Braid said as a significant user of rail throughout New Zealand, Mainfreight was “unsettled” by the “fiasco” around the future of the Cook Strait rail ferry services and rail service south of the Waikato.
“What we’ve asked them is as long as we can rail into and out of ports for the ferries, then we’re ok with whatever they decide to do, as long as they get on with it and we don’t find the ferries run out of lifetime use,” he said.
“That worries us and we have told them so. Rail is an efficient means to move freight around this country.’
Braid said the company had had discussions with the independent committee currently advising the Government on its options.
“What also worries us is when you read Simeon Brown’s (Minister of Transport) document, he only talks about rail freight between Hamilton, Tauranga and Auckland. There’s an enormous amount of freight that travels by rail across the width and breadth of the country.
“We would urge them to be thinking seriously about rail as an ongoing mode for freight in New Zealand
This
The loss of rail services between the North and South Islands would result in Mainfreight adding 5700 more truck and trailer journeys a year.
Braid doesn’t believe the Government’s plans for the ferries will include rail-served vessels.
No SPC, and they don't talk about the costs of stopping the new ferries or the vote that will be needed in view of that truck increases for roading maintenance. But so far forward planning does not seem to be in their wheelhouse. Or is it they have objectives they are keeping quiet about, while they blind us with sackings sinking lid austerity politics.
Just a shout out to those protesting the treatment of the Treaty and related Laws. With you in spirit. Kia Kaha. Wairua Hikoi.
The only hope is that this is a 3 year government and the same ferries we have now are still operating in two and a half years time with no non-rail capable replacement ferries on order.
The new government could then sort this Simeon Brown inspired mess out.
Does anyone from the Opposition actually have a plan to 'sort this … mess out'?
Because the last Labour government found the costs for the previous project unacceptable (which is why there was no funding agreed before the election).
That is interesting Bella. The new mega ferries were clearly less certain that was being portrayed in the media. But I note:
"Cabinet made an in-principle decision to increase the contingency fund by $750m to enable the operation of the mega ferries but reduce the project’s scope by staging non-essential terminal development. Robertson wrote to McLean informing him of the decision and described it as the most viable option for the Crown. He said the significant cost increase required ministers to reconsider all potential options, particularly in the context of current capital constraints and other calls on Crown funding…."
While the Labour Cabinet was keeping options open, the likely outcome was that the $750 million (probably $950 million) required would have been sanctioned, which would have permitted the purchase of the mega ferries, though their purchase would have been somewhat delayed, and work on the land would have been staged with only critical necessary work to be carried out. [As your link details, Kiwirail said $950 million (not 750) was the minimum to keep the project on track.]
I still think that a Labour/Green government, if they had won the election, would have continued with the mega ferries (which of course are rail capable) because this is such a vital link for NZ, and the cost of the mega ferries and associated land improvements would serve the country for generations to come.
If Simeon Brown goes with a cheapskate non-rail option, this will be a disaster, as detailed by Mainfreight above.
But what is their policy now that they are in opposition – and seeking to win the next election.
They can't continue the ferry build project (that ship has sailed – pardon the pun) – so what alternative are they going to campaign on?
National's "plan" to sort the mess out" is to spend many more billions on roads, which have a worse cost benefit ratio when everything is taken into account, including environmental and opportunity costs, than upgrading the ferries to serve for at least 30 years in the future.
Now the Government has changed, NZ coastal shipping, the other leg of environmentally and economically effective transport, also appears to have dissappeared from consideration.
Don't know about policy (I'm not a member of any political party) – wouldn't any previous policy now be in tatters thanks to Willis' decision? Still, a google suggests the Green party's transport spokesperson would be keen for the project to continue, despite sharing concerns about cost.
“There’s no time like the present, it’s going to cost less to carry on with the project as it is now, than to kick it down the road another few years.
“I think that it’s highly unlikely we’re going to get reliable secondhand ships that have the capability and capacity to ensure that we have frequent and sustainable rail connection for freight between the two islands.”
An interesting comment under that article got me thinking (again) about who really benefits from the 'off-again on-again' short-term planning for crucial infrastructure fostered by polarisation, political and otherwise.
Surely large infrastructure projects such as Rail ferries, Port improvements and assembly areas; rail connectivity and roll-on roll off services, are multiyear planning and investment decisions which should be managed by a cross-party team: not left to the whim of an enthusiastic finance minister worried with balancing the books in the short term?
As for the Labour party, a LabourVoices release by their transport spokesperson suggests they would have preferred the project to go ahead. Too partisan for my tastes, but certainly no more-so than NAct.
Out of curiosity, what was the National/Act policy prior to Willis' decision to can this infrastructure project?
And this is fun – the deputy PM being his usual helpful self
– wouldn't any previous policy now be in tatters thanks to Willis' decision?
Yes, that's rather the point. The OP was hoping for a 1-term government in order to 'sort this … mess out'?
None of the previous policies to continue the project or continue the project with modifications are viable any longer. I've not seen any new proposals from the opposition on what they would do now.
Links to what they claim they would have done, had they been re-elected are rather pointless.
While they were in opposition, did Nat/ACT/NZF have policies for securing the future of our vital North-South Island link for passengers and freight? And what's our CoC govt's plan now?
Surely large infrastructure projects such as Rail ferries, Port improvements and assembly areas; rail connectivity and roll-on roll off services, are multiyear planning and investment decisions which should be managed by a cross-party team: not left to the whim of an enthusiastic finance minister worried with balancing the books in the short term?
I'm not the one calling for a one-term government to sort the issue out. Just the one asking for some evidence that the opposition has a plan to do this.
Perhaps you could link to the evidence that they do have a plan.
" multiyear planning and investment decisions which should be managed by a cross-party team"
Well, now, that would be a pleasant change – but I can't see the highly oppositional nature of NZ politics achieving this.
I don't see any evidence that the previous Labour government were seeking cross-party support for their rail-ferry infrastructure investment, nor sharing the information they were receiving about the rapidly escalating budget.
Just the one asking for some evidence that the opposition has a plan to do this.
They had a plan in government, and the next government torpedoed the project. Maybe that was a good call – time will tell.
National, Labour firing broadsides after Cook Strait ferry project founders [14 Dec 2023]
Willis in Parliament on Thursday made a Ministerial Statement ahead of Question Time, having announced the day before she had rejected a bid from KiwiRail for further funding for the project to replace the Interislander ferries.
…
She [Willis] promised to provide further updates about the future of the ferry crossing before Christmas, reassuring people the government would be "working to ensure we have ongoing safe reliable ferry services and that we'll make the investments needed to deal with that".
Over 5 months later, it's now time for our new govt to reveal and implement their (cost-effective) replacement plan to secure the future of the North-South Island link for passengers and freight. Or is that plan out already? Assuming they can access an internet, future generations of Kiwis will marvel at the foresight and long-term planning capabilities of today's politicians.
Well, now, that would be a pleasant change – but I can't see the highly oppositional nature of NZ politics achieving this.
Yes, it would be great. Who is served by this "highly oppositional nature" that contributes to poor (at times very poor) governance? Imagine how much more productive, progressive and positive NZ could be with greater parliamentary bipartisan consensus.
