A Chinese spy is spilling his secrets. This Sunday: A major #60Mins, @theage and @SMH joint investigation will expose a defector’s shocking revelations from inside the Chinese Communist Party. pic.twitter.com/EZUJgEx6IJ
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. "
I realize I live in #Alaska and it’s better than half through with November – but I just picked these greens, herbs and berries. Also I don’t think the bears are sleeping. It feels awkward. pic.twitter.com/11TmdWaxWa
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.
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 10, 2021 through Sat, Jan 16, 2021Editor's ChoiceNASA says 2020 tied for hottest year on record — here’s what you can do to helpPhoto by Michael Held on Unsplash ...
Health authorities in Norway are reporting some concerns about deaths in frail elderly after receiving their COVID-19 vaccine. Is this causally related to the vaccine? Probably not but here are the things to consider. According to the news there have been 23 deaths in Norway shortly after vaccine administration and ...
Happy New Year! No, experts are not concerned that “…one of New Zealand’s COIVD-1( vaccines will fail to protect the country” Here is why. But first I wish to issue an expletive about this journalism (First in Australia and then in NZ). It exhibits utter failure to actually truly consult ...
All nations have shadows; some acknowledge them. For others they shape their image in uncomfortable ways.The staunch Labour supporter was in despair at what her Rogernomics Government was doing. But she finished ‘at least, we got rid of Muldoon’, a response which tells us that then, and today, one’s views ...
Grigori GuitchountsIn November, Springer Nature, one of the world’s largest publishers of scientific journals, made an attention-grabbing announcement: More than 30 of its most prestigious journals, including the flagship Nature, will now allow authors to pay a fee of US$11,390 to make their papers freely available for anyone to read ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe, Henry Jacoby, Richard Richels, and Benjamin Santer Imagine a major climate change law passing the U.S. Congress unanimously? Don’t bother. It turns out that you don’t need to imagine it. Get this: The Global Change Research Act of 1990 was passed ...
“They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”WHO CAN FORGET the penultimate scene of the 1956 movie classic, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? The wild-eyed doctor, stumbling down the highway, trying desperately to warn his fellow citizens: “They’re here already! You’re next! You’re next! You’re next!”Ostensibly science-fiction, the movie ...
TheOneRing.Net has got its paws on the official synopsis of the upcoming Amazon Tolkien TV series. It’s a development that brings to mind the line about Sauron deliberately releasing Gollum from the dungeons of Barad-dûr. Amazon knew exactly what they were doing here, in terms of drumming up publicity: ...
Since Dwight Eisenhower’s inauguration in 1953, US presidents have joined an informal club intended to provide support - and occasionally rivalry - between those few who have been ‘leaders of the free world’. Donald Trump, elected on a promise to ‘drain the swamp’ and a constant mocker of his predecessors, ...
For over a decade commentators have noted the rise of a new brand of explicitly ideological politics throughout the world. By this they usually refer to the re-emergence of national populism and avowedly illiberal approaches to governance throughout the “advanced” democratic community, but they also extend the thought to the ...
The US House of Representatives has just impeached Donald Trump, giving him the dubious honour of being the only US President to be impeached twice. Ten Republicans voted for impeachement, making it the most bipartisan impeachment ever. The question now is whether the Senate will rise to the occasion, and ...
Kieren Mitchell; Alice Mouton, Université de Liège; Angela Perri, Durham University, and Laurent Frantz, Ludwig Maximilian University of MunichThanks to the hit television series Game of Thrones, the dire wolf has gained a near-mythical status. But it was a real animal that roamed the Americas for at least 250,000 ...
Tide of tidal data rises Having cast our own fate to include rising sea level, there's a degree of urgency in learning the history of mean sea level in any given spot, beyond idle curiosity. Sea level rise (SLR) isn't equal from one place to another and even at a particular ...
Well, some of those chickens sure came home bigly, didn’t they… and proceeded to shit all over the nice carpet in the Capitol. What we were seeing here are societal forces that have long had difficulty trying to reconcile people to the “idea” of America and the reality of ...
In the wake of Donald Trump's incitement of an assault on the US capitol, Twitter finally enforced its terms of service and suspended his account. They've since followed that up with action against prominent QAnon accounts and Trumpers, including in New Zealand. I'm not unhappy with this: Trump regularly violated ...
