During her day-long visit, Ardern met with the district’s three mayors and other leaders in a behind closed doors sit-down to do a bit of stocktake of where things were at in Taranaki. “We spent a bit of time reflecting on some of the initiatives that have been supported in recent times…Parihaka, the waste treatment injection, obviously the announcement of the launch of Ara Ake and then looking ahead to the opportunities that come with the Covid recovery.” This included what support the Government could provide regarding the skills and trade training required to support new work opportunities.
Being able to respond to the needs of the community was one factor Ardern identified as a Labour Party tactic to break National’s stranglehold over seats which encompass the Taranaki region, namely New Plymouth, Whanganui and Taranaki-King Country. She said having candidates who are tapped into their communities and know the issues “makes a really big difference.”
A Labour activist who knocked on my door last week told me their candidate is a community organiser. Well, it worked for Obama.
One thing Labour would champion if it was elected to Government after September’s general election was the Taranaki 2050 roadmap, which she called an “impressive piece of work”.
That's good to know. I attended several of the workshops early in the coalition's term and reported on them here – been waiting for the follow-through.
Leveraging off the work Ara Ake intended to do in creating new forms of energy, Ardern posed the question “why wouldn’t Taranaki be a world leader?.”
Also encouraging to see that she get's how to implement the roadmap:
“It’s yours and you’ve already identified what it is that central Government needs to champion alongside you here and I think that will be its strength as you will never succeed if central Government comes in and identifies what a local community’s priorities should be. But we will succeed if we come in and support and work alongside delivering what it is that you determine is the future of the region.”
Hegel's dialectic, updated into the 21st century: local knowledge & aspirations applied to co-design the plan; implementation via govt supervision. Bottom-up & top-down thinking synthesised via both/and logic. I hope she succeeds in sharing this gnosis so that it becomes general thinking within Labour & the Greens. No sign of National figuring it out…
They have also followed through on a national water body which was announced yesterday. No doubt the opposition will complain that govt shouldn’t be governing during the election period.
The Waipipi Wind Farm will directly employ 150 staff during construction, then three full-time staff during its 30-year operation.
Trucks carrying hubs, blades and towers for the wind farm have been travelling through Taranaki to the site from Port Taranaki over the past few weeks… blades 160 metres long
Uhh, no. Mass media getting technical details wrong again. The turbines might have a swept diameter of 160m, but each blade is a bit less than half that. That's still fkn huge, the total wingspan of an A380 is a bit less than 80m … And the biggest ever recorded blue whale didn't quite break 30m.
edit: the biggest that’s far enough in development that the company is starting to spruik it has 107m blades, but it’s still a ways away from production.
Apart from the fact that Twyford (annoyingly) seems to have done an about-face on his passion for a grade separated CBD to airport metro, the main takeout from this article is that airport to CBD express trains and good local public transport services don’t mix very well. Probably we need to be planning for both.
I really don't understand what benefit light rail has over buses. The footprint of tracks for light rail is bugger-all less than what is needed for bus lanes, and buses have vastly better operational flexibility.
Capacity really. One light rail unit can fit the equivalent of about 4 of the current AT double decker buses. Mostly because everyone has to have a seat on the double deckers due to the low grade ride quality (they lurch around a lot and standing is just dangerous). So as demand (hopefully) increases you need to squeeze more buses onto a finite amount of road space. Eventually you will run out of road. We’re already seeing that at peak times as services from across the isthmus converge on the inner city, the NNR, Mt Eden Rd, Symonds St intersection is an example. Plus we’re running out of street capacity to terminate the services in the city.
Another problem with busses, especially double decker busses is the time to board and un-board the busses. I know people here in Wellington that avoid double decker busses for their commute, because it takes too long to get through the "Golden Mile" with too many stops and longer boarding times.
Trams are usually only one level and have more doors than busses.
A tram system, in my opinion, only makes sense if you have a dedicated tram line. In some areas of Melbourne the tram has to share the road with cars, which is a complete disaster at car congested times.
So the people fearing trams are mainly car drivers and their associations (AA). Because it means taking road space away, often rightfully gives trams right of way at crossings and therefore often have significantly lower commute times than cars.
For what it’s worth station dwell times on the trains in Auckland are way worse than the busses. Though all-door boarding would help on the busses. The main problem though, is once again, safety, the driver can’t move off from the bus stop until they’re sure everyone is safely seated.
Labour's policy was a dedicated light rail corridor before the last election, with light phasing to minimise wait times. Wtf is it now and does the transport minister know?
From the Stuff article quoting Doug Wilson:
"Light rail does, but for most of the route it is going to be mixed with traffic, so travel times are affected and you’re going to have a fairly slow journey to the city,” he said."
Trains are in general one of the most efficient means of transport for freight and passengers. An inherent efficiency advantage is the low friction of steel wheels on steel rails compared especially to rubber tires on asphalt. Efficiency varies significantly with passenger loads, and losses incurred in electricity generation and supply (for electrified systems),[60][61] and, importantly, end-to-end delivery, where stations are not the originating final destinations of a journey.
And passengers per hour by train far exceeds what buses can achieve. Buses, of course, achieve far more than cars.
With trains we're truly seeing economies of scale and high efficiency in the mode of transport. Heavy rail is better their than light and suburban rail is better again.
Twyford might have a point about capacity on the Southern line and extra services from the airport via a spur would slow everything down (I don't know if this is resolvable), but it's really annoying when he says:
A heavy rail spur is only really useful to airport users going to and from the CBD.
That is plainly bullshit. People change trains at stations and have been doing this for nearly two centuries now.
How responsible are the Greens for the Wellington bus mess? A huge part of it will be selling it to the public and cleaning up the mess of this term. Maybe Genter can do it, but I'm not entirely confident.
I’m not sure where the idea has come from that getting between the city and the airport in 30 minutes is so important and it sounds like another case of what I call “airport derangement syndrome”. Almost exactly a year ago I wrote about how there is an over-emphasis put on airport trips with two key reasons being:
Politicians, senior bureaucrats, business leaders, media and other members of the ‘elite’ use Airports far more frequently than the average person – so therefore connections to airports are a much bigger deal for them than for most people.
A very wide variety of people travel to the Airport over the course of a year, compared to other key places. This means that a lot of people experience travel conditions to and from airports, even if they do so quite rarely.
Notably, [the Auckland Transport Alignment Project between local and central govt] ATAP suggested just 4% of trips during the morning peak using light rail would be people travelling/from the airport terminals. More importantly the [light rail] project was considered needed to
address bus capacity constraints in the city centre
improve access to the employment areas, especially those near the airport which would likely be bypassed by a metro system focused on speed to the terminals, and;
to unlock growth opportunities in communities along the route.
However, the purpose of this post was to consider if we could achieve that 30 minute travel time from the city any other way using the network we have planned (or under consideration). …
While agreeing with the general thrust of the piece by Oram I fear he makes one fundamentally incorrect assumption…..that there is a majority seeking a common outcome
I reckon they’ll zoom in and zoom out. It’s a shame that the debate is hijacked by a bunch of biased folk pushing their biased opinions and agenda under the pretence of being sound science. The fact that this branded as COVID-19 Science and Policy Symposium hides that in reality it is propaganda aimed to influence NZ policy. Could be an election stunt by Seymour too. It is free and I wonder who funds this.
In case people haven't sighted Rod Oram's opinion on Tiwai Point's demise here is the link from 19 July. It's well based on wide facts, stuffed with them, and probably The Last Word that anybody should bother reading.
Some people who should know better still keep calling on fellow New Zealanders to save the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter.
The latest is Winston Peters. He pledges that any future government New Zealand First is part of would support a worker/management buyout. It’s an idea he’s touted since 2011, he reminded us in an article under his name in the Herald on Thursday.
Similarly, Steven Joyce, the National Party’s chief economic strategist for nine years in the Key and English governments, was all for subsidising the smelter to keep it alive in his Herald column last week.
Here, though, is the case the smelter really is dead. The sooner we acknowledge that, celebrate its past and work on Southland’s future the better off we’ll all be – particularly the 1,000 people directly hit by the smelter’s planned closure next August.
Tiwai Point aluminium smelter only has a future if:
We use all the aluminium it produces here, in NZ, for end products. Exporting the aluminium itself simply isn't worth it.
We develop our own bauxite source and refine that so that the smelter can use it.
It's government owned (or self-owned cooperative) and thus doesn't need to produce a profit for bludging shareholders.
Chances of this coming about is pretty close to zero – unfortunately. This seems to be because the governments of NZ have given up on actually developing our economy to utilise our own resources and to only export end products and not the raw resources.
Our podcast was not made for everyone. Everyone is welcome to it, and to learn something from it, but we’re done with gently educating people who should know better. People who lack the basic respect it takes to do the work to understand why things are the way they are for Māori, their fellow New Zealanders.
