‘Landlords are failing to meet their legal obligation to to disclose how much insulation is in their rental properties when they sign up new tenants, the Building and Construction Minister says.’
I read somewhere that one of the Scandinavian countries does fines as a % of taxable income. E.g a speeding ticket is three days’ income.
Can do similar to landlords: have a range of fine scales for various violations, from one week to 52 weeks’ rent, with the option of tenants having the right to zero-notice end to the lease if the infraction is for something with a max fine of over, say, 1 month’s rent.
Sounds on to it.
Double it for two rentals, treble for three…
Can’t see our property owning parliamentarians of either hue doing anything about it though.
I doubt many landlords would disclose P usage in the rental properties to the Council as it will appear on their LIM Reports about 5 years ago in real estate circles it was suggested 35% of rental properties in West Auckland showed evidence of P contamination.
P is a bigger problem than what most people actually realise and it is destroying families and communities. Evidently there is a new drug available in India called Crocodile which is 10 x more addictive than P and it makes the skin go green and wrinkly, I guess serious P users & dealers can’t wait to get there hands on it ?
any rental in NZ will show signs of P. Literally. Even high end properties would if tested show signs of P, Coke, la Marie Jeanne, and any other drugs.
Before i moved to West AKL i lived central and i can guarantee you that those well to do, soon to be doctors or lawyers use the same drugs to stay awake then the bogan in West AKL.
Go test all housing for P and be amused.
Crocodile has been making the rounds of Russia for years now, you can youtube that shit.
I believe that most P testing on housing is/was a sham that has helped the outgoing government remove housing nz tenants making way for state housing sales.
It has also helped carpet firms etc with sales and testing companies with an income.
With changed standards will they retest all the houses people were kicked out of?
$30 million spent by Housing NZ testing houses without researching appropriate guidelines first. Feels like an exploit to me, making out it’s all good now because they’ve changed guidelines.
Hundreds of people kicked out of housing nz properties, many given a black mark against their name as a result.
The precursors for this insipid drug come from Asia, too many high brows making money for the issue to be resolved with the current mob in power. Must be frustrating for many police atm, no wonder their moral is so low. Change the government
New Zealand sheeple are being farmed for rent & tax free capital gains. NatCorp ™ have been pimping our people and taonga around the world and found lots of buyers.
Forty of the boat builders behind the remarkable vessel which Emirates Team New Zealand sailed to America’s Cup glory were recently made redundant.
One former employee said he was “disgusted” that the company that built the boat, Southern Spars, had let him go after years of highly-specialised work.
AND found this too
BUT oracle boat builders got 17.25m from NZ!!!!!
America’s Cup team Oracle’s New Zealand-based boat builders get government grant
The company that builds the America’s Cup boats for Team New Zealand’s arch rivals Oracle has been awarded a $17.25 million grant by the New Zealand government.
So here we are again giving an American company $$ to exploit NZ ingenuity.
Pretty much sums up the whole short sighted approach by this Nats govt. MBIE seems to use the Callaghan Innovation Growth Grant as a pot of cash to disseminate to their friends and enablers without any real method of maintaining the innovation in NZ to benefit NZers in the long term.
The fund needs to lock in a return for the investment, surprise, surprise – just like banks or other investors handing over cash would demand. Currently it seems a good idea is bankrolled and ASAP the owners sell off shore – where’s the gain for NZ?? Or Fronterra once again get a check from this govt for R and D ( biggest company in the country and sucking on the tax payers still).
Ooh ooh (hopping around on one foot) shot myself in the foot again. Damn! We are just simple Kiwis who foul our own nest and self-mutilate so often it is no wonder that NZ is like a dead man walking.
The zombie nation, don’t let us get near you other citizens of the world or we will give your economies the kiss of death. Too late, Roger Douglas has already been on the talking head circuit telling gummints round the world how to ease the pearls out of the peoples’ oyster without immediately killing them.
The company that builds the America’s Cup boats for Team New Zealand’s arch rivals Oracle has been awarded a $17.25 million grant by the New Zealand government.
It comes in the form of a three-year research and development grant from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment to Warkworth boat building company Core Builders Composites.
The company, which is reportedly owned by Oracle Racing, is headed up by Kiwis Mark Turner and Tim Smyth and has been based in New Zealand since 2010.
The business specialises in sailing technology and built the AC72 catamarans which Oracle used in 2013 when they defended their America’s Cup title, beating Team New Zealand in San Francisco.
The news comes in the same week that Prime Minister John Key reiterated the government would be unlikely to help fund Team New Zealand’s next America’s Cup campaign after a challenger series mooted for Auckland was scrapped.
Although a wholly owned subsidiary of Oracle Racing, Core Builders Composites is a New Zealand company providing services to the American team and receives the grant as it has committed to furthering research and development in New Zealand.
Core Builders Composites was one of three companies to receive the Callaghan Innovation Growth Grant and must now commit $300,000 and spend at least 1.5 percent of its revenue on research and development as well as well as maintain or increase their spending in that area of the business over a three-year period.
Any truth in a story doing the rounds on Facebook about Paula Bennett claiming the DPB while in a relationship renting out her house while receiving a sudsidy from hnz to pay for a mortgage.
While living in a relationship in another house doing drugs a Drunken behaviour abusing children.
Any truth to Seymour having a clue about economics? He believes that food retail is competitive having only two companies in the marketplace. He’s a authoritarian, he apes all the rhetoric around libertarianism, free marketneo-lib but supports charter schools! He wants govt to tell poorer citizens what to teach yet supports the outsourcing of govt to a few boardrooms coz govt can’t be trusted.
IF (and that is a big IF) these allegations are PROVED to be true, then it would be a hell of a scalp. But as I said before, there has to be 100% proof here.
Can someone give this its own post r0b? It’s the main feature for today and the rest of the hunting season till the elections.
(I’m talking about the post Americas Cup debacle with people being sacked, and rorts and subsidies, grants to the sailing and business mates in other countries especially USA, our friends.)
Subject: Re: The Clear Water Action Plan
From Robert Atac
To Gareth Morgan
Date Today 09:14
Hi Gareth
I think you know a lot more than you let on,but maybe not?
It is very confusing, your public statements have mentioned our inaction on climate change clash with say your past promotion of Kiwisaver for one thing, and your political goals?
@405ppm CO2 and nearly 2 ppm CH4 humans are very much in the same position the dynasors were in when they saw the Syberian traps forming astroid flying through the atmosphere, except the they had a few thousand more years to get use to the fact that they were going extinct, as it took something like 10,000 years of constant volcanic action to do what humans have done in about 200 years.
Your constant promotion of growth is just compounding the situation, not that it matters for everything that is alive now as ‘we’ can not make the situation any worse.
Then there is the 440 neculer power plants, that will need upto 50 years of power inputs to prevent all of then going ‘Fuckashima’ dumping ton and tons of radiation into the atmosphere – causing the atmosphere to total burnoff.
You have got to spend a few hours listening to or reading professor Guy McPherson’s statements and summery of the true situation humans and the rest of life is in
I’m a 4th for dropout, so what would I know? But I have been following all this stuff for the past 18 years with an average of at least 2 hours a day reading about our future, and humans reaction to the truth, I can see you now looking like the 3 monkeys hear,see,say nothing. I know you will prove me right by you not telling the truth to the pig ignorant masses.
This system is a heat engine, even if all 7.3 billion of us went back to running around naked and living in caves it wouldn’t change the position we are locked into.
About the only thing the global ‘leaders’ could do to reduce future suffering (apart from mass sterlisation, or maybe including) is to stock pile sucide pills, I’m sure that would go down like a cup of cold sick.
I know these are just ‘movies’ but maybe it will help you get your head around what Guy and all the pear reviewed info he supplies is showing
The Road, 22After.Com, and for a resonably good depiction of why you are looking like a primate – Blind Spot
You are saying a lot of good things,but alas I think you are 200 years to late if not several thousand years, as this shirt storm has been on the cards since the first day we planted our first carrot 😉
On election day I will be tossing myself off, as George Carlin says, then at least I will have something to show for my efforts.
If any humans are alive in the next 10 – 20 years they will be radioactive canables.
Good luck with all you time wasting.
Regards Robert Atack
0274 301 574 http://Www.oilcrash.com
Robert Atack
Sincerely meant, and wisely said. There is no way to say anything in a calm or cool and decisive manner that will penetrate the frothy coffee miasma that rolls around in the heads of people who have houses and are earning enough money to have cars, travel, holidays and go to concerts. That is what is important to think about these days. So keep on shouting, someone might look up from their handheld life organisers and hear you.
And the fact that we can’t get a well-thought-out euthanasia, right to die when you want to, agreement passed into law is the biggest bell of those on the Joker’s cap that is this NZ government’s answer to the magic, all-knowing hat of JKRowling;s imagination. If only we could have a wise Sorting Hat as in Harry Potter.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA3dbvRCui0
And what a great sort of People’s Parliament if it went like this and despite all the extras that magic adds, there is more decorum and better procedures and results than we have now: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQZFWA2KDbw
Some real magic is needed from our imaginative brains to produce a better reality that matches the fictions that we can conjure up for art.
Happy Thursday to you to robert, bright and cherry this morning as usual Please less on tossing off as this raises disturbing imagery but again this is your contribution to population control and not diluting the world collective iq with your progeny so a gold star for you in this regard
Yeah sorry about the spelling mistakes- bottom of the form is English way back then, and currently one finger typing on a Samsung note thingie
But it does show you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to see the naked king.
My spelling is shit mate. I was trying to help because I know you believe. Morgan won’t be able to get it and as you know the politicans are pretty well mostly like the band on the titanic. I don’t agree with a lot of your conclusions but I do admire your tenacity. Kia kaha.
