A Chinese spy has risked his life to defect to Australia and is now offering a trove of unprecedented inside intelligence on how China conducts its interference operations abroad.
Wang “William” Liqiang is the first Chinese operative to ever blow his cover. He has revealed the identities of China’s senior military intelligence officers in Hong Kong, as well as providing details of how they fund and conduct political interference operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.
[…]
In interviews with The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes, he has revealed in granular detail how Beijing covertly controls listed companies to fund intelligence operations, including the surveillance and profiling of dissidents and the co-opting of media organisations.
He has given previously unheard details about the kidnapping of five booksellers from Hong Kong and their rendition to the Chinese mainland. His testimony shows how Beijing’s spies are infiltrating Hong Kong’s democracy movement, manipulating Taiwan’s elections and operating with impunity in Australia.
It was a massive effort by Arthur Taylor, lawyer Francois, and the Greens, to get through the system and convince the Judiciary, Appeal Court, and finally Minister Little.
The principle of prisoner voting and enrolment has been won, it is a matter of extending it.
As Green MP Golriz says…”you don’t get human rights for being good, you get them for being human”
Cabinet approval has occurred , so NZF is on board.
Little isnt 'leaving it up to staffers' like before who bungled similar changes including those in NZF. What ever happened to Ministers being involved in the detail of offices work, now its like Hollywood – get your people to talk to my people.
If you penalised all those who broke the law by removing their vote, including speedsters, tax evaders, drunk/drugged drivers, owners of illegal arms, the violent, the bullies and the thieves, then what kind of a government would we have, elected by the fully law-abiding, what party would succeed?
With us in charge, we will keep you safe and happy and you really don’t need to concern yourself with the complicated work of governance. You don’t want to ‘tear down’ or ‘shake up’ the system: having a stable group of very wealthy people control the government has always led to the greatest level of stability and peace—look how stable Europe was for a thousand years when royal families and their landed gentry ruled. We’re the ones chosen by God or a brilliant DNA lineage to lead. Just go shopping and leave things to us.
The alternative is to spread the costs imposed by visitors once they leave their accomodation across general ratepayers. Before the mid 90's Queenstown had a considerable loading on the sewerage rate for visitor accomodation that was to pay for tourist related costs around the district. That got axed in rating legislation changes / tightening around then.
It's not about "rich people", rather not having to impose those costs on the "poor people" of the district.
I was thinking about Labour's restrictions on selling housing to overseas owners. From memory QLDC submitted to get an exemption because of the perceived value to the area of wealthy people who like to fly in and out but don't have residency.
Here we go,
The Queenstown council submission says if the exemptions are not made "the shock to the luxury housing market will be considerable"
Yeah, fair point, but viewed in the context of the process of testing and refining legislation as it goes through the parliamentary process this is quite normal. At the time there were quite a few developments in train that could have gone tits up if their markets had been cut off. The effects of this would have hurt the small contractors and staff working on them much ore than the developers who bounced on to the next deal / company.
With the glorious benefit of hindsight, the effect on property markets and development has been pretty much nil, just a shift from those who can't get residency easily to those that can, or don't need to. And maybe forcing people to go down the residency path resulting in more committed purchasers. An agent I know in that market was pretty grumpy at the time, he's got his smile back now.
There's something disturbing about a council that will make that kind of submission but cannot (or will not) sort out its housing crisis. In both cases it seems like the priority is making money rather than attending to the wellbeing of the community and the citizens that live there.
Not that QLDC is alone in this, it's common to varying degrees in most councils. Just more obvious and pronounced with QLDC.
I wouldn't say QLDC isn't doing anything about the housing issues in the district, there's the Housing Trust and the new District Plan has a dramatic loosening of residential flat provisions which make it much easier for established families to house another generation, past or future. There's also over 1000 high density appartments in various stages of construction, most of which are Trust, KiwiBuild or otherwise destined to worker / staff housing rather than the open market.
But the perverse thing about housing in Queenstown Lakes or Central Otago is that increasing supply results in a many more times increase in demand. Unfortunately it's been like that since at least 1862 and the only thing that has any effect is a really good downturn, which the place does with bells and whistles.
they’re trying to do things, but it’s not working. I would say they’re a reflection of the wider NZ housing crisis. They’re still prioritising making money over the needs of residents.
“But the perverse thing about housing in Queenstown Lakes or Central Otago is that increasing supply results in a many more times increase in demand”
Yep, and the conversation there should be about capping development until the housing crisis is fixed*. That would be heresy of course, but my point stands about prioritising wealthy people.
*do all the other things as well like rent caps, better tenancy protections, social housing and so on.
I'm intrigued why you think that the housing issues in Queenstown are different to Remuera, Khandallah or Fendalton, or any other desirable location. Would you promote affordable housing for all in those locations as well?
Arrowtown has a cap on development through an urban growth boundary. The effect this has had is to make 60's and 70's cribs worth near a million and effectively throw the community that built from that period out of town as flash money rolled into town and took over the place.
We have doubled our population in the last 10 years, so well over half our population aren't from here. There's considerable churn as well, so the long term local population is incredibly small. All that increase is discretionary, no one has to live here and there's effectively no economy outside tourism, which doesn't pay many million dollar mortgages, and building houses to house people to build more houses.
You could be really cynical and say that cash burn is the main driver of Queenstown's economy and not be far from the truth.
Sometimes I wonder if things would be any different if we actually did have a total halt on new green field development, allowed property prices to go through the stratosphere, and forced employers to provide staff accomodation. Then the only way you could live here would be if you had a job with accomodation, or could pay the open market rents, which would be up in the stratosphere along with property prices. Although the price would moderate demand, just like it does in Remuera, Khandallah or Fendalton.
“I’m intrigued why you think that the housing issues in Queenstown are different to Remuera, Khandallah or Fendalton, or any other desirable location. Would you promote affordable housing for all in those locations as well?”
Interesting question. I don’t see the QLDC area as akin to a wealthy suburb in a much large city (nor even Queenstown), but sure, why shouldn’t low income people live in Queenstown? Unless you are proposing to set a minimum wage of something like $30/hr, people will still need affordable housing. The difference with Fendalton is that there are other places in Chch that people on lower incomes can live. The housing crisis of course is changing all that.
“Arrowtown has a cap on development through an urban growth boundary. The effect this has had is to make 60’s and 70’s cribs worth near a million and effectively throw the community that built from that period out of town as flash money rolled into town and took over the place.”
I didn’t say put a cap on and do nothing else. I said put a cap on and then do all the things needed to solve the housing crisis. I think your example proves my point. All communities need affordable housing, and to get that needs multiple interventions.
My perspective on the economy (and again, thinking the whole area, not just the Queenstown, but probably now CODC as well, because as far as I can tell the housing crisis has spread) is that mass tourism must fail because of climate change, so better to start designing a different economic base, and if that’s happening may as well make it steady state given the bleeding obvious physical limits of the Wakatipu Basin. The QL area is also precarious in terms of the Alpine fault shifting. Intervention from council and govt isn’t necessarily going to raise housing costs, although I appreciate the bizarreness of making this argument for Queenstown given it is primarily driven by money. Still a goldmining town.
Back to QLDC. My preference is that the central govt regulates to force councils to make communities and residents the direct priority not asset management that is somehow meant to flow into benefits for the people that live in an area. Because QLDC *should be making housing crisis solutions part of their core function and they’re not even close to that.
You can be as human as you are driven to be, but to live in a community, a culture, you had better have respect for how being a human in that culture is, or you can be cast out. Airy fairy statements from people who have learned about life in theories, or in dreams of a better life don't hold water. Bob Dylan sang a song that
One might say apathy is the acceptance of the unacceptable , whereas leadership begins with a decisive refusal to do so. How can we tolerate what God finds intolerable
The overall context was something about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah
It sort of didnt get mentioned who was the philosopher- prince-activist who coined the phrase.
I suppose that Stott, an upper class anglican priest was of the leaders of world wide evangelist movement wasnt something you want to make reference to.
I suppose you’re attributing ulterior motives to me, which annoys me immensely at the best of times.
I took the quote from greywarshark’s comment (hence the HT) that you linked to and did not know about the full quote nor that it was from Stott or even who he was.