Interesting to see TOP's keeping on with the dissing the Greens election strategy (this kind of tweeting isn't uncommon from TOP). Not sure what they think is to be gained (attracting swing voters who hate the Greens?), but I guess it makes them a natural partner for National somewhere down the line.
If you go to the ACT website, you’ll see that they devote many of their ‘news releases’ to dissing the Greens too. To me, it just shows that they’re acting [no pun] from a position of weakness and desperation, i.e. when you’ve got nothing (to lose), attack. Cynical and populist politics at its finest.
Disappointing to see Jack Tame giving airtime to the fool James Carville with his ridiculous ideas about Trump stepping down before the election, and asserting that Biden had the "most progressive agenda ever…"
Sadly this guy, who might have provided Jack Tame with an intelligent alternative is dead at 37. Michael Brooks in talking to Robert McChesney asks the single most pertinent question … "is there a way of thinking about a Biden presidency that is constructive while being grounded in the realities of power dynamics…" The answer, as you'd expect, is a mixture.
Time for a Universal Government more like. Based on a world without the corruption of money where people would get their needs met in exchange for working for the betterment of a habitable Planet and a sense of brother/sisterhood.
Byd0nz, a universal government makes it even less possible to prevent corruption, its pretty much an Orwellian scenario.
Nature favors variety or biodiversity if you will, its better for survival.
Esperanto has been used for decades but seem to have not that much of an impact as people usually try to associate within their social structure, local lingo. The experiment of mixing different people has not gone that well in Europe.
A universal income needs to be sooner rather than later discussed as many people will loose their job due to automation. There is a change of how business operate in progress, the outcome most likely similar like the industrial revolution. Those who are right now have a say in the future have a responsibility beyond an individuals preference, political hue or whatever makes them exited. This is about the next generations and their security, be it food, land or resources.
I was quite surprised by the scale of the thing, it's a Clyde sized undertaking. 23 km of hard rock tunnel is getting into it. Some good employment there. Might even see machines 5 & 6 finally installed at Clyde too.
But yeah,
huge step towards 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and a fully carbon zero economy by 2050
Brilliant…but the question has to be asked why they waited until the end of their term to fund the investigation….and it needs to be combined with an upgraded fully electrified nationwide rail network.
Dunno. If Huntly shuts down the remaining two oldest boilers, and there gets to be a push on to convert other coal users to electricity, we're going to be looking for more generation pretty quickly. And now, decisions won't be distorted by the threat of unleashing all of Manapouri's power onto the market, that will have been done and dusted.
That would need a whole different set of price signals to generator investors than we have now. Even strong changes in Ministerial policy can only operate difficult levers through the Electricity Authority, and through browbeating listed shareholders.
The geothermal projects around Taupo are in a much more developed state than anything currently in the South Island. Plus they are closer to Auckland.
Once Manapouri really comes on stream – and takes 6 months to settle – I'd see the geothermal ones as much more likely to proceed.
Maybe we start to see a stable investment playground in late 2022. Maybe.
Investment cases after that, project formation and consenting after that, project procurement and construction after that.
In the party of hair puller John Key, saying being an MP is hard because of long hours away from her children, like many other parents. esp solo working parents. Nope, no sympathy from me, she could have highlighted that while in parliament, tried to change policy so all parents get to spend time with their kids, be more sympathetic to parents on the benefit, esp solo ones. Of course she makes some good points (double standards), but mostly comes across "poor me" & justifying why she cheated.
Ann Tolley validectory speech abridged.
( From Valedictory Statements – New Zealand Parliament).
I came to Parliament with a busload for my first day.
I now have a segway about a Greek phrase, " I am reminded of the meaning of the word "politics". From the Greek "polis", meaning "city", comes the Greek word "politēs", meaning "citizen",… because it is all about citizens.
My speech will show that for years I was shuffled around in Parliament and I was successful. I thank many, many parliamentary people ( many more than citizens mentioned) who helped my success including the VIP transport team.
Now onto some 'people' I remember who are the real highlights of my career… (though I will just call them people because I don't know their names nor what happened to most of them, but they were memorable).
*hundreds and hundreds of parents who contacted me about national standards.
*I remember ” taking PM John Key to the Whakatāne-based academy,( trades) where we met a large group of excited but very focused young people, and two stood out for John and me. They came from way up the coast. They left home at about 5 a.m. to ride—possibly a horse—down to catch the bus to Whakatāne, which was over three hours away.”
*took an enormous risk and OK'd the Rimutaka Prison taking part in Wellington on a Plate with Martin Bosley. I even went out to the prison kitchen talking to a man who… with a real light in his eye….
* I went to another prison for the puppy in prison project. " I remember talking to this enormous man. He was huge. He was covered in tattoos. He was a real fierce-looking dude. He wouldn't meet my eye, because many of them wouldn't, of course. But I .." " Then this great big fierce man bent down and picked up this little puppy, this golden Labrador ball of fluff, and with this gooey look on his face tucked it into his neck and told me that Daisy had scratched at the door to go out to the toilet for the first time the night before."
* I met Tusha Penny." I well remember her recounting the story of a woman whose history of abuse was only really uncovered by agencies. " … " This woman I remember I never met, I never knew her name, but I know we saved her life."
* I met two young people who had been in State care, " finally grabbed the opportunity to address the system that was failing them so badly," but will talk about only one of them.
The first young man's story didn't actually have a happy ending. … He was sullen… I think he'd been with cousins up the coast… " I listened to him…" Sadly, I know that this wasn't enough to make up for everything else that had damaged him."
* Quickly moving along, next minute, it was all good though no matter because, "But one of that group, a bright, intelligent, and determined young woman, took every opportunity to contribute to the redesign process. She came along to Parliament and she sat up here and she watched the lawmaking process when she could, because she was at university studying to be a social worker. I ran into her a year ago at a local school. She had a very successful career." Because she sat up in the gallery and WATCHED.
In the last nearly 12 months, " We didn't manage to negotiate a full code of conduct with consequences ( because of covid or because some had an entitlement to scoff at rules) —.So "seven statements of expectations of behaviour" have now been passed on to the Speaker.
" I sincerely hope everyone in the next Parliament commits to these expectations, because—I tell you what—the public expects nothing less."
With that nod to ' good behaviour being expected only because the citizens are watching ' .
…. "So I say thank you to the National Party and to my caucus colleagues for your friendship and support over the years. As Deputy Speaker—sorry, I can't read."
Colmar Brunton polling now, results expected by Thurs, TV1.
Their last poll in June had National at 38, up 9 (Muller bounce, and it was a bad news week for the government). Probably an exaggerated high, up from an exaggerated low, but it would be funny if they went down again.
Reid Research were polling 3 days ago. These polling companies seem to have a penchant for women between 25 and 45 years. They're not interested in those of us who are well past our prime. Can't think why. 😕
I really like the contribution from the younger TS commenters. They may not always get what a baby bomber is trying to say and I may not always get what a person 20-40 ish is trying to say.
The thing which I really like from age 20 – 40 ish is that they can find a couple of words to explain a behaviour e.g. "love bombing and gaslighting."
Aha, think I am beginning to get it now why so much bad behaviour is occurring in parliament.
Some politicians have the agenda of being spiteful (cutting their nose off to spite their face) toward another MP just to achieve a goal. The spiteful politician does not care what means they use as long as their goal is reached which is to take an opponent out and then wipe their hands as if they did nothing to harm someone.
Dunedin needs to find the tree Pete Hodgson came from. Clark, Curran, Woodhouse and Benson-Pope definitely a mixed bag of talent in terms of success in national politics.
I see prosperity X-tian, and conspiracy nutter most likely to jam out a Stevie Ray Vaughan lick Billy Te Kahika has thrown his lot in with that oh-so X-tian and deeply principled politician Jami-Lee Ross in a desperate attempt to get his NZ Public Party registered. I wonder who swallowed the bigger rat? And what for?
Nominations for individual electorate candidates must be made by midday on nomination day. Party lists must be submitted to the Electoral Commission midday the day before.
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 27 were:1. The Minister for Ford Rangers strikes againTransport Minister Simeon Brown was again the busiest of the Cabinet ministers this week, announcing an ...
You got a fast carAnd I want a ticket to anywhereMaybe we make a dealMaybe together we can get somewhereAny place is betterYesterday’s newsletter, Trust In Me, on the report of abuse in state care, and by religious organisations, between 1950 and 2019, coupled with the hypocrisy of Christopher Luxon ...
New Zealand is again having to reconcile conflicting pressures from its military and its trade interests. Should we join Pillar Two of AUKUS and risk compromising our markets in China? For a century after New Zealand was founded in 1840, its external security arrangements and external economics arrangements were aligned. ...
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This morning the sky was bright.The birds, in their usual joyous bliss. Nature doesn’t seem to feel the heat of what might angst humans.Their calls are clear and beautiful.Just some random thoughts:MāoriPaul Goldsmith has announced his government will roll back the judiciary’s rulings on Māori Customary Marine Title, which recognises ...