While the country is carrying on about Barclay, news emerges about the Tongaririo National park, the jewel in the country’s national park crown, being included in a treaty settlement. Which will see the new iwi owners/guardians set an entry fee.
An entry fee. No doubt the likes of marty mars will come in and carry on about iwi land rights and confiscation and so on, but we need to realise that Tongariro was GIFTED to the Crown so ALL NEW ZEALANDERS could use it.
This is wrong.
Very wrong.
It would be shameful for this to be waved through by Labour, New Zealand First and the Greens.
FFS Millsy, this is Maori land, if it’s part of a treaty settlement all well and good and if the Iwi who oversee it charge a fee for people to enjoy the land that is also their absolute right to do so.
Yeah.. I’m sure it was gifted so thousands of tourists could come and walk over what the iwi find sacred each and every day. At least they get some appropriate say in the management of it now.
“Which will see the new iwi owners/guardians set an entry fee.”
You do realise that DOC routinely charges fees for access to tracks on conservation estate?
In this case the hapū want to reduce tourism numbers. Looks like the state has been remiss in its management up until now.
If you want to have a go at someone, have a go at successive govt and NZers that insist on treating nature as a commodity and have pushed tourism numbers without regard for the impacts. Tourism is an extractive industry, this is just one of the consequences. Push back against that, because IME Māori are generally more than happy to share fairly where they are able to.
I understand that the track Tongariro Crossing is a pigs sty at the moment with rubbish and human filth everywhere caused by the overwhelming numbers of tourists. The track cannot cope with the number of visitors, like sometimes up to 3000 a day when the track can only take about 600 The local iwi is doing it’s best to clean the track up removing rubbish and filth as much as possible.
Good on them for charging, I also think it is about time more areas have to have a charge to see them to cope with the excessive numbers of tourists we have now.
Try and visit some of the small villages in the UK and you will be charged a fee to get in by the National Trust
It is about time something like a National Trust was set up in this country before the excessive number of tourists ruin this once great place.
Yep, and it’s a real shame it is coming to this because NZers shouldn’t be being pushed out of their own landscapes in order for someone to make tourism dollars. See my comment above, I’m not blaming Māori, I’m blaming people who think industrial tourism is a good thing.
Even under the most hopeful of predictions on sea level rise, lowlying homes in Dunedin are gone. If I was an owner of one of these homes, I’d be thinking of selling up soon, as its only a matter of time before their value will drop to almost nothing. No-one is going to take a 30 year mortgage on a property that will barely survive past its term. And it won’t be long before insurances will go up or be unavailable for such properties. Same goes for other vulnerable properties around New Zealand.
too late,
the netherlands have infrastructure in place several hundreds years old and they have always been forward thinking and forward building.
We however are still discussing if forcing landlords to upgrade their leaky moldy – not fit for dogs as per the SPCA – dwellings with 1! heating source and maybe some insulation. Cause that would hurt the landlord financially and rents would go up and and and and and
we are nowhere near the dutch model, not because we could not, but because we don’t want to. And i include all parties in that comment. The left can’t get its shit together if its life depends on it, and the right does not give a flying fuck so as long as they have theirs and will be right.
In saying that, i am waiting for the day were some solemn looking dudes in suits tell us that we must bail out the ‘homewoners’ that bought coastal McMansions cause they are underwater now and blahblablabaslblablabalblabal
because the will is not there.
someone else is gonna pay to fix the shit in a few years, and it ain’t gonna be them.
this is why we can’t have nice things. We want cheap shit that looks fancy.
Not sure about that – the Netherlands might have substantially different geology.
Sth Dn is basically on sandy marshland – dig down a foot in some places and you hit groundwater, non-salty simply because it’s runoff that percolates through pushing the saltwater aside. Or as one study put it: “Recent drilling investigations have characterised a sandy aquifer in hydraulic communication with the sea, including tidal fluctuations of the water table in proximity to the ocean.”
Dykes won’t work alone, and even constant pumping might be pissing into the wind depending on the extent of the “hydraulic communication”.
Not saying it couldn’t be done, it just might be cheaper and easier to relocate folks or give them canoes.
How many times can we ‘afford’ to relocate folks? Giving them canoes would not be an option as one would only make money once and that is not a good business model.
If you plan it properly, they only need to be relocated once.
Basically, what Dunedin does to resolve the south dunedin issue has as much to do with climate-change-associated global migration, or even NZ migration, as local weather has to do with climate.
“…it just might be cheaper and easier to relocate folks or give them canoes.”
Cheapest and easiest to just let the residents fend for themselves. Since it’s apparently not a high-income area and the locals are skilled in dealing with adversity through long experience, that’s probably what will happen. Unlike the snowflakes at places like Omaha, who will probably get all the protection the state can throw at them, poor dears.
“Cheapest and easiest to just let the residents fend for themselves. Since it’s apparently not a high-income area and the locals are skilled in dealing with adversity through long experience,”
I’m curious what you mean there. You mean they will find themselves some other land and build new houses themselves? Thought not. You mean they will engineer some solution on site to prevent the water from rising underneath them each time there is a big rain? Do you realise that South Dunedin has a lot of elderly and people with disabilities?
That was a cynical extrapolation of current government trends of withdrawing assistance from those that genuinely need it in favour of coddling the wealthy.
hang on,
surely Nationals Bennett would be happy to spend tax money to get homeless people rehomed and pay mega accomodation supplements to the owners of the buildings to compensate them for not being able to sell their underwater houses.
tbh, while I think that something needs to be done about that situation fairly, I also think it’s one of our lesser worries. We have plenty of space and can rehouse people. And we can sort out some assistance for that. But worrying about the mortgage in the face of CC that will cause massive upheavals globally and locally is like worrying if one has a cushion on the life boat off the titanic. Sorry, that’s a bit harsh, but it’s not like this is new in any way at all. We’ve been talking about sea level rise for a long time. Did people think it wouldn’t happen within the lifetime of their mortgage and they could pass the problem on to someone else?
More of a concern is how fast CC will hit things like our ability to grow food, and what will happen when we get a confluence of GFC, CC and Peak Oil.
@ Weka
More of a concern is how fast CC will hit things like our ability to grow food, and what will happen when we get a confluence of GFC, CC and Peak Oil.
many of us will die of preventable diseases and things tooth infections or a breech position cause a. we can’t afford the medical care, b. we are to far away from any medical care. This to me is what is the most frightening aspect. That due to lack of money, and access to medical services small things can go out of hand very quickly and will go very deadly. humans don’t need much to die – we are fragile that way.
i don’t think that trade etc will disappear, but it will be rationed and if many of us would be honest with themselves there literally is no reasons why rations would be wasted on us. Be that food, fuel, or transportation.
our communities will be more dangerous with the lack of lights. Dark streets make for good muggins.
sexual violence and domestic violence will be ‘domestic issues’ and no one will do much about it. cause thats just how it is and several different religious text will support such a system.
religion will replace law and secular government in regions where the government has opted out (this is what we are seeing in certain of the red states)
and so on and so on
but until such time, be sure for the same people who want to do nothing because we are making money to make a killing on all our demise.
I am forever grateful for not having had children. We are leaving them with nothing but misery.
Are you talking about NZ or globally? I’m not so worried about the health stuff in NZ. Yes there will be people affected by medical and surgical shortages, some quite badly, but we know from Cuba that reduction in the economy/standard of living improved general health across the board because people were forced to eat differently and move more.
We have botanical medicines to deal with infection, combined with modern hygiene to prevent the worst of things that are seen in the past. A bigger concern for me is if we get slacker on biosecurity and end up with things like Lyme Disease here. I expect warmer climate will bring more tropical illness up north too. But its not like we are doing to lose our modern knowledge about how to manage those things at the basic level.
Not trying to minimise what individuals will face, but putting that alongside the shit that individuals already face. I’m in two minds about whether places will get less safe. I think that largely depends on what we do in the next decade or so in terms of restoring community. This is why I don’t give a shit about Labour not being what lefties want enough, the most important thing is to change the government so that the rest of society can get on with doing the right thing.
And i am not talking about medical and surgical shortages, i am talking about living isolated or of the main drag with no pharmacy and no resident doctor where a child in a breech position – if you can’t get someone qualified most likely will kill the mother or the child. Or if you scratch yourself with a nail you die of blood poisoning.
It is the very little things that we overlook and simplify, yet they are the silent issues. And if you can’t afford the cost, or there is no one there to assist, well you are shit outta luck. Up until very long ago dying in childbirth was a normal risk associated with childbirth. If you look at Texas which has done a good job of closing clinics in rural areas (especially women clinics) you will see that mortality rates are up for mothers and children as the women simply home birth maybe with a mid wife, or a doula or maybe just with a woman whom herself has birthed alone at home.
The shit we are putting up with now is simply because we still have not quite grasped just how easy we are to kill as humans. No shelter in a cold area? freeze. No food? starve. No water? dehydrate. To hot? heat stroke, these are things that already kill our homeless and poor, elderlies and very young every year. And we are happy to put up with it so long as it is others – and it makes for riveting TV news. Yet, as the tower fire in London showed us we are already rationing our resources. And the poor – not us yet – are the ones who get nothing much of substance. We only get concerned if it is us. but if you want to know what we would look like without container ships landing every week bringing in our food, our medicine, our building tools and so on? Crime, Prostitution, slavery/bondage are all used in order to stay alive in many countries and why should this not happen to us? Cause we are special?
.
As for parties being left or not, i never cared. I generally vote left as this is where some of the concerns that i have are addressed. simple as that. If the left would be called Pink Fuzzy Bears i would vote for the Pink Fuzzy Bears. My issue with the ‘left’ is generally that they don’t work well among their fractions. that many of the left vote against their self interest in order to promote this party or that party even if they are destined to loose, i still posit that Fucking Dunne should have been done and send packing last time around – alas the left could not get its act together. Sad! really.
