YouGov polling methods has been heavily criticised in the UK and I am frankly surprised that Stuff are using them. They were probably the cheapest option.
YouGov used the same sort of methodology described in the Stuff piece back in 2017 in the UK and they got final result completely wrong.
Apart from all the usual hazards of online polling, the biggest problem with their polling is the guesswork behind their weighting of online samples to give the final result. For example, in the UK in 2017 they heavily discounted the results from anyone young because they were thought unlikely to vote, whilst assuming anyone over 60 will almost always vote.
Phone polls use the same weighting methods, for the voting group, age, income, ethnicity etc
the 2017 UK polling assumptions affected all the surveys, and what readers who make up their minds early might not realise is a chunk of voters make up their minds on the day or just before. Who can survey that?
NZ is lucky in that MMP directly takes a voting % into seats. Polling for FPP electorates is inherently difficult.
Allegations the Chinese Government attempted to recruit a car salesman, "Nick" Zhao to run as a Liberal Party candidate have come to light. Mr Zhao allegedly told ASIO about the deal, and was found dead in a hotel room earlier this year.
“Using an Australian citizen and basically run them as an agent of foreign influence in our democratic system. So this is really significant and Australians should be very, very concerned about this.” Mr Hastie has called for a full investigation into Mr Zhao’s death.
“Everyone should be concerned about the way that Nick Zhao died and I think we need a full investigation where we turn over every stone,” he said. “We explore every nook and cranny, we cast as much light into the shadows and make sure that we have a full comprehensive understanding of how he died and why he died.”
Last night/this morning, our local hospital is full. Nowhere for patients to go to from ED.
Senior nurses are talking about experiencing PTSD.. The 'safe' places these people use (running, excercising, debrief at home) are starting to fail…
To go to your place of work, with a feeling of dread. To be often in crisis mode, barely coping with too large a work load. Not good for the patients and families
Then hear the latest approach from management, knowing it will not make a difference, as the last few changes made no difference.
An immediate difference is to implement a nurse/patient ratio, 1/4 in ED.
Of course it is the same old, same old. A lack of priority from those who hold the purse strings.
PTSD is a very real consequence of Ryall/Colemans slash n burn along with underfunding against rising population and demanding DHB's still balance budgets.
Most flogged and leased back to do that which we all know just kicks it down the road, a national party speciality.
Edit
I have done a bit of ferreting in the background to health spending and it is interesting so I have put a number of links and part of some reporting to give a taste of what the problems are. It is NZ Government charges on DHBs that bother me. It might have changed recently but they have to make a return on their land use I think. Supposed to make them more efficient.
This is from a letter to Health Minister David Clark drawing his attention to the 'capital charge' DHBs must pay to the government. I think is an egregious and swingeing impost on DHBs under the business model accounting system, which has probably been set by Treasury but needs to be struck off.
Canterbury researcher Dr Michael Gousmett has long expressed concern at the capital charge – what he describes as "a tax" on their "taxpayer-funded net assets" – which the country's district health boards (DHBs) pay to the Government, and the impact this charge has on DHBs' ability to deliver core services. He outlines these concerns in an open letter to Health Minister David Clark.
More on the 'capital charge' from a report by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists who understand the problems and are well versed in the economics of health in NZ.
(While all this discussion goes on, the hospital services remain in virtual limbo and people must wait for reasonable health provision. People I know who have worked in hospitals tell me about the number and duration of meetings from which very little outcomes arise.)
This on the health funding provision for medical services, staff and doctors from Coleman's 2017 Budget. Has funding increased to a reasonable level since then, both on a population basis, but also special provision, taking account of large areas requiring access by sparse populations as in Southland?
May 2017 – The health sector needs an additional $1.1 billion in this week's Budget to maintain services, according to the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) and the senior doctors' union…
The CTU calculated the Government had not adequately funded DHBs since 2009-2010. Increased costs created a shortfall of $1.8m in health spending.
Research published in the New Zealand Medical Journal in March by Canterbury Charity Hospital founder Dr Phil Bagshaw showed at least 25 percent of adults could not get the basic health care they need. About nine percent have an unmet need for hospital care. ..
Underfunding affected nurses, New Zealand Nurses Organisation chief executive Memo Musa said.
"Our members have told us underfunding is now affecting patient safety, access to care, triggering care-rationing, health-worker burn out and straining the infrastructure."
Dr Coleman said in a statement: "This is traditional pre-budget positioning by CTU and other unions. People should wait until the Budget on Thursday."
.
Then there are the profitable business interests nosing around which have infiltrated some NZ DHBs to the extent that their CEOs have set up their own private business to provide needs of the hospital under their management . This was a shameful grab and double-dipping from people trying to have their cake and eat it too; and succeeding in the confused and corrupt public management set-up neolib economics has dumped on us. (I can’t remember off-hand which hospital CEO that did this – but the news stayed in my memory.)
If less money was spent on preparing reports on theories of how much money could be withheld and spent somewhere else, and money made available on simple straightforward service basis, we could probably see an immediate benefit to conditions.
Then looking at allocation of funding being supplied on an age basis, with the priorities on helping people get back to work, or giving children the services to ensure their proper growth and healthy development, that would be a good start. Then pay attention to what the older people needed and this would reverse the present situation. First the young, and helping those in pain, but not bypassing age but not giving priority to those nearing death which forms a large part of hospital spending.
An economist's report on health spending gives this little gem, an indication of how cold mathematical analysis squeezes humans into little measurable units and probably explains why there is so much pain in the health sector felt by providers as well as patients.
https://www2.deloitte.com/nz/en/pages/2018-government-budget/articles/health-2018-new-zealand-budget.html Again, we hope this money will be spent differently from how it’s been spent in the past. The government wants to lift New Zealand’s productivity, and it is about time we did so in healthcare. Sadly, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) estimates that our workforce of around 210,000 health and social workers is less productive than the national average across all industries, generating only $39 GDP per hour worked (compared to a national average of $48). Even worse, MBIE figures show a steadily declining average in health sector productivity over a number of years.
Glad you approve gsays. It took a while but when put together it shows there is a mounting pile of problems. You hear stuff but singly, and don't realise how bad the whole situation is.
Here is the latest item of stretched and stressed workers When are we going to pop? Or is the sneaky government running down the public hospital system so they can say 'Oh we can't manage', throw their hands in the air, and contract with Serco or such!
Just a thought SPC. I would like a reasonably factual figure of how much would be saved by stopping superannuation (old age pension) for the still working after age 65. Do you have a figure to hand or can give a link where it can be found within say one minute? This is something that we should be thinking about.
Anyway a cool look at the money we have in the economy, and the money we are borrowing every day to keep the present steady state we have, would possibly show that we actually can afford super with a few tweaks.
One thing that could be done is that anyone who receives super goes on a volunteer register and chooses something the government would like done and puts in two to three hours a week minimum on their choice. Showing their enthusiasm for their country in a balanced caring relationship!
The current cost is $15B a year – an increase of $1B in the past year – 1953-54 baby boomers. It will be $23B c 2023 (741,300 last year to over 872,900 by then).
A lot of these new retirees will still be working.
Forty-four per cent of people aged 65 to 69 are still working and that is expected to increase in future.
The number working is greater than could reasonably be excluded (it would have to be more than a MW income and losing super not involve hardship – because of say rent or unpaid mortgage etc).
There are two figures those working now and receiving super (44% of those 65-69). Current cost (some of these will retire during the next 5 years).
The increasing numbers of those reaching age 65 while still working in the next 5 years (rising to over a million by c2030/$20B).
As to how many New Zealanders work full-time while receiving NZ Super and thus calculating the amount that would be saved by not paying them NZ Super until they retired – I have never seen the figure reported anywhere. Short answer billions each year and its rising every year.
The current cost is $15B a year – an increase of $1B in the past year – 1953-54 baby boomers. It will be $20B c 2023 (741,300 last year to over 872,900 by 2023). A lot of these new retirees will still be working.
Forty-four per cent of people aged 65 to 69 are still working and that is expected to increase in future.
The number working is greater than could reasonably be excluded (it would have to be more than a MW income and losing super not involve hardship – because of say rent or unpaid mortgage etc).
There are two figures
1. current cost – those working now and receiving super (44% of those 65-69). (some of these will retire during the next 5 years).
2. future cost – the increasing numbers of those reaching age 65 while still working in the next 5 years (rising to over a million by c2030).
As to how many New Zealanders work full-time while receiving NZ Super and thus calculating the amount that would be saved by not paying them NZ Super until they retired – I have never seen the figure reported anywhere.
Short answer billions each year and its rising every year.
Thanks SPC. Just thinking while it might be good for mental health to keep on working after 65 and it may indicate a pride in not being past 'it', it may be taking a job that pays well along with seniority perhaps, and jobs are in short supply for older people still under retirement age.
FFS: remember that super is taxed. Presumably one income or the other will be at secondary rates if we still have them or would probably push tax brackets otherwise.
So when you calculate it, approximate the clawback into your estimates.
Well given a reasonable rule of thumb would be that a sufficient to not need super income would be the living wage level (full-time) c$45,000 or above – with $20,000 single or $15,000 couple rate.
Tax rules applying
between $48,001 and $70,000 secondary tax code is SH and NZ Super taxed at 30%
more than $70,000 your secondary tax code is ST and your NZ Super will be taxed at 33%.
So deducting 30 cents off est $2Bpa gross cost leaves around $1.4Bpa net cost rising further each year to 2030.
The census of 2013 puts the number of people aged 60-64 as 230,000. Say 210,000 are still alive.
Apparently about 44% of them work aged 65-69. Say 1/4 work only work part-time. So if 1/3rd did not get Super, then that would be around 10% of the total on Super (over 700,000).
The current cost is $15Bpa – so $1.5B plus those over 70 still working more around $2B pa at the moment. It would rise to around $3Bpa by 2030 in todays dollars.
MSD (and certainly not benefit fact sheets) do not say how many of those of those on Super are aged 65-69.
But the census of 2013 shows 230,000 aged 60-64 then – if alive they would be 65-69 today. Sort of important when the only figure out there is 44% of those aged 65-69 are working (and we do not know how many are full-time or part-time).
There is a slightly more complete set of numbers from the 2013 Census that breaks the total down by age (in 10 year chunks), sex and whether they are full time or part time. This shows
"Across the three broad age groups within the 65s and over, there is a noticeable decline in the percentage employed as the groups get older. However, there are still people employed in all three of these broad age groups:
33.3 percent of people aged 65–74 years were employed
8.7 percent of people aged 75–84 years were employed
3.9 percent of people aged 85 years and over were employed.
