To fight the war against climate change leadership is necessary.
Where will this leadership come from?
“So they [the Government] go on in strange paradox, decided only to be undecided, resolved to be irresolute, adamant for drift, solid for fluidity, all-powerful to be impotent…. Owing to past neglect, in the face of the plainest warnings, we have entered upon a period of danger…. The era of procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and baffling expedience of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences…. We cannot avoid this period, we are in it now….”
Winston Churchill, November 12, 1936, House of Commons
Doesn’t this strange paradox of dithering, procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and expedience and delays describe our present parliament when it comes to Climate Change. Especially when we also are entering a period of consequences.
The apologists and Ignorers of climate change are dominant, one each, in two of the major parties in parliament. And the Greens are busy tailoring their party to fit with this paradigm.
So for the order of the day, the big political question is:
The most difficult task, phase-out over the next 20-25 years of coal use that does not capture CO2, is herculean, yet feasible when compared with the efforts that went into World War II. The stakes, for all life on the planet, surpass those of any previous crisis. The greatest danger is continued ignorance and denial, which could make tragic consequences unavoidable.
Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim? James Hansen, Makiko Sato, Pushker Kharecha, David Beerling, Valerie Masson-Delmotte, Mark Pagani, Maureen Raymo, Dana L. Royer, James C. Zachos
Winston Churchill, was a long serving Liberal Government MP and liberal cabinet Minister who lost his seat in the electoral landslide against the Liberals following WW1. Standing as a ‘constitutional anti-socialist’ independent, Churchill regained the seat of Epping, returning to parliament in 1924. Churchill however remained out of government from 1922 when he lost his original Liberal seat until 1939 when he was suddenly plucked from the obscurity of the back benches, to the premiership of the country. A promotion unrivaled in British parliamentary history.
What distinguished Churchill from all the other back bench MPs?
Despite the still ongoing Great Depression and massive social dislocation caused by mass unemployment. Rather than concentrate on economic issues, Churchill identified the rise of fascism as the singular greatest threat to civilisation. And refused, despite all sorts of pressure and abuse, to shut up about it. (Putting all British government MPs whether Liberal, Labour, or Conservative on notice.)
The other thing that distinguished Churchill from his peers was that he was completely non-sectarian, prepared to work with any grouping or party that was opposed to fascism. Despite being of the Right Churchill was prepared to work with the minority Labour Party and even Communist Party members, if they were opposed to fascism. This history has been covered up, and the British Conservative Party have claimed Churchill as one of their own, (Churchill had nominally taken up Tory membership in 1925). But up until 1939 when events proved him right, the Conservatives had long harboured a deep distrust of Churchill.
So who will it be, who will put NZ’s three parliamentary parties on notice that Climate Change cannot, and should not, be ignored?
There will be no ‘Churchill’. The choice is between preserving ecospheres or preserving the economy. We don’t get to have our cake and eat it. ( Not even ‘green’ cake) Meanwhile, everyone is looking for a champion to come from institutions dedicated to preserving the economy.
We have already stacked the atmosphere and oceans to the extent that 2 degrees is no longer on the table. Now the target the economists and politicians hope to miss is betwwen 4 – 6 degrees.
Between the need to pay back the mountains of debt (and interest) which our financialised global economy has generated, the promises of a better material lifestyle which have been made to billions, and the fact that moving to “green” infrastructure and energy is going to take a hell of a lot of “dirty” fossil fuel driven energy expenditure, we won’t see any serious moves to cut back GHG emissions.
In fact, its not growth in the use of oil we are going to see over the next ten years (oil use as a % of total energy used has been declining for sometime now). It is a massive explosion in the use of coal…a growth trend which has been going for a decade or so now.
Chruchill, like Blair, Bush 1/2, Clinton, Obama, Clark, Key et al , was a war criminal!
As far back as you can go, +/- a couple of names, these people are in the pocket of the same groups todays politicians represent..
when he was suddenly plucked from the obscurity of the back benches, to the premiership of the country. A promotion unrivaled in British parliamentary history.
Jenny I think you have just answered your own question right there…Imagine the control it takes to pluck someone out….
Things don’t just happen, its time poeple accepted that!
Actually, to say he was “plucked from obscurity” is a bit rich. As the quote points out he’d spent the entire decade warning of oncoming war in an era of appeasement. He had extensive military experience both tactically and strategically (not always successfully – Gallipoli was largely his responsibility, when he was in charge of the Admiralty), and I seem to recall had called out the cavalry on strikers in the 1920s. He’d also been Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Yes, he was well-connected and high-born. Story of UK society. But he wasn’t an unpredictable or secret choice.
“The average temperature for the Earth, or any region or even any specific place is very difficult to determine with any accuracy. At any given time surface air temperatures around the world range over about 100°C. Even in the same place they can vary by nearly that much seasonally and as much as 30°C or more in a day.
…
The purported 0.7°C of average global warming over the past century is highly uncertain. It is in fact less than the margin of error in our ability to determine the average temperature anywhere, much less globally. What portion of any such warming might be due to due to anthropogenic CO2 emissions is even less certain.”
You do understand about what causes more snow and therefore ice in a really cold climate right? That what you just described actually indicates that Antarctica is warming? That colder climates have less snow and ice formation and the first sign of warming in a really cold climate is that there is more moisture in the air to form snow. That the moisture is getting there means that there is more heat penetrating into the fridge.
I’m always amazed at how scientifically illiterate some people are. In this case you’d think that with water everywhere that people would find the implications of heat in the phase changes of water would be obvious…
And it is heading into winter in the Arctic. Of course it is freezing compared to what it was doing in summer. I guess you’ve never been around ponds in a winters morning? They get ice around the edges overnight and melt like crazy after the sun comes up. You have to have thick ice on a pond to not melt in the sun. There is very little thick ice in the Arctic any more.
I have to agree about dodgy ” worst in the world” stats. Years ago, about 25, I was being driven through Athens on a Saturday night by a “cat-and-dog’ relative who proudly told me that Greece didn’t have any assault crime or rape/sexual assault crime. My question had been triggered by what looked like a woman getting a clip around the ear in a side street, a few kms later a girls/ boys scrap that looked nasty was under way just off the road. It obviously doesn’t happen if you don’t want to see it or report it. We at least have a very robust reportage regime on all sorts of things which does us no favours in these sort of surveys.
“Instead, under National, police have actually stopped effectively reporting family violence statistics and have admitted that current statistics for family violence offences are no longer able to give meaningful comparisons across time.”
Robust like this…
Perhaps we should also stop reporting….hang on a sec!
I’m thinking our stats on family violence will be closer to those of other countries in the next year or so. National will then claim improvements when all that’s been changed is the reporting has been reduced.
I have heard in the past a criticism of international statistics (good and bad) is that when comparing NZ with other countries, outside of census data and certain international testing regimes, we’re better at counting. This is in part due to the ease of recording and collating small numbers in a small population and varying definitions of the factor being assessed. For example:
Because the methods of recording, are considered to be more consistent, more thorough and more accurate than other countries, New Zealand’s records reflect the local situation more accurately than records in the OECD countries New Zealand is usually compared to. Because of this, comparisons between New Zealand and other countries can not be considered of high value.
I’m not sure how accurate this justification for high negative stats, it’s just that the discussion is there.