But am i worried about what will happens when/if we have a societal collapse? No. If i am lucky i be dead when it happens, if i am lucky i will die quickly and painlessly and if i am to live for hecks sake i will have to do what people do today – suck it up and carry on. Cause at the end of the day, that is literally all we can do, now in our current society and in what ever society we have when our civilization has gone bust like so many before us.
Get yourself healthy; drink clean water, sleep deeply and well, eat good food, generate well-being amongst your nearest and dearest then spread the love…those other things? Take them as they come.
It was used as a incendiary munition. An important distinction.
Now folks this is being led by NZ, and they are killing civilians. If this is what Key meant by getting some guts. Then God help us all. This is what the rabbit hole looks like.
Oh, and here is the piece where they admit they are using it in civilian areas.
The screening effect referred to in the final link would be a very specific effect.
I imagine the intended effect is effectively a narrow line of bright light that is used to prevent ISIS actually seeing the fleeing civilians. The bright white light is being used to destroy night vision of the ISIS fighters (by that I don’t mean actually used on the ISIS fighters). The effect is that the ISIS fighters cannot see what is happening beyond the bright white line of light.
So not a use on civilians, or ISIS fighters to kill or injure them, as adam purports.
Come on Wayne you were minister of defense, I’m sure you were briefed on the differences in use of white phosphorus? If not, you should really put a complaint to parliamentary services.
And in this case it was used as incendiary munitions. I agree in all probability it was used as makers and/or flairs as you said. However my case is simple, the media have asked if it was used as a munition, and the gen. responded that it was. So once again if you take the time to read and understand the uses of white phosphorus then you get why I’m saying that firing this stuff at civilians is nasty.
But then again, you don’t want to have to face the fact that our defense forces have broken the mandate we were suppose to operate under in the middle east. Not only broken it, but gone as far as burning civilians to death with a pretty awful munition. It’s not a banned munition, I get that. But anything which burns straight through flesh is a terror weapon, and to use older language – evil.
Ok, let’s go with that best-case scenario, where they dropped WP onto an urban war zone without immediately hitting any civilians or combatants. You’re still left with the problem of fragments of WP not being immediately consumed, but lying in wait for weeks until people return to the area.
That’s the other part of the problem of WP: not just that it’s an indiscriminately-burny weapon that is particularly gross and painful, but that also it lurks like an IED until it’s disturbed and burns someone’s foot off.
So White Phosphorous can be legally used in warfare these days doesn’t appear to be a particularly nice product especially if it is used on civilians, what about the Geneva Convention Rules ?
If the primary purpose of the weapon is to burn or poison people, it’s illegal. If it has some other primary purpose and poisoning or burning is incidental or additional to that, then it’s legal. Hence “blinding ISIS NVDs” rather than “intentionally burning ISIS fighters cajun-style”.
I’ve heard urban myths of protocols for some weapons (variously .50 cal or WP) that were restricted to use against equipment and vehicles, so tactical commanders would order their employment against “helmets and webbing” to stick precisely within the word of the law.
Basically, WP is as legally obscure as the vision of people it’s dropped in front of. If you’re dropping it on open fields to cover an advance, and it’s well short of enemy emplacements, there’s not much wrong with that. But dropping it in a city (via artillery or aircraft) basically assumes that sooner or later someone, probably a civilian, will be screaming in agony for an extended period of time.
I have read the article that is referenced. I know Gen McAslan, having met him professionally on a number of occasions. I understand enough of military operations to know how white phosphorus munitions would be used in these circumstances. It was once a standard source of white light in various munitions used by the NZDF.
That is why I am confident it was not used against civilians or ISIS. So while it was obviously “used as a munition” it was not used to target people.
And that is really the key point. Even Adam seems to accept that in his post at 12.1.1.1.2. I imagine there will be some sort of cleanup plan when the Iraqis troops actually take control.
It’s the key legal point. But I’m sure many people imagined that various armies had a plan to clean up minefields and DU from various battlefields in the last 80 years, and look how that turned out.
I see Little and Labour have offered working people and good employers new policy positions.
See Scoop today.
Can’t say they are the same as Nats !!!
Gives people a real difference to vote for.
I don’t know, the price does seem high, but it includes power, water and internet in a semi-self contained separate building. Looks not bad to me and I would probably call that tiny housing.
“Tiny housing” to me is intentionally designed or converted fit for purpose.
Given the scale (looking at the outside table and chairs) and the loft space for sleeping, I would think that the roof is most likely uninsulated, and ventilation would be poor.
It would more than likely be an illegal occupancy, and a poor substitute for a bedroom in a reasonable house.
I would understand that it might appeal to some though, but is this the quality we should deliver for $215/wk?
The maximum sleepout area of 10m2 should be increased to at least 20m2, so that rentals of this kind can be better utilised and built. Local government would be better placed to address this, and failed to do so in the Unitary Plan.
Uninsulated and poorly ventilated, are you thinking in the summer it would be too hot?
In terms of tiny housing, it does look converted fit for purpose to me albeit not perfectly. But then I’m used to people living in much more basic conditions in house trucks, containers, caravans, yurts etc. I agree there is a quality issue for the price, and there will be issues there I don’t understand about the Auckland climate.
There was one on twitter a while back, single room in a house that was a converted porch, glass on three walls, enough room for a single bed and a cupboard from memory, lots of windows. Near varsity. $90/wk. Some on twitter were saying how terrible it was, while others, myself included, were thinking it didn’t look too bad 😉 Having lived in small spaces like that on low incomes, I looked at the pictures and immediately figured out how to make it better in the winter/summer etc. I wouldn’t live in a space like that now, but when I was 20? Sure, it seems ok. So my expectations start lower I think.
More of problem for me is the pushing more people into smaller overall spaces e.g. the infill building going on. It’s one thing to live in a small space, it’s another to go outside and be crowded there as well (e.g. building 4 houses on a section seems insane to me, where will you plant the trees 😉 ). I guess some people like that, but each time it just brings me back to the limits of growth.
I was thinking more of the mould and dampness that would likely occur from sleeping in such a small space. The problem with some tiny houses on trailers is the loft space has such a small space that people are just glad to get mattresses on them, and don’t think about the fact that mattresses on a solid surfaces sweat and become damp very easily.
As for the porch for $90 – it is something I would have looked at in my 20’s as well. For me it was the $215, and the permission to use the kitchen for “heavy cooking” if required. No mention of shared space in the actual house ie. sitting room, the requirement for four weeks rent for bond and one week in advance.
Also, I have graphic memories of living in Southall, London where there were a lot of jimmy rigged sheds and houses in backyards being used for accommodation. A slippery slope, that got worse over time. Have no idea what that is like now. So that may very well be colouring my view.
Well it’s a sad indictment that I’m relatively complacent about it. I think for some people it would be fine but as we know the problem with the shortage is that people are being forced into situations that were meant for people of difference circumstances. Like you I would love to see some good tiny home options being on offer for the people that are suited to them.
I think there would be lots of rooms for rent around, that by the time you’ve put a bed in you have less floor space available than this tiny house. They’ve wisely used the floor space.
All it needs is a water supply and sink, some sort of fuel stove and a composting toilet and its good to go.
I think there’s at least 3 windows so ventilation should be ok. Also you can’t tell with the ceiling because it’s lined, but there could well be insulation – it looks pretty decently built too and well presented so they’re more likely to have thought of it.
I agree though up to 20 square metre building without a permit should be allowable. That would allow more flexibility with the design and you wouldnt be jamming everything into every spare little space.
Nah NZF & Winston highly unlikely to go with Labour however could be an option if NZF can’t stitch a deal together with Labour or the Greens. NZF will be a major player in this coming Election ?
yes, which is a very good reason to not vote for them. If NZF spits the dummy over an actual left wing govt (which is quite possible IMO) they will go with National. Either way there is no way to know which means that voting NZF is not a vote to change the govt. It’s roulette.
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 ...
TL;DR: In today’s ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Tuesday, March 19:Kāinga Ora’s dry rot The Spinoff DailyBill McKibben on ‘Climate Superfunds’ making Big Oil pay for climate damage The Crucial YearsPreston Mui on returning to 1980s-style productivity growth NoahpinionAndy Boenau on NIMBYs needing unusual bedfellows Urbanism SpeakeasyNed Resnikoff's case ...
Negative yesterday, negative today. Negative all year, according to one departing reader telling me I’ve grown strident and predictable. Fair enough. If it’s any help, every time I go to write about a certain topic that begins with C and ends with arrrrs, I do brace myself and ask: Again? Are ...
Bryce Edwards writes – It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support ...
Inspirational: The Family of Man is a glorious hymn to human equality, but, more than that, it is a clarion call to human freedom. Because equality, unleavened by liberty, is a broken piano, an unstrung harp; upon which the songs of fraternity will never be played.“Somebody must have been telling lies about ...
Tax Lawyer Barbara Edmonds vs Emperor Justinian I- Nolo Contendere: False historical explanations of pivotal events are very far from being inconsequential.WHEN BARBARA EDMONDS made reference to the Roman Empire, my ears pricked up. It is, lamentably, very rare to hear a politician admit to any kind of familiarity ...
It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just show a minimal amount of flux in public support for the various parties in ...
Buzz from the Beehive Housing Minister Chris Bishop delivered news – packed with the ingredients to enflame political passions – worthy of supplanting Winston Peters in headline writers’ priorities. He popped up at the post-Cabinet press conference to promise a crackdown on unruly and antisocial state housing tenants. His ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The Reserve Bank is advertising for a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion advisor. The Bank has one mandate – to keep inflation between one and three percent. It has failed in that and is only slowly getting inflation back down to the upper limit. Will it ...
Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency Waka KotahiThe fact that a ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st CenturyThe SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims StuffSteve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
David Farrar writes – We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how labour went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promiseThe result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
“I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
.“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
“It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet – is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
Bob Edlin writes – And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ HeraldThomas CoughlanSimeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
TL;DR:Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it: We want our country to be a ...
The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading → ...
Ele Ludemann writes – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
What was that judge thinking?Peter Williams writes – That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop:Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
Buzz from the BeehiveThe text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary. It can be quickly analysed ...
For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
Questions need to be asked on both sides of the worldPeter Williams writes – The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read:Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop:The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
TL;DR:Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
Bob Edlin writes – The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
The Government has accepted Labour’s change to the Road User Charge (RUC) discount for hybrid vehicles, meaning there will still be some incentive for people to buy greener vehicles. ...
Kicking the most vulnerable people out of state housing and pushing them towards homelessness will result in a proliferation of poverty and trauma across our most vulnerable communities. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader and MP for Waiariki, Rawiri Waititi has penned a letter asking MPs to support his members bill to remove GST from all food. The bill is expected to go through its first reading in parliament this Wednesday. “I’m calling on all political parties to support my ...
This year is about getting real with Kiwis and discussing the tough issues, as the National Government exacerbates inequality and divides New Zealand, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said ...
The Government adding Significant Natural Areas (SNAs) to its already roaring environmental policy bonfire is an assault on the future of wildlife that makes Aotearoa unique. ...
After 12 years of fighting to protect our moana we are finding ourselves back at square one and back at court. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency is sitting in Hawera to reconsider an application from Trans-Tasman Resources to dig up 50 million tonnes of the seabed in South Taranaki. This ...
Minister Shane Jones’ decision to step away from a seabed mining project is evidence of the murky waters surrounding the Government’s fast-track legislation. ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last government in a bid to get greater coherence in the publicservice on Treaty matters. When ministers first considered the need for tighter oversight in 2021, there ...
The Coalition Government’s miscalculation saga continues as it has forgotten an eyewatering $90 million gap in its interest deductibility cost figures, say Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds and Revenue Spokesperson Deborah Russell. ...
He Pou a Rangi Climate Change Commission has today released advice that says if the Government doesn’t act now New Zealand is at risk of not meeting its climate goals. ...
The Coalition Government has today confirmed it is abandoning first home buyers who are struggling to get ahead, says Labour Finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds. ...
The New Zealand public voted for a change in direction at the 2023 general election and that is exactly what this coalition government has been delivering in its first 100 days. There was an immediate focus on the economy, easing the cost of living, cracking down on law and order ...
The Government has left the health system as an afterthought, announcing half-baked targets at the last minute of their 100-day plan, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
Kiwis are still waiting for their promised cost of living support after 100 days of a National Government that is taking us backwards, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
100 days of National taking NZ backwardsThe National Government has spent its first 100 days stopping, cutting and reversing. They have scrapped stuff for stuff for the sake of it, without putting up any solutions of their own – and it’s hardworking New Zealanders who will pay for it. ...
The Government must commit to funding free and healthy school lunches, as thousands of people sign the petition to keep them, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti says. ...
If the Government was serious about moving families into public housing, they would build more houses so there is actually somewhere for people to go. ...
The free and healthy school lunches programme feeds our kids, helps them to learn, and saves families money – but it is at risk under this Government, education spokesperson Jan Tinetti said. ...
The Government’s proposed changes to Firearms Prohibition Orders (FPO) add almost nothing new and are merely an attempt to distract from its plans to loosen gun laws, police spokesperson Ginny Andersen and justice spokesperson Dr Duncan Webb said. ...
The great Victorian era English politician Lord Macauley stood in the British House of Parliament and said, "The gallery in which the reporters sit has become a fourth estate of the realm".He understood and outlined even way back then, the significant role and influence media have in a democracy. ...
"The Government is moving quickly to realise an additional $46 million in tariff savings in the EU market this season for Kiwi exporters,” Minister for Trade and Agriculture, Todd McClay says. Parliament is set, this week, to complete the final legislative processes required to bring the New Zealand – European ...
New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April. ...
Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand. Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships. “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland Acknowledgements and opening Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says. “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024 Acknowledgements and opening Morena, Nga Mihi Nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country. “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week. “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee. “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today. “The Amendment Paper represents ...
Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level. “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024. “Lower fruit and vege ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all. Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction. Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology. It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
Associate Finance Minister David Seymour has today announced that the Government has agreed to restore deductibility for mortgage interest on residential investment properties. “Help is on the way for landlords and renters alike. The Government’s restoration of interest deductibility will ease pressure on rents and simplify the tax code,” says ...
Sport and Recreation Minister Chris Bishop will travel to Switzerland today to attend an Executive Committee meeting and Symposium of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). Mr Bishop will then travel on to London where he will attend a series of meetings in his capacity as Infrastructure Minister. “New Zealanders believe ...
Pacific Media Watch Earthwise hosts Lois and Martin Griffiths. Earthwise presenters Lois and Martin Griffiths on Plains FM 96.9 community radio talk to Dr David Robie, a New Zealand author, independent journalist and media educator with a passion for the Asia-Pacific region. David talks about the struggle to raise awareness ...
Pacific Media Watch Ismail al-Ghoul, an Al Jazeera Arabic correspondent who was held for 12 hours at Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital, says Israeli forces rounded up Palestinian journalists at the facility and made them kneel on the ground for hours, while naked and blindfolded. “The occupation forces handcuffed and blindfolded us ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Wood, Program Director, Energy, Grattan Institute chinasong, Shutterstock Electricity customers in four Australian states can breathe a sigh of relief. After two years in a row of 20% price increases, power prices have finally stabilised. In many places they’re ...
Chumbawamba have reportedly issued the deputy PM a cease-and-desist notice after he used their song 'Tubthumping' before his state of the nation speech. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Deborah Lupton, SHARP Professor, Vitalities Lab, Centre for Social Research in Health and Social Policy Centre, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, UNSW Sydney kitzcorner/Shutterstock The assertion from Queensland’s chief health officer John Gerrard that ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Peter Martin, Visiting Fellow, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Shutterstock Why are musicians so keen to get played on the radio? It can’t be because of the money. In Australia they are paid at rates so low they ...
"Farmers make a point not to tell our urban cousins how to live, yet Chlöe from central Auckland is hell-bent on having her say about farmers," says ACT Rural Communities spokesman Mark Cameron. “On her first day in the House as Green ...
Analysis by Dr Bryce Edwards – Democracy Project (https://democracyproject.nz)Political scientist, Dr Bryce Edwards. It’s been a tumultuous time in politics in recent months, as the new National-led Government has driven through its “First 100 Day programme”. During this period there’s been a handful of opinion polls, which overall just ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tim Curran, Associate Professor of Ecology, Lincoln University, New Zealand Getty Images/Gerald Corsi In the latest move to reform environmental laws in New Zealand, the coalition government has introduced a bill to fast-track consenting processes for projects deemed to ...
Uber has argued it does not have as much control over drivers as the unions suggest, and wants a judgment ruling that drivers are employees and not contractors set aside and sent back to the Employment Court. The 2022 ruling followed a three-week hearing in which four drivers sought to ...
What can and can’t be purchased by disabled people or their carers has been slashed in an effort by the Ministry of Disabled People Whaikaha to save money. The purchasing guidelines, a set of rules that sets out what can be purchased using the various streams of Government disability funding, ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Tod Wright and Hien Nguyen, Fiscal incidence in New Zealand: The effects of taxes and benefits on household incomes in tax year 2018/19 . Analyses of the distributional impact of taxation and government ...
The Treasury has published today a new Analytical Note by Cory Davis, Boston Hart and Benjamin Stubbing, Household cost-of-living impacts from the Emissions Trading Scheme and using transfers to mitigate regressive outcomes . This Analytical Note ...
A coalition of public transport and climate organisations, united as ‘Transport for All’, is actively opposing the government’s transport proposals. The draft Government Policy Statement (GPS) includes plans for higher fares for public transport, ...
Greater Wellington is inviting feedback on proposed changes to its Revenue and Financing Policy. The Revenue and Financing Policy covers the Council’s various sources of funding, and how the cost of services is shared across the region. This includes ...
Labour has conceded it could have done more to deal with disruptive state housing tenants while in government but says the current coalition is going too far. ...
The band has asked their record label to issue a cease and desist to stop the NZ First leader using their 1997 hit to support his ‘misguided political views’. “I get knocked down, but I get up again,” blared through the speakers on Sunday as Winston Peters took the stage ...
By Lydia Lewis, RNZ Pacific journalist Food rationing is underway in remote areas in Papua New Guinea’s Highlands following torrential rain and flash flooding. More than 20 people have been reported dead in Chimbu Province. In nearby Enga Province, the centre of last month’s massacre, a 15-year-old boy has been ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Hughes, Lecturer, Research School of Management, Australian National University After months of debate and intrigue, the AFL’s 19th and newest team, the Tasmania Devils, finally launched its jumper, logo and colours in Devonport this week. The Devils will wear green, ...
Brannavan Gnanalingam reviews the debut novel by Saraid de Silva.One of the most baffling things for children who move to a new country is what their parents’ (or grandparents’) lives were like prior to moving – for kids in particular, they’re too busy trying to fit in in their ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Gaunson, Associate Professor in Cinema Studies, RMIT University Narelle Portanier/Binge “If you don’t know who your mob are, you don’t know who you are,” Detective Andrea “Andie” Whitford (played by Leah Purcell) is told early into the new crime ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Elise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National University It’s commonly accepted that women do the vast majority of caregiving in Australian society. But less appreciated is that Indigenous women do larger amounts of unpaid care than any other group. Working with the Aboriginal ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Adrian Beaumont, Election Analyst (Psephologist) at The Conversation; and Honorary Associate, School of Mathematics and Statistics, The University of Melbourne Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both secured their parties’ nominations for the November 5 United States general election by winning a ...