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TL;DR: In news breaking this morning:The Ministry of Education is cutting $2 billion from its school building programme so the National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government has enough money to deliver tax cuts; The Government has quietly lowered its child poverty reduction targets to make them easier to achieve;Te Whatu Ora-Health NZ’s ...
Kia ora. These are some stories that caught our eye this week – as always, feel free to share yours in the comments. Our header image this week (via Eke Panuku) shows the planned upgrade for the Karanga Plaza Tidal Swimming Steps. The week in Greater Auckland On ...
1. What's not to love about the way the Harris campaign is turning things around?a. Nothingb. Love all of itc. God what a reliefd. Not that it will be by any means easye. All of the above 2. Documents released by the Ministry of Health show Associate Health Minister Casey ...
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TL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers last night features co-hosts and talking about the Royal Commission Inquiry into Abuse in Carereport released this week, and with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent on a UN push to not recognise carbon offset markets and ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 26, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Transport: Simeon Brown announced$802.9 million in funding for 18 new trains on the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines, which ...
The northern expressway extension from Warkworth to Whangarei is likely to require radical changes to legislation if it is going to be built within the foreseeable future. The Government’s powers to purchase land, the planning process and current restrictions on road tolling are all going to need to be changed ...
Text within this block will maintain its original spacing when publishedFirst they came for the doctors But I was confused by the numbers and costs So I didn't speak up Then they came for our police and nurses And I didn't think we could afford those costs anyway So I ...
Photo by Joshua J. Cotten on UnsplashWe’re back again after our mid-winter break. We’re still with the ‘new’ day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream ...
Notes: This is a free article. Abuse in Care themes are mentioned. Video is at the bottom.BackgroundYesterday’s report into Abuse in Care revealed that at least 1 in 3 of all who went through state and faith based care were abused - often horrifically. At least, because not all survivors ...
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About a decade ago I worked with a bloke called Steve. He was the grizzled veteran coder, a few years older than me, who knew where the bodies were buried - code wise. Despite his best efforts to be approachable and friendly he could be kind of gruff, through to ...
Some of the recent announcements from the government have reminded us of posts we’ve written in the past. Here’s one from early 2020. There were plenty of reactions to the government’s infrastructure announcement a few weeks ago which saw them fund a bunch of big roading projects. One of ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Thursday, July 25 are:News: Why Electric Kiwi is closing to new customers - and why it matters RNZ’s Susan EdmundsScoop: Government drops ...
Hi,I felt a small wet tongue snaking through one of the holes in my Crocs. It explored my big toe, darting down one side, then the other. “He’s looking for some toe cheese,” said the woman next to me, words that still haunt me to this day.Growing up in New ...
Yesterday I happily quoted the Prime Minister without fact-checking him and sure enough, it turns out his numbers were all to hell. It’s not four kg of Royal Commission report, it’s fourteen.My friend and one-time colleague-in-comms Hazel Phillips gently alerted me to my error almost as soon as I’d hit ...
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The Official Information Act has always been a battle between requesters seeking information, and governments seeking to control it. Information is power, so Ministers and government agencies want to manage what is released and when, for their own convenience, and legality and democracy be damned. Their most recent tactic for ...
TL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy today are:Transport and Energy Minister Simeon Brown is accelerating plans to spend at least $10 billion through Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) to extend State Highway One as a four-lane ‘Expressway’ from Warkworth to Whangarei ...
I live my life (woo-ooh-ooh)With no control in my destinyYea-yeah, yea-yeah (woo-ooh-ooh)I can bleed when I want to bleedSo come on, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)You can bleed when you want to bleedYea-yeah, come on (woo-ooh-ooh)Everybody bleed when they want to bleedCome on and bleedGovernments face tough challenges. Selling unpopular decisions to ...
Please note:To skip directly to the- parliamentary footage in the video, scroll to 1:21 To skip to audio please click on the headphone iconon the left hand side of the screenThis video / audio section is under development. ...
Given the crackdown on wasteful government spending, it behooves me to point to a high profile example of spending by the Luxon government that looks like a big, fat waste of time and money. I’m talking about the deployment of NZDF personnel to support the US-led coalition in the Red ...
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As I reported about the city centre, Auckland’s rail network is also going through a difficult and disruptive period which is rapidly approaching a culmination, this will result in a significant upgrade to the whole network. Hallelujah. Also like the city centre this is an upgrade predicated on the City ...
Today, a 4 kilogram report will be delivered to Parliament. We know this is what the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care weighs, because our Prime Minister told us so.Some reporter had blindsided him by asking a question about something done by ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Wednesday, July 24, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Beehive:Transport Minister Simeon Brownannounced plans to use PPPs to fund, build and run a four-lane expressway between Auckland ...
NewstalkZB host Mike Hosking, who can usually be relied on to give Prime Minister Christopher Luxon an easy run, did not do so yesterday when he interviewed him about the HealthNZ deficit. Luxon is trying to use a deficit reported last year by HealthNZ as yet another example of the ...
Back in January a StatsNZ employee gave a speech at Rātana on behalf of tangata whenua in which he insulted and criticised the government. The speech clearly violated the principle of a neutral public service, and StatsNZ started an investigation. Part of that was getting an external consultant to examine ...
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TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Tuesday, July 23, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:Health: Shane Reti announcedthe Board of Te Whatu Ora-Health New Zealand was being replaced with Commissioner Lester Levy ...
Health NZ warned the Government at the end of March that it was running over Budget. But the reasons it gave were very different to those offered by the Prime Minister yesterday. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon blamed the “botched merger” of the 20 District Health Boards (DHBs) to create Health ...
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TL;DR: I’m casting around for new ideas and ways of thinking about Aotearoa’s political economy to find a few solutions to our cascading and self-reinforcing housing, poverty and climate crises.Associate Professor runs an online masters degree in the economics of sustainability at Torrens University in Australia and is organising ...
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on National's Local Government (Water Services Preliminary Arrangements) Bill. The bill sets up water for privatisation, and was introduced under urgency, then rammed through select committee with no time even for local councils to make a proper submission. Naturally, national's select committee ...
Some years ago, I bought a book at Dunedin’s Regent Booksale for $1.50. As one does. Vandrad the Viking (1898), by J. Storer Clouston, is an obscure book these days – I cannot find a proper online review – but soon it was sitting on my shelf, gathering dust alongside ...
History is not on the side of the centre-left, when Democratic presidents fall behind in the polls and choose not to run for re-election. On both previous occasions in the past 75 years (Harry Truman in 1952, Lyndon Johnson in 1968) the Democrats proceeded to then lose the White House ...
This is a free articleCoverageThis morning, US President Joe Biden announced his withdrawal from the Presidential race. And that is genuinely newsworthy. Thanks for your service, President Biden, and all the best to you and yours.However, the media in New Zealand, particularly the 1News nightly bulletin, has been breathlessly covering ...
A homeless person’s camp beside a blocked-off slipped damage walkway in Freeman’s Bay: we are chasing our tail on our worsening and inter-related housing, poverty and climate crises. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy ...
What has happened to it all?Crazy, some'd sayWhere is the life that I recognise?(Gone away)But I won't cry for yesterdayThere's an ordinary worldSomehow I have to findAnd as I try to make my wayTo the ordinary worldYesterday morning began as many others - what to write about today? I began ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 7:00 am on Monday, July 22 are:Today’s Must Read: Father and son live in a tent, and have done for four years, in a million ...
TL;DR: As of 7:00 am on Monday, July 22, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:US President Joe Biden announced via X this morning he would not stand for a second term.Multinational professional services firm ...
A listing of 32 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, July 14, 2024 thru Sat, July 20, 2024. Story of the week As reflected by preponderance of coverage, our Story of the Week is Project 2025. Until now traveling ...
This weekend, a friend pointed out someone who said they’d like to read my posts, but didn’t want to pay. And my first reaction was sympathy.I’ve already told folks that if they can’t comfortably subscribe, and would like to read, I’d be happy to offer free subscriptions. I don’t want ...
National: The Party of ‘Law and Order’ IntroductionThis weekend, the Government formally kicked off one of their flagship policy programs: a military style boot camp that New Zealand has experimented with over the past 50 years. Cartoon credit: Guy BodyIt’s very popular with the National Party’s Law and Orderimage, ...
Day one of the solo leg of my long journey home begins with my favourite sound: footfalls in an empty street. 5.00 am and it’s already light and already too warm, almost.If I can make the train that leaves Budapest later this hour I could be in Belgrade by nightfall; ...
Do you remember Y2K, the threat that hung over humanity in the closing days of the twentieth century? Horror scenarios of planes falling from the sky, electronic payments failing and ATMs refusing to dispense cash. As for your VCR following instructions and recording your favourite show - forget about it.All ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts being questioned by The Kākā’s Bernard Hickey.TL;DR: My top six things to note around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the week to July 20 were:1. A strategy that fails Zero Carbon Act & Paris targetsThe National-ACT-NZ First Coalition Government finally unveiled ...