Depends on what Obese is measured as. Put it this way, when I look around me at work, or elsewhere, I see more people who would be deemed straight up fat in old school terms, and that would, I expect put them in the morbidly obese, if I was asked.
I see overweight and fat people everywhere now, so for mine 62%, easily!
In any case I was more looking for the poverty, crime, abuse, suicide type stats, which if you put fat, into the equation, are all symptoms of a very sick country!
Our positions in the tables has been internationally tragic for decades now, and sadly it is only going to get worse!
Can you be hungry and overweight.
I was in London as a child in WW2 – we were often hungry but never overweight – in fact historically we were very healthy – even with a daily dose of Cod Liver Oil.
Maybe muzza, but to my mind there is a difference between fat and obese, and what is wrong with those things anyway? Should immigrants fear contemporarily defined fatness in the same way they should fear crime?
The correlations between overweight and health outcomes aren’t as direct, or cause and effect as you seem to imply. And while people are getting fatter, esp younger people, there is no way that the rate of obesity in NZ is 62%.
The link that was used to back up the 62% is very poor. I’m not sure it actually is saying 62% of total population – the first page suggests that 62% of fat people are obese, although I couldn’t really makes sense of it. The problem is that once you have one poor example of evidence, it renders the rest a bit suspect.
The Labour Party Board will meet shortly to amongst other things, consider New Lynn LEC’s complaint about how their MP was treated recently, particularly whether the Whip went overboard a bit.
Any LEC out there who wants to send any similar thougths to the President, in time for Friday?
Some will wish last week away, others perhaps inclined to stride across the smoking battlefield and bayonet the wounded.
Hopefully the President ensures some actual calm and fairness restored amongst members, after the raw political tsunami has receded.
If you care about science and reason trumping blind ideology, get over to Kiwiblog and stick up for Dr Mike Joy, who is currently a messenger with a lot of bullet holes in him.
alex
I had a look at Kiwiblog and there were one or two standing up for facts and reasoned opinion from Dr Joy but it’s a wasps circle there and they are hostile to criticism made by anyone but themselves apparently. I suppose it requires a reexamination of their certainties which is time consuming and irritating. And a desire to get things right rther than get things personally cushy.
Hey Mr. Tamborine man, sing a song for those who have seen the departing hand of god.
always in the dark, even at noon; condemned to take and never questioning.
No eternal reward can forgive us now for expecting the dawn.
no, tell me your synopsis and let it be revealing; i’m out of ammo, so gonna go reload and then I might be able to make some insertions myself.
btw, do you believe this has affected the so-called real world of Pleasantville? interested to know your thoughts on breadth and audience appeal; production values have certainly improved (Take) note! 🙂
imagine who all these people are forming inferences.
“these are the people in your neighbourhood…your neighbourhood…your neigh-Bore-hood…
the people that you meet each day”
-Eeeeeernie, and he drove the fastest milk-cart in the West
Bitter Harvest: Eastern tale (Eastern Europe/Asia) retold in 1924 Ireland. Man decides to make his enemies the measure of his worth, then periodically forgets what he set out to prove, then loses the thread of whatever made him decide in the first place. Darkness that can’t define itself either as hot or cold, dry or wet, comedy or tragedy, or any other reference point; resulting in the kind of laughter that creates familiarity within the confines of terror.
Pleasantville and audience appeal: see your notes on cognitive bias. Communication is a unintentionally fraudulant process; written communications, not so unintentional. Honesty would be a fine thing – if any of us knew the language – and appeals of any kind are lies told in the best of interests. I’ve heard that silence is the greatest music, interupted by the anxiety of notes. Still the notes stick, regardless of the tune.
Once, while I sat outside a shop eating a pie I saw a woman escorted to her next job; brought in by a taxi, left a few minutes later on foot with slumped shoulders. My pie still tasted the same and the woman didn’t stop walking. These are the people in my neighbourhood. They were here before I arrived and will be here after I go.
read in the local paper of high domestic violence statistics as government cuts into sexual abuse support
scan C.T becoming a more indulgent writer; Winter I enjoy can be dry and cold.Understand that
Key, “Chinese people are very interested in New Zealand”; need help with your prophecy? An Honest
statement at long last and it seems like he is doing more thinking before flipping the burghers welcoming
the Junk. All Pink on the inside, Gorgon Bennett! are these swine flying too. It is only Time
yet they can’t put that Message in a Bottle and Pump it Roxanne you don’t have to put on the red light
I do not mind if you benefit from your body all night I stretched my manhood further when my ol’
Lady pulled the odd trick, Didn’t bother me none as I pawned a body in a more mechanical way.
LOTR trilogy not representative enough at all; not dirty enough by more than few % and this is Proof?
and anything with Anthony Hopkins in it Clarice we men can withdraw anytime and I Generally did
must be the soft-cocks that carry on none-the-less; Can’t say “That’s not self-control, HTFU get on
your knees for a while with the Parliamentary cleaners up of there Purex (Trade Mark).Ethnography
IS Free, no need for fries with that. Went out on a Hot sunny day to engage some Whnz and nobody
There I trusted myself more to deliver than government departments and SOE’s this minnit. Nekkin’
romantically at outside Arnold’s Rebel, Top Dog or Alpha Phi Alpha you could not make this shit up.
Yet, smile and the world does smile back if it can pull back from the brink but I’m Thomas The
Rhymer.Iron sharpens Iron Hard Core unless it’s Cast and dies unlike my old friend Richard The
Librarian, Good Sort, no suit I used to stay along Flygers Line and now I Walk one, it’s Cash Only
for me Life’s What You Make It-Talk Talk with lprent as Head Master all can go to The Topps
of The Class even Holdsons Commodores and XLR8’s.Everywhere I randomly look there you are
Collective-Queen-Soul has always impressed me although I choose not to peck and retain scratchings
cannot live on words for we all know by now what man needs in his Sandwich Lord.Did The Borg
Return to Eden or was there a Giant in the East who passed away.Once you have met all the pollies
and classified their agenda and sampled their labels there dregs can leave a furry taste on the tongue.
The Naked and The Famous or The Naked and The Dead and when I walked The Streets of Laredo as a High Plains Drifter Saturday Night Fever I seemed Happy and some of the people were Happy too.
🙂 Long Live The Standard Bearer Quo Vadis 🙂
Heatley and Ryall need to periodically visit the children’s ward of hospitals. Then they may get it how the home and not seeing a doctor soon enough due to the cost impacts on children.
I liked the way the doco explained how NZ got this way and that NZ is third to last just ahead of Turkey and Mexico on the OCD index.
Three years ago, new to the job, Trade (and former Conservation) Minister Tim Groser said our brand would be built on “world class environmental standards”:
She goes on to detail how this ‘brand’ has been demolished, until:
2012 saw us slipping in the environment rankings, to fourteenth according to the Yale-Columbia Environmental Performance Index, from first in 2006; and eighth according to the World Bank, from second in 2009.
Ministers are tiptoeing away from that brand, saying that they now want to write a New Zealand story.
We need a functioning democracy where we, the people ,are able to make informed decisions about the things that matter for ourselves.
Instead we are channelled into handing our ability to think, and to act, over to politicians who are all driven by the needs of the capitalist economy rather than the best interests of people and planet.
No politician, nor any political party will save us.
We have to do that for ourselves.
That means finding ways to act collectively despite our politicians.
And finding ways to collectively stop politicians doing bad shit in our name.
