better campaign in a world-leading approach to family harm prevention. Love Better will initially support young people through their experience of break-ups, developing positive and life-long attitudes to dealing with hurt. “Over 1,200 young kiwis told ...
Hon Rino Tirikatene, Minister for Courts, welcomes the Ministry of Justice’s appointment of Dr Garry Clearwater as New Zealand’s first Chief Clinical Advisor working with the Coroners Court. “This appointment is significant for the Coroners Court and New Zealand’s wider coronial system.” Minister Tirikatene said. Through Budget 2022, the Government ...
The Government via the Cyclone Taskforce is working with local government and insurance companies to build a picture of high-risk areas following Cyclone Gabrielle and January floods. “The Taskforce, led by Sir Brian Roche, has been working with insurance companies to undertake an assessment of high-risk areas so we can ...
E te huia kaimanawa, ko Ngāpuhi e whakahari ana i tau aupikinga ki te tihi o te maunga. Ko te Ao Māori hoki e whakanui ana i a koe te whakaihu waka o te reo Māori i roto i te Ao Ture. (To the prized treasure, it is Ngāpuhi who ...
113,400 exits into work in the year to June 2022 Young people are moving off Benefit faster than after the Global Financial Crisis Two reports released today by the Ministry of Social Development show the Government’s investment in the COVID-19 response helped drive record numbers of people off Benefits and ...
The Government’s priority to keep New Zealand at the cutting edge of food production and lift our sustainability credentials continues by backing the next steps of a hi-tech vertical farming venture that uses up to 95 per cent less water, is climate resilient, and pesticide-free. Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor visited ...
E nga mana, e nga iwi, e nga reo, e nga hau e wha, tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou kātoa. Warm Pacific greetings to all. It is an honour to host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers here in Tāmaki Makaurau. Aotearoa is delighted to be hosting you ...
The new renal unit at Taranaki Base Hospital has been officially opened by the Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall this afternoon. Te Huhi Raupō received around $13 million in government funding as part of Project Maunga Stage 2, the redevelopment of the Taranaki Base Hospital campus. “It’s an honour ...
Defence Minister Andrew Little has marked the arrival of the country’s second P-8A Poseidon aircraft alongside personnel at the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Base at Ohakea today. “With two of the four P-8A Poseidons now on home soil this marks another significant milestone in the Government’s historic investment in ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will provide further humanitarian support to those seriously affected by last month’s deadly earthquakes in Türkiye and Syria, says Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. “The 6 February earthquakes have had devastating consequences, with almost 18 million people affected. More than 53,000 people have died and tens of thousands more ...
Migrant communities across New Zealand are represented in the new Migrant Community Reference Group that will help shape immigration policy going forward, Immigration Minister Michael Wood announced today. “Since becoming Minister, a reoccurring message I have heard from migrants is the feeling their voice has often been missing around policy ...
Construction has begun on major works that will deliver significant safety improvements on State Highway 3 from Waitara to Bell Block, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan announced today. “This is an important route for communities, freight and visitors to Taranaki but too many people have lost their lives or ...
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has today appointed Ginny Andersen as Minister of Police. “Ginny Andersen has a strong and relevant background in this important portfolio,” Chris Hipkins said. “Ginny Andersen worked for the Police as a non-sworn staff member for around 10 years and has more recently been chair of ...
Six further bailey bridge sites confirmed Four additional bridge sites under consideration 91 per cent of damaged state highways reopened Recovery Dashboards for impacted regions released The Government has responded quickly to restore lifeline routes after Cyclone Gabrielle and can today confirm that an additional six bailey bridges will ...
Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta departs for China tomorrow, where she will meet with her counterpart, State Councillor and Foreign Minister Qin Gang, in Beijing. This will be the first visit by a New Zealand Minister to China since 2019, and follows the easing of COVID-19 travel restrictions between New Zealand and China. ...
Education Ministers from across the Pacific will gather in Tāmaki Makaurau this week to share their collective knowledge and strategic vision, for the benefit of ākonga across the region. New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti will host the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers (CPEM) for three days from today, ...
A vital transport link for communities and local businesses has been restored following Cyclone Gabrielle with the reopening of State Highway 5 (SH5) between Napier and Taupō, Associate Minister of Transport Kiri Allan says. SH5 reopened to all traffic between 7am and 7pm from today, with closure points at SH2 (Kaimata ...
Internal Affairs Minister Barbara Edmonds has thanked generous New Zealanders who took part in the special Lotto draw for communities affected by Cyclone Gabrielle. Held on Saturday night, the draw raised $11.7 million with half of all ticket sales going towards recovery efforts. “In a time of need, New Zealanders ...
The Government has announced funding of $3 million for providers to help people, and whānau access community-based Building Financial Capability services. “Demand for Financial Capability Services is growing as people face cost of living pressures. Those pressures are increasing further in areas affected by flooding and Cyclone Gabrielle,” Minister for ...
Minister of Education, Hon Jan Tinetti, has announced appointments to the Board of Education New Zealand | Manapou ki te Ao. Tracey Bridges is joining the Board as the new Chair and Dr Therese Arseneau will be a new member. Current members Dr Linda Sissons CNZM and Daniel Wilson have ...
Fifteen ākonga Māori from across Aotearoa have been awarded the prestigious Ngarimu VC and 28th (Māori) Battalion Memorial Scholarships and Awards for 2023, Associate Education Minister and Ngarimu Board Chair, Kelvin Davis announced today. The recipients include doctoral, masters’ and undergraduate students. Three vocational training students and five wharekura students, ...
High Court Judge Jillian Maree Mallon has been appointed a Judge of the Court of Appeal, and District Court Judge Andrew John Becroft QSO has been appointed a Judge of the High Court, Attorney‑General David Parker announced today. Justice Mallon graduated from Otago University in 1988 with an LLB (Hons), and with ...
The economy has continued to show its resilience despite today’s GDP figures showing a modest decline in the December quarter, leaving the Government well positioned to help New Zealanders face cost of living pressures in a challenging global environment. “The economy had grown strongly in the two quarters before this ...
Aucklanders now have more ways to get around as Transport Minister Michael Wood opened the direct State Highway 1 (SH1) to State Highway 18 (SH18) underpass today, marking the completion of the 48-kilometre Western Ring Route (WRR). “The Government is upgrading New Zealand’s transport system to make it safer, more ...
This section contains briefings received by incoming ministers following changes to Cabinet in January. Some information may have been withheld in accordance with the Official Information Act 1982. Where information has been withheld that is indicated within the document. ...
Aotearoa New Zealand Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta reaffirmed her commitment to working together with the new Government of Fiji on issues of shared importance, including on the prioritisation of climate change and sustainability, at a meeting today, in Nadi. Fiji and Aotearoa New Zealand’s close relationship is underpinned by the Duavata ...
The Government is delivering a coastal shipping lifeline for businesses, residents and the primary sector in the cyclone-stricken regions of Hawkes Bay and Tairāwhiti, Regional Development Minister Kiri Allan announced today. The Rangitata vessel has been chartered for an emergency coastal shipping route between Gisborne and Napier, with potential for ...
The Government will progress to the next stage of the NZ Battery Project, looking at the viability of pumped hydro as well as an alternative, multi-technology approach as part of the Government’s long term-plan to build a resilient, affordable, secure and decarbonised energy system in New Zealand, Energy and Resources ...
This morning I was made aware of a media interview in which Minister Stuart Nash criticised a decision of the Court and said he had contacted the Police Commissioner to suggest the Police appeal the decision. The phone call took place in 2021 when he was not the Police Minister. ...
The Government’s sharp focus on trade continues with Aotearoa New Zealand set to host Trade Ministers and delegations from 10 Asia Pacific economies at a meeting of Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) Commission members in July, Minister for Trade and Export Growth Damien O’Connor announced today. “New Zealand ...
$25 million boost to support more businesses with clean-up in cyclone affected regions, taking total business support to more than $50 million Demand for grants has been strong, with estimates showing applications will exceed the initial $25 million business support package Grants of up to a maximum of $40,000 per ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Beryl Exley, Professor, Griffith Institute for Educational Research, Griffith University, Griffith University Shutterstock Last August, the federal government set up an expert panel to look at the continuous improvement agenda in teacher education in Australia. The panel, led by ...
The New Zealand First leader took to the altar of an East Auckland church today to set out his 2023 election agenda. It was, as Stewart Sowman-Lund found out, pretty much what you’d expect. Winston Peters rolled into Howick today with a state of the nation speech that, he claimed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jon Wardle, Professor of Public Health, Southern Cross University Shutterstock Earlier this week, Australian retail giant Woolworths announced a move into health-care delivery via development of its subsidiary HealthyLife’s online portal. Through this portal, Australians can book a same-day ...
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters - eyeing a political comeback - has used a scene-setting speech in Auckland warning against a "conceited, conniving, cultural cabal". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By William Peterson, Adjunct Associate Professor, Auckland University of Technology The Sheep Song.Tim Standing/Daylight Breaks/Adelaide Festival Few Adelaideans remember a time before the Adelaide Festival. Formed in 1960 as a civic enterprise and financed against loss by prominent Adelaide businessmen, the ...
Analysis - The Greens lay down a challenge as the minor parties approach an election in which both National and Labour are going to need coalition partners to form a government, writes Peter Wilson. ...
By Arieta Vakasukawaqa in Suva Communications Fiji Ltd (CFL) chair William Parkinson has called for a repeal of Fiji’s Media Industry Development Act 2010 and more discussion on the proposed Media Ownership and Registration Bill 2023. He said this during a public consultation on the review of MIDA Act 2010 ...
