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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Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Morning in London Mother hugs beloved daughter outside the converted shoe factory in which she is living.Afternoon in London Travelling writer takes himself and his wrist down to A&E, just to be sure. Read more ...
Mike Grimshaw writes – The recent announcement of the University Advisory Group, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman, makes very clear where the Government’s focus and priorities lie. The remit of the Advisory Group is that Group members will consider challenges and opportunities for improvement in the university sector including: ...
Eric Crampton writes – The Reserve Bank of New Zealand desperately wants to find reasons to have workstreams in climate change. It makes little sense. They’ve run another stress test on the banks looking to see if they could find a prudential regulation case. They couldn’t. They ...
Rob MacCullough writes – Pundits from the left and the right are arguing that National’s Fast Track Bill that is designed to speed up infrastructure decisions could end up becoming mired in a cesspool of corruption. Political commentator ...
Looking at the headlines this morning it’s hard to feel anything other than pessimistic about the future of humanity.Note that I’m not speaking about the future of mankind, but the survival of our humanity. The values that we believe in seem to be ebbing away, by the day.Perhaps every generation ...
Swabbing mixed breed baby chicks to test for avian influenzaUh oh. Bird flu – often deadly to humans – is not only being transmitted from infected birds to dairy cows, but is now travelling between dairy cows. As of last Friday, Bloomberg News reports, there were 32 American dairy herds ...
On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
What is it with the mining industry? Its not enough for them to pillage the earth - they apparently can't even be bothered getting resource consent to do so: The proponent behind a major mine near the Clutha River had already been undertaking activity in the area without a ...
Photo # 1 I am a huge fan of Singapore’s approach to housing, as described here two years ago by copying and pasting from The ConversationWhat Singapore has that Australia does not is a public housing developer, the Housing Development Board, which puts new dwellings on public and reclaimed land, ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
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. ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
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 ...
Asia Pacific Report A Pacific civil society alliance has condemned French neocolonial policies in Kanaky New Caledonia, saying Paris is set on “maintaining the status quo” and denying the indigenous Kanak people their inalienable right to self-determination. The Pacific Regional Non-Governmental Organisations (PRNGOs) Alliance, representing some 15 groups, said in ...
Koi Tū New Zealand cannot sit back and see the collapse of its Fourth Estate, the director of Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures, Sir Peter Gluckman, says in the foreword of a paper published today. The paper, “If not journalists, then who?” paints a picture of an industry ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Foreign investment proposals with implications for Australia’s strategic or economic security will face tougher scrutiny, under a policy overhaul to be announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday. At the same time, the government ...
A Waitangi Tribunal inquiry report has warned government that a repeal of Section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act could cause harm to children in care. ...
The Treasury has published today three new papers covering government consumption multipliers, automatic stabilisers and the impacts of global shocks on New Zealand’s economy. ...
Asia Pacific Report The Pacific state of Hawai’i’s House of Representatives has joined the state’s Senate in calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war on Gaza, becoming the first state to pass such a resolution, reports Hawaii News Now. In March, the Senate passed a ceasefire resolution with a 24–1 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Christopher Ferrie, A/Prof, UTS Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research and ARC DECRA Fellow, University of Technology Sydney PsiQuantum The Australian government has announced a pledge of approximately A$940 million (US$617 million) to PsiQuantum, a quantum computing start-up company based in Silicon Valley. Half ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hunter Bennett, Lecturer in Exercise Science, University of South Australia Cameron Prins/Shutterstock If you spend a lot of time exploring fitness content online, you might have come across the concept of heart rate zones. Heart rate zone training has become more ...
SPECIAL REPORT:By Eugene Doyle He is the most popular Palestinian leader alive today — and yet few people in the West even know his name. Absolutely no one in Gaza or the West Bank does not know him. That difference speaks volumes about who dominates the media narrative that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Will McCallum, PhD Candidate – School of Communication and Creative Arts, Deakin University Earlier this year, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton accused Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of not supporting Operation Sovereign Borders – the military-led border security operation that has “closed Australia’s borders ...
By Melyne Baroi in Port Moresby A Papua New Guinea MP, Peter Isoaimo, who had been ousted by the National Court in an alleged bribery case, has been reinstated by the Supreme Court on appeal. A three-member Supreme Court bench found that the National Court had erred in finding that ...
Publisher Chris Holdaway reflects on the unique project of collecting the work of the late, terrific poet Schaeffer Lemalu. One of the nice things you can do as a truly independent publisher is to make the books that writers want to make, whatever they happen to be. That’s how I’ve ...
Those profiled in the stamp series served on overseas deployments from 1995 onwards, and all have been awarded theNew Zealand Operational Service Medal. ...
Last night’s dismal poll result for the coalition government shows the limits of trying to govern as an opposition, argues Joel MacManus. There’s a quote from the American political activist Barbara Deming: “Vengeance is not the point; change is. But the trouble is that in most people’s minds, the thought ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Shireen Morris, Associate Professor and Director of the Radical Centre Reform Lab at Macquarie University Law School, Macquarie University Leonid Andronov/Shutterstock Foreign interference in Australian democracy poses a growing risk to our national sovereignty. It refers to coercive, corrupt or ...
A defendant charged by the Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has pleaded guilty to four charges of obtaining by deception in relation to a mortgage fraud scheme. Sentencing has been scheduled for 14 August 2024. ...