" Snips of Quotes used like art prints – because they look & sound good enrich all our lives and can act as signposts to where we've been and are going" – dukeofurl
And I got the quote from a site that I noted on my comment. It would be good if people didn't try to interfere and snipe at comments trying to stamp out ideas for consideration and to participate.
True millsy. I think I didn't like that all-embracing sound of having everything just because you are human, thing. I would like another option that jailed people can vote, but some are kept out of the community all their life, with a reasonable life but away behind lock and key. Others would serve a suspended sentence where they work on their attitudes, talk out most of the s..t and learn a different way to handle the rest, and then go out and practice it. Which would agree with Andrew Little's thought to encourage people to become treasured parts of society.
They are still members of and part of our society albeit incarcerated for a period. They have friends and family in the community and they will join the community again upon their release. It seems it is easier to hang on to a knighthood than to keep your voting rights.
Google is sort of helping by taking the fraudulent sites down, but a search still bring them up
What struck me was INZ response.
"INZ said any travellers who had used a third party site and were concerned about the validity of their NZeTA should go back to the site they bought it through.
"INZ is unable to assist in those circumstances, as the transaction is between the traveller and the site they used," Dunstan said."
Like a fraudulent site will say OOPs, yess the visa is wrong
AND
Dont INZ have a list of visas? – Are they taking visas from the fraudulent sites too?
These other sites , when legit, just act like a portal to the real NZeTA site. As many countries offer e visas for holiday travel etc its a common scam to either charge way over the top to just make a legit application ( and pay INZ their fee) or they dont really make a full application at all, keep all the money , and lie to you about having a valid e visa.
They arent stopping native trees being planted…. the mountain has had 100s of new native trees planted in the last year.
Its wholesale cutting of significant trees thats will denude the entire mountain thats the issue.
Another falsehood in the story is they have been given resource consent to remove trees, they havent. Its a management plan for all the maunga which covers in a vague way many issues , only a sentence or two mentions vegetation management as though it was peripheral matter.
Are you seriously asking us to believe that no resource consent has been granted for this work? Links please. Love to see where you are getting that idea from.
'Please provide a sketch of the proposal and clearly identify the number , species and location of each tree subject to the application, the proposed work and the location of all buildings and specific features (where relevant) on the site'
Their plans involved helicopters to assist in removal so it was really major.
The tree removal at Ōwairaka / Mount Albert is authorised by a resource consent approved by Auckland Council.
The resource consent approval was supported by independent expert ecological assessments, including in relation to the timing and staging of the tree removals.
The resource consent does not permit the removal of any exotic tree that has a native bird nesting in it.
Tūpuna Maunga Authority contractors will be undertaking the authorised activities in full compliance with the resource consent.
The Tūpuna Maunga Authority welcomes the support of The Tree Council and Forest and Bird for the ecological restoration of Ōwairaka / Mount Albert.
The resource consent approval was supported by independent expert ecological assessments, including in relation to the timing and staging of the tree removals.
Press releases arent resource consents . Of course they have experts on 'doing their plan' but a "real resource consent" is highly likely to have gone to notified hearing where objectors would have the full detail of what is proposed, how they are going to do it and the mitigation of the effects.
TMA actually say there supporting documentation isnt a resource consent “Notes for editors:
Vegetation management is in accordance with the Tūpuna Maunga Integrated
Management Plan (which underwent public consultation early 2016), the
Proposed Tūpuna Maunga Authority Integrated Management Plan Strategies
(which underwent public consultation mid-2019) and the Tūpuna Maunga
Authority Operational Plan.
"Tree wars: Auckland Council accused of flouting resource consent process over felling Western Springs pines"
The strange thing about TMA saying this
"One management objective is to facilitate the restoration of the natural, spiritual and indigenous landscape and to help restore and enhance the mauri (life force) and wairua (spiritual essence) of the maunga."
When europeans arrived in the Auckland isthmus , it was largely devoid of large trees mostly being dense bracken fern. The large maori population it had supported needed wood for fires , construction and other uses. The maunga were of course fortified so needed clear approaches and would have supported gardens as well on the less steep areas.
I think he lives in Mt Albert (recollection he mentioned it once).
I grew up on the western slopes of Mt Albert and although it is 30 plus years since I left the suburb, I'm upset those beautiful trees are going to be cut down.
I was talking to someone the other day who lives on the eastern slopes of Mt. Albert. Apparently there were many hundreds of protesters trying to block access early in the morning last week. The media present chose to publish a photo later that morning when the majority had left for work etc. and only a handful of protesters were left. Typical, to create the wrong impression.
The person I talked with… she and hubby live close to the 'hill'. I expect they were two among many who were not there for ideological reasons, but have a genuine concern for the fate of the trees.
And I'm with them. Native and imported tree species should be growing alongside each other (where it is appropriate) as symbolism of the multi-folded heritage this tiny nation has become.
"I grew up on the western slopes of Mt Albert and although it is 30 plus years since I left the suburb, I'm upset those beautiful trees are going to be cut down."
This is the conversation I haven't seen yet. Some people, probably quite a lot, form relationships with place, including with trees. I too feel grief when local trees are cut down in places that I have spent a lot of time, trees that were planted when my grandparents were young.
I also understand that many Māori may feel differently towards the same place, for obvious reasons.
This is very hard to resolve. Writing off the protestors as nimbys or selfish is unlikely to make it easier. We're still not very good at this in NZ.
You understand the conundrum. Sometimes when trees are cut down for questionable purposes a tiny piece of the life of an individual can die with those trees. Some of the trees on Mt Albert have probably been there since the mid-to-late 1800s. They are now significant historical features.
I want to see our indigenous fauna planted and flourish wherever possible because they are such an important part of our collective psyche. And there is plenty of room on Mt Albert where they will flourish without removing many of the other trees.
I hope Pingau is right. The trees I was referring to are not those to be removed.
I am part of the occupation team on Owairaka Mt Albert. If you would indulge me, some context:
1. The Hui visited the Maunga on a day when the occupation was staffed by a smaller number of people than normal, none of whom wanted to be put through being on TV. Disappointingly, Mihi had not taken the time to research in advance who the official spokesperson was (Anna Radford), or who the organisers were. That would have taken her no more than 15 minutes. Lisa has been helping the group with advice about how to occupy peacefully and legally and happened to be on site. She reluctantly did the interview after The Hui team said it was her or nothing. I will leave others to draw their own conclusions.
2. Since ‘The Hui’ program aired (and I'll be honest some of us cringed just a little), inquiries to our group have surged, particularly interest in our FB page and signatures on the petition (now over 3,000). The Hui FB thread reveals much support for our protest.
3. The Tupuna Maunga Authority is not Iwi, it is not the owner of the land. The TMA is an unelected, statutory body with huge resources and minimal accountability. It is made up of 6 councillors, hand-picked by the Mayor, and 6 representatives of Iwi. The 13th member is a non-voting, government appointee. Their job is to implement a co-governance regime that benefits all Aucklanders, on behalf of the very generous owners, the iwi of Tamaki Makaurau.
4. The TMA has an articulate and powerful chairman. Honour the Maunga (the protest group), on the other hand, started as a handful of concerned citizens, and has now grown to a group that numbers in excess of 1,000 members, all from a variety of ethnic and social backgrounds. Many are Maori. We are a group of ordinary people, for the most part unsophisticated in this type of action. What has united this diverse group of people together is our love for the tree scape and bird life of the Mountain.
4. When this began, it is my view the TMA thought our protest would quickly fissle. When that didn’t happen, they began to shift gear in a way that would make the National Party’s ‘dirty politics’ team blush. That is a story for when this is over, but I will say this – take much of what they say with a great deal of skepticism.
5. On a personal level, we have been subject to the vilest personal abuse, including a small group who have been posting (and promptly deleting) threatening material on personal FB pages, as well as on the Mt Albert Community FB page. The victims of most of this abuse have been women in our group, something I find particularly disturbing (pardon my middle age male protectionism). One of the most common themes of abuse has been to label us racists.
6. I sincerely invite anyone to visit our occupation. We are friendly, of diverse ethnicity, age, socio-economic background and political opinion. I am so far out of my comfort zone, and I am making personal sacrifices to be a part of this, but this is something I feel is right.
Thanks for reading, apologies for the length of this.
Im a frequent visitor to the mountain…long before 'the plan'. In a previous life I knew a bit about getting resource consents.