We also see differences across the three 65+ age groups between people working full-time (30 hours or more per week) and part-time (less than 30 hours per week) in the week before the 2013 Census.
Of those aged 65–74 years:
19.1 percent worked full-time – the highest percentage of full-time workers in the 65+ age group
a significantly higher proportion of men (27.1 percent) than women (11.6 percent) worked full-time
14.3 percent worked part-time
a slightly higher proportion of women (14.9 percent) than men (13.5 percent) worked part-time.
In the next age group, 75–84 years, 2.6 percent worked full-time and 6.2 percent worked part-time. As with the 65–74 age group, a higher proportion of men worked full-time (4.5 percent) than women (1.0 percent).
Almost all people in the oldest age group (85+) were not in the labour force (96.1 percent). However, a small proportion were employed, with 3.2 percent working part-time and 0.7 percent full-time."
OK I found a data table at the bottom of the page – shows 237,000 aged 65-69. A small increase on the number in the age group 2013. Deaths fewer than those … returning here to retire.
This is almost certainly the wrong way to think of it. The NZ govt at all times has the capacity to buy everything for sale in NZ dollers. Paying /not paying pensions does not change that at all. The constraint the govt does have to deal with is on the real side of the economy, e.g are there sufficient medical professionals to carry out the work and maybe is there extra burden being put by the private sectors ability to buy up those resources.
By cutting pensions to those working you will most likely just leave a hole in aggregate demand and be responsible for a whole raft of inequity. I also suspect that its vaguely illegal as the pension payments were effectively earned at the time they were taxed by the wage earner.
1. The problem is limited government funding to HB who can thus can only afford so many staff. Then there are wages unattractive compared to those in Oz. Even if all positions were staffed the working conditions would be worse than in Oz, and because of this and lower pay, they find it hard to fill all the positions. Making things worse for those still employed.
The problem is the limited funding of the DHBs. The govt can choose to increase that without facing any financial constraint on so doing.
Payments to pensioners occur when the govt credits pensioners bank accounts. The payments the govt makes to the pensioners banks occur inside the reserve bank settlement system (the bank then goes on to credit the pensioners account). Only the reserve bank can create these interbank settlement account balances and entries. Making such payments (in a similar way to making payments to DHBs or their employees) is not therefore constrained by tax collection.
The main constraint here is a voluntary preference of the government.
If the government increases funding to HB. How do they respond? The HB cannot fill all places it has funds for now because they cannot attract staff at their pay rates.
Does the HB increase pay to fill all existing staffing positions or declare more vacancies when they are struggling to fill vacancies now
You know what a 30% GDP spending cap is right? Yeah I know its a voluntary 2017-2020 Labour-Green commitment to demonstrate their neo-liberal credentials to centre New Zealand, but that – and things like budget deficit or surplus and debt to GDP still determine the parameters for party policy formation and political debate.
So your suggesting taking away pensions in order to maintain that Labour party voluntary policy then? You realise at least some of the part time workers are relying on that pension payment for a reasonable income. Time, i think, to address the actual problem rather than contorting the govt policy to try to accomodate a harmful fiscal strategy.
I am saying there is a more just allocation of revenues/spending than paying super to those working (and I am referring to those working full-time or earning more than a 40 hour MW/living wage if part-time).
I'm pretty sure we already established in the discussion that this neo-liberal constraint framing is a fiction. It happens to obfuscate from the present and previous govts choices to underfund the DHBs and ultimately put many health care workers under various stresses. Its also their narrative choice to have DHBs report deficits rather than funding them with sufficient operational expenditure.
Make sure to read Bill Mitchells blog as the interviews he often addresses framing (and the interviewer questions) rather than explaining the economics directly. His writing is accessible however.
The pension payments are taken out of current earnings. When super was set up there was higher inflation and that could mean that savings value could be eroded whether private or government. Also there is the possibility of fraud, and for security in old age the pension (super) was set up to be universal and current. The Kiwisaver was a prudent and carefully managed fund added, that would take the shock to the system when all the products of a particularly fruitful time came of (older) age.
The better working conditions – better staffing levels, are reason enough to go. Of course the better pay means the student debt can be paid back more easily.
Well Key did want to set up a low wage system in New Zealand. And the Gnats wanted us to work harder and not get so above ourselves in our pay demands. The Gnats succeeded – or did they?
Did the National Party and their sycophants find the truth of that cautionary saying 'Be careful what you wish for', (or when you get it you might find it's a poisoned chalice)? No, the National Party find it suits them to go on poisoning us, our society, our living conditions, our water, our environment, our hopes and dreams. I am sick of materialistic sycophants.
"No, the National Party find it suits them to go on poisoning us, our society, our living conditions, our water, our environment, our hopes and dreams. I am sick of materialistic sycophants".
Stuff has published fake news from Jonathan Young of National – where he claims that ending new exploration licences is the reason why we burnt more coal for power generation last year.
What has become clear is there has been no net environmental gain as we're currently using less gas for electricity generation and burning 115 per cent more coal than a year ago.
'The company had struggled to meet its financial commitments since a $300 million well-drilling programme in the offshore Tui field was suspended in September [2019] after the first well proved dry."
Unpaid bills will affect local community hard…who knew there was a downside to drilling for oil
Interesting in view of OMV's announcement last week that they have reached agreement with Jadestone Energy to take OMV's 69% share in the Maari oil field off Taranaki subject to NZ government approvals etc.
OMV's intentions are supposedly to concentrate on their natural gas operations in NZ and not oil.
Curious . The people who stole the documents , then put them in a dumpster and call a journalist ? Who hasnt done that . Why didnt Nixons 'plumbers' think of that
Forgetting the rigmarole of finally getting hard proof, the information should be publicly available. It is beyond a lack of transparency. I feel it is a lack of basic honesty.
For Peters the documents potentially betray his voters, the donors who back the party, his candidates, his MPs and democracy.
There are so many people left bloodied on the path behind him that a resistance started to form and say enough is enough.
The problem is this sort of dump is that it is designed to replay 2005 and undermine NZF's re-election. It's manipulative dirty politics.
It's all very well for the media to run with it, but it's selective coverage advantaging another party/other parties.
Holding a blow torch to the practices of other parties in this area, with an overview of clearer and cleaner rules for all, is the way the media can best serve the public.
hes the only political leader whos been there for 25 years.
I see people talk about something about the Cook St ferries and Peters as though it was yesterday, the same era scandal involved Jenny Shipley and Tourism ministry – who remembers that. One of TS contributors had a list of Keys lies, twisted facts and half truths that could fill a booklet- who remembers that.
What you dont seem to get is the 2017 election result of Labour and Greens is less seats than National- remember that
Its just a game of fantasy football that Peters can be discarded
Yeah, let’s have another long drawn-out tortuous trial-by-media inflicting maximal harm to NZF, the Coalition-Government, and NZ politics in general. MSM would love nothing more than that.
The Herald has editoralised that Trump should face the voters, rather than be subject to an impeachment process (which just has Trump's own party Senators determine judgement).
Presumably they take the same stand on NZ First's fundraising practices and or the PM of Israel facing criminal charges while in office, or those politicians facing charges of corruption (or disqualified from standing for elections, as per Brazil).
The BBC just changed things to the way it should have been – so the audience applauded Johnson's answer on trust rather than laughed and so (a year earlier in fact) Johnson lay the wreath down the right way up (he had done so in the past after all).
It just goes to show how many Etonians rise to the top in all spheres of UK society …
I'm just reading CP Snow's 1964 Corridors of Power. He describes one family mixing in high circles in London; that they had never studied politics, but in their sphere had been immersed in it since childhood, understood all the maneouvres and levels of importance and thought it their right as members of high society to receive political positions if they were so inclined.
He wrote incisively in his 1959 book 'The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution':
There is, of course, no complete solution. […] But we can do something. The chief means open to us is education […] There is no excuse for letting another generation be as vastly ignorant, or as devoid of understanding and sympathy, as we are ourselves.
(This is a wikiquote and seems relevant to my point, though shortened.)
When Winston Peters announced the New Zealand First decision to enter into a Coalition agreement with the Labour Party, he observed it was ‘now or never for serious change in this country’s social and economic direction’. Equally, Jacinda Ardern signaled that she sought a change to capitalism and the way the economy is run. There appeared agreement that the neo-liberal experiment had failed New Zealanders, and the views of many, of “capitalism as foe”, “was not all wrong”. Winston said “capitalism must regain its responsible, human face” and that this view deeply influenced his party’s negotiations. He said he was confronted with the choice between a “modified status quo, or change’,
Key likes the idea of the Northern Port – thinks it makes sense. Then the extra cherry for the tuck operators, a four lane highway right to Whangarei. He has retired from his PM job and become a lobbyist for the powerful trying to drive the country forward by twisting our tails. Look out Key for we poor cows and our ultimate retaliation, we might poo on your hand.
Johnny Key is a turncoat as when he was in Wairoa/Gisborne in 2012 after his government had stolen the rail track maintenance funding for Auckland rail and caused the washout of a one km rail to close the rail service,
John key was reported in the Wairoa Star saying; quote;"I don't want road to be the only choice for moving freight "
But shortly after this, his henchmen Steven Joyce/Gerry Brownlee turned their backs on fixing the rail, and spent the rail reserve fund of four million dollars on two small passing lanes on the road to benefit trucks instead of fixing the rail line.
I haven't kept up with the Millane case. Could someone please tell me why the suppression of name of the accused is in place still? And put this use of it in context with what we expect with open justice in NZ. (And I would really like to hear from someone else apart from DoU.)
Suppression orders often also suppress the reasons for suppression. there is no "why". They just are. Until they are lifted (I would expect the order to be lifted at sentencing, though).
As others are speculating, there can be a number of reasons –
appeal related
whether further charges are being looked into
whether there are wider Police investigations taking place
the wishes of the victim's family and whether or not the prosecution considers the case closed or not
or something else – maybe even while the judge considers where and wha bestt to do with him so that rough justice is less of a prospect
I'm not quite sure how my knowing the name of this 26 now 27 year old fucked unit is going to benefit me or the general public – knowing that he's in custody, and is likely to be for quite some time.
Open justice takes time. It's taken a year so far. If suppression orders were to be made permanent, then I might have a different opinion.
There's already been enough speculation over this case during the past year (including a bit of victim blaming – such as my blokey neighbours when sinking piss bleating out that "she must be a bit of a dirty girl eh!)
