Open mike 25/02/2013

84 comments on “Open mike 25/02/2013 ”

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1. Jenny 1

   25 February 2013 at 6:30 am

   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?
   • karol 1.1

     25 February 2013 at 8:06 am

     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.
     • saarbo 1.1.1

       25 February 2013 at 8:23 am

       Yes Karol, I reckon Norman’s speech on Agriculture is spot on the mark, exactly what Farming needs in New Zealand.
     • Colonial Weka 1.1.2

       25 February 2013 at 9:56 am

       Agreed Karol, and it will reach the people who won’t follow an obvious CC link.
     • Jenny 1.1.3

       25 February 2013 at 6:52 pm

       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.
       • Colonial Weka 1.1.3.1

         25 February 2013 at 11:25 pm

         “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.
         • Jenny 1.1.3.1.1

           28 February 2013 at 5:43 am

           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.
           • Jenny 1.1.3.1.1.1

             28 February 2013 at 6:08 am

             “This is recognition that we are now beyond what is a normal dry summer, and into an extreme climatic event.”

             New Zealand Government

             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.
   • Rogue Trooper 1.2

     25 February 2013 at 12:47 pm

     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
   • QoT 1.3

     25 February 2013 at 10:19 pm

     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.
2. mickysavage 2

   25 February 2013 at 7:25 am

   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.
   • yeshe 2.1

     25 February 2013 at 8:09 am

     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.”
     • pollywog 2.1.1

       25 February 2013 at 8:43 am

       Pfffft…poll dancing!!!

       *yawn* zzzzzzzzzzz….Nexxxt
       • Rogue Trooper 2.1.1.1

         25 February 2013 at 3:22 pm

         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!
     • bad12 2.1.2

       25 February 2013 at 9:15 am

       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…
       • tc 2.1.2.1

         25 February 2013 at 10:23 am

         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
     • Draco T Bastard 2.1.3

       25 February 2013 at 10:24 am

       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.
   • vto 2.2

     25 February 2013 at 9:09 am

     .
     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
     • Draco T Bastard 2.2.1

       25 February 2013 at 10:25 am

       +1
     • aerobubble 2.2.2

       25 February 2013 at 2:45 pm

       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.
       • Rogue Trooper 2.2.2.1

         25 February 2013 at 3:28 pm

         Fair Warning
         http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/02/23/korea-us-pyongyang-military/1940801/
         Drill On
       • Draco T Bastard 2.2.2.2

         25 February 2013 at 5:57 pm

         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.
         • aerobubble 2.2.2.2.1

           26 February 2013 at 10:33 am

           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).
   • fatty 2.3

     25 February 2013 at 9:11 am

     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”
   • NoseViper (The Nose knows) 2.4

     25 February 2013 at 11:25 am

     NACTs – strange full stop.
   • Rogue Trooper 2.5

     25 February 2013 at 12:48 pm

     against treasury, ministry and ministerial advice (why bother asking)
   • Murray Olsen 2.6

     25 February 2013 at 2:53 pm

     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.
3. yeshe 3

   25 February 2013 at 8:14 am

   Someone please send this to Gareth Morgan …

   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXZDJP2xbBw&noredirect=1
   • Rosie 3.1

     25 February 2013 at 1:29 pm

     Lolz and adorbz yeshe. Love the commentary.
   • ianmac 3.2

     25 February 2013 at 1:45 pm

     Hoots. Ha yeshe! Either a cat or a pigeon has their own identity crisis. 🙂
4. JBug 4

   25 February 2013 at 9:14 am

   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.
5. AsleepWhileWalking 5

   25 February 2013 at 9:21 am

   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/
   • DH 5.1

     25 February 2013 at 10:15 am

     “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.
   • tc 5.2

     25 February 2013 at 10:47 am

     Add the milking of the power sector to this and consider what happens after floating of the generators and your power bill.
     • DH 5.2.1

       25 February 2013 at 11:01 am

       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.
   • muzza 5.3

     25 February 2013 at 11:05 am

     Anyone find a trace of derivatives in the accounts?
     • Chris 5.3.1

       25 February 2013 at 11:33 am

       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.
     • DH 5.3.2

       25 February 2013 at 12:04 pm

       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.
       • muzza 5.3.2.1

         25 February 2013 at 12:34 pm

         http://www.interest.co.nz/bonds/63240/solid-energy-nz389-mln-debt-and-poor-financial-results-coming-talks-banks-over-restructu

         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.
6. geoff 6

   25 February 2013 at 9:29 am

   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
   • Draco T Bastard 6.1

     25 February 2013 at 10:29 am

     Yep. Typical of private businesses who get government contracts – under quote and then, because it can’t be allowed to fail, demand more money.
     • Chris 6.1.1