Comment: There has been a striking contrast in trans-Tasman interest about Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s visit to New Zealand and Australia. While the Australian press has been full of articles about the visit – including his curious decision to meet with former prime minister and China booster Paul Keating ...
After years of pressuring banks and other institutions to stop investing in fossil fuels, climate campaigners are making some progress. So how does divestment work?For years, climate activists have been pushing banks and other big institutions to divest from fossil fuels. New research from climate advocacy group 350 Aotearoa ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. The three young Polynesians are part of a K-pop fan community in Tāmaki Makaurau. It’s one of many that have sprung up worldwide as K-pop has gone ...
For Boba, Ethan and Ashley, K-pop is a place to belong, a way to express themselves, and a bridge to connect with others. This one-off documentary presents three intimate portraits of young Polynesians who are pulled into a Korean cultural phenomenon. K-POLYS is directed by Litia Tuiburelevu, Produced by Hex ...
There’s ample evidence demonstrating free school lunch programmes provide wide benefits across schools, households and communities according to public health researchers. ACT Minister David Seymour wants to reduce the spending on Aotearoa New Zealand’s ...
By Wata Shaw in Suva Fiji is facing an exodus of Fijians as many are leaving for overseas seeking employment and education and others are migrating, says Opposition MP Viliame Naupoto. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “His Excellency’s speech (Ratu Wiliame Katonivere) comes after a little over one year of ...
The Taxpayers’ Union is welcoming comments from Christopher Luxon this morning recommitting to ‘no new taxes’ as part of Budget 2024. “Mr Luxon’s refusal at the Post-Cabinet press conference yesterday to repeat the ‘no new taxes’ promise ...
SAFE is urgently calling on the Environment Committee to reject the Government’s Fast-Track Approvals Bill, and is urging New Zealanders to rally behind the call. The proposed Bill, currently under consideration with the Environment select committee, ...
Teammates who spend all their time picking fights with spectators are only helpful for the other team, writes Madeleine Chapman. Anyone who has ever played a team sport competitively, particularly as a child and particularly, for some reason, basketball, will know that there’s a lot of politics involved. While there ...
The long-running Wellington music festival is too focused on the Jim Beam-ness and not enough on the Homegrown-ness.There is something about Homegrown that’s difficult to place. A barely perceptible-ness. Like feeling a ghost is watching you from the corner of the room but when you look, there’s nothing there. ...
The latest Ipsos New Zealand Issues Monitor reveals that fewer New Zealanders believe crime / law and order is one of the top issues facing our country. In 2018, Ipsos New Zealand started tracking the key issues facing New Zealand. In this wave ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Griffiths, Deputy Program Director, Budgets and Government, Grattan Institute Australia’s political donations rules are woefully inadequate, but donations reform is finally on the agenda. The federal government has signalled its interest in reform and will soon begin briefing MPs on its ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University Naiyana Somchitkaeo/Shutterstock A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health. The study ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Albert Van Dijk, Professor, Water and Landscape Dynamics, Fenner School of Environment & Society, Australian National University Global climate records were shattered in 2023, from air and sea temperatures to sea-level rise and sea-ice extent. Scores of countries recorded their hottest year ...
As part of our series exploring how New Zealanders live and our relationship with money, a teacher explains why he and his partner are in frugal mode – and how they’re making it work. Gender: Male Age: 35Ethnicity: Pākehā Role: I am an intermediate school teacher and my partner is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sarah Bendall, Senior Lecturer, Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, Australian Catholic University Binge Mary & George, the new British television drama series, depicts the real-life story of Mary Villiers and her son George, and their social climbing at the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jason Nassios, Associate Professor, Centre of Policy Studies, Victoria University This article is part of The Conversation’s series examining the housing crisis. Read the other articles in the series here. Australian state and federal governments spend money in many ways to ...
The finance minister is denying that there’s a $5.6b shortfall in paying for the government’s campaign promises, including tax cuts. At his post-cabinet press conference yesterday, the PM refused to rule out new taxes to pay for the cuts, writes Anna Rawhiti-Connell in this excerpt from The Bulletin, The Spinoff’s ...
Kāinga Ora tenants abused by their neighbours are doubting the government's crackdown on disruptive tenants will make a difference on their behaviour. ...
Kāinga Ora is New Zealand’s biggest residential landlord, housing more than 180,000 vulnerable people in more than 67,000 properties. Yesterday the government announced a crackdown on its tenants who fall behind on rent. One longtime Kāinga Ora tenant shares her experience.For 18 years I lived in a 1960s standalone ...
Why does this myth persist, and what’s the real reason our skin is suffering?It’s one of the biggest international grievances New Zealanders hold, up there with the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and 1981’s underarm incident. We’re quick to tell international travellers that the world’s pollution led to the ...
Bob’s relationship with certain members of Lincoln’s academic staff continued to deteriorate in the 1990s. Others supported him publicly, though articles such as Roland Clark’s 1993 piece in Growing Today cannot have pleased the university management. Clark wrote that Bob was selling onions from the Biological Husbandry Unit to a ...
SailGP’s races feature in-your-face action, with agile, hydro-foiling catamarans tacking and jibing for the title over several days. However, public comments ahead of the global series’ return to New Zealand have left this past year’s controversy in the shadows, as a key appointment attracts criticism from dolphin advocates. A year ...
Opinion: We are fast approaching a fundamental change in prisons. As the number of people on custodial remand looks set to overtake the number of sentenced prisoners, the main function of prisons in New Zealand may become incarcerating un-sentenced people who may not be guilty of offending. We have already ...
A huge seven months lies in store for the White Ferns, beginning this week with the visit of England and culminating with the T20 World Cup in Bangladesh in September and October. Starting on Tuesday in Dunedin, the world ranked No. 2 visitors will play five T20s and three ODIs, ...
Opinion: In a move that has shocked road safety advocates across the country, the new Minister of Transport, Simeon Brown, is poised to abandon the previous government’s speed limit reduction policy, particularly around schools. Even more alarmingly, he wants school speed limits to be variable rather than full-time, arguing ...
Auckland Council is opposing a fast-track development backed by Sir John Kirwan and Spark NZ, because it doesn’t meet stringent new climate adaptation requirements The post Surf-data centre faces new 3.8C climate warming rules appeared first on Newsroom. ...
When the Criminal Proceeds (Recovery) Act was introduced in 2009 it was firmly targeted at gangs and drugs. The legislation means police no longer need a conviction to seize assets that criminals can’t prove were paid for legitimately, as long as their alleged offences are punishable by more than a ...
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The letters, which were published last week, were addressed to Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) Chairperson Megawati Sukarnoputri, National Democrat Party (NasDem) Chairperson Surya Paloh, National Awakening Party (PKB) Chairperson Muhaimin Iskandar, Justice and Prosperity Party (PKS) President Ahmad Syaikhu and United Development Party (PPP) Chairperson Muhammad Mardiono. In ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Evicting more people from state housing is ignorant to the consequences of poverty, the Greens say, but the Housing Minister says it's a privilege that can be taken away if abused. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Emerald L King, Lecturer in Humanities, University of Tasmania IMDB Between Netflix’s 2023 live-action version of One Piece, and its latest take on Avatar: The Last Airbender, fans are once again asking: why are live-action anime adaptations so tricky to ...
The government says it still intends to deliver tax cuts by July, but will not lock them in until they have got them past their coalition partners. ...
Six charged over Hillsborough disaster.
Wonder how long the families of Pike River will wait.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11883345
Manslaughter by gross neglect
The brighter future….
‘Landlords are failing to meet their legal obligation to to disclose how much insulation is in their rental properties when they sign up new tenants, the Building and Construction Minister says.’
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/national/334058/landlords-told-to-come-clean-on-rental-insulation
wow – so you’re putting up a comment that is positive for Nick Smith – righto
$4000 fine will hardly dent landlords pockets – what should happen ed?
for me I’d add maybe a zero to the fines for their first offence and maybe keep adding zeros until they comply of get out of the landlording business.
I read somewhere that one of the Scandinavian countries does fines as a % of taxable income. E.g a speeding ticket is three days’ income.
Can do similar to landlords: have a range of fine scales for various violations, from one week to 52 weeks’ rent, with the option of tenants having the right to zero-notice end to the lease if the infraction is for something with a max fine of over, say, 1 month’s rent.
something to roll around the noggin for a while.
Sounds on to it.
Double it for two rentals, treble for three…
Can’t see our property owning parliamentarians of either hue doing anything about it though.
Widespread failure to disclose P contamination as well. Must preserve rental income and property values. Doesn’t matter if tenants die
Landlords omitting P history to protect property values
I doubt many landlords would disclose P usage in the rental properties to the Council as it will appear on their LIM Reports about 5 years ago in real estate circles it was suggested 35% of rental properties in West Auckland showed evidence of P contamination.
P is a bigger problem than what most people actually realise and it is destroying families and communities. Evidently there is a new drug available in India called Crocodile which is 10 x more addictive than P and it makes the skin go green and wrinkly, I guess serious P users & dealers can’t wait to get there hands on it ?
any rental in NZ will show signs of P. Literally. Even high end properties would if tested show signs of P, Coke, la Marie Jeanne, and any other drugs.
Before i moved to West AKL i lived central and i can guarantee you that those well to do, soon to be doctors or lawyers use the same drugs to stay awake then the bogan in West AKL.
Go test all housing for P and be amused.
Crocodile has been making the rounds of Russia for years now, you can youtube that shit.
I believe that most P testing on housing is/was a sham that has helped the outgoing government remove housing nz tenants making way for state housing sales.
It has also helped carpet firms etc with sales and testing companies with an income.
With changed standards will they retest all the houses people were kicked out of?