I haven't seen a reason given, but most likely it means something else is pending – an appeal against conviction maybe, or further charges. Must say it's hard to picture an appeal against conviction being the reason…
I cannot see why the name suppression is still in place either. I don't believe he is a famous person or anything and the UK papers have named him apparently. I can only imagine the name suppression stays if there is going to be an appeal? Or if the Millane family (victim) have requested the name suppression stays although I can't imagine why they would.
Don’t forget that the Crown were able to produce photos from his phone. If they found other photos or messages on that phone that would have a bearing on this or any subsequent trial then it makes sense to continue name suppression.
[please don’t speculate details about Grace Millane’s killer. We don’t know the details of the suppression order, so better to err on the side of caution. Posting comment that creates legal risks for the site risks a ban – weka]
If my great aunt said he's transgender and I was sufficiently interested in that, I would post it on my own website rather than where someone else might get prosecuted for it. Be a sport.
You're welcome to link to information in the mainstream media. In the meantime please don't post speculation about details of the killer. As a mod I haven't seen the details of the suppression order, so am erring on the side of caution.
[deleted]
Stricter controls this time out so unable to confirm or deny.
As for breaching the order with my answer, and putting the site in jeopardy, I’ve narrowed it down to 1 in 5 million or 1 in 7.5 billion. Pretty safe odds.
[good for you. I on the other hand am aware that it’s the Trust that carries the legal risk not me, and that speculation leads to other people speculating who don’t know where the boundaries are. This increases the work for mods, which tends to piss us off – weka]
next time I'll just trash the top comment, which takes out the replies as well. Please don't take this as encouragement to speculate as I'm good with handing out bans too.
I'm sure you are, and well done for earning that privilige.
I did just read how in the UK in the last year there were 59 cases of men using rough sex as an excuse for murder. In the same time frame there were zero cases of women claiming that defence.
there's been a bit of discussion in OM and DR in the past week. I don't remember the details but there's something specific about the UK legislation that allows this to be more common (and the bigger population).
The question I ambiguously answered was about [deleted], and as shown in what's left of my reply all I've done is narrowed it down to 1 in 5 million or 1 in 7.5 billion. and that in no way goes anywhere near identifying the individual whose identity is suppressed.
But sure thing, big boy, you gotta roll how you gotta roll 🙄
“the man has also been named on social media accounts leaving the police to issue a warning not to state his identity on any posts.
He cannot yet be named for legal reasons, which have been strictly adhered to by New Zealand media, who can be prosecuted if they don’t comply with the court’s order.”
[2 week ban for wasting my time and ignoring moderation. See my comment below. – weka]
You still don't get it. YOU don't get to decide where the boundary is (nor any other commenter). Ultimately it's for Lynn and Mike to decide. In the meantime this mod is erring on the side of caution for reasons I have already explained and which you seem to be ignoring.
1. we don't know the details of the suppression order. I've seen one journalist say it covers the name and identifying details.
2. if your comment is ok legally (I have no way of knowing), it still leaves the problem of speculation encouraging other people to speculate who have different ideas or no clue about where the boundary is, and each time that happens one of the mods has to read the comments and think about the issues and moderate (which can take varying degrees of time). I'm sick of having to spend time on this.
That's how Granny Herald rolls now. All the toxic partisan crap is free, and you have to pay for anything interesting or relevant. Like crossword puzzles. Or actual news. I've found my life has improved immeasurably ever since I decided to stop reading the Herald completely. I don't understand subscribers. It's like paying someone to punch you in the face.
Congratulations to the people of Hong Kong, who have stood up for democracy against dictatorship. A stunning election result.
It is sad that so many of our politicians, in the relative comfort and safety of NZ, cannot stand up alongside them – for no reason except Beijing $$$.
“Oh, my goodness, it was stunning, the level of buzzing,” Guthrie said. “That moment was sort of an awakening for me.” The presence of so many bees and other insects was an indicator, to Guthrie, of the health of the land."
Good to hear. The bees are the most important link in the food chain and lots of other things to.
Lovely story last night on one of the smaller channels on huge diversity of bees- theres one that sometimes sleeps in the flower its pollinating overnight !
Horrible. Yet Todd Muller on Radionz decrying our hard and unreasonable townies are on 'farmers'. It is time for the umbrella to be removed from the body of all-farmers and let the dirty ones stand in the rain and get shamed and cleansed. Why should the ones that try to do well be besmirched with blame. If they moan about it, they need to recognise that they need to show up the others, twist their arms up their back, until they change their ways.
Farm animals are suffering in muddy, confined spaces, with many people ignoring the problem and officials unsure of what to do about it, a hard- hitting report has found.
Farm groups says pictures showing cows in mud have been taken out of context. Photo: Fish & Game New Zealand
The comments came in a report by a special taskforce on winter grazing.
Foreign farmers from Europe say, who come here and follow their usual ways at home need to be pulled up sharply. In Europe M.bovis is present and I think vaccinated against, but we were free of it. Similar with foot and mouth, I think they vaccinated against it over there.
Todd Muller National's agriculture spokesperson realises that there is a lot of ignorance around but he thinks it is townies who need to learn about the wondrous ways of the farming lobby. We townies are very credulous Todd, if you can show us that you are all behind environmental change we will be all on your side hand in hand.
His comments come in response to a question in a Level 3 English paper that asked students to "discuss the way the writer explores ongoing change" in a New Zealand Geographic article.The text quoted a survey showing two-thirds of respondents blamed farmers for deteriorating water quality.
Yes, electric vehicles really are better than fossil fuel burners
Hans-Werner Sinn’s opinion piece on whether electric cars are as climate friendly as they seem generated a good deal of controversy. William Todts, executive director of Transport & Environment, gives his response
But this isn’t about Sinn. In fact, whenever you read a newspaper article claiming EVs are worse than diesel or petrol cars, that article will be based on a report that deliberately makes EVs look worse than they are.
Usually the plot is as follows: a smaller petrol or diesel car is compared with a bigger, more powerful electric car; then the fossil fuel car is assumed to be as efficient as the EU’s official tests portray (in reality its fuel economy is always a lot worse); and finally the electric car is driving in a region with a very dirty electricity mix. Then you assume very high emissions for battery production based on outdated studies and finally you pretend electric cars don’t last very long and that its batteries aren’t reused or recycled.
There will always be a new study with some flawed assumptions to keep us all busy and we could rebut these until we all drop. The advantage for the oil and diesel industry is that articles and reports, however poor, keep the controversy alive. Discrediting or distorting science is a political strategy, as Naomi Oreskes chronicles so well in Merchants of Doubt
The rise of electric cars and green power are some of the biggest climate success stories of the past few years. It is the result of regulators in Europe, California and China doing their job and industry rising to the occasion. It shows what we can achieve if we set industry ambitious goals to clean up its act.
That might not please some but it is fair, effective and, for the climate, unequivocally a good thing. As the Nobel prize committee eloquently put it: “Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionised our lives since they first entered the market in 1991. They have laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil fuel-free society, and are of the greatest benefit to humankind.”
• William Todts is executive director of Transport & Environment, a European research and campaign group
This is awesome building Wind Turbine Towers out of Wood another good fact to plant billions of Trees.
Swedish company is building wind turbine towers out of timber
It seems that you can build just about anything out of wood.
While researching the carbon footprint of steel production for a lecture recently, I came across the line "it takes 200 tons of steel to make a wind turbine" – a justification for steel being green.
The wooden towers also offer additional environmental benefits compared with steel towers thanks to the lower-carbon manufacturing process. Lundman estimates a saving of 2,000-tonnes of CO2-emission per tower up until deployment. Plus, carbon sequestration in the wood offers the potential to make a wind-power plant carbon neutral.
The increases in waste dumpling fees is needed Ka pai that construction waste charges will go up to I think a lot of construction waste could be recycled.
YEA people should be aware of whats going down in Aotearoa.
That's awesome that the Wahine scientists has found new backing to go and study Ora in the Ross Sea.
Shows how strong the weather is getting worse because of global warming.
Discrimination is sad it good that the 3 Africa Americans finally got some justice I hope they get compensation for the 30 od years of wasted time in jail.
I think Tikanga Maori is the best way to get Maori and Pacific people into Whare. A big whare with the grandparents looking after the Mokopuna while the parents mahi is a great model.
Tangata get Solar Power if you build it yourself it's only 8 k no more power cuts you will have to minimise your usage though.
Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Sports Stars awards there are heaps to choose from kia kaha.
Cool having life jacket hubs to keep the people safe on the Moana.
That's correct Hone chemicals are still being used that harm Bees but not only Bees these chemicals are bad for every living thing. The reason that we are still using the poisoning chemicals is the multi nation company use all the dirtiest tricks in the book to suppress the factual data on the crap $$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
I read that story on the Japanese lakes problems with spraying chemicals on their rice paddies. That's the power these companies have no monitoring of poisonous chemicals concentrations in Aotearoa WTF.
I have seen perfect stuff that will be another person taonga being dumped???????.
That's great the Gender pay gaps closing in Aotearoa.
Mitchell you know exactly what's going down you we a cop????????????????.
Be good Whanau the you NO my view on the system.
Exactly its dog while politics but they are playing a flute to.
We must do everything we can can to minimise our Carbon footprint or we will stuff up our Mokopuna futures.
Climate emergency: world 'may have crossed tipping points’
Warning of ‘existential threat to civilisation’ as impacts lead to cascade of unstoppable events
The world may already have crossed a series of climate tipping points, according to a stark warning from scientists. This risk is “an existential threat to civilisation”, they say, meaning “we are in a state of planetary emergency”.
Tipping points are reached when particular impacts of global heating become unstoppable, such as the runaway loss of ice sheets or forests. In the past, extreme heating of 5C was thought necessary to pass tipping points, but the latest evidence suggests this could happen between 1C and 2C.
Prof Tim Lenton at the University of Exeter, the lead author of the article, said: “We might already have crossed the threshold for a cascade of interrelated tipping points. The simple version is the schoolkids [striking for climate action] are right: we are seeing potentially irreversible changes in the climate system under way, or very close.
Here's another story about positive impact tree have on the Earth.
