Is this a break with the policy of censoring any mention of Climate Change from the Green Party’s official home page?
The blog post by Gareth Hughes relates to Solid Energy’s recent decision to drop their plan to mine lignite in Southland, which Gareth describes as “a win for the climate”.
Can we expect to see other mentions of climate change on the Green Party home page?
Or, will this link only stay up for the length of the current news cycle?
Actually the higher profiled speech by Russel Norman on smart green agriculture, linked on the home page, says a lot more about climate change. It’s also mentioned as a crucial issue in Turei’s 2013 State of the Planet Speech that’s been featured on the GP home page for a while.
I think their way of embedding climate change in wider issues will result in more people paying attention to it than hitting people between the eyes with it at every opportunity – shows how it’s embedded in everything we do.
Greens never stopped talking about climate change.
Actually the higher profiled speech by Russel Norman on smart green agriculture, linked on the home page, says a lot more about climate change. It’s also mentioned as a crucial issue in Turei’s 2013 State of the Planet Speech that’s been featured on the GP home page for a while.
karol
A crucial issue?
Meteiria Turei’s State of the Planet Speech only mentioned climate change briefly in passing, and only mentioned it at all, because it couldn’t be avoided. She also didn’t call for comprehensive measures to cut CO2 emissions.
Russel Norman’s speech on agriculture is good. But I expect that it won’t stay up long. It also didn’t address the issue of coal. The dairy industry as a whole is the number one user of coal in this country. Remember that coal is the number 1 single greatest cause of global warming. Russel Norman makes no demands on the dairy industry to switch from coal to less polluting alternatives. His talk was generally short on advocating any comprehensive action against climate change, concentrating more on economic issues.
The trajectory of the Green Party is quite clear, and points to a monumental sell out on the question of climate change which is the issue of our generation.
As we approach closer to the elections, I imagine that if the Green Party stick to the same trajectory, mentions of climate change will get less and less.
Mark my words Karol, you will be kicking yourself when in the final analyse the Greens run an election campaign which avoids debating the necessary actions over climate change needed to be taken to avoid catastrophe. And then signs up to a government that approves deep sea oil drilling, fracking and the rape of the Denniston Plateau for the coal export market.
Middle class support which is currently flowing from Labour to the Greens, will then collapse back into the Labour Party. And parliamentary business as usual will be resumed.
But no matter, like Joska Fischer of the German Greens, for their treachery, Norman, or Turei, possibly both, will be rewarded with permanent places on the Labour Party list.
However in the real world the climate will not be denied. In the real world the climate will smash into this country as it will all others.
The Green Party if they are remembered at all, will be remembered as a failed experiment in parliament democracy, that strived for little and achieved less.
“Russel Norman makes no demands on the dairy industry to switch from coal to less polluting alternatives.”
Maybe, but the GP policy on farming supports what you want. Go read it.
“And then signs up to a government that approves deep sea oil drilling, fracking and the rape of the Denniston Plateau for the coal export market.”
I actually agree with you that this is a risk. I think it’s a much smaller risk than you do, but it’s there nevertheless. But I don’t see *you* doing anything useful to try and change that. Slagging off the GP every chance you get just makes the situation worse. I’d like to know what you think will happen if people pay attention to you. Do you think they will do anything?
“The Green Party if they are remembered at all, will be remembered as a failed experiment in parliament democracy, that strived for little and achieved less”
If you agree with me. Then I have achieved something already.
To answer your question:
I’d like to know what you think will happen if people pay attention to you. Do you think they will do anything?
I would like to think, that people like yourself would do something.
The first thing of course, would be to convince the Green Party to agree to make Climate Change an electoral issue in 2014.
This is important. If climate change issues are not raised and debated in the elections then the Greens will have no mandate to raise climate change issues in government and will be in a very weak position to oppose government policies that increase the risk.
It probably wouldn’t hurt if people like yourself within the Green Party started agitating to make climate change a Green Party “Priority” rather than just one of the Green Party’s 59 “Other issues”.
Personally I would like to see the Green Party to start agitating within parliament to halt all coal exports and imports. This could be done with a private members bill that would put pressure on the Labour Party to declare where they stand on this issue.
Here is a good backgrounder on the danger of coal exports from Greenpeace, though written by Australia Greenpeace. It could equally apply here.
RNZ- Prof Ewan Mason, Forestry Studies U.C, on the ETS (and related plantings);
NZ now a dumping ground for worthless credits
-unrestricted imports of credits from overseas
-e.g, ex USSR
-exclusion of agriculture a “driver down”
Forestry concerns when harvests mature in 2020 (placed 1990’s on)
-since 2000 decline in plantings (more attractive investment options)
-wood commodities prices have declined over 15-20 years
If the dairy producers came on board emissions regulation it may only affect gross margins 5-6%
Citation needed. Yet again. And no, Jenny, “but they don’t mention climate change as often as I like” is not the same as alleging a specific, deliberate, active policy of censorship.
This is why people don’t rally to your cause. Because you make shit up and can’t even back it up convincingly.
The Government can afford $3.1 million a year to save Wanganui Collegiate against advice and even though there was an abundance of capacity in the Wanganui area yet cannot afford $5 million a year to save our Kauri.
“It seems backwards to close a consistently high performing school that has a new million dollar learning studio, is fully networked and has, up until now, had a stable roll despite the exodus of families in the red zone.
Freeville already educates for the future, and has for years been a model school, showcasing the future of education for other teachers, schools and education professionals. I fail to see how taking us out of our purpose-designed and operated school, and merging us with another school with completely different teaching practices and old classrooms will be better for my children’s education.”
The Alfred E Nuemann of New Zealand television Patrick Gower fronting a poll from Reid Research on behalf of MediaWorks which owns TV3, and that’s in any way believable???,
Considering that that particular poll has for at least the past 2 years polled the National Party as having the % numbers to ‘govern alone’ i would suggest that there is something very wrong with their methodology,
This perceived inaccuracy of course has nothing to do with the fact that the company which pays for this poll, TV3 is owned by MediaWorks which was given a $42 million loan guarantee by Slippery’s National Government,
Neither does the fact that Steven Joyce, the Minister of Fuxit was at one time a highly visible shareholder in MediaWorks effect the poll, how could it, after-all ‘there is no corruption in New Zealand’
i cannot tell at this stage whether Joyce still has a substantial share-holding in MediaWorks or it’s Australian parent company Ironbridge Capital, if He does it is well hidden inside the ‘declared’ blind trust Joyce is a beneficiary of…
and the spin continues, they smothered the electorate in 2011 with the mantra that it’s national again so lots stayed away from the polls thinking their vote was not going to do much….wrong but well done MSM monkeys and mates.
So this is the new mantra now is it, Muppet boy toothing the Gnats can govern alone.
As there will not be any MP/ACT/UF stooges along for the ride they pretty much appear to have set the stall up for this new line, fair enough when you’ve got docile yes men to peddle it why not, goes along nicely with the brighter future, lovin wages dropping, roaring out of recession via a cycleway, let’s be like ireland etc etc
Freeville already educates for the future, and has for years been a model school, showcasing the future of education for other teachers, schools and education professionals. I fail to see how taking us out of our purpose-designed and operated school, and merging us with another school with completely different teaching practices and old classrooms will be better for my children’s education.
It won’t be but it’ll be great for the new private charter school that will get it cheap from the government.
One argument against a negative income tax is that voters will keep voting to raise it,
since 50% of people will be below average income. Of course, this ignores the reality
of our present situation where most people kept voting for more profits from banks
printing private money. Which shows why a negative income tax could not get
out of control since the rich would use their immense power to stop it, but who
stops the richest gaming the system as they have?
We will look back at the last thirty years and wonder why we spent the oil windfall
on yachts and booze rather than securing environmental stability and finding its
replacement. Thatcher will be up there with Hitler for cannibalizing the economy
for narrow short term power grab.
One argument against a negative income tax is that voters will keep voting to raise it…
IMO, only if the capitalists, economists and politicians keep telling them that there’s no limit to the economy. If they’re told what resources we have and where they’re going then I’m sure that those limits will be adhered to.