$30 million spent by Housing NZ testing houses without researching appropriate guidelines first. Feels like an exploit to me, making out it’s all good now because they’ve changed guidelines.
Hundreds of people kicked out of housing nz properties, many given a black mark against their name as a result.
The precursors for this insipid drug come from Asia, too many high brows making money for the issue to be resolved with the current mob in power. Must be frustrating for many police atm, no wonder their moral is so low. Change the government
Asian house farmers getting Government Subsidies renting houses to New Zealanders, free market zombie economics or neoliberalism ?
New Zealand sheeple are being farmed for rent & tax free capital gains. NatCorp ™ have been pimping our people and taonga around the world and found lots of buyers.
i bet you would have to close every motel and hotel in nz if you tested them,
This left a sour taste.
Finished won and dumped!!!
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=11883219
Forty of the boat builders behind the remarkable vessel which Emirates Team New Zealand sailed to America’s Cup glory were recently made redundant.
One former employee said he was “disgusted” that the company that built the boat, Southern Spars, had let him go after years of highly-specialised work.
AND found this too
BUT oracle boat builders got 17.25m from NZ!!!!!
So here we are again giving an American company $$ to exploit NZ ingenuity.
Pretty much sums up the whole short sighted approach by this Nats govt. MBIE seems to use the Callaghan Innovation Growth Grant as a pot of cash to disseminate to their friends and enablers without any real method of maintaining the innovation in NZ to benefit NZers in the long term.
The fund needs to lock in a return for the investment, surprise, surprise – just like banks or other investors handing over cash would demand. Currently it seems a good idea is bankrolled and ASAP the owners sell off shore – where’s the gain for NZ?? Or Fronterra once again get a check from this govt for R and D ( biggest company in the country and sucking on the tax payers still).
Ooh ooh (hopping around on one foot) shot myself in the foot again. Damn! We are just simple Kiwis who foul our own nest and self-mutilate so often it is no wonder that NZ is like a dead man walking.
The zombie nation, don’t let us get near you other citizens of the world or we will give your economies the kiss of death. Too late, Roger Douglas has already been on the talking head circuit telling gummints round the world how to ease the pearls out of the peoples’ oyster without immediately killing them.
Cool rant
marty mars
TQ I thought it went rather well.
from the 2015 article in dv’s link
“How about a Callaghan grant for Southern Spars?”
How do feel about giving taxpayer money away to foreign-owned companies?
http://www.southernspars.com/company/
Any truth in a story doing the rounds on Facebook about Paula Bennett claiming the DPB while in a relationship renting out her house while receiving a sudsidy from hnz to pay for a mortgage.
While living in a relationship in another house doing drugs a Drunken behaviour abusing children.
Any truth to Seymour having a clue about economics? He believes that food retail is competitive having only two companies in the marketplace. He’s a authoritarian, he apes all the rhetoric around libertarianism, free marketneo-lib but supports charter schools! He wants govt to tell poorer citizens what to teach yet supports the outsourcing of govt to a few boardrooms coz govt can’t be trusted.
IF (and that is a big IF) these allegations are PROVED to be true, then it would be a hell of a scalp. But as I said before, there has to be 100% proof here.
We’re keeping an eye on it, but not inclined to move first. Aspects of it look fake.
Can someone give this its own post r0b? It’s the main feature for today and the rest of the hunting season till the elections.
(I’m talking about the post Americas Cup debacle with people being sacked, and rorts and subsidies, grants to the sailing and business mates in other countries especially USA, our friends.)
I’ll note your suggestion to others, though it’s not a topic I feel strongly enough about to follow up myself.
Subject: Re: The Clear Water Action Plan
From Robert Atac
To Gareth Morgan
Date Today 09:14
Hi Gareth
I think you know a lot more than you let on,but maybe not?
It is very confusing, your public statements have mentioned our inaction on climate change clash with say your past promotion of Kiwisaver for one thing, and your political goals?
@405ppm CO2 and nearly 2 ppm CH4 humans are very much in the same position the dynasors were in when they saw the Syberian traps forming astroid flying through the atmosphere, except the they had a few thousand more years to get use to the fact that they were going extinct, as it took something like 10,000 years of constant volcanic action to do what humans have done in about 200 years.
Your constant promotion of growth is just compounding the situation, not that it matters for everything that is alive now as ‘we’ can not make the situation any worse.
Then there is the 440 neculer power plants, that will need upto 50 years of power inputs to prevent all of then going ‘Fuckashima’ dumping ton and tons of radiation into the atmosphere – causing the atmosphere to total burnoff.
You have got to spend a few hours listening to or reading professor Guy McPherson’s statements and summery of the true situation humans and the rest of life is in
I’m a 4th for dropout, so what would I know? But I have been following all this stuff for the past 18 years with an average of at least 2 hours a day reading about our future, and humans reaction to the truth, I can see you now looking like the 3 monkeys hear,see,say nothing. I know you will prove me right by you not telling the truth to the pig ignorant masses.
This system is a heat engine, even if all 7.3 billion of us went back to running around naked and living in caves it wouldn’t change the position we are locked into.
About the only thing the global ‘leaders’ could do to reduce future suffering (apart from mass sterlisation, or maybe including) is to stock pile sucide pills, I’m sure that would go down like a cup of cold sick.
I know these are just ‘movies’ but maybe it will help you get your head around what Guy and all the pear reviewed info he supplies is showing
The Road, 22After.Com, and for a resonably good depiction of why you are looking like a primate – Blind Spot
You are saying a lot of good things,but alas I think you are 200 years to late if not several thousand years, as this shirt storm has been on the cards since the first day we planted our first carrot 😉
On election day I will be tossing myself off, as George Carlin says, then at least I will have something to show for my efforts.
If any humans are alive in the next 10 – 20 years they will be radioactive canables.
Good luck with all you time wasting.
Regards Robert Atack
0274 301 574
http://Www.oilcrash.com
Robert Atack
Sincerely meant, and wisely said. There is no way to say anything in a calm or cool and decisive manner that will penetrate the frothy coffee miasma that rolls around in the heads of people who have houses and are earning enough money to have cars, travel, holidays and go to concerts. That is what is important to think about these days. So keep on shouting, someone might look up from their handheld life organisers and hear you.
And the fact that we can’t get a well-thought-out euthanasia, right to die when you want to, agreement passed into law is the biggest bell of those on the Joker’s cap that is this NZ government’s answer to the magic, all-knowing hat of JKRowling;s imagination. If only we could have a wise Sorting Hat as in Harry Potter.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fA3dbvRCui0
And what a great sort of People’s Parliament if it went like this and despite all the extras that magic adds, there is more decorum and better procedures and results than we have now:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQZFWA2KDbw
Some real magic is needed from our imaginative brains to produce a better reality that matches the fictions that we can conjure up for art.
Happy Thursday to you to robert, bright and cherry this morning as usual Please less on tossing off as this raises disturbing imagery but again this is your contribution to population control and not diluting the world collective iq with your progeny so a gold star for you in this regard
Wake up: http://dieoff.org/
Or, continue to keep your head in the sand
Not sure why you mentioned that you were a fourth form dropout – that and the spelling mistakes probably means he won’t take you seriously.
Yes Marty Dear
Why are you poking your nose in – you’re likely to find out trying to provoke me isn’t such a great idea, for you…
Yeah sorry about the spelling mistakes- bottom of the form is English way back then, and currently one finger typing on a Samsung note thingie
But it does show you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to see the naked king.
My spelling is shit mate. I was trying to help because I know you believe. Morgan won’t be able to get it and as you know the politicans are pretty well mostly like the band on the titanic. I don’t agree with a lot of your conclusions but I do admire your tenacity. Kia kaha.
Going to type all my raves in word first from now on
Sorry everyone I do try eg that last rant took me about 60 min to type
While the country is carrying on about Barclay, news emerges about the Tongaririo National park, the jewel in the country’s national park crown, being included in a treaty settlement. Which will see the new iwi owners/guardians set an entry fee.
An entry fee. No doubt the likes of marty mars will come in and carry on about iwi land rights and confiscation and so on, but we need to realise that Tongariro was GIFTED to the Crown so ALL NEW ZEALANDERS could use it.
This is wrong.
Very wrong.
It would be shameful for this to be waved through by Labour, New Zealand First and the Greens.
FFS Millsy, this is Maori land, if it’s part of a treaty settlement all well and good and if the Iwi who oversee it charge a fee for people to enjoy the land that is also their absolute right to do so.
You should pay and at the gate at the start of your street too.
Get onto brash he might make it part of their push.
Yeah.. I’m sure it was gifted so thousands of tourists could come and walk over what the iwi find sacred each and every day. At least they get some appropriate say in the management of it now.
“Which will see the new iwi owners/guardians set an entry fee.”
You do realise that DOC routinely charges fees for access to tracks on conservation estate?
In this case the hapū want to reduce tourism numbers. Looks like the state has been remiss in its management up until now.
If you want to have a go at someone, have a go at successive govt and NZers that insist on treating nature as a commodity and have pushed tourism numbers without regard for the impacts. Tourism is an extractive industry, this is just one of the consequences. Push back against that, because IME Māori are generally more than happy to share fairly where they are able to.
https://www.maoritelevision.com/news/latest-news/native-affairs–warning-tongariro-tourists
I understand that the track Tongariro Crossing is a pigs sty at the moment with rubbish and human filth everywhere caused by the overwhelming numbers of tourists. The track cannot cope with the number of visitors, like sometimes up to 3000 a day when the track can only take about 600 The local iwi is doing it’s best to clean the track up removing rubbish and filth as much as possible.
Good on them for charging, I also think it is about time more areas have to have a charge to see them to cope with the excessive numbers of tourists we have now.