Shaw understood the lasting value of bipartisan legislation, and achieved the same by working with National party MPs:
James Shaw's valedictory – and his new roles [1 May 2024]
"I'm a liberal leftie from Aro Valley, so if you asked me at the start of my career, who I thought I would become close friends with, my first pick wouldn't be a Catholic conservative from Tauranga," referring to Todd Muller, who worked with Shaw to ensure the Zero Carbon Act was enduring and bipartisan.
And all parliamentary parties bar National seem to think the principle of fairness trumps partisan politics with regard to restoring citizenship to people born in Western Samoa.
The lead-up to TPP ratification (parliamentary approval not required) prompted public protests (I attended two), but the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) Amendment Bill enjoyed nearly unanimous support in the house – only Green MPs voted against.
The 'anti-smacking bill' also had strong parliamentary support (8 noes in a conscience vote during the Clark/Labour govt, with the Key/National govt having no appetite to repeal the legislation), while our last parliament unanimously passed a sex self-identification law, despite it being "a lightning rod for culture wars issues."
Bipartisan agreements are possible, and the 1st year after an election could be a good time to develop consensus (challenging with ACT/NZF on board, for sure). Otherwise, successive 'stop-start governments' will further divide NZ, and who would want that?
Lets hope today is the day that a government finally increases the tax brackets that haven't increased for about 13 years, even though the minimum wage has increased from around $13.00 per hour in 2011 to $23.15 today, as a person working full time on the minimum wage now gets in to paying 33% on their last bit of income!
Tax at 45% about 150K you reakon, that would put us close if not the highest rate of tax in the developed world. You would see a mad sell up and scramble for the airport, that would include your doctor's, business owners all the people that are way more productive than you, and that pay the majority of the tax. You really have to rethink your envious nature as 150k in the real world is not a very big income and alot of tradesmen are getting very close to that figure or over it, they would join the exodus. The drop in tax take would be disastrous.
On reflection perhaps you are right Sealegs. The real issue is the blatant unfairness of the top 5% owning such a large proportion of capital assets.
So a much better option would be a meaningful Wealth Tax or a Land Tax while keeping the 39% above $180k threshold. The Greens had a WT in their last manifesto that looked workable and fair.
I don't disagree that brackets should be adjusted but then I think three things should be adjusted for all workers by the rate of inflation every year.
1. Minimum wage
2. All wages for everyone as many contracts now have no provision for annual pay increases (or at best an annual review discussion which results in no increase)
3. Tax brackets
This way workers would at least maintain their income value.
Unions and individuals could then negotiate for productivity etc increases.
Apologies, I hadn't had my morning coffee when commenting above so wasn't fully awake. The minimum wage gets you in to the 30% tax bracket not 33%! Still far too high a tax rate IMO. And then of course, anything you spend your net income on mostly has GST of 15% on it.
Legacy of the great tax swap, where tax on high incomes, inheritances and unearned gains was decreased, and GST and income tax on median incomes and below, increased!
We will see a repeat today, no matter how they dress it up with spin. Low income earners, families and those on welfare will see a “block of cheese” per month at best. Most of which will be clawed back by private child care providers, landlords, power companies and other vultures. Not to mention National’s sneaky increased taxes, sorry! user pays charges.
It is staggering that Braid of Mainfreight has been ignored by Simeon Brown who at a stretch I would reckon doesn’t know which end of a truck or ferry is the front.
IRD report reveals ‘fundamental unfairness’ of how the wealthy are taxed
[27 April 2023] A wealth gap reality check
… median effective tax rate paid by New Zealand’s richest individuals is just 8.9%, compared to an effective tax rate of 22% for someone earning $80,000 a year with no other income. As The Spinoff’s Duncan Greive explains, “the low tax rates paid are achieved because this group earns just 7% of its income through wages …”
Today’s classroom visitor is Mr Luxon from the National Party
MR LUXON: If you were naughty you went to boot camp and got scared into being an ordinary hardworking New Zealander. Or you became a bottom-feeder. Don’t become bottom-feeders, boys and girls.
TV presenter’s foodbank cuts 500 families as times get tough
"The demand is never-ending," he [Letele] said. "There is no light at the end of any tunnel. It is relentless, and it is depressing, and we cannot do any more than we are doing.
…
Letele is also aghast at suggestions from Act's leader, David Seymour, that cuts could be made to free school meal provision, saying BBM saw a huge spike in demand during school holidays because families struggled to feed their children.
Why poverty in New Zealand is everyone's concern
Liang describes poverty as a "heritable condition" that perpetuates and amplifies through generations: "It is also not hard to see how individual poverty flows into communities and society, with downstream effects on economics, crime and health, as well as many other systems. Loosen one strand and everything else unravels."
A Kete Half Empty Poverty is your problem, it is everyone's problem, not just those who are in poverty. – Rebecca, a child from Te Puru
$728,800 – awful – how does one even survive on such a pittance?
Surprised these Kiwis haven't buggered off – what's keeping them here?
Why poverty in New Zealand is everyone’s concern
Liang describes poverty as a “heritable condition” that perpetuates and amplifies through generations: “It is also not hard to see how individual poverty flows into communities and society, with downstream effects on economics, crime and health, as well as many other systems. Loosen one strand and everything else unravels.”
A Kete Half Empty Poverty is your problem, it is everyone’s problem, not just those who are in poverty. – Rebecca, a child from Te Puru
…
New Zealanders still cling to the idea that we’re an egalitarian, classless society. The reality is we’re increasingly stratified. The gap between rich and poor is wider than we like to admit and it’s possible – depending on where you live and work – to avoid seeing poor families. This may be why some deny the existence, let alone the impact, of child poverty in our country.
Twenty-five years later I’m still learning, much of it from my patients. Part of the reason I wanted to write this essay was to try to understand some of the research on child poverty, and to apply it to what I do. I’m no expert on this topic – just a simple practitioner – but luckily there is no lack of detailed reports on every aspect of child poverty. They all agree that there is a problem – and there are solutions.
Did they bugger off when tax was much higher? It is such an idle bullshit threat.
Are we as country, rather than themselves as individuals, better off since they have have lower tax rates. Look around you the answer is clearly no.
How low should tax be until it trickles down? When will the well-off ever be satisfied? The answer is never. The rich will never be satisfied. They can never be rich enough. Profit is just a private tax as opposed to a public one.
This 'capital flight' nonsense can be filed under 'trickle down' and 'market decides' myths. It’s next to the “The right are good managers of the economy” in the fiction area.
Given an exchange rate of ~92 Australian cents to the NZ$, our threshold for a 45% tax rate might be ~NZ$210,000, so income of NZ$800,000 would attract ~$265,500 in tax on the $590,000 over that threshold (leaving an absolute pittance of NZ$324,500 – such penury is almostunimaginable), in addition to whatever tax might be owing on the first $210,000.
No idea – do you? Might depend (in part) on what's keeping them here now.
… and pay no tax at all?
Well, yes, perhaps that is an ultimate goal for some – to "pay no tax at all".
PM wanted NZ to become 'Jersey of the South Pacific' [6 April 2016]
Prime Minister John Key is not shying away from comments he made before he became Prime Minister that he wanted New Zealand to be more like a British dependency, well-known as a tax haven, in order to grow the economy.
Timeline: John Key on foreign trusts [13 April 2016]
Since news of the Panama Papers leak broke, Prime Minister John Key has been under pressure to address New Zealand's rules on foreign trusts, amid accusations that the country is a "tax haven".