High Court Justice David Gendall regretfully allows anti-trans activist to enter New Zealand, but warns the expression of her views may be harmful to our vulnerable rainbow community. Jonathan Milne does his best to be civil.Opinion: Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull calls herself Posie Parker. And that's what I'm going to call her. Because she is ...
It’s about time somebody made a wacky TV show about how bonkers spelling is. Enter comedian Guy Montgomery and his Guy Mont Spelling Bee. The three years since Covid-19 began have been pretty rocky, but one of the best things to come out of the chaos was Guy Montgomery’s Guy ...
Te Rōpū Mātai Hinengaro o Aotearoa, The New Zealand Psychological Society (NZPsS) stands beside LGBTQIA+ and Takatāpui communities rallying against anti-trans rhetoric in light of the impending visit of Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (Posie Parker). We are ...
Earlier this month, everybody’s favourite Monster of the Week series Married at First Sight Australia toppled 1News to become the highest rating television show for New Zealand viewers aged 25-54. The controversial reality series garnered an average audience of 137,000, or 6.7% audience share from March 5 until March 11. ...
It’s the most wonderful time of the year for feijoa lovers – here’s how to make the most of it.Fragrant and sweet, with a delicate jelly centre surrounded by gritty, tangy flesh, all encased in a green sour skin. My parents’ feijoa tree has just dropped its first fruit, ...
A new poem by poet and novelist Maggie Rainey-Smith. Bang a Drum We’ve hit Gentle Annie passed the pub at Okaramio and on the left, at Wakapuaka there’s Sunnybank where parents left their children An oddly named orphanage manned (ha) by Nuns childless women in black habits, scapula, cowls and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Cathy Buntting, Director, Wilf Malcolm Institute of Educational Research, University of Waikato Getty Images Less than a fortnight after teachers staged a national strike, education was back in the headlines with the National Party’s release of its curriculum policy – ...
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 Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton (Te Herenga Waka University Press, $38)Number one in both ...
The Free Speech Union welcomes the decision of the High Court to reject the application to overrule the decision of the Minister of Immigration to allow Kellie-Jay entry into New Zealand. This was the only right result for a nation that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Fan Yang, Research Associate at RMIT and Alfred Deakin Institute, Deakin University Baidu’s ERNIE Bot was launched to considerable disappointment.Ng Han Guan / AP On March 16, Baidu unveiled China’s latest rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT – ERNIE Bot (short for “Enhanced ...
By Meri Radinibaravi in Suva Former attorney-general Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum has told The Fiji Times to ask the Republic of Fiji Military Forces about claims that his bodyguards were allowed to take guns on to Fiji Link flights without proper authorisation. “I understand that there’s some enquiries going on regarding that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sasha Grishin, Adjunct Professor of Art History, Australian National University Installation view of Troy Emery’s work Mountain climber 2022 on display as part of the Melbourne Now exhibition at The Ian Potter Centre: NGV Australia, Melbourne from 24 March – 20 August ...
National’s education policy reinforces an old-fashioned and hierarchical curriculum that does lasting harm to many students, writes educational specialist Dr Sarah Aiono. Announcing the National Party’s new education policy this week, leader Christopher Luxon cited a recent NCEA pilot in which two-thirds of students were unable to meet the minimum ...
Attempts by rainbow groups to stop an anti-trans campaigner entering the country have failed. The High Court has dismissed a judicial review application from Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT Kōara and Auckland Pride, aimed at the immigration minister for allowing Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull into New Zealand. As part of the application, the ...
The High Court is this morning considering an interim order that would prevent an anti-trans campaigner from making it into New Zealand. Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull is expected to arrive on our shores today ahead of two planned rallies in Auckland and Wellington over the weekend. After immigration officials deemed her safe ...
I was disappointed to see yesterday afternoon’s announcement that Auckland has chosen to leave Local Government NZ (LGNZ). Hamilton’s membership of LGNZ is one of collaboration and sharing. Being a member gives us important views from other ...
It’s the most talked about local opera production in years – but does it live up to the chatter?The lowdownYou’ve probably heard of the “unruly tourists”, the British family who created a media firestorm as they toured around the country leaving trash and turmoil in their wake. You’ve ...
As reported by Newsroom’s Marc Daalder this morning, correspondence released under the Official Information Act shows advice about puberty blockers was removed from the Ministry of Health website “in the hopes it creates fewer queries” from anti-trans campaigners. The line that was removed from the site said puberty blockers “are ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards. Political Roundup: NZ needs to distance itself from Australia’s anti-China nuclear submarines The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The ...
Secondary teachers will strike again next week after an agreement on improved pay and working conditions was not reached. The strike will take place on Wednesday, less than two weeks after thousands of educators took to the streets across the country. “PPTA Te Wehengarua members have shown they are serious ...
Te Kāhui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission is encouraging organisations and individuals to share their views on human rights in Aotearoa New Zealand for the government’s upcoming report to the United Nations. The report informs a process ...
Secondary and area school teachers around the country have voted overwhelmingly in favour of more industrial action, including a one day national strike next Wednesday, in support of their collective agreement negotiations. “PPTA Te Wehengarua members ...
At a time when our need for collective action is stronger than ever, Auckland Council has opted out to save each of its residents just 25c a year, writes former Dunedin mayor Aaron Hawkins.I grew up in rural Southland, in the shadows of the Cut The Cable movement. In ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Julie Jakoboski, Oceanographic Data Scientist, Moana Project’s Te Tiro Moana Team Lead, MetService — Te Ratonga Tirorangi Moana project, CC BY-ND The world’s oceans are buffering us from the worst climate impacts by taking up more than 90% of the ...
Morning Report - RNZ and Newsroom's political editors consider National's education pitch, and the political responses to lobbying revelations and Posie Parker. ...
The Free Speech Union will be an intervener this morning as the High Court considers whether Immigration New Zealand's decision to allow Posie Parker (Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull) entry into New Zealand was legal, says Jonathan Ayling, Chief Executive of the Free ...
For over a decade, Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club has come under fire for denying entry to people wearing religious headwear. Despite the Human Rights Commission getting involved, it seems the rule remains unchanged.One of the definitions given by the Oxford dictionary for the word cosmopolitan is: “including people from many ...
Chris Hipkins’ dump of Ardern-era policy has potentially jeopardised a major part of the government’s climate change response. In this week’s episode of When the Facts Change, Bernard Hickey talks to climate policy expert Christina Hood from Climate Compass to find out why this month’s Emissions Trading Scheme auction failed and ...
The head of Local Government NZ, the group representing councils across the country, has hit back at claims made by Auckland mayor Wayne Brown. It was his casting vote that saw Auckland Council leave the representative group yesterday evening, with councillors divided on whether or not it was the right ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Al-Tamini Tapu, Geoscientist, The University of Queensland Warrumbungle national park.colinslack/Shutterstock Our new study published in Nature Geoscience on an ancient chain of Australian volcanoes is helping to change our understanding of “hotspot” volcanism. You may be surprised to learn eastern ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sussex, Fellow, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University There’s been a lot of recent shouting about Australia’s national security policy. It began with the Nine newspapers’ “Red Alert” extravaganza, spread over multiple articles. Featuring a graphic of warplanes ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rachel Goldlust, Adjunct Research Fellow, School of Archaeology and History, La Trobe University Shutterstock Earlier this month, regulators flagged electricity price rises in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia. Like many people, you’re probably wondering how you can ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Veal, Adjunct Professor, Business School, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock A little more than a century ago, most people in industrialised countries worked 60 hours a week – six ten-hour days. A 40-hour work week of five eight-hour days ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Xavier Ho, Lecturer in Interaction Design, Monash University Sony Entertainment Mainstream games are embracing openly queer characters – and so are many of their players and fans. The Last of Us, the prestige HBO adaptation of the critically lauded ...
The capital’s transport overhaul will have spent $130 million on consultant fees by the end of next year, Stuff reports. Let’s Get Wellington Moving (LGWM) expects to spend $60 million on outside experts in the coming year, after already spending $38.5m in the past three years and $35m this year. Greater ...
Chris Hipkins’ dump of Ardern-era policy has potentially jeopardised a major part of the government’s climate change response. Bernard Hickey talks to climate policy expert Christina Hood from Climate Compass to find out why this month’s Emissions Trading Scheme auction failed and how she feels cabinet have destroyed confidence in ...
Christopher Luxon says the policy is what’s needed to address serious issues with reading, writing and maths in primary schools. Others aren’t so sure, writes Catherine McGregor in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here.Back ...
Although Auckland Council’s big cleanup following this year’s extreme weather events continues, “things are getting more difficult at this point”. Five weeks after Cyclone Gabrielle, some 7,000 Aucklanders remain impacted by the aftermath of the floods, slips and heavy winds that battered the region in January and February. Auckland Council’s ...
A traffic bypass stole 20,000 potential daily visitors from its main streets and local businesses. Three years on, how are the Waikato town’s 9,000 residents coping?The tourism centre is closed – “permanently”, says the sign. The cafe next door, once called River Haven, now with two missing letters making ...
After a 19-year-old was killed while riding his bike on a dangerous stretch of Auckland road, the tragedy became a rallying call to make the city safer for cyclists. Tommy de Silva looks at what’s been achieved in the 12 months since. On March 5, 2022, 19-year-old Levi James was ...
Jorja Miller has quickly become one of the key players in the successful Black Ferns Sevens in her first season on the world series circuit, and it's a unique combination of sports that's helped her reach the top, Merryn Anderson discovers. Jorja Miller’s life has always been a balancing act between her ...
