David Garrett’s locked his wife and two children aged six and 11 out of the family home in west Auckland.
The week he pleaded not guilty to a drink-driving charge.
Garrett drinking heavily and using online dating sites to meet women while still married,
Saane claims their 10-year relationship has always been tumultuous, that she was the target of regular verbal abuse and that Garrett was openly unfaithful.
She says she left him in 2005 when she allegedly discovered him being unfaithful, but returned to him when she fell pregnant a second time.
In 2006 she found a print-out of Garrett’s online dating profile in their letter box and assumed it was put there by an angry woman.
It listed him as divorced and Garrett had asked neighbour Helen Wilkinson to grab it before Saane found it, Wilkinson says.
On Tuesday Saane says she returned to the home to gather her belongings. She says Garrett yelled at her, and forced her to leave when she was only half way through packing.
She said the ordeal had been “hard” so far.
“Maybe I was stupid to hang around there but most of the time I was there because of the kids but this year I just had enough.”
Helen Wilkinson has known the couple for around five years and witnessed Garrett’s treatment of his wife, calling him “the most disliked person in Kaukapakapa”.
“He calls her an effing native, eff off back to your tribe,” she said.
A Howick woman, who met Garrett on an internet dating site, revealed he tried to woo her with a McDonald’s dinner and a private viewing of the film Casablanca.
The married father-of-two met the woman, who declined to be named, through nzdating.com shortly after returning from Tonga in 2003.
He later bombarded her with text messages and emails through the dating site.
“The guy has got no respect for females,” she said.
Hmmmmm I thought posts outing people’s real names were verboten. I don’t see why the thoroughly dislikeable should be an exception.
[Agreed, fixed, be patient if it takes moderators a while to see these things. If it doesn’t get caught in the spam filter we don’t see it unless we happen to read a thread. – r0b]
This Code of ACC Claimants’ Rights (or ‘Code’) aims to make sure we provide you with a high standard of service by:
• treating you with dignity, respect,honesty and courtesy. We’ll understand you may be finding everyday life hard (physically, emotionally, socially, financially)
• treating you fairly and listening to you and your views. We’ll respect any
impairment you may have
• respecting your culture, values and beliefs
• welcoming any support person(s) you bring with you
• communicating with you openly and honestly. We’ll answer your questions
and give you information quickly. We can also help to provide an interpreter
• keeping you fully informed. We’ll give you information about the types of
help we provide, how to apply and how long things may take. We’ll tell
you about your entitlements and responsibilities, and let you know if
these change. We’ll tell you about your options to review or appeal a
decision we make
• respecting your privacy, and letting you see and correct the information
we hold about you
• respecting your right to complain. We’ll work with you to find a solution.
We’ll tell you about the options for resolving issues and how long it’s likely to take.
More obscenity from ACC. Does “Psychology” even qualify as a science these days?
Personally, I hope not! Freud = fraud, and the rest is equally meaningless. (I’ve had the misfortune of studying psychology AND educational pyschology.)
When it comes to any psychological tests that ACC are asking claimants to do, ACC would have to be sure of the following:
1. Reliability of the test.
2. Validity of the test.
3. That an assessor’s report was based on the information gained from psychological testing.
I note in my report dated September 2009 for a sensitive claim that psychological testing was not mentioned as a source in the report. I think that one test was given prior to the two hour assessment and another test was given after the assessment. I am not sure if the test was in two parts or two different tests. I did not expect to have testing shoved in my face and after the assessment all I wanted to do was to go home and ground myself because I had the most intense flash backs I’d had in 42 years. (I felt like I had to pick up my spilled guts off the floor when I left). The assessor rang me two weeks later and the call lasted 60 minutes.
Readers may care to spare a thought for the family of a great union organiser, Garth Malpas, who has left us way too young. A mighty totara has fallen.
Will the mainstream conservative media are convinced.
When even the conservative New Zealand prints a large supplement dedicated to the danger of climate change and inserts it every copy then you know things are bad.
When Glynn Dwyer follows this up with a major opinion piece in his Hereld column calling for ecocide to become a crime beside genocide, and it gets published, then you know that things are not just bad, they are very bad.
There is now no longer any excuse for our government to continue expanding the deadly and polluting coal industry, or the reckless deep sea oil exploration, or fracking.
Because everybody knows……
Everybody knows that deep sea oil wells leak
Everybody knows that the government lies
Everyone has this hollow feeling
If they keep on drilling the climate dies
Everybody knows
Everybody knows this fight is fixed
It’s all about keeping the poor, poor and the rich, rich
Everybody knows
Everyone knows a plague is coming
Everyone knows that it’s moving fast
Everybody knows that a temperate climate
Will become an artifact of the past
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that we’re in trouble
Everyone knows that it’s coming apart
Will the mainstream conservative media are convinced.
When even the conservative New Zealand Herald prints a large supplement dedicated to the danger of climate change and inserts it every copy then you know things are bad.
When Glynn Dwyer follows this up with a major opinion piece in his Hereld column calling for ecocide to become a crime beside genocide, and it gets published, then you know that things are not just bad, they are very bad.
There is now no longer any excuse for our government to continue expanding the deadly and polluting coal industry, or the reckless deep sea oil exploration, or fracking.
Because everybody knows……
Everybody knows that deep sea oil wells leak
Everybody knows that the government lies
Everyone has this hollow feeling
if they keep on drilling the climate dies
Everybody knows
Everybody knows this fight is fixed
It’s all about keeping the poor, poor and the rich, rich
Everybody knows
Everyone knows a plague is coming
Everyone knows that it’s moving fast
Everybody knows that a temperate climate
Will become an artifact of the past
Everybody knows
Everybocy knows that we’re in trouble
Everyone knows that it’s coming apart
I thought I read recently on this site that Fracking was actually the safer option as other carbon capture technology etc was more prone to causing earthquakes and pollution. And the danger to the water table in example cases are possibly due to previous drilling not recent fracking.
God forbid their answer is to tax everyone more, way to solve a problem.
I think the point on the comment a few days ago was fracking didn’t need to use carbon capture where as the other strategies would need to use it to have the same green gas emissions. And carbon capture has worse effects on water table and more prone to provoking earthquakes.
Again I’ve heard worse argument against fraking.
I can’t really accept it as a logical resource gatherer being that it uses toxic chemicals on the land, can bring radioactive/heavy metals to the surface in flowback, possible methane releases. And that’s not including the contaminated water that has to go somewhere.
The tests from ’95 in NZ were on the news the other day and the companies involved pumped it into rivers without the councils even being aware, they had carte blanche.
But it would be interesting to hear a supporters argument
Fracking is “hydraulic fracturing” of gas and oil wells to extract more gas and oil from the same well. It is precisely the opposite of carbon capture / sequestration.
I never thought it was carbon capture. I am referring to a comment a few days ago on here that it was safer than other oil & gas options which proposed using carbon storage, maybe as colonial viper has mentioning. But wouldn’t they do the same thing once the fracked wells began depleting aswel?
I am aware what fracking itself is, how would I comment of the various effects on environment otherwise?
My comment is based on a previous comment that wasn’t referenced. I want to know if it was just trolling or shilling.
The purpose is certainly not carbon capture, the technique is used to access more hydrocarbons from under the ground. Any carbon capturing which goes on is incidental.
Also I am not sure where the CO2 used is originally sourced from.
The drilling companies recover as much of the pressurised CO2 from the well as they can to reuse.
So do you mean carbon is a Non issue in fracking anyway and it is worse environmentally in comparrison to other extraction techniques that could be used in the same areas?
The entire “Obamacare” debacle is an object lesson.
Almost all civilised outsiders who look at the US system, that is both absurdly expensive and deeply ineffective, wonder that the American people tolerate it. Yet huge numbers of Americans are willing to not just defend it, but hold it up as some kind of ideal… and are genuinely distressed that this long, long overdue reform is proceeding. (However flawed, compromised and half-arsed it is.)
This from the same nation where some 45% of the population now believe in creationism and that the earth is only 6000 years old or some such idiocy. Or that so many of them think we can pump endless CO2 into the atmosphere… and so on.
It truly requires us to ask how is it that people delude themselves like this. Is our capacity for critical thinking that weak and fallible? What is it that makes many people so prone to passionately believing self-evident dreck? Do RWNJ’s actually suffer from some kind of brain damage or deficiency?
How many thousands of times on The Standard alone have we seen a left wing position, backed by references and reasoned argument… countered by brain-dead sloganeering, history re-writing or plain obdurate refusal to engage facts from the right?
It’s so temptingly easy to label RWNJ’s, as felix just has, “evil annoying idiot fucks”. Because that is the response they seem to so richly deserve. But it doesn’t make them go away, it doesn’t improve their mental functioning, it doesn’t seem to prompt any critical self-reflection or positive response. They just come back droning the same slogans over and over.
Does anything work? What is the correct response to fools?
Reading Kunstlers column on the daily life of Americans is illuminating: he also questions the national sanity. He also raises the question of who the common Joe will blame and what he is likely to do when the “emperors clothes” are revealed?
It truly requires us to ask how is it that people delude themselves like this. Is our capacity for critical thinking that weak and fallible? What is it that makes many people so prone to passionately believing self-evident dreck? Do RWNJ’s actually suffer from some kind of brain damage or deficiency?
The collective western mind encourages control in all things; even things that can’t be controlled. From eagerness for control comes all things unnecessary.
“The collective western mind encourages control in all things…”
Haidt’s first five intuitions, or “moral foundations,” are 1) the sense of needing to provide care and protect from harm; 2) the sense of what is just and fair; 3) the sense of loyalty and willingness to sacrifice for a group; 4) the sense of obedience or respect for authority; and 5) the sense of needing to preserve purity or sanctity. And politically, Haidt finds that liberals tend to strongly emphasize the first two moral intuitions (harm and fairness) in their responses to situations and events, but are much weaker on emphasizing the other three (group loyalty, respect for authority, and purity or sanctity). By contrast, Haidt finds that conservatives more than liberals respond to all five moral intuitions.”
“Liberals push the envelope, and err on the side of too much open-mindedness; conservatives pull us back again, and err on the side of too much closure. It could be a productive relationship.”
There are links within links on that link. To follow them opens up a whole world of science, that gets quite challenging – for me anyway. In one podcast Johnathan Haidt outlines the discussion of right/wrong/morals between libs/republicans (that is conveniently played out in the posts below this one.). From Haidt’s explanation, Chris Mooney then highlights that central to the problem is the use of language, and more importantly, how the comprehension of certain words, phrases and concepts set off intuitive triggers for moral responses – on both sides.
So from their point of view, the question is not so much, “why are they like that”, but “why do they present it wrong”. Which is pretty hard to swallow from a position of oppositon and even more difficult to accept once you move from the theoretical of what could happen to the actual results of policy in real life; where any attempt on abstract agreement is then interpreted as concrete consent to anything, anytime.
In most left/right discussions you have the obvious moral reactions set off by intuitive triggers. Then you have the type of person that says “the middle ground is best”, while having no idea what is actually middle ground; and finally you have the new ground discussed by Haidt/Mooney which is they say is the actual middle ground, where left and right meet for inclusive harmonic effect.
The difficulty is that to reach that point means using a language as yet undiscovered, to discuss transformative concepts that while they presently exist, cannot yet be articulated; and overall, require an evolutionary leap within politics and social life. They seem to point towards an approaching intellectual “cusp”.
In the podcast itself, the language will be interpreted as “enabling and sympathetic to the right” by the people of the left, and if you are of the right, “close, but somewhat untrustworthy”. It’s worth a listen, as Haidt covers a huge amount of ground including religion, morals, politics, psychology, evolution, historical group behaviours, human development… and does it in a way that will insults and outrage nearly everyone! Which is probably an indicator of a fairly good scientist.
At the risk of being called a RWNJ here is my take on it.
First of all I am in favour of socialised health care and think that that is a sign of civilised behaviour if… and that is a big if, the population can rely on it’s functioning as a truly social utility and not as the recent revelations from within ACC have shown, a state funded profit making entity designed to give minimal care and throw people out who are relying on it’s functioning as a social utility to serve the bottom line.
There are serious problems with the Obama care program too.
First of all it will be and obligatory tax increase of some $ 15.000 annually for Americans, of whom a 100 million are out of work and millions of whom simply have no income, who could forced to pay as the condition is that if they refuse to take out the insurance it will be punished by a tax equivalent to the insurance premium.
The law was written by the same players who run the entire medical insurance industry and for them this is just great as it is a guaranteed income.
There is a fear that the government will be granted life and death powers as they enforce austerity on their population and that this is not a benign healthcare program but in fact a Eugenics program and with more and more army on the streets, the government engaging in more and more wars and 400 FEMA camps waiting in the wings who can blame them?
Especially as a top doctor in the UK has recently come out with the news that the NHS kills about a 130.000 elderly patients a year because they are difficult or keep a bed occupied needed for someone younger.
The problem is not the pigheaded stupidity of the American population (which is considerable I know) but the fact that they have absolutely no confidence in their government any more.
They see the banking bail outs, the injustice as the banksters get away with crime after crime while the little people get locked up for years for smoking pot, the wars, the Corporate take over of their government and they don’t want a bar of it.
(I just had to go through a check in procedure because I had used a phrase which triggered a spam check.
The problem is not the pigheaded stupidity of the American population (which is considerable I know) but the fact that they have absolutely no confidence in their government any more.
That’s not an unreasonable position. But the correct answer to a broken government is to fix it.
The American Government like ours and that of most European countries is no longer in the hands of the population but in the hands of Corporates, banksters and the .1%. Nothing short of a revolution will fix that.
Sorry – been down with the flu (my traditional response to project completion 🙂 ).
There are some mechanisms used as part of the anti-spam that are purely automatic. In Tev’s case it sounds like she caught the cloudflare which as well as getting some of the overseas load off our server added a new layer of checks. ‘captcha’ screen is different from the usual recaptcha that it pops up when the akismet picks up something it thinks is suspicious.
I’ll be starting to de-clutter some of the bugs starting this week. Part of that will be to customize the captcha screens so that it should be obvious what layer caught people – in particular those who have been moderated automatically by general defence mechanisms rather than by the moderators.
As most people commenting are probably aware, we don’t require that people log in or have valid e-mail addresses. Instead we use a mixture of automatic technical and manual means to exclude unwanted commentators. The technical means will pop up captchas when they are unsure and they want you to verify that you are a human. If it is at the akismet level then it currently holds it for moderation by a human.
If it just puts you directly in moderation without a captcha then you have hit one of the manual moderations where we’re targeting someone or something. But sometimes that is simply because of a phrase or IP overlap. Moderation tends to get done as soon as a moderator is online. Usually rapidly – but sometimes many hours.
If it disappears silently then you’ve discovered that we have you in spam. Those usually wait for me to have a look at them. These days we seldom get actual humans in spam apart from someone who has recently picked up a permanent ban.
BTW: The cloudflare screen over the last 7 days has had 6% of the visitors fail its captcha type validation. Obviously not too many users have caught it or I’d be seeing widespread moaning (it has been on since June 13)… It has reduced the overseas traffic at our server down to a trickle because most it was spam or other irritating malware attempts. Breakdown on their stats looks like this for everything since startup with them..