What to say when pesky journalists ask gotcha questions like ‘can you name a single book you’ve ever read?’ and ‘did you read it, or did you just see the movie?’This week, Act Party arts spokesperson Todd Stephenson foolishly agreed to an interview with Newsroom’s Steve Braunias regarding his ...
Explainer - What will a ban on cellphones in schools achieve? Can students use them during lunch breaks? And what happens if you need to contact your child? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jodi Rowley, Curator, Amphibian & Reptile Conservation Biology, Australian Museum, UNSW Sydney Jodi Rowley, CC BY-NC-ND In winter 2021, Australia’s frogs started dropping dead. People began posting images of dead frogs on social media. Unable to travel to investigate the deaths ...
In the year ended March 2024, 0.4 percent of home transfers were to people who didn’t hold New Zealand citizenship or a resident visa, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Wasay Majid, Research Assistant , University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau New Zealand’s accommodation supplement scheme is facing scrutiny, with Social Development Minister Louise Upston recently saying “there is merit in considering whether the current settings are fair and sustainable long-term”. The ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor The first prime ministerial candidate has been announced in Solomon Islands and it is not Manasseh Sogavare. The man of the hour is Jeremiah Manele, the MP for Hograno/Kia/Havulei constituency in Isabel Province, who served as minister of foreign affairs in the last government. ...
Protesting the removal of bins by leaving piles of your dog’s shit for others to deal with doesn’t make you a hero – it’s precious and entitled behaviour. You haven’t truly lived until you’ve stood on the shoreline of Auckland’s Cheltenham beach, desperately trying to scoop increasingly liquid dog shit ...
Analysis - Christopher Luxon will be alert to the factors driving the dire polling, but won't be waving the white flag just yet, RNZ political editor Jo Moir writes. ...
Writer, teacher and academic Vincent O’Sullivan died on Sunday 28 April. Here we gather tributes from friends, colleagues, and students who remember his extraordinary contributions. I went down to the garage tonight. There was a bird shrieking out in the bush, in the dark, maybe a kākā. Miraculously, through the ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a burnt-out corporate escapee explains how she gets by ‘working as little as possible’. Want to be part of The Cost of Being? Fill out the questionnaire here.Gender: Female Age: 31 Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: Contractor in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Timothy Schmidt, Professor of Chemistry, UNSW Sydney Albert Russ / Shutterstock The icebreaker of many a barbeque conversation is something like “what do you do for a crust?” “I teach chemistry at university,” is what we usually reply. Then silence. Our ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Asher Flynn, Associate Professor of Criminology, Monash University Shutterstock Sexual harassment is often considered to be a person-to-person act, but new research shows Australians are also experiencing and perpetrating workplace harassment in large numbers through technology. Our latest study shows one ...
A petition signed by more than 16,500 people, demanding the government take stronger action to halt the genocide of Palestinians by the State of Israel, is being presented to the House of Representatives today by Hon Phil Twyford. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Burnett, Honorary Associate Professor, ANU College of Law, Australian National University jenmartin/Shutterstock April has been a bad month for the Australian environment. The Great Barrier Reef was hit, yet again, by intense coral bleaching. And Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek delayed ...
Winston Peters might not give a ‘rat’s derriere’ about last night’s poll, but it revealed the unusual absence of a honeymoon period and little payoff for the government’s action plan approach, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s morning news round-up. To receive The Bulletin in ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marco de Jong, Lecturer, Law School, Auckland University of Technology Getty Images Details released by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet under the Official Information Act reveal New Zealand officials have been considering involvement in AUKUS from the outset. ...
The government's treatment of Māori raised eyebrows, with countries saying New Zealand needed to do more to reduce health, education and justice inequities. ...
The age of criminal responsibility was one of numerous human rights issues raised during Aotearoa New Zealand’s UPR. Other key themes were racism and discrimination, the disproportionate representation of Māori in prison, and to uphold the UN Declaration ...
In a sitdown interview ahead of his final day at Parliament this week, the former Green Party co-leader tells RNZ about his lowest point during 2017's rough election campaign. ...
Is the fringe radio station really in a financial crisis, or is it just running a hyped-up donation drive? Fringe internet radio station Reality Check Radio was launched by the anti-vaccine mandates group Voices for Freedom in March 2023. For the next year, it undertook probably the most aggressive promotional ...
Above the Fold: On Monday, the biggest Māori screen production company faced down the biggest funder of Māori content at the High Court. It was an incredibly tense moment – then, just as quickly, it resolved. Duncan Greive breaks down a strange day in the screen sector.Yesterday morning, Māori ...
When it comes to talking about the Government’s controversial fast-track consenting process, political scientist Richard Shaw refers to the famous Chinese sci-fi novel Three-Body Problem, while RNZ’s In Depth journalist Farah Hancock talks about zombie projects. Shaw is referring to the three-party coalition Government and how the proposed legislation is ...
Opinion: The debate over single gender versus co-educational schooling has long been controversial. I went to a co-ed school and was inspired by a remarkable woman who was my maths teacher, and because of her deep knowledge and passion for the subject, I knew that maths was definitely an option ...
He won everything and he earned a knighthood and he was a senior literary figure to the point that he was a living monument to himself until his death in the weekend at 86, but there was something about Vincent O’Sullivan that flew under the radar, that was independent and ...
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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 🙂