Can you really call a mass-produced lolly dipped in chocolate "handmade"? The Detail finds out why it's important that products are what they say on the tin.The Potter Brothers saga In 2020, Courtnay Adele - who went on to be a contestant in The Great Kiwi Bake Off - posted a video ...
PFAS in cosmetics enter the environment through the water we drink, the food we eat, and the air we breatheOpinion: New Zealand’s Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) has proposed a ban on the use of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in cosmetics as part of its update to the Cosmetic ...
The now defunct ministry is the kind of agency needed to fix our current infrastructure disaster - not Civil Defence and independent sub-contracting and consulting firms. ...
Loading...(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A[quiz],DIV[quiz],A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Attenborough, Honorary Senior Lecturer in Bioanthropology, Australian National University Kevin Brown, Author provided Many astonishingly creative people have lived lives cut tragically short by illness. Johannes Vermeer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jane Austen, Franz Schubert and Emily Brontë are some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra At the end of the emotional news conference in which he unveiled the wording for the Voice referendum, Anthony Albanese touched on a central reason why a “yes” result is vital. Australia would be ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elsa Dominish, Research Principal, Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney Shutterstock Last month, Victoria banned plastic straws, crockery and polystyrene containers, following similar bans in South Australia, Western Australia, New South Wales and the ACT. All states and ...
Education union NZEI's president says National's new education policy is "like asking the All Blacks to have their goalposts painted a different colour of white and thinking you've made a change". ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dominic Dwyer, Director of Public Health Pathology, NSW Health Pathology, Westmead Hospital and University of Sydney, University of Sydney Once more, we’re talking about the origins of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. First the US Department of Energy’s review gave more ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist Vanuatu’s Minister of Climate Change warns “there’s going to be a lot of hardship” for people waiting for their crops to grow back as dry rations are distributed to communities. Minister Ralph Regenvanu said the main food push started in the middle of last ...
Monday’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report has given a “final warning” to avert global catastrophe. Pacific cabinet ministers call on all world leaders to urgently transition to renewables.COMMENT:By Ralph Regenvanu and Seve Paeniu The cycle is repeating itself. A tropical cyclone of frightening strength strikes a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Productivity Commission’s nine-volume report has a tough central message. It says productivity policy has to focus on the areas that have proven the hardest in the past, rather than those where previously progress has ...
The latest child poverty stats show there was no statistically significant improvement in the year to June 2022. But Child Poverty Reduction Minister Jan Tinetti says even one child living in poverty is "too many". ...
The Auckland mayor’s casting vote to take the Super City out of Local Government NZ shows a lack of team play, says Tory Whanau, while LGNZ’s president insists it will cost everyone, including Auckland ratepayers. The Auckland Council withdrawal from Local Government NZ, a national association of local, regional and ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra An emotional Anthony Albanese, flanked by members of the referendum working group, has released the final proposed wording of the question to be put to Australians to incorporate an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the ...
A group of rainbow and human rights organisations has filed for judicial review in the High Court, following the lack of intervention by the immigration minister, Michael Wood, over the decision to allow Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, an anti-trans-rights activist, to enter the country. Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT Kōaro, and Auckland Pride ...
A coalition of rainbow community groups are taking Immigration Minister Michael Wood to court over a decision to allow a controversial anti-transgender activist into the country. ...
Today human rights organisations Gender Minorities Aotearoa, InsideOUT Kōaro, and Auckland Pride filed for judicial review in the High Court. Our case follows the Immigration Minister's decision to allow Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull, a known anti-transgender ...
The great southern joke that New Zealand does indeed end at the Bombay Hills, but that it starts at Bluff, takes on a new hue now with Auckland Council breaking away from the sector organisation Local Government NZ Auckland Council has suddenly pulled its own version of Brexit. At the ...
Auckland Council will leave Local Government NZ, the group that represents councils acorss the country. It’s part of mayor Wayne Brown’s attempts to curb spending in the face of a multimillion dollar budget hole. About $400,000 could be saved from the decision to leave the group. According to tweets, the ...
The Auckland Ratepayers’ Alliance is welcoming Auckland Council’s decision to resign from Local Government New Zealand. On Thursday, the Governing Body voted 11-10 for Auckland Council to resign its membership of Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ). ...
nats have big mouths….obviously to get both feet in.
"National Taieri candidate Liam Kernaghan and Waitaki MP Jacqui Dean are among several National party figures to have posted material online which is claimed to quote Labour leader Jacinda Ardern out of context."
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/national-out-context-quote
"Hydroelectricity has the highest value at 84:1, compared with wind at 18:1 and solar lower according to whether battery storage costs are included.
For hydrogen the EROI is 1:4 or 1:5. In other words, it’s demonstrably negative."
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/why-hydrogen-is-not-a-cure-for-emissions
And yet hydrogen is being promoted by the Gov….they must expect we are going to have a massive surplus of energy available in the near future which runs contrary to all the current scientific opinion.
Maybe they are thinking the post rio tinto Future?…But really NZ has to also get on the Bus (literally) and Light Rail,Coastal Shipping etc etc.
People sitting (ONE person !) in traffic snarl ups…is just stupid.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/426612/auckland-harbour-bridge-traffic-building-to-another-day-of-long-delays
A Voice…
Professor Alistair Woodward from the University of Auckland agrees with Barnett that the resulting traffic logjams showcase gaping vulnerabilities in Auckland's transport infrastructure – but he has different ideas as to how to deal with this.
That includes cutting down car numbers.
“We haven’t thought hard enough about the future. Everything is short term … you know it’s ‘bung on another lane, it’s widen the road, it’s put in a new road’.
“Of course all that does is to boost the amount of traffic. So it’s entirely predictable that if we spend squillions of dollars on a tunnel under the harbour for more roads, that they will full up rapidly as well and we’ll suffer all the environmental and social costs of living in a car-dominated city.”
https://www.rnz.co.nz/programmes/the-detail/story/2018764925/repairing-auckland-s-iconic-coathanger
and those 'squillions of dollars' wont be again available to fix the mess
I read the Link Article…if you dont mind me asking…is that you? Is very good anyway. I have an Interested Layman's uptake of Science…(and a lot of Other) Just being Informed is absolutely essential.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/solar-and-wind-power-could-ignite-a-hydrogen-energy-comeback/
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Hydrogen_economy
We really need some Forward Thinking…..
Personally, I'm quite a hydrogen skeptic. The energy losses involved in separating the hydrogen, then using it, is a big downside compared to batteries, pumped hydro, or other energy storage. The hazards and engineering difficulties of bulk use of hydrogen scare the crap out of me – the way hydrogen embrittles many common metals, and basically just pisses through polymer materials while degrading it on the way through is frightening. Then hydrogen has an extremely wide range of concentrations where it's explosive, much higher than any other common gases. If you're using hydrogen in fool cells, you can't add odorant (like is done to natural gas and LPG), so leaks are less easily detectable, and hydrogen flames are invisible to the naked eye.
Nevertheless, there are some positives around hydrogen as a replacement for a few fossil fuel applications.
If anyone gets to a feasible photocatalytic hydrogen production means, then the energy loss, or EROI, problem goes away.
Hydrogen is sufficiently energy dense that it is feasible for a few applications that batteries simply couldn't store enough energy for – such as medium distance aviation and cross-ocean shipping. IIf my off the top of my memory recollections are roughly correct, in terms of actual useful energy stored including tanks and after conversion to useful mechanical energy, fossil fuels can be up to around 5 kWhr/kg (in a huge marine engine) or 3 kWhr/kg for land transport. Hydrogen maybe 2kWhr/kg for marine, maybe 1.2 kWhr/kg for road transport or aviation. Batteries are at around 0.17 kWhr/kg in production Teslas now, with recent announcements they will go up to a bit over 0.2 kWhr/kg.
Hydrogen may also be a better substitute for fossil fuels for some industrial processes that require very high process heat temperatures – steelmaking gets a mention in the links above, but cement production might be another.
Hi, that was a well thought through comment. And yes re the sceptic. Definitely not the Energy Panacea…
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Hydrogen_economy#Summary
You're in good company:
Activists warn Adern – Hydrogen no path to low carbon future
Members of Climate Justice Taranaki and other community groups gathered with white elephants outside today's launch of the National New Energy Development Centre by Prime Minister Jacinda Adern and Energy Minister Megan Woods. The protesters are opposed to the government's support of Hydrogen technology.
“We are repeating bad choices again from the Think Big era of the 80s that had a far reaching economic burden and many environmental impacts,” said Fiona Clark, long-standing Visual activist and Tikorangi Gaslands resident.
"As benign and fashionable a Hydrogen economy may sound, the zealous push for it as the essential route to a just transition is unfounded, both in physics and economic terms," said Climate Justice Taranaki researcher Catherine Cheung.
"The production of Green Hydrogen from water and renewable energy is extremely expensive and inefficient. Its storage and distribution, also costly and energy intensive, are fraught with technical and safety issues."
From Climate Justice Taranaki per Mike Joy
Linky: https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2007/S00296/activists-warn-adern-hydrogen-no-path-to-low-carbon-future.htm
Forgot to also mention, a widespread hydrogen economy may also be damaging to the ozone layer. It's for sure hydrogen and ozone very happily recombine to make water and oxygen when they get together, the question is whether any escaped hydrogen from ground level would would actually make it to the ozone layer height before oxidising to water along the way. Modelling results seem to vary on how much would actually make it and how significant it would be. But hydrogen leakage from aircraft already most of the way up to the ozone layer would almost certainly be damaging.