Peter S. Ross, University of British ColumbiaThe Arctic has long proven to be a barometer of the health of our planet. This remote part of the world faces unprecedented environmental assaults, as climate change and industrial chemicals threaten a way of life for Inuit and other Indigenous and northern ...
Susan St John makes the case for taxing a deemed rate of return on excessive real estate holdings (after a family home exemption), to redirect scarce housing resources to where they are needed most. Read the full article here ...
I’m less than convinced by arguments that platforms like Twitter should be subject to common carrier regulation preventing them from being able to decide who to keep on as clients of their free services, and who they would not like to serve. It’s much easier to create competition for the ...
The hypocritical actions of political leaders throughout the global Covid pandemic have damaged public faith in institutions and governance. Liam Hehir chronicles the way in which contemporary politicians have let down the public, and explains how real leadership means walking the talk. During the Blitz, when German bombs were ...
Over the years, we've published many rebuttals, blog posts and graphics which came about due to direct interactions with the scientists actually carrying out the underlying research or being knowledgable about a topic in general. We'll highlight some of these interactions in this blog post. We'll start with two memorable ...
Yesterday we had the unseemly sight of a landleech threatening to keep his houses empty in response to better tenancy laws. Meanwhile in Catalonia they have a solution for that: nationalisation: Barcelona is deploying a new weapon in its quest to increase the city’s available rental housing: the power ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters, PhD The 2020 global wildfire season brought extreme fire activity to the western U.S., Australia, the Arctic, and Brazil, making it the fifth most expensive year for wildfire losses on record. The year began with an unprecedented fire event ...
NOTE: This is an excerpt from a digital story – read the full story here.Tess TuxfordKo te Kauri Ko Au, Ko te Au ko Kauri I am the kauri, the kauri is me Te Roroa proverb In Waipoua Forest, at the top of the North Island, New ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Coming attraction: IPCC's upcoming major climate assessmentLook for more emphasis on 'solutions,' efforts by cities, climate equity ... and outlook for emissions cuts in ...
Ringing A Clear Historical Bell: The extraordinary images captured in and around the US Capitol Building on 6 January 2021 mirror some of the worst images of America's past.THERE IS A SCENE in the 1982 movie Missing which has remained with me for nearly 40 years. Directed by the Greek-French ...
To impact or not to impeach? I understand why some of those who are justifiably aghast at Trump’s behaviour over recent days might still counsel against impeaching him for a second time. To impeach him, they argue, would run the risk of making him a martyr in the eyes of ...
The Capitol Building, Washington DC, Wednesday, 6 January 2021. Oh come, my little one, come.The day is almost done.Be at my side, behold the sightOf evening on the land.The life, my love, is hardAnd heavy is my heart.How should I live if you should leaveAnd we should be apart?Come, let me ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Jan 3, 2021 through Sat, Jan 9, 2021Editor's ChoiceAfter the Insurrection: Accountability, Reform, and the Science of Democracy The poisonous lies and enablers of sedition--including Senator Hawley, pictured ...
This article, guest authored by Prof. Angela Gallego-Sala & Dr. Julie Loisel, was originally published on the Carbon Brief website on Dec 21, 2020. It is reposted below in its entirety. Click here to access the original article and comments. Peatlands Peatlands are ecosystems unlike any other. Perpetually saturated, their ...
The assault on the US Capitol and constitutional crisis that it has caused was telegraphed, predictable and yet unexpected and confusing. There are several subplots involved: whether the occupation of the Michigan State House in May was a trial run for the attacks on Congress; whether people involved in the ...
On Christmas Eve, child number 1 spotted a crack in a window. It’s a double-glazed window, and inspection showed that the small, horizontal crack was in the outermost pane. It was perpendicular to the frame, about three-quarters of the way up one side. The origins are a mystery. It MIGHT ...
Anne-Marie Broudehoux, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM)Will the COVID-19 pandemic prompt a shift to healthier cities that focus on wellness rather than functional and economic concerns? This is a hypothesis that seems to be supported by several researchers around the world. In many ways, containment and physical distancing ...