This doesnt sound like a proper notified resource consent, and my concerns were increased by TMA only ever referring to the 'Management Plan' and its consultation. The Tree Council ( whos ever heard of them before now) isnt really a primary source for information, its either Auckland Council or TMA. The Council may be playing the same emergency game they did at Western Springs
Im all for the new tree planting that has been done ( all about waist height) and removal of problem trees , and also under-story planting and a gradual change to native species
Please read my post above. For the record, the TMA do have consent for the work, but this was a non-notified consent. We have obtained a lot of material by way of LGOIMA, but much of the detail has been redacted.
We are in favour of the native planting, but not the process. We are also deeply concerned with the planting methodology, with significant numbers of plants previously planted on the Maunga already dead or dying.
It will not "denude the entire mountain" as for one, there is a large area that is under Watercare administration that has both exotic and other trees – no trees will be removed from this area as it it outside the Tupuna Maunga Integrated Management Plan.
I assume it is the area shown at the bottom left of the aerial photo (page 41 on the version I looked at).
It also seems that some of the protestors are exaggerating the relative number of trees to be cut down, referring to it as "clear-felling" and so on.
Apparently there are 850 trees on the Maunga (both native and exotic) and of these, 345 are to be felled (183 or so pest plants and mostly gum trees for the rest).
When I lived near there in the mid-90s and walked there a lot, I used to think it was a shame that there were so many monkey apples and flowering cherries spreading over the Maunga … so good on them for the well considered plan and I hope it gets underway soon.
Tui feed on the nectar of flowering cherries and kereru on the fruit of so-called weeds, including monkey apples. Gum trees are also a source of nectar for tui and kaka. Possibly one reason for the abundant tuis in Auckland and kereru more common than ever is the non-native nectar and fruit bearing trees. I favour mixed natives and exotics and regard the opinion below as ill-advised.
"The downside of a bird-friendly garden is the weeds brought in by visiting birds. Kereru and other fruit eaters will deposit privet seeds, monkey apple, woolly nightshade, non-native palm trees and many other invasive pest plants. Kereru love guava but they are a weed in tropical climates and climate change could make them a weed in our native bush too. Be vigilant and remove weeds, particularly anything that has seeds that birds eat and later deposit in native bush. These weed species invade natural habitats and upset the balanced ecosystem, ultimately negatively affecting bird life."
Yep, tui and kereru seem greatly chuffed with the exotic flowering trees at my place. The tuis particularly like the coral tree, but ordinary old bottlebrush seems perfectly acceptable.
Outside the boundary of the Owairaka Maunga (as with others), there is a proliferation of exotic trees. If the exotics on the maunga are removed, the birdlife will do what hungry birds do…travel in search of food. So they find that food, fly back over the Maunga, and 'deposit' the seeds of these exotics back amongst the native plantings. At least some of these survive, and off we go again.
Our concern is that with the loss of their habitat, the Maunga will lose these magnificent creatures permanently.
So make ya mind up, will the birds go away forever or just come and go as they do?
If there are lots of exotic weeds around the maunga that will seed back into it with the help of birds is that not more reason to clear these from the maunga itself? Weed management could be a big job once grassed areas are planted.
They will not come back to nest, not come back to settle. They will find and compete for food sources elsewhere, or die in the process. My comment to GG was in the context of his remark, and was a 'hypothetical'. At best, they may fly over, but even that is unlikely.
And what exotic weeds you are referring to? In the context of my comment, if that was even remotely likely, good luck with getting the TMA to clear those. They are struggling to keep the native plantings alive.
There are beautiful trees both "native" and imported. I saw a magnificent magnolia tree in full bloom today. An absolute picture. There are beautiful indigenous trees. They grow side by side as a symbol of our nationhood. There are weeds too – both native and imported. By all means remove them but don't touch the 100 plus year old trees. That constitutes an environmental crime of biblical proportions.
There are 345 trees earmarked for destruction. Of those a handful are classified as weeds, so the TMA are being disingenuous.
The plan to restore native vegetation to the Maunga has our support. The plan to cull a large number of healthy trees in 5 weeks, and replace them with mostly shrubs and grasses does not.
"The objective of the plan is to restore native vegetation so any exotic is a weed in that context."
No, it isn't. You can both 'restore native vegetation' and maintain exotic trees. The two can co-exist, and that is in fact closer to the spirit of the values of the Tupuna Maunga Authority, which speaks of recognising “European and other histories and interaction with the Maunga”.
"Sean Freeman, arborist and chair of the Tree Council, says that natives will not do well in the root span of eucalypts"
So don't plant any in the root span of eucalypts. There is plenty of other space on the Maunga, and ample other exotics (Cherry, Oak) to nurture the young natives. At least the very few actual trees the TMA are planting.
Yes the objective is to to restore native vegetation:
Plant types: Plants should be both culturally and ecologically appropriate. Eco-sourced plants where possible are preferred as these are adapted to the specific conditions of the area and will retain the locally specific variations present in their genetic diversity. Other native plants will be considered if they support cultural outcomes. Where possible, plants should be sourced from remnant populations on the Tūpuna Maunga or surrounding ecosystems. Plants will grow best on sites on which they are best adapted and respond to the area’s slope, soil characteristics and drainage, wind, aspect, the amount of shading, and proximity to the coast.
No mention of exotics here. "Eco-sourced" can only be native as exotics haven't been around long enough to have adapted to local conditions. "Other native plants will be considered".
This is not an issue about trees but rather one of colonialism. That people like you still think that you should get to impose your values over those of Maori, even after ownership has been transferred back to them.
But likewise, no mention of the removal of exotics either. In fact no-where in any of the TMA submissions (at least the ones that have been made public) does it mention the removal of all exotics.
"That people like you still think that you should get to impose your values over those of Maori, even after ownership has been transferred back to them. "
Ownership always comes with conditions. And in this case the transfer of ownership came with very specific conditions. The Maunga Authority have failed to take the wider community with them, and even they are acknowledging that now.
Hi Pingau…You are quoting from a press release from the TMA chairman. If you dig, you will find that the TMA is not the most reliable source on this issue. But here's a question…why would you think it is acceptable to cut down perfectly healthy trees, some of which are in excess of 100 years old? Why would you think it is acceptable to cull an entire stand of beautiful cherry trees (that despite what has been claimed are not pests) that provide an excellent food source for both Tui and Kereru?
Thanks Paddington for your reply. It sounds like the TMA has not taken into account the attachment that some people have to some of the species they wish to remove.
I would be guessing that the removal of all of the trees on the list at once is based on operational expenses but it could also be they just wanted to start with a "clean slate" by removing all the unwanted trees.
I agree that the implementation of their plan has been lacking but I still think that the removal of the pest trees was well-considered. It is hard to know what the criteria is for other (non-pest) trees that are not a hazard or how many there are.
I also disagree that cherry trees are not a pest – one sort is listed on the National Pest Plant Accord and several others are included in Regional Pest Management Strategies or on the DOC consolidated weed list. In my area, I see multiple wildings of various Prunus species in parks, gardens and in pine plantations and native bush. That tui and kereru eat the fruit is part of the problem as they then disperse the seed. These trees then displace the endemic and native plants that are the food and habitat for many species and all kinds of life.
However it should be possible on an urban site like the Maunga that is a long way away from any native bush, for some of the mature exotic and invasive trees to be maintained and all wildings to be removed – at a cost of course, but some of these trees could possibly be retained for cultural reasons.
1. Re the Cherry's, the Owairaka Cherry's were misidentified by the TMA 'experts' as Prunus Campanulata. They are an entirely different species, and not a pest.
2. The 'clean slate' removal is being justified on the basis of operational costs, however that fails to take into account the climate impact of what is a large reduction in net biomass on the Maunga.
3. We have no objection to the removal of pest species, trees that are hazardous or diseased, or to the appropriate management of any tree on the Maunga. What we object to is the removal of a large number of healthy trees for no other reason than they are exotic.
4. With regards to the retention of exotics, the advice we have had is that the exotics could serve as canopy cover for the native plantings, and also continue to provide excellent food sources for our magnificent native bird life. We currently have Tui, Kereru, Morepork, Piwakawaka, the list goes on. Many of these birds have adapted to exotic tree produce, which has meant their populations thrive. Our concern is that with the loss of their habitat, the Maunga will lose these magnificent creatures permanently.
beautiful cherry trees (that despite what has been claimed are not pests)
If you are talking about Taiwan Cherry they fucking well are pests. In Northland you can see whole hillsides covered in this menace. I've killed many just on my half acre urban property but still they come.