Is NZ a tax haven for the rich and dodgy? The Pandora Papers reignite the debate [6 Oct 2021]
But until more information is revealed about who is still using New Zealand’s foreign trust system and for what ends, it’s difficult to know how effective New Zealand’s regulations have been in clamping down on evasion and laundering.
Heh – “the rich and dodgy” – can’t help helping themselves.
Three great forces rule the world: stupidity, fear and greed. – Einstein
Kiwi children born to parents who did not have the opportunity to buy cheap assets at the end of the twentieth century often find themselves unable to buy a home and join the first class.
While they don’t get to share so much in the wealth of the nation, they are expected to contribute a growing share of their income to its maintenance.
This is not a politically sustainable arrangement. Bill English, a former Prime Minister and Finance Minister, said so himself late last year.
If the incoming government was not able to make progress on housing affordability, then New Zealand would “certainly” end up with a capital gains and wealth tax.
“Because the people shut out of the market are not going to tolerate another round of house price growth where they're locked out,” English said.
Open access notables Climate Change Is Leading to a Convergence of Global Climate Distribution, Li et al., Geophysical Research Letters:The impact of changes in global temperatures and precipitation on climate distribution remains unclear. Taking the annual global average temperatures and precipitation as the origin, this study determined the climate distribution with the ...
Readers keeping count will know it's more than five years since I gave up booze. Some of you get worried on my behalf when I recount a possibly testing moment. Anxious readers: today I got well tested.All the way across France I've been enquiring in my very polite and well-meaning but ...
Turn awayIf you could, get me a drinkOf water 'cause my lips are chapped and fadedCall my Aunt MarieHelp her gather all my thingsAnd bury me in all my favourite coloursMy sisters and my brothers, stillI will not kiss you'Cause the hardest part of this is leaving youI remember the ...
Its not often that one has to agree with Judith Collins, but yes, it would indeed cost “hundreds of millions of dollars” (at least) to buy replacement aircraft to fly the Prime Minister on his overseas missions of diplomacy and trade. And yes, the public might well regard that spending ...
A few weeks ago, Auckland Council took another step in the long-running stadium saga, narrowing its shortlist down to two options for which they will now seek feasibility studies. The recommendation to move forward with a feasibility study was carried twenty to one by the council’s Governing Body for the ...
Social Development Minister Louise Upston has defended the Government’s decision to save money by dumping a programme which tops up the pay of disabled workers. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: It has emerged the National-ACT-NZ First Government decided to cut wages for disabled workers from the minimum wage to $2 an hour ...
The new Chief Executive of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) yesterday gave a Select Committee a brutally frank outline of the department’s role as the agency right at the centre of power in Wellington. Ben King, formerly a deputy Chief Executive at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Adam Levy. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). Carbon dioxide is the main culprit behind climate change. But in second place is methane: a greenhouse gas stronger than CO2, ...
Oh, take me, take me, take meTo the dreamer's ballI'll be right on time and I'll dress so fineYou're gonna love me when you see meI won't have to worryTake me, take mePromise not to wake me'Til it's morningIt's all been trueEarly morning yesterday, well before dawn, doom-scrolling.Not intentionally, that’s ...
The first widespread survey of consumers and voters since the Budget on May 30 shows a collapse in confidence. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The belt-tightening and tax-cutting Budget delivered on May 30 has not delivered the boost to confidence in the economy the National-ACT-NZ First Government might have ...
The Air Force 757 that broke down with the Prime Minister on board in Port Moresby on Sunday is considered so unreliable that it carries a substantial stock of spare parts when it travels overseas. And the plane also carries an Air Force maintenance team on board ready to make ...
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 ...
Sometimes you’ll just be so dog-tired, you can only keep yourself awake with a short stab of self-inflicted pain.A quick bite of the lip, for instance.Maybe a slight bite on the tongue or a dig of the nails.But what if you’re needing something a bit more painful?The solution is as ...
After months and months of blocking every attempt by the UN and everyone else to achieve a Gaza ceasefire, US President Joe Biden is now marketing his own three-stage “peace plan” to end the conflict. Like every other contribution by the US since October 7, the Biden initiative is hobbled ...
This is a guest post by Vivian Naylor, who is the Barrier Free Advisor and Educator at CCS Disability Action, Northern Region, the largest disability support and advocacy organisation in Aotearoa New Zealand. She also advises on AT’s Public Transport and Capital Projects Accessibility Groups.Vivian has been advocating and ...
So kiss me and smile for meTell me that you'll wait for meHold me like you'll never let me go'Cause I'm leavin' on a jet planeDon't know when I'll be back againOh babe, I hate to go“The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its ...
The election promises of ‘better economic management’ are now ringing hollow, as NZ appears to be falling into a deeper recession, while other economies are turning the corner. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The economy and the housing market are slumping back into a deep recession this winter, contrasting ...
Parliament’s new “Scrutiny” process, which is supposed to allow Select Committees to interrogate Ministers and officials in much more depth, has got off to a rocky start. Yesterday was the first day of “Scrutiny Week” which is supposed to see the Government grilled on how it spends taxpayers’ money and ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Barbara GradyIllustration by Samantha Harrington. Photo credits: Justin Lane-Pool/Getty Images, Win McNamee/Getty Images, European Space Agency. In an empty wind-swept field in Richmond, California, next to the county landfill, a company called RavenSr has plotted out land and won ...
Although NZ readers may not be that interested in the subject and in lieu of US Fathers Day missives (not celebrated in NZ), I thought I would lay out some brief thoughts on a political subject being debated in the … Continue reading → ...
TL;DR:Chris Bishop talks up the use of value capture, congestion charging, PPPs, water meters, tolling and rebating GST on building materials to councils to ramp up infrastructure investment in the absence of the Government simply borrowing more to provide the capital.Meanwhile, Christopher Luxon wants to double the number of ...
When I was invited to come aboard and help with Greater Auckland a few months ago (thanks to Patrick!), it was suggested it might be a good idea to write some sort of autobiographical post by way of an introduction. This post isn’t quite that – although I’m sure I’lll ...
On the turning awayFrom the pale and downtroddenAnd the words they say which we won't understandDon't accept that, what's happeningIs just a case of other's sufferingOr you'll find that you're joining inThe turning awayToday’s guest kōrero is from Author Catherine Lea. So without further ado, over to Catherine…I’m so honoured ...
Hi,Tickled was one of the craziest things that ever happened to me (and I feel like a lot of crazy things have happened to me).So ahead of the Webworm popup and Tickled screening in New Zealand on July 13, I thought I’d write about how we made that film and ...
Hi,I’m doing a Webworm merch popup followed by a Tickled screening in Auckland, New Zealand on July 13th — and I’d love you to come. I got the urge to do this while writing this Webworm piece breaking down how we made Tickled, and talking to all the people who ...
One simple statistic said it all: China Premier Li Qiang asked Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell what percentage of the company’s overall sales were made in China. “Thirty per cent,” said Hurrell. In other words, New Zealand’s largest company is more or less dependent on the Chinese market. But Hurrell is ...
One occasionally runs into the question of what J.R.R. Tolkien would have thought of George R.R. Martin. For years, I had a go-to online answer: we could use a stand-in. Tolkien’s thoughts on E.R. Eddison – that he appreciated the invented world, but thought the invented names were silly, and ...