The Shearer acolytes are fond of saying that he has got Labour up in the polls.
In fact, if you look at the Roy Morgan poll numbers in January and February this year, you will see Labour around 30-31%. The dead cat bounce, post-election, Goff gone, new leader, honeymoon.
The incumbents have been doing far worse over the course of this year however – how do you reconcile the fact that the Labour vote has not increased over time, given this?
David H proposes (in jest) that Fisi submit a guest post.
I don’t think this is such a bad idea.
I firmly believe that we need better wingnuts. Farrar and Mr. Oil? Give me a break. Matthew “the story” Hooten? Yeah nah.
The challenges we face require input from all sides. Parliamentary debate is a farce. Would it hurt to introduce some intellect from the right (please excuse the oxymoron) every now and then? April Fools’ Day?
Is that from Question Time today? The Speaker was well out of order letting Joyce run on like that. P**sed off, very, I was. Major diversion from holding the government to account!
28 November 2012Open Letter to NZ Prime Minister John Key: “Please confirm that NZ is going to support Palestine becoming a UN ‘non-member observer state’Dear Prime Minister,
Please confirm that in line with the following stated position on the NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) website, that New Zealand is going to support the bid by the Palestinian Authority for Palestine to become a UN “non-member observer state” at the UN General Assembly meeting on Thursday 29 November 2012.
Since the beginning of the Arab – Israeli conflict, New Zealand has sought to approach the issue even-handedly, seeking a solution that provided for a Jewish/Israeli and a Palestinian state on the land of the former British mandate of Palestine. This policy has its origins in our commitment to the 1947 United Nations (UN) partition resolution on Palestine (Jewish state, Arab state, and internationalisation of Jerusalem) and the 1967 UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution on the need for a just settlement and Israel’s withdrawal from occupied territories.
The policy has been underpinned through contributions to the UN Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) since 1954 and to the Sinai Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) since 1982. We have also core funded the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
New Zealand continues to advocate for a balanced and constructive resolution of interests, based on the need for a lasting two-state settlement in accordance with UNSC resolutions and subsequent agreements between the two parties. We have sought in our statements in the United Nations to draw attention to the rights and responsibilities of both sides. In particular, while constantly advocating the need for a peaceful two-state settlement, New Zealand has expressed strong opposition to ongoing acts of violent resistance against Israel, while underlining Israel’s own responsibility to act lawfully and with restraint.
New Zealand is prepared to speak out against actions by any party that are likely to have contravened international law. These include rocket attacks by Hamas and/or other Palestinian militant groups against Israel. Equally, we have spoken out against actions by Israel, including the blockade of the Gaza Strip, and expansion of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
This carefully balanced position is consistent with New Zealand’s international reputation for fair-mindedness. It reflects the value we, as a small country, place on the international rule of law.
Positions New Zealand takes on resolutions within the United Nations reflect this even-handed, balanced and constructive approach. We acknowledge that, ultimately, a lasting two-state settlement is something that will have to be negotiated between the two principle parties. But the UN and its members have a role to play in promoting dialogue to encourage that negotiated settlement. There is also an important role to play by the UN development and humanitarian agencies in addressing the severe humanitarian hardships, and growing health-related problems, among the Palestinian people, especially women and children.
New Zealand therefore supports UN resolutions that advance the two-state solution, uphold international law, including human rights and humanitarian law, or call for humanitarian assistance. ”
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Without a corresponding drop in interest rates, it’s doubtful any changes to the CCCFA will unleash a massive rush of home buyers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: The six things that stood out to me in Aotearoa’s political economy around housing, poverty and climate on Monday, April 22 included:The Government making a ...
Sunday was a lazy day. I started watching Jack Tame on Q&A, the interviews are usually good for something to write about. Saying the things that the politicians won’t, but are quite possibly thinking. Things that are true and need to be extracted from between the lines.As you might know ...
In our Weekly Roundup last week we covered news from Auckland Transport that the WX1 Western Express is going to get an upgrade next year with double decker electric buses. As part of the announcement, AT also said “Since we introduced the WX1 Western Express last November we have seen ...
TL;DR: The six key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to April 29 include:PM Christopher Luxon is scheduled to hold a post-Cabinet news conference at 4 pm today. Stats NZ releases its statutory report on Census 2023 tomorrow.Finance Minister Nicola Willis delivers a pre-Budget speech at ...
A listing of 29 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 14, 2024 thru Sat, April 20, 2024. Story of the week Our story of the week hinges on these words from the abstract of a fresh academic ...
The ability of the private sector to quickly establish major new projects making use of the urban and natural environment is to be supercharged by the new National-led Government. Yesterday it introduced to Parliament one of its most significant reforms, the Fast Track Approvals Bill. The Government says this will ...
This is a column to say thank you. So many of have been in touch since Mum died to say so many kind and thoughtful things. You’re wonderful, all of you. You’ve asked how we’re doing, how Dad’s doing. A little more realisation each day, of the irretrievable finality of ...
Identifying the engine type in your car is crucial for various reasons, including maintenance, repairs, and performance upgrades. Knowing the specific engine model allows you to access detailed technical information, locate compatible parts, and make informed decisions about modifications. This comprehensive guide will provide you with a step-by-step approach to ...
Introduction: The allure of racing is undeniable. The thrill of speed, the roar of engines, and the exhilaration of competition all contribute to the allure of this adrenaline-driven sport. For those who yearn to experience the pinnacle of racing, becoming a race car driver is the ultimate dream. However, the ...
Introduction Automobiles have become ubiquitous in modern society, serving as a primary mode of transportation and a symbol of economic growth and personal mobility. With countless vehicles traversing roads and highways worldwide, it begs the question: how many cars are there in the world? Determining the precise number is a ...
Maintaining a safe and reliable vehicle requires regular inspections. Whether it’s a routine maintenance checkup or a safety inspection, knowing how long the process will take can help you plan your day accordingly. This article delves into the factors that influence the duration of a car inspection and provides an ...
Mazda Motor Corporation, commonly known as Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automaker headquartered in Fuchu, Aki District, Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan. The company was founded in 1920 as the Toyo Cork Kogyo Co., Ltd., and began producing vehicles in 1931. Mazda is primarily known for its production of passenger cars, but ...
Your car battery is an essential component that provides power to start your engine, operate your electrical systems, and store energy. Over time, batteries can weaken and lose their ability to hold a charge, which can lead to starting problems, power failures, and other issues. Replacing your battery before it ...
In most states, you cannot register a car without a valid driver’s license. However, there are a few exceptions to this rule. Exceptions to the RuleIf you are under 18 years old: In some states, you can register a car in your name even if you do not ...
Mazda, a Japanese automotive manufacturer with a rich history of innovation and engineering excellence, has emerged as a formidable player in the global car market. Known for its reputation of producing high-quality, fuel-efficient, and driver-oriented vehicles, Mazda has consistently garnered praise from industry experts and consumers alike. In this article, ...
Struts are an essential part of a car’s suspension system. They are responsible for supporting the weight of the car and damping the oscillations of the springs. Struts are typically made of steel or aluminum and are filled with hydraulic fluid. How Do Struts Work? Struts work by transferring the ...
Car registration is a mandatory process that all vehicle owners must complete annually. This process involves registering your car with the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and paying an associated fee. The registration process ensures that your vehicle is properly licensed and insured, and helps law enforcement and other authorities ...