Summary:As New Zealand loses at least 12 leaders in the public service space of health, climate, and pharmaceuticals, this month alone, directly in response to the Government’s policies and budget choices, what lies ahead may be darker than it appears. Tui examines some of those departures and draws a long ...
The Minister of Housing’s ambition is to reduce markedly the ratio of house prices to household incomes. If his strategy works it would transform the housing market, dramatically changing the prospects of housing as an investment.Leaving aside the Minister’s metaphor of ‘flooding the market’ I do not see how the ...
As previously noted, my historical fantasy piece, set in the fifth-century Mediterranean, was accepted for a Pirate Horror anthology, only for the anthology to later fall through. But in a good bit of news, it turned out that the story could indeed be re-marketed as sword and sorcery. As of ...
An employee of tobacco company Philip Morris International demonstrates a heated tobacco device. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: The top six things I’ve noted around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy on Friday, July 19 are:At a time when the Coalition Government is cutting spending on health, infrastructure, education, housing ...
TL;DR: My pick of the top six links elsewhere around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day or so to 8:30 am on Friday, July 19 are:Scoop: NZ First Minister Casey Costello orders 50% cut to excise tax on heated tobacco products. The minister has ...
Kia ora, it’s time for another Friday roundup, in which we pull together some of the links and stories that caught our eye this week. Feel free to add more in the comments! Our header image this week shows a foggy day in Auckland town, captured by Patrick Reynolds. ...
TL;DR : Here’s the top six items climate news for Aotearoa this week, as selected by Bernard Hickey and The Kākā’s climate correspondent Cathrine Dyer. A discussion recorded yesterday is in the video above and the audio of that sent onto the podcast feed.The Government released its draft Emissions Reduction ...
Save some money, get rich and old, bring it back to Tobacco Road.Bring that dynamite and a crane, blow it up, start all over again.Roll up. Roll up. Or tailor made, if you prefer...Whether you’re selling ciggies, digging for gold, catching dolphins in your nets, or encouraging folks to flutter ...
Waiting In The Wings:For truly, if Trump is America’s un-assassinated Caesar, then J.D. Vance is America’s Octavian, the Republic’s youthful undertaker – and its first Emperor.DONALD TRUMP’S SELECTION of James D. Vance as his running-mate bodes ill for the American republic. A fervent supporter of Viktor Orban, the “illiberal” prime ...
TL;DR: As of 6:00 am on Friday, July 19, the top six announcements, speeches, reports and research around housing, climate and poverty in Aotearoa’s political economy in the last day are:The PSAannounced the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) had ruled in the PSA’s favour in its case against the Ministry ...
Te Rangi e tu nei (The sky above us) Te Papa e takoto nei (The land beneath us) Tatou katoa te hunga ora (To us all the living) Tena koutou katoa (Greetings) ...
A late change to charter school legislation will cheat educators out of fair pay and negotiating power proving charter schools are just a vehicle to make profit out of our education system. ...
In 2004 te iwi Māori rallied against the Crown’s attempt to confiscate our coastlines and moana with the Foreshore and Seabed Act. This led to the largest hīkoi of a generation and the birth of Te Pāti Māori. 20 years later, history is repeating itself. Today the government has announced ...
It has been five and a half years since the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care was established to investigate the abuse of children, young people, and vulnerable adults within state and faith-based institutions. Yesterday, the final report - Whanaketia through pain and trauma, from darkness to light ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to take action off the back of the International Court of Justice ruling on Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. ...
On Friday the International Court of Justice reaffirmed what Palestinian’s have been telling us for decades: that the occupation and colonisation of Palestinian lands by Israel is illegal and must end immediately. They also called for reparations for Palestinian’s who have lived under Israeli occupation since it began in 1967. ...
Labour calls on the Government to act after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian Territories is illegal. ...
The 53.7 percent rise in benefit sanctions over the last year is more proof of this Government’s disdain for our communities most in need of support. ...
Aotearoa could be a country where every child grows up feeling safe, loved and with a sense of belonging in their whānau and community. But for some of our children, this is far from reality. Instead, they are trapped in a maze of intergenerational harm that they can’t escape on ...
Te Pāti Māori are calling for David Seymour to resign as Associate Health Minister in response to his call for Pharmac to ignore the Treaty of Waitangi. “This announcement is just another example of the government’s anti-Tiriti, anti-Māori agenda.” Said Co-leader and spokesperson for health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. “Seymour thinks it ...
The soaring price of renting is driving the rise of inflation in this country - with latest figures from Stats NZ showing rents are up 4.8 per cent on average while annual inflation is at 3.3 per cent. ...
National’s Emissions Reduction Plan will take New Zealand further from the economy we need to ensure the next generation has a stable climate and secure livelihoods. ...
Following consultation with named parties and thorough consideration of privacy interests, the Green Party is in a position to release the Executive Summary of the final report from the independent investigation into Darleen Tana. ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon should be asking serious questions of his Minister for Resources Shane Jones now it’s been revealed he misled the public about a dinner with mining companies that he didn’t declare and said wasn’t pre-arranged. ...
Te Pāti Māori have submitted to the Justice Select Committee against the Sentencing (Reinstating Three Strikes) Amendment Bill. The bill will further entrench racism in our justice system and fails to focus on rehabilitation. “Reinstating Three Strikes will empower a systematically racist system and exacerbate the overrepresentation of Māori in ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee is set to make a determination on the Residential Tenancies Amendment (RTA) Bill in the coming weeks. “This legislation will give landlords the power to kick our whānau out onto the street for no reason” said Housing spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “Their solution to the housing ...
“National’s campaign was about tackling crime and the best they can do is a two-year long Ministerial Advisory Group,” Labour justice spokesperson Duncan Webb said. ...
“There are more examples of charter schools failing their students than there are success stories. The coalition Government is driving to dismantle our public school system and instead promote a privatised, competitive structure that puts profits before kids,” Jan Tinetti said. ...
“This government is choosing to deliberately mislead and withhold information, keeping our people in the dark about this government’s agenda and the future of our mokopuna,” said co-leader and spokesperson for Health, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. The call comes after the demand from the Chief Ombudsman that Associate Minister of Health, Casey ...
“Today’s climate announcement by Simon Watts makes clear the National Government is simply paying lip service to meeting its climate change targets,” Megan Woods said. ...
National is choosing to make life harder for workers by taking away the rights our communities have fought hard for. Here's how they’re taking workers backwards. ...
Australia, Canada and New Zealand today issued the following statement on the need for an urgent ceasefire in Gaza and the risk of expanded conflict between Hizballah and Israel. The situation in Gaza is catastrophic. The human suffering is unacceptable. It cannot continue. We remain unequivocal in our condemnation of ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today reminded all State and faith-based institutions of their legal obligation to preserve records relevant to the safety and wellbeing of those in its care. “The Abuse in Care Inquiry’s report has found cases where records of the most vulnerable people in State and faith‑based institutions were ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says the Government’s online safety website for children and young people has reached one million page views. “It is great to see so many young people and their families accessing the site Keep It Real Online to learn how to stay safe online, and manage ...
Tēnā tātou katoa, Ngā mihi te rangi, ngā mihi te whenua, ngā mihi ki a koutou, kia ora mai koutou. Thank you for the opportunity to be here and the invitation to speak at this 50th anniversary conference. I acknowledge all those who have gone before us and paved the ...
New Zealand’s payroll providers have successfully prepared to ensure 3.5 million individuals will, from Wednesday next week, be able to keep more of what they earn each pay, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis and Revenue Minister Simon Watts. “The Government's tax policy changes are legally effective from Wednesday. Delivering this tax ...
An experimental vineyard which will help futureproof the wine sector has been opened in Blenheim by Associate Regional Development Minister Mark Patterson. The covered vineyard, based at the New Zealand Wine Centre – Te Pokapū Wāina o Aotearoa, enables controlled environmental conditions. “The research that will be produced at the Experimental ...
The Coalition Government has confirmed the indicative regional breakdown of North Island Weather Event (NIWE) funding for state highway recovery projects funded through Budget 2024, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Regions in the North Island suffered extensive and devastating damage from Cyclone Gabrielle and the 2023 Auckland Anniversary Floods, and ...
Indonesia’s Foreign Minister, Retno Marsudi, will visit New Zealand next week, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “Indonesia is important to New Zealand’s security and economic interests and is our closest South East Asian neighbour,” says Mr Peters, who is currently in Laos to engage with South East Asian partners. ...