A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, June 9, 2024 thru Sat, June 15, 2024. Story of the week A glance at this week's inventory of what experts tell us is extreme weather mayhem juiced by ...
After a busy week it’s a good day to relax. Clear blues skies here in Tamaki Makaurau, very peaceful but for my dogs sleeping heavily. In the absence of a full newsletter I thought I’d send out a brief update and share a couple of posts that popped up in ...
Now in the land of Angus beef and the mighty ABsWhere the steaks were juicy and the rivers did run foulIt would often be said,This meal is terrible,andNo, for real this is legit the worst thing I've ever eatenBut this was an thing said only to others at the table,not ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from the Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is ocean acidification from human ...
She's not a girl who misses muchDo do do do do do, oh yeahShe's well-acquainted with the touch of the velvet handLike a lizard on a window paneI wouldn’t associate ACT with warmth, other than a certain fabled, notoriously hot, destination where surely they’re heading and many would like them ...
Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past somewhat interrupted week. Still on the move!Share Read more ...
What does Budget 2024 tell us about the current government? Muddle on?Coalition governments are not new. About 50 percent of the time since the first MMP election, there has been a minority government, usually with allied parties holding ministerial portfolios outside cabinets. For 10 percent of the time there was ...
Somewhat surprisingly for what is regarded as a network of professionals, climate science misinformation is getting shared on LinkedIn, joining other channels where this is happening. Several of our recent posts published on LinkedIn have attracted the ire of various commenters who apparently are in denial about human-caused climate change. Based ...
1. On what subject is Paul Henry even remotely worth giving the time of day?a. The state of our nationb. The state of the ACT partyc. How to freak out potential buyers of your gin palace by baking the remains of your deceased parent into its fittings2. Now that New ...
Last time National was in power, they looted the state, privatising public assets and signing hugely wasteful public-private partnership (PPP) contracts which saw foreign consortiums provide substandard infrastructure while gouging us for profits. You only have to look at the ongoing fiasco of Transmission Gully to see how it was ...
The Democratic Façade Of Local Government: Our district and city councillors are democratically elected to govern their communities on one very strict condition – that they never, ever, under any circumstances, attempt to do so.A DISINTEGRATION OF LOYALTIES on the Wellington City Council has left Mayor Tory Whanau without a ...
I can feel the lowlights coming over meI can feel the lowlights, from the state I’m inI can see the light now even thought it’s dimA little glow on the horizonAnother week of lowlights from our government, with the odd bright spot and a glow on the horizon. The light ...
Another week, another roundup of things that caught our eye on our favourite topics of transport, housing and how to make cities a little bit greater. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday, Connor wrote about Kāinga Ora’s role as an urban development agency Tuesday’s guest post by ...
Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers features co-hosts and talking with:The Kākā’s climate correspondent about the National-ACT-NZ First Government’s moves this week to take farming out of the ETS and encourage more mining and oil and ...
In 2019, Shane Jones addressed the “50 Shades of Green” protest at Parliament: Now he is part of a government giving those farmers a pass on becoming part of the ETS, as well as threatening to lock in offshore oil exploration and mining for decades. Photo: Lynn GrievesonTL;DR: Here’s the ...
Hi,Today’s newsletter is all about how easy it is to get sucked into “rage bait” online, and how easy it is to get played.But first I wanted to share something that elicited the exact opposite of rage in me — something that made me feel incredibly proud, whilst also making ...
Seymour said lower speed limits “drained the joy from life as people were forced to follow rules they knew made no sense.” File Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Friday, June 14 were:The National/ACT/NZ First ...
It sounded like the best word to describe yesterday’s talks between Chinese Premier Li Qiang and his heavyweight delegation of Ministers and officials and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and New Zealand Ministers and officials was “frank.” But it was the kind of frankness that friends can indulge in. It ...
Open access notables Wildfire smoke impacts lake ecosystems, Farruggia et al., Global Change Biology:We introduce the concept of the lake smoke-day, or the number of days any given lake is exposed to smoke in any given fire season, and quantify the total lake smoke-day exposure in North America from 2019 ...
Photo by Mathias Elle on UnsplashIt’s that new day of the week (Thursday rather than Friday) when we have our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kākā for an hour at 5 pm.Jump on this link on YouTube Livestream for our chat about the week’s news with special guests:5.00 ...
Don’t put it all at risk. That’s likely to be the take-home message for New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in his meetings with Li Qiang, the Chinese Premier. Li’s visit to Wellington this week is the highest-ranking visit by a Chinese official since 2017. The trip down under – ...
I know the feelingIt is the real thingThe essence of the soulThe perfect momentThat golden momentI know you feel it tooI know the feelingIt is the real thingYou can't refuse the embraceNo?Sometimes we face the things we most dislike. A phobia or fear that must be confronted so it doesn’t ...
Struth, what a week. Having made sure the rural sector won’t have to pay any time soon for its pollution, PM Christopher Luxon yesterday chose Fieldays 2024 to launch a parliamentary inquiry into rural banking services, to see how the banks have been treating farmers faced with high interest rates. ...
In April, 17,656 people left Aotearoa-NZ to live overseas, averaging 588 a day, with just over half of those likely to have gone to Australia. Photo: Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Thursday, June 13 ...
Auckland’s draft Regional Land Transport Plan (RLTP) 2024 is open for feedback – and you only have until Monday 17 June to submit. Do it! Join the thousands of Aucklanders who are speaking up for wise strategic investment that will dig us out of traffic and give us easy and ...
Chinese Premier Li Qiang arrives in Wellington today for a three-day visit to the country. The visit will take place amid uncertainty about the future of the New Zealand-China relationship. Li hosted a formal welcome and then lunch for then-Prime Minister Chris Hipkins in Beijing a year ago. The pair ...
We are still in France, getting from A to B.Possibly for only another week, though; Switzerland and Germany are looming now. On we pedal, towards Budapest, at about 20 km per hour.What are are mostly doing is inhaling a country, loving its ways and its food. Rolling, talking, quietly thinking. ...
The big problem with the last Labour government was that they were chickenshits who did nothing with the absolute majority we had given them. They governed as if they were scared of their own shadows, afraid of making decisions lest it upset someone - usually someone who would never have ...
This morning I did something I seldom do, I looked at the Twitter newsfeed. Normally I take the approach of something that I’m not sure is an American urban legend, or genuinely something kids do over there. The infamous bag of dog poo on the front porch, set it on ...
We have some news on the upcoming War of the Rohirrim anime. It will apparently be two and a half hours in length, with Peter Jackson as Executive Producer, and Helm’s daughter Hera will be the main character. Also, pictures: The bloke in the middle picture is Freca’s ...
The cows will keep burping and farting and climate change will keep accelerating - but farmers can stop worrying about being included in the ETS. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: My six things to note in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy around housing, climate and poverty on Wednesday, June 12 were:The ...
This is a guest post by our friend Darren Davis. It originally appeared on his excellent blog, Adventures in Transitland, which features “musings about public transport and other cool stuff in Aotearoa/ New Zealand and around the globe.” With Te Huia now having funding secure through to 2026, now is ...