Zoom is a video conferencing service that allows you to share your screen, webcam, and audio with other participants. In addition to sharing your own audio, you can also share the audio from your computer with other participants. This can be useful for playing music, sharing presentations with audio, or ...
Building your own computer can be a rewarding and cost-effective way to get a high-performance machine tailored to your specific needs. However, it also requires careful planning and execution, and one of the most important factors to consider is the time it will take. The exact time it takes to ...
Sleep mode is a power-saving state that allows your computer to quickly resume operation without having to boot up from scratch. This can be useful if you need to step away from your computer for a short period of time but don’t want to shut it down completely. There are ...
Introduction Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) has revolutionized the field of translation by harnessing the power of technology to assist human translators in their work. This innovative approach combines specialized software with human expertise to improve the efficiency, accuracy, and consistency of translations. In this comprehensive article, we will delve into the ...
In today’s digital age, mobile devices have become an indispensable part of our daily lives. Among the vast array of portable computing options available, iPads and tablet computers stand out as two prominent contenders. While both offer similar functionalities, there are subtle yet significant differences between these two devices. This ...
A computer is an electronic device that can be programmed to carry out a set of instructions. The basic components of a computer are the processor, memory, storage, input devices, and output devices. The Processor The processor, also known as the central processing unit (CPU), is the brain of the ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
The National Government’s proposed changes to the Residential Tenancies Act will mean tenants can be turfed from their homes by landlords with little notice, Labour housing spokesperson Kieran McAnulty said. ...
Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson is calling on all parties to support a common-sense change that’s great for the planet and great for consumers after her member’s bill was drawn from the ballot today. ...
A significant milestone has been reached in the fight to strike an anti-Pasifika and unfair law from the country’s books after Teanau Tuiono’s members’ bill passed its first reading. ...
New Zealand has today missed the opportunity to uphold the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment, says James Shaw after his member’s bill was voted down in its first reading. ...
Today’s advice from the Climate Change Commission paints a sobering reality of the challenge we face in combating climate change, especially in light of recent Government policy announcements. ...
Minister for Disability Issues Penny Simmonds appears to have delayed a report back to Cabinet on the progress New Zealand is making against international obligations for disabled New Zealanders. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
“China remains a strong commercial opportunity for Kiwi exporters as Chinese businesses and consumers continue to value our high-quality safe produce,” Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay says. Mr McClay has returned to New Zealand following visits to Beijing, Harbin and Shanghai where he met ministers, governors and mayors and engaged in trade and agricultural events with the New ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has completed a successful trip to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, deepening relationships and capitalising on opportunities. Mr Luxon was accompanied by a business delegation and says the choice of countries represents the priority the New Zealand Government places on South East Asia, and our relationships in ...
New Zealand is demonstrating its commitment to reducing global greenhouse emissions, and supporting clean energy transition in South East Asia, through a contribution of NZ$41 million (US$25 million) in climate finance to the Asian Development Bank (ADB)-led Energy Transition Mechanism (ETM). Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Climate Change Minister Simon Watts announced ...
The Government is today releasing a list of organisations who received letters about the Fast-track applications process, says RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop. “Recently Ministers and agencies have received a series of OIA requests for a list of organisations to whom I wrote with information on applying to have a ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Wellington Barrister David Jonathan Boldt as a Judge of the High Court, and the Honourable Justice Matthew Palmer as a Judge of the Court of Appeal. Justice Boldt graduated with an LLB from Victoria University of Wellington in 1990, and also holds ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford will lead the New Zealand delegation at the 2024 International Summit on the Teaching Profession (ISTP) held in Singapore. The delegation includes representatives from the Post Primary Teachers’ Association (PPTA) Te Wehengarua and the New Zealand Educational Institute (NZEI) Te Riu Roa. The summit is co-hosted ...
A stopbank upgrade project in Tairawhiti partly funded by the Government has increased flood resilience for around 7000ha of residential and horticultural land so far, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones today attended a dawn service in Gisborne to mark the end of the first stage of the ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters will represent the Government at Anzac Day commemorations on the Gallipoli Peninsula next week and engage with senior representatives of the Turkish government in Istanbul. “The Gallipoli campaign is a defining event in our history. It will be a privilege to share the occasion ...
Science, Innovation and Technology and Defence Minister Judith Collins will next week attend the OECD Science and Technology Ministerial conference in Paris and Anzac Day commemorations in Belgium. “Science, innovation and technology have a major role to play in rebuilding our economy and achieving better health, environmental and social outcomes ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon held a bilateral meeting today with the President of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The Prime Minister was accompanied by MP Paulo Garcia, the first Filipino to be elected to a legislature outside the Philippines. During today’s meeting, Prime Minister Luxon and President Marcos Jr discussed opportunities to ...
The Government has announced that $20 million in funding will be made available to Westport to fund much needed flood protection around the town. This measure will significantly improve the resilience of the community, says Local Government Minister Simeon Brown. “The Westport community has already been allocated almost $3 million ...
The Government is proud to support the first ever Repco Supercars Championship event in Taupō as up to 70,000 motorsport fans attend the Taupō International Motorsport Park this weekend, says Economic Development Minister Melissa Lee. “Anticipation for the ITM Taupō Super400 is huge, with tickets and accommodation selling out weeks ...
Local Government Minister Simeon Brown has announced an increase to the Rates Rebate Scheme, putting money back into the pockets of low-income homeowners. “The coalition Government is committed to bringing down the cost of living for New Zealanders. That includes targeted support for those Kiwis who are doing things tough, such ...
The Coalition Government is investing in a project to boost survival rates of New Zealand mussels and grow the industry, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones has announced. “This project seeks to increase the resilience of our mussels and significantly boost the sector’s productivity,” Mr Jones says. “The project - ...
Benefit figures released today underscore the importance of the Government’s plan to rebuild the economy and have 50,000 fewer people on Jobseeker Support, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “Benefit numbers are still significantly higher than when National was last in government, when there was about 70,000 fewer ...
The Government’s commitment to doubling New Zealand’s renewable energy capacity is backed by new data showing that clean energy has helped the country reach its lowest annual gross emissions since 1999, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. New Zealand’s latest Greenhouse Gas Inventory (1990-2022) published today, shows gross emissions fell ...
The Government is bringing the earthquake-prone building review forward, with work to start immediately, and extending the deadline for remediations by four years, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says. “Our Government is focused on rebuilding the economy. A key part of our plan is to cut red tape that ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and his Thai counterpart, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, have today agreed that New Zealand and the Kingdom of Thailand will upgrade the bilateral relationship to a Strategic Partnership by 2026. “New Zealand and Thailand have a lot to offer each other. We have a strong mutual desire to build ...
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Transport Minister Simeon Brown have today announced the Coalition Government’s intention to extend port coastal permits for a further 20 years, providing port operators with certainty to continue their operations. “The introduction of the Resource Management Act in 1991 required ports to obtain coastal ...
Today’s announcement that inflation is down to 4 per cent is encouraging news for Kiwis, but there is more work to be done - underlining the importance of the Government’s plan to get the economy back on track, acting Finance Minister Chris Bishop says. “Inflation is now at 4 per ...
Tara Ward talks to presenter Naomi Toilalo about the new TV show that turns food waste into a three course feast. Naomi Toilalo is standing in the warehouse at Good Neighbour Tauranga, helping unpack the two-and-a-half tonnes of rejected food that will arrive at the community support hub that day. ...
