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.
Buzz from the Beehive Transport Minister Simeon Brown dutifully issued advice to all road users to keep safe on our roads during the Easter weekend. He encouraged them to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. ...
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Eric Crampton writes – Richard Harman’s Politik newsletter provides a bit of the context that ought to have been showing up in other media reports on potential reductions in public service staffing. Media has been reporting on staffing cuts on the order of about 7%. Is that ...
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The Local Government, Transport and Auckland Minister hasthreatened councils with intervention if they don’t merge water assets to take them off balance sheet, just as the now-repealed Three Waters plan directed. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things of note this morning for Monday, March 25 include:Simeon ...
A listing of 36 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 17, 2024 thru Sat, March 23, 2024. Story of the week Thanks to John Mason having the stamina to sit down to watch "Climate - the Movie" ...
This morning the Q&A programme had Simeon Brown on to talk about National’s replacement for Three Waters. In case anyone’s forgotten the three are - drinking water, waste water, and sewerage. It’s quite important not to get them mixed up. In much the same way that you wouldn’t want to ...
Today’s newsletter comes with a mini-podcast conversation between me and my buddy Liv Tennet, talking about her time as a child actor in Lord of the Rings. It’s a conversation with a lot of giggles as she talks about falling off a horse, and becoming a meme. Read ...
The Desmog Climate Disinformation Database documents, "individuals and organisations that have helped to delay and distract the public and our elected leaders from taking needed action to reduce greenhouse gas pollution and fight global warming." It's a who's who of the organised climate change denial movement, in other words. In ...
Bob Edlin writes – A High Court judge has decided miscreants who have mana – or who claim to have mana – should be treated differently from miscreants who have none. It’s a ruling that suggests indigenous law-breakers have a better chance of securing a discharge without conviction ...
Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of Brickbats, Bouquets and Bull’s Wool. In which I’ll take a look at the events of the last week or so, and rate them.In such ratings the numbers usually have more to do with the opinions of the reviewer, than the actual ...
Roger Partridge writes – My earlier column this month, New Zealand’s highest court could be facing a turning point, prompted a flood of feedback from business readers and lawyers alike. A common query was what Parliament can do to restrain an overreaching judiciary. This week I discuss two steps Parliament ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.16pm on Friday, March 22: writes about New Zealand's Building Boom—And What the World Must Learn From It over at his substack. challenges the Auckland Council’s use of a 3.8 degrees of warming forecast to oppose a wave-park and data centre project ...
Is she hinting that the Coalition Government will have to back down on key promises it made in Opposition?The Minister of Finance, Nicola Willis, is telling an evolving story about her fiscal challenges. In Opposition she was confident that she could deliver her promised income tax cuts. Appointed minister, she ...
Buzz from the Beehive Ministers of the Crown have drawn attention to one sector of the science sector which is unlikely to be subjected to heavy spending cuts, a state-funded broadcaster which is doing nicely, thank you, and a sporting event that had $5.4 million from the public purse puffed ...
Abbott’s Freestyle Libre sensors allow continuous glucose monitoring (CGM). The sensor is applied to the back of the patient’s arm, with a thin filament under the skin measuring glucose levels constantly. But it costs around $100 per sensor and must be replaced once every 14 days. Photo by BSIP/Universal Images ...
The Inspector General of Intelligence and Security (IGIS) recently released a report in which he exposes the existence of a foreign intelligence partner-controlled technological “capability” inside the headquarters of the GCSB, NZ’s 5 Eyes-affiliated signals intelligence collection and analysis agency. … Continue reading → ...
Peter Dunne writes – Nearly three decades after the introduction of MMP and multiparty governments there should be a greater level of understanding about their finer points than often appears to be the case. The reaction to the despicable outburst from the Deputy Prime Minister at the weekend highlights ...
The sweet kisses from fruit of summerHave slowly been turning dullerYou say, "those times"And "remember the daysWhen we went outside and there still was the shade?"Taking no reason into play…Autumn. Clear, blue days shortening to longer nights, growing colder. Aotearoa.That’s us. The temperature dropping, the looming car crash - so ...
Bryce Edwards writes – “It is often said that behind every great man is a great woman”. This is the pitch by the National Party Botany electorate branch to attend their “Ladies Afternoon Tea with Amanda Luxon”. For $110 including GST, you can turn up on Saturday 20 April ...
David Farrar writes – The Electoral Commission has published the expense returns for political parties for the 2023 election. I’ve put them in a table with how many votes a party got so we can see the spend per vote. National only spent $3.34 for every vote they got, almost ...