In some ways, there may be less than meets the eye to the Government announcement yesterday that the He Waka Eke Noa proposal for farmers to pay for greenhouse gas emissions has been scrapped. The spectre of farmers still having to pay at some point in the future remains. That, ...
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 ...
Since entering office, National has unravelled practically every climate policy, leaving us with no effective way of reducing emissions or meeting our emissions budgets beyond magical thinking around the ETS. And today they've announced another step: removing agriculture entirely. At present, following the complete failure of he waka eka noa, ...
The blue billionaireDistraction no interactionOr movement outside these glazed over eyesThe new great divideFew fight the tide to be glorifiedBut will he be satisfied?Can we accept this without zoom?The elephant in the roomNot much happens in politics on a Monday. Bugger all in fact. Although yesterday Christopher Luxon found he ...
What if New Zealand threw a fossil fuel party, and nobody came? On the weekend, Resources Minister Shane Jones sent out the invitations and strung up the balloons, but will anyone really want to invest big time in resuming oil and gas exploration in our corner of the planet? Yes, ...
This is a guest post by Meredith Dale, senior urban designer and strategist at The Urban Advisory.There’s a saying that goes something like: ‘what you measure is what you value’. An RNZ article last week claimed that Auckland was ‘hurting’ because of a more affordable supply of homes, particularly townhouses ...
A Prime Minister directs his public service to inquire into the actions of the opposition political party which is his harshest critic. Something from Orban's Hungary, or Putin's Russia? No, its happening right here in Aotearoa: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has announced the Public Service Commission will launch an ...
This is a repost from a Yale Climate Connections article by SueEllen Campbell published on June 3, 2024. The articles listed can help you tell fact from fiction when it comes to solar and wind energy. Some statements you hear about solar and wind energy are just plain false. ...
Politics were going on all around us yesterday, and we barely noticed, rolling along canal paths, eating baguettes. It wasn’t until my mate got to the headlines last night that we learned there had been a dismayingly strong far right result in the EU elections and Macron had called a ...
Respect Existence, Or Expect Resistance? There may well have been 50,000 pairs of feet “Marching For Nature” down Auckland’s Queen Street on Saturday afternoon, but the figure that impresses the Coalition Government is the 1,450,000 pairs of Auckland feet that were somewhere else.IN THE ERA OF DRONES and Artificial Intelligence, ...
Selwyn Manning and I discuss varieties of post colonial blowback and the implications its has for the rise of the Global South. Counties discussed include Palestine/Israel, France/New Caledonia, England/India, apartheid/post-apartheid South Africa and post-colonial New Zealand. It is a bit … Continue reading → ...
Victims of family violence could fall through the gaps in New Zealand, as Police stop responding to some call outs and the Government chooses to prioritise other things. ...
The lack of bids at today’s ETS auction is a sad indictment on this Government's staggering indifference to the climate crisis and their lack of a plan. ...
“I am deeply disappointed in the National Party's budget. Their broken promises and cuts to essential services, including health, education, and support for vulnerable groups, will have long-lasting negative impacts” – Raymor, Auckland ...
Today marks the beginning of Schools Pride Week in New Zealand, an important calendar event largely run by rainbow rangitahi to advocate for safer, more inclusive school environments. ...
The Government’s announcement of a roadshow consultation on work health and safety is a smokescreen for its plan to throw out regulations which keep workers safe. ...
The Government has reportedly scrapped a policy that would have gone far to fix gender and ethnic pay gaps and instead is implementing a watered-down voluntary system. ...
The Government knew its changes to the school lunch programme would risk achievement, attendance, nutrition and wellbeing of New Zealand children, as well as having wider impacts on reducing child poverty, and made the changes anyway, new documents show. ...
Two months have passed since the National Government said it was a question of ”when, not if” New Zealand would recognise Palestine, in response to Labour’s call. ...
Today the coalition government has announced that a select committee inquiry into banking competition will be led by the Finance and Expenditure Select Committee.New Zealand First campaigned to take on foreign owned banks, and we committed to that in our coalition agreement by ensuring the inquiry has a broad ...
The National Government is doing everything it can to delay taking action on climate as it announces that years of work on agricultural emissions will start from scratch. ...
Tens of thousands of people showed up to have their voices heard and march against National’s unpopular Fast Track Approvals Bill in Auckland over the weekend. ...
The Government deciding to lift the oil and gas ban in the middle of a climate crisis is a severe step backwards that will have serious consequences for our future. ...
This week the Justice Select Committee has heard numerous submissions on the removal of Māori Wards. “I am feeling invigorated by the powerful oral submissions that I have heard throughout the week.” Said Local Government spokesperson, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “People from all facets of life: whānau Māori, whānau Pākehā, rangatahi, kaumātua, ...
Today’s March for Nature sends a clear message that our country is deeply against the Fast Track Approvals Bill proceeding because the cost to the environment would be unacceptable. ...
The recent attacks on Te Pāti Māori and its MP’s are part of a continuing narrative of attack on all matters Māori. If we could respond to baseless inuendo we would. If there is any evidence then show us so we have a reason to engage in a conversation. The ...
The Government’s move to pour billions into potholes whilst remaining inactive on climate change does nothing to solve our transport system's core problems. ...
“The Government needs to provide leadership for New Zealand’s mental health sector, which appears to have lost out in the Budget despite the promises Minister for Mental Health Matt Doocey made on the campaign trail,” said Labour mental health spokesperson Ingrid Leary. ...
Today’s announcement that would see some workers’ entitlement to sick leave reduce flies in the face of yet another promise National made during the election campaign. ...
Cutting a third of the staff at Ministry for the Environment will undermine years of work to clean up our fresh water and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and leave us unprepared for a changing climate. ...
School attendance data released today shows an increase in the number of students regularly attending school to 61.7 per cent in term one. This compares to 59.5 per cent in term one last year and 53.6 per cent in term four. “It is encouraging to see more children getting to ...
The Government has announced a record 41 per cent increase in indicative funding for public transport services and operations, and confirmed the rollout of the National Ticketing Solution (NTS) that will enable contactless debit and credit card payments starting this year in Auckland, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says.“This Government is ...
GDP figures for the March quarter reinforce the importance of restoring fiscal discipline to public spending and driving more economic growth, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Data released today by Stats NZ shows GDP has risen 0.2 per cent for the quarter to March. “While today’s data is technically in ...
Women’s representation on public sector boards and committees has reached 50 per cent or above for the fourth consecutive year, with women holding 53.9 per cent of public sector board roles, Acting Minister for Women Louise Upston says. “This is a fantastic achievement, but the work is not done. To ...
The Coalition Government is supporting Māori to boost development and the Māori economy through investment in projects that benefit the regions, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones and Māori Development Minister Tama Potaka say. “As the Regional Development Minister, I am focused on supporting Māori to succeed. The Provincial Growth Fund ...
Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk has announced that the review into better managing the risks of earthquake-prone buildings has commenced. “The terms of reference published today demonstrate the Government’s commitment to ensuring we get the balance right between public safety and costs to building owners,” Mr Penk says. “The Government ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has just finished a successful three-day visit to Japan, where he strengthened political relationships and boosted business links. Mr Luxon’s visit culminated in a bilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio followed by a state dinner. “It was important for me to meet Prime Minister Kishida in person ...