Trees in the Amazon are the world's sweat glands – and 10 other essential climate facts
You will not be surprised to learn that the climate crisis is a big and complicated problem. But when I started Not Cool, a Climate Podcast, I honestly hoped that if I could just talk with a few climate experts, we could clarify the facts and outline straightforward solutions. Thirty-one experts and 26 interviews later, I realize how mistaken I was, with more questions now than when I started. But I’ve also learned some amazing facts about how nature works, how humans work, and how to start addressing this crisis
We need more mangroves
Fortunately, nature provides incredible tools for addressing and adapting to climate change. Mangroves – essentially forests that grow along coastlines – are near magical solutions that came up in multiple interviews. They help prevent erosion and protect coastal regions from waves and rising sea levels. The trees are a haven for biodiversity, which could be partly why coral reefs seem to thrive in their presence. And mangroves also sequester a lot of carbon, which can help address both global heating and ocean acidification – an effect of the increased carbon in the oceans
Forget geoengineering – we have forests
There are two types of geoengineering, more accurately known as climate engineering. One highly contentious method involves injecting particulates, such as sulfur aerosols, into the sky to minimize solar radiation and decrease temperatures. The problem with this approach is that if countries disagree about optimal global temperatures, we can’t just suddenly stop the geoengineering systems, as this would cause global temperatures to rise quickly and dramatically. But if left unaddressed, serious international disagreement could lead to war. The other – far less contentious – geoengineering option involves pulling carbon out of the atmosphere. Though technologies for this exist, they’re not yet affordable or scaleable. But nature could again help here, as more forests could absorb more carbon, cooling the Earth.
forests are useful because they pull moisture from the soil and expel it through their leaves, cooling the Earth just as sweat cools our bodies. So not only are forests vitally important for reabsorbing the carbon we emit, they also decrease temperatures. Unfortunately, many forests – especially the Amazon – face deforestation. Some researchers fear that if even 25% to 30% of the Amazon rainforest is cut down, the loss of moisture could change its basic makeup, transforming it from a rainforest to a savanna. This threat remains speculative, but is it possible we’ve already passed other critical tipping points
Perhaps the most important thing to know about the climate crisis is that solutions exist. It is political will we lack. Many people worry about convincing climate deniers that climate breakdown is real, but deniers make up a very small percentage of the population. Our real focus should be on convincing those in power that the majority of us want to see strong political action. That happens when we talk to each other, when we talk to our representatives, and when we talk to our financial institutions. Individual climate action is critical, but this is ultimately a societal problem, and the solution must be societal as well
Buzz from the Beehive Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters was bound to win headlines when he set out his thinking about AUKUS in his speech to the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. The headlines became bigger when – during an interview on RNZ’s Morning Report today – he criticised ...
The Post reports on how the government is refusing to release its advice on its corrupt Muldoonist fast-track law, instead using the "soon to be publicly available" refusal ground to hide it until after select committee submissions on the bill have closed. Fast-track Minister Chris Bishop's excuse? “It's not ...
As pressure on it grows, the livestock industry’s approach to the transition to Net Zero is increasingly being compared to that of fossil fuel interests. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty ImagesTL;DR: Here’s the top five news items of note in climate news for Aotearoa-NZ this week, and a discussion above ...
The New Zealand Herald reports – Stats NZ has offered a voluntary redundancy scheme to all of its workers as a way to give staff some control over their “future” amidst widespread job losses in the public sector. In an update to staff this morning, seen by the Herald, Statistics New Zealand ...
On Werewolf/Scoop, I usually do two long form political columns a week. From now on, there will be an extra column each week about music and movies. But first, some late-breaking political events:The rise in unemployment numbers for the March quarter was bigger than expected – and especially sharp ...
David Farrar writes – The Herald reports: TVNZ says it is dealing with about 50 formal complaints over its coverage of the latest 1News-Verian political poll, with some viewers – as well as the Prime Minister and a former senior Labour MP – critical of the tone of the 6pm report. ...
Muriel Newman writes – When Meridian Energy was seeking resource consents for a West Coast hydro dam proposal in 2010, local Maori “strenuously” objected, claiming their mana was inextricably linked to ‘their’ river and could be damaged. After receiving a financial payment from the company, however, the Ngai Tahu ...
Alwyn Poole writes – “An SEP,’ he said, ‘is something that we can’t see, or don’t see, or our brain doesn’t let us see, because we think that it’s somebody else’s problem. That’s what SEP means. Somebody Else’s Problem. The brain just edits it out, it’s like a ...
Our trust in our political institutions is fast eroding, according to a Maxim Institute discussion paper, Shaky Foundations: Why our democracy needs trust. The paper – released today – raises concerns about declining trust in New Zealand’s political institutions and democratic processes, and the role that the overuse of Parliamentary urgency ...
This article was prepared for publication yesterday. More ministerial announcements have been posted on the government’s official website since it was written. We will report on these later today …. Buzz from the BeehiveThere we were, thinking the environment is in trouble, when along came Jones. Shane Jones. ...
New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”.As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
Holding On To The Present:The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
Stuck In The Middle With You:As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
Buzz from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example. This shows National down ...
It Takes A Train To Cry:Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
Chris Trotter writes – New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy.Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
The Government is again adding to New Zealand’s growing unemployment, this time cutting jobs at the agencies responsible for urban development and growing much needed housing stock. ...
With Minister Karen Chhour indicating in the House today that she either doesn’t know or care about the frontline cuts she’s making to Oranga Tamariki, we risk seeing more and more of our children falling through the cracks. ...
The Labour Party is saddened to learn of the death of Sir Robert Martin, a globally renowned disability advocate who led the way for disability rights both in New Zealand and internationally. ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Government is modernising insurance law to better protect Kiwis and provide security in the event of a disaster, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly announced today. “These reforms are long overdue. New Zealand’s insurance law is complicated and dated, some of which is more than 100 years old. ...
The coalition Government is refreshing its approach to supporting pay equity claims as time-limited funding for the Pay Equity Taskforce comes to an end, Public Service Minister Nicola Willis says. “Three years ago, the then-government introduced changes to the Equal Pay Act to support pay equity bargaining. The changes were ...
Structured literacy will change the way New Zealand children learn to read - improving achievement and setting students up for success, Education Minister Erica Stanford says. “Being able to read and write is a fundamental life skill that too many young people are missing out on. Recent data shows that ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay says Canada’s refusal to comply in full with a CPTPP trade dispute ruling in our favour over dairy trade is cynical and New Zealand has no intention of backing down. Mr McClay said he has asked for urgent legal advice in respect of our ‘next move’ ...
The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
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Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
By Jo Moir, RNZ News political editor, and Craig McCulloch, deputy political editor New Zealand’s Labour Party is demanding Winston Peters be stood down as Foreign Minister for opening up the government to legal action over his “totally unacceptable” attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. In an interview on RNZ’s ...
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The NZQA proposal released to staff today would involve a net loss of 35 roles. There are 66 roles being disestablished with 13 of those currently vacant, and 31 new roles proposed, said Fleur Fitzsimons Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga ...
Alex Casey talks to Loren Taylor, the writer, director and star of new film The Moon is Upside Down, about assembling her dream ensemble cast, toilet paper pads and turning literal dreams into reality. There’s a moment in The Moon is Upside Down where frazzled anaesthetist Briar (Loren Taylor) gets ...
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Workers at a major ASB contact centre in Auckland have voted to take strike action and withdraw their labour following disappointing pay negotiations with the employer and an "offer" to workers that would leave them worse off than the previous year. ...
As the government tries to get the country back on track with a school phone ban, Tara Ward has an idea for where they should turn their attention to next.New Zealand students returned to school on Monday morning, but their cellphones did not. The government’s new phone ban began ...
The Labour Party is demanding Peters be stood down, saying "he's embarrassed the country" with a "totally unacceptable" attack on a prominent AUKUS critic. ...
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance, whose members were victims of a China-backed cyber attack, is discussing forming a standing committee to deal with foreign influence. ...
The PSA is concerned that the voluntary redundancies being offered to staff by Stats NZ will impact on the agency’s ability to deliver on its core functions. ...
Results ranged from surprisingly yum to soul-destroying. I love cooking. The kitchen is a hearth of culinary creation, of sensory delights, of gastronomic poetry. I also can’t afford anything nice. Why does a pack of instant noodles and some milk cost ten bucks? I love you, Aotearoa, but I miss ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Police in Solomon Islands are on high alert ahead of the election of the prime minister today. The two candidates for the top job are former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele at the head of the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation, which is ...
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Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Balanzategui, Senior Lecturer in Media, RMIT University ABC “Bluey mania” shows no sign of abating. Bluey’s season finale, The Sign, was the most viewed ABC program of all time on iView. A “hidden” follow-up episode, aptly named The Surprise, created ...
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The campaign will engage the community and encourage submissions on the bill to the New Zealand government by the closing submission deadline of Friday 31st of May 2024 4pm. ...
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Stuff has started another political poll with international agency YouGov – uses only online sampling rather than phones. As usual, we can only really judge trends over time so single poll results are not that meaningful in themselves. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/117662933/labour-ahead-while-national-dips-below-40-in-new-stuff-poll
Thats interesting .
They say it was conducted between 7-11 Nov but isnt publicised till 25th ?
2 week delay is really strange. Is there another poll coming this week , the traditional sort
Checking back I see Colmar Brunton did one around this time last year.
Its very bad journalism by Stuff to hang onto exclusive poll results for nearly 2 weeks.
"very bad journalism by Stuff.." Fearfacts/Granny/Mediawonks don't do journalism they do messaging on behalf of their owners.
Probably some extra quality checking for their first poll?
YouGov polling methods has been heavily criticised in the UK and I am frankly surprised that Stuff are using them. They were probably the cheapest option.
YouGov used the same sort of methodology described in the Stuff piece back in 2017 in the UK and they got final result completely wrong.
Apart from all the usual hazards of online polling, the biggest problem with their polling is the guesswork behind their weighting of online samples to give the final result. For example, in the UK in 2017 they heavily discounted the results from anyone young because they were thought unlikely to vote, whilst assuming anyone over 60 will almost always vote.
Stuff are in the market for clicks, not data.
Recruiting an online panel of the public to survey is used by the others too
Reid Research …Join our panel
Colmar Brunton too
Phone polls use the same weighting methods, for the voting group, age, income, ethnicity etc
the 2017 UK polling assumptions affected all the surveys, and what readers who make up their minds early might not realise is a chunk of voters make up their minds on the day or just before. Who can survey that?
NZ is lucky in that MMP directly takes a voting % into seats. Polling for FPP electorates is inherently difficult.
Sanctuary said; “They (You Gov) were probably the cheapest option”????
Cheap shot at your shock about the negative polling results???