Winston Peters’ headline-making actions over the past week may have been a show of political power intended to strengthen his hand in Budget negotiations. It was no accident that his State of the Nation speech was as it was. He made it as New Zealand First Leader, not as Deputy ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:Former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson bowed out of politics this week, giving a series of exit ...
Graham Adams writes — If you love the law or sausages, as the saying goes, best not to look too closely at how they are made. And after watching the orgy of self-pity when Newshub’s closure was announced on February 28, television journalism should definitely be added to the list of those ...
Venerable New Zealand political commentator, Chris Trotter (https://bowalleyroad.blogspot.com/), is a sad creature these days. Once one of the most reliable Leftist writers out there – Economic Left at that – Trotter seems to have absorbed the worldview of Auckland culture-war obsessives. It is not for me to categorise what he ...
The cruelty of short-term memory loss is that each time you ask where she is, you get the fresh shock and grief of the news. That was Dad's day yesterday.Comfortingly, it seems to be less so today. Last night he looked crumpled, today he seems more settled. There's a card ...
The Coalition Government’s plan to ‘get Auckland moving’ is a cuts cover-up that will ultimately cost Aucklanders more to move around the city, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Slashing the Ministry of Pacific Peoples by 40% will have a devastating impact on pacific communities and further highlights how little this government cares about anything other than cutting taxes for the wealthiest few. ...
Labour has proposed an urgent inquiry to investigate the ever-increasing profits of supermarkets, aiming to lower costs for shoppers and food producers alike, says Labour Spokesperson for Commerce and Consumer Affairs Arena Williams and Primary Production Spokesperson Cushla Tangaere-Manuel. ...
With 14% of jobs on the line at the Ministry for Ethnic Communities, the responsible Minister Melissa Lee is failing to stand up for the very communities she’s meant to be representing. ...
COURT OF APPEAL: TRIFECTA OF VICTORY FOR NZ FIRST, TRIFECTA OF FAILURE FOR OPPONENTS For the third time since April 2020, New Zealand First has defeated the Serious Fraud Office and all those complicit in a malicious attack against a political party going about its lawful business in a lawful ...
The Green Party stands with people who live in public housing, people in dire housing need, experts and advocates in demanding better than the Government’s archaic approach to housing those who need our support the most. ...
New Zealand has recently lost the hosting rights of some major international sporting events including the America’s Cup, the Rugby Championship, Netball World Cup, and the Wellington Sevens. We are now at a huge risk of losing SailGP as well. And it won’t stop there. The recent issues with SailGP ...
A Member’s Bill drawn this week would modernise insurance law and make things fairer and more transparent for consumers, Christchurch Central MP Duncan Webb said. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues has confirmed she was aware of funding issues in mid-December and did nothing to stop it. On 14 March, she signed off on changes that were announced and implemented on 18 March without any consultation with disability communities. ...
Green Party MP Julie Anne Genter says her members' bill is an opportunity for the coalition government to plug the gap in electric vehicle incentives. ...
The National Government continues to talk about irresponsible tax cuts that will only drive up inflation, despite the country entering a technical recession. ...
The Minister for Disability Issues must act urgently to reinstate flexibility around the funding for disability support and apologise to disabled carers. ...
This story has been initiated by a leftie shill reporter who proactively sought to call a member of a former band, which disbanded twelve years ago, give their biased appraisal of what was said in my speech, and concocted a ham-fisted attempt at a story that does nothing but show ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Many in the mainstream media have taken what was said in New Zealand First’s State of the Nation Speech in Palmerston North on Sunday and deliberately, deceitfully, and ignorantly misrepresented what I said and why I said it. The headlines and commentary on the news stated that I compared ‘co-governance ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
Good afternoon. Thank you for, in your very busy lives, turning up to this meeting today. On October 14th last year New Zealanders overwhelmingly voted for change. That is exactly what this new government is bringing. New Zealand First campaigned to ‘take back our country’ and stop the disastrous economic ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed the passing of legislation to move light electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) into the road user charges system from 1 April. “It was always intended that EVs and PHEVs would be exempt from road user charges until they reached two ...
New Zealand is strengthening its ability to combat illegal fishing outside its domestic waters and beef up regulation for its own commercial fishers in international waters through a Bill which had its first reading in Parliament today. The Fisheries (International Fishing and Other Matters) Amendment Bill 2023 sets out stronger ...