Significant business deals have been closed during the visit of Prime Minister Christopher Luxon to Japan this week, including in the areas of space, renewable energy and investment. “Commercial deals like this demonstrate that we don’t just export high-quality agricultural products to Japan, but also our world-class technology, expertise, and ...
Minasan, konnichiwa, kia ora and good afternoon everyone. Thank you for the invitation to speak to you today and thank you to our friends at the Institute for International Socio-Economic Studies and NEC for making this event possible today. It gives me great pleasure to be here today, speaking with ...
The National Infrastructure Pipeline, which provides a national view of current or planned infrastructure projects, from roads, to water infrastructure, to schools, and more, has climbed above $120 billion, Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop says. “Our Government is investing a record amount in modern infrastructure that Kiwis can rely on as ...
The Government is modernising the Public Works Act to make it easier to build infrastructure, Minister for Land Information Chris Penk announced today. An independent panel will undertake an eight-week review of the Act and advise on common sense changes to enable large scale public works to be built faster and ...
New Zealand will enhance its defence contributions to monitoring violations of sanctions against North Korea, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. The enhancement will see the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) increase its contributions to North Korea sanctions monitoring, operating out of Japan. “This increase reflects the importance New Zealand ...
Good afternoon everyone. It’s great to be with you all today before we wrap up Day One of the annual Safeguard National Health and Safety Conference. Thank you to the organisers and sponsors of this conference, for the chance to talk to you about the upcoming health and safety consultation. ...
Transport Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone for the Ōtaki to north of Levin Road of National Significance (RoNS), following the NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) signing interim alliance agreements with two design and construction teams who will develop and ultimately build the new expressway.“The Government’s priority for transport ...
The Department of Internal Affairs [Department] is making a significant upgrade to their Digital Child Exploitation Filtering System, which blocks access to websites known to host child sexual abuse material, says Minister of Internal Affairs Brooke van Velden. “The Department will incorporate the up-to-date lists of websites hosting child sexual ...
A vaccine to prevent an infectious disease that costs New Zealand cattle farmers more than $190 million each year could radically improve the health of our cows and boost on-farm productivity, Associate Agriculture Minister Andrew Hoggard says. The Ministry for Primary Industries is backing a project that aims to develop ...
The Government has today announced that it is making it easier for people to build granny flats, Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters and RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop say. “Making it easier to build granny flats will make it more affordable for families to live the way that suits them ...
Attorney-General Judith Collins today announced the appointment of Auckland King’s Counsel Gregory Peter Blanchard as a High Court Judge. Justice Blanchard attended the University of Auckland from 1991 to 1995, graduating with an LLB (Honours) and Bachelor of Arts (English). He was a solicitor with the firm that is now Dentons ...
Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says new data released today shows encouraging growth in the health workforce, with a continued increase in the numbers of doctors, nurses and midwives joining Health New Zealand. “Frontline healthcare workers are the beating heart of the healthcare system. Increasing and retaining our health workforce ...
Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee has today announced a comprehensive programme to reform New Zealand's outdated and complicated firearms laws. “The Arms Act has been in place for over 40 years. It has been amended several times – in a piecemeal, and sometimes rushed way. This has resulted in outdated ...
The coalition Government is delivering record levels of targeted investment in specialist schools so children with additional needs can thrive. As part of Budget 24, $89 million has been ringfenced to redevelop specialist facilities and increase satellite classrooms for students with high needs. This includes: $63 million in depreciation funding ...
A substantial consultation on work health and safety will begin today with a roadshow across the regions over the coming months, says Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden. This the first step to deliver on the commitment to reforming health and safety law and regulations, set out in ...
Forestry Minister Todd McClay, today announced the start of the Government’s plan to restore certainty and confidence in the forestry and wood processing sector. “This government will drive investment to unlock the industry’s economic potential for growth,” Mr McClay says. “Forestry’s success is critical to rebuilding New Zealand’s economy, boosting ...
Annual service charges in the forestry Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will be cancelled for 2023/24, Forestry Minister Todd McClay says. “The sector has told me the costs imposed on forestry owners by the previous government were excessive and unreasonable and I agree,” Mr McClay says. “They have said that there ...
Introduction Thank you for having me here today and welcome to Wellington, the home of the Hurricanes, the next Super Rugby champions. Infrastructure – the challenge This government has inherited a series of big challenges in infrastructure. I don’t need to tell an audience as smart as this one that ...
Trade and Agriculture Minister Todd McClay and Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard welcomed outcomes to boost agricultural and food trade between New Zealand and China. A number of documents were signed today at Government House that will improve the business environment between New Zealand and China, and help reduce barriers, including on infant formula ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay, and China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, today announced the official launch of Negotiations on Services Trade between the two countries. “The Government is focused on opening doors for services exporters to grow the New Zealand’s economy,” Mr McClay says. As part of the 2022 New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement Upgrade ...
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang at Government House in Wellington today. “I was pleased to welcome Premier Li to Wellington for his first official visit, which marks 10 years since New Zealand and China established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership,” Mr Luxon says. “The Premier and ...
The coalition Government is taking action to reduce the gender pay gap in New Zealand through the development of a voluntary calculation tool. “Gender pay gaps have impacted women for decades, which is why we need to continue to drive change in New Zealand,” Acting Minister for Women Louise Upston ...
The coalition Government is boosting funding for Rural Support Trusts to provide more help to farmers and growers under pressure, Rural Communities Minister Mark Patterson announced today. “A strong and thriving agricultural sector is crucial to the New Zealand economy and one of the ways to support it is to ...
Spending on contractors and consultants continues to fall and the size of the Public Service workforce has started to decrease after years of growth, according to the latest data released today by the Public Service Commission. Workforce data for the quarter from 31 December 23 to 31 March 24 shows ...
Thank you to the Law Association for inviting me to speak this morning. As a former president under its previous name — the Auckland District Law Society — I take particular satisfaction in seeing this organisation, and its members, in such good heart. As Attorney-General, I am grateful for these ...
New Zealand is committed to working closely with Timor-Leste to support its prosperity and resilience, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “This year is the 25th anniversary of New Zealand sending peacekeepers to Timor-Leste, who contributed to the country’s stabilisation and ultimately its independence,” Mr Peters says. “A quarter ...
Promoting robust competition in the banking sector is vital to rebuilding the economy, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. “New Zealanders deserve a banking sector that is as competitive as possible. Banking services play an important role in our communities and in the economy. Kiwis rely on access to lending when ...
Regulation Minister David Seymour, Environment Minister Penny Simmonds, and Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard have today announced a regulatory sector review on the approval process for new agricultural and horticultural products. “Red tape stops farmers and growers from getting access to products that have been approved by other OECD countries. ...
The Coalition Government will reverse Labour’s blanket speed limit reductions by 1 July 2025 through a new Land Transport Rule released for public consultation today, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. The draft speed limit rule will deliver on the National-ACT coalition commitment to reverse the previous government’s blanket speed limit ...
Minister Paul Goldsmith is making major leadership changes within both his Arts and Media portfolios. “I am delighted to announce Carmel Walsh will be officially stepping into the role of Chair of the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, having been acting Chair since April,” Arts Minister Paul Goldsmith says. “Carmel is ...
Food and fibre export revenue is tipped to reach $54.6 billion this year and hit a record $66.6b in 2028 as the Government focuses on getting better access to markets and cutting red tape, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay and Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones say. “This achievement is testament ...