He aha te kai a te rangatira? He kōrero, he kōrero, he kōrero. The government has reaffirmed its commitment to supporting the aspirations of Ngāti Maniapoto, Minister for Māori Development Tama Potaka says. “My thanks to Te Nehenehenui Trust – Ngāti Maniapoto for bringing their important kōrero to a ministerial ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has thanked outgoing Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority, Janice Fredric, for her service to the board.“I have received Ms Fredric’s resignation from the role of Chair of the Civil Aviation Authority,” Mr Brown says.“On behalf of the Government, I want to thank Ms Fredric for ...
The Government is proposing legislation to overturn a Court of Appeal decision and amend the Marine and Coastal Area Act in order to restore Parliament’s test for Customary Marine Title, Treaty Negotiations Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Section 58 required an applicant group to prove they have exclusively used and occupied ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour says that opposition parties have united in bad faith, opposing what they claim are ‘dangerous changes’ to the Early Childhood Education sector, despite no changes even being proposed yet. “Issues with affordability and availability of early childhood education, and the complexity of its regulation, has led ...
After receiving more than 740 submissions in the first 20 days, Regulation Minister David Seymour is asking the Ministry for Regulation to extend engagement on the early childhood education regulation review by an extra two weeks. “The level of interest has been very high, and from the conversations I’ve been ...
The Coalition Government is investing $802.9 million into the Wairarapa and Manawatū rail lines as part of a funding agreement with the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA), KiwiRail, and the Greater Wellington and Horizons Regional Councils to deliver more reliable services for commuters in the lower North Island, Transport Minister Simeon ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced his intention to appoint a Crown Manager to both Hawke’s Bay Regional and Wairoa District Councils to speed up the delivery of flood protection work in Wairoa."Recent severe weather events in Wairoa this year, combined with damage from Cyclone Gabrielle in 2023 have ...
Mr Speaker, this is a day that many New Zealanders who were abused in State care never thought would come. It’s the day that this Parliament accepts, with deep sorrow and regret, the Report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. At the heart of this report are the ...
For the first time, the Government is formally acknowledging some children and young people at Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital experienced torture. The final report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in State and Faith-based Care “Whanaketia – through pain and trauma, from darkness to light,” was tabled in Parliament ...
The Government has acknowledged the nearly 2,400 courageous survivors who shared their experiences during the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Historical Abuse in State and Faith-Based Care. The final report from the largest and most complex public inquiry ever held in New Zealand, the Royal Commission Inquiry “Whanaketia – through ...
With a week to go before hard-working New Zealanders see personal income tax relief for the first time in fourteen years, 513,000 people have used the Budget tax calculator to see how much they will benefit, says Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “Tax relief is long overdue. From next Wednesday, personal income ...
Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden says a bill that has passed its first reading will improve parental leave settings and give non-biological parents more flexibility as primary carer for their child. The Regulatory Systems Amendment Bill (No3), passed its first reading this morning. “It includes a change ...
Two Bills designed to improve regulation and make it easier to do business have passed their first reading in Parliament, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. The Regulatory Systems (Economic Development) Amendment Bill and Regulatory Systems (Immigration and Workforce) Amendment Bill make key changes to legislation administered by the Ministry ...
New legislation paves the way for greater competition in sectors such as banking and electricity, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly says. “Competitive markets boost productivity, create employment opportunities and lift living standards. To support competition, we need good quality regulation but, unfortunately, a recent OECD report ranked New ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says lotteries for charitable purposes, such as those run by the Heart Foundation, Coastguard NZ, and local hospices, will soon be allowed to operate online permanently. “Under current laws, these fundraising lotteries are only allowed to operate online until October 2024, after which ...
The Coalition Government is accelerating work on the new four-lane expressway between Auckland and Whangārei as part of its Roads of National Significance programme, with an accelerated delivery model to deliver this project faster and more efficiently, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “For too long, the lack of resilient transport connections ...
Sir Don McKinnon will travel to Viet Nam this week as a Special Envoy of the Government, Foreign Minister Winston Peters has announced. “It is important that the Government give due recognition to the significant contributions that General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong made to New Zealand-Viet Nam relations,” Mr ...
Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden says newly appointed Commissioner, Grant Illingworth KC, will help deliver the report for the first phase of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into COVID-19 Lessons, due on 28 November 2024. “I am pleased to announce that Mr Illingworth will commence his appointment as ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters travels to Laos this week to participate in a series of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)-led Ministerial meetings in Vientiane. “ASEAN plays an important role in supporting a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” Mr Peters says. “This will be our third visit to ...
Construction of a new mental health facility at Te Nikau Grey Hospital in Greymouth is today one step closer, Mental Health Minister Matt Doocey says. “This $27 million facility shows this Government is delivering on its promise to boost mental health care and improve front line services,” Mr Doocey says. ...
New Zealand is committing nearly $50 million to a package supporting sustainable Pacific fisheries development over the next four years, Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones announced today. “This support consisting of a range of initiatives demonstrates New Zealand’s commitment to assisting our Pacific partners ...
Associate Education Minister David Seymour says proposed changes to the Education and Training Amendment Bill will ensure charter schools have more flexibility to negotiate employment agreements and are equipped with the right teaching resources. “Cabinet has agreed to progress an amendment which means unions will not be able to initiate ...
In response to serious concerns around oversight, overspend and a significant deterioration in financial outlook, the Board of Health New Zealand will be replaced with a Commissioner, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti announced today. “The previous government’s botched health reforms have created significant financial challenges at Health NZ that, without ...
Minister for Space and Science, Innovation and Technology Judith Collins will travel to Adelaide tomorrow for space and science engagements, including speaking at the Australian Space Forum. While there she will also have meetings and visits with a focus on space, biotechnology and innovation. “New Zealand has a thriving space ...
Climate Change Minister Simon Watts will travel to China on Saturday to attend the Ministerial on Climate Action meeting held in Wuhan. “Attending the Ministerial on Climate Action is an opportunity to advocate for New Zealand climate priorities and engage with our key partners on climate action,” Mr Watts says. ...
Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones is travelling to the Solomon Islands tomorrow for meetings with his counterparts from around the Pacific supporting collective management of the region’s fisheries. The 23rd Pacific Islands Forum Fisheries Committee and the 5th Regional Fisheries Ministers’ Meeting in Honiara from 23 to 26 July ...
The Government today launched the Military Style Academy Pilot at Te Au rere a te Tonga Youth Justice residence in Palmerston North, an important part of the Government’s plan to crackdown on youth crime and getting youth offenders back on track, Minister for Children, Karen Chhour said today. “On the ...
The Government has welcomed news the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) has begun work to replace nine priority bridges across the country to ensure our state highway network remains resilient, reliable, and efficient for road users, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“Increasing productivity and economic growth is a key priority for the ...
Acting Prime Minister David Seymour has been in contact throughout the evening with senior officials who have coordinated a whole of government response to the global IT outage and can provide an update. The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has designated the National Emergency Management Agency as the ...
New Zealand and Japan will continue to step up their shared engagement with the Pacific, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “New Zealand and Japan have a strong, shared interest in a free, open and stable Pacific Islands region,” Mr Peters says. “We are pleased to be finding more ways ...
New developments in the heart of North Island forestry country will reinvigorate their communities and boost economic development, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones visited Kaingaroa and Kawerau in Bay of Plenty today to open a landmark community centre in the former and a new connecting road in ...
President Adeang, fellow Ministers, honourable Diet Member Horii, Ambassadors, distinguished guests. Minasama, konnichiwa, and good afternoon, everyone. Distinguished guests, it’s a pleasure to be here with you today to talk about New Zealand’s foreign policy reset, the reasons for it, the values that underpin it, and how it ...
Comment: It was a good two hours into the conversation when Tyrone Marks raised the most basic of questions when I first spoke to him in 2017. “They didn’t explain the things they did to me. They never told me why. And they still haven’t. There’s no explanation for it. ...
Last summer when Matairangi burned, Ginny and Tom stood at the window of their lounge, watching kākā shoot skyward from the burning trees. From the distance, they looked to Ginny like pages torn from books and thrown into a bonfire. It was Tom, voice tight, who told her it was ...
Opinion: The Canadian short story writer Alice Munro – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013 – died in May at the age of 92. Her work was about “the damage people inflict on one another in the name of love”, Deborah Treisman wrote in the New Yorker. ...
This month marks two years since the most powerful telescope ever built sent its first pictures back to earth. From its lofty vantage point, beyond the moon in orbit around the sun, the James Webb Space Telescope was tuned to observe the first stars and galaxies being born soon after ...
Comment: After Climate Change Minister Simon Watts’ preview several weeks ago, I had some optimism about the Government’s emissions reduction plan. Now I’ve read the discussion document, that hope has been dashed. How can the Government propose a plan that wants to take New Zealand taxpayers’ hard-earned money, and spend ...
Christopher Luxon: hurdles The little man from National jumps hurdles in his sleep. He’s quite good at it in his dreams and even though the reality doesn’t quite match up you have to give him credit for getting up every morning and crashing into the very first hurdle of the ...