650,803 Page views
365,336 from regular traffic
182,548 from crawlers/bots
102,919 from threats
2,747,446 requests saved by CloudFlare
3,976,936 total requests
36.3 GB bandwidth saved by CloudFlare
121.3 GB total bandwidth
Mostly it is providing the static parts of the site from caches to queries. Since those are mostly cached by the client side as well, most of the queries consist of asking if a image or css or javascript file is still valid. That is why it reduced the requests down by far more than the actual bandwidth.
Good health is amongs’t those primary things in Maslow’s hierarchy, it concerns every person rich or poor. We are all subject to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune with regard to health.
Being a primary need (as opposed to want) healthcare provision is a really good indicator of the state of the community / polity. It is my contention that when you make healthcare affordable to only those able to pay you are saying “those who cannot pay” are not part of our community / polity. The corollary is “those who can pay are the only people in our community / polity who belong”. No money, no rights.
Ability to pay is a justification by those who have money for political / community / social exclusion of the poor. In the US if you have no money you have no say, you are not even a person. You may receive the largess or charity of those who have, but for that you are supposed to be thankful. This is the thinking behind Ryall and his political bed fellows.
“There may be cognitive limits in the ability to take the perspective of others, particularly foreigners,” Hodson said. “Much of the present research literature suggests that our prejudices are primarily emotional in origin rather than cognitive. These two pieces of information suggest that it might be particularly fruitful for researchers to consider strategies to change feelings toward outgroups,” rather than thoughts.
Edit: that is in specific reference to strategies to combat right-wing attitudes to other ethnic groups, but I expect it’s applicable to other situations.
Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.
I reckon Gerry Browlee has pretty much turned himself into a joke. Suggesting that people should not inhabit red zone houses and instead pay squillions to selfish landlords or live in cars and tents etc is just plain dumb.
Get this… there are countless absolutely fine houses in the red zone. Remember that these areas are zoned red becuase of land damage, NOT because of house damage. Of course many are wrecked and many are broken but there are even more many that are absolutely fine. Warm, sheltered, safe.
Why the fuck does the bozo not want people to inhabit them? I betcha it will be for other reasons – such as cause him political problems in trying to get the people out later. It will be all about that, and his political situation.
Brownlee deserves complete contempty for this and people will be moving in and telling him to shove a broken house up his f%#@ing fat arse. Prick.
Oh, and btw, big day in Chch for final land zone announcements on the port hills. Many chewed fingernails today….
Suggesting that people should not inhabit red zone houses and instead pay squillions to selfish landlords
I heard the figure of $1000 a week is being charged by some landlords – Radio NZ this morning. As I was getting ready to leave, I didn’t hear the rest, but wish I had…
Big trougher tells a big group of troughers that all beneficiaries should be drug tested, everybody laughs and claps. Bill English at a meeting of Federated Farmers members.
Gotta love Rick Santorum: Supreme court upholds Obamacare, and here’s his response.
“President Obama believes he is above the law, entitled to abusing his power to get what he wants, and willing to violate the constitution and the oath he was sworn to uphold,” said former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum.
Actually Rick I think you are reading from the speech you wrote for if Obama LOST in the supreme court?
Barclays bank admits fraudulent behaviour all other major international banks have done the same and will be taken courts in various countries by govts and private investors.
A trillion dollars worth of fines and reparation is expected.
ShonKey type traders have been at the heart o this problem.
Maybe our PM might have to face court action.
Carol, don’t you suspect just a little that the behaviors between the dates mentioned are the same as they were before and after? Was Key as straight trader? Who knows, I heard rumours that on local trading floors his team lost a packet a couple of times and it all got hushed up.
On the issue of financial manipulation it seems clear that the whole finance industry in the major exchanges were committing fraudulent / larcenous acts. Unfortunately the only government to prosecute bankers to date has been Iceland. Since walking away from “debts” their economy has recovered splendidly. Removing cancers does the body a pile of good.
Oh, highly likely, Bored. But Key’s time frame in the business is not the period currently being investigated. So I don’t expect Key to be investigated.
So not only does NZ look increasingly servile to the USA, we are now having much needed (and much touted) business opportunities being dissuaded from coming here.
MegaUpload carried 4% of net traffic, that is a big big business, so when one of its owners tells the world don’t come here to open an IT business, people will listen.
Well done to the Solicitor and Attourney Generals, well done, clap clap clap
She noted that even if she was wrong about the validity of the warrants, it was clear police had “exceeded what they could lawfully be authorised to do” because they continued to hold irrelevant material.
I’d like to know what happened to the Ao Cafe forum that got taken down as part of the Tuhoe raids and has never been seen since. Most of what was on that website had nothing to do with the case.
Saw Chester Borrows on Backbenches the other night saying he was definitely going to buy himself some shares in Mighty River Power.
I assume other MPs intend to do the same (except of course John Key who has no idea what he owns and definitely doesn’t spend his time trading stocks, bonds and currency, no sir he’s far too busy looking after your interests which is how he became so wealthy, by putting the public first, it’s just his nature).
How does this work in terms of the requirement to remove themselves from conflicts of interest? It seems that Ministers are introducing legislation from which they explicitly intend to benefit personally, and MPs are voting in favour of it, also with the intent to benefit personally from the bill’s passing.
I realise that John Key doesn’t really understand what a conflict of interest is, or at least he pretends he doesn’t. (Actually I think he sees dishonesty as simply a tool or a skill like any other, and I don’t believe he makes any sort of moral value judgment either way).
But he often justifies an obvious conflict of interest by saying that if the conflicted party didn’t actually make any gain, and you can’t definitively prove that they intended to gain, then no no harm no foul. It’s a spurious argument at best but he seems to get away with it to an extent.
This one seems much clearer though. I can’t see a way to argue that someone is buying shares without intending to gain.
Also saw Burrows say that on BBs – but think I read something somewhere a few days ago that Ministers (or all MPs), their families, staff etc would be prohibited from buying shares but unfortunately cannot remember where I read it and haven’t got time to research it right now. Perhaps someone else has a better memory and/or links.
I understand that all Kiwisaver Managers will take up as many shares as they can, as they consider that they are a good long term investment, for their members.
Garrett said being locked up by police was “very difficult to cope with”
David Garrett made “NO OPOLOGY” to the family after been caught stealing.
A brother of the dead child said that Mr Garrett was the “lowest of the low”
The brother of the dead boy told the Herald: “How much lower can you go? I know damn well if my father was alive, being a Scotsman, he would have gone after him, I would think.”
He said he would probably “lose his cool” if he came face to face with Mr Garrett.
His 94-year-old mother was “disgusted over the whole thing”, he said.
He was not aware of any apology that had come from Mr Garrett, but thought his mother would be expecting one.
“Surely the guy has got the balls to stand up and say, ‘I did something wrong’. And he didn’t do that.”
The man said he was about 16 when his 2-year-old brother was admitted to hospital after contracting a virus infection. Death came suddenly.
He described his young brother as “a real bubbly little kid”, and his death as a “hell of a shock” to the family.
Another brother said that as far as he knew, no one in his family had received an apology, let alone an explanation, from Mr Garrett.
“It’s quite alarming. I didn’t think that sort of thing was happening here. It’s very hard to believe that a person could consider taking the identity of a baby,” he said.
In the court documents, the deceased child’s mother said the identity theft caused her considerable stress and anxiety, and what Mr Garrett did was “akin to stealing from a grave”.
Court documents reveal Mr Garrett visited a cemetery in New Plymouth in 1984 and found the gravestone of the boy, whose birthdate was close to his own.
He copied the details, obtained the child’s birth certificate, filled out a passport application form and photographed himself in a disguise which included dyed hair and glasses.
Garrett gave a fake postal address in Christchurch on his application form and supplied a fake reference of another offender: It was, as with many crimes, a series of deliberate steps.”
The family of the dead child whose identity was stolen “have effectively been gagged for years by a suppression order while they have to listen to Mr Garrett pontificating about being opposed to suppression orders, being in favour of openness, being in favour of the rights of victims”.
Garrett having first denied the allegation of stealing to police.
Garrett said being locked up by police was “very difficult to cope with”. “PUSSY”
Garrett’s lawyer, Gary Gotlieb, told the judge that Garrett had an anxiety disorder and may have lost his legal practising certificate if he was convicted.
He had an anxiety depressive condition and was taking medication at the time of appearing in court.
Garrett asked to keep his identity secret to “maintain his reputation”.
Yesterday the vote to support a ban against Depleted Uranium was stalemated because Pita Sharples couldn’t be bothered to show up.
Here is a link to several video’s you might want to watch on the subject and if you feel that this is something you want to share with the people who voted against the ban I suggest you download them and send them to these idiots.
Sharples was quite reasonably at a funeral – it was well reported. What it does show is that there should be some way of a proxy vote being cast in those circumstances – or was it administrative incompetence by his party that the absence was not suitably processed?
It was a real shame that the bill didn’t get through, but as others have pointed out Sharples was absent due to a very important funeral.
Phil Twyford has blogged on the situation at Red Alert entitled Turning Up. As his post is reasonably short, here it is in full.
Posted by Phil Twyford on June 28th, 2012
It was disappointing to see my Depleted Uranium Prohibition Bill go down last night. With a 60-60 vote it doesn’t proceed.
And it was a shame that although support from Labour, the Greens, NZ First, Maori Party, Mana, and United Future should have delivered a one vote majority, the Maori Party cast only two votes instead of their full three. The party has explained that Pita Sharples was away at the tangi of Hoani Waititi but casting only two votes meant they can only have had one of their three MPs in the House. Rules allow three votes if they have two or three of their MPs in the House, and two votes if only one is present.
Pita Sharples’ office has since apologised to me, saying they didnt realise the vote would be so tight. I appreciate that, but I did email their Whip and his assistant yesterday to say that we were relying on them voting their full quota to deliver the bill majority support.
First rule of democracy: you have to turn up.
I found the explanation re the number of votes the Maori Party can cast depending on the number of their MPs in the House of particular interest as this obviously also affected their voting numbers etc on various stages of the MOM Bill – for example, they only cast two votes at the second reading stage leading to the 61 for vs 59 votes against.
Turia and Sharples were noticable by their absence in the House throughout the passage of the MOM Bill (including in Question Time and other debates). The lack of participation by the Maori Party in any of the debates on the bill was highly noticable particularly in the debates on the sections of the bill relating to Treaty issues. Flavell at least put out a news release on the day the Bill was going through its second reading reiterating that the Maori Party would be opposing the Bill and he was occasionally in the House during its passage, but IIRC he never spoke or sought to take a call.
What is so openly distubing about the past few bills alone (MOM, DU), is the blatantness of those who have sold out. The NATO sign up, was the reason the NACT voted aginst the DU bill.
So now NZ can’t even get a bill passed to illustrate our position agains the use of weaponised nuclear waste byproducts!
The current governnent supports/endorses the use of these weapons on humanity by NATO!
I missed a couple of lines from the NZ herald about “David Garrett made “NO OPOLOGY” to the family after been caught stealing,.”
Garrett said and he never used the passport. “AFTER” it expired, he destroyed it.
The dead boy’s sister was also quoted.
“The deeply cruel, shameful and malicious manner in acquiring such details has caused deep distress for the entire family, especially for my elderly mother, to be subjected to further trauma and pain in the memory of her beloved infant son and our darling little brother’s name.
So why did the news media advise the family involved. If they hadn’t done that then the family would have been fine. But better to get some tears on television to get the ratings up and how they “care”. Professional news media RIP.
This is recently, or do you wish to forget? human rights.
29 June 2012 at 6:13 am
“David Garrett” Alias “[deleted, no speculation on aliases please – r0b]”, “the most disliked person in Kaukapakapa”.
David Garrett’s locked his wife and two children aged six and 11 out of the family home in west Auckland.
Oh dear, it seems that even the incompetent Bill English is starting to get worried by his colleagues incompetence.
Official documents released today show Finance Minister Bill English has serious concerns about his colleague Steven Joyce’s MoBIE white whale bureaucratic empire, says Labour’s Economic Development Spokesperson David Cunliffe.
“Now we know the National Government has in fact quietly behind the scenes created a $2.1 million slush fund of taxpayers’ money to be used for the design process and facilities for their preferred SkyCity deal.
“This fund was taken from some of the $120 million of cuts made to economic development and jobs programmes in this year’s Budget, including support for earthquake-devastated businesses in Christchurch, increasing exports to Asia, regional development programmes and assistance to start-up businesses.
So, pay to sell our law to SkyCity while removing support from other businesses.
By removing 20,000 beneficiaries from the books over five years, National think they’ll save $8billion dollars. They have a quarter of that money put aside for selling laws to the … only bidder. New longterm jobs from an additional Sky City business? Not quite 5000. Not even a thousand. Not even 500.
I dunno, but unless you’re a fraudster or suffering from a mental illness, you’d have to do some serious mental gymnastics to support these guys and consider yourself a competent professional.
Even if the beneficiaries were on an average of $40kp.a., that’s still around one fulltime staff member per beneficiary. I’m not sure even the national party believe that.
And of course it works the other way – a 50,000 increase in beneficiary numbers means actually 100,000 more unemployed people, but 50,000 got employed to pay the benefits of the other lot.
Something stinks in the numbers, but I don’t know enough to know what.
Yes theres some weird numbers being plucked out of the air in the usual National style. Maybe they have included the income tax from the 20k in new employment.
With the NactUf mismanagement taking place its more like there will be 20k extra homeless living on the streets.
The professor’s argument is that as companies have increasingly focused on their stock prices, and given managers more shareholdings, they have inadvertently empowered hedge funds that push for short-term solutions. Mutual funds, dependent on winning money from retail investors, have become myopic as well. The average holding period of a stock was eight years in 1960; today, it’s four months.
The biggest ill has been to align top executives pay with performance, usually measured by the stock price. This has proven to be “a disaster,” Ms. Stout says. Managers have become share price obsessed. By focusing on short-term stock moves, prices managers are eroding the long-term value of their franchises.
Now all we need is a researched reason to get rid of the directors…
Many directors are paid way over the top for what they do. I wouldn’t mind too much if it was worth it to the companies but it demonstrably isn’t and some of the guys seem to be a waste of space.
Environmentalists are our Enemies, says Groser, Climate Change Minister.
Enemies within hurtful to ‘100% NZ brand’ Brand by Rob Hosking in NBR, Thursday June 28, 2012
The “100% Pure New Zealand” brand – meant to promote tourism but extended for political reasons – is now being used to hurt New Zealand, Trade Minister Tim Groser says.
Mr Groser told a Wellington Employers Chamber of Commerce function today the brand, begun in mid-1999 by Tourism New Zealand, was now being used to hurt this country.
“Our enemies, who are internal, will find one cow in one stream and feed it back to environmental activists in the developed world to be used to try to exclude New Zealand’s products and services in the ludicrous belief that this will somehow help New Zealand.”
The 100% brand was created to market the New Zealand tourism experience “and it has been deliberately manipulated in this political space”, Mr Groser says.
The comments came in response to questions about whether New Zealand could grow more “global brands” such as Fonterra, and what could be done to develop such brands.
Mr Groser says development of such brands might be possible but size and the nature of New Zealand ‘s economic strengths makes their development difficult. While some may eventuate, he says New Zealand is more likely to develop its own brand as a country, and also to have its products as part of other international brands.