Hi Solkta. The Cherry's on Owairaka are not the Taiwan Cherry (Prunus campanulata), although they have been mis-identified as such by the TMA and their 'experts'. I'll leave that to sink in.
The Owairaka Cherry's are considerably lighter in shade, and have an entirely different flower, and have now been identified as an entirely different species.
We are awaiting the final specification, but the arborist has confirmed they are not a pest species, not the Taiwanese cherry. On a related note, I have seen today a list, compiled for the TMA and submitted by them as part of a works program, of all of the 345 trees to be felled. Only a handful are 'pests', by their own assessment at that time. The Cherry’s are not listed in that compilation/report as pests.
Those photos are interesting. I know Mt Albert intimately and the area shown in the main photo is the remains of an old Maori Pa site. When we were children it was still possible to find shells collected by the former inhabitants. There are no trees there apart from the few stunted specimens in the photo. But further around there are lots of beautiful trees lining the access road that should not be touched.
It was my assumption they were the trees they plan to cut down.
Hi Anne…the trees to be cut down include many along that access road, and also the full stand of cherry's that stand in the corner of the archery area. Some from our group have started putting ribbons around the 'condemned' trees. We acknowledge there are trees that need to be removed e.g. privet and some of the eucalyptus. But all at once?
If you know Owairaka – Mt Albert well, please come up. The only access we are restricting is to people with chainsaws!
Thank you so much for your informed responses Paddington. As I suspected, a group of local officials (big frogs in little pools as my late Dad used to call them) have turned officious because their 'mode of operation' has been called into question by the masses.
Normally I would be over the bridge to join you before you could say Jack Robinson, but I am currently semi-disabled due to injury and back problems – the curse of advancing years. But I will be keeping a close eye on developments from the balmy Shore and I am certainly with all of you in spirit. Please let your fellow protesters know. I might even know some of the older ones who grew up or have lived in Mt Albert for many years.
'Former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade personally registered the domain name currently used by Ethos Capital in May and it was registered as a limited company in the US state of Delaware on May 14. "
General election 2019: Jeremy Corbyn to remain neutral in any new Brexit vote
and from The Express which I can't get 23/11/2019:
12 hours ago – BORIS JOHNSON could win more general election seats than Labour but still be forced to watch Jeremy Corbyn enter Number 10 instead, a polling expert has warned. … Joe Twyman of Delta Poll said Mr Johnson’s Conservative party could win more seats than Labour but not stay in …
Quite a contrast in the way National plans to treat prisoners, this time with compulsory work. I would have thought this was a non issue because I thought work is a privilege inside (?)
Anyhoo it looks like they are fishing for a reaction of some kind.
Its top of page on Stuff right now in case anyone is interested although the article is almost as short as my post.
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
The ‘50 Shades of Green’ farmers’ protest in 2019 was heavy on climate change denial, but five years on, scepticism and criticism about the idea that pine forests can save us is growing across the board. File photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the top six news items of note in climate ...
This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
In 2003, the Court of Appeal delivered its decision in Ngati Apa v Attorney-General, ruling that Māori customary title over the foreshore and seabed had not been universally extinguished, and that the Māori Land Court could determine claims and confirm title if the facts supported it. This kicked off the ...
Earlier this week at Parliament, Labour leader Chris Hipkins was applauded for saying that the response to the final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care had to be “bigger than politics.” True, but the fine words, apologies and “we hear you” messages will soon ring ...
TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
Trust in me in all you doHave the faith I have in youLove will see us through, if only you trust in meWhy don't you, you trust me?In a week that saw the release of the 3,000 page Abuse in Care report Christopher Luxon was being asked about Boot Camps. ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
Luxon speaks in Parliament yesterday about the Abuse in Care report. Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:PM Christopher Luxon said yesterday in tabling the Abuse in Carereport in Parliament he wanted to ‘do the ...
About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Thursday, July 25, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day were:The Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquirypublished its final report yesterday.PM Christopher Luxon and The Minister responsible for ...
The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:40 am on Wednesday, July 24 are:Deep Dive: Chipping away at the housing crisis, including my comments RNZ/Newsroom’s The DetailNews: Government softens on asset sales, ...
As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
Renting for life: Shared ownership initiatives are unlikely to slow the slide in home ownership by much. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:A Deloittereport for Westpac has projected Aotearoa’s home-ownership rate will ...
You're broken down and tiredOf living life on a merry go roundAnd you can't find the fighterBut I see it in you so we gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsWe gonna walk it outAnd move mountainsAnd I'll rise upI'll rise like the dayI'll rise upI'll rise unafraidI'll rise upAnd I'll ...
There’s been a change in Myers Park. Down the steps from St. Kevin’s Arcade, past the grassy slopes, the children’s playground, the benches and that goat statue, there has been a transformation. The underpass for Mayoral Drive has gone from a barren, grey, concrete tunnel, to a place that thrums ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections Global society may have finally slammed on the brakes for climate-warming pollution released by human fossil fuel combustion. According to the Carbon Monitor Project, the total global climate pollution released between February and May 2024 declined slightly from the amount released during the same ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Tuesday, July 23 are:Deep Dive: Penlink: where tolling rhetoric meets reality BusinessDesk-$$$’sOliver LewisScoop:Te Pūkenga plans for regional polytechs leak out ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
Long ReadKey Summary: Although National increased the health budget by $1.4 billion in May, they used an old funding model to project health system costs, and never bothered to update their pre-election numbers. They were told during the Health Select Committees earlier in the year their budget amount was deficient, ...
As a momentous, historic weekend in US politics unfolded, analysts and commentators grasped for precedents and comparisons to help explain the significance and power of the choice Joe Biden had made. The 46th president had swept the Democratic party’s primaries but just over 100 days from the election had chosen ...
TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent talking about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s release of its first Emissions Reduction Plan;University of Otago Foreign Relations Professor and special guest Dr Karin von ...
Open access notablesImproving global temperature datasets to better account for non-uniform warming, Calvert, Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society:To better account for spatial non-uniform trends in warming, a new GITD [global instrumental temperature dataset] was created that used maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) to combine the land surface ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
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This could be a very big deal.
https://twitter.com/60Mins/status/1197680666814533632
A Chinese spy has risked his life to defect to Australia and is now offering a trove of unprecedented inside intelligence on how China conducts its interference operations abroad.
Wang “William” Liqiang is the first Chinese operative to ever blow his cover. He has revealed the identities of China’s senior military intelligence officers in Hong Kong, as well as providing details of how they fund and conduct political interference operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.
[…]
In interviews with The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes, he has revealed in granular detail how Beijing covertly controls listed companies to fund intelligence operations, including the surveillance and profiling of dissidents and the co-opting of media organisations.
He has given previously unheard details about the kidnapping of five booksellers from Hong Kong and their rendition to the Chinese mainland. His testimony shows how Beijing’s spies are infiltrating Hong Kong’s democracy movement, manipulating Taiwan’s elections and operating with impunity in Australia.
https://www.theage.com.au/national/defecting-chinese-spy-offers-information-trove-to-australian-government-20191122-p53d1l.html
Lengthy itrm on Stuff:
https://i.stuff.co.nz/world/australia/117659323/the-moment-a-chinese-spy-decided-to-defect-to-australia
If they have infiltrated Australia at the level he claims then they've infiltrated NZ as well.
Wonder where/how we can watch the interview tonight?
Shoutout to Minister of Justice Andrew Little for largely restoring the right to vote to prisoners.
Those serving over 3 years still don't.
It was a massive effort by Arthur Taylor, lawyer Francois, and the Greens, to get through the system and convince the Judiciary, Appeal Court, and finally Minister Little.
The principle of prisoner voting and enrolment has been won, it is a matter of extending it.
As Green MP Golriz says…”you don’t get human rights for being good, you get them for being human”
'Won' until wreckers like the Nats next get into power. Their current frontperson has promised the same already.
Until Winston decides to block it.
Wouldn't he be more inclined to double down?
Sorry, I meant under a future Nat govt. I take the point about his sad history in the current one.