Less direct benefit to the rch will insure tht any negative income tax would never threaten the public backed slush fund that the rich seem increasingly able to raid. Isn’t that how many get
rich, those who don’t innovate, those who aren’t born rich, or find a new niche, they gets someone elses money and risk that, taxpayers, pensions, or people’s nestegg (or in a ponsi scheme no risk at all to the ponsi fraudster).
The government is still rewarding the Wanganui patriots for saving our civilisation from Te Whiti and his violent terrorist insurgents at Parihaka, and the Royal Navy no longer needs kauri spars. It is even possible that the few remaining kauri are growing on land that could be profitably mined, giving us all a more aspirational future.
So, the reshuffle is apparently out today. Will be a big test of whether David Shearer is going to be a puppet of the status quo or whether he will actually bring some unity to the party. I hope the latter and he uses this as an opportunity to bring the factions together. We need a merit-based senior leadership team in Parliament and our best and our brightest on the front bench. We are missing too many opportunities. Cunliffe has to get some meaty porfolios and a higher ranking. It is pettiness to leave him on the backbench as the NZHerald is predicting. He’s one of the top performers in the House (I see his speech responding to the PMs Speech is only second to Shearer in the number of views and his IMF one is also doing the rounds). Ironically, the NZH is calling King one of our most effective MPs in the House – interestingly her speeches don’t even rate. This is such an opportunity. Let’s hope Shearer doesn’t blow it by being petty and unstrategic.
Frank asks, “How could Solid Energy’s financial position go from a pre-tax profit of $127.5 million (see: Solid Energy shines despite earthquakes) in August 2011 – to a massive $389 million debt this year? Did National gouge one of our cash-state-cows?”
Yes they did, and Labour were just as bad if not worse. The SOEs have been used to hide real Govt debt, borrowing by SOEs doesn’t show as debt in the Crown accounts. The adoption of IFRS by the Govt permitted the beancounters to constantly revalue assets of the SOEs to ‘fair market value’. Those revaluations were mostly upwards which brought paper profits, the SOEs then borrowed against the assets to pay the Govt a dividend.
One of the reasons SolidEnergy are in trouble is because they paid dividends when they were making considerable capital investments, the dividends should have been kept as retained earnings to fund the capital projects. But Bill English wanted cash for his books so he, or his minions, milked the SOEs.
Yep. Was a time when accounting was a proud profession, ‘true and fair view’ meant what it said. Now it’s just a shameful parody that creates facades for crumbling edifices.
One of the ironies about the asset sales business is that both Labour & National have been selling off our assets for decades. They just did it the sly & deceitful way – sold them to bankers & their ilk.
2012 accounts reported interest rate swap contracts of some $200 million. They don’t appear to be contributing to the problem though, from what I can make of the accounts they posted a gain on those in 2012.
The first problem is cashflow, from June accounts;
“Cashflows from operations were $142 million compared to $129 million in 2011, with increased cash receipts from higher prices. Capital investment totalled $162 million”
They invested more than they made in nett earnings yet still paid the Govt a $30million dividend which can only have come from borrowing. Kinda mind boggling really.
Problem today is the debt has gone from $295million in June 2012 to $385million now which is a very big jump. But we don’t know yet what the extra borrowing was for – to cover trading losses or for more investment. Needs to be a bit more clarity on it.
Solid Energy’s 2012 annual report shows total debt of NZ$295 million comprising NZ$225 million of bank debt and NZ$70 million of bonds. It says all bond and loan facilities are unsecured and all the debt was marked as non-current, meaning none of it was due for repayment for at least 12 months. Solid Energy last year made a net loss after tax of NZ$40.2 million and paid the government a NZ$30 million dividend.
To be fair to them they haven’t yet demanded any money. They have warned investors that although they have a profit there will be additional costs next period and they are looking at alternative approaches to keep a lid on the costs.
They certainly may try and demand more money but is pretty unfair to criticize them for it before they have done it.
So, they will have a lower profit next period. This means that there will be less investors and thus they will need more money from the government to do what needs to be done (and what they should have done with the ~$17b in profit that they’ve pulled out over the last 20 years).
I said in my comment that they may go to government. However,there are also other options for funding if they believe it is unlikely the government will give them more money. All I am trying to point out is it is pretty harsh to criticize someone for something they actually haven’t done.
“Education Minister Hekia Parata recommended that Wanganui Collegiate should not be integrated into the state system, but she was rolled by her Cabinet colleagues. ….”
Well, it’s hearsay but apparently Brownlee and Joyce were de facto running the Christchurch School ‘reforms’ and making the decisions.
For example, moving the schools’ merger/closure deadlines forward by one or two years (so that it’s all done by 2014) explicitly reversed one of Parata’s public commitments after the September announcements. I imagine she was over-ruled and that commitment was dumped once the electoral calculations (or some other priorities concerning the ‘rebuild’ process) were put into the mix. The collateral damage was to her reputation.
I get the strong impression that Parata has been repeatedly set up to be the fall ‘guy’ – she does not appear to be taken seriously within Cabinet except as someone to take the flak. But then, if I am correct, she has let this happen and must take some responsibility for that.
Hearing about the Pistorius killing, and then that a brother is charged with a road killing brought Colin Bouwer to mind. He cam to NZ as a psychiatrist, once head of Psychiatry at U.of Otago, and then decided he didn’t want his wife any more and the best and most efficient way to get rid of her was to kill her by extremely devious and cunning means. Then his son (who had been given the same name!) was charged and convicted with murder of his wife, in South Africa.
This thinkpiece by The Guardian talks about the disgraceful way that South Africa is developing. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/22/oscar-pistorius-south-africa-war-women
The sick, wrong-thinking attitudes that grew under aparthheid live on. Notable comments –
* …the patriarchal nature of apartheid ideology created hierarchies based on gender as well as race.
* While the country’s gun culture is by no means comparable to that of the US, paranoia about violent crime in a post-apartheid era has extended the laager mentality that emerged during the rule of the National party.
* …the black South Africans’ experience of violent crime in the township, where the “corrective rape” of lesbians gives new meaning to the cynical term “paper rights” – constitutional rights that mean nothing in practice.
paranoia about violent crime in a post-apartheid era has extended the laager mentality that emerged during the rule of the National party. (The term refers to the defensive circle created by the wagons of colonial-era settlers, effectively creating a mobile fort against attacks by indigenous Africans. Settlers would hide inside these wagon forts with their guns on the ready in the event of an attack.)
Under apartheid, white paranoia about being murdered by vengeful “natives” helped the National party to consolidate its political power, as well as to justify the conscription of white males to defend South Africa’s borders against “communists” – shorthand for the African National Congress’s military wing. Many white South African males were compulsorily drafted, and a large number of young soldiers fought in border wars with Angola and Mozambique. In addition, the patriarchal nature of apartheid ideology created hierarchies based on gender as well as race.
Black citizens on the other hand experienced the structural violence of apartheid policies, and faced brutal repression in their struggle for civil rights. The landmark murders in Sharpeville and Soweto were the tip of the iceberg – the disappearance of activists and the torture of detainees became a feature of everyday life.…
“The massive problem we need to understand in South Africa is the level of men’s violence against women and against each other,” said Lisa Vetten, a researcher who specialises in domestic abuse. Police statistics on domestic violence are limited. But 15,609 murders and 64,500 reported rapes in 2011-12 suggest massive levels of violence in South African homes.
Household surveys by the MRC have found that 40% of men have hit their partner and one in four men have raped a woman. Three-quarters of men who admit to having raped women say they did so first as teenagers. The MRC found that, while a quarter of women had been raped, just 2% of those raped by a partner reported the incident to police.
Great informative talk on emissions trading in NZ and how it is being rorted – with government assisting all the way – so units are selling now for about $2.40 when they should be $24. At the low price, because of unfettered imports that this mendacious government is encouraging, it is destroying the economy of forest planting that the scheme as originally envisaged would have fostered.
Associate professor at the NZ School of Forestry at Canterbury University Euan Mason on the Emissions Trading Scheme
09:29
Is the Emissions Trading Scheme dead?
With Associate Professor Euan Mason – Professor Mason says NZ is failing to respond to climate change and it’s an international embarassment. (21′52″)
And the value of pinus radiata just left in place fostering native birds who would seed the ground with native plants and trees is one advantage from pinus. Another is to assist sheep farmers to have a better return from their high country and so be less close to non-profit. And he mentioned the big floods in the North Island some time ago with rain and silt washing down from bare hills that should be covered and protected by a mantle of trees.