Scout is our latest Dog of the Month. This feature was offered as a reward during our What’s Eating Aotearoa PledgeMe campaign. Thank you to Scout’s human, Avril, for her support. Dog name: Scout (named after the little girl in To Kill a Mockingbird – she inherited the independent spirit ...
Megan Alatini takes us through her life in TV, including ‘terrible’ daytime TV, the class of Carol Hirschfeld and her most embarrassing TrueBliss moment. When she responded to a vague newspaper ad asking “do you have what it takes to be a popstar?” 25 years ago, Megan Alatini never guessed ...
A new exhibition in Wellington showcases the faces behind your local goods and services. Back in 1977, when I was a fine arts student at the University of Canterbury, I took a series of photographs of Christchurch shopkeepers. The photos were for a calendar – a project for my end ...
Toomaj and his resistance to tyranny through his songs have become an icon for the youth of Iran, so his sentence has hit the nation hard. Toomaj Salehi is not the first artist to pay the price for standing with the people. ...
My cousin Dylan and I spotted these big eels under the bridge that summer. We watched them lounging under the dark weed, facing into the flow of water, their mouths frozen open. Dylan and I couldn’t stop thinking about those eels. The night we went down to the creek, we ...
Newsroom, home of satire. My long-running weekly satirical series The Secret Diary has moved to Newsroom and will appear every Saturday, with Victor Billot’s wildly popular satirical Odes continuing to appear every Sunday. Diaries, Odes – while serious political columnists toil at meaningful opinions and stroke their chins to an ...
Tara Ward unravels the many nuanced layers of a cartoon about talking dogs.This is an excerpt from our weekly pop culture newsletter Rec Room. Sign up here. It’s not often an episode of a children’s cartoon has adults sobbing into their sleeves, but that’s exactly what happened this week when ...
Working as a doctor in developing countries to help communities achieve better health outcomes is nothing short of a life goal for Jessica Tater. The University of Otago medical student has her sights firmly set on joining the international humanitarian organisation Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) when she qualifies ...
There’s an island in the far reaches of Auckland’s territory, sitting off the tip of the Coromandel Peninsula, 30 minutes by air from the city or four hours on the slow boat. Aotea Great Barrier is off-grid, it has a population of fewer than a thousand people … and most ...
Asia Pacific Report An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces. “A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in ...
Asia Pacific Report The Freedom Flotilla is ready to sail to Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza. All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave. However, organisers received word of an “administrative ...
Pacific Media Watch Palestine solidarity protesters today demonstrated at the Auckland headquarters of Television New Zealand, accusing the country’s major TV network of broadcasting “propaganda” backing Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. About 50 protesters targeted the main entrance to the TVNZ building near Sky Tower and also picketed a side ...
Opinion by Lynley Hood. Forty years on from my 1985 Fulbright Grant, my disquiet over the war in Gaza evoked some troubling questions. The answer to my first question – What is the primary purpose of the Fulbright Programme? – was on the Fulbright NZ website. It says: US Senator, ...
The ministers responsible for green-lighting major projects need to be open about potential conflicts of interest, says Transparency International. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University It has been a particularly distressing start to the year. There is little that can ease the current grief of individuals, families and communities who have needlessly lost a loved one to men’s ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Gregory Moore, Senior Research Associate, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of Melbourne Lichen, the first described example of symbiosis.AdeJ Artventure/Shutterstock Once known only to those studying biology, the word symbiosis is now widely used. Symbiosis is the intimate ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kim Hemsley, Head, Childhood Dementia Research Group, Flinders Health and Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Public Health, Flinders University Olena Ivanova/Shutterstock “Childhood” and “dementia” are two words we wish we didn’t have to use together. But sadly, around 1,400 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Whiteford, Professor, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University The government’s Economic Inclusion Advisory Committee has just published its second report. It was set up by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth in 2022 to provide: ...
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 The Queensland state election will be held in October. A YouGov poll for The Courier Mail, conducted April 9–17 from a sample ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Amin Naeni, PhD candidate at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University There’s been much talk in recent months about what a possible second Donald Trump presidency in the United States could mean for Europe, Russia’s war in Ukraine, the ...
A brief round-up of submissions on the controversial proposed law. This is an excerpt from our weekly environmental newsletter Future Proof. Sign up here. Last week, submissions on the controversial Fast-track Approvals Bill closed just hours after the government released a list of stakeholder organisations who were sent letters advising how they could ...
A poem from Robin Peace’s new collection Detritus of Empire: feather / grass / rock. Cereal giving I see a woman’s hands, see her curious hands break a stalk as she walks through the tall prairie, the savannah, the steppe, wherever it was. See her idly bite the grass that ...
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 Hemingway’s Goblet by Dermot Ross (Mary Egan Publishing, $38)A handsomely produced (debossed cover, lovely ...
The Commissioner's decision validates the longstanding efforts of the local community and ensures that Awataha Marae will be managed to serve the needs of the local community, particularly for hosting tangihanga. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tristan Salles, Associate professor, University of Sydney Examples of Australian landscapes.Unsplash Seventy thousand years ago, the sea level was much lower than today. Australia, along with New Guinea and Tasmania, formed a connected landmass known as Sahul. Around this time – ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Felicity Castagna, Lecturer, Creative Writing, Western Sydney University Day Day Market, ParramattaPhoto: Garry Trinh I live on the edge of Parramatta, Australia’s fastest-growing city, on the kind of old-fashioned suburban street that has 1950s fibros constructed in the post-war housing boom, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Ryan, Teaching Fellow in Economics, University of Waikato GettyImagesfatido/Getty Images There is an ongoing global debate over whether the high inflation seen in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic can be lowered without a recession. New Zealand is not ...
The ‘Wicked Game’ heartthrob is in his late 60s now. That didn’t stop him putting on a lively, goofy and very sparkly show. Apart from ‘Wicked Game’, which graces a sultry playlist of mine simply called 💋, my last sustained Chris Isaak listening session took place when I was about ...
Analysis - Two ministers were stripped of portfolios in a warning to Cabinet, drama broke out at the Waitangi Tribunal, and the gang patch ban bill ran into opposition. ...
Tara Ward makes an impassioned plea for some vital pop culture merch. In April 1999, I became obsessed with a new reality television show called Popstars. Every Tuesday night, five strangers transformed into music royalty before my very eyes as Joe, Keri, Carly, Erika and Megan were chosen to form ...
PNG Post-Courier In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province. The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War ...
The PSA is shocked that Oranga Tamariki has used the cost cutting drive to downgrade its commitment to Te Ao Māori and remove many specialist Māori roles. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Kemish, Adjunct Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, The University of Queensland There can be no more powerful symbol of the relationship between Australia and Papua New Guinea than the prime ministers of these neighbouring countries walking together on the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sharon Robinson, Distinguished Professor and Deputy Director of ARC Securing Antarctica’s Environmental Future (SAEF), University of Wollongong, University of Wollongong Andrew Netherwood Over the last 25 years, the ozone hole which forming over Antarctica each spring has started to shrink. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Viktoria Kahui, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Economics, University of Otago Getty Images/Amy Toensing Biodiversity is declining at rates unprecedented in human history. This suggests the ways we currently use to manage our natural environment are failing. One emerging concept focuses on ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Colin Bednall, Associate Professor in Management, Swinburne University of Technology marvent/Shutterstock Finding the best person to fill a position can be tough, from drafting a job ad to producing a shortlist of top interview candidates. Employers typically consider information from ...