They have to look like they are doing something even if there is nothing that can be done.
Unfortunately society as a whole is not yet ready to accept that the ultra high consumption era is coming to an end. Even the greens can't openly say that even though they know it.
You may be right but sooner or later it will be impossible for even the biggest sceptic to ignore and then there will be recriminations….or worse.
Worse
Cities in peril….
Turn the Air Conditioner on
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-06/50-degree-days-what-would-sydney-and-melbourne-look-like/9024914
Ms Miller said city planners needed to begin designing cities that took advantage of wind, green spaces and shade whilst still being cost-effective.
"We need to think of ourselves as part of the ecology of a city, and that a city is not just a bunch of buildings and roads," she said.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-04/sydney-melbourne-urged-to-prepare-for-50c-days-by-end-of-century/9012640
Just be sure that airconditioner uses something like R600a (isobutane) with a global warming potential (100 year) around 3, rather than R134a (tetrafluoroethane) that has a global warming potential (100 year) of 1430.
Ah indeed. I maybe should have added that Flicking a Switch (AirCon) won't just make "it" go away….: )
"Air conditioning may not save lives
We expect air conditioning to take the strain, but may not realise just how much strain is involved.
Shade temperatures of 50C mean that direct sunlight can raise the temperature to 60C or 70C.
Bringing that back to a comfortable 22C or even a warm 27C is not always possible and requires a lot of energy — putting serious strain on the electricity grid.
Electricity transmission systems are inherently vulnerable to extreme heat.
This means they can potentially fail simply due to the weather, let alone the increased demand on the grid from power consumers."
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-06/50-degree-days-what-would-sydney-and-melbourne-look-like/9024914
Probably where I’m at with the We Need Forward Thinking.
As in Now.
And listen to…and act on Scientists concerns….
https://scientistswarning.forestry.oregonstate.edu/
So many other warnings/sites from the people who actually Know what the F is happening…
A minor bit of good luck with that is the electrical demand from air-conditioners is moderately well-matched to the output from photovoltaic generation.
And you gotta wonder at this…
"Even with Australia newly emerged as being amongst the world leaders in solar uptake, the study found that as of June 2019 Australia was using less than 5% of the potential capacity for rooftop solar".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_Australia#Roof_top_solar_potential
Edit…just to get away from the Neighbours …
NZ
“Solar power in New Zealand is on the rise, but operates in an entirely free market with no form of subsidies or intervention from the New Zealand Government.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_power_in_New_Zealand
Wha?
In regards to the NZ solar market…
Key sold the power companies, so their business model is a major impediment to getting carbon neutral, resilient and affordable electricity.
The next energy minister needs to undo Bradford's reforms and buy back the shares and nationalise the 'lecky'.
(Sorry, I have been watching Still Game, a hilarious Scottish TV series on Netflix.)
Yep, and the Electricity "reforms" that ol' nat Max Bradford set up. To the NZ Public's detriment. And of course not much has changed. Because its a Cash Cow.
Ok, Labours had the Previous 9 Years of nats…but I (and a lot of other voters) are looking for Real Change next. I really hope so….
A good report from Chris Trotter on the debate.
http://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/2020/09/going-high-going-low-assessment-of.html
he remade a good point but it was not a 'debate'
True. We don't have "debates" if we ever did. We just have arguments.
posturing, we have meaningless posturing.
Thanks for the link Robert. The Jessica Much Mackays of our world don't think Much. Just an entertaining "blood bath" would be her/their idea of good.
Ian Johnstone was yesterday on the Panel describing the tension in the famous eyeball to eyeball debate between Lange and Muldoon and the setting provided for the Leaders. And our current Leaders debate? Woolly questions. Poor layout. Poor moderation.
Good to see several letters in today's Dominion Post critical of Judith Collins' overbearing, aggressive, bullying tactics in the debate. And also that John Campbell had let her get away with it.
On the other hand, no letters supporting her.
Collins' childish remarks yesterday about "heat in the kitchen" further highlighted her nastiness. If anyone has stood up to the heat in the kitchen in the last three years, it is Jacinda, with the tragedies that she has had to deal with. The world has taken note and I hope New Zealand continues to do so.
You should say that the Dominion Post did not publish any letters supporting her.
So Julie tells us the wealth tax is a bottom line for the greens.
Most people in their 50s or 60s who have worked continuously, saved, and paid off the mortgage will have assets worth $1-2 million.
The greens want those people to pay $10,000 to $20,000 wealth tax per year, every year until they die. Never mind the fact that these people may not have much cash in the bank or that they may be retired and are living on a very modest pensions =the greens want your money.
Never mind that this would be a highly expensive administration nightmare for all involved
This is going to cause an unholy shit fight between the greens and labour
Never mind that, Wilkinson, how will the clutching pearls hold up is the real issue
who is Wilkinson, have you had your coffee yet?
If you're not the knob who posts at yawnz, I apologise for the false attribution, and yeah, way too much since 5am.
He has a point.
The point being that many people that hold 'assets' worth a pretty coin are otherwise cash poor. Point being, many in Auckland.
Another point that is not pointed out often, is that these people can't actually downsize as in this country we don't build small -or even just smaller anymore. So even if a retired couple would want to get out of the million dollar property into some thing smaller they can't for lack of offerings. – and again the chorus of ‘move to the countryside’ does not work for people who have medical needs or whose family is important and who want to live nearby. Again, this too is a problem that is studiously ignored by our betters, namely no jobs, no healthcare, etc.
So if you are on a fixed income, and your property is the ONLY asset you have this tax is neither fair nor feasable. This tax makes as much sense as TOPs tax on 'unproductive goods' like Nana's house in which she lives but does not rent in order to make a profit, Never mind that she can't find anything to rent for herself should she want to rent the good house for a profit. Cheap stupid solutions to big problems.
an unholy shit fight between the greens and labour
Nah. At most, the initial round table will see a robust advocacy from both sides. Then they will shift into negotiations mode.
Since it is not in the interests of either party to alienate any part of the wealthy middle class, the inevitable coalition policy will be a reasonable compromise.
I predict this will take the form of giving the Greens what they want (an effective wealth ceiling, to enable reduction of inequality) and giving Labour what it wants (a big enough solid voter base for re-election).
At least you could do is provide a link… https://www.greens.org.nz/poverty_action_plan …
sigh…
Site links to screen readable pdf giving details of the policy and examples of how the Wealth Tax will apply in various circumstances.
Yes and the GST increase will only cost about 3 bucks a week.
Good grief, you know its one thing to discuss these matters, its another thing to really believe what these people say and to believe that this will be paid for by the richest, who already don't pay taxes in this country. This is as idiotic as is the Grant Robertson Tax increase for people making 180.000 NZD. They are already on record for not paying tax over 70.000 NZD cause good accountants and various loopholes that neither the Green nor Labour actually propose to close. A bit like that extra 5 days of sick leave…………which thanks to loopholes are not given to a huge number of workers.
Smoke and mirrors, but you get to be seen as doing something.
I'm interested to hear how one structures affairs so assets are not assets in a wealth tax regime. Income is easy because of shareholder salaries (set up companies, pay $70,000 to each shareholder annually and leave the rest of the profit in the company to be taxed at 28%), but actually hiding assets is difficult because they appear somewhere. For example, if I own 10 houses outright worth a total of $5 million, and put the ownership of them into one or more companies, I still own the shares in the companies which are worth at least the net asset values of the companies i.e. $5 million. Trusts are a bit more complicated, but government and IRD have been cracking down on tax planning using trusts for 20 years, so I'm sure that can be sorted adequately.
The European issue has been that people just move themselves and their businesses and assets into other parts of the EU without a wealth tax and without any impact on operations, but that doesn't strike me as immediately available here. A person who moved overseas while leaving their assets here would still be a tax resident here, and a person who moved their assets overseas but stayed here would also still be a tax resident here. Maybe some sectors can operate here without being here at all, but nothing we do taxes them anyway, so they aren't worth considering.
talk to an accountant.
from 2012
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/latest-edition/7549236/Half-NZs-super-rich-dodge-tax
from 2014
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/business/only-half-of-nz-s-most-wealthy-paying-top-tax-rate-6200604
from 2015
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11392100
from 2020
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2008/S00032/new-zealands-wealthiest-people-can-afford-to-pay-more-tax.htm
this is why i am so cynical when it comes to the beige suits sprouting their wet dreams about 'tax increases on the rich' . It means nothing at all if you can already structure your assets to such an extend that someone like Gareth Morgan is on record for not paying taxes because 'its all legal, and why should i pay taxes if i can avoid them' after all he ain't a wage slave who is taxed well before you and i ever receive our money 🙂
I asked about avoiding wealth tax, not income tax – the shareholder salary regime makes it easy to avoid income tax.
The Greens are definitely making a mistake with this. First they're framing it as a "take it from the rich pricks to give to the poor" and that "it's only going to affect the richest 6%" – it just looks like a mafia-style shakedown that lives up to the worst caricatures of taxation, and they're forgetting about all those that aspire to get to a comfortable financial situation where the Greens would then stick them with the rich prick tax.
If they were to put the same die-in-a-ditch commitment to a capital gains tax and frame it as sharing a slice of your success back to maintaining the society that made that success possible, then I'd be fully with them. But the way the proposed wealth tax is structured is so ill-conceived that I don't think those that propose it are fit for office. It's a significant part of why it's very unlikely I'll vote Green this year.
a mafia-style shakedown
Doesn't work as analogy due to lack of gun-carrying Green enforcers. It's actually an antique socialist policy design. Since that style of taxation did work way back, and got at least one generation of solid support in Aotearoa, it's worth a try.