Does the US need to strike a grand bargain with like-minded countries to pool their efforts? What does this tell us about today’s global politics? Perhaps the most remarkable editorial of last year was the cover leader of the London Economist on 19 November 2020. Shortly after Joe Biden was ...
Alexander Gillespie, University of Waikato and Valmaine Toki, University of WaikatoAotearoa New Zealand likes to think it punches above its weight internationally, but there is one area where we are conspicuously falling behind — the number of sites recognised by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Globally, there are 1,121 ...
An event organised by the Auckland PhilippinesSolidarity group Have a three-course lunch at Nanam Eatery with us! Help support the organic farming of our Lumad communities through the Mindanao Community School Agricultural Foundation. Each ticket is $50. Food will be served on shared plates. To purchase, please email phsolidarity@gmail.com or ...
"Abandon Hope All Ye Who Enter Here." Prisons are places of unceasing emotional and physical violence, unrelieved despair and unforgivable human waste.IT WAS NATIONAL’S Bill English who accurately described New Zealand’s prisons as “fiscal and moral failures”. On the same subject, Labour’s Dr Martyn Findlay memorably suggested that no prison ...
This is a re-post from Inside Climate News by Ilana Cohen. Inside Climate News is a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. Sign up for the ICN newsletter here. Whether or not people accept the science on Covid-19 and climate change, both global crises will have lasting impacts on health and ...
. . American Burlesque As I write this (Wednesday evening, 6 January), the US Presidential election is all but resolved, confirming Joe Biden as the next President of the (Dis-)United State of America. Trump’s turbulent political career has lasted just four years – one of the few single-term US presidents ...
The session started off so well. Annalax – suitably chastised – spent a pleasant morning with his new girlfriend (he would say paramour, of course, but for our purposes, girlfriend is easier*). He told her about Waking World Drow, and their worship of Her Ladyship. And he started ...
In a recent column I wrote for local newspapers, I ventured to suggest that Donald Trump – in addition to being a liar and a cheat, and sexist and racist – was a fascist in the making and would probably try, if he were to lose the election, to defy ...
When I was preparing for my School C English exam I knew I needed some quotes to splash through my essays. But remembering lines was never my strong point, so I tended to look for the low-hanging fruit. We’d studied Shakespeare’s King Lear that year and perhaps the lowest hanging ...
When I went to bed last night, I was expecting today to be eventful. A lot of pouting in Congress as last-ditch Trumpers staged bad-faith "objections" to a democratic election, maybe some rioting on the streets of Washington DC from angry Trump supporters. But I wasn't expecting anything like an ...
Melted ice of the past answers question today? Kate Ashley and a large crew of coauthors wind back the clock to look at Antarctic sea ice behavior in times gone by, in Mid-Holocene Antarctic sea-ice increase driven by marine ice sheet retreat. For armchair scientists following the Antarctic sea ice situation, something jumps out in ...
Christina SzalinskiWhen Martha Field became pregnant in 2005, a singular fear weighed on her mind. Not long before, as a Cornell University graduate student researching how genes and nutrients interact to cause disease, she had seen images of unborn mouse pups smaller than her pinkie nail, some with ...
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidates for President and Vice President respectively for the US 2020 Election, may have dispensed with the erstwhile nemesis, Trump the candidate – but there are numerous critical openings through which much, much worse many out there may yet see fit to ...
I don’t know Taupō well. Even though I stop off there from time to time, I’m always on the way to somewhere else. Usually Taupō means making a hot water puddle in the gritty sand followed by a swim in the lake, noticing with bemusement and resignation the traffic, the ...
Frances Williams, King’s College LondonFor most people, infection with SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – leads to mild, short-term symptoms, acute respiratory illness, or possibly no symptoms at all. But some people have long-lasting symptoms after their infection – this has been dubbed “long COVID”. Scientists are ...
Last night, a British court ruled that Julian Assange cannot be extradited to the US. Unfortunately, its not because all he is "guilty" of is journalism, or because the offence the US wants to charge him with - espionage - is of an inherently political nature; instead the judge accepted ...
Is the Gender Identity Movement a movement for human liberation, or is it a regressive movement which undermines women’s liberation and promotes sexist stereotypes? Should biological males be allowed to play in women’s sport, use women-only spaces (public toilets, changing rooms, other facilities), be able to have access to everything ...