Wondering where to host your next BYO? Whether its a small gathering or a massive party, we’ve got some recommendations. I was first introduced to the concept of BYOs at Dunedin’s India Gardens, a legendary but sadly defunct establishment, which purveyed enormous quantities of mango chicken to Aotearoa’s drunkest future ...
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To fight the war against climate change leadership is necessary.
Where will this leadership come from?
Doesn’t this strange paradox of dithering, procrastination, of half measures, of soothing and expedience and delays describe our present parliament when it comes to Climate Change. Especially when we also are entering a period of consequences.
The apologists and Ignorers of climate change are dominant, one each, in two of the major parties in parliament. And the Greens are busy tailoring their party to fit with this paradigm.
So for the order of the day, the big political question is:
Who will be New Zealand’s Climate Churchill?
“The Pearl Harbors are here. The Churchills and FDRs aren’t.”
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/2008/TargetCO2_20080407.pdf
So what was so special about Churchill?
Winston Churchill, was a long serving Liberal Government MP and liberal cabinet Minister who lost his seat in the electoral landslide against the Liberals following WW1. Standing as a ‘constitutional anti-socialist’ independent, Churchill regained the seat of Epping, returning to parliament in 1924. Churchill however remained out of government from 1922 when he lost his original Liberal seat until 1939 when he was suddenly plucked from the obscurity of the back benches, to the premiership of the country. A promotion unrivaled in British parliamentary history.
What distinguished Churchill from all the other back bench MPs?
Despite the still ongoing Great Depression and massive social dislocation caused by mass unemployment. Rather than concentrate on economic issues, Churchill identified the rise of fascism as the singular greatest threat to civilisation. And refused, despite all sorts of pressure and abuse, to shut up about it. (Putting all British government MPs whether Liberal, Labour, or Conservative on notice.)
The other thing that distinguished Churchill from his peers was that he was completely non-sectarian, prepared to work with any grouping or party that was opposed to fascism. Despite being of the Right Churchill was prepared to work with the minority Labour Party and even Communist Party members, if they were opposed to fascism. This history has been covered up, and the British Conservative Party have claimed Churchill as one of their own, (Churchill had nominally taken up Tory membership in 1925). But up until 1939 when events proved him right, the Conservatives had long harboured a deep distrust of Churchill.
So who will it be, who will put NZ’s three parliamentary parties on notice that Climate Change cannot, and should not, be ignored?
http://blog.labour.org.nz/2012/11/15/national-100-dirty-on-the-environment-and-the-economy/
http://blog.labour.org.nz/2012/10/25/38028/
There will be no ‘Churchill’. The choice is between preserving ecospheres or preserving the economy. We don’t get to have our cake and eat it. ( Not even ‘green’ cake) Meanwhile, everyone is looking for a champion to come from institutions dedicated to preserving the economy.
We have already stacked the atmosphere and oceans to the extent that 2 degrees is no longer on the table. Now the target the economists and politicians hope to miss is betwwen 4 – 6 degrees.
Basically this.
Between the need to pay back the mountains of debt (and interest) which our financialised global economy has generated, the promises of a better material lifestyle which have been made to billions, and the fact that moving to “green” infrastructure and energy is going to take a hell of a lot of “dirty” fossil fuel driven energy expenditure, we won’t see any serious moves to cut back GHG emissions.
In fact, its not growth in the use of oil we are going to see over the next ten years (oil use as a % of total energy used has been declining for sometime now). It is a massive explosion in the use of coal…a growth trend which has been going for a decade or so now.
Chruchill, like Blair, Bush 1/2, Clinton, Obama, Clark, Key et al , was a war criminal!
As far back as you can go, +/- a couple of names, these people are in the pocket of the same groups todays politicians represent..
Jenny I think you have just answered your own question right there…Imagine the control it takes to pluck someone out….
Things don’t just happen, its time poeple accepted that!
Actually, to say he was “plucked from obscurity” is a bit rich. As the quote points out he’d spent the entire decade warning of oncoming war in an era of appeasement. He had extensive military experience both tactically and strategically (not always successfully – Gallipoli was largely his responsibility, when he was in charge of the Admiralty), and I seem to recall had called out the cavalry on strikers in the 1920s. He’d also been Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Yes, he was well-connected and high-born. Story of UK society. But he wasn’t an unpredictable or secret choice.
If I read your links, will you read mine?
“The average temperature for the Earth, or any region or even any specific place is very difficult to determine with any accuracy. At any given time surface air temperatures around the world range over about 100°C. Even in the same place they can vary by nearly that much seasonally and as much as 30°C or more in a day.
…
The purported 0.7°C of average global warming over the past century is highly uncertain. It is in fact less than the margin of error in our ability to determine the average temperature anywhere, much less globally. What portion of any such warming might be due to due to anthropogenic CO2 emissions is even less certain.”
Read the rest here:
http://www.quadrant.org.au/blogs/doomed-planet/2012/11/speak-loudly-and-carry-a-busted-hockey-stick
The ice isn’t melting? Fuck that’s some good cgi.
No the Antarctic ice is not melting. There’s more ice there than there’s been for years. Arctic ice is refreezing at a very rapid rate.
Really? Says who? I think you need to check your capacity for excrement: it seems to be accelerating.
You do understand about what causes more snow and therefore ice in a really cold climate right? That what you just described actually indicates that Antarctica is warming? That colder climates have less snow and ice formation and the first sign of warming in a really cold climate is that there is more moisture in the air to form snow. That the moisture is getting there means that there is more heat penetrating into the fridge.
I’m always amazed at how scientifically illiterate some people are. In this case you’d think that with water everywhere that people would find the implications of heat in the phase changes of water would be obvious…
And it is heading into winter in the Arctic. Of course it is freezing compared to what it was doing in summer. I guess you’ve never been around ponds in a winters morning? They get ice around the edges overnight and melt like crazy after the sun comes up. You have to have thick ice on a pond to not melt in the sun. There is very little thick ice in the Arctic any more.
The thickness appears to have migrated elsewhere.
“What distinguished Churchill from all other back bench MPs ?”
He shot a Dervish and lived to write about it in “The River War”
NZ, the rankings of shame!
As much as I support anything that discourages immigration to NZ, that website doesn’t look so reliable. 62% of NZers are obese? I don’t think so.
I have to agree about dodgy ” worst in the world” stats. Years ago, about 25, I was being driven through Athens on a Saturday night by a “cat-and-dog’ relative who proudly told me that Greece didn’t have any assault crime or rape/sexual assault crime. My question had been triggered by what looked like a woman getting a clip around the ear in a side street, a few kms later a girls/ boys scrap that looked nasty was under way just off the road. It obviously doesn’t happen if you don’t want to see it or report it. We at least have a very robust reportage regime on all sorts of things which does us no favours in these sort of surveys.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10849852
Robust like this…
Perhaps we should also stop reporting….hang on a sec!
I’m thinking our stats on family violence will be closer to those of other countries in the next year or so. National will then claim improvements when all that’s been changed is the reporting has been reduced.