An irony is that most Green voters live in affluent inner city suburbs – and are 'wealthy' according to the Green's criteria.
Many of these Green supporters will fall within the 6% of the population that the Greens define as wealthy and thus able to pay this tax.
One consequence of the Greens wealth tax, should it come to pass, is that many of those in Wadestown, Grey Lynn, Fendalton et al may decide to switch their vote to Labour. In doing this they avoid the wealth tax but still get a green friendly government.
If such a scenario played out on election day it'll be goodbye Greens. Their position is precarious enough now; this wealth tax policy only makes it worse.
Great strategic thinking Greens.
I wouldn't worry Andre – given Labour's proposed timorous shift to a very slightly more progressive income tax regime, the wealth of the "richest 6% group" looks pretty safe from ‘tax grabs‘ in the short-to-medium term.
I'm financially comfortable, so have never felt a need or aspiration to belong to the "richest 6% group"; indeed such an aspiration is beyond my ken and of no interest.
Government revenue from a wealth tax such as that proposed by the Green party might fund programmes that foster wider societal and environmental resilience, so I'm all for it and will Party Vote Green.
If there's an alternative progressive tax change that would generate similar revenue from those that can afford it (as opposed to (say) a GST increase, which generates (some) revenue from those who can least afford it), then I would at least weigh up that alternative – wouldn't stop me voting Green though.
Really? I don’t think so. The policy is designed so that only about 6% of the people pay this tax. That’s not most people by a long shot.
Assuming someone can save $10 of their hourly earnings and that they work 2,000 hours in a year, it would take them 50 years to save $1,000,000. They’ll have to start very young in your world.
Nope, they want it to go towards the public good (AKA society) and where it is needed the most.
The policy clearly has provisions for asset-rich cash-poor people.
Nope. Assets are already taken into account for rates, insurance, tax, etc. The policy is simple and straightforward and IRD can easily manage it.
https://media.ird.govt.nz/articles/taxpayers-get-a-smarter-and-fairer-system/
It sounds like you have no idea what you are talking about and just fear mongering. Maybe you should talk to your accountant before 17 Oct.
Whith all due respect Incognito, are these the same 6% who already don't pay taxes and are on record for not paying taxes?
Yeah it's one of those good in theory ideas where the reality is accountants and lawyers do well arranging trusts off shore holdings etc and the actual tax revenue recieved is well below that forecasted.
Incognito-thank you for injecting some sense and facts into the Green's Wealth Tax debate.
This is a truly transformational policy that would, if implemented, genuinely shift wealth from the top 6% to those in poverty.
People complaining about the WT in TS appear to be either:
1. Neo-liberals happy with the continuation of the current unfair world order.
2. Self-interested people worried that they will have to pay the tax themselves.
If they're paying $10,000 in tax a year under the Green policy, they would own a $1 million dollar home outright, have a share portfolio worth $500,000, savings of $300,000, and have a new Tesla and an Audi in the garage.
Gosh, how is little old Mary going to survive on the pension, driving her runabout Tesla to the supermarket to buy budget bread and a weekly lotto ticket in the hope she might extract herself from the extortionate Government tax.
https://www.greens.org.nz/poverty_action_plan
Nice try. It's 1% for each dollar over $1m. To pay $10k wealth tax, you need another million on top of that. For a couple, you would need a total of $4m to be paying $20k. Cry me a river.
Yes better they capture it as death duties again 1
Will the family home be exempt? Surely only the "investment" properties will be taxed?
family home is not exempt, the greens want your money
Okay, having read the report, I get your point. It may mean a coalition isn't feasible.
Update from a Greens party leader on that: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/greens-james-shaw-says-wealth-tax-priority-but-not-bottom-line-labour-coalition
Thanks, that's helpful. Those into facts will remain frustrated, of course. Since "Julie-Anne did use that language yesterday", according to James, while implying she was wrong to do so.
So she doesn't know the difference between priorities & bottom lines?? Or is there no actual difference, and Greens make it up as they go along? “We don’t use bottom lines" seems to be James using the term as a precondition of coalition entry, and rejecting such usage.
I think his approach is appropriate. Perhaps Julie-Anne used the term inappropriately, due to a slip of her tongue. Or, as Trump would say, "I mis-spoke."
I was right on that last point:
Got Bomber excited again:
Perhaps James will have to educate him about the relation of Green leadership to coalition negotiating.
He could have helpfully explained that accidentally telling the truth is a Labour Party thing.
Too simple for Bomber. And there's yet another point that will bamboozle him:
I have no idea what she was thinking using that phrase. Uncharacteristically dim.
the greens want your money
Course they do, silly. How do you think that shit that needs doing gets done?
You'll be pleased to hear that at least one 'fringe' party NZ Outdoors Party member agrees with you.
Reacted with some emphasis when I suggested raising taxes by 1.5% across the board to fund health and disability equity.
does the term "Political Suicide" mean anything to you Rosemary?
yeah, so lets tax the one bit of wealth people in this country can aspire to hold, a property.
"shit that needs doing gets done" I look at my neighbours and see a sleepout with garage converted to a flat and the backyard soil covered with concrete to replace the garage ("we have plans"), a backyard barren of all but mown grass because it's just "too much trouble" to grow fruit trees and veges, a pile of rubbish and excavated clay where once veges grew because of willful passive aggressive ignorance. No amount of money will change this. Why bother when it's "too much like hard work" and "I get my veges from the supermarket" – like most people.
Alan…in order to transfer it to those in poverty.
FIFY
The devil in the detail lies in the differential between net wealth & modest income, and since retired folk will be concerned about that, the policy has an escape clause:
so if there house is worth $1.5 million and they live for 25 more years, the government will take $375,000 when they die, that is really a vote winner
[Read the policy before you comment on it. It might help inform you.
A retired couple living in in house worth $1.5 million don’t pay a cent in wealth tax under this policy – Incognito]
Unlikely to win the votes of their children! The interesting thing to watch for at the election is what proportion of the 94% of the electorate that the policy benefits will vote Green in support of the policy.
Say the Greens get a substantial vote of above 10% – that will indicate significant policy resonance to ensure the validity of the policy as an effective ploy.
If they don't get that, the wealth tax will become a proven marketing failure…
It's not the taking a slice of the estate that bothers me. At that moment, what was a home has been converted into a mere financial instrument. It's the way that when the first partner dies, the survivor suddenly gets lifted into the net asset bracket where a punitive tax applies at the exact same moment their income drops sharply, and will then be dealing with the psychological effects of an ever-increasing tax debt at a life-stage when debt-free financial independence is increasingly important.
agreed, well stated.
See my Moderation note @ 8:55 AM.
yes but as soon as one of them dies the surviving partner will start paying wealth tax, financial hardship piled on top of grief. – such a wonderful thing for our aged community to look forward to, thanks Greens
How much does the surviving partner have to pay?
yes, I got that wrong, they pay 1% on the amount above $1 million.Say the house is now worth $1.6 million, that means they need to find an additional $6,000.00 per year after tax for the rest of their life – another winner from the kind, sharing hard left.
The thought of having that imposed on my hard working parents really pisses me off.
Indeed, the surviving partner would pay $6k pa in wealth tax to live rent-free, which amounts to $115 per week. That’s not going to break the bank, is it?
The value of the property may go up (likely) or down (unlikely). When it is sold, there is no CGT. That really pisses me off.
When the surviving partner passes away, there is no inheritance tax. That really pisses me off.
How much of one’s wealth is generated through hard work and prudent living and how much is through rising property prices that prices many others out of owning a home and driving them into the rental trap? That really pisses me off.
As long as your hard-working parents are alive, they don’t pay a cent in wealth tax. Enjoy your parents’ company for as long as you can and don’t worry about something that may not happen in a long time, bless them.
Not on a super payment of $847 per fortnight, winter fuel payments and eligibility for a rates rebate. Quite doable I'd say.
how much would rates be on a property like this?
Look, your relentless negativity isn't changing my mind about a policy that, while good (in my eyes), isn't likely to come about, especially as James Shaw is already walking back the bottom line quote.
In Auckland, about $3500 pa, which might get rebated down to about $2800 pa if their only income was Super. Then about $1500pa for home insurance, about $600pa for water etc etc.
its not negativity, its realism.
Seriously, how much would rates be on a property like this?
IF we assume this hypothetical scenario and we look at income derived vs outgoings then Rates need to be included. How much would the rates be on a property that raises exponentially due to high land cost for example, but with no actual raise in income.
because this is an issue in many areas where land prices are going up up up and wages and super don't.
or the rates raise because of Council spending 🙂
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12363476
So why not answering the questions rather then running away shouting relentless negativity. IS that all you got?
Andre…
24 September 2020 at 11:41 am
thanks for that.
I'm totally happy with my position and for calling your relentless negativity for what it is, ta. It’s a logical deduction.
But if you feel the need to go in to bat for the very asset rich amongst us at the expense of the very poorest, you go right ahead.
The Al1en…
24 September 2020 at 11:49 am
Quote: I'm totally happy with my position and calling your relentless negativity for what it is. Ta.
But if you feel the need to go in to bat for the asset rich amongst us at the expense of the very poorest, you go right ahead. Quote end.
seriously? That is all you got? Your math was wrong, you left out an important part of home owning, Rates. Rates that are currently going up with no end in sight. Ok right. And other then that, you still have not answered a fair and square question.