Try and visit some of the small villages in the UK and you will be charged a fee to get in by the National Trust
It is about time something like a National Trust was set up in this country before the excessive number of tourists ruin this once great place.
http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2017/02/tongariro-crossing-struggling-to-cope-with-hordes-of-tourists.html
Yep, and it’s a real shame it is coming to this because NZers shouldn’t be being pushed out of their own landscapes in order for someone to make tourism dollars. See my comment above, I’m not blaming Māori, I’m blaming people who think industrial tourism is a good thing.
Agree 2000%
This hurts but yeah
Ralph Nader’s view. All a bit depressing.
https://theintercept.com/2017/06/25/ralph-nader-the-democrats-are-unable-to-defend-the-u-s-from-the-most-vicious-republican-party-in-history/
Application here ?
Following the global pandemic of liberalism in the 80’s ,peaking in the early 1990’s we can see the aftermath.
Wellington the rustbelt years.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/travelling–light/sets/72157624758199920/with/4911888512/
neoliberalism peaked in the 90s?
Even under the most hopeful of predictions on sea level rise, lowlying homes in Dunedin are gone. If I was an owner of one of these homes, I’d be thinking of selling up soon, as its only a matter of time before their value will drop to almost nothing. No-one is going to take a 30 year mortgage on a property that will barely survive past its term. And it won’t be long before insurances will go up or be unavailable for such properties. Same goes for other vulnerable properties around New Zealand.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/world/scientists-in-antarctica-painting-bleak-picture-low-lying-nz-coastal-communities
At first glance, south Dunedin may be suitable for a Netherlands-style solution. Roughly a quarter of their land is below sea level.
too late,
the netherlands have infrastructure in place several hundreds years old and they have always been forward thinking and forward building.
We however are still discussing if forcing landlords to upgrade their leaky moldy – not fit for dogs as per the SPCA – dwellings with 1! heating source and maybe some insulation. Cause that would hurt the landlord financially and rents would go up and and and and and
https://www.jlgrealestate.com/2014/02/18/floating-houses/
we are nowhere near the dutch model, not because we could not, but because we don’t want to. And i include all parties in that comment. The left can’t get its shit together if its life depends on it, and the right does not give a flying fuck so as long as they have theirs and will be right.
In saying that, i am waiting for the day were some solemn looking dudes in suits tell us that we must bail out the ‘homewoners’ that bought coastal McMansions cause they are underwater now and blahblablabaslblablabalblabal
Even after the leaky building crisis we are still building leaky homes-absolute muppets in Government and Local Councils ?
because the will is not there.
someone else is gonna pay to fix the shit in a few years, and it ain’t gonna be them.
this is why we can’t have nice things. We want cheap shit that looks fancy.
Not much point in upgrading houses that are going to drown.
Not sure about that – the Netherlands might have substantially different geology.
Sth Dn is basically on sandy marshland – dig down a foot in some places and you hit groundwater, non-salty simply because it’s runoff that percolates through pushing the saltwater aside. Or as one study put it: “Recent drilling investigations have characterised a sandy aquifer in hydraulic communication with the sea, including tidal fluctuations of the water table in proximity to the ocean.”
Dykes won’t work alone, and even constant pumping might be pissing into the wind depending on the extent of the “hydraulic communication”.
Not saying it couldn’t be done, it just might be cheaper and easier to relocate folks or give them canoes.
How many times can we ‘afford’ to relocate folks? Giving them canoes would not be an option as one would only make money once and that is not a good business model.
If you plan it properly, they only need to be relocated once.
Basically, what Dunedin does to resolve the south dunedin issue has as much to do with climate-change-associated global migration, or even NZ migration, as local weather has to do with climate.
Yep the area is going under eventually.
Mums old whare at ocean grove might be okay but will be pretty hard to get to I’d say.
“…it just might be cheaper and easier to relocate folks or give them canoes.”
Cheapest and easiest to just let the residents fend for themselves. Since it’s apparently not a high-income area and the locals are skilled in dealing with adversity through long experience, that’s probably what will happen. Unlike the snowflakes at places like Omaha, who will probably get all the protection the state can throw at them, poor dears.
council seems to be beginning to pull finger on the issue re:district plan.
“Cheapest and easiest to just let the residents fend for themselves. Since it’s apparently not a high-income area and the locals are skilled in dealing with adversity through long experience,”
I’m curious what you mean there. You mean they will find themselves some other land and build new houses themselves? Thought not. You mean they will engineer some solution on site to prevent the water from rising underneath them each time there is a big rain? Do you realise that South Dunedin has a lot of elderly and people with disabilities?
That was a cynical extrapolation of current government trends of withdrawing assistance from those that genuinely need it in favour of coddling the wealthy.
hang on,
surely Nationals Bennett would be happy to spend tax money to get homeless people rehomed and pay mega accomodation supplements to the owners of the buildings to compensate them for not being able to sell their underwater houses.
tbh, while I think that something needs to be done about that situation fairly, I also think it’s one of our lesser worries. We have plenty of space and can rehouse people. And we can sort out some assistance for that. But worrying about the mortgage in the face of CC that will cause massive upheavals globally and locally is like worrying if one has a cushion on the life boat off the titanic. Sorry, that’s a bit harsh, but it’s not like this is new in any way at all. We’ve been talking about sea level rise for a long time. Did people think it wouldn’t happen within the lifetime of their mortgage and they could pass the problem on to someone else?
More of a concern is how fast CC will hit things like our ability to grow food, and what will happen when we get a confluence of GFC, CC and Peak Oil.
@ Weka
More of a concern is how fast CC will hit things like our ability to grow food, and what will happen when we get a confluence of GFC, CC and Peak Oil.
many of us will die of preventable diseases and things tooth infections or a breech position cause a. we can’t afford the medical care, b. we are to far away from any medical care. This to me is what is the most frightening aspect. That due to lack of money, and access to medical services small things can go out of hand very quickly and will go very deadly. humans don’t need much to die – we are fragile that way.
i don’t think that trade etc will disappear, but it will be rationed and if many of us would be honest with themselves there literally is no reasons why rations would be wasted on us. Be that food, fuel, or transportation.
our communities will be more dangerous with the lack of lights. Dark streets make for good muggins.
sexual violence and domestic violence will be ‘domestic issues’ and no one will do much about it. cause thats just how it is and several different religious text will support such a system.
religion will replace law and secular government in regions where the government has opted out (this is what we are seeing in certain of the red states)
and so on and so on
but until such time, be sure for the same people who want to do nothing because we are making money to make a killing on all our demise.
I am forever grateful for not having had children. We are leaving them with nothing but misery.
Agree with a lot of that. Your last line not so much.
forever the optimist -not.
Are you talking about NZ or globally? I’m not so worried about the health stuff in NZ. Yes there will be people affected by medical and surgical shortages, some quite badly, but we know from Cuba that reduction in the economy/standard of living improved general health across the board because people were forced to eat differently and move more.
We have botanical medicines to deal with infection, combined with modern hygiene to prevent the worst of things that are seen in the past. A bigger concern for me is if we get slacker on biosecurity and end up with things like Lyme Disease here. I expect warmer climate will bring more tropical illness up north too. But its not like we are doing to lose our modern knowledge about how to manage those things at the basic level.
Not trying to minimise what individuals will face, but putting that alongside the shit that individuals already face. I’m in two minds about whether places will get less safe. I think that largely depends on what we do in the next decade or so in terms of restoring community. This is why I don’t give a shit about Labour not being what lefties want enough, the most important thing is to change the government so that the rest of society can get on with doing the right thing.
NZ and globally.
And i am not talking about medical and surgical shortages, i am talking about living isolated or of the main drag with no pharmacy and no resident doctor where a child in a breech position – if you can’t get someone qualified most likely will kill the mother or the child. Or if you scratch yourself with a nail you die of blood poisoning.
It is the very little things that we overlook and simplify, yet they are the silent issues. And if you can’t afford the cost, or there is no one there to assist, well you are shit outta luck. Up until very long ago dying in childbirth was a normal risk associated with childbirth. If you look at Texas which has done a good job of closing clinics in rural areas (especially women clinics) you will see that mortality rates are up for mothers and children as the women simply home birth maybe with a mid wife, or a doula or maybe just with a woman whom herself has birthed alone at home.
The shit we are putting up with now is simply because we still have not quite grasped just how easy we are to kill as humans. No shelter in a cold area? freeze. No food? starve. No water? dehydrate. To hot? heat stroke, these are things that already kill our homeless and poor, elderlies and very young every year. And we are happy to put up with it so long as it is others – and it makes for riveting TV news. Yet, as the tower fire in London showed us we are already rationing our resources. And the poor – not us yet – are the ones who get nothing much of substance. We only get concerned if it is us. but if you want to know what we would look like without container ships landing every week bringing in our food, our medicine, our building tools and so on? Crime, Prostitution, slavery/bondage are all used in order to stay alive in many countries and why should this not happen to us? Cause we are special?
.
As for parties being left or not, i never cared. I generally vote left as this is where some of the concerns that i have are addressed. simple as that. If the left would be called Pink Fuzzy Bears i would vote for the Pink Fuzzy Bears. My issue with the ‘left’ is generally that they don’t work well among their fractions. that many of the left vote against their self interest in order to promote this party or that party even if they are destined to loose, i still posit that Fucking Dunne should have been done and send packing last time around – alas the left could not get its act together. Sad! really.
But am i worried about what will happens when/if we have a societal collapse? No. If i am lucky i be dead when it happens, if i am lucky i will die quickly and painlessly and if i am to live for hecks sake i will have to do what people do today – suck it up and carry on. Cause at the end of the day, that is literally all we can do, now in our current society and in what ever society we have when our civilization has gone bust like so many before us.
Get yourself healthy; drink clean water, sleep deeply and well, eat good food, generate well-being amongst your nearest and dearest then spread the love…those other things? Take them as they come.