Ian Whittaker, Nottingham Trent University and Gareth Dorrian, University of BirminghamSpace exploration achieved several notable firsts in 2020 despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including commercial human spaceflight and returning samples of an asteroid to Earth. The coming year is shaping up to be just as interesting. Here are some of ...
Michael Head, University of SouthamptonThe UK has become the first country to authorise the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine for public use, with roll-out to start in the first week of 2021. This vaccine is the second to be authorised in the UK – following the Pfizer vaccine. The British government ...
So, Boris Johnson has been footering about in hospitals again. We should be grateful, perhaps, that on this occasion the Clown-in-Chief is only (probably) getting in the way and causing distractions, rather than taking up a bed, vital equipment and resources and adding more strain and danger to exhausted staff.Look at ...
Story of the Week... Toon of the Week... SkS in the News... Coming Soon on SkS... Poster of the Week... SkS Week in Review... Story of the Week... Many Scientists Now Say Global Warming Could Stop Relatively Quickly After Emissions Go to ZeroThat’s one of several recent ...
The situation in the UK is looking catastrophic.Cases: over *70,000* people who were tested in England on 29th December tested positive. This is *not* because there were more tests on that day. It *is* 4 days after Christmas though, around when people who caught Covid on Christmas Day might start ...
by Don Franks For five days over New Year weekend, sixteen prisoners in the archaic pre WW1 block of Waikeria Prison defied authorities by setting fires and occupying the building’s roof. They eventually agreed to surrender after intervention from Maori party co-leader Rawiri Waititi. A message from the protesting men had stated: ...
Lost Opportunity: The powerful political metaphor of the Maori Party leading the despised and marginalised from danger to safety, is one Labour could have pre-empted by taking the uprising at Waikeria Prison much more seriously. AS WORD OF Rawiri Waititi’s successful intervention in the Waikeria Prison stand-off spreads, the Maori ...
Dear friends, it’s been a covidious year,A testing time for all of us here—Citizens of an island nationIn a state of managed isolation,A team (someone said) five million strong,Making it up as we went along:Somehow in typical Kiwi fashion,Without any wild excess ...
A chronological listing of news articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Dec 27, 2020 through Sat, Jan 2, 2021Editor's Choice7 Graphics That Show Why the Arctic Is in Trouble Arctic Sea Ice: NSIDC It’s no secret that the Arctic is ...
One of the books I read in 2020 was She, by H. Rider Haggard (1887). I thoroughly enjoyed it, as being an exemplar of a good old-fashioned adventure story. I also noted with amusement ...
Scottish doctor Malcolm Kendrick looks at the pandemic and the responses to it 30th December 2020 I have not written much about COVID19 recently. What can be said? In my opinion the world has simply gone bonkers. The best description can be found in Dante’s Inferno, written many hundreds of ...
I notice a few regulars no longer allow public access to the site counters. This may happen accidentally when the blog format is altered. If your blog is unexpectedly missing or the numbers seem very low please check this out. After correcting send me the URL for your ...
As we welcome in the new year, our focus is on continuing to keep New Zealanders safe and moving forward with our economic recovery. There’s a lot to get on with, but before we say a final goodbye to 2020, here’s a quick look back at some of the milestones ...
The Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of the Cook Islands Mark Brown have announced passengers from the Cook Islands can resume quarantine-free travel into New Zealand from 21 January, enabling access to essential services such as health. “Following confirmation of the Cook Islands’ COVID ...
Jobs for Nature funding is being made available to conservation groups and landowners to employ staff and contractors in a move aimed at boosting local biodiversity-focused projects, Conservation Minister Kiritapu Allan has announced. It is estimated some 400-plus jobs will be created with employment opportunities in ecology, restoration, trapping, ...
The Government has approved an exception class for 1000 international tertiary students, degree level and above, who began their study in New Zealand but were caught offshore when border restrictions began. The exception will allow students to return to New Zealand in stages from April 2021. “Our top priority continues ...