And which took I think he said, $200 million of mostly taxpayer’s money to clear and restore for farming use. (I may have inadvertently added in some 0’s but that’s what it’s like with government money allocations isn’t it, they wax and wane depending on the recipient and outcome’s value to the particular party.)
It’s a pity that we are reverting in NZ to the more primitive kind of political man. All the way up from slimy centipedes to apes and hominoids and now, not too slowly back.
The fact that UAVs can provide insight into private properties from a perspective that is not readily accessible to ordinary members of the public, and into areas where people have a reasonable expectation of privacy is recognised in Seattle – but not in New Zealand.
But if you think the Seattle police manual provides an adequate level of protections for citizen’s civil rights and reasonable expectations of privacy, the citizens of Seattle do not. This month, Seattle’s mayor Mike McGinn and his police chief John Diaz agreed that it was time to end the city’s UAV programme ”so that SPD can focus its resources on public safety and the community building work that is the department’s priority.”
Seattle’s decision to ground its drones comes as lawmakers in at least 11 other states of the United States are considering plans to restrict the use of UAVS in their skies in response to mounting concern that drone surveillance technology can be exploited to spy and pry into law abiding citizen’s private lives.
Matthew Hooton talking this morning on Radionz in his usual disparaging way about anything leftish. Says Labour encouraged Solid Energy into – trendy and liberal ideas – to expand into.
Sounds as if it’s all Labour’s fault that Solid Energy is in the poo. How much is Labour responsible for in this debacle?
I think that the main problem with Labour is that they were constraining themselves to the “Third Way” approach and concentrating on getting an efficient welfare system and encouraging business to go forth and flourish. And businessmen thought that meant that meant that they could all talk their wages up at the same time as they made big ground-breaking decisions. Unfortunately then they were trumped in ground-breaking by the earthquake, and both brought similar long-term destruction that’s hard to recover from.
It’s what we get for attempting to usurp the role of the big oil companies, the coal to diesel plant in Southland was set to provide some 90 million liters of diesel a year for use within New Zealand,
The tech associated with this coal to diesel plant also included research,(along with the Australians), into carbon sequesture where the ‘plan’ appears to have been to ‘stash’ enough carbon underground so as to negate the amount of carbon produced from the manufacture process involved in coal to diesel,(exactly how close this research was to actually providing a workable means of taking industrial amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere i am as yet not sure about),
Big oil through it’s political functionaries allowed the trashing of a large part of ‘think big’, (specially the bits around using the resource to in part escape our imported oil dependency), and, there was a certain Government subsidy which the Slippery lead National Government scrapped,(sorry i forgot the name of this subsidy), which made the Solid Energy coal to diesel plan uneconomic,
Having scrapped the subsidy National have made the whole coal to diesel scenario uneconomic as the work was completed on the specific understanding of the subsidy being factored into the economics, leaving Solid Energy with the debt of all the research so far undertaken wasted,
A fire-sale of all the 1000’s of Hectares of land in Southland bought by Solid energy so as to give it access to the billions of tonnes of lignite underneath it will now occur…
And I think sale for dairy farms has been mentioned. Of course TINA. And some of those super rich Chinese that I saw on the link from Saturday from Colonial Viper 12.24pm could take it all in one big gulp if they so decided. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3RuvlL19yQ
lean’d over to ol’ Matthew Henry the other day behind the armchair Viper;
16: a, luxury. b,covetousness. c,ambition.
-Nativity In Vitae (not the created world or that of people)
luxury doesn’t “pay too well” (too much chocolate, or…steroids…caffeine…maybe Greece)
watched parts of Bad Lieutenant (with a stiff Cage); not a patch on Keitel, yet when the script is seen through a different lense…it ain’t no Piano sonata.
Kaiser Chiefs: Angry Mob http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z5kEqRFPwo
“Be careful how you treat children for their “angel” looks upon the face of God.”
the other day, a Welcome Swallow whirled round and round
next day hand-fed two white baby doves on the ground
today a blackbird pecked around the plantings, very little thrush
ahhh The Shifting Shadows of Supernatural Power (Johnson-“When Heaven Invades Earth”, Mahesh Chavda, John Sandford et al;)
or
for that voodoo you do document patron; “Glimpses of the Devil” : A Psychiatrists’ Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism and Redemption.-M. Scott Peck
BUCK-TOOTH PADDY FALLS HEAD-OVER-HEELS FOR TELETUBBY GARNER.
In tonite’s tree-newz [sic] Paddy Gower, whilst rambling on matters political, made ALL the moves of his predecessor (“Dunk” – otherwise known as the political sage, former closet mentor, lover and leader of a Mihi, and thunderdog, cock-sucker, and persuader of the Houghton Bay harrier, amongst others.) Holding his hands in cupped fashion (desperate to show wedding ring), Paddy delivered his report with the intonation, framing and commitment to journalistic integrity his predecessor and trainer ‘Dunk’ had ingrained.
A replay of Paddy’s delivery in tonight’s ‘Tree Newz’ report that was fed through the latest comparator technology with Duncan Garner’s last 3 News reports showed insignificant differences.
‘Sources’ are understood to be in negotiations with Radio New Zealand’s Nine-to-Noon producer for a spot on Monday’s political commentary, and with with THE ‘every-person’s nicest man on Earth’ Jim Mora to determine whether a 4pm-5pm ‘slot’ might not be appropriate now that Paddy has been able to demonstrate a media profile that equals those of Mike Williams, Jose Pagani and Mathew Hooten in the delivery of ‘expert opinion to the masses’. We were able to catch up with the nicest man on Earth (‘Good-guy Jum’) during a brief lay-by on his next mission to Mars whilst speaking with producers who were anxious to maintain their ‘aura’ of political neutrality.
Buck-Tooth Paddy was unavailable for comment, but [media sauces] said it is unlikely he would be interested in extending his radio commitments since he’d recently purchased a new wardrobe based primarily on a ‘baby-blue’ hue. He was also anxious to display his persona at every opportunity in a bid to convince the wider public that he isn’t the desperate, egotistical little wanker with bleached teeth that audience polling amongst ‘other sauces’ have determined – particularly with the younger demographic.
Vanity Fear: Seen on TV1 tonight Slippery the Prime Minister with a fresh dye job on the hair, (including the new bits plucked from between the anal crevice of a blind donkey called Brucie)…
Interesting interview with Jeremy Grantham tonight. Radionz on Nights – Window on the World
Monday 25 February: Jeremy Grantham
Peter Day hears from an investment expert called Jeremy Grantham who has spent decades thinking about some of the big issues that influence our existence and the global economy. He thinks that the assumptions which have powered the industrial revolution for two centuries are looking pretty threadbare. So, how do we manage technological progress in a world of finite resources?
Yep Nose…. sanity and interest prevails on RNZ between 5pm and 9am when the cult of personality takes over briefly with a couple of hosts trying to show just how clever they are
(i.e. the cult of personality reigns between 9am and 5pm). Its a shame that more people haven’t discovered “Nights”. It’s a great alternative to T dot V
Don’t be too tough Tim. Radionz has got to appeal to the greater NZ public if they are to hold their attention for a while from going to the big tongue-flappers, the witty fast boys and girls diverting the pundits with trivia. Then there are the nostalgic music stations, that play plaintive love songs from last century.
The Radionz crowd usually have a good mix of fact, informed opinion, and you can keep up to date with perhaps tv showing the sites and faces, and newspapers physical or internet giving the more detailed stories of the day, and the good ones also useful fact and background.
Grantham speaking on the limitations of capitalism under conditions of resource and environmental constraints. Bear in mind that this man is in charge of roughly US$100B in investment funds.
I know someone who is turning 65 and is blessing reaching this age so she doesn’t have to deal with the WINZ demands and unpleasant people any more. It’s hard when you need an invalid’s benefit. Everything is to be questioned these days.
When Labour talks blithely about the old age pension going up to 70, they are just doing another ideological move away from really useful and pragmatic social policy in a way to equal Roger Douglas.