A new export exemption proposal for food businesses demonstrates the coalition Government’s commitment to reducing regulatory barriers for industry and increasing the value of New Zealand exports, which gets safe New Zealand food to more markets, says Food Safety Minister Andrew Hoggard. “The coalition Government has listened to the concerns ...
New Zealand and Philippines are continuing to elevate our relationship, Foreign Minister Winston Peters says. “The leaders of New Zealand and Philippines agreed in April 2024 to lift our relationship to a Comprehensive Partnership by 2026,” Mr Peters says. “Our visit to Manila this week has been an excellent ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Chris Kirkland, Professor of Geochronology, Curtin University Lukas Gojda / Shutterstock Our planet was born around 4.5 billion years ago. To understand this mind-bendingly long history, we need to study rocks and the minerals they are made of. The oldest rocks ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra No one doubts Peter Dutton has a huge task to sell his radical nuclear plan, with many experts throwing buckets of cold water over it. But on Thursday the opposition leader received some welcome backing. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jordana Hunter, School Education Program Director, Grattan Institute The Victorian Auditor-General has just released an audit of Victoria’s A$1.2 billion tutoring program designed to help struggling students post-COVID. The report found the program “did not significantly improve students’ learning compared to ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Marta Khomyn, Lecturer, University of Adelaide Jonathan Borba/Pexels The Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) has just seen the listing of its first bitcoin spot exchange-traded fund – “ETF” for short. Issued by investment management firm VanEck, the new investment product is ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Alana Lentin, Professor in Cultural and Social Analysis, Western Sydney University Prudence Upton/Sydney Theatre Company Anchuli Felicia King’s new one-performer piece, American Signs, written for the talented Catherine Văn-Davies, thrusts us into the world of a campus hire at “The Firm”, ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Parmeter, Research Scholar, Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies, Australian National University Among the many sayings attributed to Winston Churchill is, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” This sentiment seems appropriate as Israel potentially appears ...
New Zealand Nurses Organisation Tōpūtanga Tapuhi Kaitiaki o Aotearoa (NZNO) have voiced concerns about Health New Zealand Te Whatu Ora restricting the employment of graduate nurses into their workforce due to budget constraints. ...
The NZCTU is slamming a decision by the Government in Budget 2024 to cut a programme which ensured that disabled workers are paid the minimum wage. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Lowe, Emeritus Professor, School of Environment and Science, Griffith University Martin Lisner/Shutterstock It is very difficult to take Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s nuclear announcement seriously. His proposal for seven nuclear power stations is, at present, legally impossible, technically improbable, economically ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Milad Haghani, Senior Lecturer of Urban Mobility, Public Safety & Disaster Risk, UNSW Sydney Each year, millions of Muslims from across the world embark on the Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The mass migration is unparalleled in scale, and pilgrims ...
The Committee has recommended that the Bill be passed with minor amendments. The bill will create 12 new high protection areas, 5 new seafloor protection areas and 2 extensions to existing marine reserves. ...
“The Green Party campaigned on protecting 30 percent of our oceans. We will continue to fight for our marine environment so it can be enjoyed across future generations,” says Marama Davidson. ...
We asked public organisations for an update on their response to the recommendations in our 2022 report Improving value through better Crown entity monitoring. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra After beating a first-term South Australian Liberal government in 2022, Labor premier Peter Malinauskas has gone on to be a reform advocate on issues including social media and politcal donations. His government is looking ...
The economy keeps limping along, and people keep getting poorer. GDP per capita has fallen yet again, and it's now been in freefall for well over a year. ...
Alex Casey and Tara Ward look back at the best and brightest New Zealanders to appear in the greatest reality franchise of all time. It’s the hugely addictive reality show with a little bit of everything. “It’s got the high octane Hell’s Kitchen action in the chef’s galley, the nouveau ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Kate Galloway, Professor of Law and Social Justice, Australian Catholic University Commonwealth Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has announced that the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) would review the Native Title Act to “rectify any inefficacy, inequality or unfairness”. The purpose of the ...
COMMENTARY:By Nick Rockel in Tāmaki Makaurau This morning I did something I seldom do, I looked at the Twitter newsfeed. Normally I take the approach of something that I’m not sure is an American urban legend, or genuinely something kids do over there. The infamous bag of dog poo ...
The Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) has issued the government a "letter of demand" for complicity with Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza. ...
You might say the best way not to be an arsehole is to avoid leaving any notes on cars, but if you must, here’s the etiquette. A fun fact that never fails to make me laugh is that something like 90% of drivers believe they’re in the top 5% of ...
Criminal justice advocacy group JustSpeak and human rights movement Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand are raising alarm bells about the social justice issues highlighted in this year’s data. ...
By Caleb Fotheringham, RNZ Pacific journalist All parties, including West Papuan pro-independence fighters who took Phillip Mehrtens hostage, want the New Zealand pilot released but freeing him is “complicated”. In February 2023, Mehrtens, a husband and father from Christchurch, was working for Indonesian airline, Susi Air, when he landed his ...
The current coalition not lasting beyond this parliamentary term is an idea that’s been seized on by its opponents. History suggests it’s unlikely – but not impossible. Gabi Lardies explains.‘We have a very good chance of making this a one-term government,” said Labour leader Chris Hipkins at his party’s ...
FIRST Union members at St John have voted to take further strike action that commences today, with the aim of seeking public support for a fully functioning ambulance service before industrial action intensifies to the point of withdrawing labour. ...
By Patrick Decloitre, RNZ Pacific correspondent French Pacific desk New Caledonia’s security forces have arrested eight people believed to be involved in the organisation of pro-independence-related riots that broke out in the French Pacific territory last month. The eight include leaders of the so-called Field Action Coordinating Cell (CCAT), a ...
New Zealand air traffic controller trainees who previously spent up to 18 months training without being treated or paid as employees will now be considered employees ...
Close to a million artefacts found in post-quake Christchurch are now available to be viewed by the public. Alex Casey speaks to the founder of Museum of Archeology Ōtautahi.Charles Henry Cox would’ve got away with it, if it hadn’t been for those damn meddling archeologists. The talented grifter proudly ...
The director and actor shares what it means to commit to the work.Anapela Polataivao ONZM is an award-winning director and actor. She is a recipient of the Arts Foundation New Generation Award (2014), the Contemporary Pacific Art Award (2019), and Best Director at the Auckland Theatre Awards (2016). Her ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Liam Byrne, Honorary Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, The University of Melbourne When British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the UK general election outside 10 Downing Street in the pouring rain last month, the ignominy of the moment was compounded ...
I’m a vegan who adores vegetables and he’s a big meat-eater totally suspicious of them. Help me! Want Hera’s help? Email your problem to helpme@thespinoff.co.nzKia ora Hera,I need my partner to eat some vegetables and I don’t know how.I have a lovely partner: he’s caring, supportive and meets me where ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hussein Dia, Professor of Future Urban Mobility, Swinburne University of Technology algre/Shutterstock Just last year, data suggested plug-in hybrid cars were on the way out in Australia. But they’re back. New data shows plug-in hybrids and conventional hybrids combined have overtaken ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Robyn Schofield, Associate Professor and Associate Dean (Environment and Sustainability), The University of Melbourne ESA Communications companies such as Starlink plan to launch tens of thousands of satellites into orbit around Earth over the next decade or so. The growing swarm ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ganna Pogrebna, Executive Director, AI and Cyber Futures Institute, Charles Sturt University Shutterstock In the ever-evolving online gaming landscape, one seemingly simple online game has captivated players. The free-to-play clicker Banana has amassed more than 850,000 concurrent players on the gaming ...