Allegations the Chinese Government attempted to recruit a car salesman, "Nick" Zhao to run as a Liberal Party candidate have come to light. Mr Zhao allegedly told ASIO about the deal, and was found dead in a hotel room earlier this year.
Uber creepy.
https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/alleged-plot-to-infiltrate-australian-government/news-story/a3cdbfb2830273e340ee22f9c4bea6b6
Meanwhile, National are like… "All good. Nothing to see here. Move along."
Once again.. another warning, more from the front line.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/404007/report-critical-over-lack-of-action-on-dire-state-of-public-hospitals
Last night/this morning, our local hospital is full. Nowhere for patients to go to from ED.
Senior nurses are talking about experiencing PTSD.. The 'safe' places these people use (running, excercising, debrief at home) are starting to fail…
To go to your place of work, with a feeling of dread. To be often in crisis mode, barely coping with too large a work load. Not good for the patients and families
Then hear the latest approach from management, knowing it will not make a difference, as the last few changes made no difference.
An immediate difference is to implement a nurse/patient ratio, 1/4 in ED.
Of course it is the same old, same old. A lack of priority from those who hold the purse strings.
PTSD is a very real consequence of Ryall/Colemans slash n burn along with underfunding against rising population and demanding DHB's still balance budgets.
Most flogged and leased back to do that which we all know just kicks it down the road, a national party speciality.
PTSD was first mentioned this morning at home, post night shift debrief.
It was observed in a fellow senior colleague. Running is their escape/process time. They had an anxiety attack during the run.
Things are getting serious when the stress manifests in one's 'safe' place.
gsays
Yes you are so correct when you pointed it out that when our "safe place" becomes a stressful place.to live is a problem.
As more and more 'scammers' are knocking on our doors posing as someone else.
Edit
I have done a bit of ferreting in the background to health spending and it is interesting so I have put a number of links and part of some reporting to give a taste of what the problems are. It is NZ Government charges on DHBs that bother me. It might have changed recently but they have to make a return on their land use I think. Supposed to make them more efficient.
This is from a letter to Health Minister David Clark drawing his attention to the 'capital charge' DHBs must pay to the government. I think is an egregious and swingeing impost on DHBs under the business model accounting system, which has probably been set by Treasury but needs to be struck off.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/113984983/capital-charge-makes-it-hard-for-dhbs-to-do-their-job
Canterbury researcher Dr Michael Gousmett has long expressed concern at the capital charge – what he describes as "a tax" on their "taxpayer-funded net assets" – which the country's district health boards (DHBs) pay to the Government, and the impact this charge has on DHBs' ability to deliver core services. He outlines these concerns in an open letter to Health Minister David Clark.
More on the 'capital charge' from a report by the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists who understand the problems and are well versed in the economics of health in NZ.
2018 https://www.asms.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Research-Brief-Capital-Charge_169877.2.pdf
And a different viewpoint: https://croakingcassandra.com/2019/03/11/in-defence-of-capital-charges-and-higher-public-sector-discount-rates/
(While all this discussion goes on, the hospital services remain in virtual limbo and people must wait for reasonable health provision. People I know who have worked in hospitals tell me about the number and duration of meetings from which very little outcomes arise.)
This on the health funding provision for medical services, staff and doctors from Coleman's 2017 Budget. Has funding increased to a reasonable level since then, both on a population basis, but also special provision, taking account of large areas requiring access by sparse populations as in Southland?
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/404007/report-critical-over-lack-of-action-on-dire-state-of-public-hospitals
May 2017 – The health sector needs an additional $1.1 billion in this week's Budget to maintain services, according to the Council of Trade Unions (CTU) and the senior doctors' union…
The CTU calculated the Government had not adequately funded DHBs since 2009-2010. Increased costs created a shortfall of $1.8m in health spending.
Research published in the New Zealand Medical Journal in March by Canterbury Charity Hospital founder Dr Phil Bagshaw showed at least 25 percent of adults could not get the basic health care they need. About nine percent have an unmet need for hospital care. ..
Underfunding affected nurses, New Zealand Nurses Organisation chief executive Memo Musa said.
"Our members have told us underfunding is now affecting patient safety, access to care, triggering care-rationing, health-worker burn out and straining the infrastructure."
Dr Coleman said in a statement: "This is traditional pre-budget positioning by CTU and other unions. People should wait until the Budget on Thursday."
.
CTU economist Bill Rosenberg on health funding in 2019 budget.
https://www.union.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Did-the-Budget-provide-enough-for-Health-2019.pdf
Google lists a number of reports I counted six – on the economics of DHBs with this one I looked through that is a messy pdf showing graphs of units of health gained by some action compared to the opportunity cost of education spending. (Theoretical stuff for a computerised report which tops giving actual hands-on assistance at the coalface!)
https://www.productivity.govt.nz/assets/Documents/31af48f5ed/History-of-efficiency-measurement-by-the-health-sector-Knopf-v2.pdf
This from the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists 2014 https://www.asms.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Reality-Check-health-funding-paper-Final-21-August_162107.6.pdf
162107.6 Reality check:The myth of unsustainable health funding and what Treasury figures actually show
Then there are the profitable business interests nosing around which have infiltrated some NZ DHBs to the extent that their CEOs have set up their own private business to provide needs of the hospital under their management . This was a shameful grab and double-dipping from people trying to have their cake and eat it too; and succeeding in the confused and corrupt public management set-up neolib economics has dumped on us. (I can’t remember off-hand which hospital CEO that did this – but the news stayed in my memory.)
If less money was spent on preparing reports on theories of how much money could be withheld and spent somewhere else, and money made available on simple straightforward service basis, we could probably see an immediate benefit to conditions.
Then looking at allocation of funding being supplied on an age basis, with the priorities on helping people get back to work, or giving children the services to ensure their proper growth and healthy development, that would be a good start. Then pay attention to what the older people needed and this would reverse the present situation. First the young, and helping those in pain, but not bypassing age but not giving priority to those nearing death which forms a large part of hospital spending.
An economist's report on health spending gives this little gem, an indication of how cold mathematical analysis squeezes humans into little measurable units and probably explains why there is so much pain in the health sector felt by providers as well as patients.
https://www2.deloitte.com/nz/en/pages/2018-government-budget/articles/health-2018-new-zealand-budget.html
Again, we hope this money will be spent differently from how it’s been spent in the past. The government wants to lift New Zealand’s productivity, and it is about time we did so in healthcare. Sadly, Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE) estimates that our workforce of around 210,000 health and social workers is less productive than the national average across all industries, generating only $39 GDP per hour worked (compared to a national average of $48). Even worse, MBIE figures show a steadily declining average in health sector productivity over a number of years.
Cheers grey.
Glad you approve gsays. It took a while but when put together it shows there is a mounting pile of problems. You hear stuff but singly, and don't realise how bad the whole situation is.
Here is the latest item of stretched and stressed workers When are we going to pop? Or is the sneaky government running down the public hospital system so they can say 'Oh we can't manage', throw their hands in the air, and contract with Serco or such!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/404056/mounting-pressure-on-auckland-dhbs-to-meet-mri-targets-technician-says
An Auckland MRI technician says staff are running between patients as they try to get their work done and slash growing backlogs.
How can that be 'immediate' when there are already not enough nurses to go around? Which services would you remove them from to go to ED instead?
I know a few recent nursing graduates from NZ, all gone to work in Aussie (within months of graduation) for much better pay.
I welcome hearing how we can 'immediately' increase the pay of all nurses to keep them here.
I'd stop paying super to (most of) those still working. Frees up billions each year.
Then
Pay increases teachers and nurses
Better staffing levels schools and hospitals
Increase Pharmac funding
Pay those with disability the super payment rate and pay the dole to partners who cannot work (disability, or caring for others).
Pay super rates to those unemployed/sickness over age 60.
Increase state housing from 2000 to 3000 new builds a year and buy 2000 a year from existing housing to get the homeless out of motels.
End repayment of grants out of benefit income (wait till they find jobs first)
Allow beneficiaries to earn more money before abatement
Offer government (cheaper) debt refinance to families facing hardship because of debt.
Just a thought SPC. I would like a reasonably factual figure of how much would be saved by stopping superannuation (old age pension) for the still working after age 65. Do you have a figure to hand or can give a link where it can be found within say one minute? This is something that we should be thinking about.
I wouldn't waste any time on it as it is not going to happen any time soon. The backlash from boomers would sink any gummint that tried.
Anyway a cool look at the money we have in the economy, and the money we are borrowing every day to keep the present steady state we have, would possibly show that we actually can afford super with a few tweaks.
One thing that could be done is that anyone who receives super goes on a volunteer register and chooses something the government would like done and puts in two to three hours a week minimum on their choice. Showing their enthusiasm for their country in a balanced caring relationship!
The current cost is $15B a year – an increase of $1B in the past year – 1953-54 baby boomers. It will be $23B c 2023 (741,300 last year to over 872,900 by then).
A lot of these new retirees will still be working.
The number working is greater than could reasonably be excluded (it would have to be more than a MW income and losing super not involve hardship – because of say rent or unpaid mortgage etc).
There are two figures those working now and receiving super (44% of those 65-69). Current cost (some of these will retire during the next 5 years).
The increasing numbers of those reaching age 65 while still working in the next 5 years (rising to over a million by c2030/$20B).
As to how many New Zealanders work full-time while receiving NZ Super and thus calculating the amount that would be saved by not paying them NZ Super until they retired – I have never seen the figure reported anywhere. Short answer billions each year and its rising every year.
The current cost is $15B a year – an increase of $1B in the past year – 1953-54 baby boomers. It will be $20B c 2023 (741,300 last year to over 872,900 by 2023). A lot of these new retirees will still be working.
The number working is greater than could reasonably be excluded (it would have to be more than a MW income and losing super not involve hardship – because of say rent or unpaid mortgage etc).
There are two figures
1. current cost – those working now and receiving super (44% of those 65-69). (some of these will retire during the next 5 years).
2. future cost – the increasing numbers of those reaching age 65 while still working in the next 5 years (rising to over a million by c2030).
As to how many New Zealanders work full-time while receiving NZ Super and thus calculating the amount that would be saved by not paying them NZ Super until they retired – I have never seen the figure reported anywhere.
Short answer billions each year and its rising every year.
Thanks SPC. Just thinking while it might be good for mental health to keep on working after 65 and it may indicate a pride in not being past 'it', it may be taking a job that pays well along with seniority perhaps, and jobs are in short supply for older people still under retirement age.
FFS: remember that super is taxed. Presumably one income or the other will be at secondary rates if we still have them or would probably push tax brackets otherwise.