The Government apparently knew that Solid Energy had ‘diversification plans’ in 2009; refused to provide $1bn in funding for them; learned in 2011 of Solid Energy’s problems in a scoping study for the introduction of the mixed ownership model and yet …
… went to the electorate claiming that it could reap billions from the sales of shares in State owned enterprises (and promised to spend those billions in multiple ways).
In retrospect, it’s a pity someone didn’t ask John Key to ‘Show me the money!’, or at least make an OIA request about any scoping studies of the worth of the SOEs that were on the block.
For some reason, the link I embedded in the words “knew that Solid Energy had ‘diversification’ plans” is there but is in black type on my screen rather than the usual blue.
by the way, your link certainly makes it look like there was ministerial idiocracy involved, as the board seemed to tell them what was going on every step of the way, and it only got picked when another department/minister did the firesale stocktake
High dollar / exchange rate.
Who benefits from it? Apparently the NZ Dlr is viewed as the new gold by the foreign dealers. They have been quoted as saying “Let’s have some fun with it…” Leaving aside the obscenity of that, now, just saying, someone in NZ had a packet of spare foreign currency five to 10 years ago and had bought up large on the Kiwi at its low, they’d now be in a position to see it climbing to an all time high and could at some stage, make a further killing if they were to sell it for a “now lower valued” foreign currency… apart from the banks, who else in NZ might be in a position to take advantage of it? Makes you wonder.
Is the government able to act to change the exchange rate? Just wondering, ’cause someone must be able to influence the exchange rate and lower it if they had the will, or the inclination, to do so.
Open access notables A survey of interventions to actively conserve the frozen North, van Wijngaarden et al., Climatic Change:The frozen elements of the high North are thawing as the region warms much faster than the global mean. The dangers of sea level rise due to melting glacier ice, increased ...
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Buzz from the Beehive Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so. Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected ...
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This story by Naveena Sadasivam and Kate Yoder was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The long-awaited jobs board for the American Climate Corps, promised early in the Biden administration, will open next month, according to details shared exclusively ...
Should landlords be able to deduct the interest on the loans they take out to bankroll their property speculation? The US Senate Budget Committee and Bloomberg News don’t think this is a good idea, for reasons set out below. Regardless, our coalition government has been burning through a ton of ...
Treasury’s first report on the economy since the change of government presents a damning indictment of Labour’s economic management. The problem for National is that it is so damning that logically, coupled with a rapidly slowing economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis should respond to it by postponing or even cancelling ...
Budget tensions are becoming evident within the Coalition Government. Winston Peters made numerous political points in his speech to the NZF annual conference. But the attack on his own government’s fiscal policies raised issues of substance. ‘Today in the Sunday Star Times, journalist and former advisor to the Labour ...
Buzz from the Beehive The media – sure enough – have been binging on Finance Minister Nicola Willis’ release of the Budget Policy Statement and a statement headed Government announces Budget priorities This assures us – or rather, this parrots the Luxon team mantra – that the Budget “will deliver ...
The Ides of March brought me COVID followed by a bereavement. No wonder they tell you to be careful of them.I’m home now and have resumed the interrupted recuperation. Very much looking forward to getting back to regular things. Meanwhile, some thoughts…OneThis new Prime Minister guy just keeps getting more dire. ...
News that the Chinese ATP 40 cyber-hacking unit penetrated parliamentary internet networks in 2021 has renewed concerns about the PRC’s malign intentions in Aotearoa. But is the hack that significant given the length of time that has passed since its … Continue reading → ...
When Parliament passed the Intelligence and security Act in 2017, they assured us all that it was full of safeguards. Any intrusive surveillance of New Zealanders would be subject to a "triple lock", requiring the approval of the Minister and (supposedly independent) Commissioner of Intelligence Warrants, as well as post-facto ...
Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – It’s becoming increasingly apparent that many perceive free speech to have become the preserve of the politically right wing, the religiously conservative, the libertarian fringe, the anti-trans, the anti-Māori and…. well, just fill in with whatever groups or individuals you don’t like and don’t ...
Don Brash writes – As everybody who is not blind and deaf is aware, there is a huge political preoccupation with climate change at the moment, a widespread (though by no means unanimous) belief that global temperatures are rising mainly as a result of the greenhouse gases created ...
TL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy on Wednesday, March 27 include:Chris Bishop laid out his vision for filling Aotearoa-NZ’s $100 billion infrastructure deficit in a speech yesterday, emphasising user pays and private funding, but failed to say how to achieve bipartisanship on population, public borrowing and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Former Finance Minister Grant Robertson and former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins have been conveying how unhappy they are with the tax system. Last week in his valedictory speech, Robertson called for the introduction of a wealth or capital gains tax. And this week Hipkins ...
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 ...
Buzz from the Beehive China has loomed large in Beehive considerations over the past 24 hours, largely because of that country’s mischief-making in the cyber espionage department. Two media statements emerged on that subject hard on the heels of the PM baulking at questions put to him on RNZ’s Morning ...
Chris Trotter writes – WHY IS THE NATIONAL PARTY doing so much for landlords, property developers, trucking, and construction companies, and so little for everybody who isn’t already pretty well-off? It’s as if protecting landlords’ investments and building apartments and roads now constitute the whole of National’s ...
Bryce Edwards writes – When she was campaigning to be Minister of Finance last year, Nicola Willis pledged that she would resign from the job if she failed to deliver tax cuts in her first Budget. Now, it’s that pledge, along with Prime Minister Christopher Luxon’s ...
Robert MacCulloch writes – The Reserve Bank has doubled staff numbers in five years to 510, with personnel costs rising to $80 million in 2023 from $32 million in 2018 – up by a whopping 150%. I guess when you print $50 billion and flood markets with liquidity, ...
The furore. In case you didn’t notice there was a controversy in the weekend involving dolphins in a little town off the South Island. Don’t panic, they haven’t declared independence and resumed whaling, this was simply a sailing event.The problem began when racing was cancelled on the opening day of ...
For 20 years or more, the case for a meaningful capital tax gains has been mulled over and analysed to death, including by the tax working group chaired by Sir Michael Cullen. More than once, the International Monetary Fund has said a CGT would be a good idea for New ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: The Public Health Communications Centre (PHCC) call for urgent preventive action and a risk assessment survey of long covid in this briefing noteLocal scoop: NZ road deaths surpass OECD rates, so why is the govt reversing safety plans? ...
This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. This story is part of a collaboration with Grist and WABE to demystify the Georgia Public Service Commission, the small but powerful state-elected board that makes critical decisions about everything from raising ...
This is a guest post from Robert McLachlan Global warming is accelerating; 2023 was off the charts. We need to stop burning fossil fuels. In New Zealand, transport accounts for half of all fossil fuels burnt. In the Emissions Reduction Plan, transport emissions fall 41% by 2035. As the ...
Labour productivity has been receding rapidly over the past two years, reversing a post-lockdown rise. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa’s political economy as at 6:26am on Tuesday, March 26 include:Workers have been treading water in output per hour worked for 12 years, ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 2 include:Today, Parliament resumes sitting at 2pm for the second week of a two-week session. Officials for SIS and GCSB report their annual reviews in public to the Intelligence and Security Select Committee from 5.10pm.Tomorrow, ...
Faced with a barrage of criticism over the promised tax cuts from usually supportive commentators, Finance Minister Nicola Willis yesterday reaffirmed her intention to include them in this year’s Budget. The Government is up against it over the cuts just about every way it turns. Commentators like Fran O’Sullivan, Matthew ...
Here’s my pick of today’s substack posts as of 6:26pm on Monday, March 25: writes via his substack that Market-rate housing will make your city cheaper writes via his substack about the problems talking to double-cab ute (truck) drivers about their vehicles. today about moments of radicalisation in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Just before Christmas, Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivered something that was pitched as a mini-budget and brayed about the decisive action being taken to repair the Government books and support income tax relief in Budget 2024. In a statement headed Fiscal repair job underway. she introduced ...
My sister Belinda asked Dad yesterday what one word would describe Mum best. He said: vivacious.If you only knew her from the photos on the slideshow we've made for today,you might wonder about that, because the camera tended to lie with Mum.If ever she saw a camera pointed at her, she ...