Sadder being in opposition though …
National 56 seats
NZ First 9 seats
Greens + Labour is 54 seats.
Cabinet approval has occurred , so NZF is on board.
Little isnt 'leaving it up to staffers' like before who bungled similar changes including those in NZF. What ever happened to Ministers being involved in the detail of offices work, now its like Hollywood – get your people to talk to my people.
Another nail in the coffin of NZF, great news
If you penalised all those who broke the law by removing their vote, including speedsters, tax evaders, drunk/drugged drivers, owners of illegal arms, the violent, the bullies and the thieves, then what kind of a government would we have, elected by the fully law-abiding, what party would succeed?
"Let he who is without sin cast the first vote!"
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/117658836/prisoner-voting-rights-to-be-restored-ahead-of-2020-election
Mr Bridges?
Have you seen Nick Smiths rap sheet
Contempt of family court
Witness tampering
defamation , settled with money and abject apology.
If Smith had not had the public purse to fund his many trips to court over the years because of his loose mouth, he would be bankrupt many times over.
Maybe a slightly more
she'llwe'll be right version of this?https://www.truthdig.com/articles/will-americas-billionaires-start-a-second-civil-war/
Donald Trump:
That's pretty much the state of affairs in Queenstown-Lakes District Council.
Check out their District Plan for the rabbit-hole care-outs for specific developments.
And of course the number of billionaire end-time estates in which the locals are basically groundskeepers. A manicured plutocracy.
In Queenstown and Wanaka, we're living most our lives living in a gangsta's paradise.
Where the local council petitions the government for a special exemption from national legislation, because rich people.
Have you got a link here Weka? The only one I can think of is the visitor levy Which government have said they will consider
The alternative is to spread the costs imposed by visitors once they leave their accomodation across general ratepayers. Before the mid 90's Queenstown had a considerable loading on the sewerage rate for visitor accomodation that was to pay for tourist related costs around the district. That got axed in rating legislation changes / tightening around then.
It's not about "rich people", rather not having to impose those costs on the "poor people" of the district.
I was thinking about Labour's restrictions on selling housing to overseas owners. From memory QLDC submitted to get an exemption because of the perceived value to the area of wealthy people who like to fly in and out but don't have residency.
Here we go,
https://www.interest.co.nz/property/93297/governments-coming-under-pressure-make-changes-and-exemptions-its-legislation-barring
Yeah, fair point, but viewed in the context of the process of testing and refining legislation as it goes through the parliamentary process this is quite normal. At the time there were quite a few developments in train that could have gone tits up if their markets had been cut off. The effects of this would have hurt the small contractors and staff working on them much ore than the developers who bounced on to the next deal / company.
With the glorious benefit of hindsight, the effect on property markets and development has been pretty much nil, just a shift from those who can't get residency easily to those that can, or don't need to. And maybe forcing people to go down the residency path resulting in more committed purchasers. An agent I know in that market was pretty grumpy at the time, he's got his smile back now.
There's something disturbing about a council that will make that kind of submission but cannot (or will not) sort out its housing crisis. In both cases it seems like the priority is making money rather than attending to the wellbeing of the community and the citizens that live there.
Not that QLDC is alone in this, it's common to varying degrees in most councils. Just more obvious and pronounced with QLDC.
I wouldn't say QLDC isn't doing anything about the housing issues in the district, there's the Housing Trust and the new District Plan has a dramatic loosening of residential flat provisions which make it much easier for established families to house another generation, past or future. There's also over 1000 high density appartments in various stages of construction, most of which are Trust, KiwiBuild or otherwise destined to worker / staff housing rather than the open market.
But the perverse thing about housing in Queenstown Lakes or Central Otago is that increasing supply results in a many more times increase in demand. Unfortunately it's been like that since at least 1862 and the only thing that has any effect is a really good downturn, which the place does with bells and whistles.
they’re trying to do things, but it’s not working. I would say they’re a reflection of the wider NZ housing crisis. They’re still prioritising making money over the needs of residents.
“But the perverse thing about housing in Queenstown Lakes or Central Otago is that increasing supply results in a many more times increase in demand”
Yep, and the conversation there should be about capping development until the housing crisis is fixed*. That would be heresy of course, but my point stands about prioritising wealthy people.
*do all the other things as well like rent caps, better tenancy protections, social housing and so on.
I'm intrigued why you think that the housing issues in Queenstown are different to Remuera, Khandallah or Fendalton, or any other desirable location. Would you promote affordable housing for all in those locations as well?
Arrowtown has a cap on development through an urban growth boundary. The effect this has had is to make 60's and 70's cribs worth near a million and effectively throw the community that built from that period out of town as flash money rolled into town and took over the place.
We have doubled our population in the last 10 years, so well over half our population aren't from here. There's considerable churn as well, so the long term local population is incredibly small. All that increase is discretionary, no one has to live here and there's effectively no economy outside tourism, which doesn't pay many million dollar mortgages, and building houses to house people to build more houses.
You could be really cynical and say that cash burn is the main driver of Queenstown's economy and not be far from the truth.
Sometimes I wonder if things would be any different if we actually did have a total halt on new green field development, allowed property prices to go through the stratosphere, and forced employers to provide staff accomodation. Then the only way you could live here would be if you had a job with accomodation, or could pay the open market rents, which would be up in the stratosphere along with property prices. Although the price would moderate demand, just like it does in Remuera, Khandallah or Fendalton.
“I’m intrigued why you think that the housing issues in Queenstown are different to Remuera, Khandallah or Fendalton, or any other desirable location. Would you promote affordable housing for all in those locations as well?”
Interesting question. I don’t see the QLDC area as akin to a wealthy suburb in a much large city (nor even Queenstown), but sure, why shouldn’t low income people live in Queenstown? Unless you are proposing to set a minimum wage of something like $30/hr, people will still need affordable housing. The difference with Fendalton is that there are other places in Chch that people on lower incomes can live. The housing crisis of course is changing all that.
“Arrowtown has a cap on development through an urban growth boundary. The effect this has had is to make 60’s and 70’s cribs worth near a million and effectively throw the community that built from that period out of town as flash money rolled into town and took over the place.”
I didn’t say put a cap on and do nothing else. I said put a cap on and then do all the things needed to solve the housing crisis. I think your example proves my point. All communities need affordable housing, and to get that needs multiple interventions.
My perspective on the economy (and again, thinking the whole area, not just the Queenstown, but probably now CODC as well, because as far as I can tell the housing crisis has spread) is that mass tourism must fail because of climate change, so better to start designing a different economic base, and if that’s happening may as well make it steady state given the bleeding obvious physical limits of the Wakatipu Basin. The QL area is also precarious in terms of the Alpine fault shifting. Intervention from council and govt isn’t necessarily going to raise housing costs, although I appreciate the bizarreness of making this argument for Queenstown given it is primarily driven by money. Still a goldmining town.
Back to QLDC. My preference is that the central govt regulates to force councils to make communities and residents the direct priority not asset management that is somehow meant to flow into benefits for the people that live in an area. Because QLDC *should be making housing crisis solutions part of their core function and they’re not even close to that.
What is more, it can be an opening through which the mindset of a serial criminal could be changed and successful rehabilitation rates improved.
Don't expect the tunnel visioned National Party conservatives to be able to comprehend such an outcome though.
You can be as human as you are driven to be, but to live in a community, a culture, you had better have respect for how being a human in that culture is, or you can be cast out. Airy fairy statements from people who have learned about life in theories, or in dreams of a better life don't hold water. Bob Dylan sang a song that
I always thought this was a test run for removing the franchise from other groups later on down the track.
First prisoners currently serving..
…then those on parole
…then those with criminal conviction
…then those on benefits or unemployed
…then those who dont own property..
There’s not test as such, it’s already underway and in full swing. They don’t even have to use force or threats. To paraphrase Sacha Baron Cohen:
Plutocracy, based on shared apathy, is on the march.
Combine that with a powerful quote (HT to greywarshark):
I think these two short sentences or statements rather sum up our current predicament quite ‘nicely’.
The full quote – from John Stott is
The overall context was something about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah
Thank you and in what other ways does this contribute to the thread?
Open mike … its an amuse bouche
We were already on the mains.
from this
It sort of didnt get mentioned who was the philosopher- prince-activist who coined the phrase.