Madeleine Chapman rounds out Death Week on The Spinoff with a final recommendation. You can read all of our Death Week coverage here. Nothing forces you to reflect on your life and relationships quite like proximity to death. For those whose nearest and dearest have died, there are reasonably obvious ...
Whitney Greene takes us through her life in television, including the TV character she’d like to plan a funeral for and her cow lung catastrophe on The Traitors NZ. “If the phone rings, I have to answer it,” Whitney Greene from The Traitors NZ warns as we begin our My ...
Maddie Ballard reviews the debut essay collection of Pōneke writer Flora Feltham.In ‘The Raw Material’, the longest essay in Flora Feltham’s dazzling debut collection, the author heads out for a run after hours of weaving and sees the world turn to textile. “Pounding along the Parade, I saw the ...
Andy Christiansen, one half of the experimental rock-pop duo TRiPS, shares the tunes inspiring the band’s perfect weekend and new release. “Good speakers, good food, good music, no distractions”: that’s all you need to enjoy the psychedelic stylings of TRiPS, a new band formed by Fly My Pretties’ Barnaby Weir ...
Celebrating our quadrennial opportunity to become experts in a bunch of sports we never normally watch.The games of the XXXIII Olympiad are upon us. Paris will host this year’s showcase of sporting and athletic prowess, which means some late-night and early-morning viewing for us in Aotearoa.But what sports ...
The photograph is striking and beautiful, but also disturbing – a reminder that my love for John was often entangled in shame.The Sunday Essay is made possible thanks to the support of Creative New Zealand.In the spring of 1980, in Dunedin, shortly before his death, someone took a photograph ...
Get to know Babushka, our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Babu’s humans, Jo and Isabel, for their support. Dog name: Babushka (Babu for short) Age: 2Breed: Border Collie X poodleIf rescued, ...
Pacific Media Watch A Lebanese photojournalist who was severely wounded during an Israeli air strike in south Lebanon carried the Olympic torch in Paris this week in honour of her peers who have been wounded and killed in the field — especially in Gaza and Lebanon. Christina Assi of Agence ...
The first report in a five-part web series focused on the 15th Triennial Conference of Pacific Women taking place in the Marshall Islands this week.SPECIAL REPORT:By Netani Rika in Majuro Women continue to fight for justice 70 years after the first nuclear tests by the United States caused ...
Christopher Luxon has joined with Australia and Canada's leaders in voicing support for US President Joe Biden's ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The 2022 election brought the “teal wave” into parliament. The next election will test whether teals, who occupy what were Liberal seats, and other independents can maintain their momentum. Joining us on the Podcast ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Musgrave, Senior lecturer in Pharmacology, University of Adelaide Pixavri/Shutterstock A major Federal Court class action has been dismissed this week after Justice Michael Lee ruled there was not enough evidence to prove the weedkiller Roundup causes cancer. Plaintiff Kelvin ...
In The Week in Politics: politicians have to decide what to do about child abuse, Health NZ is booked in for major surgery and Darleen Tana returns. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Corbould, Associate Professor, Contemporary Histories Research Group, Deakin University Mainstream media are surprisingly muted at the prospect of the world’s most powerful nation being led for the first time by a woman – specifically a woman of colour, Vice President Kamala ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Rebecca Bennett, PhD Student, Associate Research Fellow, Deakin University Last week, a drone delivery company called Wing (owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet) started operating in Melbourne. Some 250,000 residents in parts of the city’s eastern suburbs can now order food from ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jonathan Foo, Lecturer, Physiotherapy, Monash University pikselstock/Shutterstock In the next 40 years in Australia, it’s predicted the number of Australians aged 65 and over will more than double, while the number of people aged 85 and over will more than triple. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katrina Grant, Research Associate, Power Institute for Arts and Visual Culture, University of Sydney Jonas Åkerström’s 1790 work, Session of the Accademia dell’Arcadia on August 17 1788.Nationalmuseum/Cecilia Heisser Ever wondered whether you’d have a better chance at winning an Olympic gold ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alexandra Jones, Program Lead, Food Governance, George Institute for Global Health wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock On Thursday, Australian and New Zealand food ministers at state, federal and national levels met to thrash out what’s next for health star ratings on packaged foods. Now, after ...
The Abuse in Care report found many Pacific survivors lost their connections to their culture and language, resulting in trauma that has been carried from generation to generation. ...
In the regulatory review, ECC intends to suggest that ERO focus on curriculum delivery reviews rather than the Ministry, because it’s not efficient or effective to have two agencies with radically different approaches climbing over each other. ...
Te Rūnanga Nui o Ngā Kura Kaupapa Māori invites the current government to work in partnership with them to develop a pathway forward, including the development of a parallel pathway and meaningful policy and strategy for Kura Kaupapa Māori ...
If you haven’t started watching yet, Tara Ward begs you to reconsider. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. In the world of New Zealand reality television, we have many gems in our crown. There’s the delicious second season of the Celebrity Treasure ...
A new poem by Fiona Kidman. The clothes of the dead I did not keep my mother’s furry red beret for long nor the stringy scarves that adorned the necks of my aunts, although I have kept tag ends of gold, the rings and trinkets they wore, the brooches no ...
The government’s announcement that it will re-open the foreshore and seabed controversy by changing the rules on recognising centuries-old Māori customary title for a third time goes against the rule of law and New Zealand values,” Mr Tipa says. ...
The only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 Lioness by Emily Perkins (Bloomsbury, $25) Roarrrr! Perkins’ brilliant, award-winning, Marian-Keyes anointed, darkly funny, long ...
The 2004 Act vested ownership of the foreshore and seabed in the Crown, extinguishing any Māori claims to ownership and causing widespread outrage and protests among Māori communities. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Antje Deckert, Associate Professor (Criminology), Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Despite the connection between institutional harm and gang membership made clear in this week’s mammoth royal commission abuse-in care report, the government seems unlikely to soften its “get tough on ...
From Lewis Clareburt in the swimming to the start of the rowing – the first seven days of Paris 2024 promise to be big for New Zealand. There are few events that bring the country together quite like an Olympic Games. Nothing quite matches the excitement of getting up in ...
Groundbreaking local science just showed up in the most surprising of places: the season finale of The Kardashians. In the season five finale of The Kardashians last night, several members of the family gathered together in one of their signature empty, cream-coloured rooms to hear test results that had been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Saikal, Emeritus professor of Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies, Australian National University The Middle East is on the brink of a possibly devastating regional war, with hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah reaching an extremely dangerous level. Washington has engaged in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Laura Elizabeth Eades, Rheumatologist, Monash University Lupus is an inflammatory autoimmune illness, where the body’s immune system mistakenly attacks itself. Lupus can affect virtually any part of the body, although it most commonly affects the skin, joints and kidneys. The symptoms ...
A law firm that specialises in working with survivors of abuse in State care is disappointed that the Government fails to recognise that its boot camps can be directly compared to previous boot camps from the 1990s and 2000s. ...
Dying is a natural part of life, like updating your Wof or seeing your hairdresser, but without the word-of-mouth recs that help guarantee a good service. What if we changed that? Dying Reviews received by The Spinoff have had the names of organisations redacted while Hospice NZ collects further data. ...
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Good to see the PM doing follow-through on the coalition's strategy for weaning Taranaki off fossil fuels: https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/122219979/pm-jacinda-ardern-reflects-on-taranaki-and-its-global-potential
A Labour activist who knocked on my door last week told me their candidate is a community organiser. Well, it worked for Obama.
That's good to know. I attended several of the workshops early in the coalition's term and reported on them here – been waiting for the follow-through.
Also encouraging to see that she get's how to implement the roadmap:
Hegel's dialectic, updated into the 21st century: local knowledge & aspirations applied to co-design the plan; implementation via govt supervision. Bottom-up & top-down thinking synthesised via both/and logic. I hope she succeeds in sharing this gnosis so that it becomes general thinking within Labour & the Greens. No sign of National figuring it out…
They have also followed through on a national water body which was announced yesterday. No doubt the opposition will complain that govt shouldn’t be governing during the election period.
I'm sure the Greens have never thought of that approach Dennis. Thank goodness they have Labour to show them the way.