There are two major public consultations closing in the next week, Auckland Council’s Long Term Plan (LTP), and the draft Government Policy Statement on Land Transport (GPS). Closing dates and times: LTP closes Thursday 28 February, at 11.59pm – a minute to midnight! GPS closes Tuesday 2 April, at 12pm noon – note that’s ...
From Kiwiblog’s David Farrar – Bryce Wilkinson writes: Senior Fellow Bryce Wilkinson’s analysis reveals that since March 2009, New Zealand has spent $158 billion more overseas than it has earned, but its NIIP has only fallen by $32 billion.Statistics New Zealand shows that receipts from overseas reinsurers have ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition? Brian Easton writes – The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could ...
Dear Nicola Willis,Right now you’ve probably got lots of competing demands coming at you. Ministers who’ve inherited quite a mess, or so you’ve told us, looking for money in the budget to improve things. I imagine that’s why they came to parliament - to make things better.You’ll have to make ...
The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
Photo by Alvan Nee on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news ...
Buzz from the Beehive One minister is talking tough while a colleague – whose ministry had acted tough and drawn a barrage of flak – has shown an official softening. Some ministers are doing what Labour was good at, which is distributing public funds to causes regarded as worthy or ...
A ballot for 4 Member's Bills was held today, and the following bills were drawn: Insurance Contracts Bill (Duncan Webb) Income Tax (Clean Transport FBT Exclusion) Amendment Bill (Julie Anne Genter) Crimes (Increased Penalties for Slavery Offences) Amendment Bill (Greg Fleming) Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) ...
One of the strongest narratives about "our" spy agencies is that they are basically institutional traitors, working for foreign powers (or just themselves), without any control or oversight by the elected government. And today, we have yet another report from the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security which explicitly confirms this. ...
“It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April to meet the Prime Minister’s ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
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Som good news from the Green Party website.
A link to a blogpost by Gareth Hughes that mentions the climate has appeared on the Green Party home page.
http://www.greens.org.nz/
Is this a break with the policy of censoring any mention of Climate Change from the Green Party’s official home page?
The blog post by Gareth Hughes relates to Solid Energy’s recent decision to drop their plan to mine lignite in Southland, which Gareth describes as “a win for the climate”.
Can we expect to see other mentions of climate change on the Green Party home page?
Or, will this link only stay up for the length of the current news cycle?
Actually the higher profiled speech by Russel Norman on smart green agriculture, linked on the home page, says a lot more about climate change. It’s also mentioned as a crucial issue in Turei’s 2013 State of the Planet Speech that’s been featured on the GP home page for a while.
I think their way of embedding climate change in wider issues will result in more people paying attention to it than hitting people between the eyes with it at every opportunity – shows how it’s embedded in everything we do.
Greens never stopped talking about climate change.
Yes Karol, I reckon Norman’s speech on Agriculture is spot on the mark, exactly what Farming needs in New Zealand.
Agreed Karol, and it will reach the people who won’t follow an obvious CC link.
A crucial issue?
Meteiria Turei’s State of the Planet Speech only mentioned climate change briefly in passing, and only mentioned it at all, because it couldn’t be avoided. She also didn’t call for comprehensive measures to cut CO2 emissions.
Russel Norman’s speech on agriculture is good. But I expect that it won’t stay up long. It also didn’t address the issue of coal. The dairy industry as a whole is the number one user of coal in this country. Remember that coal is the number 1 single greatest cause of global warming. Russel Norman makes no demands on the dairy industry to switch from coal to less polluting alternatives. His talk was generally short on advocating any comprehensive action against climate change, concentrating more on economic issues.
The trajectory of the Green Party is quite clear, and points to a monumental sell out on the question of climate change which is the issue of our generation.
As we approach closer to the elections, I imagine that if the Green Party stick to the same trajectory, mentions of climate change will get less and less.
Mark my words Karol, you will be kicking yourself when in the final analyse the Greens run an election campaign which avoids debating the necessary actions over climate change needed to be taken to avoid catastrophe. And then signs up to a government that approves deep sea oil drilling, fracking and the rape of the Denniston Plateau for the coal export market.
Middle class support which is currently flowing from Labour to the Greens, will then collapse back into the Labour Party. And parliamentary business as usual will be resumed.
But no matter, like Joska Fischer of the German Greens, for their treachery, Norman, or Turei, possibly both, will be rewarded with permanent places on the Labour Party list.
However in the real world the climate will not be denied. In the real world the climate will smash into this country as it will all others.
The Green Party if they are remembered at all, will be remembered as a failed experiment in parliament democracy, that strived for little and achieved less.
“Russel Norman makes no demands on the dairy industry to switch from coal to less polluting alternatives.”
Maybe, but the GP policy on farming supports what you want. Go read it.
“And then signs up to a government that approves deep sea oil drilling, fracking and the rape of the Denniston Plateau for the coal export market.”
I actually agree with you that this is a risk. I think it’s a much smaller risk than you do, but it’s there nevertheless. But I don’t see *you* doing anything useful to try and change that. Slagging off the GP every chance you get just makes the situation worse. I’d like to know what you think will happen if people pay attention to you. Do you think they will do anything?
“The Green Party if they are remembered at all, will be remembered as a failed experiment in parliament democracy, that strived for little and achieved less”
You don’t have to sound so hopeful Jenny.
If you agree with me. Then I have achieved something already.
To answer your question:
I’d like to know what you think will happen if people pay attention to you. Do you think they will do anything?
I would like to think, that people like yourself would do something.
The first thing of course, would be to convince the Green Party to agree to make Climate Change an electoral issue in 2014.
This is important. If climate change issues are not raised and debated in the elections then the Greens will have no mandate to raise climate change issues in government and will be in a very weak position to oppose government policies that increase the risk.
It probably wouldn’t hurt if people like yourself within the Green Party started agitating to make climate change a Green Party “Priority” rather than just one of the Green Party’s 59 “Other issues”.
Personally I would like to see the Green Party to start agitating within parliament to halt all coal exports and imports. This could be done with a private members bill that would put pressure on the Labour Party to declare where they stand on this issue.
Here is a good backgrounder on the danger of coal exports from Greenpeace, though written by Australia Greenpeace. It could equally apply here.
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/greenpeace-nz-news/~3/wbzjrOuoM68/
It also wouldn’t hurt if the Green Party would give climate change a mention on their home page.
Maybe the Green Party might like to link to Naomi Klein’s “Fight like hell” interview.
Government declares drought in Northland
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1302/S00431/government-declares-drought-in-northland.htm
Should the Green Party call for a high profile parliamentary inquiry into the crisis in the climate. Just as they did for the crisis in manufacturing?
For an environmental party they seem to have very odd priorities.
Maybe a parliamentary enquiry is something else they could do, if the GP began to take climate change seriously?
Will they do it?
Or will they keep ignoring climate change on their way to political oblivion.
RNZ- Prof Ewan Mason, Forestry Studies U.C, on the ETS (and related plantings);
NZ now a dumping ground for worthless credits
-unrestricted imports of credits from overseas
-e.g, ex USSR
-exclusion of agriculture a “driver down”
Forestry concerns when harvests mature in 2020 (placed 1990’s on)
-since 2000 decline in plantings (more attractive investment options)
-wood commodities prices have declined over 15-20 years
If the dairy producers came on board emissions regulation it may only affect gross margins 5-6%
Eats, shoots and leaves,
http://www.fishpond.co.nz/Books/Growing-Gardens-for-Free-Geoff-Bryant/9781869534929
the policy of censoring any mention
Citation needed. Yet again. And no, Jenny, “but they don’t mention climate change as often as I like” is not the same as alleging a specific, deliberate, active policy of censorship.
This is why people don’t rally to your cause. Because you make shit up and can’t even back it up convincingly.
The Government can afford $3.1 million a year to save Wanganui Collegiate against advice and even though there was an abundance of capacity in the Wanganui area yet cannot afford $5 million a year to save our Kauri.
It has a strange sense of priorities.
And here’s more stupid from stupid … and all this on a day when Herald announces Gnats have enough votes in a poll to govern alone … oh, my !!
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff-nation/8328016/Chch-Govt-destroying-our-communities
“It seems backwards to close a consistently high performing school that has a new million dollar learning studio, is fully networked and has, up until now, had a stable roll despite the exodus of families in the red zone.