       25 February 2013 at 11:28 am

       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.
       • Draco T Bastard 6.1.1.1

         25 February 2013 at 12:18 pm

         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).
         • Chris 6.1.1.1.1

           25 February 2013 at 12:51 pm

           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.
           • Draco T Bastard 6.1.1.1.1.1

             25 February 2013 at 2:32 pm

             And I’m just pointing out history and that it’s likely to repeat.
7. ianmac 7

   25 February 2013 at 10:12 am

   “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
   • Puddleglum 7.1

     25 February 2013 at 7:40 pm

     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.
8. NoseViper (The Nose knows) 8

   25 February 2013 at 10:50 am

   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.
   • Treetop 8.1

     25 February 2013 at 2:36 pm

     South Africa certainly has a checkered history (the boer’s) and the many challenges it faces today.
   • Rogue Trooper 8.2

     25 February 2013 at 2:43 pm

     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!
9. NoseViper (The Nose knows) 9

   25 February 2013 at 11:12 am

   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.
   • Rogue Trooper 9.1

     25 February 2013 at 12:52 pm

     snap
10. muzza 10

    25 February 2013 at 11:16 am

    http://pundit.co.nz/content/no-rules-for-nz-police-surveillance-drones

    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.
    • Rogue Trooper 10.1

      25 February 2013 at 2:36 pm

      gracias amigo (persistence with moderate amounts of salsa)
11. fenderviper 11

    25 February 2013 at 11:31 am

    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!
    • bad12 11.1

      25 February 2013 at 11:51 am

      Yeah the ‘i agree show’ has turned into something else , the usual sounds of ‘sucking’ have stopped emanating from my radio…
12. NoseViper (The Nose knows) 12

    25 February 2013 at 11:37 am

    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.
    • bad12 12.1

      25 February 2013 at 12:07 pm

      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…
      • NoseViper (The Nose knows) 12.1.1

        25 February 2013 at 5:07 pm

        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
13. Rogue Trooper 13

    25 February 2013 at 1:18 pm

    …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.
14. Rogue Trooper 14

    25 February 2013 at 2:35 pm

    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)
    • Rogue Trooper 14.1

      25 February 2013 at 3:10 pm

      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)
      • Colonial Viper 14.1.1

        25 February 2013 at 9:04 pm

        Leftovers always tastier the next day
15. Tim 15

    25 February 2013 at 6:56 pm

    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.
16. bad12 16

    25 February 2013 at 8:15 pm

    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)…
17. NoseViper (The Nose knows) 17

    25 February 2013 at 8:29 pm

    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?
    • Tim 17.1

      25 February 2013 at 8:34 pm

      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
      • Tim 17.1.1

        25 February 2013 at 8:37 pm

        (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
      • NoseViper (The Nose knows) 17.1.2

        25 February 2013 at 9:22 pm

        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.
        • Colonial Viper 17.1.2.1

          25 February 2013 at 10:54 pm

          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
18. NoseViper (The Nose knows) 18

    25 February 2013 at 8:43 pm

    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.
19. Puddleglum 19

    25 February 2013 at 9:33 pm

    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.
    • Puddleglum 19.1

      25 February 2013 at 9:37 pm

      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.
      • Puddleglum 19.1.1

        25 February 2013 at 9:38 pm

        But the link doesn’t work.

        Here it is: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/8349261/Govt-knew-of-Solid-Energy-plans-PM
        • Puddleglum 19.1.1.1

          25 February 2013 at 9:39 pm

          I give up. Still doesn’t work.
          • Draco T Bastard 19.1.1.1.1

            25 February 2013 at 9:44 pm

            Govt knew of Solid Energy plans – PM
          • McFlock 19.1.1.1.2

            25 February 2013 at 10:17 pm

            test 1
            test 2
            test 3
          • McFlock 19.1.1.1.3

            25 February 2013 at 10:22 pm

            test 1
            test 2
            test 3
          • McFlock 19.1.1.1.4

            25 February 2013 at 10:29 pm

            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&quot; 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
          • McFlock 19.1.1.1.5

            25 February 2013 at 10:53 pm

            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
    • Colonial Viper 19.2

      25 February 2013 at 9:39 pm

      The Government apparently knew that Solid Energy had ‘diversification plans’ in 2009

      Plans developed during the last part of the Labour government?
20. logie97 20

    25 February 2013 at 10:29 pm

    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.
    • felixviper 20.1

      25 February 2013 at 11:04 pm

      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.
    • NoseViper (The Nose knows) 20.2

      26 February 2013 at 11:20 am

      logie 97
      See piece I copied from JB Were report in ‘Key shoots backwards’ today about 11am.

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