Today’s deal between Meridian and Rio Tinto for the Tiwai smelter to remain open another four years provides time for a managed transition for Southland. “The deal provides welcome certainty to the Southland community by protecting jobs and incomes as the region plans for the future. The Government is committed ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has appointed Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC). The leader of each APEC economy appoints three private sector representatives to ABAC. ABAC provides advice to leaders annually on business priorities. “ABAC helps ensure that APEC’s work programme is informed by business community perspectives ...
The Government’s prudent fiscal management and strong policy programme in the face of the COVID-19 global pandemic have been acknowledged by the credit rating agency Fitch. Fitch has today affirmed New Zealand’s local currency rating at AA+ with a stable outlook and foreign currency rating at AA with a positive ...
The Government is putting in place a suite of additional actions to protect New Zealand from COVID-19, including new emerging variants, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins said today. “Given the high rates of infection in many countries and evidence of the global spread of more transmissible variants, it’s clear that ...
$36 million of Government funding alongside councils and others for 19 projects Investment will clean up and protect waterways and create local jobs Boots on the ground expected in Q2 of 2021 Funding part of the Jobs for Nature policy package A package of 19 projects will help clean up ...
The commemoration of the 175th anniversary of the Battle of Ruapekapeka represents an opportunity for all New Zealanders to reflect on the role these conflicts have had in creating our modern nation, says Associate Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Kiri Allan. “The Battle at Te Ruapekapeka Pā, which took ...
Babies born with tongue-tie will be assessed and treated consistently under new guidelines released by the Ministry of Health, Associate Minister of Health Dr Ayesha Verrall announced today. Around 5% to 10% of babies are born with a tongue-tie, or ankyloglossia, in New Zealand each year. At least half can ...
The prisoner disorder event at Waikeria Prison is over, with all remaining prisoners now safely and securely detained, Corrections Minister Kelvin Davis says. The majority of those involved in the event are members of the Mongols and Comancheros. Five of the men are deportees from Australia, with three subject to ...
Travellers from the United Kingdom or the United States bound for New Zealand will be required to get a negative test result for COVID-19 before departing, and work is underway to extend the requirement to other long haul flights to New Zealand, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins confirmed today. “The new PCR test requirement, foreshadowed last ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has added her warm congratulations to the New Zealanders recognised for their contributions to their communities and the country in the New Year 2021 Honours List. “The past year has been one that few of us could have imagined. In spite of all the things that ...
Attorney-General and Minister for the Environment David Parker has congratulated two retired judges who have had their contributions to the country and their communities recognised in the New Year 2021 Honours list. The Hon Tony Randerson QC has been appointed a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Aupito William Sio says the New Year’s Honours List 2021 highlights again the outstanding contribution made by Pacific people across Aotearoa. “We are acknowledging the work of 13 Pacific leaders in the New Year’s Honours, representing a number of sectors including health, education, community, sports, the ...
The Government’s investment in digital literacy training for seniors has led to more than 250 people participating so far, helping them stay connected. “COVID-19 has meant older New Zealanders are showing more interest in learning how to use technology like Zoom and Skype so they can to keep in touch ...
A nationwide poll has found majority support for the government to continue to closely monitor abortions in New Zealand and the reasons for it, despite the Ministry of Health recently suggesting that there is not a use for collecting much of this information. ...
The out-of-control growth in gangs, gun crime, and violent gang activity is exposing our communities to dangerous levels of violence that will inevitably end in tragedy, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “The recent incidents of people being shot and ...
Successive governments have paid lip service to our productivity challenge but have failed to deliver. It's time to establish a Productivity Council charged with prioritising efforts. ...
Understanding the connection between chronic fatigue syndrome and ‘long Covid’ might be helpful in treating symptoms that doctors will find all too easy to dismiss.When people began to report signs of “long Covid”, characterised by a lack of full recovery from the virus and debilitating fatigue, I recognised their stories. ...
Nadine Anne Hura, who never considered herself an artist, reflects on what art and making has taught her.I couldn’t clean or cook or wash the clothes, but I could sew. That’s a lie, I’m a terrible sewer, but I left work early to fossick around in the $1 bin of ...
Summer reissue: In the final episode of this season of Bad News, Alice is joined by Billy T award winner Kura Forrester to look at how well we’re honouring Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2020.First published September 3, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The ...