Freeville already educates for the future, and has for years been a model school, showcasing the future of education for other teachers, schools and education professionals. I fail to see how taking us out of our purpose-designed and operated school, and merging us with another school with completely different teaching practices and old classrooms will be better for my children’s education.”
Pfffft…poll dancing!!!
*yawn* zzzzzzzzzzz….Nexxxt
an empty fridge from the ‘Comment Crew”
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/25/world/asia/us-confronts-cyber-cold-war-with-china.html?_r=0
Game On!
The Alfred E Nuemann of New Zealand television Patrick Gower fronting a poll from Reid Research on behalf of MediaWorks which owns TV3, and that’s in any way believable???,
Considering that that particular poll has for at least the past 2 years polled the National Party as having the % numbers to ‘govern alone’ i would suggest that there is something very wrong with their methodology,
This perceived inaccuracy of course has nothing to do with the fact that the company which pays for this poll, TV3 is owned by MediaWorks which was given a $42 million loan guarantee by Slippery’s National Government,
Neither does the fact that Steven Joyce, the Minister of Fuxit was at one time a highly visible shareholder in MediaWorks effect the poll, how could it, after-all ‘there is no corruption in New Zealand’
i cannot tell at this stage whether Joyce still has a substantial share-holding in MediaWorks or it’s Australian parent company Ironbridge Capital, if He does it is well hidden inside the ‘declared’ blind trust Joyce is a beneficiary of…
and the spin continues, they smothered the electorate in 2011 with the mantra that it’s national again so lots stayed away from the polls thinking their vote was not going to do much….wrong but well done MSM monkeys and mates.
So this is the new mantra now is it, Muppet boy toothing the Gnats can govern alone.
As there will not be any MP/ACT/UF stooges along for the ride they pretty much appear to have set the stall up for this new line, fair enough when you’ve got docile yes men to peddle it why not, goes along nicely with the brighter future, lovin wages dropping, roaring out of recession via a cycleway, let’s be like ireland etc etc
It won’t be but it’ll be great for the new private charter school that will get it cheap from the government.
.
money for rich schools
money for rich taxpayers
money for rich farmers
money for rich finance company investors
money for the rich! that is this government’s record
+1
One argument against a negative income tax is that voters will keep voting to raise it,
since 50% of people will be below average income. Of course, this ignores the reality
of our present situation where most people kept voting for more profits from banks
printing private money. Which shows why a negative income tax could not get
out of control since the rich would use their immense power to stop it, but who
stops the richest gaming the system as they have?
We will look back at the last thirty years and wonder why we spent the oil windfall
on yachts and booze rather than securing environmental stability and finding its
replacement. Thatcher will be up there with Hitler for cannibalizing the economy
for narrow short term power grab.
Fair Warning
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/02/23/korea-us-pyongyang-military/1940801/
Drill On
IMO, only if the capitalists, economists and politicians keep telling them that there’s no limit to the economy. If they’re told what resources we have and where they’re going then I’m sure that those limits will be adhered to.
Less direct benefit to the rch will insure tht any negative income tax would never threaten the public backed slush fund that the rich seem increasingly able to raid. Isn’t that how many get
rich, those who don’t innovate, those who aren’t born rich, or find a new niche, they gets someone elses money and risk that, taxpayers, pensions, or people’s nestegg (or in a ponsi scheme no risk at all to the ponsi fraudster).
National fund failed private schools as they close CHCH schools…Homebrew called this out a few years ago – “socialism for the rich, capitalism for the poor” …”what they know about missing the bus, they keep the bread and they give us the crust”
NACTs – strange full stop.
against treasury, ministry and ministerial advice (why bother asking)
The government is still rewarding the Wanganui patriots for saving our civilisation from Te Whiti and his violent terrorist insurgents at Parihaka, and the Royal Navy no longer needs kauri spars. It is even possible that the few remaining kauri are growing on land that could be profitably mined, giving us all a more aspirational future.
Someone please send this to Gareth Morgan …
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXZDJP2xbBw&noredirect=1
Lolz and adorbz yeshe. Love the commentary.
Hoots. Ha yeshe! Either a cat or a pigeon has their own identity crisis. 🙂
So, the reshuffle is apparently out today. Will be a big test of whether David Shearer is going to be a puppet of the status quo or whether he will actually bring some unity to the party. I hope the latter and he uses this as an opportunity to bring the factions together. We need a merit-based senior leadership team in Parliament and our best and our brightest on the front bench. We are missing too many opportunities. Cunliffe has to get some meaty porfolios and a higher ranking. It is pettiness to leave him on the backbench as the NZHerald is predicting. He’s one of the top performers in the House (I see his speech responding to the PMs Speech is only second to Shearer in the number of views and his IMF one is also doing the rounds). Ironically, the NZH is calling King one of our most effective MPs in the House – interestingly her speeches don’t even rate. This is such an opportunity. Let’s hope Shearer doesn’t blow it by being petty and unstrategic.
Frank asks, “How could Solid Energy’s financial position go from a pre-tax profit of $127.5 million (see: Solid Energy shines despite earthquakes) in August 2011 – to a massive $389 million debt this year? Did National gouge one of our cash-state-cows?”
http://fmacskasy.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/that-was-then-this-is-now-18-solid-energy/
“Did National gouge one of our cash-state-cows?:
Yes they did, and Labour were just as bad if not worse. The SOEs have been used to hide real Govt debt, borrowing by SOEs doesn’t show as debt in the Crown accounts. The adoption of IFRS by the Govt permitted the beancounters to constantly revalue assets of the SOEs to ‘fair market value’. Those revaluations were mostly upwards which brought paper profits, the SOEs then borrowed against the assets to pay the Govt a dividend.
One of the reasons SolidEnergy are in trouble is because they paid dividends when they were making considerable capital investments, the dividends should have been kept as retained earnings to fund the capital projects. But Bill English wanted cash for his books so he, or his minions, milked the SOEs.
Add the milking of the power sector to this and consider what happens after floating of the generators and your power bill.
Yep. Was a time when accounting was a proud profession, ‘true and fair view’ meant what it said. Now it’s just a shameful parody that creates facades for crumbling edifices.
One of the ironies about the asset sales business is that both Labour & National have been selling off our assets for decades. They just did it the sly & deceitful way – sold them to bankers & their ilk.
Anyone find a trace of derivatives in the accounts?
They haven’t released the accounts yet as far as I know but there were $30m or so in 2011.
Also in reponse to the original post comparing profit in 2011 to debt in 2012 is ridiculous. The opposite of profit is not debt.
Far more useful to compare debt in 2011 with debt in 2012 (gone from $220m to $386m) still shows a bad picture but actually makes sense.
2012 accounts reported interest rate swap contracts of some $200 million. They don’t appear to be contributing to the problem though, from what I can make of the accounts they posted a gain on those in 2012.
The first problem is cashflow, from June accounts;
“Cashflows from operations were $142 million compared to $129 million in 2011, with increased cash receipts from higher prices. Capital investment totalled $162 million”
They invested more than they made in nett earnings yet still paid the Govt a $30million dividend which can only have come from borrowing. Kinda mind boggling really.
Problem today is the debt has gone from $295million in June 2012 to $385million now which is a very big jump. But we don’t know yet what the extra borrowing was for – to cover trading losses or for more investment. Needs to be a bit more clarity on it.
http://www.interest.co.nz/bonds/63240/solid-energy-nz389-mln-debt-and-poor-financial-results-coming-talks-banks-over-restructu
Does this mean Chorus is changing the goalposts after getting the contract?
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/financial-results/8347193/Chorus-warns-of-UFB-network-cost-blowout
Yep. Typical of private businesses who get government contracts – under quote and then, because it can’t be allowed to fail, demand more money.
To be fair to them they haven’t yet demanded any money. They have warned investors that although they have a profit there will be additional costs next period and they are looking at alternative approaches to keep a lid on the costs.
They certainly may try and demand more money but is pretty unfair to criticize them for it before they have done it.
So, they will have a lower profit next period. This means that there will be less investors and thus they will need more money from the government to do what needs to be done (and what they should have done with the ~$17b in profit that they’ve pulled out over the last 20 years).