So when you calculate it, approximate the clawback into your estimates.
Well given a reasonable rule of thumb would be that a sufficient to not need super income would be the living wage level (full-time) c$45,000 or above – with $20,000 single or $15,000 couple rate.
Tax rules applying
between $48,001 and $70,000 secondary tax code is SH and NZ Super taxed at 30%
more than $70,000 your secondary tax code is ST and your NZ Super will be taxed at 33%.
So deducting 30 cents off est $2Bpa gross cost leaves around $1.4Bpa net cost rising further each year to 2030.
the Entire Super cost is $11-12 bill per year ( 2017)
Only a fraction 30% would be in the 65-70 age group The 30% comes from MSD Super data tables
Those working may be part time but lets be generous and assume 1/3 of those between 65-70 are working
This then leads to 10% of entire super pop are 'working' ( 1/3 of the 30% 65-70)
That would have a rough figure of $1.2 bill saved if those working got no super at all.
The census of 2013 puts the number of people aged 60-64 as 230,000. Say 210,000 are still alive.
Apparently about 44% of them work aged 65-69. Say 1/4 work only work part-time. So if 1/3rd did not get Super, then that would be around 10% of the total on Super (over 700,000).
The current cost is $15Bpa – so $1.5B plus those over 70 still working more around $2B pa at the moment. It would rise to around $3Bpa by 2030 in todays dollars.
No need to look at census for 2013. MSD puts out data tables updated every few months on numbers for all sorts of benefits
https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/benefit/index.html
MSD (and certainly not benefit fact sheets) do not say how many of those of those on Super are aged 65-69.
But the census of 2013 shows 230,000 aged 60-64 then – if alive they would be 65-69 today. Sort of important when the only figure out there is 44% of those aged 65-69 are working (and we do not know how many are full-time or part-time).
There is a slightly more complete set of numbers from the 2013 Census that breaks the total down by age (in 10 year chunks), sex and whether they are full time or part time. This shows
"Across the three broad age groups within the 65s and over, there is a noticeable decline in the percentage employed as the groups get older. However, there are still people employed in all three of these broad age groups:
We also see differences across the three 65+ age groups between people working full-time (30 hours or more per week) and part-time (less than 30 hours per week) in the week before the 2013 Census.
Of those aged 65–74 years:
In the next age group, 75–84 years, 2.6 percent worked full-time and 6.2 percent worked part-time. As with the 65–74 age group, a higher proportion of men worked full-time (4.5 percent) than women (1.0 percent).
Almost all people in the oldest age group (85+) were not in the labour force (96.1 percent). However, a small proportion were employed, with 3.2 percent working part-time and 0.7 percent full-time."
http://archive.stats.govt.nz/Census/2013-census/profile-and-summary-reports/quickstats-65-plus/work-unpaid-activities.aspx
mod note for you here. Please acknowledge.
https://thestandard.org.nz/daily-review-22-11-2019/#comment-1668399
@weka.
Yes I read what you have said.
Thanks for that Alwyn.
Not the Fact sheets but the excel tables
https://www.msd.govt.nz/documents/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/statistics/benefit/2019/quarterly-benefit-fact-sheets-nzs-and-vp-tables-sep-2019.xlsx
The exact number for age 65-69 was 237,247
Which I see you have found , but a link here for other readers
OK I found a data table at the bottom of the page – shows 237,000 aged 65-69. A small increase on the number in the age group 2013. Deaths fewer than those … returning here to retire.
This is almost certainly the wrong way to think of it. The NZ govt at all times has the capacity to buy everything for sale in NZ dollers. Paying /not paying pensions does not change that at all. The constraint the govt does have to deal with is on the real side of the economy, e.g are there sufficient medical professionals to carry out the work and maybe is there extra burden being put by the private sectors ability to buy up those resources.
By cutting pensions to those working you will most likely just leave a hole in aggregate demand and be responsible for a whole raft of inequity. I also suspect that its vaguely illegal as the pension payments were effectively earned at the time they were taxed by the wage earner.
1. The problem is limited government funding to HB who can thus can only afford so many staff. Then there are wages unattractive compared to those in Oz. Even if all positions were staffed the working conditions would be worse than in Oz, and because of this and lower pay, they find it hard to fill all the positions. Making things worse for those still employed.
2. Super is paid for out of current taxes.
The problem is the limited funding of the DHBs. The govt can choose to increase that without facing any financial constraint on so doing.
Payments to pensioners occur when the govt credits pensioners bank accounts. The payments the govt makes to the pensioners banks occur inside the reserve bank settlement system (the bank then goes on to credit the pensioners account). Only the reserve bank can create these interbank settlement account balances and entries. Making such payments (in a similar way to making payments to DHBs or their employees) is not therefore constrained by tax collection.
The main constraint here is a voluntary preference of the government.
The term that always pisses me off is "DHB deficit".
That's just a measure of how underfunded each DHB is.
Yes, exactly.
If the government increases funding to HB. How do they respond? The HB cannot fill all places it has funds for now because they cannot attract staff at their pay rates.
Does the HB increase pay to fill all existing staffing positions or declare more vacancies when they are struggling to fill vacancies now
You know what a 30% GDP spending cap is right? Yeah I know its a voluntary 2017-2020 Labour-Green commitment to demonstrate their neo-liberal credentials to centre New Zealand, but that – and things like budget deficit or surplus and debt to GDP still determine the parameters for party policy formation and political debate.
So your suggesting taking away pensions in order to maintain that Labour party voluntary policy then? You realise at least some of the part time workers are relying on that pension payment for a reasonable income. Time, i think, to address the actual problem rather than contorting the govt policy to try to accomodate a harmful fiscal strategy.
I am saying there is a more just allocation of revenues/spending than paying super to those working (and I am referring to those working full-time or earning more than a 40 hour MW/living wage if part-time).
I'm pretty sure we already established in the discussion that this neo-liberal constraint framing is a fiction. It happens to obfuscate from the present and previous govts choices to underfund the DHBs and ultimately put many health care workers under various stresses. Its also their narrative choice to have DHBs report deficits rather than funding them with sufficient operational expenditure.
Thanks Nic for yr contribution.
Where can I read up on this, without too much going over my head?
Good introduction on RNZ with Bill Mitchell, Aussie economist:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/sunday/audio/201852897/there-s-no-such-thing-as-fair-austerity
And his website has lots of info (and link to his new economics textbook):
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/
Another look at both sides of arguments:
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2019/4/16/18251646/modern-monetary-theory-new-moment-explained
Make sure to read Bill Mitchells blog as the interviews he often addresses framing (and the interviewer questions) rather than explaining the economics directly. His writing is accessible however.
Thanks Uncooked and Nic, I am keen to engage with others about this but I want to 'know my onions' first.
The pension payments are taken out of current earnings. When super was set up there was higher inflation and that could mean that savings value could be eroded whether private or government. Also there is the possibility of fraud, and for security in old age the pension (super) was set up to be universal and current. The Kiwisaver was a prudent and carefully managed fund added, that would take the shock to the system when all the products of a particularly fruitful time came of (older) age.
The better working conditions – better staffing levels, are reason enough to go. Of course the better pay means the student debt can be paid back more easily.
Well Key did want to set up a low wage system in New Zealand. And the Gnats wanted us to work harder and not get so above ourselves in our pay demands. The Gnats succeeded – or did they?
Did the National Party and their sycophants find the truth of that cautionary saying 'Be careful what you wish for', (or when you get it you might find it's a poisoned chalice)? No, the National Party find it suits them to go on poisoning us, our society, our living conditions, our water, our environment, our hopes and dreams. I am sick of materialistic sycophants.
Greywarshark; well said. 100%
quote;
"No, the National Party find it suits them to go on poisoning us, our society, our living conditions, our water, our environment, our hopes and dreams. I am sick of materialistic sycophants".
''Truer words have never been spoken'
You are going to have to ask someone else to answer your binary choice questions.
There is a lack of imagination in your thinking.
I am not necessarily suggesting BAU with more nurses.
There are plenty of Health centres/hubs, private providers etc than can meet the health needs of a % of those that present at ED.
It is merely a question of priorities.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/117675349/precarious-state-of-the-countrys-hospitals-laid-bare-by-senior-doctors-union
This is because we have a two tier health system.
Simple solution take the money off the private insurance companies, then ban private health insurance.
Health care for all or let the poor die – your choice.
Heh, it's a cruel irony that the EDs around the country are serving both tiers of the system but only being funded by the public purse.
Stuff has published fake news from Jonathan Young of National – where he claims that ending new exploration licences is the reason why we burnt more coal for power generation last year.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/117648825/taranaki-2050-roadmap-may-have-a-few-bumps-in-the-road-ahead
As if not issuing permits for new gas exploration has an impact on the current supply to the market …
A dry hole for this exploration well off Taranaki
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/117386002/taranaki-offshore-oil-exploration-company-placed-under-voluntary-administration
'The company had struggled to meet its financial commitments since a $300 million well-drilling programme in the offshore Tui field was suspended in September [2019] after the first well proved dry."
Unpaid bills will affect local community hard…who knew there was a downside to drilling for oil
Interesting in view of OMV's announcement last week that they have reached agreement with Jadestone Energy to take OMV's 69% share in the Maari oil field off Taranaki subject to NZ government approvals etc.
OMV's intentions are supposedly to concentrate on their natural gas operations in NZ and not oil.
I have posted full details on the OMV/Greenpeace post on this and who Jadestone Energy are etc. https://thestandard.org.nz/people-vs-oil-activists-are-occupying-the-omv-support-vessel/#comment-1668838
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/117650875/a-wine-box-a-deep-throat-and-a-dumpster–the-trail-that-led-to-the-nz-first-donations-scandal
A journalist directed to a dumpster in Hamilton.
We still do not know if this was a whistle blower or a hacking agent.
Curious . The people who stole the documents , then put them in a dumpster and call a journalist ? Who hasnt done that . Why didnt Nixons 'plumbers' think of that
The problem is this sort of dump is that it is designed to replay 2005 and undermine NZF's re-election. It's manipulative dirty politics.
It's all very well for the media to run with it, but it's selective coverage advantaging another party/other parties.
Holding a blow torch to the practices of other parties in this area, with an overview of clearer and cleaner rules for all, is the way the media can best serve the public.
Timing seems more related to recent resignations of party officials than next year's election. Shaft enough people and they will bite you.
Which is not to deny there are other agendas at play in media and other parties.