Renewable energy development in South Taranaki: https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/300061761/waipipi-wind-farm-taking-shape-in-waverley
Overtaking would have been traumatic!! I saw them from the hill above the port. Enormous things, roughly the size & shape of the biggest whales in the ocean, but probably even bigger. Just not so heavy, being mostly air inside. A smaller blade and it's truck tipped over in transit early last month: https://www.stuff.co.nz/taranaki-daily-news/news/121692399/truck-carrying-massive-wind-turbine-blade-topples-over-on-sh45?rm=a
… blades 160 metres long …
Uhh, no. Mass media getting technical details wrong again. The turbines might have a swept diameter of 160m, but each blade is a bit less than half that. That's still fkn huge, the total wingspan of an A380 is a bit less than 80m … And the biggest ever recorded blue whale didn't quite break 30m.
https://www.windpowermonthly.com/10-biggest-turbines
edit: the biggest that’s far enough in development that the company is starting to spruik it has 107m blades, but it’s still a ways away from production.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/energy/a25956533/ge-largest-wind-turbine/
thought you might enjoy this Dennis,
https://twitter.com/domesticanimal/status/1287116137600135168
Apart from the fact that Twyford (annoyingly) seems to have done an about-face on his passion for a grade separated CBD to airport metro, the main takeout from this article is that airport to CBD express trains and good local public transport services don’t mix very well. Probably we need to be planning for both.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300063919/election-2020-light-vs-heavy-rail-to-determine-future-of-auckland-transport
I really don't understand what benefit light rail has over buses. The footprint of tracks for light rail is bugger-all less than what is needed for bus lanes, and buses have vastly better operational flexibility.
Capacity really. One light rail unit can fit the equivalent of about 4 of the current AT double decker buses. Mostly because everyone has to have a seat on the double deckers due to the low grade ride quality (they lurch around a lot and standing is just dangerous). So as demand (hopefully) increases you need to squeeze more buses onto a finite amount of road space. Eventually you will run out of road. We’re already seeing that at peak times as services from across the isthmus converge on the inner city, the NNR, Mt Eden Rd, Symonds St intersection is an example. Plus we’re running out of street capacity to terminate the services in the city.
Another problem with busses, especially double decker busses is the time to board and un-board the busses. I know people here in Wellington that avoid double decker busses for their commute, because it takes too long to get through the "Golden Mile" with too many stops and longer boarding times.
Trams are usually only one level and have more doors than busses.
A tram system, in my opinion, only makes sense if you have a dedicated tram line. In some areas of Melbourne the tram has to share the road with cars, which is a complete disaster at car congested times.
So the people fearing trams are mainly car drivers and their associations (AA). Because it means taking road space away, often rightfully gives trams right of way at crossings and therefore often have significantly lower commute times than cars.
For what it’s worth station dwell times on the trains in Auckland are way worse than the busses. Though all-door boarding would help on the busses. The main problem though, is once again, safety, the driver can’t move off from the bus stop until they’re sure everyone is safely seated.
Labour's policy was a dedicated light rail corridor before the last election, with light phasing to minimise wait times. Wtf is it now and does the transport minister know?
From the Stuff article quoting Doug Wilson:
"Light rail does, but for most of the route it is going to be mixed with traffic, so travel times are affected and you’re going to have a fairly slow journey to the city,” he said."
Well, there's the efficiency:
And passengers per hour by train far exceeds what buses can achieve. Buses, of course, achieve far more than cars.
With trains we're truly seeing economies of scale and high efficiency in the mode of transport. Heavy rail is better their than light and suburban rail is better again.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/Passenger_Capacity_of_different_Transport_Modes.png
Twyford might have a point about capacity on the Southern line and extra services from the airport via a spur would slow everything down (I don't know if this is resolvable), but it's really annoying when he says:
That is plainly bullshit. People change trains at stations and have been doing this for nearly two centuries now.
Let’s just hope the PM has somebody else in mind for the role of Transport Minister after the election.
Genter would be a good choice.
How responsible are the Greens for the Wellington bus mess? A huge part of it will be selling it to the public and cleaning up the mess of this term. Maybe Genter can do it, but I'm not entirely confident.
Do the Greens control either the regional council or the inner city one?
Useful practical post about Akl airport access: https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2020/06/29/63283/
"It is up to voters in the precious few weeks until the election to push political parties into ambitious action"
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/oram-we-are-ambitious-people
While agreeing with the general thrust of the piece by Oram I fear he makes one fundamentally incorrect assumption…..that there is a majority seeking a common outcome
She sounds nice.
https://twitter.com/keithedwards/status/1287125645634539527
She does doesn't she.
Granny hasn't been taking her meds.
If our border is closed how can ACT/Plan B can invite the international "experts" here? Will they be paying for their own quarantine?
I reckon they’ll zoom in and zoom out. It’s a shame that the debate is hijacked by a bunch of biased folk pushing their biased opinions and agenda under the pretence of being sound science. The fact that this branded as COVID-19 Science and Policy Symposium hides that in reality it is propaganda aimed to influence NZ policy. Could be an election stunt by Seymour too. It is free and I wonder who funds this.
In case people haven't sighted Rod Oram's opinion on Tiwai Point's demise here is the link from 19 July. It's well based on wide facts, stuffed with them, and probably The Last Word that anybody should bother reading.
https://www.newsroom.co.nz/oram-how-the-global-aluminium-market-killed-tiwai-point
Some people who should know better still keep calling on fellow New Zealanders to save the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter.
The latest is Winston Peters. He pledges that any future government New Zealand First is part of would support a worker/management buyout. It’s an idea he’s touted since 2011, he reminded us in an article under his name in the Herald on Thursday.
Similarly, Steven Joyce, the National Party’s chief economic strategist for nine years in the Key and English governments, was all for subsidising the smelter to keep it alive in his Herald column last week.
Here, though, is the case the smelter really is dead. The sooner we acknowledge that, celebrate its past and work on Southland’s future the better off we’ll all be – particularly the 1,000 people directly hit by the smelter’s planned closure next August.
What else then? Tesla?
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/elon-musk-may-answer-keeping-jobs-bluffs-tiwai-point-smelter-southland-entrepreneur
Elon's such a great employer, and he wouldn't be digging into the government's pockets at all.
Tiwai Point aluminium smelter only has a future if:
Chances of this coming about is pretty close to zero – unfortunately. This seems to be because the governments of NZ have given up on actually developing our economy to utilise our own resources and to only export end products and not the raw resources.
Kia Kaha!
https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300058729/the-myth-of-mori-exceptionalism
Interesting to see TOP's keeping on with the dissing the Greens election strategy (this kind of tweeting isn't uncommon from TOP). Not sure what they think is to be gained (attracting swing voters who hate the Greens?), but I guess it makes them a natural partner for National somewhere down the line.
https://twitter.com/sparksedit/status/1287164072115363841
If you go to the ACT website, you’ll see that they devote many of their ‘news releases’ to dissing the Greens too. To me, it just shows that they’re acting [no pun] from a position of weakness and desperation, i.e. when you’ve got nothing (to lose), attack. Cynical and populist politics at its finest.
Like bullies, they are drawn to attacking those with the integrity they lack.
TOP leader Geoff Simmons on Q&A this morning (7m clip in story), with ironic headline: https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/we-dont-have-sugar-daddy-anymore-opportunity-party-keep-focus-policy-not-personality-politics-post-gareth-morgan
Disappointing to see Jack Tame giving airtime to the fool James Carville with his ridiculous ideas about Trump stepping down before the election, and asserting that Biden had the "most progressive agenda ever…"
Sadly this guy, who might have provided Jack Tame with an intelligent alternative is dead at 37. Michael Brooks in talking to Robert McChesney asks the single most pertinent question … "is there a way of thinking about a Biden presidency that is constructive while being grounded in the realities of power dynamics…" The answer, as you'd expect, is a mixture.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/122223019/coronavirus-police-predict-the-emergence-of-a-new-group-of-criminals-post-covid19
Maybe now is the time to think about Universal Income.
The basic take away there is that deprivation creates crime and that inter-generational deprivation even more so.
It's just about to affect some of the tough on crime mob and others who have sniffed their smelling salts and voted National.
Time for a Universal Government more like. Based on a world without the corruption of money where people would get their needs met in exchange for working for the betterment of a habitable Planet and a sense of brother/sisterhood.
Ankraux uzi Esperanton kiel la unuversan lingvon.
Byd0nz, a universal government makes it even less possible to prevent corruption, its pretty much an Orwellian scenario.
Nature favors variety or biodiversity if you will, its better for survival.
Esperanto has been used for decades but seem to have not that much of an impact as people usually try to associate within their social structure, local lingo. The experiment of mixing different people has not gone that well in Europe.
A universal income needs to be sooner rather than later discussed as many people will loose their job due to automation. There is a change of how business operate in progress, the outcome most likely similar like the industrial revolution. Those who are right now have a say in the future have a responsibility beyond an individuals preference, political hue or whatever makes them exited. This is about the next generations and their security, be it food, land or resources.
Foreignwaka Do you know and use esperanto?
How about
UBI tax free
Inc Taxrate over 100k and 150k and 200k
And a transaction tax to catch the big money movement.
https://www.google.co.nz/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/josiecox/2020/07/25/leadership-bropriation-covid-boris-johnson-jacinda-ardern-viral-twitter-video/amp/
Forbes hyping up our PMs leadership skills.
& saw a funny Tweet comparing Adern rattling off the Govts past achievements with Trump repeating "Person man woman camera tv".