I said in my comment that they may go to government. However,there are also other options for funding if they believe it is unlikely the government will give them more money. All I am trying to point out is it is pretty harsh to criticize someone for something they actually haven’t done.
And I’m just pointing out history and that it’s likely to repeat.
“Education Minister Hekia Parata recommended that Wanganui Collegiate should not be integrated into the state system, but she was rolled by her Cabinet colleagues. ….”
Well who is running the Ministry of Ed? The Minister is supposed to have sole decision…. unless it is the National Government.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/8345722/Parata-overruled-on-Collegiate-integration
Well, it’s hearsay but apparently Brownlee and Joyce were de facto running the Christchurch School ‘reforms’ and making the decisions.
For example, moving the schools’ merger/closure deadlines forward by one or two years (so that it’s all done by 2014) explicitly reversed one of Parata’s public commitments after the September announcements. I imagine she was over-ruled and that commitment was dumped once the electoral calculations (or some other priorities concerning the ‘rebuild’ process) were put into the mix. The collateral damage was to her reputation.
I get the strong impression that Parata has been repeatedly set up to be the fall ‘guy’ – she does not appear to be taken seriously within Cabinet except as someone to take the flak. But then, if I am correct, she has let this happen and must take some responsibility for that.
Hearing about the Pistorius killing, and then that a brother is charged with a road killing brought Colin Bouwer to mind. He cam to NZ as a psychiatrist, once head of Psychiatry at U.of Otago, and then decided he didn’t want his wife any more and the best and most efficient way to get rid of her was to kill her by extremely devious and cunning means. Then his son (who had been given the same name!) was charged and convicted with murder of his wife, in South Africa.
This thinkpiece by The Guardian talks about the disgraceful way that South Africa is developing. http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/feb/22/oscar-pistorius-south-africa-war-women
The sick, wrong-thinking attitudes that grew under aparthheid live on. Notable comments –
* …the patriarchal nature of apartheid ideology created hierarchies based on gender as well as race.
* While the country’s gun culture is by no means comparable to that of the US, paranoia about violent crime in a post-apartheid era has extended the laager mentality that emerged during the rule of the National party.
* …the black South Africans’ experience of violent crime in the township, where the “corrective rape” of lesbians gives new meaning to the cynical term “paper rights” – constitutional rights that mean nothing in practice.
paranoia about violent crime in a post-apartheid era has extended the laager mentality that emerged during the rule of the National party. (The term refers to the defensive circle created by the wagons of colonial-era settlers, effectively creating a mobile fort against attacks by indigenous Africans. Settlers would hide inside these wagon forts with their guns on the ready in the event of an attack.)
Under apartheid, white paranoia about being murdered by vengeful “natives” helped the National party to consolidate its political power, as well as to justify the conscription of white males to defend South Africa’s borders against “communists” – shorthand for the African National Congress’s military wing. Many white South African males were compulsorily drafted, and a large number of young soldiers fought in border wars with Angola and Mozambique. In addition, the patriarchal nature of apartheid ideology created hierarchies based on gender as well as race.
Black citizens on the other hand experienced the structural violence of apartheid policies, and faced brutal repression in their struggle for civil rights. The landmark murders in Sharpeville and Soweto were the tip of the iceberg – the disappearance of activists and the torture of detainees became a feature of everyday life.…
In 2002 the SAPS recorded 21,738 murders compared to 299,411 attempted murders and serious assaults in the country.
http://www.iss.co.za/pubs/CrimeQ/No.7/Thomson.htm
More from the Guardian – http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/feb/17/south-africa-macho-society-oscar-pistorious
the Black Friday Campaign for Rape Awareness in honour of Anene Booysen. The 17-year-old died after her ex-boyfriend and others allegedly gang raped and disembowelled her on 2 February 2013.
(Note – very soon after the New Delhi woman Jyoti Singh Pandey.was also raped, killed and dealt with in the same way. – http://mg.co.za/article/2013-02-15-00-will-anene-booysens-brutal-rape-and-murder-shake-the-nation-into-action)
“The massive problem we need to understand in South Africa is the level of men’s violence against women and against each other,” said Lisa Vetten, a researcher who specialises in domestic abuse. Police statistics on domestic violence are limited. But 15,609 murders and 64,500 reported rapes in 2011-12 suggest massive levels of violence in South African homes.
Household surveys by the MRC have found that 40% of men have hit their partner and one in four men have raped a woman. Three-quarters of men who admit to having raped women say they did so first as teenagers. The MRC found that, while a quarter of women had been raped, just 2% of those raped by a partner reported the incident to police.
South Africa certainly has a checkered history (the boer’s) and the many challenges it faces today.
Sitting on the problem…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/health/news/article.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10867445
as long as your bum points to the ground!
Great informative talk on emissions trading in NZ and how it is being rorted – with government assisting all the way – so units are selling now for about $2.40 when they should be $24. At the low price, because of unfettered imports that this mendacious government is encouraging, it is destroying the economy of forest planting that the scheme as originally envisaged would have fostered.
Associate professor at the NZ School of Forestry at Canterbury University Euan Mason on the Emissions Trading Scheme
09:29
Is the Emissions Trading Scheme dead?
With Associate Professor Euan Mason – Professor Mason says NZ is failing to respond to climate change and it’s an international embarassment. (21′52″)
And the value of pinus radiata just left in place fostering native birds who would seed the ground with native plants and trees is one advantage from pinus. Another is to assist sheep farmers to have a better return from their high country and so be less close to non-profit. And he mentioned the big floods in the North Island some time ago with rain and silt washing down from bare hills that should be covered and protected by a mantle of trees.
And which took I think he said, $200 million of mostly taxpayer’s money to clear and restore for farming use. (I may have inadvertently added in some 0’s but that’s what it’s like with government money allocations isn’t it, they wax and wane depending on the recipient and outcome’s value to the particular party.)
It’s a pity that we are reverting in NZ to the more primitive kind of political man. All the way up from slimy centipedes to apes and hominoids and now, not too slowly back.
snap
http://pundit.co.nz/content/no-rules-for-nz-police-surveillance-drones
gracias amigo (persistence with moderate amounts of salsa)
hahahaha
Matthew Hooton thinks backroom corruption deals a la skycity convention centre is ‘hands-on’ government….what a dropkick.
And Mike Williams didn’t say ‘I agree with Matthew’ even once!
Yeah the ‘i agree show’ has turned into something else , the usual sounds of ‘sucking’ have stopped emanating from my radio…
Matthew Hooton talking this morning on Radionz in his usual disparaging way about anything leftish. Says Labour encouraged Solid Energy into – trendy and liberal ideas – to expand into.
Sounds as if it’s all Labour’s fault that Solid Energy is in the poo. How much is Labour responsible for in this debacle?
I think that the main problem with Labour is that they were constraining themselves to the “Third Way” approach and concentrating on getting an efficient welfare system and encouraging business to go forth and flourish. And businessmen thought that meant that meant that they could all talk their wages up at the same time as they made big ground-breaking decisions. Unfortunately then they were trumped in ground-breaking by the earthquake, and both brought similar long-term destruction that’s hard to recover from.
It’s what we get for attempting to usurp the role of the big oil companies, the coal to diesel plant in Southland was set to provide some 90 million liters of diesel a year for use within New Zealand,
The tech associated with this coal to diesel plant also included research,(along with the Australians), into carbon sequesture where the ‘plan’ appears to have been to ‘stash’ enough carbon underground so as to negate the amount of carbon produced from the manufacture process involved in coal to diesel,(exactly how close this research was to actually providing a workable means of taking industrial amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere i am as yet not sure about),
Big oil through it’s political functionaries allowed the trashing of a large part of ‘think big’, (specially the bits around using the resource to in part escape our imported oil dependency), and, there was a certain Government subsidy which the Slippery lead National Government scrapped,(sorry i forgot the name of this subsidy), which made the Solid Energy coal to diesel plan uneconomic,
Having scrapped the subsidy National have made the whole coal to diesel scenario uneconomic as the work was completed on the specific understanding of the subsidy being factored into the economics, leaving Solid Energy with the debt of all the research so far undertaken wasted,
A fire-sale of all the 1000’s of Hectares of land in Southland bought by Solid energy so as to give it access to the billions of tonnes of lignite underneath it will now occur…
And I think sale for dairy farms has been mentioned. Of course TINA. And some of those super rich Chinese that I saw on the link from Saturday from Colonial Viper 12.24pm could take it all in one big gulp if they so decided.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3RuvlL19yQ
…let it burn, it will anyway before too long,
Time’s a Revelator
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4LdjEObjGo
lean’d over to ol’ Matthew Henry the other day behind the armchair Viper;
16: a, luxury. b,covetousness. c,ambition.