Economists Carl Hansen and Professor Prasanna Gai have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Monetary Policy Committee, Finance Minister Nicola Willis announced today. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is the independent decision-making body that sets the Official Cash Rate which determines interest rates. Carl Hansen, the executive director of Capital ...
Apartment owners and buyers will soon have greater protections as further changes to the law on unit titles come into effect, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “The Unit Titles (Strengthening Body Corporate Governance and Other Matters) Amendment Act had already introduced some changes in December 2022 and May 2023, and ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters will travel to Egypt and Europe from this weekend. “This travel will focus on a range of New Zealand’s traditional diplomatic and security partnerships while enabling broad engagement on the urgent situation in Gaza,” Mr Peters says. Mr Peters will attend the NATO Foreign ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown is encouraging all road users to stay safe, plan their journeys ahead of time, and be patient with other drivers while travelling around this Easter long weekend. “Road safety is a responsibility we all share, and with increased traffic on our roads expected this Easter we ...
About 1.4 million New Zealanders will receive cost of living relief through increased government assistance from April 1 909,000 pensioners get a boost to Superannuation, including 5000 veterans 371,000 working-age beneficiaries will get higher payments 45,000 students will see an increase in their allowance Over a quarter of New Zealanders ...
Ensuring social housing is being provided to those with the greatest needs is front of mind as the Government restarts social housing tenancy reviews, Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka says. “Our relentless focus on building a strong economy is to ensure we can deliver better public services such as social ...
The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary will not go ahead, with Cabinet deciding to stop work on the proposed reserve and remove the Bill that would have established it from Parliament’s order paper. “The Kermadec Ocean Sanctuary Bill would have created a 620,000 sq km economic no-go zone,” Oceans and Fisheries Minister ...
Dam safety regulations are being amended so that smaller dams won’t be subject to excessive compliance costs, Minister for Building and Construction Chris Penk says. “The coalition Government is focused on reducing costs and removing unnecessary red tape so we can get the economy back on track. “Dam safety regulations ...
The coalition Government is expanding the medium-scale adverse event classification to parts of the North Island as dry weather conditions persist, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced today. “I have made the decision to expand the medium-scale adverse event classification already in place for parts of the South Island to also cover the ...
The passing of legislation giving effect to coalition Government tax commitments has been welcomed by Finance Minister Nicola Willis. “The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill will help place New Zealand on a more secure economic footing, improve outcomes for New Zealanders, and make our tax system ...
Science, Innovation and Technology Minister Judith Collins and Tertiary Education and Skills Minister Penny Simmonds today announced plans to transform our science and university sectors to boost the economy. Two advisory groups, chaired by Professor Sir Peter Gluckman, will advise the Government on how these sectors can play a greater ...
The Budget will deliver urgently-needed tax relief to hard-working New Zealanders while putting the government’s finances back on a sustainable track, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The Finance Minister made the comments at the release of the Budget Policy Statement setting out the Government’s Budget objectives. “The coalition Government intends ...
The coalition Government will look at options to address a zoning issue that limits how much financial support Queenstown residents can get for accommodation. Cabinet has agreed on a response to the Petitions Committee, which had recommended the geographic information MSD uses to determine how much accommodation supplement can be ...
Cabinet has agreed to a short extension to the final reporting timeframe for the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care from 28 March 2024 to 26 June 2024, Internal Affairs Minister Brooke van Velden says. “The Royal Commission wrote to me on 16 February 2024, requesting that I consider an ...
The coalition Government is delivering an $18 million boost to New Zealanders needing to travel for specialist health treatment, Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says. “These changes are long overdue – the National Travel Assistance (NTA) scheme saw its last increase to mileage and accommodation rates way back in 2009. ...
The Government is recognising the innovative and rising talent in New Zealand’s growing space sector, with the Prime Minister and Space Minister Judith Collins announcing the new Prime Minister’s Prizes for Space today. “New Zealand has a growing reputation as a high-value partner for space missions and research. I am ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has confirmed New Zealand’s concerns about cyber activity have been conveyed directly to the Chinese Government. “The Prime Minister and Minister Collins have expressed concerns today about malicious cyber activity, attributed to groups sponsored by the Chinese Government, targeting democratic institutions in both New ...
Independent Reviewers appointed for School Property Inquiry Education Minister Erica Stanford today announced the appointment of three independent reviewers to lead the Ministerial Inquiry into the Ministry of Education’s School Property Function. The Inquiry will be led by former Minister of Foreign Affairs Murray McCully. “There is a clear need ...