But maybe its your relentless optimism that makes you just over look such important factors as Rates when you talk about finances and what is feasable on a fixed income or what is not. Its like the national dudes that do math and then discover holes in their math, but its ok.
And last but least the 'asset rich' the developpers, the slum lords etc they won't be paying that tax. They already don't pay tax.
I don't buy the concern for the poor when you moan about paying minimum wages to your employees.
Sabine, people can already defer rates until their home is sold. Nothing special needed.
In Wellington about $5500 plus further increases promised. Plus insurance $3600 plus parking coupons for a lot of inner city suburbs $200 plus rubbish collection. So another $6000 or so would just about wipe out a single pension or increase inner city rents something drastic . It would be over $300 a week to live in an owned home.
The surviving partner's assets have just increased by $800,000. There is a plan to tax it.. that can be deferred to sale date. Oh the humanity! Won't someone think of the children's inheritance, so they can take it.. all untaxed.
so this tax can be deferred to the point of sale, but we can’t have a Capitals Gains Tax? That sounds like sound logic.
It reflects on people resisting a CGT, yes.
Yeah Greens seem to be doing their bit, you'll have to ask Labour why we don't have one.
NZF
Trouble is most people wont read the policy so will be very easy to scaremonger
Ignorance is no excuse. It is ok to be wrong but it is not ok to be wilfully ignorant.
What happens when one of them dies. Normally then the house is transferred to the spouse. If he/she lives for 15 more years say, wouldn't that be 1% of $500k per year for 15 years = $75k tax …still a lot of money. I don't like it.
Legislate to cap salaries at $40,000 pa. I am paid – like it or not a shitload of money I don't need and would do what I do because I like doing it and am competent. It all assumes people work ONLY FOR THE FUCKING MONEY.
Other than it adds to the administrative costs, the Greens have already said it won't be on the family home, only on investments…. but some people want to clutch their pearls….
are you sure about that?
Yes
https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/beachheroes/pages/12689/attachments/original/1594876918/Poverty_Action_Plan_policy_document_screen-readable.pdf?1594876918
Please quote where the document says it won't apply to the family home. I haven't found anything that says the family home is exempt, but did find the following which certainly implies the family home will be taxed if the proposal is implemented:
Perhaps you need to read what you link – Because you are telling Untruths at best, and if you truely are a Greens Supporter then making such untrue statements (Purposely) perhaps is why some cannot trust and vote for the Greens and they are hanging on a survival knife edge.
We’ll tax wealth fairly by introducing a new tax on individuals’ net wealth over $1 million. This means those who have their own wealth worth more than $1 million – not including mortgages and other debt
https://www.greens.org.nz/progressive_tax_reform
I think wealth tax includes the family home. Any CGT talk (at the moment) does not include the family home.
Treasury advice is relevant here. It would be reasonable to expect that the Greens have not factored in revenue collection feasibility.
Not at all…a lien on assets to be collected on disposal….a system local bodies have used for years with regard to that land tax called 'rates'
Nash's quote sounds a great justification for a capital gains tax
Yep, a capital gains tax really is the much better way to collect tax from the income generated by capital. It's part of the reason why most countries actually do tax capital gains, but very few collect any significant wealth taxes.
I suspect that the only reason why the Greens went with a wealth tax is because almost everybody is against a CGT.
i suspect the reason is the fact that capital gain on improved business practice is penalised whereas a wealth tax does not….capital gain on a successfully expanded business that provides employment and possibly FX is not the target…pointless property inflation however is.
A wealth tax targets that scenario and provides incentive to invest in income ( and therefore employment) generating assets rather than a state subsidised RE market that dosnt produce FA…not to mention that its a ponzi scheme that destabilises the entire banking system
Last night Ianmac posted a quote from Brian Gould about the lighting angles and camera positions in the leaders debate.
it clarified my view that the set up of the debate overwhelmingly favoured National. I also noticed quite frequently when Jacinda was replying the camera went straight on Collins.
i am sure Campbell irrupted Jacinda more cutting her short.
last night I put in a complaint to the media council. It’s pretty easy to do and I would encourage others to do it. I let the standard know how it goes
I'm sure there's a box of wet bus tickets ready for that and any other complaints.
A top down review and clearcut is required at TVNZ/RNZ. Maori TV appears back on track after Maxwell's silver hammer routine national inflicted on them, doing good stuff locally and terrific movies.
However plenty of TVNZ/RNZ output fails the journalism, objectivity and what an old boss called 'intellectual rigour' bar to be broadcast. But hey we don't seem to care anymore, not seeing any party want to address it.
Yes sure it will be a wet bus ticket. but it will cause theme time and nothing like letting people know they are not pulling the wool over your eyes.
Most effort probably goes into the lame judgements they pronounce to look all considered and tough which accompany the bus ticket.
Grammerly probably gets a workout after some copy/paste reasoning.
Speaking of the debate somethings been bothering me. Did judith say she was brought up on a farm in a state house whose windows didn't shut properly?
Because I've never heard of a state house on a farm.
I need to go back and re-watch it just to clarify.
Not sure Cinny. I seem to recall she said State houses weren't well built and cited the windows not shutting properly example.
State houses are solid as unlike leaky homes built as a result of deregulation
The woman is either an idiot, or a cynical cheat. My house was built in the early 1950s. Not a state house, but looks similar.. There were no airtight windows then.
I shut the windows tight, but in winter I can feel air leaking through. Judith Collins expecting 1930s – 1960s houses to have windows that don't let air through is like expecting a 1950s Morris Minor to have air bags and ASB brakes. (One can seal these old windows with sticky-back foam rubber tapes, if one wants to.)
Next door is a house built in the 1970s. It has the luxury of rubber-sealed alloy windows. But I notice heaps more condensation on the inside of them than I get in my place. I conclude that a certain amount of air circulation may be healthy!
What I suspect is that if Judith and her ilk do get into power (heaven forbid!) she will immediately use the 'leaky windows' argument for selling off (to the already well-off) every state house built before 1970, so that her mates can benefit ever more from rising property values and rents, while the poor who rent them will struggle to pay their rent off even 2 or 3 jobs paid at a miserable minimum rate.
A classic way of creating a hell-hole of a society, so that a profit-gouging, greedy element can have their way.
My parents were the first tenants in a state house built in Mt Roskill (Auckland) in1947 on a quarter acre section. We never had condensation but we did have an open fireplace which was well used in winter. All the houses in the street are still standing, well maintained and sheltering families. The back sections have become infill housing – the newer houses don't look like they'll last 70 years.
During the "debate" Ms Collins said she would like to get rid of all the old state houses. Some parts of Auckland have had hundreds of older state houses removed and replaced by apartments / town houses. Only time will tell how people adjust to living so close to each other. I guess after being crammed in emergency housing (single motel units) anything else will feel like luxury.
Saw a tweet the other day from someone who'd grown up down the road from the farm Collins lived on and surprise surprise, the houses looked like the state houses of the day.
To be fair, the state house design was used for accommodation by most government departments back in the day. Go to any site that either is owned by the government or was in the past, and you will find state housing.
Examples include, the towns built around the hydro dams, and the power stations in Meremere and Huntly, housing at the old mental hospitals, Forestry workers housing, and in Jude’s case, Landcorp’s predessors.
And a lot of them were moved, often several times as projects moved on. They were never quite the same after a few of those. Don't expect the windows to be square.
Thanks everyone.
Fair point Millsy.
Not negating what you have raised..in the interests of fairness, the logo on the floor of the studio featured a circle with a red tick.
I could hear Judith fans howling about unfair, obvious bias and Jacindamania.
Come on, Campbell was feeding Jacinda answers. On the hospital question Jacinda was getting it all wrong and going on about insisting on MOH mandated budget cuts. Campbell tried to feed her the simple popular answer with the prompt, will some of that debt need to be written off? But she stuck to her position and eventually Judith got to take up the point that "obviously" some of the hospitals debt would need to be forgiven.
The original problem is the supply of capital to HB's with a certain cost to pay for it year by year. Given the current cost of debt this is windfall profit territory. The cost of capital impacts on their operational budgets and inevitably leads to deficits and over time mounting debt. Debt the government can finance far more cheaply than the boards can. And so on.
Sure. Question is why is the correct answer so obvious that Collins can mouth it while the Labour leader PM has to avoid answering the question.
Bear with me while I tell a tale of three Rich Pricks, each with a couple mill to do something with. To illustrate how a wealth tax operates very differently to a capital gains tax.
Rick Prick the First is aware of a high value specialised substance collected from wild-growing seaweed, and conceives an aquaculture venture to farm this seaweed. He purchases a block of land fronting onto suitable estuaries in a remote part of the country (hoping to provide future employment in a depressed area), and puts the remainder of his fortune into equipment etc that would be needed to process the seaweed. As it turns out, a couple of seasons of red tide, and other developments in the area affected the water quality so the venture never takes off, and ten years later finally gives up. He recovers about 1.2M from selling the land. Under the wealth tax regime, over those ten years he has paid about $100k for the privilege of losing $800k of wealth, at least partly due to government permitting other environmentally degrading activities making his venture non-viable, and the steady suck of $10k a year wealth tax added too much continual drain on ongoing cashflow. He would not be liable for any capital gains tax.