Development of niche industries, such as making specialist parts of international brands, is a more likely productive path.
“I cannot believe you can build many brands at a commercial level – there will be one or two of them who may do it. But we are just too small an economy.
“Our future lies not in creating serious brands, although that is certainly an option for Fonterra.
“But they will tell you some of the facile stuff you read about in the newspapers is just so ill-informed about the reality of what it takes to build a brand.
“The reality is the way forward is to be part of the supply chain of a company that has a global brand. It’s about finding a niche in the supply chain of something that may be a global brand.”
Who made this little muppet the Minister for Climate Change?
Last Saturday David Cunliffe, the MP for New Lynn who won the old Titirangi Seat from the Nats, gave a very intelligent, insightful and stimulating speech on the Environment and the Economy.
Within a week this little man, who tries (and fails) every election to un-seat Cunliffe, comes out with this gibberish.
What were they serving at the Chamber function?
He was made Climate Minsiter only a few months ago after Nick Smith was shafted by Collins.
This speech will do more harm to New Zealand’s Brand reputation than any number of environmentalists. He is a disgrace. Put him back on a plane to Geneva. He was harmless and merry there.
I can’t put my fingrt on it: why do Natz have so little confidence in the people of New Zealand.
Hope and Confidence in our People, a Sense of Ambition for the Country should be the only reason a politician gets out of bed in the morning.
This lot are are weird. They are actually “Loosers” ….a word I normally hate, but it is the only one that comes to mind when I see Groser’s attitude and this Natz frontbench (and idiotbench).
Hope and Confidence in our People, a Sense of Ambition for the Country should be the only reason a politician gets out of bed in the morning.
Let me re-phrase that:
Hope and confidence in ourselves (most of us Nats got private school educations remember), a sense of personal ambition and privileged status is what gets us out of bed in the morning.
No, Tim, you are the “enemy within”. Since coming to power, the John Key National Ltd™ government:
– has been caught out repeatedly lying in the run up to and during the election campaign about its real intentions in relation to the environment
– celebrated the opening of the foreign-owned Pike River Coal Ltd mine on DOC land adjacent to the Paparoa National Park from which 1 megatonne of coal will be extracted per year for the next 20 years – Pike River Coal Ltd has announced that it has found additional coal in the national park
– removed a proposed efficiency standard (MEPS) on incandescent lightbulbs
– reversed a moratorium on building new gas/oil/coal power stations
– removed the bio fuel subsidy
-scrapped the scheme that would have penalised imported vehicles producing high emissions
– removed regulations for water efficient new housing
– renewed leases on sensitive high country farms which were meant to return to DOC
– reversed restrictions on the freeholding of vast swathes of land on the edge of the Southern Lakes
– arbitrarily excised 400 hectares from the brand new Oteake Conservation Park, including the most important and, ecologically, the rarest part of the new Park, the tussock and shrubland that went right down to the banks of the Manuherikia River, to enable future access to lignite
– said nothing to say in regard to the World Commission on Protected areas of IUCN’s severe criticism of its intention to investigate mineral resources and mining opportunities in protected conservation areas including our three UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Te Wahi Pounamu-South West New Zealand, Tongariro National Park and the Sub Antarctic Islands
– approved two prospecting permit applications lodged by Australian iron-ore giant Fortescue Metals Group subsidiary FMG Pacific lodged in June – areas covered by the two-year permits include an 8204-square-kilometre area of seabed adjoining the west coast from Cape Reinga to the Manukau Harbour and a 3798-square-kilometre prospecting area of land from Cape Reinga to the Kaipara Harbour including Ninety Mile Beach, the west side of the Aupouri Peninsula, Kaitaia and the Hokianga.
– approved an additional prospecting permit for Fortesque Metals in relation to 3568sq km right next door to the Kahurangi National Park where the Heaphy Track is
– was forced to release its Ministry of Economic Development (MED) report under the Official Information Act that proclaims “significant mineral potential” in the Fiordland, Kahurangi and Paparoa national parks – the report said the Waitutu area of the Fiordland National Park had sufficient petroleum reserves to be “worthy” of inclusion in a review of conservation land protected from mining
– secretly granted the minerals industry the right to veto proposed National Park boundaries and permission for any such vetoes to be kept confidential – in spite of recommendations from its own officials against any such a veto
– Minster of Conservation Tim Grosser, on 29 August 2009, called for caring New Zealanders to halt their “emotional hysteria” and recognise that conservation land should be mined for minerals and went on to say “Mining in a modern, technological way can have a negligible effect”
– Associate Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson, in an interview in “Canterbury Farming” rubished her own department, DOC, suggesting it was incapable of looking after the high country reserves and parks under its control
– gutted the home insulation scheme
– pulled $300 million out of public transport, walking and cycling schemes and added it to a pot of $2 billion to ‘upgrade’ state highways
– changed the law to provide billions of dollar in subsidies for polluters via the ETS casino which is now a target for scamming by international criminals
– begun a process of gutting the Resource Management Act to make it difficult/impossible for the public to lodge appeals against developers
– removed the ability of Auckland to introduce a fuel levy to fund planned public transport upgrades
– left electrification of the national rail network up in the air without promised funding commitments
– removed the Ministry for the Environment’s programme to make Government Departments ‘carbon neutral’
– removed funding for public tv advertising on sustainability and energy efficiency
– pulled funding for small-town public litter bin recycling schemes
– cabinet ministers expressing public support the bulldozing of Fiordland
– reduced Department of Conservation funding by about $50 million over three years
– canceled funding for the internationally acclaimed ‘Enviroschools’ programme
– usurped the democratic role of local Councils of determining policies for their citizens by requiring the abandonment of the efficient and well-established tree protection rules for urban areas
– set about revamping Auckland governance in a way that is likely to greatly reduce the ‘Environmental Watchdog’ role of the the current Regional Council
– removed Auckland’s metropolitan limits and opened the gateway for unfettered urban sprawl
– defended internationally the importation of rain-forest-wrecking palm kernel and stood silent while Federated Farmers called Greenpeace “terrorists”
– stood silent while Godfrey Bloom, a Member of the European Parliament and infamous Climate Change Denialist, publicly rejoiced in the 1985 bombing of the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior – who was doing so while standing on a dock next to the replacement vessel
– took a 0% emissions reduction target to Copenhagen. Yes, seriously, that isn’t a misprint – that was the lower bound of their negotiation platform – then missed the 01/02/10 deadline for commitment to action it had agreed to – meanwhile 55 of the 80 countries which attended did make the deadline
– secretly cancelled the internationally recognised scheme for the mandatory labelling of exotic woods to ensure the timber has not been taken from rain forests in direct contradiction of its own statements made at the 13th World Forestry Congress in Argentina
– supported the Department of Conservation’s decision to open up the pristine Cathedral Cove to an ice-cream franchise
– given the Department of Conservsation $1.7 million to further develop commercial activities on DOC land and started an “off set” plan allowing company’s to damage the conservation estate if they agree to improve land elsewhere – no monitoring regime has been suggested on put in place
– left DOC director-general Al Morrison to announce that DOC is to charge for services that had been free and, to soften the public up to the idea that there will be more “energy generation schemes” operating on DOC land
– taken no action to reduce existing pollution pouring into the Manawatu River and is “leaving it up to industry” to come up with solutions to heal the river which was described by the Cawthorn Institute as “one of the worst polluted in the Western world”
– announced a $1.1 million industry subsidy to kick start marine farming without identifying no-go areas nor putting in place a consultation process for individiuals, communities, and other general coastal users
– blamed New Zealanders after a Japanese whaling ship deliberately smashed into a smaller, more vulnerable craft in the open sea
– was forced to release documents under the Official Information Act which confirm that DOC has “giving up” on ecologically valuable high-country land in the Mackenzie Basin because of funding cuts. The released documents cite “statements made by ministers”, “diminishing funding” and the Government’s new high-country policies as reasons for the changed stance – the comments from DOC were made after Land Information New Zealand (Linz), which manages the tenure review process, ignored DOC’s previous conservation recommendations for the farms
– used former National Party minister and current director of Open Country Cheese – a company convicted of filthy farming practices – Wyatt Creech to head up an enquiry into Environment Canterbury which had been standing up the dairy farmers’ demands for more and more water resources and less and less regulation. The Creech report recommended the Environmental Canterbury be sacked and replaced with government appointments and the voters of Canterbury do without democracy until the water situation had been resolved. The Canterbury area holds 50 percent of New Zealand’s fresh water reserves and 50 percent of the water required for hyrdo energy. The Creech report said Environmental Centerbury put too much focus on the environment.
– Despite international condemnation for knowing next to nothing about the parlous state of the New Zealand fisheries, National Ltd™ bucks international trends, pours more acid on the 100% Pure brand and increases the bluefin tuna quota.
– New Zealand is subject to international criticism for its backing of commericial whaling which National Ltd supports
– Government-owned company Solid Energy runs an essay competition entitled “The role of coal in sustainable energy solutions for New Zealand” for school children. First prize is a trip to New Zealand’s largest coal customer, China.
– Supported access fees for entrance onto DOC walkways – fee introduced following cuts to DOC’s budget.
– New Zealand’s environment would profit from mining national parks, Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson says.
– Department of Conservation director-general Al Morrison said the conservation estate created “opportunities to do a whole lot for a lot of different people”.
“We’ve got to get away from this idea that somehow we have to protect one-third of New Zealand for a certain constituency and put it in a jar of formaldehyde and leave it.”
– State coal miner Solid Energy could get an extra slice of the action if highly sensitive conservation land is opened to gold, silver and other prospecting.
Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee said Solid Energy’s work could be widened to include other minerals and resources, or it could form part of a new state-owned enterprise to maximise government returns from any mining.
He did not rule out the company, which produces 80 per cent of New Zealand’s coal, having a role in mining gold and other minerals on Great Barrier Island and other conservation areas being eyed by the Government http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/3519703/Golden-possibility-for-state-coal-miner
. . . very aspirational indeed. In fact, it would appear the provision of evidence proving that that New Zealand sucks is, in fact, solely down to the efforts of National Ltd® and its big-business sugar daddies
National Lied during the election about its intentions in regard to the environment
“National will have policies that reflect the fact that living on a diet of carbon will be increasingly bad – bad for the world and bad for our economy. We will have policy that encourages ‘climate friendly’ choices like windmills, hydro power and tree planting, and reduces the desire for ‘climate unfriendly’ behaviours, like burning coal,” Mr Key promised in May 2007.
“National will provide Kiwis with good signals about the cars that are the best for the environment. We will do this by ensuring our emission and noise standards for new vehicles keep up with international standards and practices and by introducing more sophisticated emissions and noise testing for existing vehicles. If Kiwis have a highly polluting or excessively noisy car, we think they should know about it and have an incentive to do something about it.”
“National proudly shares many of your values: like you, we want to protect our unique native species. We want our children and grandchildren to be able to swim in our rivers and lakes. We believe in sound environmental science. We are committed to high environmental standards.”
If you want to check out the latest “keyhole surgery” zero in on the ridge south & slightly east of Reefton on Google Earth and you’ll see Oceana Golds brand new high tech gold mine.
Up to 200 calves were induced on Fonterra chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden’s Putaruru farms this calving season in a controversial practice to lift milk production.
The practice, which Sir Henry has not denied, has prompted claims of hypocrisy, as Fonterra says it doesn’t support inductions, and even a call for Sir Henry to stand down while the matter is investigated.
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright’s report, “Lignite and climate change: The high cost of low grade coal” was meant to be released at midday today.
The report tackles the climate change ramifications of plans by two companies, state-owned miner Solid Energy and L&M Group, to mine lignite in Otago and Southland and convert it to diesel. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4399914/Environmental-fund-irks-Greens
a third of new zealand lakes have poor water quality
Dr Norman was sceptical of the reasons why the release of the report was delayed. It was to be released last week.
“It is interesting timing that the report’s release was delayed during the World Dairy Summit in Auckland, when the report concludes that pastoral land use is associated with the ecological deterio
37689 (2010). Brendon Burns to the Minister of Health (09 Dec 2010): Has he received any advice on the current quality of drinking water in Reidston; if so, what, if any, actions will he be taking concerning that advice?
Hon Tony Ryall (Minister of Health) replied: Reply due: 17 Dec 2010
secret meeting with boss of company responsible for massive oil spill and which wants to drill offshore New Zealand http://www.boprc.govt.nz/news-centre/media-releases/november-2011/dairy-compliance-falling-on-deaf-ears/
Bay of Plenty Regional Council is concerned the importance of environmental compliance is falling on deaf ears for a portion of the farming community. This follows three cases heard in the Tauranga District Court yesterday relating to pollution reaching waterways.
Fed Farmers have welcomed National’s $400 million water storage and irrigation investment announced yesterday.
Of course Fed Farmers would. Damming rivers to store water for irrigation means farmers can convert more land to dairying, which is highly profitable at the moment.
But Fed Farmers pretend that damming rivers to store water for irrigation won’t hurt the environment. http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/4580805/Dam-blamed-for-river-ruin
Fisherman Ray Brokenshire fears it will be too late in five years to save the Opihi River from the effects of degradation.
The Temuka man is involved in plans to create an Opihi River group and wants concerned people to contact him to discuss river issues, including problems caused by the toxic algae phormidium.
“A lot of us at our age remember what it was like. What we are trying to say is it’s in an awful state.”
An Environment Canterbury (ECan) warning remains in place cautioning people to avoid the river at State Highway 1 because of the risk of exposure to toxins from phormidium, and some anglers will no longer fish in the river because they say the fish are smelly and inedible.
As of yesterday an ECan warning was also in place at Waipopo. A warning at the Saleyards Bridge has been removed.
Some South Canterbury anglers have blamed the growth in phormidium on a design feature of the Opuha Dam.
Barry Stone told the Timaru Herald last week the algae increase was a result of how the dam company took its water, which was by a single-take and not a multiple-take system. http://www.greens.org.nz/sites/default/files/rma_consent_process_perspective_from_waikato_regional_council_0.pdf
Government statements re: RMA delays are flat out bullshit
The New Zealand Government is jeopardising its good name in international negotiations at this fortnight’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban. It has been identified as one of a small number of States stalling progress in forming an international climate agreement. Other parties have privately condemned its conduct and predict it could risk the possibility of a credible outcome.“Negotiators and observers have been telling us that New Zealand is taking an exceptionally irresponsible position in the talks”, says Rachel Dobric of the New Zealand Youth Delegation.
The 2nd place Fossil goes to New Zealand for proposing the most Flexible Mechanism imaginable with no oversight or review. Bring on the wild west. They want to be able to use any market mechanisms they wish with absolutely no oversight or international review! There would be no way to ensure that the units from one mechanism have not been sold two or three times to another such mechanism. This would likely unleash a wild west carbon market with double or triple counting of offsets and a likely increase of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
Dirty dairying is one of our country’s biggest environmental problems, resulting in polluted waterways and undrinkable (and unswimmable) water. But the government fobs off concern about it, pointing to the “Clean Streams Accord”, an agreement between Fonterra, central government and regional councils, under which Fonterra promises to get its farmers to clean up their act voluntarily. Every year, MAF produces an annual snapshot of progress (collected here), and every year it shows that farmers are slowly but surely fencing their waterways, complying with the RMA, and setting nutrient budgets. So we don’t have a problem, right?