-Nativity In Vitae (not the created world or that of people)
luxury doesn’t “pay too well” (too much chocolate, or…steroids…caffeine…maybe Greece)
watched parts of Bad Lieutenant (with a stiff Cage); not a patch on Keitel, yet when the script is seen through a different lense…it ain’t no Piano sonata.
Kaiser Chiefs: Angry Mob
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z5kEqRFPwo
“Be careful how you treat children for their “angel” looks upon the face of God.”
the other day, a Welcome Swallow whirled round and round
next day hand-fed two white baby doves on the ground
today a blackbird pecked around the plantings, very little thrush
ahhh The Shifting Shadows of Supernatural Power (Johnson-“When Heaven Invades Earth”, Mahesh Chavda, John Sandford et al;)
or
for that voodoo you do document patron; “Glimpses of the Devil” : A Psychiatrists’ Personal Accounts of Possession, Exorcism and Redemption.-M. Scott Peck
Zebedee do dah, Zebedee Day.
ready for a Round Table progressive dinner…
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/international-politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503226&objectid=10867490
apparently not (patient may be a little feverish)
don’t forget the “leftovers”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/shortcuts/2013/feb/24/leftovers-unmarried-chinese-women-25
(cold sweet and sour, yummy)
Leftovers always tastier the next day
BREAKING NEWS!
BUCK-TOOTH PADDY FALLS HEAD-OVER-HEELS FOR TELETUBBY GARNER.
In tonite’s tree-newz [sic] Paddy Gower, whilst rambling on matters political, made ALL the moves of his predecessor (“Dunk” – otherwise known as the political sage, former closet mentor, lover and leader of a Mihi, and thunderdog, cock-sucker, and persuader of the Houghton Bay harrier, amongst others.) Holding his hands in cupped fashion (desperate to show wedding ring), Paddy delivered his report with the intonation, framing and commitment to journalistic integrity his predecessor and trainer ‘Dunk’ had ingrained.
A replay of Paddy’s delivery in tonight’s ‘Tree Newz’ report that was fed through the latest comparator technology with Duncan Garner’s last 3 News reports showed insignificant differences.
‘Sources’ are understood to be in negotiations with Radio New Zealand’s Nine-to-Noon producer for a spot on Monday’s political commentary, and with with THE ‘every-person’s nicest man on Earth’ Jim Mora to determine whether a 4pm-5pm ‘slot’ might not be appropriate now that Paddy has been able to demonstrate a media profile that equals those of Mike Williams, Jose Pagani and Mathew Hooten in the delivery of ‘expert opinion to the masses’. We were able to catch up with the nicest man on Earth (‘Good-guy Jum’) during a brief lay-by on his next mission to Mars whilst speaking with producers who were anxious to maintain their ‘aura’ of political neutrality.
Buck-Tooth Paddy was unavailable for comment, but [media sauces] said it is unlikely he would be interested in extending his radio commitments since he’d recently purchased a new wardrobe based primarily on a ‘baby-blue’ hue. He was also anxious to display his persona at every opportunity in a bid to convince the wider public that he isn’t the desperate, egotistical little wanker with bleached teeth that audience polling amongst ‘other sauces’ have determined – particularly with the younger demographic.
Vanity Fear: Seen on TV1 tonight Slippery the Prime Minister with a fresh dye job on the hair, (including the new bits plucked from between the anal crevice of a blind donkey called Brucie)…
Interesting interview with Jeremy Grantham tonight. Radionz on Nights – Window on the World
Monday 25 February: Jeremy Grantham
Peter Day hears from an investment expert called Jeremy Grantham who has spent decades thinking about some of the big issues that influence our existence and the global economy. He thinks that the assumptions which have powered the industrial revolution for two centuries are looking pretty threadbare. So, how do we manage technological progress in a world of finite resources?
Yep Nose…. sanity and interest prevails on RNZ between 5pm and 9am when the cult of personality takes over briefly with a couple of hosts trying to show just how clever they are
(i.e. the cult of personality reigns between 9am and 5pm). Its a shame that more people haven’t discovered “Nights”. It’s a great alternative to T dot V
Don’t be too tough Tim. Radionz has got to appeal to the greater NZ public if they are to hold their attention for a while from going to the big tongue-flappers, the witty fast boys and girls diverting the pundits with trivia. Then there are the nostalgic music stations, that play plaintive love songs from last century.
The Radionz crowd usually have a good mix of fact, informed opinion, and you can keep up to date with perhaps tv showing the sites and faces, and newspapers physical or internet giving the more detailed stories of the day, and the good ones also useful fact and background.
Jeremy Grantham July 2012 investment news letter
http://iroquoisvalleyfarms.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Jeremy-Grantham-GMO-Qtrly-July-2012.pdf
and
Grantham speaking on the limitations of capitalism under conditions of resource and environmental constraints. Bear in mind that this man is in charge of roughly US$100B in investment funds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4D3vXSlgqE
I know someone who is turning 65 and is blessing reaching this age so she doesn’t have to deal with the WINZ demands and unpleasant people any more. It’s hard when you need an invalid’s benefit. Everything is to be questioned these days.
When Labour talks blithely about the old age pension going up to 70, they are just doing another ideological move away from really useful and pragmatic social policy in a way to equal Roger Douglas.
The Government apparently knew that Solid Energy had ‘diversification plans’ in 2009; refused to provide $1bn in funding for them; learned in 2011 of Solid Energy’s problems in a scoping study for the introduction of the mixed ownership model and yet …
… went to the electorate claiming that it could reap billions from the sales of shares in State owned enterprises (and promised to spend those billions in multiple ways).
In retrospect, it’s a pity someone didn’t ask John Key to ‘Show me the money!’, or at least make an OIA request about any scoping studies of the worth of the SOEs that were on the block.
For some reason, the link I embedded in the words “knew that Solid Energy had ‘diversification’ plans” is there but is in black type on my screen rather than the usual blue.
But the link doesn’t work.
Here it is: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/8349261/Govt-knew-of-Solid-Energy-plans-PM
I give up. Still doesn’t work.
Govt knew of Solid Energy plans – PM
test 1
test 2
test 3
test 1
test 2
test 3
okay, puddleglum, one the rough assumption that what comes out is related to what comes in, it might be syntax of your anchor tags.
Should look somethin like (with the “anglebracket” stannding in for the tag containers): ><
openanglebracket a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/8349261/Govt-knew-of-Solid-Energy-plans-PM" closeanglebracket test 3 openanglebracket /a closeanglebracket
note the lowercase href and the double quotes around the web address you want to link to, front and back.
Hope this helps
by the way, your link certainly makes it look like there was ministerial idiocracy involved, as the board seemed to tell them what was going on every step of the way, and it only got picked when another department/minister did the firesale stocktake
Plans developed during the last part of the Labour government?
High dollar / exchange rate.
Who benefits from it? Apparently the NZ Dlr is viewed as the new gold by the foreign dealers. They have been quoted as saying “Let’s have some fun with it…” Leaving aside the obscenity of that, now, just saying, someone in NZ had a packet of spare foreign currency five to 10 years ago and had bought up large on the Kiwi at its low, they’d now be in a position to see it climbing to an all time high and could at some stage, make a further killing if they were to sell it for a “now lower valued” foreign currency… apart from the banks, who else in NZ might be in a position to take advantage of it? Makes you wonder.
Is the government able to act to change the exchange rate? Just wondering, ’cause someone must be able to influence the exchange rate and lower it if they had the will, or the inclination, to do so.
Exactly logie. It’s very lazy of our media to refer to the PM as a former currency trader when none of them have asked when he quit.
logie 97
See piece I copied from JB Were report in ‘Key shoots backwards’ today about 11am.