I suppose that Stott, an upper class anglican priest was of the leaders of world wide evangelist movement wasnt something you want to make reference to.
I suppose you’re attributing ulterior motives to me, which annoys me immensely at the best of times.
I took the quote from greywarshark’s comment (hence the HT) that you linked to and did not know about the full quote nor that it was from Stott or even who he was.
" Snips of Quotes used like art prints – because they look & sound good enrich all our lives and can act as signposts to where we've been and are going" – dukeofurl
And I got the quote from a site that I noted on my comment. It would be good if people didn't try to interfere and snipe at comments trying to stamp out ideas for consideration and to participate.
So says Sniper in chief.
True millsy. I think I didn't like that all-embracing sound of having everything just because you are human, thing. I would like another option that jailed people can vote, but some are kept out of the community all their life, with a reasonable life but away behind lock and key. Others would serve a suspended sentence where they work on their attitudes, talk out most of the s..t and learn a different way to handle the rest, and then go out and practice it. Which would agree with Andrew Little's thought to encourage people to become treasured parts of society.
Etta James with Bob Dylan's Gotta Serve Somebody.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwkOdv443_o&index=7&list=PLMXRJyeLJ82rcOEMz1m3cPgafFzyiPcVr
They are still members of and part of our society albeit incarcerated for a period. They have friends and family in the community and they will join the community again upon their release. It seems it is easier to hang on to a knighthood than to keep your voting rights.
yup. Like in the US.
Report in Herald re doggy website over charging for the NZ eVisa
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12287510
Google is sort of helping by taking the fraudulent sites down, but a search still bring them up
What struck me was INZ response.
"INZ said any travellers who had used a third party site and were concerned about the validity of their NZeTA should go back to the site they bought it through.
"INZ is unable to assist in those circumstances, as the transaction is between the traveller and the site they used," Dunstan said."
Like a fraudulent site will say OOPs, yess the visa is wrong
AND
Dont INZ have a list of visas? – Are they taking visas from the fraudulent sites too?
Sort of weird
These other sites , when legit, just act like a portal to the real NZeTA site. As many countries offer e visas for holiday travel etc its a common scam to either charge way over the top to just make a legit application ( and pay INZ their fee) or they dont really make a full application at all, keep all the money , and lie to you about having a valid e visa.
Bring it on, the faster the better.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/117622561/waiheke-littatrap-trial-sees-4000-pieces-of-rubbish-prevented-from-entering-waterways
Revealing interview on The Hui with serial activist and first-generation migrant Lisa Prager about mana whenua and Mt Albert – brilliant example of giving someone enough rope (9m): https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2019/11/meet-the-activists-trying-to-stop-native-trees-being-planted-on-mt-albert.html
They arent stopping native trees being planted…. the mountain has had 100s of new native trees planted in the last year.
Its wholesale cutting of significant trees thats will denude the entire mountain thats the issue.
Another falsehood in the story is they have been given resource consent to remove trees, they havent. Its a management plan for all the maunga which covers in a vague way many issues , only a sentence or two mentions vegetation management as though it was peripheral matter.
Are you seriously asking us to believe that no resource consent has been granted for this work? Links please. Love to see where you are getting that idea from.
They always refer back to the management plan, which isnt a resource consent for significant vegetation removal .
Council bodies can be funny like that, proceed without doing the full consents. They have done it before
Heres what they should have but they dont , its always some bumpf about consultation for the management plan with bullet points like
'Proactively manage plant pests and inappropriate exotic vegetation;' yes thats it !
This is an outline of what a vegetation removal consent would start with
https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/building-and-consents/working-on-around-trees/Documents/application-resource-consent-trees.pdf
Amoung other things
'Please provide a sketch of the proposal and clearly identify the number , species and location of each tree subject to the application, the proposed work and the location of all buildings and specific features (where relevant) on the site'
Their plans involved helicopters to assist in removal so it was really major.
Seems they do have consent.
Legal approval
The tree removal at Ōwairaka / Mount Albert is authorised by a resource consent approved by Auckland Council.
The resource consent approval was supported by independent expert ecological assessments, including in relation to the timing and staging of the tree removals.
The resource consent does not permit the removal of any exotic tree that has a native bird nesting in it.
Tūpuna Maunga Authority contractors will be undertaking the authorised activities in full compliance with the resource consent.
The Tūpuna Maunga Authority welcomes the support of The Tree Council and Forest and Bird for the ecological restoration of Ōwairaka / Mount Albert.
https://www.treecouncil.org.nz/tupuna-maunga-authority-media-release-re-owairaka-mount-albert-trees/
[link fixed – weka]
Thank you.
Press releases arent resource consents . Of course they have experts on 'doing their plan' but a "real resource consent" is highly likely to have gone to notified hearing where objectors would have the full detail of what is proposed, how they are going to do it and the mitigation of the effects.
TMA actually say there supporting documentation isnt a resource consent
“Notes for editors:
Vegetation management is in accordance with the Tūpuna Maunga Integrated
Management Plan (which underwent public consultation early 2016), the
Proposed Tūpuna Maunga Authority Integrated Management Plan Strategies
(which underwent public consultation mid-2019) and the Tūpuna Maunga
Authority Operational Plan.
Same old same old for this clear felling
"Tree wars: Auckland Council accused of flouting resource consent process over felling Western Springs pines"
The strange thing about TMA saying this
"One management objective is to facilitate the restoration of the natural, spiritual and indigenous landscape and to help restore and enhance the mauri (life force) and wairua (spiritual essence) of the maunga."
When europeans arrived in the Auckland isthmus , it was largely devoid of large trees mostly being dense bracken fern. The large maori population it had supported needed wood for fires , construction and other uses. The maunga were of course fortified so needed clear approaches and would have supported gardens as well on the less steep areas.
To believe you or the Tree Council? Hmmm
Ask the people at Western Springs , the Council just went ahead anyway , something about an emergency consent.
Does the Tree Council know something that TMA hasnt even got on its website?
Oh yes the details were "'Proactively manage plant pests and inappropriate exotic vegetation;'
Who could object that as its admirable aspiration.
What's Western Springs got to do with it?
What reason would the Tree Council have to lie about the consent?
Western Springs, emergency provision because the trees were dangerous.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12193121&ref=art_readmore
Why are you upset about this, Duke?
I think he lives in Mt Albert (recollection he mentioned it once).
I grew up on the western slopes of Mt Albert and although it is 30 plus years since I left the suburb, I'm upset those beautiful trees are going to be cut down.
I was talking to someone the other day who lives on the eastern slopes of Mt. Albert. Apparently there were many hundreds of protesters trying to block access early in the morning last week. The media present chose to publish a photo later that morning when the majority had left for work etc. and only a handful of protesters were left. Typical, to create the wrong impression.
There was a one-off gathering organised by Brash and co. The smaller remainder with the placards have denied being connected with them.
The person I talked with… she and hubby live close to the 'hill'. I expect they were two among many who were not there for ideological reasons, but have a genuine concern for the fate of the trees.
And I'm with them. Native and imported tree species should be growing alongside each other (where it is appropriate) as symbolism of the multi-folded heritage this tiny nation has become.
"I grew up on the western slopes of Mt Albert and although it is 30 plus years since I left the suburb, I'm upset those beautiful trees are going to be cut down."
This is the conversation I haven't seen yet. Some people, probably quite a lot, form relationships with place, including with trees. I too feel grief when local trees are cut down in places that I have spent a lot of time, trees that were planted when my grandparents were young.
I also understand that many Māori may feel differently towards the same place, for obvious reasons.
This is very hard to resolve. Writing off the protestors as nimbys or selfish is unlikely to make it easier. We're still not very good at this in NZ.
Thanks weka.
You understand the conundrum. Sometimes when trees are cut down for questionable purposes a tiny piece of the life of an individual can die with those trees. Some of the trees on Mt Albert have probably been there since the mid-to-late 1800s. They are now significant historical features.
I want to see our indigenous fauna planted and flourish wherever possible because they are such an important part of our collective psyche. And there is plenty of room on Mt Albert where they will flourish without removing many of the other trees.
I hope Pingau is right. The trees I was referring to are not those to be removed.
To Anne & others.