Wrong. That report is based on what farmers tell Fonterra assessors every year. And it turns out that they lie, overstating their compliance on excluding stock from waterways by 100%:
New Zealand’s fresh water can never be as clean and pure as it once was, but action must be taken to improve the quality of rivers, lakes and wetlands, the parliamentary commissioner for the environment says.
In a new report for MPs on water quality, released today, commissioner Jan Wright says “clear clean cool streams, full of life” still flowed through forests in remote parts of the country. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6601622/Freshwater-report-We-need-to-come-clean
Professional surfer and environmentalist Dave Rastovich worries that the world class waves at Raglan are being threatened by proposed iron ore seabed mining in New Zealand’s coastal waters.
Kiwi-born Rastovich attended a recent protest in Raglan that coincided with the arrival of Andy Sommerville of Australian mining company Trans Tasman Resources (TTR).
Sommerville was there to meet local iwi at Poihakena Marae to discuss TTR’s plans to extract one billion tonnes of iron ore along the west coast of the North Island, a process that involves moving five billion tones of sand.
It’s not just the waves that are threatened, there are also fears for the critically endangered Maui’s Dolphin. http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/6598727/Top-surfer-worries-Raglan-under-threat
Economic issues top the list of worries for most New Zealanders, while environmental worries have dropped in people’s priorities, according to the latest state of the nation report by pollsters Roy Morgan
It brings into question the scientific models created by New Zealand and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to allow fishing.
Global greenhouse gas emissions could rise 50 per cent by 2050 without more ambitious climate policies, as fossil fuels continue to dominate the energy mix, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says.
Imagine, if you will, taking your children down to the park to find an overseas’ owned company had set up a dairy farm in one corner. Over time the shit builds up and flows onto the play ground. You complain, but are told the farm is under no obligation to treat or retain their waste and the council has no powers to do anything about the mess. You wonder why this was allowed to happen.
Well the government changed the rules and this company had only to apply to National’s new Environmental Protection Agency or (EPA) for the use of the land, pay a small application fee, and next thing, the company has the use of the land for eternity.
This is not fiction, it’s what’s going on right now in the Marlborough Sounds. Anyone can apply to the EPA to set up a salmon farm, and pollute the surrounding water for free, paying no rent or rates. Unbelievable but true! http://thestandard.org.nz/king-salmon-stealing-our-future/
Expansion of fish-farming in the Marlborough Sounds could cause unacceptable changes in the coastal environment, says Nelson-based research company Cawthron.
Has anyone noticed the word “environment” steadily and strategically being removed from the lexicon of local and central government?
Staff within the Department of Conservation, already reeling from nationwide cuts and greatly reduced budgets, are now required to put “Conservation for prosperity” at the bottom of their emails. Prosperity for whom? The Ministry for the Environment also has the relatively new mantra of “Environmental stewardship for a prosperous New Zealand”. At least the “E” word makes an appearance, but then it is the Ministry for the Environment after all.
Synopsis: Every year, New Zealand drops huge quantities of poison-laced food into its forest ecosystems; enough poison to kill its human population 4 times over, every year. No country has ever done anything remotely similar, on such a scale… The targets are possums and rats, but the poisonous bait kills everything that eats it – including native birds, deer, farm stock, pets, and even insects. The US manufacturer advises that all uneaten baits, and carcasses, must be recovered, and burned or buried deeply. But the rules have changed in New Zealand. Baits and carcasses are left to decompose, where they fall. Poisoning Paradise investigates the scientific theory and rationalisation that drives this extraordinary practice, and provides a close-up look at one of the worlds most deadly poisons… http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/7123
Parliamentary commissioner for the environment Jan Wright was in Southland last week speaking about 1080 and lignite. SCOT MacKAY caught up with her.
Prime Minister John Key has dismissed claims he is placing pressure on the Conservation Department (DoC) by appearing at the opening of Bathurst Resources’ new office.
Environment groups and the Green Party said Key’s appearance would be a sign to DoC – which is to decide on access agreements for Bathurst’s flagship West Coast project – of what the Prime Minister wanted it to do.
marsman 2.1
22 March 2012 at 4:24 pm
This is from Penny Bright in ‘Smith to go’ post.
Is this not a major ‘conflict of interest’ if Prime Minister John Key stands to personally profit from opencast coal mining on conservation land, because of his personal shareholding in the Bank of America, which, in turn is a significant shareholder in Bathurst Resources Ltd?
Whose interests are being served by NZ Prime Minister John Key?
His own?
As of 24 February 2012, the Bank of America was a substantial holder of shares in Bathurst Resources Ltd:
“Class of Securities (4) – Ordinary
Present Notice “Person’s Votes 72,302,308 Voting Power (5) 10.44% http://www.bathurstresources.com/files/files/1079_20120229_Change_in_substantial_holding.pdf
NZ Prime Minister John Key is a shareholder in the Bank Of America. http://thestandard.org.nz/john-key-aussie-miners-stooge/comment-page-1/#comment-449977
Access to some of New Zealand’s most endangered species and isolated islands is up for sale to help fund a pest programme in the Southern Ocean.
The Department of Conservation is opening up berths on some of its most exclusive trips – including to the Snares Islands and Dusky Sound – to be auctioned off on TradeMe today.
Money raised will go towards the “Million Dollar Mouse” project, which aims to find $1 million to eradicate mice off the Antipodes Islands.
The Antipodes are an ecological treasures that lie 800km southeast of Bluff, home to rare species like the Antipodes Island snipe and the Antipodes Island parakeet. http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/7075119/DOC-auctioning-access-to-rare-species
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Science » Politics » World » National »
Government wants to cash in on conservation
LOIS CAIRNS
Last updated 14:36 02/06/2012
The Government wants to make more money from its conservation estate and is eying opportunities for increased revenue gathering.
A Statement of Intent setting out the direction for the Department of Conservation (DOC) over the next five years says New Zealand is facing ongoing biodiversity losses at the same time as overall public spending is coming under growing pressure, so new ways of funding conservation must be found.
”The Department must fundamentally change its approach to continue the momentum for conservation. This means not just finding new sources of revenue . . .but changing the mindset and behaviours of the organisation as a whole,” the statement said.
Twenty years of broken promises and failures to meet environmental obligations have left New Zealand with little to be proud of, according to a new “wake-up call” report issued on the eve of a global summit.
The World Wildlife Fund report, Beyond Rio, has slated successive governments for failing the environment since promises made at the original Rio Earth Summit in 1992, and says the country now risks some of the highest rates of biodiversity loss on Earth unless urgent action is taken.
David Cunliffe beat the useless little man by 6 or 7,000 votes, while the Nats had 1,000 part vote advantage in New Lynn. Groser is a legend in his own lunch-time!
In October 1973, the CIA had credible information that a high-level contact was involved in specific human rights abuses; contact was severed.
Although the CIA had information indicating that a high-level contact was a hard-liner and therefore more likely to commit abuses, contact with him was allowed to continue in the absence of concrete information about human rights abuses.
CIA maintained indirect contact with a source in close contact with human rights violators. There was no evidence that the source engaged in abuses, but he almost certainly knew about the practice. The intelligence value of the contact was sufficiently important that the contact was not dropped.
In the case of an individual about whom the CIA had information concerning a corruption issue that may have been related to human rights issues, a decision was made to seek contact given his position and potential intelligence value.
In more than one case, in light of the contacts’ service affiliation and position, it seemed likely that they were involved in, knew about or covered up human rights abuses. However, because such contacts allowed the CIA to accomplish its intelligence reporting mission and maintain a channel through which to voice concerns about human rights abuses, contact was continued.
Kiwirail are to shed 300 jobs. What a pity the workers are bearing the burden of recent poor spending decisions. One may have thought that Management would have mopped up the over paid contractors and consultants before the cuts. How can one justify General Managers on 40k/month (evidence available) especially when they are in these positions for years at a time.
The shame of education Minister Hekia Parata deepens with the revelation that the canceled cuts to the number of teachers in schools was initially planned to be double what caused the furore after the Budget,
And on it goes,the lies flooding the news not on a monthly or weekly basis creating a stench emanating from the Slippery National Government, it seems now a daily occurrence where one Minister or other has taken the lead from the current Prime Minister and conveniently left honesty out of what they would consider their job description,
Sadly the economy continues to rush headlong into the brick wall being whipped into futile ‘growth’ where export GDP has risen over 1% this year while export returns have nosedived negatively by another 400 million dollars,
Slippery and the Member from Dipton have the Government borrowing up at an obscene 300 million bucks a week and another 2 and a half years of that will see that debt and the servicing of it sliding us all further into the same situation as the European PIGS economy’s are all experiencing,
The Dullard from Dipton among the many mouthings of stupidity this week patted Himself on the back for such borrowing saying it was clever of Him to be borrowing so much while interest rates are so low,
Someone else today mentioned of this Government an asked opinion of it either being deliberately stupid or cynically so,
My view is it is deliberately cynical where the Government accounts are deliberately being put in such a perilous state so as to knee-cap the next Government…
Oh befor i forget,congratulations to all the dairy farmers for having taken that first big step in becoming the Nestle/Fonterra Dairy Co-operative,
The international bankers whom will become in the next ten years the ‘new’ owners wish to also thank the farmers for a job well done in developing the dairy farms and only ask that in order for them to amalgamate them into bigger lots in the future that you prepare the way for doing so now…
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We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
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, ...
Buzz from the Beehive Reactions to news of the government’s readiness to make urgent changes to “the resource management system” through a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) suggest a balanced approach is being taken. The Taxpayers’ Union says the proposed changes don’t go far enough. Greenpeace says ...
I’m starting to wonder if Anna Burns-Francis might be the best political interviewer we’ve got. That might sound unlikely to you, it came as a bit of a surprise to me.Jack Tame can be excellent, but has some pretty average days. I like Rebecca Wright on Newshub, she asks good ...
Chris Trotter writes – Willie Jackson is said to be planning a “media summit” to discuss “the state of the media and how to protect Fourth Estate Journalism”. Not only does the Editor of The Daily Blog, Martyn Bradbury, think this is a good idea, but he has also ...
Graeme Edgeler writes – This morning [April 21], the Wellington High Court is hearing a judicial review brought by Hon. Karen Chhour, the Minister for Children, against a decision of the Waitangi Tribunal. This is unusual, judicial reviews are much more likely to brought against ministers, rather than ...
Both of Parliament’s watchdogs have now ripped into the Government’s Fast-track Approvals Bill. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāMy pick of the six newsey things to know from Aotearoa’s political economy and beyond on the morning of Tuesday, April 23 are:The Lead: The Auditor General,John Ryan, has joined the ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah SpengemanPeople wait to board an electric bus in Pune, India. (Image credit: courtesy of ITDP) Public transportation riders in Pune, India, love the city’s new electric buses so much they will actually skip an older diesel bus that ...
The infrastructure industry yesterday issued a “hurry up” message to the Government, telling it to get cracking on developing a pipeline of infrastructure projects.The hiatus around the change of Government has seen some major projects cancelled and others delayed, and there is uncertainty about what will happen with the new ...
Hi,Over the weekend I revisited a podcast I really adore, Dead Eyes. It’s about a guy who got fired from Band of Brothers over two decades ago because Tom Hanks said he had “dead eyes”.If you don’t recall — 2001’s Band of Brothers was part of the emerging trend of ...
Buzz from the Beehive The 180 or so recipients of letters from the Government telling them how to submit infrastructure projects for “fast track” consideration includes some whose project applications previously have been rejected by the courts. News media were quick to feature these in their reports after RMA Reform Minister Chris ...
It would not be a desirable way to start your holiday by breaking your back, your head, or your wrist, but on our first hour in Singapore I gave it a try.We were chatting, last week, before we started a meeting of Hazel’s Enviro Trust, about the things that can ...
Calling all journalists, academics, planners, lawyers, political activists, environmentalists, and other members of the public who believe that the relationships between vested interests and politicians need to be scrutinised. We need to work together to make sure that the new Fast-Track Approvals Bill – currently being pushed through by the ...
Feel worried. Shane Jones and a couple of his Cabinet colleagues are about to be granted the power to override any and all objections to projects like dams, mines, roads etc even if: said projects will harm biodiversity, increase global warming and cause other environmental harms, and even if ...
Bryce Edwards writes- 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. ...
Michael Bassett writes – If you think there is a move afoot by the radical Maori fringe of New Zealand society to create a parallel system of government to the one that we elect at our triennial elections, you aren’t wrong. Over the last few days we have ...
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 ...
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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 ...
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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. ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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“David Garrett” Alias “[deleted, no speculation on aliases please – r0b]”, “the most disliked person in Kaukapakapa”.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/5945715/Disgraced-MP-in-family-feud
David Garrett’s locked his wife and two children aged six and 11 out of the family home in west Auckland.
The week he pleaded not guilty to a drink-driving charge.
Garrett drinking heavily and using online dating sites to meet women while still married,
Saane claims their 10-year relationship has always been tumultuous, that she was the target of regular verbal abuse and that Garrett was openly unfaithful.
She says she left him in 2005 when she allegedly discovered him being unfaithful, but returned to him when she fell pregnant a second time.
In 2006 she found a print-out of Garrett’s online dating profile in their letter box and assumed it was put there by an angry woman.
It listed him as divorced and Garrett had asked neighbour Helen Wilkinson to grab it before Saane found it, Wilkinson says.
On Tuesday Saane says she returned to the home to gather her belongings. She says Garrett yelled at her, and forced her to leave when she was only half way through packing.
She said the ordeal had been “hard” so far.
“Maybe I was stupid to hang around there but most of the time I was there because of the kids but this year I just had enough.”
Helen Wilkinson has known the couple for around five years and witnessed Garrett’s treatment of his wife, calling him “the most disliked person in Kaukapakapa”.
“He calls her an effing native, eff off back to your tribe,” she said.
A Howick woman, who met Garrett on an internet dating site, revealed he tried to woo her with a McDonald’s dinner and a private viewing of the film Casablanca.
The married father-of-two met the woman, who declined to be named, through nzdating.com shortly after returning from Tonga in 2003.
He later bombarded her with text messages and emails through the dating site.
“The guy has got no respect for females,” she said.
So [deleted, no speculation on aliases please – r0b] is David Garrett.
That explains a lot…
You call it racism, spousal abuse, lying and cheating.
I call it ‘an individual maximising his utility’.
Which ACT did not disapprove of. Explains a lot about the no limits ACT.
An article from 2011? Wow, someone has their finger on the pulse!
Last of the big spenders! 🙂
Hmmmmm I thought posts outing people’s real names were verboten. I don’t see why the thoroughly dislikeable should be an exception.
[Agreed, fixed, be patient if it takes moderators a while to see these things. If it doesn’t get caught in the spam filter we don’t see it unless we happen to read a thread. – r0b]
What’s one more identity? He has so many.
Joking aside DoS has a point.
Garrett states; effing native, eff off back to your tribe
labours a joke (432) Says:
June 29th, 2012 at 3:43 pm
file 1026 ; fuckin scum natives.