State Highway 1 across the Brynderwyns will be open for Easter weekend, with work currently underway to ensure the resilience of this critical route being paused for Easter Weekend to allow holiday makers to travel north, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Today I visited the Brynderwyn Hills construction site, where ...
Introduction Good morning to you all, and thanks for having me bright and early today. I am absolutely delighted to be the Minister for Infrastructure alongside the Minister of Housing and Resource Management Reform. I know the Prime Minister sees the three roles as closely connected and he wants me ...
New Zealand stands with the United Kingdom in its condemnation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) state-backed malicious cyber activity impacting its Electoral Commission and targeting Members of the UK Parliament. “The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable,” Minister Responsible for ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters and Defence Minister Judith Collins today announced New Zealand will provide logistics support for the upcoming Solomon Islands election. “We’re sending a team of New Zealand Defence Force personnel and two NH90 helicopters to provide logistics support for the election on 17 April, at the request ...
The European Union Free Trade Agreement Legislation Amendment Bill received Royal Assent today, completing the process for New Zealand’s ratification of its free trade agreement with the European Union. “I am pleased to announce that today, in a small ceremony at the Beehive, New Zealand notified the European Union ...
Public consultation on the terms of reference for the Royal Commission into COVID-19 Lessons has concluded, Internal Affairs Minister Hon Brooke van Velden says. “I have been advised that there were over 11,000 submissions made through the Royal Commission’s online consultation portal.” Expanding the scope of the Royal Commission of ...
Hardworking families are set to benefit from a new credit to help them meet their early childcare education (ECE) costs, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. From 1 July, parents and caregivers of young children will be supported to manage the rising cost of living with a partial reimbursement of their ...
A specialised Independent Technical Advisory Group (ITAG) tasked with preparing and publishing independent non-binding advice on the design of a "green" (sustainable finance) taxonomy rulebook is being established, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “Comprising experts and market participants, the ITAG's primary goal is to deliver comprehensive recommendations to the ...
Defence Minister Judith Collins has thanked the Chief of Army, Major General John Boswell, DSD, for his service as he leaves the Army after 40 years. “I would like to thank Major General Boswell for his contribution to the Army and the wider New Zealand Defence Force, undertaking many different ...
25 March 2024 Minister to meet Australian counterparts and Manufacturing Industry Leaders Small Business, Manufacturing, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly will travel to Australia for a series of bi-lateral meetings and manufacturing visits. During the visit, Minister Bayly will meet with his Australian counterparts, Senator Tim Ayres, Ed ...
Government commits almost $3 million for period products in schools The Coalition Government has committed $2.9 million to ensure intermediate and secondary schools continue providing period products to those who need them, Minister of Education Erica Stanford announced today. “This is an issue of dignity and ensuring young women don’t ...
Good morning, it’s great to be here. First, I would like to acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of Building Surveyors and thank you for the opportunity to be here this morning. I would like to use this opportunity to outline the Government’s ambitious plan and what we hope to ...
Minister for Pacific Peoples Dr Shane Reti has announced the Government’s commitment to the Auckland Secondary Schools Māori and Pacific Islands Cultural Festival, more commonly known as Polyfest. “The Ministry for Pacific Peoples is a longtime supporter of Polyfest and, as it celebrates 49 years in 2024, I’m proud to ...
Before moving onto the substance of today’s address, I want to recognise the very significant and ongoing contribution the Breast Cancer Foundation makes to support the lives of New Zealand women and their families living with breast cancer. I very much enjoy working with you. I also want to recognise ...
New Zealand has notched up a first with the launch of University of Canterbury research to the International Space Station, Science, Innovation and Technology and Space Minister Judith Collins says. The hardware, developed by Dr Sarah Kessans, is designed to operate autonomously in orbit, allowing scientists on Earth to study ...
Introduction Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today and I’m sorry I can’t be there in person. Yesterday I started in Wellington for Breakfast TV, spoke to a property conference in Auckland, and finished the day speaking to local government in Christchurch, so it would have been ...
The Coalition Government is contributing more than $1 million to support the establishment of an emergency multi-agency coordination centre in Northland. Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell announced the contribution today during a visit of the Whangārei site where the facility will be constructed. “Northland has faced a number ...
New Zealanders have enjoyed a broader range of voices telling the story of Aotearoa thanks to the creation of Whakaata Māori 20 years ago, says Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka. The minister spoke at a celebration marking the national indigenous media organisation’s 20th anniversary at their studio in Auckland on ...