Rich Prick the Second puts his 2mill into a block of ratty houses in a kinda neglected area, to be an aspiring slumlord. Over the next ten years the government invests a lot in renewing the neighbourhood and improving transport links, so at the end of ten years RP the 2nd sells his shabby house to a developer for basically the skyrocketed land value of 6mill. Because his clever accountants and lawyers have kept the assessed property values rising fairly slowly he's only paid about $120k in assessed wealth tax over those ten years, and trousers a capital gain of $4mill untaxed. If we just did a straight copy of Australia's capital gains tax regime with NZ rates, RP2nd would pay $660k capital gains tax on his windfall that was entirely due to government investment in the area.
Rich Prick the Third spends around 1.5M on a nice-ish house in a bush area, and invest the rest to give a little bit of income to live on. Over the ten years he puts a fair bit into keeping the bush area pest-free and restoring degraded areas. After ten years, there's been a modest capital gain of half a mill in his house (modest because the government hasn't really done anything for the area, but it's close enough to the big smoke to benefit from general increase in demand for housing) and investments when he sells up to go do something else with his life. He would pay about $120k in wealth tax over those ten years (which would soak up all of the investment income at current rates of return), plus income tax on the investment income. Under a capital gains tax, he would pay about $67k for the capital gain the government didn't do much to create apart from just maintaining society, plus the income tax.
Andre-are you against a Wealth Tax per se or do you see adjustments as being possible to the Greens' WT that will, in your opinion, make it workable?
i think he is saying that a Capital Gains tax would be the answer.
i think a Capital Gains tax would be the answer.
As long as people are clear on what it will and won't do.
A capital gains tax won't fix the housing market. As long as there are is less supply than demand, there will be profits available.
A capital gains tax will simply take a slice of the profits to go back into maintaining the society that made those profits possible. That maintenance of a good society might include the state building more housing for those that need it, which would increase the supply and reduce excess demand, thereby reducing potential private profiteering from the capital intensive activity of providing housing.
i don't expect any taxes to fix the housing market. But if we could actually tax wealth at the point of sale it would work in rasing revenue, btw, that would apply to me too if i sell my business i would be taxed, right now i am not.
The housing market will need intervention that currently not one person in Goverment – irrespective of their stripes – even want to contemplate. So they rather add another few hundred thousand people to the Accomodation Benefit and they rather charge beneficiaries 25% of their benefits or low wages to pay for Emergency and Transitional Housing. – which again benefits them and their 'own class'.
The same rate at which every other beneficiary or wage earner up to $635 for a single or over $900 for joint incomes pays for state housing, leaving them 75% each week.
State housing is a rental, stable fixed with a landlord – the government who is accountable.
Emergency housing is where ever winz send you, to what ever hovel they don't even care to expect, and it does not even have to be close to the schools your kids go to.
Not even the same. You tried this before and it is still dumb. Seriously try harder, be best or something.
If you're homeless and the government want to take much less than market rates for you to stay in a motel until you get something permanent, given the alternatives of living in your car, a garage or under a bridge, I don't think that's as outrageous as you want it to be.
Though a wealth tax on the very asset rich may make funds available to do it for free 😉
this is from Auguat:
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/kerre-mcivor-mornings/audio/dileepa-fonseka-and-karen-hocking-on-landlords-getting-3k-a-week-for-emergency-housing/
Paying a slumlord up to 3000 NZD – motel rates for a week – because the last government and the current government are shit at negotiating fair rates is not the problem that the homeless have created. It is the Governments fault.
taking 25% of what ever a homeless person or family may have to -fund part of the shittily negotiated 3000 NZD motel rates per week – to make a quick buck and look a bit less idiotic, usless and like complete frauds that suck at negotiating is not fair towards the person/family who already has nothing.
But it again shows that the last government and the current guvernment are shit at a. negotiating fair rates for emergency shelters and transitional housing, .b iare totally shit at creating government funded and run emergency shelters, and Labour is no better then was National when they settled homeless people with the debt of that 'housing'. Neither party gives a flying fuck about the poor.
And that wealth tax that James Shaw is running away from now is not gonna be paid for by the asset rich and cash rich of this country but by yourself and people like you.
And James Shaw and Grant Robertson know that. And they are the wealthy people that you would like to tax in the first place, and they have absolutely no reason to increase their cost of living.
Yeah, yeah, and as I wrote the other day, charging for unchecked rooms in a house probably isn't a good policy, but then you know that already if you read the reply.
Still, as far as I'm concerned, charging someone 25% of their wage to be secure in a motel rather than out on the street doesn't seem like the worst thing ever, and certainly far from disgraceful, uncaring or "bullshit"
I am against the wealth tax per se because it is is very poorly targeted. It will also severely discourage some activities that are beneficial to society, that require high capital assets but don't generate high income. Such as bush restoration. I don't see any way to adjust the wealth tax to make it work better in its effects on people's financial decisions and general well-being. Politically, it would be less harmful if it were set at a significantly higher level, say where it hit the 1% who already have to have accountants file do their taxes, not the 6% most of whom don't need accountants.
I strongly support taxing income generated from capital – which is why a support a capital gains tax, and I think things like the PIE tax rates being lower than the income tax rates are a big mistake. I also think we should have estate taxes and gift taxes – the idea that unearned income doesn't get taxed while earned income (which we want to encourage, right?) does get taxed strikes me as wrong way around.
+1
I too think this is very poorly targeted and riddled with problems. As some one said a tax for living in Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown.
Don't forget that if the bulk of inner city properties in the main centres are hit by this tax (why would high rise multi flat student accommodation be exempt?) then it is also going to add a belt to rents – the very people this is supposed to help.
Plus it taxes those whose parents live onshore and hands it out to them plus all those whose parents live offshore in Texas or London or some where else and are not paying the taxes.
And why tax wealth if you won't tax multi million dollar salaries ( and block up the loopholes around tax being paid in companies and trusts)? Grant not lifting the trust rate was a huge no-no.
Also any deferrals (which would have interest) are basically state supplied reverse mortgages which for a single person (largely women) might apply over 30-40 years. Nobody suggests reverse mortgages are a good thing and compound interest could ensure they die a pauper.
Your logical fallacy is: Appeal to emotion.
I don't know anything about Lawrence Yule.
Is he special or just typical National scum?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/national-mp-lawrence-yules-ad-under-investigation-after-complaints-its-misleading
Is it open slather? Can any politician say they're going to do something and then imply they've achieved, delivered it?
Lawrence looks to be an exceptional national candidate, insulting the voters IQ with that claim. Top work and who closed the last Hospital they had ?
He was Mayor of Hastings and presided over the Hastings District Council during the
campylobacter fiasco of 2016.
He's special, for sure. Not many mayors have had blood on their hands.
Election 2020: National promises farmers return of foreign workers and a rollback of regulations on water and climate
From the party that gave farmers mycoplasma bovis.
Yeah. Good choice.
'Murica, where only white people matter.
https://twitter.com/i/lists/1286700268122300416
..or, it seems, the ballot box..
What I find scariest is how all the Repugs are cheerfully going along with it all. Four years ago, I would have guessed that out of the nearly 300 Repugs in Congress, there would be at least a dozen or so that had some semblance of spine and principle and would at least attempt to slow down a few of the most egregious violations of laws and norms. But no, there's not a single one with even a hint of backbone. At most, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins occasionally appear to have faint vestiges of overboiled cartilage that slightly distinguish them from the rest of their school of jellyfish.
Spineless fuckers will abet the coup.
The Interregnum allots 35 days for the count and its attendant lawsuits to be resolved. On the 36th day, December 8, an important deadline arrives.
At this stage, the actual tabulation of the vote becomes less salient to the outcome. That sounds as though it can’t be right, but it is: The combatants, especially Trump, will now shift their attention to the appointment of presidential electors.
December 8 is known as the “safe harbor” deadline for appointing the 538 men and women who make up the Electoral College. The electors do not meet until six days later, December 14, but each state must appoint them by the safe-harbor date to guarantee that Congress will accept their credentials. The controlling statute says that if “any controversy or contest” remains after that, then Congress will decide which electors, if any, may cast the state’s ballots for president.
We are accustomed to choosing electors by popular vote, but nothing in the Constitution says it has to be that way. Article II provides that each state shall appoint electors “in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct.” Since the late 19th century, every state has ceded the decision to its voters. Even so, the Supreme Court affirmed in Bush v. Gore that a state “can take back the power to appoint electors.” How and when a state might do so has not been tested for well over a century.
Trump may test this. According to sources in the Republican Party at the state and national levels, the Trump campaign is discussing contingency plans to bypass election results and appoint loyal electors in battleground states where Republicans hold the legislative majority. With a justification based on claims of rampant fraud, Trump would ask state legislators to set aside the popular vote and exercise their power to choose a slate of electors directly. The longer Trump succeeds in keeping the vote count in doubt, the more pressure legislators will feel to act before the safe-harbor deadline expires
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2020/11/what-if-trump-refuses-concede/616424/
Or not.
Jobs, training. skills, income, sense of worth, companionship, socialisation not loneliness, co-operation – all draw us together. This sounds good for younger people – now something for retirees to do that gives back to society some of what the cohesive society is giving out to them.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018765237/new-project-jobs-for-ex-prisoners-and-improved-water-quality
Nature enter me!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fourmyula
So "on May 27, less than a week of being in leadership, Muller had a panic attack for the first time in his life. https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/had-step-away-fire-todd-muller-intense-panic-attacks-mental-health-struggle-national-leader.html
Good to see him sharing his experience of the physiology. Lotsa folk still deny the mind/body interface. For a conservative to specify how it affected him makes him a valuable role model to help other conservatives get real. Farmers, especially!
Will never forget the Dr that prescribed me sleeping pills to help with severe depression when the girls were 3 and 5yrs old.