[DPF: 20 demerits]
labours a joke (432) Says:
June 29th, 2012 at 3:43 pm
file 1026 ; fuckin scum natives.
[DPF: 20 demerits]
It’s ok if they are enemies of the people ie righties.
More obscenity from ACC. Does “Psychology” even qualify as a science these days?
ACC Code of Claimants’ Rights:
http://www.acc.co.nz/making-a-claim/what-if-i-have-problems-with-a-claim/eci0046
http://www.acc.co.nz/PRD_EXT_CSMP/groups/external_communications/documents/publications_promotion/wim2_059599.pdf
My bold.
Almost as good as the Soviet constitution under Stalin.
In 2014, it will be just as good.
Personally, I hope not! Freud = fraud, and the rest is equally meaningless. (I’ve had the misfortune of studying psychology AND educational pyschology.)
When it comes to any psychological tests that ACC are asking claimants to do, ACC would have to be sure of the following:
1. Reliability of the test.
2. Validity of the test.
3. That an assessor’s report was based on the information gained from psychological testing.
I note in my report dated September 2009 for a sensitive claim that psychological testing was not mentioned as a source in the report. I think that one test was given prior to the two hour assessment and another test was given after the assessment. I am not sure if the test was in two parts or two different tests. I did not expect to have testing shoved in my face and after the assessment all I wanted to do was to go home and ground myself because I had the most intense flash backs I’d had in 42 years. (I felt like I had to pick up my spilled guts off the floor when I left). The assessor rang me two weeks later and the call lasted 60 minutes.
Readers may care to spare a thought for the family of a great union organiser, Garth Malpas, who has left us way too young. A mighty totara has fallen.
National Geographic on fossil fuel subsidies.
http://newsletters.nationalgeographic.com/PS!Prh9S400HLMFBgIAAAAGCgFICgkxMTQ1NjIwMzEKCjMwMDQwNjUxNzQJAG69ogoJNzE5NjY0NTk5BQ==
Will the mainstream conservative media are convinced.
When even the conservative New Zealand prints a large supplement dedicated to the danger of climate change and inserts it every copy then you know things are bad.
When Glynn Dwyer follows this up with a major opinion piece in his Hereld column calling for ecocide to become a crime beside genocide, and it gets published, then you know that things are not just bad, they are very bad.
There is now no longer any excuse for our government to continue expanding the deadly and polluting coal industry, or the reckless deep sea oil exploration, or fracking.
Because everybody knows……
Everybody knows that deep sea oil wells leak
Everybody knows that the government lies
Everyone has this hollow feeling
If they keep on drilling the climate dies
Everybody knows
Everybody knows this fight is fixed
It’s all about keeping the poor, poor and the rich, rich
Everybody knows
Everyone knows a plague is coming
Everyone knows that it’s moving fast
Everybody knows that a temperate climate
Will become an artifact of the past
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that we’re in trouble
Everyone knows that it’s coming apart
Take one look before it blows
Everybody knows
(Apologies to Leonard Cohen)
National Geographic on fossil fuel subsidies.
http://newsletters.nationalgeographic.com/PS!Prh9S400HLMFBgIAAAAGCgFICgkxMTQ1NjIwMzEKCjMwMDQwNjUxNzQJAG69ogoJNzE5NjY0NTk5BQ==
Will the mainstream conservative media are convinced.
When even the conservative New Zealand Herald prints a large supplement dedicated to the danger of climate change and inserts it every copy then you know things are bad.
When Glynn Dwyer follows this up with a major opinion piece in his Hereld column calling for ecocide to become a crime beside genocide, and it gets published, then you know that things are not just bad, they are very bad.
There is now no longer any excuse for our government to continue expanding the deadly and polluting coal industry, or the reckless deep sea oil exploration, or fracking.
Because everybody knows……
Everybody knows that deep sea oil wells leak
Everybody knows that the government lies
Everyone has this hollow feeling
if they keep on drilling the climate dies
Everybody knows
Everybody knows this fight is fixed
It’s all about keeping the poor, poor and the rich, rich
Everybody knows
Everyone knows a plague is coming
Everyone knows that it’s moving fast
Everybody knows that a temperate climate
Will become an artifact of the past
Everybody knows
Everybocy knows that we’re in trouble
Everyone knows that it’s coming apart
Take one look before it blows
Everybody knows
(Apologies to Leonard Cohen)
I thought I read recently on this site that Fracking was actually the safer option as other carbon capture technology etc was more prone to causing earthquakes and pollution. And the danger to the water table in example cases are possibly due to previous drilling not recent fracking.
God forbid their answer is to tax everyone more, way to solve a problem.
Since when is fracking a carbon capture technology?
I think the point on the comment a few days ago was fracking didn’t need to use carbon capture where as the other strategies would need to use it to have the same green gas emissions. And carbon capture has worse effects on water table and more prone to provoking earthquakes.
Again I’ve heard worse argument against fraking.
I can’t really accept it as a logical resource gatherer being that it uses toxic chemicals on the land, can bring radioactive/heavy metals to the surface in flowback, possible methane releases. And that’s not including the contaminated water that has to go somewhere.
The tests from ’95 in NZ were on the news the other day and the companies involved pumped it into rivers without the councils even being aware, they had carte blanche.
But it would be interesting to hear a supporters argument
You don’t seem to know what fracking is.
Fracking is “hydraulic fracturing” of gas and oil wells to extract more gas and oil from the same well. It is precisely the opposite of carbon capture / sequestration.
CO2 is pumped into depleting oil fields to maintain pressure at the wells.
I never thought it was carbon capture. I am referring to a comment a few days ago on here that it was safer than other oil & gas options which proposed using carbon storage, maybe as colonial viper has mentioning. But wouldn’t they do the same thing once the fracked wells began depleting aswel?
I am aware what fracking itself is, how would I comment of the various effects on environment otherwise?
My comment is based on a previous comment that wasn’t referenced. I want to know if it was just trolling or shilling.
The purpose is certainly not carbon capture, the technique is used to access more hydrocarbons from under the ground. Any carbon capturing which goes on is incidental.
Also I am not sure where the CO2 used is originally sourced from.
The drilling companies recover as much of the pressurised CO2 from the well as they can to reuse.
So do you mean carbon is a Non issue in fracking anyway and it is worse environmentally in comparrison to other extraction techniques that could be used in the same areas?
RWNJs get their freak on.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201206280004
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2900462/posts
https://twitter.com/SarahPalinUSA
https://twitter.com/#!/search/realtime/sleeping%20giant
The entire “Obamacare” debacle is an object lesson.
Almost all civilised outsiders who look at the US system, that is both absurdly expensive and deeply ineffective, wonder that the American people tolerate it. Yet huge numbers of Americans are willing to not just defend it, but hold it up as some kind of ideal… and are genuinely distressed that this long, long overdue reform is proceeding. (However flawed, compromised and half-arsed it is.)
This from the same nation where some 45% of the population now believe in creationism and that the earth is only 6000 years old or some such idiocy. Or that so many of them think we can pump endless CO2 into the atmosphere… and so on.
It truly requires us to ask how is it that people delude themselves like this. Is our capacity for critical thinking that weak and fallible? What is it that makes many people so prone to passionately believing self-evident dreck? Do RWNJ’s actually suffer from some kind of brain damage or deficiency?
How many thousands of times on The Standard alone have we seen a left wing position, backed by references and reasoned argument… countered by brain-dead sloganeering, history re-writing or plain obdurate refusal to engage facts from the right?
It’s so temptingly easy to label RWNJ’s, as felix just has, “evil annoying idiot fucks”. Because that is the response they seem to so richly deserve. But it doesn’t make them go away, it doesn’t improve their mental functioning, it doesn’t seem to prompt any critical self-reflection or positive response. They just come back droning the same slogans over and over.
Does anything work? What is the correct response to fools?
Reading Kunstlers column on the daily life of Americans is illuminating: he also questions the national sanity. He also raises the question of who the common Joe will blame and what he is likely to do when the “emperors clothes” are revealed?
The collective western mind encourages control in all things; even things that can’t be controlled. From eagerness for control comes all things unnecessary.
“The collective western mind encourages control in all things…”
Chris Mooney.
Further reading, also from Chris Mooney:
Conservatives Attack Scientific Findings About Why They Hate Science (Helping to Confirm the Science) goes into a lot more detail and points out that:
“Liberals push the envelope, and err on the side of too much open-mindedness; conservatives pull us back again, and err on the side of too much closure. It could be a productive relationship.”
Interesting stuff there KTH.
There are links within links on that link. To follow them opens up a whole world of science, that gets quite challenging – for me anyway. In one podcast Johnathan Haidt outlines the discussion of right/wrong/morals between libs/republicans (that is conveniently played out in the posts below this one.). From Haidt’s explanation, Chris Mooney then highlights that central to the problem is the use of language, and more importantly, how the comprehension of certain words, phrases and concepts set off intuitive triggers for moral responses – on both sides.
So from their point of view, the question is not so much, “why are they like that”, but “why do they present it wrong”. Which is pretty hard to swallow from a position of oppositon and even more difficult to accept once you move from the theoretical of what could happen to the actual results of policy in real life; where any attempt on abstract agreement is then interpreted as concrete consent to anything, anytime.
In most left/right discussions you have the obvious moral reactions set off by intuitive triggers. Then you have the type of person that says “the middle ground is best”, while having no idea what is actually middle ground; and finally you have the new ground discussed by Haidt/Mooney which is they say is the actual middle ground, where left and right meet for inclusive harmonic effect.
The difficulty is that to reach that point means using a language as yet undiscovered, to discuss transformative concepts that while they presently exist, cannot yet be articulated; and overall, require an evolutionary leap within politics and social life. They seem to point towards an approaching intellectual “cusp”.
In the podcast itself, the language will be interpreted as “enabling and sympathetic to the right” by the people of the left, and if you are of the right, “close, but somewhat untrustworthy”. It’s worth a listen, as Haidt covers a huge amount of ground including religion, morals, politics, psychology, evolution, historical group behaviours, human development… and does it in a way that will insults and outrage nearly everyone! Which is probably an indicator of a fairly good scientist.
http://traffic.libsyn.com/pointofinquiry/POI_2012_03_19_Jonathan_Haidt.mp3
(Be patient, takes about 4 minutes to download and runs approx 20minutes.)
At the risk of being called a RWNJ here is my take on it.
First of all I am in favour of socialised health care and think that that is a sign of civilised behaviour if… and that is a big if, the population can rely on it’s functioning as a truly social utility and not as the recent revelations from within ACC have shown, a state funded profit making entity designed to give minimal care and throw people out who are relying on it’s functioning as a social utility to serve the bottom line.
There are serious problems with the Obama care program too.
First of all it will be and obligatory tax increase of some $ 15.000 annually for Americans, of whom a 100 million are out of work and millions of whom simply have no income, who could forced to pay as the condition is that if they refuse to take out the insurance it will be punished by a tax equivalent to the insurance premium.
The law was written by the same players who run the entire medical insurance industry and for them this is just great as it is a guaranteed income.
There is a fear that the government will be granted life and death powers as they enforce austerity on their population and that this is not a benign healthcare program but in fact a Eugenics program and with more and more army on the streets, the government engaging in more and more wars and 400 FEMA camps waiting in the wings who can blame them?
Especially as a top doctor in the UK has recently come out with the news that the NHS kills about a 130.000 elderly patients a year because they are difficult or keep a bed occupied needed for someone younger.
The problem is not the pigheaded stupidity of the American population (which is considerable I know) but the fact that they have absolutely no confidence in their government any more.
They see the banking bail outs, the injustice as the banksters get away with crime after crime while the little people get locked up for years for smoking pot, the wars, the Corporate take over of their government and they don’t want a bar of it.
(I just had to go through a check in procedure because I had used a phrase which triggered a spam check.
Wonder what that was?)
The problem is not the pigheaded stupidity of the American population (which is considerable I know) but the fact that they have absolutely no confidence in their government any more.
That’s not an unreasonable position. But the correct answer to a broken government is to fix it.
Just trashing it is …. pigheaded stupid.
The American Government like ours and that of most European countries is no longer in the hands of the population but in the hands of Corporates, banksters and the .1%. Nothing short of a revolution will fix that.
I got the CAPTCHA the other day because I used the word “p.en1s”, maybe lprent has changed something so that comments over 100 words go there too…??
Sorry – been down with the flu (my traditional response to project completion 🙂 ).
There are some mechanisms used as part of the anti-spam that are purely automatic. In Tev’s case it sounds like she caught the cloudflare which as well as getting some of the overseas load off our server added a new layer of checks. ‘captcha’ screen is different from the usual recaptcha that it pops up when the akismet picks up something it thinks is suspicious.
I’ll be starting to de-clutter some of the bugs starting this week. Part of that will be to customize the captcha screens so that it should be obvious what layer caught people – in particular those who have been moderated automatically by general defence mechanisms rather than by the moderators.
As most people commenting are probably aware, we don’t require that people log in or have valid e-mail addresses. Instead we use a mixture of automatic technical and manual means to exclude unwanted commentators. The technical means will pop up captchas when they are unsure and they want you to verify that you are a human. If it is at the akismet level then it currently holds it for moderation by a human.
If it just puts you directly in moderation without a captcha then you have hit one of the manual moderations where we’re targeting someone or something. But sometimes that is simply because of a phrase or IP overlap. Moderation tends to get done as soon as a moderator is online. Usually rapidly – but sometimes many hours.
If it disappears silently then you’ve discovered that we have you in spam. Those usually wait for me to have a look at them. These days we seldom get actual humans in spam apart from someone who has recently picked up a permanent ban.
BTW: The cloudflare screen over the last 7 days has had 6% of the visitors fail its captcha type validation. Obviously not too many users have caught it or I’d be seeing widespread moaning (it has been on since June 13)… It has reduced the overseas traffic at our server down to a trickle because most it was spam or other irritating malware attempts. Breakdown on their stats looks like this for everything since startup with them..
650,803 Page views
365,336 from regular traffic
182,548 from crawlers/bots
102,919 from threats
50,425 Unique visitors
370 Unique crawlers
5,824 Unique threats
2,747,446 requests saved by CloudFlare
3,976,936 total requests
36.3 GB bandwidth saved by CloudFlare
121.3 GB total bandwidth
Mostly it is providing the static parts of the site from caches to queries. Since those are mostly cached by the client side as well, most of the queries consist of asking if a image or css or javascript file is still valid. That is why it reduced the requests down by far more than the actual bandwidth.
Looks like it is doing its job…
Good health is amongs’t those primary things in Maslow’s hierarchy, it concerns every person rich or poor. We are all subject to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune with regard to health.
Being a primary need (as opposed to want) healthcare provision is a really good indicator of the state of the community / polity. It is my contention that when you make healthcare affordable to only those able to pay you are saying “those who cannot pay” are not part of our community / polity. The corollary is “those who can pay are the only people in our community / polity who belong”. No money, no rights.
Ability to pay is a justification by those who have money for political / community / social exclusion of the poor. In the US if you have no money you have no say, you are not even a person. You may receive the largess or charity of those who have, but for that you are supposed to be thankful. This is the thinking behind Ryall and his political bed fellows.