There is this Sept/Oct time period story – of the resignation.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12273461
We of course have no idea whether this lead to the "dump" or whether someone else went fishing and extracted the information.
Sounds like only a very small number of people had access to that information. Not like some junior staffer has emotionally photocopied them..
There is another scenario, hypothetical for now …
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/11/22/a-bloody-great-political-story-from-a-parallel-universe/
"Shaft enough people and they will bite you."
You do realise the resignation of a top official was more of a #metoo situation than #shaftme
People, plural.
hes the only political leader whos been there for 25 years.
I see people talk about something about the Cook St ferries and Peters as though it was yesterday, the same era scandal involved Jenny Shipley and Tourism ministry – who remembers that. One of TS contributors had a list of Keys lies, twisted facts and half truths that could fill a booklet- who remembers that.
What you dont seem to get is the 2017 election result of Labour and Greens is less seats than National- remember that
Its just a game of fantasy football that Peters can be discarded
This sounds like something out of a spy movie!
Sounds more like Enid Blyton and The Famous Five to me !
We do know he has a sense of humour leaving them in a wine box.
Lets hope the details get drip fed into the media for months.
Yeah, let’s have another long drawn-out tortuous trial-by-media inflicting maximal harm to NZF, the Coalition-Government, and NZ politics in general. MSM would love nothing more than that.
The Herald has editoralised that Trump should face the voters, rather than be subject to an impeachment process (which just has Trump's own party Senators determine judgement).
Presumably they take the same stand on NZ First's fundraising practices and or the PM of Israel facing criminal charges while in office, or those politicians facing charges of corruption (or disqualified from standing for elections, as per Brazil).
" They will do anything too stop Jeremy Corbyn "
https://www.thecanary.co/trending/2019/11/24/the-bbcs-excuse-for-editing-out-people-laughing-at-johnson-could-spell-the-end-of-the-broadcaster-as-we-know-it/
The BBC just changed things to the way it should have been – so the audience applauded Johnson's answer on trust rather than laughed and so (a year earlier in fact) Johnson lay the wreath down the right way up (he had done so in the past after all).
It just goes to show how many Etonians rise to the top in all spheres of UK society …
I'm just reading CP Snow's 1964 Corridors of Power. He describes one family mixing in high circles in London; that they had never studied politics, but in their sphere had been immersed in it since childhood, understood all the maneouvres and levels of importance and thought it their right as members of high society to receive political positions if they were so inclined.
He wrote incisively in his 1959 book 'The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution':
There is, of course, no complete solution. […] But we can do something. The chief means open to us is education […] There is no excuse for letting another generation be as vastly ignorant, or as devoid of understanding and sympathy, as we are ourselves.
(This is a wikiquote and seems relevant to my point, though shortened.)
If it was Corbyn, the audience laughing would be the only part they would show.
This from Christine Rose
When Winston Peters announced the New Zealand First decision to enter into a Coalition agreement with the Labour Party, he observed it was ‘now or never for serious change in this country’s social and economic direction’. Equally, Jacinda Ardern signaled that she sought a change to capitalism and the way the economy is run. There appeared agreement that the neo-liberal experiment had failed New Zealanders, and the views of many, of “capitalism as foe”, “was not all wrong”. Winston said “capitalism must regain its responsible, human face” and that this view deeply influenced his party’s negotiations. He said he was confronted with the choice between a “modified status quo, or change’,
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/11/25/dodgy-donations-the-devils-work/
Trucks bigger and destroying roads and bridges as they feed out the product of the thoughtless economy.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/404035/auckland-trains-cancelled-after-truck-hits-rail-overbridge
Key likes the idea of the Northern Port – thinks it makes sense. Then the extra cherry for the tuck operators, a four lane highway right to Whangarei. He has retired from his PM job and become a lobbyist for the powerful trying to drive the country forward by twisting our tails. Look out Key for we poor cows and our ultimate retaliation, we might poo on your hand.
Good points Greywarshark.
here is the truth about national willfully destroying our public rail; we had finally got to prove it was needed.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/6170590/At-risk-rail-line-can-t-cope-with-demand
Johnny Key is a turncoat as when he was in Wairoa/Gisborne in 2012 after his government had stolen the rail track maintenance funding for Auckland rail and caused the washout of a one km rail to close the rail service,
John key was reported in the Wairoa Star saying; quote;"I don't want road to be the only choice for moving freight "
But shortly after this, his henchmen Steven Joyce/Gerry Brownlee turned their backs on fixing the rail, and spent the rail reserve fund of four million dollars on two small passing lanes on the road to benefit trucks instead of fixing the rail line.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1302/S00183/kiwirail-admits-lack-of-maintenance-led-to-wash-out.htm
Rail destroyers they are.
I haven't kept up with the Millane case. Could someone please tell me why the suppression of name of the accused is in place still? And put this use of it in context with what we expect with open justice in NZ. (And I would really like to hear from someone else apart from DoU.)
Suppression orders often also suppress the reasons for suppression. there is no "why". They just are. Until they are lifted (I would expect the order to be lifted at sentencing, though).
+1.
As others are speculating, there can be a number of reasons –
appeal related
whether further charges are being looked into
whether there are wider Police investigations taking place
the wishes of the victim's family and whether or not the prosecution considers the case closed or not
or something else – maybe even while the judge considers where and wha bestt to do with him so that rough justice is less of a prospect
I'm not quite sure how my knowing the name of this 26 now 27 year old fucked unit is going to benefit me or the general public – knowing that he's in custody, and is likely to be for quite some time.
Open justice takes time. It's taken a year so far. If suppression orders were to be made permanent, then I might have a different opinion.
There's already been enough speculation over this case during the past year (including a bit of victim blaming – such as my blokey neighbours when sinking piss bleating out that "she must be a bit of a dirty girl eh!)
I haven't seen a reason given, but most likely it means something else is pending – an appeal against conviction maybe, or further charges. Must say it's hard to picture an appeal against conviction being the reason…
Apparently the reason fro suppression is also suppressed!!!!
Today, Stuff have an article with a general overview of suppression orders in NZ.
Obviously they don't specifically talk about the current case, but it's a pretty good round up of the usual reasons and why they exist.
Thanks for reply McFlock and for informative link.
I cannot see why the name suppression is still in place either. I don't believe he is a famous person or anything and the UK papers have named him apparently. I can only imagine the name suppression stays if there is going to be an appeal? Or if the Millane family (victim) have requested the name suppression stays although I can't imagine why they would.
Don’t forget that the Crown were able to produce photos from his phone. If they found other photos or messages on that phone that would have a bearing on this or any subsequent trial then it makes sense to continue name suppression.
[deleted]
[please don’t speculate details about Grace Millane’s killer. We don’t know the details of the suppression order, so better to err on the side of caution. Posting comment that creates legal risks for the site risks a ban – weka]
Given that we do not know the scope of the suppression order, why would you even ask that?
Sure the suppression order is in place i am aware of that thanks Sacha.
Just thinking back too some of the comments made in the trial and from conversations with acquaintances [deleted]
[mod notes above and below. – weka]
If my great aunt said he's transgender and I was sufficiently interested in that, I would post it on my own website rather than where someone else might get prosecuted for it. Be a sport.
Thanks Sacha it must be wonderful too be a learned individual like yourself sport.
You're welcome to link to information in the mainstream media. In the meantime please don't post speculation about details of the killer. As a mod I haven't seen the details of the suppression order, so am erring on the side of caution.
Why would you even ask that if there's a suppression order in place? Do you really want an answer on this site?
lolsnap sacha
We are well-trained by now. 🙂
heh
I’d call it well behaved 😉
[deleted]
Stricter controls this time out so unable to confirm or deny.
As for breaching the order with my answer, and putting the site in jeopardy, I’ve narrowed it down to 1 in 5 million or 1 in 7.5 billion. Pretty safe odds.
[good for you. I on the other hand am aware that it’s the Trust that carries the legal risk not me, and that speculation leads to other people speculating who don’t know where the boundaries are. This increases the work for mods, which tends to piss us off – weka]
next time I'll just trash the top comment, which takes out the replies as well. Please don't take this as encouragement to speculate as I'm good with handing out bans too.
I'm sure you are, and well done for earning that privilige.
I did just read how in the UK in the last year there were 59 cases of men using rough sex as an excuse for murder. In the same time frame there were zero cases of women claiming that defence.
there's been a bit of discussion in OM and DR in the past week. I don't remember the details but there's something specific about the UK legislation that allows this to be more common (and the bigger population).
And since I am the one who has to go to court for you being a dickhead, you are courting a permanent ban from me.
It sounds fair to me…
The question I ambiguously answered was about [deleted], and as shown in what's left of my reply all I've done is narrowed it down to 1 in 5 million or 1 in 7.5 billion. and that in no way goes anywhere near identifying the individual whose identity is suppressed.
But sure thing, big boy, you gotta roll how you gotta roll 🙄
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12287727
“the man has also been named on social media accounts leaving the police to issue a warning not to state his identity on any posts.
He cannot yet be named for legal reasons, which have been strictly adhered to by New Zealand media, who can be prosecuted if they don’t comply with the court’s order.”
[2 week ban for wasting my time and ignoring moderation. See my comment below. – weka]
You still don't get it. YOU don't get to decide where the boundary is (nor any other commenter). Ultimately it's for Lynn and Mike to decide. In the meantime this mod is erring on the side of caution for reasons I have already explained and which you seem to be ignoring.
1. we don't know the details of the suppression order. I've seen one journalist say it covers the name and identifying details.
2. if your comment is ok legally (I have no way of knowing), it still leaves the problem of speculation encouraging other people to speculate who have different ideas or no clue about where the boundary is, and each time that happens one of the mods has to read the comments and think about the issues and moderate (which can take varying degrees of time). I'm sick of having to spend time on this.
My sincere apologies Weka.
Completely understood.
thanks mosa, appreciate that.
Horrors! Just went to do the Herald crossword and now they want you to subscribe before you can.
They have to take money off you somehow.
That's how Granny Herald rolls now. All the toxic partisan crap is free, and you have to pay for anything interesting or relevant. Like crossword puzzles. Or actual news. I've found my life has improved immeasurably ever since I decided to stop reading the Herald completely. I don't understand subscribers. It's like paying someone to punch you in the face.
US Secretary of Navy Richard Spencer resigning for trying to cover up war crimes of one of his staff.
Good job.
I thought he was resigning because Trump wanted to venerate at the foot of someone who committed war crimes.
Congratulations to the people of Hong Kong, who have stood up for democracy against dictatorship. A stunning election result.