Lucy Revill’s The Residents is a blog about daily life in Wellington that has morphed into a stylish, low-key coffee-table book featuring interviews and photographic portraits of 38 Wellingtonians. In this extract, Revill profiles Eboni Waitere, owner and executive director of Huia Publishers. The Residents features names like Monique Fiso ...
Pacific Media Watch correspondent The pro-independence conflict in West Papua with a missionary plane reportedly being shot down at Intan Jaya has stirred contrasting responses from the TNI/POLRI state sources, church leaders and an independence leader. A shooting caused a plane to catch fire on 6 January 2021 in the ...
“Last year ACT warned that rewarding protestors at Ihumātao with taxpayer money would promote further squatting. We just didn’t think it would happen as quickly as it is in Shelly Bay” says ACT Leader David Seymour. “The prosperity of all ...
Our kindly PM registered her return to work as leader of the nation with yet another statement on the Beehive website, the second in two days (following her appointment of Anna Curzon to the APEC Business Advisory Council on Wednesday). It’s great to know we don’t have to check with ...
A Pūhoi pub is refusing to remove a piece of memorabilia bearing the n-word from its walls. Dr Lachy Paterson looks at the history of the word here, and New Zealand’s complicity in Britain’s shameful slave trading past.Content warning: This article contains racist language and images.On a pub wall in ...
Supermarket shoppers looking for citrus are seeing a sour trend at the moment – some stores are entirely tapped out of lemons. But why? Batches of homemade lemonade will be taking a hit this summer, with life not giving New Zealand shoppers lemons. Prices are high at supermarkets and grocers that ...
You’re born either a cheery soul or a gloomy one, reckons Linda Burgess – but what happens when gene pools from opposite ends of the spectrum collide?In our shoeboxes of photos that we have to sort out before we die or get demented – because who IS that kid on ...
Summer reissue: Prisoner voting rights are something that few in government seem particularly motivated to do anything about. Could a catchy charity single help draw attention to the issue?First published September 1, 2020.Independent journalism depends on you. Help us stay curious in 2021. The Spinoff’s journalism is funded by its ...
Hundreds more Cook Islanders are expected to begin criss-crossing the Pacific, Air NZ will triple the number of flights to Rarotonga next week, and about 300 managed isolation places will be freed up for Kiwis returning from other parts of the world. When Thomas Tarurongo Wynne took a job in Wellington at ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Ena Manuireva in Auckland It seems a long time ago – some 124 days – since Mā’ohi Nui deplored its first covid-19 related deaths of an elderly woman on 11 September 2020 followed by her husband just hours later, both over the age of 80. The local ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Turnbull, Postdoctoral research associate, UNSW A global coalition of more than 50 countries have this week pledged to protect over 30% of the planet’s lands and seas by the end of this decade. Their reasoning is clear: we need greater protection ...
The Reserve Bank Governor’s apology and claim he will ‘own the issue’ is laughable given the lack of answers and timing of its release. Jordan Williams, a spokesman for the Taxpayers’ Union said: “It’s been five days since they came clean, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Olga Kokshagina, Researcher – Innovation & Entrepreneurship, RMIT University Are too many online meetings and notifications getting you down? Online communication tools – from email to virtual chat and video-conferencing – have transformed the way we work. In many respects they’ve made ...
The Reserve Bank acknowledges information about some of its stakeholders may have been breached in a malicious data hack. The Governor of the Reserve Bank of New Zealand has commissioned an independent inquiry into how stakeholders' information was compromised when hackers breached a file sharing service used by the bank. “We ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Caitlin Syme, PhD in Vertebrate Palaeontology, The University of Queensland This story contains spoilers for Ammonite Palaeontologist Mary Anning is known for discovering a multitude of Jurassic fossils from Lyme Regis on England’s Dorset Coast from the age of ten in 1809. ...
A tribute to the sitcoms of old? In the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Yup. Sam Brooks reviews the audacious WandaVision.Nothing sends a chill up my spine like the phrase “Marvel Cinematic Universe”. Since launching in 2008 with Iron Man, the MCU has become a shambling behemoth, with over 23 films (not ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University The alt-right, QAnon, paramilitary and Donald Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on January 6 claimed they were only doing what the so-called “founding fathers” of the US had done in ...