I am part of the occupation team on Owairaka Mt Albert. If you would indulge me, some context:
1. The Hui visited the Maunga on a day when the occupation was staffed by a smaller number of people than normal, none of whom wanted to be put through being on TV. Disappointingly, Mihi had not taken the time to research in advance who the official spokesperson was (Anna Radford), or who the organisers were. That would have taken her no more than 15 minutes. Lisa has been helping the group with advice about how to occupy peacefully and legally and happened to be on site. She reluctantly did the interview after The Hui team said it was her or nothing. I will leave others to draw their own conclusions.
2. Since ‘The Hui’ program aired (and I'll be honest some of us cringed just a little), inquiries to our group have surged, particularly interest in our FB page and signatures on the petition (now over 3,000). The Hui FB thread reveals much support for our protest.
3. The Tupuna Maunga Authority is not Iwi, it is not the owner of the land. The TMA is an unelected, statutory body with huge resources and minimal accountability. It is made up of 6 councillors, hand-picked by the Mayor, and 6 representatives of Iwi. The 13th member is a non-voting, government appointee. Their job is to implement a co-governance regime that benefits all Aucklanders, on behalf of the very generous owners, the iwi of Tamaki Makaurau.
4. The TMA has an articulate and powerful chairman. Honour the Maunga (the protest group), on the other hand, started as a handful of concerned citizens, and has now grown to a group that numbers in excess of 1,000 members, all from a variety of ethnic and social backgrounds. Many are Maori. We are a group of ordinary people, for the most part unsophisticated in this type of action. What has united this diverse group of people together is our love for the tree scape and bird life of the Mountain.
4. When this began, it is my view the TMA thought our protest would quickly fissle. When that didn’t happen, they began to shift gear in a way that would make the National Party’s ‘dirty politics’ team blush. That is a story for when this is over, but I will say this – take much of what they say with a great deal of skepticism.
5. On a personal level, we have been subject to the vilest personal abuse, including a small group who have been posting (and promptly deleting) threatening material on personal FB pages, as well as on the Mt Albert Community FB page. The victims of most of this abuse have been women in our group, something I find particularly disturbing (pardon my middle age male protectionism). One of the most common themes of abuse has been to label us racists.
6. I sincerely invite anyone to visit our occupation. We are friendly, of diverse ethnicity, age, socio-economic background and political opinion. I am so far out of my comfort zone, and I am making personal sacrifices to be a part of this, but this is something I feel is right.
Thanks for reading, apologies for the length of this.
Im a frequent visitor to the mountain…long before 'the plan'. In a previous life I knew a bit about getting resource consents.
This doesnt sound like a proper notified resource consent, and my concerns were increased by TMA only ever referring to the 'Management Plan' and its consultation. The Tree Council ( whos ever heard of them before now) isnt really a primary source for information, its either Auckland Council or TMA. The Council may be playing the same emergency game they did at Western Springs
Im all for the new tree planting that has been done ( all about waist height) and removal of problem trees , and also under-story planting and a gradual change to native species
Hi Duke
Please read my post above. For the record, the TMA do have consent for the work, but this was a non-notified consent. We have obtained a lot of material by way of LGOIMA, but much of the detail has been redacted.
We are in favour of the native planting, but not the process. We are also deeply concerned with the planting methodology, with significant numbers of plants previously planted on the Maunga already dead or dying.
It will not "denude the entire mountain" as for one, there is a large area that is under Watercare administration that has both exotic and other trees – no trees will be removed from this area as it it outside the Tupuna Maunga Integrated Management Plan.
I assume it is the area shown at the bottom left of the aerial photo (page 41 on the version I looked at).
https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/how-auckland-council-works/kaupapa-maori/comanagement-authorities-boards/tupuna-maunga-tamaki-makaurau-authority/Pages/tupuna-maunga-integrated-management-plan.aspx
It also seems that some of the protestors are exaggerating the relative number of trees to be cut down, referring to it as "clear-felling" and so on.
Apparently there are 850 trees on the Maunga (both native and exotic) and of these, 345 are to be felled (183 or so pest plants and mostly gum trees for the rest).
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK1911/S00490/hui-to-be-held-at-wairaka-mt-albert.htm
When I lived near there in the mid-90s and walked there a lot, I used to think it was a shame that there were so many monkey apples and flowering cherries spreading over the Maunga … so good on them for the well considered plan and I hope it gets underway soon.
Tui feed on the nectar of flowering cherries and kereru on the fruit of so-called weeds, including monkey apples. Gum trees are also a source of nectar for tui and kaka. Possibly one reason for the abundant tuis in Auckland and kereru more common than ever is the non-native nectar and fruit bearing trees. I favour mixed natives and exotics and regard the opinion below as ill-advised.
"The downside of a bird-friendly garden is the weeds brought in by visiting birds. Kereru and other fruit eaters will deposit privet seeds, monkey apple, woolly nightshade, non-native palm trees and many other invasive pest plants. Kereru love guava but they are a weed in tropical climates and climate change could make them a weed in our native bush too. Be vigilant and remove weeds, particularly anything that has seeds that birds eat and later deposit in native bush. These weed species invade natural habitats and upset the balanced ecosystem, ultimately negatively affecting bird life."
https://localmatters.co.nz/news/27236-plant-enthusiast-offers-top-tips-pulling-birds.html
Yep, tui and kereru seem greatly chuffed with the exotic flowering trees at my place. The tuis particularly like the coral tree, but ordinary old bottlebrush seems perfectly acceptable.
Hi GG
Outside the boundary of the Owairaka Maunga (as with others), there is a proliferation of exotic trees. If the exotics on the maunga are removed, the birdlife will do what hungry birds do…travel in search of food. So they find that food, fly back over the Maunga, and 'deposit' the seeds of these exotics back amongst the native plantings. At least some of these survive, and off we go again.
But you just said below at 11:59pm:
Our concern is that with the loss of their habitat, the Maunga will lose these magnificent creatures permanently.
So make ya mind up, will the birds go away forever or just come and go as they do?
If there are lots of exotic weeds around the maunga that will seed back into it with the help of birds is that not more reason to clear these from the maunga itself? Weed management could be a big job once grassed areas are planted.
They will not come back to nest, not come back to settle. They will find and compete for food sources elsewhere, or die in the process. My comment to GG was in the context of his remark, and was a 'hypothetical'. At best, they may fly over, but even that is unlikely.
And what exotic weeds you are referring to? In the context of my comment, if that was even remotely likely, good luck with getting the TMA to clear those. They are struggling to keep the native plantings alive.
At best, they may fly over, but even that is unlikely.
The majority of the trees on the maunga are natives and will remain. You are just making up nonsense.
A "weed" is a plant growing in the wrong place. The objective of the plan is to restore native vegetation so any exotic is a weed in that context.
Bullshit.
There are beautiful trees both "native" and imported. I saw a magnificent magnolia tree in full bloom today. An absolute picture. There are beautiful indigenous trees. They grow side by side as a symbol of our nationhood. There are weeds too – both native and imported. By all means remove them but don't touch the 100 plus year old trees. That constitutes an environmental crime of biblical proportions.
Fescue is my favourite lawn species, but when Fescue grows in my vege beds it is a weed.
If you own land then you can plant a Magnolia there.
There are 345 trees earmarked for destruction. Of those a handful are classified as weeds, so the TMA are being disingenuous.
The plan to restore native vegetation to the Maunga has our support. The plan to cull a large number of healthy trees in 5 weeks, and replace them with mostly shrubs and grasses does not.
"…but when Fescue grows in my vege beds it is a weed."
But when natives are planted under the protective canopy of beautiful exotics, they thrive.
@paddington
How about replying to what i am saying rather than just going off on auto-rant:
But when natives are planted under the protective canopy of beautiful exotics, they thrive.
Sean Freeman, arborist and chair of the Tree Council, says that natives will not do well in the root span of eucalypts:
@1.22
https://www.rnz.co.nz/audio/player?audio_id=2018722866
Yes the objective is to to restore native vegetation:
https://www.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz/about-auckland-council/how-auckland-council-works/kaupapa-maori/comanagement-authorities-boards/tupuna-maunga-tamaki-makaurau-authority/integratedmanagementplanstrategies/proposed-tupuna-maunga-integrated-management-plan-strategies-part-2.pdf
No mention of exotics here. "Eco-sourced" can only be native as exotics haven't been around long enough to have adapted to local conditions. "Other native plants will be considered".