It is sad that so many of our politicians, in the relative comfort and safety of NZ, cannot stand up alongside them – for no reason except Beijing $$$.
“Oh, my goodness, it was stunning, the level of buzzing,” Guthrie said. “That moment was sort of an awakening for me.” The presence of so many bees and other insects was an indicator, to Guthrie, of the health of the land."
https://civileats.com/2019/10/15/planting-native-prairie-could-be-a-secret-weapon-for-farmers/
they're catching on, very good.
Good to hear. The bees are the most important link in the food chain and lots of other things to.
Lovely story last night on one of the smaller channels on huge diversity of bees- theres one that sometimes sleeps in the flower its pollinating overnight !
Horrible. Yet Todd Muller on Radionz decrying our hard and unreasonable townies are on 'farmers'. It is time for the umbrella to be removed from the body of all-farmers and let the dirty ones stand in the rain and get shamed and cleansed. Why should the ones that try to do well be besmirched with blame. If they moan about it, they need to recognise that they need to show up the others, twist their arms up their back, until they change their ways.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/404052/farm-animals-suffering-due-to-poor-winter-grazing-practices-taskforce-says
Farm animals are suffering in muddy, confined spaces, with many people ignoring the problem and officials unsure of what to do about it, a hard- hitting report has found.
Farm groups says pictures showing cows in mud have been taken out of context. Photo: Fish & Game New Zealand
The comments came in a report by a special taskforce on winter grazing.
Foreign farmers from Europe say, who come here and follow their usual ways at home need to be pulled up sharply. In Europe M.bovis is present and I think vaccinated against, but we were free of it. Similar with foot and mouth, I think they vaccinated against it over there.
Todd Muller National's agriculture spokesperson realises that there is a lot of ignorance around but he thinks it is townies who need to learn about the wondrous ways of the farming lobby. We townies are very credulous Todd, if you can show us that you are all behind environmental change we will be all on your side hand in hand.
His comments come in response to a question in a Level 3 English paper that asked students to "discuss the way the writer explores ongoing change" in a New Zealand Geographic article.The text quoted a survey showing two-thirds of respondents blamed farmers for deteriorating water quality.
Todd Muller says the piece painted a one-sided picture of New Zealand's farmers. https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/2018723944/todd-muller-on-ncea-level-three-english-exam
Nobody mentioned the herd spa day that it was part of. The waiting nail polishers were just out of shot.
Power cut were I Am at the minute shows what they think of the rest of the tangata
Ka kite Ano
I can spot the merchants of decite a mile away.???????????
Electric, hybrid and low-emission cars
Yes, electric vehicles really are better than fossil fuel burners
Hans-Werner Sinn’s opinion piece on whether electric cars are as climate friendly as they seem generated a good deal of controversy. William Todts, executive director of Transport & Environment, gives his response
But this isn’t about Sinn. In fact, whenever you read a newspaper article claiming EVs are worse than diesel or petrol cars, that article will be based on a report that deliberately makes EVs look worse than they are.
Usually the plot is as follows: a smaller petrol or diesel car is compared with a bigger, more powerful electric car; then the fossil fuel car is assumed to be as efficient as the EU’s official tests portray (in reality its fuel economy is always a lot worse); and finally the electric car is driving in a region with a very dirty electricity mix. Then you assume very high emissions for battery production based on outdated studies and finally you pretend electric cars don’t last very long and that its batteries aren’t reused or recycled.
There will always be a new study with some flawed assumptions to keep us all busy and we could rebut these until we all drop. The advantage for the oil and diesel industry is that articles and reports, however poor, keep the controversy alive. Discrediting or distorting science is a political strategy, as Naomi Oreskes chronicles so well in Merchants of Doubt
The rise of electric cars and green power are some of the biggest climate success stories of the past few years. It is the result of regulators in Europe, California and China doing their job and industry rising to the occasion. It shows what we can achieve if we set industry ambitious goals to clean up its act.
That might not please some but it is fair, effective and, for the climate, unequivocally a good thing. As the Nobel prize committee eloquently put it: “Lithium-ion batteries have revolutionised our lives since they first entered the market in 1991. They have laid the foundation of a wireless, fossil fuel-free society, and are of the greatest benefit to humankind.”
• William Todts is executive director of Transport & Environment, a European research and campaign group
This is awesome building Wind Turbine Towers out of Wood another good fact to plant billions of Trees.
Swedish company is building wind turbine towers out of timber
It seems that you can build just about anything out of wood.
While researching the carbon footprint of steel production for a lecture recently, I came across the line "it takes 200 tons of steel to make a wind turbine" – a justification for steel being green.
TreeHugger Mike demonstrated this wasn't true, and Homer-Dixon wasn't too happy about it either, but the steel industry is still pushing the idea that they are essential to a green future. To which Swedish company Modvion says, Oh yeah? We can build a wind turbine tower out of wood!
The wooden towers also offer additional environmental benefits compared with steel towers thanks to the lower-carbon manufacturing process. Lundman estimates a saving of 2,000-tonnes of CO2-emission per tower up until deployment. Plus, carbon sequestration in the wood offers the potential to make a wind-power plant carbon neutral.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.treehugger.com/renewable-energy/amp/swedish-company-building-wind-turbine-towers-out-timber.html
Kia Ora 1 News
The increases in waste dumpling fees is needed Ka pai that construction waste charges will go up to I think a lot of construction waste could be recycled.
YEA people should be aware of whats going down in Aotearoa.
That's awesome that the Wahine scientists has found new backing to go and study Ora in the Ross Sea.
Shows how strong the weather is getting worse because of global warming.
Discrimination is sad it good that the 3 Africa Americans finally got some justice I hope they get compensation for the 30 od years of wasted time in jail.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
I think Tikanga Maori is the best way to get Maori and Pacific people into Whare. A big whare with the grandparents looking after the Mokopuna while the parents mahi is a great model.
Tangata get Solar Power if you build it yourself it's only 8 k no more power cuts you will have to minimise your usage though.
Tangata Whenua O Aotearoa Sports Stars awards there are heaps to choose from kia kaha.
Cool having life jacket hubs to keep the people safe on the Moana.
Ka kite Ano
Kia Ora Breakfast.
That's correct Hone chemicals are still being used that harm Bees but not only Bees these chemicals are bad for every living thing. The reason that we are still using the poisoning chemicals is the multi nation company use all the dirtiest tricks in the book to suppress the factual data on the crap $$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
I read that story on the Japanese lakes problems with spraying chemicals on their rice paddies. That's the power these companies have no monitoring of poisonous chemicals concentrations in Aotearoa WTF.
I have seen perfect stuff that will be another person taonga being dumped???????.
That's great the Gender pay gaps closing in Aotearoa.
Mitchell you know exactly what's going down you we a cop????????????????.
Be good Whanau the you NO my view on the system.
Exactly its dog while politics but they are playing a flute to.
Condolences to Clive whanau I enjoy his programs.
Ka kite Ano
We must do everything we can can to minimise our Carbon footprint or we will stuff up our Mokopuna futures.
Climate emergency: world 'may have crossed tipping points’
Warning of ‘existential threat to civilisation’ as impacts lead to cascade of unstoppable events
The world may already have crossed a series of climate tipping points, according to a stark warning from scientists. This risk is “an existential threat to civilisation”, they say, meaning “we are in a state of planetary emergency”.
Tipping points are reached when particular impacts of global heating become unstoppable, such as the runaway loss of ice sheets or forests. In the past, extreme heating of 5C was thought necessary to pass tipping points, but the latest evidence suggests this could happen between 1C and 2C.
Prof Tim Lenton at the University of Exeter, the lead author of the article, said: “We might already have crossed the threshold for a cascade of interrelated tipping points. The simple version is the schoolkids [striking for climate action] are right: we are seeing potentially irreversible changes in the climate system under way, or very close.
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/nov/27/climate-emergency-world-may-have-crossed-tipping-points
😇
Here's another story about positive impact tree have on the Earth.
Trees in the Amazon are the world's sweat glands – and 10 other essential climate facts
You will not be surprised to learn that the climate crisis is a big and complicated problem. But when I started Not Cool, a Climate Podcast, I honestly hoped that if I could just talk with a few climate experts, we could clarify the facts and outline straightforward solutions. Thirty-one experts and 26 interviews later, I realize how mistaken I was, with more questions now than when I started. But I’ve also learned some amazing facts about how nature works, how humans work, and how to start addressing this crisis
We need more mangroves
Fortunately, nature provides incredible tools for addressing and adapting to climate change. Mangroves – essentially forests that grow along coastlines – are near magical solutions that came up in multiple interviews. They help prevent erosion and protect coastal regions from waves and rising sea levels. The trees are a haven for biodiversity, which could be partly why coral reefs seem to thrive in their presence. And mangroves also sequester a lot of carbon, which can help address both global heating and ocean acidification – an effect of the increased carbon in the oceans
Forget geoengineering – we have forests
There are two types of geoengineering, more accurately known as climate engineering. One highly contentious method involves injecting particulates, such as sulfur aerosols, into the sky to minimize solar radiation and decrease temperatures. The problem with this approach is that if countries disagree about optimal global temperatures, we can’t just suddenly stop the geoengineering systems, as this would cause global temperatures to rise quickly and dramatically. But if left unaddressed, serious international disagreement could lead to war. The other – far less contentious – geoengineering option involves pulling carbon out of the atmosphere. Though technologies for this exist, they’re not yet affordable or scaleable. But nature could again help here, as more forests could absorb more carbon, cooling the Earth.
forests are useful because they pull moisture from the soil and expel it through their leaves, cooling the Earth just as sweat cools our bodies. So not only are forests vitally important for reabsorbing the carbon we emit, they also decrease temperatures. Unfortunately, many forests – especially the Amazon – face deforestation. Some researchers fear that if even 25% to 30% of the Amazon rainforest is cut down, the loss of moisture could change its basic makeup, transforming it from a rainforest to a savanna. This threat remains speculative, but is it possible we’ve already passed other critical tipping points
Perhaps the most important thing to know about the climate crisis is that solutions exist. It is political will we lack. Many people worry about convincing climate deniers that climate breakdown is real, but deniers make up a very small percentage of the population. Our real focus should be on convincing those in power that the majority of us want to see strong political action. That happens when we talk to each other, when we talk to our representatives, and when we talk to our financial institutions. Individual climate action is critical, but this is ultimately a societal problem, and the solution must be societal as well
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/nov/27/climate-experts-interview-what-i-learned