I have heard in the past a criticism of international statistics (good and bad) is that when comparing NZ with other countries, outside of census data and certain international testing regimes, we’re better at counting. This is in part due to the ease of recording and collating small numbers in a small population and varying definitions of the factor being assessed. For example:
Hi Weka,
Depends on what Obese is measured as. Put it this way, when I look around me at work, or elsewhere, I see more people who would be deemed straight up fat in old school terms, and that would, I expect put them in the morbidly obese, if I was asked.
I see overweight and fat people everywhere now, so for mine 62%, easily!
In any case I was more looking for the poverty, crime, abuse, suicide type stats, which if you put fat, into the equation, are all symptoms of a very sick country!
Our positions in the tables has been internationally tragic for decades now, and sadly it is only going to get worse!
muzza
Can you be hungry and overweight.
I was in London as a child in WW2 – we were often hungry but never overweight – in fact historically we were very healthy – even with a daily dose of Cod Liver Oil.
Maybe muzza, but to my mind there is a difference between fat and obese, and what is wrong with those things anyway? Should immigrants fear contemporarily defined fatness in the same way they should fear crime?
The correlations between overweight and health outcomes aren’t as direct, or cause and effect as you seem to imply. And while people are getting fatter, esp younger people, there is no way that the rate of obesity in NZ is 62%.
The link that was used to back up the 62% is very poor. I’m not sure it actually is saying 62% of total population – the first page suggests that 62% of fat people are obese, although I couldn’t really makes sense of it. The problem is that once you have one poor example of evidence, it renders the rest a bit suspect.
The Labour Party Board will meet shortly to amongst other things, consider New Lynn LEC’s complaint about how their MP was treated recently, particularly whether the Whip went overboard a bit.
Any LEC out there who wants to send any similar thougths to the President, in time for Friday?
Some will wish last week away, others perhaps inclined to stride across the smoking battlefield and bayonet the wounded.
Hopefully the President ensures some actual calm and fairness restored amongst members, after the raw political tsunami has receded.
vapour trail
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_biases_in_judgment_and_decision_making
“ya got me turning Japanese, I think I’m turning Japanese…I don’t think so”
great shepherding ad and Ad. Thankyou
Zen0
If you care about science and reason trumping blind ideology, get over to Kiwiblog and stick up for Dr Mike Joy, who is currently a messenger with a lot of bullet holes in him.
alex
I had a look at Kiwiblog and there were one or two standing up for facts and reasoned opinion from Dr Joy but it’s a wasps circle there and they are hostile to criticism made by anyone but themselves apparently. I suppose it requires a reexamination of their certainties which is time consuming and irritating. And a desire to get things right rther than get things personally cushy.
Pump-Action Both Barrels
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_biases
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_bias_mitigation
Pick a round and load up Troops (“load up load up those raaarber bullets…”)
set the cats amidst the doves
Rhetorical reminders?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetorical_device
though they may lead to superfluidity
-Reckless Abandon Real Life (“send me an angel…send me an angel…right now…right now”)
PS. if i should stumble, catch myah fall
Billy “Love Gun”
Hey Mr. Tamborine man, sing a song for those who have seen the departing hand of god.
always in the dark, even at noon; condemned to take and never questioning.
No eternal reward can forgive us now for expecting the dawn.
Hi, I was thinking of you while cycling along the road; Hard Case! What next oh illustrious One? 🙂
Make some rules and then break them, probably. Last night I saw a film called Bitter Harvest. Have you seen it?
no, tell me your synopsis and let it be revealing; i’m out of ammo, so gonna go reload and then I might be able to make some insertions myself.
btw, do you believe this has affected the so-called real world of Pleasantville? interested to know your thoughts on breadth and audience appeal; production values have certainly improved (Take) note! 🙂
imagine who all these people are forming inferences.
“these are the people in your neighbourhood…your neighbourhood…your neigh-Bore-hood…
the people that you meet each day”
-Eeeeeernie, and he drove the fastest milk-cart in the West
Bitter Harvest: Eastern tale (Eastern Europe/Asia) retold in 1924 Ireland. Man decides to make his enemies the measure of his worth, then periodically forgets what he set out to prove, then loses the thread of whatever made him decide in the first place. Darkness that can’t define itself either as hot or cold, dry or wet, comedy or tragedy, or any other reference point; resulting in the kind of laughter that creates familiarity within the confines of terror.
Pleasantville and audience appeal: see your notes on cognitive bias. Communication is a unintentionally fraudulant process; written communications, not so unintentional. Honesty would be a fine thing – if any of us knew the language – and appeals of any kind are lies told in the best of interests. I’ve heard that silence is the greatest music, interupted by the anxiety of notes. Still the notes stick, regardless of the tune.
Once, while I sat outside a shop eating a pie I saw a woman escorted to her next job; brought in by a taxi, left a few minutes later on foot with slumped shoulders. My pie still tasted the same and the woman didn’t stop walking. These are the people in my neighbourhood. They were here before I arrived and will be here after I go.
read in the local paper of high domestic violence statistics as government cuts into sexual abuse support
scan C.T becoming a more indulgent writer; Winter I enjoy can be dry and cold.Understand that
Key, “Chinese people are very interested in New Zealand”; need help with your prophecy? An Honest
statement at long last and it seems like he is doing more thinking before flipping the burghers welcoming
the Junk. All Pink on the inside, Gorgon Bennett! are these swine flying too. It is only Time
yet they can’t put that Message in a Bottle and Pump it Roxanne you don’t have to put on the red light
I do not mind if you benefit from your body all night I stretched my manhood further when my ol’
Lady pulled the odd trick, Didn’t bother me none as I pawned a body in a more mechanical way.
LOTR trilogy not representative enough at all; not dirty enough by more than few % and this is Proof?
and anything with Anthony Hopkins in it Clarice we men can withdraw anytime and I Generally did
must be the soft-cocks that carry on none-the-less; Can’t say “That’s not self-control, HTFU get on
your knees for a while with the Parliamentary cleaners up of there Purex (Trade Mark).Ethnography
IS Free, no need for fries with that. Went out on a Hot sunny day to engage some Whnz and nobody
There I trusted myself more to deliver than government departments and SOE’s this minnit. Nekkin’
romantically at outside Arnold’s Rebel, Top Dog or Alpha Phi Alpha you could not make this shit up.
Yet, smile and the world does smile back if it can pull back from the brink but I’m Thomas The
Rhymer.Iron sharpens Iron Hard Core unless it’s Cast and dies unlike my old friend Richard The
Librarian, Good Sort, no suit I used to stay along Flygers Line and now I Walk one, it’s Cash Only
for me Life’s What You Make It-Talk Talk with lprent as Head Master all can go to The Topps
of The Class even Holdsons Commodores and XLR8’s.Everywhere I randomly look there you are
Collective-Queen-Soul has always impressed me although I choose not to peck and retain scratchings
cannot live on words for we all know by now what man needs in his Sandwich Lord.Did The Borg
Return to Eden or was there a Giant in the East who passed away.Once you have met all the pollies
and classified their agenda and sampled their labels there dregs can leave a furry taste on the tongue.
The Naked and The Famous or The Naked and The Dead and when I walked The Streets of Laredo as a High Plains Drifter Saturday Night Fever I seemed Happy and some of the people were Happy too.
🙂 Long Live The Standard Bearer Quo Vadis 🙂
24 x 364 x 10 = ???