I just had the same experience. Psychology? That’s what I wrote about…
In reply to Redlogix, this from the Live Science article Low IQ & Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice:
Edit: that is in specific reference to strategies to combat right-wing attitudes to other ethnic groups, but I expect it’s applicable to other situations.
Why do so many people want to emigrate there? But, you must be right of course, it’s a hell- hole.
This is, apparently, the CNN headlines before and after a correction.
Why do I get the distinct impression that the first was written before the court ruling?
Barry Goldwater.
I reckon Gerry Browlee has pretty much turned himself into a joke. Suggesting that people should not inhabit red zone houses and instead pay squillions to selfish landlords or live in cars and tents etc is just plain dumb.
Get this… there are countless absolutely fine houses in the red zone. Remember that these areas are zoned red becuase of land damage, NOT because of house damage. Of course many are wrecked and many are broken but there are even more many that are absolutely fine. Warm, sheltered, safe.
Why the fuck does the bozo not want people to inhabit them? I betcha it will be for other reasons – such as cause him political problems in trying to get the people out later. It will be all about that, and his political situation.
Brownlee deserves complete contempty for this and people will be moving in and telling him to shove a broken house up his f%#@ing fat arse. Prick.
Oh, and btw, big day in Chch for final land zone announcements on the port hills. Many chewed fingernails today….
” I betcha it will be for other reasons – such as cause him political problems in trying to get the people out later.”
What’s the long term plan for all the ‘broken land’? Can’t have people being incovenient about it v.
I heard the figure of $1000 a week is being charged by some landlords – Radio NZ this morning. As I was getting ready to leave, I didn’t hear the rest, but wish I had…
landlords are having auctions with the highest bidder winning.
grotesque.
Big trougher tells a big group of troughers that all beneficiaries should be drug tested, everybody laughs and claps. Bill English at a meeting of Federated Farmers members.
Gotta love Rick Santorum: Supreme court upholds Obamacare, and here’s his response.
“President Obama believes he is above the law, entitled to abusing his power to get what he wants, and willing to violate the constitution and the oath he was sworn to uphold,” said former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum.
Actually Rick I think you are reading from the speech you wrote for if Obama LOST in the supreme court?
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10816249
Barclays bank admits fraudulent behaviour all other major international banks have done the same and will be taken courts in various countries by govts and private investors.
A trillion dollars worth of fines and reparation is expected.
ShonKey type traders have been at the heart o this problem.
Maybe our PM might have to face court action.
The dates of the financial manipulation by banks are 2005-2009. So it was after Key’s time as a finance trader.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/markets/news/article.cfm?c_id=62&objectid=10816268
Carol, don’t you suspect just a little that the behaviors between the dates mentioned are the same as they were before and after? Was Key as straight trader? Who knows, I heard rumours that on local trading floors his team lost a packet a couple of times and it all got hushed up.
On the issue of financial manipulation it seems clear that the whole finance industry in the major exchanges were committing fraudulent / larcenous acts. Unfortunately the only government to prosecute bankers to date has been Iceland. Since walking away from “debts” their economy has recovered splendidly. Removing cancers does the body a pile of good.
Oh, highly likely, Bored. But Key’s time frame in the business is not the period currently being investigated. So I don’t expect Key to be investigated.
carol not true these corrupt practices began in the mid 1990’s’
BBC world news overnight.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10816280
So not only does NZ look increasingly servile to the USA, we are now having much needed (and much touted) business opportunities being dissuaded from coming here.
MegaUpload carried 4% of net traffic, that is a big big business, so when one of its owners tells the world don’t come here to open an IT business, people will listen.
Well done to the Solicitor and Attourney Generals, well done, clap clap clap
Wonder if the US will lend us Mickey Mouse 😉
From that Herald articles:
I’d like to know what happened to the Ao Cafe forum that got taken down as part of the Tuhoe raids and has never been seen since. Most of what was on that website had nothing to do with the case.
Saw Chester Borrows on Backbenches the other night saying he was definitely going to buy himself some shares in Mighty River Power.
I assume other MPs intend to do the same (except of course John Key who has no idea what he owns and definitely doesn’t spend his time trading stocks, bonds and currency, no sir he’s far too busy looking after your interests which is how he became so wealthy, by putting the public first, it’s just his nature).
How does this work in terms of the requirement to remove themselves from conflicts of interest? It seems that Ministers are introducing legislation from which they explicitly intend to benefit personally, and MPs are voting in favour of it, also with the intent to benefit personally from the bill’s passing.
I realise that John Key doesn’t really understand what a conflict of interest is, or at least he pretends he doesn’t. (Actually I think he sees dishonesty as simply a tool or a skill like any other, and I don’t believe he makes any sort of moral value judgment either way).
But he often justifies an obvious conflict of interest by saying that if the conflicted party didn’t actually make any gain, and you can’t definitively prove that they intended to gain, then no no harm no foul. It’s a spurious argument at best but he seems to get away with it to an extent.
This one seems much clearer though. I can’t see a way to argue that someone is buying shares without intending to gain.
What have I missed?
Also saw Burrows say that on BBs – but think I read something somewhere a few days ago that Ministers (or all MPs), their families, staff etc would be prohibited from buying shares but unfortunately cannot remember where I read it and haven’t got time to research it right now. Perhaps someone else has a better memory and/or links.
I recall seeing the same. I believe it was a comment on The Standard.
I understand that all Kiwisaver Managers will take up as many shares as they can, as they consider that they are a good long term investment, for their members.
And what?
fartrain so their not good enough for for the govt to hold on to
Garrett said being locked up by police was “very difficult to cope with”
David Garrett made “NO OPOLOGY” to the family after been caught stealing.
A brother of the dead child said that Mr Garrett was the “lowest of the low”
The brother of the dead boy told the Herald: “How much lower can you go? I know damn well if my father was alive, being a Scotsman, he would have gone after him, I would think.”
He said he would probably “lose his cool” if he came face to face with Mr Garrett.
His 94-year-old mother was “disgusted over the whole thing”, he said.
He was not aware of any apology that had come from Mr Garrett, but thought his mother would be expecting one.
“Surely the guy has got the balls to stand up and say, ‘I did something wrong’. And he didn’t do that.”
The man said he was about 16 when his 2-year-old brother was admitted to hospital after contracting a virus infection. Death came suddenly.
He described his young brother as “a real bubbly little kid”, and his death as a “hell of a shock” to the family.
Another brother said that as far as he knew, no one in his family had received an apology, let alone an explanation, from Mr Garrett.
“It’s quite alarming. I didn’t think that sort of thing was happening here. It’s very hard to believe that a person could consider taking the identity of a baby,” he said.
In the court documents, the deceased child’s mother said the identity theft caused her considerable stress and anxiety, and what Mr Garrett did was “akin to stealing from a grave”.
Court documents reveal Mr Garrett visited a cemetery in New Plymouth in 1984 and found the gravestone of the boy, whose birthdate was close to his own.
He copied the details, obtained the child’s birth certificate, filled out a passport application form and photographed himself in a disguise which included dyed hair and glasses.
Garrett gave a fake postal address in Christchurch on his application form and supplied a fake reference of another offender: It was, as with many crimes, a series of deliberate steps.”
The family of the dead child whose identity was stolen “have effectively been gagged for years by a suppression order while they have to listen to Mr Garrett pontificating about being opposed to suppression orders, being in favour of openness, being in favour of the rights of victims”.
Garrett having first denied the allegation of stealing to police.
Garrett said being locked up by police was “very difficult to cope with”. “PUSSY”
Garrett’s lawyer, Gary Gotlieb, told the judge that Garrett had an anxiety disorder and may have lost his legal practising certificate if he was convicted.
He had an anxiety depressive condition and was taking medication at the time of appearing in court.
Garrett asked to keep his identity secret to “maintain his reputation”.
FYI He isn’t an MP anymore. What is your point?
That he’s a fucking hypocrite with honesty, criminality and stability issues.
Yesterday the vote to support a ban against Depleted Uranium was stalemated because Pita Sharples couldn’t be bothered to show up.
Here is a link to several video’s you might want to watch on the subject and if you feel that this is something you want to share with the people who voted against the ban I suggest you download them and send them to these idiots.
What happened with that bill is a disgraceful for NZ politics, and NZ as a country.
What we have said is that we endorse the use of DU, as a weapon to destroy human beings, animal, and the environment!
NZ via the NACT, and the Maori, have allowed this!
Even Dunne managed to vote in favour of the bill, by looks of it
SHAME!
Sharples was quite reasonably at a funeral – it was well reported. What it does show is that there should be some way of a proxy vote being cast in those circumstances – or was it administrative incompetence by his party that the absence was not suitably processed?
Dunne was at a funeral when the MOM bill was passed…he managed to have a proxy vote for him…
Is Sharples lazy or disorganised? he has a Doctorate ? hmmm…
Why are taxpayers continuing to have to pay his overgenerous salary and baubles?
baubles? we have moved from a lazy Sharples to a drunken lying Winston?
Keep being scared of Winston. Key is outmatched.
only before 11 am …. after that Winston is too drunk to speak.
Even drunk he can still enunciate more clearly than Key.
And think more clearly.
And that’s if Key’s sober.
It was a real shame that the bill didn’t get through, but as others have pointed out Sharples was absent due to a very important funeral.
Phil Twyford has blogged on the situation at Red Alert entitled Turning Up. As his post is reasonably short, here it is in full.
Posted by Phil Twyford on June 28th, 2012
It was disappointing to see my Depleted Uranium Prohibition Bill go down last night. With a 60-60 vote it doesn’t proceed.
And it was a shame that although support from Labour, the Greens, NZ First, Maori Party, Mana, and United Future should have delivered a one vote majority, the Maori Party cast only two votes instead of their full three. The party has explained that Pita Sharples was away at the tangi of Hoani Waititi but casting only two votes meant they can only have had one of their three MPs in the House. Rules allow three votes if they have two or three of their MPs in the House, and two votes if only one is present.
Pita Sharples’ office has since apologised to me, saying they didnt realise the vote would be so tight. I appreciate that, but I did email their Whip and his assistant yesterday to say that we were relying on them voting their full quota to deliver the bill majority support.
First rule of democracy: you have to turn up.
I found the explanation re the number of votes the Maori Party can cast depending on the number of their MPs in the House of particular interest as this obviously also affected their voting numbers etc on various stages of the MOM Bill – for example, they only cast two votes at the second reading stage leading to the 61 for vs 59 votes against.
Turia and Sharples were noticable by their absence in the House throughout the passage of the MOM Bill (including in Question Time and other debates). The lack of participation by the Maori Party in any of the debates on the bill was highly noticable particularly in the debates on the sections of the bill relating to Treaty issues. Flavell at least put out a news release on the day the Bill was going through its second reading reiterating that the Maori Party would be opposing the Bill and he was occasionally in the House during its passage, but IIRC he never spoke or sought to take a call.
What is so openly distubing about the past few bills alone (MOM, DU), is the blatantness of those who have sold out. The NATO sign up, was the reason the NACT voted aginst the DU bill.
So now NZ can’t even get a bill passed to illustrate our position agains the use of weaponised nuclear waste byproducts!
The current governnent supports/endorses the use of these weapons on humanity by NATO!
I missed a couple of lines from the NZ herald about “David Garrett made “NO OPOLOGY” to the family after been caught stealing,.”
Garrett said and he never used the passport. “AFTER” it expired, he destroyed it.
The dead boy’s sister was also quoted.
“The deeply cruel, shameful and malicious manner in acquiring such details has caused deep distress for the entire family, especially for my elderly mother, to be subjected to further trauma and pain in the memory of her beloved infant son and our darling little brother’s name.
so what’s with the regurgitation of the garrett chronicles?
The guy’s a tory hypocritical fuckwit, but he’s yesterday’s tory hypocritical fuckwit. Why bring it up again now?
So why did the news media advise the family involved. If they hadn’t done that then the family would have been fine. But better to get some tears on television to get the ratings up and how they “care”. Professional news media RIP.
Because, The guy’s a tory hypocritical fuckwit,
Has he done anything recently that I missed?
e.g. why didn’t you just start with Adams, Amy and go through to Young, Jonathan?
This is recently, or do you wish to forget? human rights.
29 June 2012 at 6:13 am
“David Garrett” Alias “[deleted, no speculation on aliases please – r0b]”, “the most disliked person in Kaukapakapa”.
David Garrett’s locked his wife and two children aged six and 11 out of the family home in west Auckland.
Um, no, that story was last year.
And please use the reply button when replying to people – makes following a thread so much easier.
End of last year
Meh.
I just figure that unless something more has come to light in the past few days there are bigger tory swine in front of him in the queue.
What ever
Just another opportunity to vent some hate ay?
That being said, I find it very interesting! 🙂
Oh dear, it seems that even the incompetent Bill English is starting to get worried by his colleagues incompetence.
And the casino deal that sells our law to SkyCity is costing a bomb too:
So, pay to sell our law to SkyCity while removing support from other businesses.
By removing 20,000 beneficiaries from the books over five years, National think they’ll save $8billion dollars. They have a quarter of that money put aside for selling laws to the … only bidder. New longterm jobs from an additional Sky City business? Not quite 5000. Not even a thousand. Not even 500.
I dunno, but unless you’re a fraudster or suffering from a mental illness, you’d have to do some serious mental gymnastics to support these guys and consider yourself a competent professional.
???
20k beneficiaries = $8bil over 5 years, or $400000 per beneficiary?
That’s $80k per year per beneficiary, if all 20,000 are kicked tomorrow.
I’m not sure that those numbers are correct.
There would be job cuts at Winz once the 20,000 are off the books, the $8billion must include these savings?
Even if the beneficiaries were on an average of $40kp.a., that’s still around one fulltime staff member per beneficiary. I’m not sure even the national party believe that.
And of course it works the other way – a 50,000 increase in beneficiary numbers means actually 100,000 more unemployed people, but 50,000 got employed to pay the benefits of the other lot.
Something stinks in the numbers, but I don’t know enough to know what.
Yes theres some weird numbers being plucked out of the air in the usual National style. Maybe they have included the income tax from the 20k in new employment.
With the NactUf mismanagement taking place its more like there will be 20k extra homeless living on the streets.
Cuts to beneficiaries means cuts to money flowing into local communities, which means more economic stagnation and decline.
And another nail in the coffin for the reason for shareholders.
Now all we need is a researched reason to get rid of the directors…
And this was done because the IRS said that performance pay would be taxed at a lesser rate than a salary,
Hence all these Wall St types with $250K pa pay packages – but who earn millions annually in bonuses. Its a rort in multiple ways.
Many directors are paid way over the top for what they do. I wouldn’t mind too much if it was worth it to the companies but it demonstrably isn’t and some of the guys seem to be a waste of space.
Banksters banksters banksters………flamenco flamenco flamenco…dont mess with the Spanish!
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/22/us-spain-banks-protests-idUSBRE85L0WO20120622?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews&rpc=69
latest news more scandal in uk banks as they have now been caught misleading small business’s into buying hedging
the uk has slid further in to recession
so much for Camorons austerity
And here in New Saleland …
a desperate 2014-15 budget surplus at all cost please ! 🙂
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/7194273/Desperate-measures-to-protect-surplus
(btw, what is this “protect” surplus stuff???)
surplus of BS
Less with less << Apparently a direct quote.