Ad will be in heaven. The Labour-led government showing intent on major, environmentally sound, forward thinking infrastructure projects.
The government is doing a great job in the last few days of announcing some major achievements. Serious stuff, and very high quality campaigning.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300066128/government-wants-100-per-cent-green-electricity-by-adding-battery-power-to-hydro-dams
A bit more detail and indication of the scale of what is being proposed, it's pretty big.
https://medium.com/land-buildings-identity-and-values/pumped-hydro-update-ec4538cbdb87
It is huge step towards 100% renewable electricity by 2030 and a fully carbon zero economy by 2050.
I was quite surprised by the scale of the thing, it's a Clyde sized undertaking. 23 km of hard rock tunnel is getting into it. Some good employment there. Might even see machines 5 & 6 finally installed at Clyde too.
But yeah,
Brilliant…but the question has to be asked why they waited until the end of their term to fund the investigation….and it needs to be combined with an upgraded fully electrified nationwide rail network.
Any Minister can do a report.
Hard to see any fresh energy investment for years when Tiwai comes off.
Dunno. If Huntly shuts down the remaining two oldest boilers, and there gets to be a push on to convert other coal users to electricity, we're going to be looking for more generation pretty quickly. And now, decisions won't be distorted by the threat of unleashing all of Manapouri's power onto the market, that will have been done and dusted.
That would need a whole different set of price signals to generator investors than we have now. Even strong changes in Ministerial policy can only operate difficult levers through the Electricity Authority, and through browbeating listed shareholders.
The geothermal projects around Taupo are in a much more developed state than anything currently in the South Island. Plus they are closer to Auckland.
Once Manapouri really comes on stream – and takes 6 months to settle – I'd see the geothermal ones as much more likely to proceed.
Maybe we start to see a stable investment playground in late 2022. Maybe.
Investment cases after that, project formation and consenting after that, project procurement and construction after that.
That makes it a third term thing.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122208708/sarah-dowie-other-women-were-my-harshest-critics
In the party of hair puller John Key, saying being an MP is hard because of long hours away from her children, like many other parents. esp solo working parents. Nope, no sympathy from me, she could have highlighted that while in parliament, tried to change policy so all parents get to spend time with their kids, be more sympathetic to parents on the benefit, esp solo ones. Of course she makes some good points (double standards), but mostly comes across "poor me" & justifying why she cheated.
Dowie said:
"Feminism is about women coming together and celebrating in other women …"
Dowie also said:
"“There are women down here [in the Southern region] that I term ‘the witches’."
Justified cheating is an oxymoron.
I just remembered the "part time PM" bullshit, don't remember Dowie standing up then.
Oh wow – the cray-cray is strong in these ones.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300066166/jamilee-ross-looks-to-te-tai-tokerau-as-he-plots-journey-back-to-parliament
Lest we forget the decampers !
Ann Tolley validectory speech abridged.
( From Valedictory Statements – New Zealand Parliament).
I came to Parliament with a busload for my first day.
I now have a segway about a Greek phrase, " I am reminded of the meaning of the word "politics". From the Greek "polis", meaning "city", comes the Greek word "politēs", meaning "citizen",… because it is all about citizens.
My speech will show that for years I was shuffled around in Parliament and I was successful. I thank many, many parliamentary people ( many more than citizens mentioned) who helped my success including the VIP transport team.
Now onto some 'people' I remember who are the real highlights of my career… (though I will just call them people because I don't know their names nor what happened to most of them, but they were memorable).
*hundreds and hundreds of parents who contacted me about national standards.
*I remember ” taking PM John Key to the Whakatāne-based academy,( trades) where we met a large group of excited but very focused young people, and two stood out for John and me. They came from way up the coast. They left home at about 5 a.m. to ride—possibly a horse—down to catch the bus to Whakatāne, which was over three hours away.”
*took an enormous risk and OK'd the Rimutaka Prison taking part in Wellington on a Plate with Martin Bosley. I even went out to the prison kitchen talking to a man who… with a real light in his eye….
* I went to another prison for the puppy in prison project. " I remember talking to this enormous man. He was huge. He was covered in tattoos. He was a real fierce-looking dude. He wouldn't meet my eye, because many of them wouldn't, of course. But I .." " Then this great big fierce man bent down and picked up this little puppy, this golden Labrador ball of fluff, and with this gooey look on his face tucked it into his neck and told me that Daisy had scratched at the door to go out to the toilet for the first time the night before."
* I met Tusha Penny." I well remember her recounting the story of a woman whose history of abuse was only really uncovered by agencies. " … " This woman I remember I never met, I never knew her name, but I know we saved her life."
* I met two young people who had been in State care, " finally grabbed the opportunity to address the system that was failing them so badly," but will talk about only one of them.
The first young man's story didn't actually have a happy ending. … He was sullen… I think he'd been with cousins up the coast… " I listened to him…" Sadly, I know that this wasn't enough to make up for everything else that had damaged him."
* Quickly moving along, next minute, it was all good though no matter because, "But one of that group, a bright, intelligent, and determined young woman, took every opportunity to contribute to the redesign process. She came along to Parliament and she sat up here and she watched the lawmaking process when she could, because she was at university studying to be a social worker. I ran into her a year ago at a local school. She had a very successful career." Because she sat up in the gallery and WATCHED.
In the last nearly 12 months, " We didn't manage to negotiate a full code of conduct with consequences ( because of covid or because some had an entitlement to scoff at rules) —.So "seven statements of expectations of behaviour" have now been passed on to the Speaker.
" I sincerely hope everyone in the next Parliament commits to these expectations, because—I tell you what—the public expects nothing less."
With that nod to ' good behaviour being expected only because the citizens are watching ' .
…. "So I say thank you to the National Party and to my caucus colleagues for your friendship and support over the years. As Deputy Speaker—sorry, I can't read."
SPEAKER: You're not meant to read anyway!
I'm sure it's much, much,… much more coherent in full.
Aww. Sorry. Nope it wasn't !
Btw much, much much = more
Colmar Brunton polling now, results expected by Thurs, TV1.
Their last poll in June had National at 38, up 9 (Muller bounce, and it was a bad news week for the government). Probably an exaggerated high, up from an exaggerated low, but it would be funny if they went down again.
Reid Research were polling 3 days ago. These polling companies seem to have a penchant for women between 25 and 45 years. They're not interested in those of us who are well past our prime. Can't think why. 😕
They would have a quota and filled it up the older age group quickly because I’m guessing you are more likely to answer your phone.
Yeah… reckon you're right newsense but I get a bit pissy about it sometimes. 🙁
Who/what defines your prime? Do you have only one prime? I reckon it is a marketing ploy (AKA BS).
the longer you live, the more primes you have
I’m almost at my optimus prime.
Mine is on the decline.
Two knee replacements coming up.![sad sad](https://cdn.ckeditor.com/4.11.3/full-all/plugins/smiley/images/sad_smile.png)
That’s no good.
Cheer up, Anne
The rest of you must be pretty good if they think it is worth replacing your knees!
I really like the contribution from the younger TS commenters. They may not always get what a baby bomber is trying to say and I may not always get what a person 20-40 ish is trying to say.
The thing which I really like from age 20 – 40 ish is that they can find a couple of words to explain a behaviour e.g. "love bombing and gaslighting."
Aha, think I am beginning to get it now why so much bad behaviour is occurring in parliament.
Some politicians have the agenda of being spiteful (cutting their nose off to spite their face) toward another MP just to achieve a goal. The spiteful politician does not care what means they use as long as their goal is reached which is to take an opponent out and then wipe their hands as if they did nothing to harm someone.
JLR is set to release more bad news for National.
This is politics it's a dirty business putting laws in place isn't going to change anything but just push more underground.
ie Donations conveniently split into unidentifyable smaller amounts.
Dunedin needs to find the tree Pete Hodgson came from. Clark, Curran, Woodhouse and Benson-Pope definitely a mixed bag of talent in terms of success in national politics.
We need good quality locals not carpet baggers who are rejected up North.
I see prosperity X-tian, and conspiracy nutter most likely to jam out a Stevie Ray Vaughan lick Billy Te Kahika has thrown his lot in with that oh-so X-tian and deeply principled politician Jami-Lee Ross in a desperate attempt to get his NZ Public Party registered. I wonder who swallowed the bigger rat? And what for?
It will be the sadest sadist party
'Murica
https://twitter.com/MoseBuchele/status/1287245156467585024
https://twitter.com/MoseBuchele/status/1287245158044631040
https://twitter.com/Austin_Police/status/1287236449172164609
60.9%!
Might need to make the list a bit longer.
Is it 20 August the cut off for the list?
National needs to shorten their list as it could be embarrassing.
https://www.parliament.nz/electiontimeline/index.html
Oh, crap! There goes the quiet Sunday night 🙁
Dangerous fools.
https://twitter.com/MekaKiwi/status/1287177938069098496