A pretty compelling program last night on TV3 a repeat of “Inside Child Poverty.” Rather timely too don’t you think?
http://ondemand.tv3.co.nz/Inside-New-Zealand-Inside-Child-Poverty/tabid/59/articleID/4761/MCat/342/Default.aspx
Heatley and Ryall need to periodically visit the children’s ward of hospitals. Then they may get it how the home and not seeing a doctor soon enough due to the cost impacts on children.
I liked the way the doco explained how NZ got this way and that NZ is third to last just ahead of Turkey and Mexico on the OCD index.
OECD index.
A moratorium on fracking is still appropriate until we have decent regulatory controls. http://localbodies-bsprout.blogspot.co.nz/2012/11/fracking-report-flags-issues.html
On things environmental… Claire Browining’s post on Pundit is worth a read:
She goes on to detail how this ‘brand’ has been demolished, until:
interesting phenomena this political web we weave…
We don’t need a Churchill.
We need a functioning democracy where we, the people ,are able to make informed decisions about the things that matter for ourselves.
Instead we are channelled into handing our ability to think, and to act, over to politicians who are all driven by the needs of the capitalist economy rather than the best interests of people and planet.
No politician, nor any political party will save us.
We have to do that for ourselves.
That means finding ways to act collectively despite our politicians.
And finding ways to collectively stop politicians doing bad shit in our name.
Israeli soldiers speak out
http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/
Latest Roy Morgan is out. Labour is down 1% and Greens are up 3%.
Ouch.
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2012/4842/
Roy Morgan’s out:
Support for Labour is 31.5% (down 1%); Greens are 13.5% (up 3%), New Zealand First 6.5% (up 1.5 %). Total is 51.5%.
Nats drop slightly to 45%.
http://www.roymorgan.com/news/polls/2012/4842/
[lprent: enhanced the comment. Check the dates. Wouldn’t expect a pronounced reaction from the conference ]
Betcha … just …
Mostly margin of error changes. But good to see Green support up.
Polling period includes all of last week.
The Shearer acolytes are fond of saying that he has got Labour up in the polls.
In fact, if you look at the Roy Morgan poll numbers in January and February this year, you will see Labour around 30-31%. The dead cat bounce, post-election, Goff gone, new leader, honeymoon.
That was nine months ago. Labour haven’t moved.
The incumbents have been doing far worse over the course of this year however – how do you reconcile the fact that the Labour vote has not increased over time, given this?
I don’t. Nor did I try.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10849084
Palestinians demonised with half truths
[deleted]
Leslie Bravery is a member of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign.
Copyright ©2012, APN Holdings NZ Limited
[deleted]
[lprent: You see that word “Copyright” there? Do that again and I will abbreviate any future possibility of a repitition.
Short quotes and state why you think people should read it. ]
David H proposes (in jest) that Fisi submit a guest post.
I don’t think this is such a bad idea.
I firmly believe that we need better wingnuts. Farrar and Mr. Oil? Give me a break. Matthew “the story” Hooten? Yeah nah.
The challenges we face require input from all sides. Parliamentary debate is a farce. Would it hurt to introduce some intellect from the right (please excuse the oxymoron) every now and then? April Fools’ Day?
Let them lay out their case.
Wingnuts.thestandard.org.nz ?
I expect it’s a silly idea 🙂
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4TEjtrEDj6o
So what you like about Joyce but this is pretty good, might have even cracked a smile on the greens….
Is that from Question Time today? The Speaker was well out of order letting Joyce run on like that. P**sed off, very, I was. Major diversion from holding the government to account!
I despair of what our parliament has become.
Funnily enough a couple of the Labour MPs saw the funny side of it
FYI
28 November 2012Open Letter to NZ Prime Minister John Key: “Please confirm that NZ is going to support Palestine becoming a UN ‘non-member observer state’Dear Prime Minister,
http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Foreign-Relations/Middle-East/2-Arab-Israeli-conflict.php
Middle East
Arab – Israeli Conflict: New Zealand Position
Since the beginning of the Arab – Israeli conflict, New Zealand has sought to approach the issue even-handedly, seeking a solution that provided for a Jewish/Israeli and a Palestinian state on the land of the former British mandate of Palestine. This policy has its origins in our commitment to the 1947 United Nations (UN) partition resolution on Palestine (Jewish state, Arab state, and internationalisation of Jerusalem) and the 1967 UN Security Council (UNSC) resolution on the need for a just settlement and Israel’s withdrawal from occupied territories.
The policy has been underpinned through contributions to the UN Truce Supervision Organisation (UNTSO) since 1954 and to the Sinai Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) since 1982. We have also core funded the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA).
New Zealand continues to advocate for a balanced and constructive resolution of interests, based on the need for a lasting two-state settlement in accordance with UNSC resolutions and subsequent agreements between the two parties. We have sought in our statements in the United Nations to draw attention to the rights and responsibilities of both sides. In particular, while constantly advocating the need for a peaceful two-state settlement, New Zealand has expressed strong opposition to ongoing acts of violent resistance against Israel, while underlining Israel’s own responsibility to act lawfully and with restraint.
New Zealand is prepared to speak out against actions by any party that are likely to have contravened international law. These include rocket attacks by Hamas and/or other Palestinian militant groups against Israel. Equally, we have spoken out against actions by Israel, including the blockade of the Gaza Strip, and expansion of settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
This carefully balanced position is consistent with New Zealand’s international reputation for fair-mindedness. It reflects the value we, as a small country, place on the international rule of law.
Positions New Zealand takes on resolutions within the United Nations reflect this even-handed, balanced and constructive approach. We acknowledge that, ultimately, a lasting two-state settlement is something that will have to be negotiated between the two principle parties. But the UN and its members have a role to play in promoting dialogue to encourage that negotiated settlement. There is also an important role to play by the UN development and humanitarian agencies in addressing the severe humanitarian hardships, and growing health-related problems, among the Palestinian people, especially women and children.
New Zealand therefore supports UN resolutions that advance the two-state solution, uphold international law, including human rights and humanitarian law, or call for humanitarian assistance. ”
___________________________________________________________________________________________
THIS IS WHAT IS BEING VOTED UPON:
COMPLETE TEXT OF DRAFT UN RESOLUTION UPGRADING STATUS OF PALESTINE:
………………
http://www.innercitypress.com/palreso1icpga110812.pdf
http://www.imra.org.il/story.php3?id=58963
BACKGROUND INFORMATION”
FURTHER BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-20299149
http://www.innercitypress.com/palreso1icpga110812.pdf
……………………..
Penny Bright
Jacquelyne Taylor
They really do eat their own.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/revenge-of-the-reality-based-community/
we could discuss amongst ourselves some more
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discourse_analysis
was Joe Strummer a Saint and come to some jazzy solutions Jimmie
and then conclude Oh Well, whatta ya gonna be doin’ next year no lie…
and surf the wave Cos charley don’t
So thats four Labour MPs going to the Hobbit premier and no Green MPs going.
I’m thinking the Greens have played this right (kiwis respect integrity) but how do you lot think?
I think its simply more maneuvering of the pawns around the board!
The Greens will NOT be any saviour on NZ, any more than Labour will, or any more than Cunliffe can could possibly be!
Apply the same to any name or party you like!
Look at the eyes…
This is a very bad individual!
I have always found these reinforcing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinforcement_Schedules#Schedules_of_reinforcement
and in variably turns Right Whales and other farreright wildlife belly up under the beating down sun 🙂