DTB that’s brains their referring to.
Enemies within hurtful to ‘100% NZ brand’ Brand by Rob Hosking in NBR, Thursday June 28, 2012
The “100% Pure New Zealand” brand – meant to promote tourism but extended for political reasons – is now being used to hurt New Zealand, Trade Minister Tim Groser says.
Mr Groser told a Wellington Employers Chamber of Commerce function today the brand, begun in mid-1999 by Tourism New Zealand, was now being used to hurt this country.
“Our enemies, who are internal, will find one cow in one stream and feed it back to environmental activists in the developed world to be used to try to exclude New Zealand’s products and services in the ludicrous belief that this will somehow help New Zealand.”
The 100% brand was created to market the New Zealand tourism experience “and it has been deliberately manipulated in this political space”, Mr Groser says.
The comments came in response to questions about whether New Zealand could grow more “global brands” such as Fonterra, and what could be done to develop such brands.
Mr Groser says development of such brands might be possible but size and the nature of New Zealand ‘s economic strengths makes their development difficult. While some may eventuate, he says New Zealand is more likely to develop its own brand as a country, and also to have its products as part of other international brands.
Development of niche industries, such as making specialist parts of international brands, is a more likely productive path.
“I cannot believe you can build many brands at a commercial level – there will be one or two of them who may do it. But we are just too small an economy.
“Our future lies not in creating serious brands, although that is certainly an option for Fonterra.
“But they will tell you some of the facile stuff you read about in the newspapers is just so ill-informed about the reality of what it takes to build a brand.
“The reality is the way forward is to be part of the supply chain of a company that has a global brand. It’s about finding a niche in the supply chain of something that may be a global brand.”
Gawd, I used to think that Groser was not so bad a tory …
dopey double dipsy should have him tested.
Last Saturday David Cunliffe, the MP for New Lynn who won the old Titirangi Seat from the Nats, gave a very intelligent, insightful and stimulating speech on the Environment and the Economy.
Within a week this little man, who tries (and fails) every election to un-seat Cunliffe, comes out with this gibberish.
What were they serving at the Chamber function?
He was made Climate Minsiter only a few months ago after Nick Smith was shafted by Collins.
This speech will do more harm to New Zealand’s Brand reputation than any number of environmentalists. He is a disgrace. Put him back on a plane to Geneva. He was harmless and merry there.
Cunliffe’s speech is to be found here…..
http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/david-cunliffe/the-dolphin-and-the-dole-queue/10150912334027798
the jerk who twice promised a brighter future for the country – and thinks he’s achieved it.
“The reality is the way forward is to be part of the supply chain of a company that has a global brand”
Ambitious for New Zealand *sigh*
You got it in one, Rosy.
I can’t put my fingrt on it: why do Natz have so little confidence in the people of New Zealand.
Hope and Confidence in our People, a Sense of Ambition for the Country should be the only reason a politician gets out of bed in the morning.
This lot are are weird. They are actually “Loosers” ….a word I normally hate, but it is the only one that comes to mind when I see Groser’s attitude and this Natz frontbench (and idiotbench).
It’s not just the nats.
Hope and Confidence in our People, a Sense of Ambition for the Country should be the only reason a politician gets out of bed in the morning.
Let me re-phrase that:
Hope and confidence in ourselves (most of us Nats got private school educations remember), a sense of personal ambition and privileged status is what gets us out of bed in the morning.
There’s your answer.
More like *Ambushes* for NZ.
.
No, Tim, you are the “enemy within”. Since coming to power, the John Key National Ltd™ government:
– has been caught out repeatedly lying in the run up to and during the election campaign about its real intentions in relation to the environment
– celebrated the opening of the foreign-owned Pike River Coal Ltd mine on DOC land adjacent to the Paparoa National Park from which 1 megatonne of coal will be extracted per year for the next 20 years – Pike River Coal Ltd has announced that it has found additional coal in the national park
– removed a proposed efficiency standard (MEPS) on incandescent lightbulbs
– reversed a moratorium on building new gas/oil/coal power stations
– removed the bio fuel subsidy
-scrapped the scheme that would have penalised imported vehicles producing high emissions
– removed regulations for water efficient new housing
– renewed leases on sensitive high country farms which were meant to return to DOC
– reversed restrictions on the freeholding of vast swathes of land on the edge of the Southern Lakes
– arbitrarily excised 400 hectares from the brand new Oteake Conservation Park, including the most important and, ecologically, the rarest part of the new Park, the tussock and shrubland that went right down to the banks of the Manuherikia River, to enable future access to lignite
– said nothing to say in regard to the World Commission on Protected areas of IUCN’s severe criticism of its intention to investigate mineral resources and mining opportunities in protected conservation areas including our three UNESCO World Heritage Sites of Te Wahi Pounamu-South West New Zealand, Tongariro National Park and the Sub Antarctic Islands
– approved two prospecting permit applications lodged by Australian iron-ore giant Fortescue Metals Group subsidiary FMG Pacific lodged in June – areas covered by the two-year permits include an 8204-square-kilometre area of seabed adjoining the west coast from Cape Reinga to the Manukau Harbour and a 3798-square-kilometre prospecting area of land from Cape Reinga to the Kaipara Harbour including Ninety Mile Beach, the west side of the Aupouri Peninsula, Kaitaia and the Hokianga.
– approved an additional prospecting permit for Fortesque Metals in relation to 3568sq km right next door to the Kahurangi National Park where the Heaphy Track is
– was forced to release its Ministry of Economic Development (MED) report under the Official Information Act that proclaims “significant mineral potential” in the Fiordland, Kahurangi and Paparoa national parks – the report said the Waitutu area of the Fiordland National Park had sufficient petroleum reserves to be “worthy” of inclusion in a review of conservation land protected from mining
– secretly granted the minerals industry the right to veto proposed National Park boundaries and permission for any such vetoes to be kept confidential – in spite of recommendations from its own officials against any such a veto
– Minster of Conservation Tim Grosser, on 29 August 2009, called for caring New Zealanders to halt their “emotional hysteria” and recognise that conservation land should be mined for minerals and went on to say “Mining in a modern, technological way can have a negligible effect”
– Associate Minister of Conservation Kate Wilkinson, in an interview in “Canterbury Farming” rubished her own department, DOC, suggesting it was incapable of looking after the high country reserves and parks under its control
– gutted the home insulation scheme
– pulled $300 million out of public transport, walking and cycling schemes and added it to a pot of $2 billion to ‘upgrade’ state highways
– changed the law to provide billions of dollar in subsidies for polluters via the ETS casino which is now a target for scamming by international criminals
– begun a process of gutting the Resource Management Act to make it difficult/impossible for the public to lodge appeals against developers
– removed the ability of Auckland to introduce a fuel levy to fund planned public transport upgrades
– left electrification of the national rail network up in the air without promised funding commitments
– removed the Ministry for the Environment’s programme to make Government Departments ‘carbon neutral’
– removed funding for public tv advertising on sustainability and energy efficiency
– pulled funding for small-town public litter bin recycling schemes
– cabinet ministers expressing public support the bulldozing of Fiordland
– reduced Department of Conservation funding by about $50 million over three years
– canceled funding for the internationally acclaimed ‘Enviroschools’ programme
– usurped the democratic role of local Councils of determining policies for their citizens by requiring the abandonment of the efficient and well-established tree protection rules for urban areas
– set about revamping Auckland governance in a way that is likely to greatly reduce the ‘Environmental Watchdog’ role of the the current Regional Council
– removed Auckland’s metropolitan limits and opened the gateway for unfettered urban sprawl
– defended internationally the importation of rain-forest-wrecking palm kernel and stood silent while Federated Farmers called Greenpeace “terrorists”
– stood silent while Godfrey Bloom, a Member of the European Parliament and infamous Climate Change Denialist, publicly rejoiced in the 1985 bombing of the Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior – who was doing so while standing on a dock next to the replacement vessel
– took a 0% emissions reduction target to Copenhagen. Yes, seriously, that isn’t a misprint – that was the lower bound of their negotiation platform – then missed the 01/02/10 deadline for commitment to action it had agreed to – meanwhile 55 of the 80 countries which attended did make the deadline
– secretly cancelled the internationally recognised scheme for the mandatory labelling of exotic woods to ensure the timber has not been taken from rain forests in direct contradiction of its own statements made at the 13th World Forestry Congress in Argentina
– supported the Department of Conservation’s decision to open up the pristine Cathedral Cove to an ice-cream franchise
– given the Department of Conservsation $1.7 million to further develop commercial activities on DOC land and started an “off set” plan allowing company’s to damage the conservation estate if they agree to improve land elsewhere – no monitoring regime has been suggested on put in place
– left DOC director-general Al Morrison to announce that DOC is to charge for services that had been free and, to soften the public up to the idea that there will be more “energy generation schemes” operating on DOC land
– taken no action to reduce existing pollution pouring into the Manawatu River and is “leaving it up to industry” to come up with solutions to heal the river which was described by the Cawthorn Institute as “one of the worst polluted in the Western world”
– announced a $1.1 million industry subsidy to kick start marine farming without identifying no-go areas nor putting in place a consultation process for individiuals, communities, and other general coastal users
– blamed New Zealanders after a Japanese whaling ship deliberately smashed into a smaller, more vulnerable craft in the open sea
– was forced to release documents under the Official Information Act which confirm that DOC has “giving up” on ecologically valuable high-country land in the Mackenzie Basin because of funding cuts. The released documents cite “statements made by ministers”, “diminishing funding” and the Government’s new high-country policies as reasons for the changed stance – the comments from DOC were made after Land Information New Zealand (Linz), which manages the tenure review process, ignored DOC’s previous conservation recommendations for the farms
– used former National Party minister and current director of Open Country Cheese – a company convicted of filthy farming practices – Wyatt Creech to head up an enquiry into Environment Canterbury which had been standing up the dairy farmers’ demands for more and more water resources and less and less regulation. The Creech report recommended the Environmental Canterbury be sacked and replaced with government appointments and the voters of Canterbury do without democracy until the water situation had been resolved. The Canterbury area holds 50 percent of New Zealand’s fresh water reserves and 50 percent of the water required for hyrdo energy. The Creech report said Environmental Centerbury put too much focus on the environment.
– Despite international condemnation for knowing next to nothing about the parlous state of the New Zealand fisheries, National Ltd™ bucks international trends, pours more acid on the 100% Pure brand and increases the bluefin tuna quota.
– New Zealand is subject to international criticism for its backing of commericial whaling which National Ltd supports
– Government-owned company Solid Energy runs an essay competition entitled “The role of coal in sustainable energy solutions for New Zealand” for school children. First prize is a trip to New Zealand’s largest coal customer, China.
– Supported access fees for entrance onto DOC walkways – fee introduced following cuts to DOC’s budget.
– New Zealand’s environment would profit from mining national parks, Conservation Minister Kate Wilkinson says.
– Department of Conservation director-general Al Morrison said the conservation estate created “opportunities to do a whole lot for a lot of different people”.
“We’ve got to get away from this idea that somehow we have to protect one-third of New Zealand for a certain constituency and put it in a jar of formaldehyde and leave it.”
– State coal miner Solid Energy could get an extra slice of the action if highly sensitive conservation land is opened to gold, silver and other prospecting.
Energy and Resources Minister Gerry Brownlee said Solid Energy’s work could be widened to include other minerals and resources, or it could form part of a new state-owned enterprise to maximise government returns from any mining.
He did not rule out the company, which produces 80 per cent of New Zealand’s coal, having a role in mining gold and other minerals on Great Barrier Island and other conservation areas being eyed by the Government http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/3519703/Golden-possibility-for-state-coal-miner
http://www.maf.govt.nz/mafnet/press/2010/180310-dairy-clean-streams.htm
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3556402/Letter-pointed-to-Carter-conflict
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10647161
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10648408
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10654369
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/stories/2010/06/28/12480acb875c
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/3972851/Government-may-reduce-local-authorities-powers
. . . and that was just in the first term.
. . . very aspirational indeed. In fact, it would appear the provision of evidence proving that that New Zealand sucks is, in fact, solely down to the efforts of National Ltd® and its big-business sugar daddies
http://forum.forestandbird.org.nz/topic/government-attacks-on-nature-conservation
source for most of stuff in relation to national parks
http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/opinion/2947054/Nats-new-green-leaf-withering-on-the-branch/
National Lied during the election about its intentions in regard to the environment
“National will have policies that reflect the fact that living on a diet of carbon will be increasingly bad – bad for the world and bad for our economy. We will have policy that encourages ‘climate friendly’ choices like windmills, hydro power and tree planting, and reduces the desire for ‘climate unfriendly’ behaviours, like burning coal,” Mr Key promised in May 2007.
“National will provide Kiwis with good signals about the cars that are the best for the environment. We will do this by ensuring our emission and noise standards for new vehicles keep up with international standards and practices and by introducing more sophisticated emissions and noise testing for existing vehicles. If Kiwis have a highly polluting or excessively noisy car, we think they should know about it and have an incentive to do something about it.”
“National proudly shares many of your values: like you, we want to protect our unique native species. We want our children and grandchildren to be able to swim in our rivers and lakes. We believe in sound environmental science. We are committed to high environmental standards.”
http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=-42.172703,171.89378&z=13&t=h&hl=en
If you want to check out the latest “keyhole surgery” zero in on the ridge south & slightly east of Reefton on Google Earth and you’ll see Oceana Golds brand new high tech gold mine.
http://www.youtube.com/user/MandyH111#p/a/u/0/wokmHp2nx6M
video talking about dairy farming in the McKenzie
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/4173795/Dairy-boss-in-calving-strife
Up to 200 calves were induced on Fonterra chairman Sir Henry van der Heyden’s Putaruru farms this calving season in a controversial practice to lift milk production.
The practice, which Sir Henry has not denied, has prompted claims of hypocrisy, as Fonterra says it doesn’t support inductions, and even a call for Sir Henry to stand down while the matter is investigated.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4376344/Mining-disaster-delays-lignite-report
Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment Jan Wright’s report, “Lignite and climate change: The high cost of low grade coal” was meant to be released at midday today.
The report tackles the climate change ramifications of plans by two companies, state-owned miner Solid Energy and L&M Group, to mine lignite in Otago and Southland and convert it to diesel.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4399914/Environmental-fund-irks-Greens
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ministry-for-the-environment/news/article.cfm?o_id=116&objectid=10686869
a third of new zealand lakes have poor water quality
Dr Norman was sceptical of the reasons why the release of the report was delayed. It was to be released last week.
“It is interesting timing that the report’s release was delayed during the World Dairy Summit in Auckland, when the report concludes that pastoral land use is associated with the ecological deterio
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/ministry-for-the-environment/news/article.cfm?o_id=116&objectid=10670507
plastic packaging
37689 (2010). Brendon Burns to the Minister of Health (09 Dec 2010): Has he received any advice on the current quality of drinking water in Reidston; if so, what, if any, actions will he be taking concerning that advice?