Commercial catch limits for some fisheries have been increased following a review showing stocks are healthy and abundant, Ocean and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The changes, along with some other catch limit changes and management settings, begin coming into effect from 1 April 2024. "Regular biannual reviews of fish ...
Opposition MPs and unions are criticising a proposal by New Zealand’s Ministry of Pacific Peoples to cut staff by 40 percent. The country’s largest trade union — The Public Service Association — says the ministry has informed staff that it is looking to shed 63 of 156 positions. Opposition MPs ...
A poem by Poetry Aotearoa Yearbook 2024 featured poet Carin Smeaton. Daughtr of the 90s when she gets promoted to usherette a baby blu eel carries her all the way up to mothership she’s hovering high she lets the underaged in to see keanu reeves she lets the only lonely ...
Analysis by Keith Rankin. Keith Rankin, trained as an economic historian, is a retired lecturer in Economics and Statistics. He lives in Auckland, New Zealand. My earlier article – Can ‘Good’ be the Greater Evil? – looked at the issue of how wars should end, and how Good versus Evil ...
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 AMMA by Saraid de Silva (Moa Press, $38)A stunning debut novel reviewed by Brannavan ...
From Steve Martin to Ricky Stanicky, a pick’n’mix of things worth watching and listening to this long weekend. This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. If you’re at a loss for something to occupy yourself with this Easter, don’t panic: The Spinoff’s got ...
Jesus had dinner with his 12 disciples right before he died. Noted historian Madeleine Chapman finds out who really deserved to be there.First published in 2018 but let’s be honest, the subject is timeless. As you sit on your couch this Easter Sunday, eating a chocolate egg you know ...
The newly-promoted Northern League club is on a mission to return to the National League for the first time in two decades. Plenty about domestic football in New Zealand has changed in that time – but the sense that this amateur competition is not an entirely level playing field remains. ...
Comment: Every year on February 2, a dozen men in tuxedos and top hats approach the burrow of a groundhog in Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania and entice the beaver-like rodent to emerge and predict the weather. If the groundhog, named Punxsutawney Phil, sees its own shadow when it is summoned, legend ...
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Auckland Council has put a deadline on new weather-impacted property owners applying for categorisation as government funding looks set to run out. Councillors have voted to support a deadline of September 30 for property owners who haven’t accessed support to come forward and engage with the council’s recovery office. It ...
NONFICTION 1 BBQ Economics by Liam Dann (Penguin Random House, $40) “It’s official,” wrote Dann nine days ago in the Herald, where he works as business editor at large, “we’re in recession.” Yeah, great. He delivered the bad stats: “GDP fell 0.1 percent in the December 2023 quarter, compared with ...
By Anneke Smith, RNZ News political reporter A petition urging the New Zealand government to provide urgent humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people has been tabled in the House. More than 200 people gathered on Parliament’s forecourt today and they were met by MPs from Labour, the Greens and Te ...
Pacific Media Watch The Paris-based global media freedom watchdog RSF (Reporters Without Borders) has appealed for information about the “disappearance” of Palestinian journalist Bayan Abusultan. She was reportedly last seen on March 19 among people “sequestered” in this week’s raid and siege of Al Shifa hospital by Israeli troops in ...
EDITORIAL:The Jakarta Post It happens again and again; indigenous Papuans fall victim to Indonesian soldiers. This time, we have photographic evidence for the brutality, with videos on social media showing a Papuan man being tortured by a group of plainclothes men alleged to be the Indonesian Military (TNI) members. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn J. Whitaker, Director of the Wesley Centre for Theology, Ethics, and Public Policy & Associate Professor, New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity A strange and eclectic range of activities takes place across these few weeks of the year. Some ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Panizza Allmark, Professor Visual & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University It’s Easter weekend, which means many of us will be kicking back with the greatest hits on repeat. But whether you’re a boomer, or an ‘80s or ’90s kid, you might be ...