Just in case you missed it, our military is in charge whilst munitions grade white phosphorous is pored down on civilian populations in northern Iraq.
What a great country we are, is this what getting guts was.
Are superpose to stomach our military burning civilians to death, thanks national, it’s quite sickening how low you can take us.
Link pls?
NZ is only supposed to be there to train local troops (and defend themselves as necessary)
I put this up yesterday.
Brig. Gen. Hugh McAslan (http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11824303) has said that we are using white phosphorus on civilian targets.
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/wp.htm
It was used as a incendiary munition. An important distinction.
Now folks this is being led by NZ, and they are killing civilians. If this is what Key meant by getting some guts. Then God help us all. This is what the rabbit hole looks like.
Oh, and here is the piece where they admit they are using it in civilian areas.
http://www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2017/06/13/532809626/u-s-led-coalition-has-used-white-phosphorous-in-fight-for-mosul-general-says
The screening effect referred to in the final link would be a very specific effect.
I imagine the intended effect is effectively a narrow line of bright light that is used to prevent ISIS actually seeing the fleeing civilians. The bright white light is being used to destroy night vision of the ISIS fighters (by that I don’t mean actually used on the ISIS fighters). The effect is that the ISIS fighters cannot see what is happening beyond the bright white line of light.
So not a use on civilians, or ISIS fighters to kill or injure them, as adam purports.
I suspect that you’re talking out your arse and Making Shit Up to defend possible indefensible actions.
+ 1 nothing worse that a know it all who doesn’t know it all at all – that’s you wayne.
Come on Wayne you were minister of defense, I’m sure you were briefed on the differences in use of white phosphorus? If not, you should really put a complaint to parliamentary services.
And in this case it was used as incendiary munitions. I agree in all probability it was used as makers and/or flairs as you said. However my case is simple, the media have asked if it was used as a munition, and the gen. responded that it was. So once again if you take the time to read and understand the uses of white phosphorus then you get why I’m saying that firing this stuff at civilians is nasty.
But then again, you don’t want to have to face the fact that our defense forces have broken the mandate we were suppose to operate under in the middle east. Not only broken it, but gone as far as burning civilians to death with a pretty awful munition. It’s not a banned munition, I get that. But anything which burns straight through flesh is a terror weapon, and to use older language – evil.
The wall of white light is no justification for using such a terrible chemical weapon such as white phosphorus. What a sick species we are!
Ok, let’s go with that best-case scenario, where they dropped WP onto an urban war zone without immediately hitting any civilians or combatants. You’re still left with the problem of fragments of WP not being immediately consumed, but lying in wait for weeks until people return to the area.
That’s the other part of the problem of WP: not just that it’s an indiscriminately-burny weapon that is particularly gross and painful, but that also it lurks like an IED until it’s disturbed and burns someone’s foot off.
So White Phosphorous can be legally used in warfare these days doesn’t appear to be a particularly nice product especially if it is used on civilians, what about the Geneva Convention Rules ?
Short answer “yes with an if”, long answer “no with a but”.
If the primary purpose of the weapon is to burn or poison people, it’s illegal. If it has some other primary purpose and poisoning or burning is incidental or additional to that, then it’s legal. Hence “blinding ISIS NVDs” rather than “intentionally burning ISIS fighters cajun-style”.
I’ve heard urban myths of protocols for some weapons (variously .50 cal or WP) that were restricted to use against equipment and vehicles, so tactical commanders would order their employment against “helmets and webbing” to stick precisely within the word of the law.
Basically, WP is as legally obscure as the vision of people it’s dropped in front of. If you’re dropping it on open fields to cover an advance, and it’s well short of enemy emplacements, there’s not much wrong with that. But dropping it in a city (via artillery or aircraft) basically assumes that sooner or later someone, probably a civilian, will be screaming in agony for an extended period of time.
I have read the article that is referenced. I know Gen McAslan, having met him professionally on a number of occasions. I understand enough of military operations to know how white phosphorus munitions would be used in these circumstances. It was once a standard source of white light in various munitions used by the NZDF.
That is why I am confident it was not used against civilians or ISIS. So while it was obviously “used as a munition” it was not used to target people.
And that is really the key point. Even Adam seems to accept that in his post at 12.1.1.1.2. I imagine there will be some sort of cleanup plan when the Iraqis troops actually take control.
WP was George Bush’s way of making sure no child is left behind.
It’s the key legal point. But I’m sure many people imagined that various armies had a plan to clean up minefields and DU from various battlefields in the last 80 years, and look how that turned out.
I see Little and Labour have offered working people and good employers new policy positions.
See Scoop today.
Can’t say they are the same as Nats !!!
Gives people a real difference to vote for.
Now our defense force – or arm of the state which kills people. Is arming the gangs.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/94028743/new-zealand-defence-force-rules-out-national-investigation-into-missing-weapon-parts
One bedroom flatshare for $215/wk in Onehunga, artfully described as a “tiny house”, in realspeak it would called an uninsulated playhouse.
Will be interesting to see how long the listing remains there.
I don’t know, the price does seem high, but it includes power, water and internet in a semi-self contained separate building. Looks not bad to me and I would probably call that tiny housing.
“Tiny housing” to me is intentionally designed or converted fit for purpose.
Given the scale (looking at the outside table and chairs) and the loft space for sleeping, I would think that the roof is most likely uninsulated, and ventilation would be poor.
It would more than likely be an illegal occupancy, and a poor substitute for a bedroom in a reasonable house.
I would understand that it might appeal to some though, but is this the quality we should deliver for $215/wk?
The maximum sleepout area of 10m2 should be increased to at least 20m2, so that rentals of this kind can be better utilised and built. Local government would be better placed to address this, and failed to do so in the Unitary Plan.
Uninsulated and poorly ventilated, are you thinking in the summer it would be too hot?
In terms of tiny housing, it does look converted fit for purpose to me albeit not perfectly. But then I’m used to people living in much more basic conditions in house trucks, containers, caravans, yurts etc. I agree there is a quality issue for the price, and there will be issues there I don’t understand about the Auckland climate.
There was one on twitter a while back, single room in a house that was a converted porch, glass on three walls, enough room for a single bed and a cupboard from memory, lots of windows. Near varsity. $90/wk. Some on twitter were saying how terrible it was, while others, myself included, were thinking it didn’t look too bad 😉 Having lived in small spaces like that on low incomes, I looked at the pictures and immediately figured out how to make it better in the winter/summer etc. I wouldn’t live in a space like that now, but when I was 20? Sure, it seems ok. So my expectations start lower I think.
More of problem for me is the pushing more people into smaller overall spaces e.g. the infill building going on. It’s one thing to live in a small space, it’s another to go outside and be crowded there as well (e.g. building 4 houses on a section seems insane to me, where will you plant the trees 😉 ). I guess some people like that, but each time it just brings me back to the limits of growth.
I was thinking more of the mould and dampness that would likely occur from sleeping in such a small space. The problem with some tiny houses on trailers is the loft space has such a small space that people are just glad to get mattresses on them, and don’t think about the fact that mattresses on a solid surfaces sweat and become damp very easily.
As for the porch for $90 – it is something I would have looked at in my 20’s as well. For me it was the $215, and the permission to use the kitchen for “heavy cooking” if required. No mention of shared space in the actual house ie. sitting room, the requirement for four weeks rent for bond and one week in advance.
Also, I have graphic memories of living in Southall, London where there were a lot of jimmy rigged sheds and houses in backyards being used for accommodation. A slippery slope, that got worse over time. Have no idea what that is like now. So that may very well be colouring my view.
Well it’s a sad indictment that I’m relatively complacent about it. I think for some people it would be fine but as we know the problem with the shortage is that people are being forced into situations that were meant for people of difference circumstances. Like you I would love to see some good tiny home options being on offer for the people that are suited to them.
I think there would be lots of rooms for rent around, that by the time you’ve put a bed in you have less floor space available than this tiny house. They’ve wisely used the floor space.
All it needs is a water supply and sink, some sort of fuel stove and a composting toilet and its good to go.
I think there’s at least 3 windows so ventilation should be ok. Also you can’t tell with the ceiling because it’s lined, but there could well be insulation – it looks pretty decently built too and well presented so they’re more likely to have thought of it.
I agree though up to 20 square metre building without a permit should be allowable. That would allow more flexibility with the design and you wouldnt be jamming everything into every spare little space.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/94230206/peters-set-to-announce-shane-jones-candidacy-in-whangarei-for-nz-first
This could be interesting come September!
well that 100% kills any should i vote winston thoughts, fuck shane jones
no thanks
Up here in the North it could unseat National, potentially, I suspect
unseat one candidate and give the nats the next two elections in a nzf nat gov , remember who put jones on the gravy train after he shit on labour?
Nah NZF & Winston highly unlikely to go with Labour however could be an option if NZF can’t stitch a deal together with Labour or the Greens. NZF will be a major player in this coming Election ?
yes, which is a very good reason to not vote for them. If NZF spits the dummy over an actual left wing govt (which is quite possible IMO) they will go with National. Either way there is no way to know which means that voting NZF is not a vote to change the govt. It’s roulette.
That’s a very good description of it – roulette
This confirmed yet? Feels liek every year we’re told THIS year will be the year Shane Jones returns to politics, like anyone remembers or cares.
Well, that is a really radical difference, 75c extra on the minimum wage. Under National it would probably get there on 1 April next year anyway.
All those 85 foreign interns will no doubt be hittting the streets claiming nirvana has finally arrived. Not that they get paid.
[TheStandard: A moderator moved this comment to Open Mike as being off topic or irrelevant in the post it was made in. Be more careful in future.]
Petty, Wayne.
Petty.
Here’s a Petty song for Wayne.
I Won’t Back Down. Seems right for him.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUTXb-ga1fo