Take one at 4pm the Dr said…. fell asleep on the couch at 4.30pm kids couldn't wake me no matter how hard they tried, not good for a single parent. Thankfully Mum turned up out of the blue and helped with the girls while I continued to be zombied out. Never took one again. Useless Dr.
I went to that Dr 13 times asking for help in under 6mths, her solution, sleeping pills. Changed Dr's after that, finally got some real help along with counselling which changed my life.
Glad mental health is coming out in the opening, it's so important to have these conversations and share experiences.
Reminds me the Stones had a hit song about that when I was 16: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mother%27s_Little_Helper
I wondered if he really wanted to be National leader in the first place, maybe he was badgered into it.
We shouldn't discount a guilty conscience. Todd Mk 3 being a man of god and all.
It's 2020. Of course it'll become deadlier.
Scientists in Houston on Wednesday released a study of more than 5,000 genetic sequences of the coronavirus that reveals the virus’s continual accumulation of mutations, one of which may have made it more contagious.
The new report, however, did not find that these mutations have made the virus deadlier or changed clinical outcomes. All viruses accumulate genetic mutations, and most are insignificant, scientists say.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/09/23/houston-coronavirus-mutations/?arc404=true
Perhaps it's something in the water there. They should do a study on how Flint residents are getting on.
We in the USA have the biggest mutations! Fact!
Hilarious. Chris Martenson reported on the D614G mutation months ago … sometime back in June .
A more infectious mutation going from being detected in 70% of global infections to a 99.9 percent prevalence in a particular location sure is hilarious.
/
Hilarious in the /sarc sense that it takes this long for useful information to get into the public domain. At this rate the importance of Vit D and C will probably hit the media sometime in the New Year.
I'll constrain my comments to this; in the course of this pandemic I've seen a number of issues on which my confidence in the integrity of the medical system has been severely shaken. It looks very much to me that a combination of professional arse covering, gross politicisation of the science, and an industry desire to find a nice profitable solution to COVID have muddied the waters badly. And probably cost not only 100's thousand of lives, but deeply dented the global economy in ways we are yet to discover.
NZ has been served relatively well by it's govt Health System, but elsewhere the entire episode has been a shameful wake up call.
A quick google turns up actually authoritative sources discussing the D614G mutation back at least as far as May.
https://www.csiro.au/en/News/News-releases/2020/Covid19-expert-commentary-D614G-mutation-of-SARS-CoV-2
edit: similarly back in May for the correlation between vitamin d deficiency and worse covid outcomes.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/05/200507121353.htm
But I haven’t seen anything that suggests taking vitamin d if you’re not deficient has any benefit.
So why has it taken damn nearly six months for the importance of the D614G mutation’s increased infectivity (Martenson talked in terms of a factor of 4) to hit the mainstream media?
Given that 40% of North Americans and 80% of Black Americans are Vit D deficient, and the numbers are typically higher among the elderly, then yes there is a strong case for supplementation. It should have been made mandatory for all care home residents ages ago.
In terms of evidence there is the preliminary Spanish clinical trial referenced here a few weeks back, plus two very large Israeli observational correlation studies, all of which confirm what has been known, as you say since May, that Vit D plays an important role in preventing serious outcomes.
In terms of treatment of hospital cases, the Spanish clinical study found that a derivative of Vit D that is immediately available to the body, gave a strong indication of being an effective tool in the treatment arsenal. Apparently a larger follow up trial is in the pipeline, but hell this is really good news if it’s confirmed.
Vit D supplementation is cheap, safe and could have massively blunted the impact of this pandemic months ago. You have to ask why it wasn't at least trialed on a substantial scale by some govt, somewhere. But no, we all have to wait for an expensive vaccine it seems.
Much more problematic is the recent corona express flight from managed QF in chch to AK.
An update on the case of the man who left MIQ in Christchurch having returned negative tests for COVID-19 and then tested positive in Auckland.
There were 86 people on that flight. 70 have returned negative results, 6 were previously reported positive cases that do not require further testing; 3 are recently reported positive cases, 7 are pending.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300115026/live-daily-covid19-update
Without gainsaying all of this above, can you also tell us about the false positive rate for the PCR testing, and the impact this has on case rates?
As all positive tests also have genomic sequencing,you need to be a bit more expansive on the question.(are you suggesting cross contamination / etc)
Much worse the tourism to Taupo by those infected. This is potentially the beginning of the end of our return to level 1 this year.
Cheap. There you go. Who's getting rich off that?
Vitamin D and sleep are vital to immunity – esp T cells.
Yup every rest home should blood test and issue supplements in the most effective form. Everyone infected should be blood tested and if Vit D levels are low they get a real big booster.
Every primary care service to
Maori should test and prescribe to those with low levels. And those over 50 should take it through winter (as they do not get as much off the skin as younger people do in summer).
What you have not heard about yet in MSM – is something in the bmj – British Medical Journal.
Some people seem to have immunity to this coronavirus – and they are people who have never been infected (never had any antibodies).
(PS Swine flu 2009 – those born before 1949 seemed to have immunity to that).
14/6/20
Despite coming in for a silly bit of flak here back in early Feb, Chris Martenson has always been well ahead of the game. Works from the principle: Perfect is the enemy of Good … in a fast-moving Pandemic, don't wait for peer-reviewed perfection … just go with the available emerging data & make a judgement call on the veracity of each … adapt to new info as you go. Consequently, 6 months ahead of WHO / CDC & even a couple of months ahead of the otherwise wonderful John Campbell (except, perhaps, on Vitamin D … I started getting Vit D supplements for both us & my Parents back in mid-Feb on advice from Campbell). Between them, Martenson & Campbell have been required viewing this year.
Yes. Someone in a YT comment thread said that they regarded Martenson as a 'leading indicator' and Campbell as a 'lagging indicator', but when they both started saying the same thing you had to be reasonably confident of the information.
Perfect is the enemy of Good … in a fast-moving Pandemic, don't wait for peer-reviewed perfection … just go with the available emerging data & make a judgement call on the veracity of each … adapt to new info as you go.
Absolutely. In a crisis demanding impractical standards of evidence is fatal; it's a form of 'paralysis by analysis'.
Does Dr Martenson still believe that Covid-19 is an artificial (engineered) virus?
Martenson's recent advice on taking vitamin D supplements to maintain and/or improve one's immune system seem sound, and certainly 99% of nutritionists would agree. It's a beautiful day and the sun is shining – time for a morning walk.
Chapter 24 – Vitamin D and Immunity (in Foods and Dietary Supplements in the Prevention and Treatment of Disease in Older Adults , published 2015)
"This chapter focuses on the current understanding of vitamin D and immunity, with special attention to the elderly. Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency are common among the elderly population. Vitamin D plays an immunoregulatory role in innate and adaptive immunity, and low vitamin D status has been implicated in the etiology of immune disorders, such as infectious diseases as well as some autoimmune disorders. As summarized here, the aging of the immune system is well documented and indicates that both innate and adaptive immunity are impaired with increasing age. Nutritional intervention with vitamin D seems to be a valid approach to delay the deterioration of the immune system with increasing age. Based on promising results in targeting some of the impairments of the immune system in older people, supplementation with vitamin D seems to be one strategy in attempting to increase not only the lifespan but also the health span of this increasing elderly proportion of the global population."
Does Dr Martenson still believe that Covid-19 is an artificial (engineered) virus?
I watched Martenson's arguments on this in detail. In short I agree with him that there are too many unusual aspects to this virus to make the official story that it evolved completely in nature to be a satisfactory answer.
Of course no-one has proof of it being 'engineered' either, that would demand a standard of evidence we're very unlikely to ever get. It remains as far as I'm concerned an open question.
As for all the biotech people insisting it has to have been naturally evolved, you have to keep in mind that if it wasn't, this would be an absolutely catastrophe for their profession. It would be a loss of credibility far worse than Chernobyl was for the nuclear industry, so yes I do think there are some strong motivations at work here.
The same for why various cheap and effective treatments have been downplayed as well, or why the science around HCQ was so crazily politicised … again questionable motivations at work.
Martenson no doubt believed that Covid-19 was an artificial (engineered) virus when he was writing about that hypothesis months ago. I'd like to know if he still believes that, i.e. has he reaffirmed his opinion in the last few weeks?
It would be interesting, for example, to know his view(s) on the 14 Sept. Yan report, just as it would be interesting to understand why some believe that various cheap, if unproven treatments for Covid-19 infections have been “downplayed” as the official global Covid-19 death toll approaches its first million.
I'd like to know if he still believes that, i.e. has he reaffirmed his opinion in the last few weeks?
In the past few weeks Martenson has said that he's going to wind up his COVID coverage and shift his focus back to his main interest which is resilience and thriving in uncertain times. (He's really got a lot more in common with most Greenies than anyone else.) Absent any new information on where COVID came from I doubt he'll have anything to add to what he's said already.
I would guess that his position right now is similar to the one I expressed above.
Thanks RL; while I disagree with Martenson's previously expressed opinion on a hypothetical artificial origin for Covid-19, this January 2019 statement of his certainly rings true to me.
Aunt Lydia's on her way.
President Pussygrabber would sign that law so fast the Sharpie would start smoking. Especially if it named him the Chief Inspector.
Breaking story on RNZ 4:00 news!!!
Judith Collins is upset the All Blacks may be in isolation at Christmas.
THE WORLD IS ENDING !! Jesus wept.
I take it that the Wabbalies play the game and bugger off home. Sanzaar ceo sounds like a bit of a prick.
Oz Rubgy is bankrupt….should pull the pin and watch them drown