RNZ Pacific Fiji’s Acting Public Prosecutor has filed an appeal against the sentences of former prime minister Voreqe Bainimarama and suspended police chief Sitiveni Qiliho in their corruption case. Bainimarama was granted an absolute discharge for attempting to pervert the course of justice while Qiliho received a conditional discharge with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Arosha Weerakoon, Senior Lecturer and General Dentist, School of Dentistry, The University of Queensland Casezy idea/Shutterstock How does toothpaste work? What did people use before toothpaste was invented? – Amelia, age 7, Meanjin (Brisbane) Thanks for your ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Brett Hallam, Associate professor, UNSW Sydney IM Imagery/Shutterstock Solar SunShot is well named. The Australian government announced today it would plough A$1 billion into bringing back solar manufacturing to Australia, boosting energy security, swapping coal and gas jobs for those ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Clare Dix, Research Fellow in Nutrition & Dietetics, The University of Queensland Easter is the time for chocolate. The shops are full of fantastically packaged and shiny chocolates in all shapes and sizes, making trips to the supermarket with children more challenging ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emma Felton, Adjunct Senior Researcher, University of South Australia Even in a stubborn cost-of-living crisis, it seems there’s one luxury most Australians won’t sacrifice – their daily cup of coffee. Coffee sales have largely remained stable, even as financial pressures have ...
Mining company Trans-Tasman Resources has unexpectedly withdrawn its application for a consent to suck the valuable metals vanadium and titanium from the Taranaki seafloor, as it apparently wagers on the Government’s new fast-track process. It had spent two-and-a-half days putting its case to the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision-making committee, at ...
Contrary to the Associate Minister of Education’s claims, analysis of Healthy School Lunches Programme - Ka Ora, Ka Ako assessments has revealed it provides excellent value for the taxpayer dollar, as a groundswell of public opposition to Government ...
Greenpeace says wannabe Taranaki seabed miner Trans-Tasman Resources is likely banking on Christopher Luxon’s fast-track process to side-step proper scrutiny of its Taranaki seabed mining proposal by bailing out of the Environmental Protection Agency hearing ...
Kiwis Against Seabed mining today slammed Australian owned would-be seabed miner Trans Tasman Resources (TTR) for abandoning its application to the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to mine the seabed of the South Taranaki Bight. The company ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Katie Attwell, Associate Professor, School of Social Sciences, The University of Western Australia Ground Picture/Shutterstock Months after COVID vaccines were introduced in 2021, governments and private organisations mandated them for various groups. Health and aged care workers were among the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Dzurak, Scientia Professor Andrew Dzurak, CEO and Founder of Diraq, UNSW Sydney Diraq For decades, the pursuit of quantum computing has struggled with the need for extremely low temperatures, mere fractions of a degree above absolute zero (0 Kelvin or ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne A national Essential poll, conducted March 20–24 from a sample of 1,150, gave the Coalition a 50–44 lead including undecided, a reversal ...
The Taxpayers’ Union has today made a formal request under the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Open Government Information () for information held about how New Zealand Members of Parliament are spending taxpayer ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robert Nelson, Honorary Principal Fellow, The University of Melbourne A Byzantine depiction of the Eucharist in Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv.Jacek555/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA A nasty quarrel arose in the 11th century over what kind of bread should be used in holy ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Patrick Hesp, Professor, Flinders University Patrick Hesp In some parts of Australia, coastal dunes are retreating from the ocean at an alarming rate, as waves carve up the beach and wind blows the sand inland. But coastal communities are largely ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Luke Heemsbergen, Senior Lecturer, Digital, Political, Media, Deakin University With an impressive 60% of the US smartphone market, Apple is undeniably big, but not a clear monopoly. Yet, years of innovation by Apple have effectively given the company its own exclusive ...
Whether you’re facing layoffs or are just an emotional junior staffer, it’s always a good idea to scout out a good crying place before you need it. It’s an incredibly hard time for Wellington. Across the city, thousands of public servants are hearing tough news about redundancies and layoffs. Government ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By James Miller-Jones, Professor, Curtin University Nuclear explosions on a neutron star feed its jets. Danielle Futselaar and Nathalie Degenaar, Anton Pannekoek Institute, University of Amsterdam, CC BY-SA How fast can a neutron star drive powerful jets into space? The answer, it ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Daryl Adair, Associate Professor of Sport Management, University of Technology Sydney Earlier this week, independent MP Andrew Wilkie accused the AFL of conducting “off the books” illicit drug testing to identify players using substances of abuse, then inappropriately withdrawing them from matches ...
The Government’s announcement that it will scrap plans for a vast marine sanctuary around the Kermadec Islands is ‘shameful’ and will make it impossible for Aotearoa New Zealand to meet its international commitments, says the World Wide Fund for Nature ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By John Quiggin, Professor, School of Economics, The University of Queensland Shutterstock The federal government has bowed to pressure from the car industry, announcing it will relax proposed emissions rules for utes and vans and delay enforcement of the new standards ...
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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.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKgfjiIvalk
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.
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