The Point of Order Ministerial Workload Watchdog and our ever-vigilant Trough Monitor were both triggered yesterday by an item of news from the office of Conservation Minister Kititapu Allan. The minister was drawing attention to new opportunities to dip into the Jobs for Nature programme (and her statement was the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andreas Kupz, Senior Research Fellow, James Cook University In July 1921, a French infant became the first person to receive an experimental vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), after the mother had died from the disease. The vaccine, known as Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), is ...
The first Friday Poem for 2021 is by Wellington poet Rebecca Hawkes.While you were partying I studied the bladeI your ever-loving edgelord God-emperorof the bot army & bitcoin mine subsistingon an IV drip of gamer girl bathwaterfinally my lonelinessis your responsibility………. you seeI need a girlfriend assigned to me by the ...
The arming of police officers in Canterbury was inevitable with the growing numbers and brazenness of the gangs across the country – this should be a permanent step, says Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is unfortunate that we have come to the point ...
Celebrations in Aotearoa New Zealand to mark the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will begin on Thursday 21 January with ICAN Aotearoa New Zealand’s Wellington and online event, and continue on Friday ...
Hardly anyone is using their Covid Tracer app. Something needs to change.As the mercury approaches 30°C in Aotearoa, there is a good deal of slipping and slopping, but, let’s face it, piss-all scanning. As few as around 500,000 QR codes are being scanned by users of the NZ Covid Tracer ...
On the East Coast, a group of Māori-owned enterprises is innovating to create new revenue streams while doing what they love.New Zealand’s remote and sparsely populated regions are typically not the best places to create thriving brick-and-mortar businesses. In small communities miles away from any major centres, there are so ...
As we reach the height of summer, it’s not too late to do a safety check on your gas bottle. The Environmental Protection Authority’s Safer Homes programme has some tips and tricks to keep in mind before you fire up the grill. "If you’ve ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1Troy: The Siege of Troy Retold by Stephen Fry (Michael Joseph, $37)If you’re in any way unsure about ...
“We may as well knock on the gang headquarters around this country and tell them we all give up," says Darroch Ball co-leader of Sensible Sentencing Trust. “It is simply outrageous that violent offender, James Tuwhangai, has been released from ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Ireland, Israel, and Lebanon. Chart by Keith Rankin. The countries with the most recent large outbreaks of Covid19 are those with large numbers of recent recorded cases, but yet to record the deaths that most likely will result. In this camp, this time, are Ireland, Israel ...
RuPaul is in Aotearoa, kicking back in managed isolation to await the filming of an Australasian version of her hugely popular reality show Drag Race. But not everyone is happy about, explains Eli Matthewson. The world’s most famous drag queen, RuPaul, is in New Zealand, the government confirmed earlier this week ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Melleuish, Professor, School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, University of Wollongong What can we make of Clive Palmer? This week, he announced his United Australia Party (UAP) would not contest the upcoming West Australian state election on March 13. After a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gisela Kaplan, Emeritus Professor in Animal Behaviour, University of New England Have you ever seenmagpies play-fighting with one another, or rolling around in high spirits? Or an apostlebird running at full speed with a stick in its beak, chased by a ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jen Jackson, Program Director, Centre for Policy Development, and Associate Professor of Education, Mitchell Institute, Victoria University Childcare centres across Australia are suffering staff shortages, which have been exacerbated by the COVID crisis. Many childcare workers across Australia left when parents started ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Barrett, Senior Lecturer in Taxation, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Rhetoric plays an important role in tax debate and therefore tax policy. If your side manages to gain traction in the public imagination with labels such as “death ...
*This article was first published on The Conversation and is republished with permission* Whoever leads the Republican Party post-Trump will need to consider how they will maintain the rabid support of his “base”, while working to regain more moderate voters who defected from the party in the 2020 election. In a historic ...
Covid-19 fears accelerated banks’ moves towards cashless transactions. But the Reserve Bank is fighting to protect cash, and those who still use it. ...
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This could be a very big deal.
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.
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.
trump 'Confounds the Science' – worth a listen if you haven't seen it, saw it on The Listening Post this last night.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57jRBt4h6ks
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.
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