Hon Tony Ryall (Minister of Health) replied: Reply due: 17 Dec 2010
http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/PB/Business/QWA/2/5/6/QWA_37689_2010-37689-2010-Brendon-Burns-to-the-Minister-of-Health.htm
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10694471
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10694625
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10697056
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/4512779/Hundreds-of-snapper-wash-up-on-beaches
http://www.aucklandtrains.co.nz/2011/01/19/report-slams-official-waterview-claims/
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/political/67317/govt-to-formalise-reduction-in-greenhouse-gases
http://www.straterra.co.nz/Media%20Releases/2009/Oct#Air%20quality
http://blog.greens.org.nz/2011/01/18/rubbing-salt-water-in-the-wounds/
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10720250
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/politics/news/article.cfm?c_id=280&objectid=10737766
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/environment/news/article.cfm?c_id=39&objectid=10737633
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/5268508/Climate-change-blamed-for-jellyfish-explosion
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/5631048/Slow-down-ETS-implementation-report
http://www.3news.co.nz/Key-keeps-meeting-with-Anadarko-boss-quiet/tabid/370/articleID/233099/Default.aspx
secret meeting with boss of company responsible for massive oil spill and which wants to drill offshore New Zealand
http://www.boprc.govt.nz/news-centre/media-releases/november-2011/dairy-compliance-falling-on-deaf-ears/
Bay of Plenty Regional Council is concerned the importance of environmental compliance is falling on deaf ears for a portion of the farming community. This follows three cases heard in the Tauranga District Court yesterday relating to pollution reaching waterways.
http://blog.greens.org.nz/2011/11/10/dams-will-damn-our-rivers/
Fed Farmers have welcomed National’s $400 million water storage and irrigation investment announced yesterday.
Of course Fed Farmers would. Damming rivers to store water for irrigation means farmers can convert more land to dairying, which is highly profitable at the moment.
But Fed Farmers pretend that damming rivers to store water for irrigation won’t hurt the environment.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/timaru-herald/news/4580805/Dam-blamed-for-river-ruin
Fisherman Ray Brokenshire fears it will be too late in five years to save the Opihi River from the effects of degradation.
The Temuka man is involved in plans to create an Opihi River group and wants concerned people to contact him to discuss river issues, including problems caused by the toxic algae phormidium.
“A lot of us at our age remember what it was like. What we are trying to say is it’s in an awful state.”
An Environment Canterbury (ECan) warning remains in place cautioning people to avoid the river at State Highway 1 because of the risk of exposure to toxins from phormidium, and some anglers will no longer fish in the river because they say the fish are smelly and inedible.
As of yesterday an ECan warning was also in place at Waipopo. A warning at the Saleyards Bridge has been removed.
Some South Canterbury anglers have blamed the growth in phormidium on a design feature of the Opuha Dam.
Barry Stone told the Timaru Herald last week the algae increase was a result of how the dam company took its water, which was by a single-take and not a multiple-take system.
http://www.greens.org.nz/sites/default/files/rma_consent_process_perspective_from_waikato_regional_council_0.pdf
Government statements re: RMA delays are flat out bullshit
http://blog.greens.org.nz/2011/10/30/uranium-yellowcake-in-nuclear-free-new-zealand-ports/
National Plays down risks of yellow cake shopments passing through New Zealand waters
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6100372/Warning-over-DOC-cuts
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10771535
http://thestandard.org.nz/they-made-this-guy-the-minister-of-tourism/
The New Zealand Government is jeopardising its good name in international negotiations at this fortnight’s United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban. It has been identified as one of a small number of States stalling progress in forming an international climate agreement. Other parties have privately condemned its conduct and predict it could risk the possibility of a credible outcome.“Negotiators and observers have been telling us that New Zealand is taking an exceptionally irresponsible position in the talks”, says Rachel Dobric of the New Zealand Youth Delegation.
http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/govt-risks-nz-reputation-climate-summit/5/109660
The 2nd place Fossil goes to New Zealand for proposing the most Flexible Mechanism imaginable with no oversight or review. Bring on the wild west. They want to be able to use any market mechanisms they wish with absolutely no oversight or international review! There would be no way to ensure that the units from one mechanism have not been sold two or three times to another such mechanism. This would likely unleash a wild west carbon market with double or triple counting of offsets and a likely increase of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.
http://www.climatenetwork.org/fossil-of-the-day/brazil-takes-1st-new-zealand-earns-2nd-canada-comes-3rd
http://norightturn.blogspot.com/2011/12/farmers-lie-about-dirty-dairying.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
Dirty dairying is one of our country’s biggest environmental problems, resulting in polluted waterways and undrinkable (and unswimmable) water. But the government fobs off concern about it, pointing to the “Clean Streams Accord”, an agreement between Fonterra, central government and regional councils, under which Fonterra promises to get its farmers to clean up their act voluntarily. Every year, MAF produces an annual snapshot of progress (collected here), and every year it shows that farmers are slowly but surely fencing their waterways, complying with the RMA, and setting nutrient budgets. So we don’t have a problem, right?
Wrong. That report is based on what farmers tell Fonterra assessors every year. And it turns out that they lie, overstating their compliance on excluding stock from waterways by 100%:
New Zealand’s fresh water can never be as clean and pure as it once was, but action must be taken to improve the quality of rivers, lakes and wetlands, the parliamentary commissioner for the environment says.
In a new report for MPs on water quality, released today, commissioner Jan Wright says “clear clean cool streams, full of life” still flowed through forests in remote parts of the country.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/6601622/Freshwater-report-We-need-to-come-clean
Professional surfer and environmentalist Dave Rastovich worries that the world class waves at Raglan are being threatened by proposed iron ore seabed mining in New Zealand’s coastal waters.
Kiwi-born Rastovich attended a recent protest in Raglan that coincided with the arrival of Andy Sommerville of Australian mining company Trans Tasman Resources (TTR).
Sommerville was there to meet local iwi at Poihakena Marae to discuss TTR’s plans to extract one billion tonnes of iron ore along the west coast of the North Island, a process that involves moving five billion tones of sand.
It’s not just the waves that are threatened, there are also fears for the critically endangered Maui’s Dolphin.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/6598727/Top-surfer-worries-Raglan-under-threat
Economic issues top the list of worries for most New Zealanders, while environmental worries have dropped in people’s priorities, according to the latest state of the nation report by pollsters Roy Morgan
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/6580017/Economy-trumps-environment-on-worry-list
It brings into question the scientific models created by New Zealand and the Commission for the Conservation of Antarctic Marine Living Resources (CCAMLR) to allow fishing.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/6595293/McMurdo-Sounds-toothfish-population-at-risk
Global greenhouse gas emissions could rise 50 per cent by 2050 without more ambitious climate policies, as fossil fuels continue to dominate the energy mix, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/6584939/OECD-warns-of-huge-greenhouse-gas-rise
Imagine, if you will, taking your children down to the park to find an overseas’ owned company had set up a dairy farm in one corner. Over time the shit builds up and flows onto the play ground. You complain, but are told the farm is under no obligation to treat or retain their waste and the council has no powers to do anything about the mess. You wonder why this was allowed to happen.
Well the government changed the rules and this company had only to apply to National’s new Environmental Protection Agency or (EPA) for the use of the land, pay a small application fee, and next thing, the company has the use of the land for eternity.
This is not fiction, it’s what’s going on right now in the Marlborough Sounds. Anyone can apply to the EPA to set up a salmon farm, and pollute the surrounding water for free, paying no rent or rates. Unbelievable but true!
http://thestandard.org.nz/king-salmon-stealing-our-future/
Expansion of fish-farming in the Marlborough Sounds could cause unacceptable changes in the coastal environment, says Nelson-based research company Cawthron.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/marlborough-express/news/6427926/More-fish-farms-seen-as-environment-risk
Auckland has New Zealand’s worst air pollution which is at levels nearly double that of Sydney, World Health Organisation data out today reveals.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/5690388/Auckland-air-worse-than-Sydneys
Has anyone noticed the word “environment” steadily and strategically being removed from the lexicon of local and central government?
Staff within the Department of Conservation, already reeling from nationwide cuts and greatly reduced budgets, are now required to put “Conservation for prosperity” at the bottom of their emails. Prosperity for whom? The Ministry for the Environment also has the relatively new mantra of “Environmental stewardship for a prosperous New Zealand”. At least the “E” word makes an appearance, but then it is the Ministry for the Environment after all.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/opinion/5960344/Environment-issues-dumped-in-favour-of-promoting-prosperity
Synopsis: Every year, New Zealand drops huge quantities of poison-laced food into its forest ecosystems; enough poison to kill its human population 4 times over, every year. No country has ever done anything remotely similar, on such a scale… The targets are possums and rats, but the poisonous bait kills everything that eats it – including native birds, deer, farm stock, pets, and even insects. The US manufacturer advises that all uneaten baits, and carcasses, must be recovered, and burned or buried deeply. But the rules have changed in New Zealand. Baits and carcasses are left to decompose, where they fall. Poisoning Paradise investigates the scientific theory and rationalisation that drives this extraordinary practice, and provides a close-up look at one of the worlds most deadly poisons…
http://www.cultureunplugged.com/play/7123
Parliamentary commissioner for the environment Jan Wright was in Southland last week speaking about 1080 and lignite. SCOT MacKAY caught up with her.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/life-style/5736046/Leading-the-charge-for-a-healthy-environment
Prime Minister John Key has dismissed claims he is placing pressure on the Conservation Department (DoC) by appearing at the opening of Bathurst Resources’ new office.
Environment groups and the Green Party said Key’s appearance would be a sign to DoC – which is to decide on access agreements for Bathurst’s flagship West Coast project – of what the Prime Minister wanted it to do.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/6615499/PM-accused-of-taking-sides-on-mining
marsman 2.1
22 March 2012 at 4:24 pm
This is from Penny Bright in ‘Smith to go’ post.
Is this not a major ‘conflict of interest’ if Prime Minister John Key stands to personally profit from opencast coal mining on conservation land, because of his personal shareholding in the Bank of America, which, in turn is a significant shareholder in Bathurst Resources Ltd?
Whose interests are being served by NZ Prime Minister John Key?
His own?
As of 24 February 2012, the Bank of America was a substantial holder of shares in Bathurst Resources Ltd:
“Class of Securities (4) – Ordinary
Present Notice “Person’s Votes 72,302,308 Voting Power (5) 10.44%
http://www.bathurstresources.com/files/files/1079_20120229_Change_in_substantial_holding.pdf
NZ Prime Minister John Key is a shareholder in the Bank Of America.
http://thestandard.org.nz/john-key-aussie-miners-stooge/comment-page-1/#comment-449977
Access to some of New Zealand’s most endangered species and isolated islands is up for sale to help fund a pest programme in the Southern Ocean.
The Department of Conservation is opening up berths on some of its most exclusive trips – including to the Snares Islands and Dusky Sound – to be auctioned off on TradeMe today.
Money raised will go towards the “Million Dollar Mouse” project, which aims to find $1 million to eradicate mice off the Antipodes Islands.
The Antipodes are an ecological treasures that lie 800km southeast of Bluff, home to rare species like the Antipodes Island snipe and the Antipodes Island parakeet.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/7075119/DOC-auctioning-access-to-rare-species
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Science » Politics » World » National »
Government wants to cash in on conservation
LOIS CAIRNS
Last updated 14:36 02/06/2012
The Government wants to make more money from its conservation estate and is eying opportunities for increased revenue gathering.
A Statement of Intent setting out the direction for the Department of Conservation (DOC) over the next five years says New Zealand is facing ongoing biodiversity losses at the same time as overall public spending is coming under growing pressure, so new ways of funding conservation must be found.
”The Department must fundamentally change its approach to continue the momentum for conservation. This means not just finding new sources of revenue . . .but changing the mindset and behaviours of the organisation as a whole,” the statement said.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/7035181/Government-wants-to-cash-in-on-conservation
Twenty years of broken promises and failures to meet environmental obligations have left New Zealand with little to be proud of, according to a new “wake-up call” report issued on the eve of a global summit.
The World Wildlife Fund report, Beyond Rio, has slated successive governments for failing the environment since promises made at the original Rio Earth Summit in 1992, and says the country now risks some of the highest rates of biodiversity loss on Earth unless urgent action is taken.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/environment/6998244/NZ-fails-to-act-on-environmental-vows
David Cunliffe beat the useless little man by 6 or 7,000 votes, while the Nats had 1,000 part vote advantage in New Lynn. Groser is a legend in his own lunch-time!
Friday night movie for Standardistas
Venezuela and Hugo Chavez, a socialist democracy crashing against the American empire.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H40_rZWelRA&feature=endscreen&NR=1
press CC at the bottom of the youtube frame to get the subtitles.
On ya CV
https://www.cia.gov/library/reports/general-reports-1/chile/index.html
In October 1973, the CIA had credible information that a high-level contact was involved in specific human rights abuses; contact was severed.
Although the CIA had information indicating that a high-level contact was a hard-liner and therefore more likely to commit abuses, contact with him was allowed to continue in the absence of concrete information about human rights abuses.
CIA maintained indirect contact with a source in close contact with human rights violators. There was no evidence that the source engaged in abuses, but he almost certainly knew about the practice. The intelligence value of the contact was sufficiently important that the contact was not dropped.
In the case of an individual about whom the CIA had information concerning a corruption issue that may have been related to human rights issues, a decision was made to seek contact given his position and potential intelligence value.
In more than one case, in light of the contacts’ service affiliation and position, it seemed likely that they were involved in, knew about or covered up human rights abuses. However, because such contacts allowed the CIA to accomplish its intelligence reporting mission and maintain a channel through which to voice concerns about human rights abuses, contact was continued.
Kiwirail are to shed 300 jobs. What a pity the workers are bearing the burden of recent poor spending decisions. One may have thought that Management would have mopped up the over paid contractors and consultants before the cuts. How can one justify General Managers on 40k/month (evidence available) especially when they are in these positions for years at a time.
The shame of education Minister Hekia Parata deepens with the revelation that the canceled cuts to the number of teachers in schools was initially planned to be double what caused the furore after the Budget,
And on it goes,the lies flooding the news not on a monthly or weekly basis creating a stench emanating from the Slippery National Government, it seems now a daily occurrence where one Minister or other has taken the lead from the current Prime Minister and conveniently left honesty out of what they would consider their job description,
Sadly the economy continues to rush headlong into the brick wall being whipped into futile ‘growth’ where export GDP has risen over 1% this year while export returns have nosedived negatively by another 400 million dollars,
Slippery and the Member from Dipton have the Government borrowing up at an obscene 300 million bucks a week and another 2 and a half years of that will see that debt and the servicing of it sliding us all further into the same situation as the European PIGS economy’s are all experiencing,
The Dullard from Dipton among the many mouthings of stupidity this week patted Himself on the back for such borrowing saying it was clever of Him to be borrowing so much while interest rates are so low,
Someone else today mentioned of this Government an asked opinion of it either being deliberately stupid or cynically so,
My view is it is deliberately cynical where the Government accounts are deliberately being put in such a perilous state so as to knee-cap the next Government…
Oh befor i forget,congratulations to all the dairy farmers for having taken that first big step in becoming the Nestle/Fonterra Dairy Co-operative,
The international bankers whom will become in the next ten years the ‘new’ owners wish to also thank the farmers for a job well done in developing the dairy farms and only ask that in order for them to amalgamate them into bigger lots in the future that you prepare the way for doing so now…