This is not an issue about trees but rather one of colonialism. That people like you still think that you should get to impose your values over those of Maori, even after ownership has been transferred back to them.
"No mention of exotics here. "
But likewise, no mention of the removal of exotics either. In fact no-where in any of the TMA submissions (at least the ones that have been made public) does it mention the removal of all exotics.
"That people like you still think that you should get to impose your values over those of Maori, even after ownership has been transferred back to them. "
Ownership always comes with conditions. And in this case the transfer of ownership came with very specific conditions. The Maunga Authority have failed to take the wider community with them, and even they are acknowledging that now.
Hi Pingau…You are quoting from a press release from the TMA chairman. If you dig, you will find that the TMA is not the most reliable source on this issue. But here's a question…why would you think it is acceptable to cut down perfectly healthy trees, some of which are in excess of 100 years old? Why would you think it is acceptable to cull an entire stand of beautiful cherry trees (that despite what has been claimed are not pests) that provide an excellent food source for both Tui and Kereru?
The overall TMA plan has some really good elements to it, but the implementation is anything but "well considered", and a growing number of experts, and even Forest and Bird, are now acknowledging that. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/117549183/mt-albert-tree-removal-felling-would-be-cruel-on-nesting-birds-experts-say
Thanks Paddington for your reply. It sounds like the TMA has not taken into account the attachment that some people have to some of the species they wish to remove.
I would be guessing that the removal of all of the trees on the list at once is based on operational expenses but it could also be they just wanted to start with a "clean slate" by removing all the unwanted trees.
I agree that the implementation of their plan has been lacking but I still think that the removal of the pest trees was well-considered. It is hard to know what the criteria is for other (non-pest) trees that are not a hazard or how many there are.
I also disagree that cherry trees are not a pest – one sort is listed on the National Pest Plant Accord and several others are included in Regional Pest Management Strategies or on the DOC consolidated weed list. In my area, I see multiple wildings of various Prunus species in parks, gardens and in pine plantations and native bush. That tui and kereru eat the fruit is part of the problem as they then disperse the seed. These trees then displace the endemic and native plants that are the food and habitat for many species and all kinds of life.
However it should be possible on an urban site like the Maunga that is a long way away from any native bush, for some of the mature exotic and invasive trees to be maintained and all wildings to be removed – at a cost of course, but some of these trees could possibly be retained for cultural reasons.
Hi Pingau
1. Re the Cherry's, the Owairaka Cherry's were misidentified by the TMA 'experts' as Prunus Campanulata. They are an entirely different species, and not a pest.
2. The 'clean slate' removal is being justified on the basis of operational costs, however that fails to take into account the climate impact of what is a large reduction in net biomass on the Maunga.
3. We have no objection to the removal of pest species, trees that are hazardous or diseased, or to the appropriate management of any tree on the Maunga. What we object to is the removal of a large number of healthy trees for no other reason than they are exotic.
4. With regards to the retention of exotics, the advice we have had is that the exotics could serve as canopy cover for the native plantings, and also continue to provide excellent food sources for our magnificent native bird life. We currently have Tui, Kereru, Morepork, Piwakawaka, the list goes on. Many of these birds have adapted to exotic tree produce, which has meant their populations thrive. Our concern is that with the loss of their habitat, the Maunga will lose these magnificent creatures permanently.
beautiful cherry trees (that despite what has been claimed are not pests)
If you are talking about Taiwan Cherry they fucking well are pests. In Northland you can see whole hillsides covered in this menace. I've killed many just on my half acre urban property but still they come.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/northland/106498308/invasion-of-taiwan-cherry-tree-causes-concern
https://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/115129751/taiwan-cherry-tree-given-eradication-status-in-nelsontasman-plan
Hi Solkta. The Cherry's on Owairaka are not the Taiwan Cherry (Prunus campanulata), although they have been mis-identified as such by the TMA and their 'experts'. I'll leave that to sink in.
The Owairaka Cherry's are considerably lighter in shade, and have an entirely different flower, and have now been identified as an entirely different species.
So what species are they?
We are awaiting the final specification, but the arborist has confirmed they are not a pest species, not the Taiwanese cherry. On a related note, I have seen today a list, compiled for the TMA and submitted by them as part of a works program, of all of the 345 trees to be felled. Only a handful are 'pests', by their own assessment at that time. The Cherry’s are not listed in that compilation/report as pests.
Those photos are interesting. I know Mt Albert intimately and the area shown in the main photo is the remains of an old Maori Pa site. When we were children it was still possible to find shells collected by the former inhabitants. There are no trees there apart from the few stunted specimens in the photo. But further around there are lots of beautiful trees lining the access road that should not be touched.
It was my assumption they were the trees they plan to cut down.
Hi Anne…the trees to be cut down include many along that access road, and also the full stand of cherry's that stand in the corner of the archery area. Some from our group have started putting ribbons around the 'condemned' trees. We acknowledge there are trees that need to be removed e.g. privet and some of the eucalyptus. But all at once?
If you know Owairaka – Mt Albert well, please come up. The only access we are restricting is to people with chainsaws!
Thank you so much for your informed responses Paddington. As I suspected, a group of local officials (big frogs in little pools as my late Dad used to call them) have turned officious because their 'mode of operation' has been called into question by the masses.
Normally I would be over the bridge to join you before you could say Jack Robinson, but I am currently semi-disabled due to injury and back problems – the curse of advancing years. But I will be keeping a close eye on developments from the balmy Shore and I am certainly with all of you in spirit. Please let your fellow protesters know. I might even know some of the older ones who grew up or have lived in Mt Albert for many years.
Thanks, and will do. All the best for a speedy recovery.
Not sure whether .org.nz will be affected but hey, private equity.
https://twitter.com/ossia/status/1197950543706112001
Fadi Chehade …thats a name to remember
'Former ICANN CEO Fadi Chehade personally registered the domain name currently used by Ethos Capital in May and it was registered as a limited company in the US state of Delaware on May 14. "
Thanks for the tip Joe – I'm just in the process of renewing an org.nz domain name I sponsor so will ensure it is renewed out to 10 years.
Might be better to also buy the plain .nz of the same name, for shorter periods each. 🙂
Non-profit ownership for our .nz registry, thankfully: https://registry.internetnz.nz/
Rather ominous.
https://twitter.com/shannynmoore/status/1198400801145683969
trump 'Confounds the Science' – worth a listen if you haven't seen it, saw it on The Listening Post this last night.
That was tops Cinny. I had to laugh even if it was a hollow one.
Did you get to the A & P show? Great weather for it.
That clip was a goodie 🙂
Didn't make it to the show, the garden was calling instead 🙂 But it looks like it was an epic show and santa parade.
Not sure if there's more to this, but really?
https://twitter.com/BashirMohamed/status/1198299591466086401
Free speech only when it suits them,
Brexit
https://www.bbc.com/news/election-2019-50511329
General election 2019: Jeremy Corbyn to remain neutral in any new Brexit vote
and from The Express which I can't get 23/11/2019:
12 hours ago – BORIS JOHNSON could win more general election seats than Labour but still be forced to watch Jeremy Corbyn enter Number 10 instead, a polling expert has warned. … Joe Twyman of Delta Poll said Mr Johnson’s Conservative party could win more seats than Labour but not stay in …
Seems BBC wants a Johnson win.
https://twitter.com/AaronBastani/status/1198261302898176000
Turkeys
With one move, National destroy all their own attack lines ("no life experience", "kids march but don't pay taxes", "get a real job", etc, etc … ):
Nats pick 17 year old to be MP
They don't look too energised in the accompanying photo.
It is a refreshing difference from the recycled money traders, CEOs, Crown Prosecutors, tobacco lobbyists, and pseudo-farmers, to name a few.
All those possibilities lie before him..
Quite a contrast in the way National plans to treat prisoners, this time with compulsory work. I would have thought this was a non issue because I thought work is a privilege inside (?)
Anyhoo it looks like they are fishing for a reaction of some kind.
Its top of page on Stuff right now in case anyone is interested although the article is almost as short as my post.
Poll results in this morning….oh nooos! Might be just the beginning…
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/117662933/labour-ahead-while-national-dips-below-40-in-new-stuff-poll
Very good idea.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/117667874/shane-jones-wants-a-blue-highway-and-special-economic-zone-at-hicks-bay