Data this morning will reveal whether or not the country has pulled out of recession, writes Stewart Sowman-Lund in this extract from The Bulletin. To receive The Bulletin in full each weekday, sign up here. Have ...
There is no suggestion the contents of Seymour’s messages were inappropriate, but some of his former correspondents say the interactions shouldn’t have happened The post Seymour fronts up on Snapchats with school kids appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Never fear! The rogue Māori is here! To be honest I’m pretty fūcken peeved at having to join the chorus, late, of witless Pākehā who have thoughts on Paul Moon’s book Ans Westra: A Life In Photography. Steve Braunias is all right, we are friends, but I wasn’t happy about ...
A housing minister willing to publicly discuss house price falls is encouraging, but true affordability is likely to remain a long way off, writes Max Rashbrooke. House prices must always rise. For as long as I can recall, this has been one of the core assumptions of Kiwi politics. It ...
Lange and Muldoon clash, two days after the election. Our live updates editor is on the case. In a ranking of the most dramatic, unhinged days in New Zealand politics, July 16, 1984 would be right up there. David Lange would later call the day “perhaps the most extraordinary of ...
Opinion: According to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, a record 117.3 million peoples were forcibly displaced at the end of 2023 due to conflict, violence, or climate-related disasters. This is nearly equivalent to the populations of the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia combined. Alarmingly, the number of forcibly displaced peoples ...
Loading…(function(i,s,o,g,r,a,m){var ql=document.querySelectorAll('A,DIV,A[data-quiz],DIV[data-quiz]'); if(ql){if(ql.length){for(var k=0;k<ql.length;k++){ql[k].id='quiz-embed-'+k;ql[k].href="javascript:var i=document.getElementById('quiz-embed-"+k+"');try{qz.startQuiz(i)}catch(e){i.start=1;i.style.cursor='wait';i.style.opacity='0.5'};void(0);"}}};i['QP']=r;i[r]=i[r]||function(){(i[r].q=i[r].q||[]).push(arguments)},i[r].l=1*new Date();a=s.createElement(o),m=s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];a.async=1;a.src=g;m.parentNode.insertBefore(a,m)})(window,document,'script','https://take.quiz-maker.com/3012/CDN/quiz-embed-v1.js','qp'); Got a good quiz question?Send Newsroom your questions. The post Newsroom daily quiz, Thursday 20 June appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Opinion: Most of us know that getting old is not for the faint-hearted, but readers may not know that older New Zealanders who aren’t well-off are better provided for than children growing up in poor families. To our shame, at least 150,000 children live below the lowest poverty line ...
MARTINA SALMON – PULSE From out of the netball wilderness, Martina Salmon has been the unexpected rock at the end of the court for the Pulse – and may prove to be the revelation of the season. The Auckland-born, Australian-raised Salmon took on the goal shoot bib when Silver Fern ...
The Government is trying to incentivise tertiary completion rates by shifting fees free to the final year, but hasn’t based this decision on any hard evidence The post No hard data to back up fees-free final year change appeared first on Newsroom. ...
Nicola Willis has confirmed five agencies were externally reviewed ahead of Budget 2024 due to concerns their efforts to make savings hadn’t gone far enough. She told members of the finance and expenditure select committee “rapid reviews” for education, social development, environment, police (head office) and the Ministry of Business ...
Health and education saw the biggest increases in spending after tax cuts in the Budget, with housing and tertiary education facing the largest cuts The post Who got Budget cash and who lost it appeared first on Newsroom. ...
The debt owed by hundreds of thousands of people to government agencies has soared in recent years but a plan to tackle it has been put on hold. Figures from the Ministry of Social Development show that total debt has climbed by more than $1 billion since 2018 to $2.61 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra New ABC chair Kim Williams has said the public broadcaster should become a reimagined “National Campfire”, fostering a stronger sense of community togetherness and conversation in a world increasingly fragmented by social media. Williams ...
Asia Pacific Report French police and gendarmes force were deployed around the political headquarters of the pro-independence Caledonian Union in Kanaky New Caledonia’s Nouméa suburb of Magenta in a crackdown today. The public prosecutor confirmed that eight protesters had been arrested, including the leader of the CCAT action groups, Christian ...
Mainfreight perspective on the futre of rail
This
https://archive.li/qVrAA#selection-2003.29-2003.33
No SPC, and they don't talk about the costs of stopping the new ferries or the vote that will be needed in view of that truck increases for roading maintenance. But so far forward planning does not seem to be in their wheelhouse. Or is it they have objectives they are keeping quiet about, while they blind us with sackings sinking lid austerity politics.
Just a shout out to those protesting the treatment of the Treaty and related Laws. With you in spirit. Kia Kaha. Wairua Hikoi.
And how much damage will that cause to roads ! And of course the mega $ millions then repairing same : (
Of course what does Simeon or the rest of his cronies care about that ?
Support Rail
https://thefutureisrail.org/
The only hope is that this is a 3 year government and the same ferries we have now are still operating in two and a half years time with no non-rail capable replacement ferries on order.
The new government could then sort this Simeon Brown inspired mess out.
Does anyone from the Opposition actually have a plan to 'sort this … mess out'?
Because the last Labour government found the costs for the previous project unacceptable (which is why there was no funding agreed before the election).
https://archive.ph/uztTk
That is interesting Bella. The new mega ferries were clearly less certain that was being portrayed in the media. But I note:
"Cabinet made an in-principle decision to increase the contingency fund by $750m to enable the operation of the mega ferries but reduce the project’s scope by staging non-essential terminal development. Robertson wrote to McLean informing him of the decision and described it as the most viable option for the Crown. He said the significant cost increase required ministers to reconsider all potential options, particularly in the context of current capital constraints and other calls on Crown funding…."
While the Labour Cabinet was keeping options open, the likely outcome was that the $750 million (probably $950 million) required would have been sanctioned, which would have permitted the purchase of the mega ferries, though their purchase would have been somewhat delayed, and work on the land would have been staged with only critical necessary work to be carried out. [As your link details, Kiwirail said $950 million (not 750) was the minimum to keep the project on track.]
I still think that a Labour/Green government, if they had won the election, would have continued with the mega ferries (which of course are rail capable) because this is such a vital link for NZ, and the cost of the mega ferries and associated land improvements would serve the country for generations to come.
If Simeon Brown goes with a cheapskate non-rail option, this will be a disaster, as detailed by Mainfreight above.
But what is their policy now that they are in opposition – and seeking to win the next election.
They can't continue the ferry build project (that ship has sailed – pardon the pun) – so what alternative are they going to campaign on?
National's "plan" to sort the mess out" is to spend many more billions on roads, which have a worse cost benefit ratio when everything is taken into account, including environmental and opportunity costs, than upgrading the ferries to serve for at least 30 years in the future.
Now the Government has changed, NZ coastal shipping, the other leg of environmentally and economically effective transport, also appears to have dissappeared from consideration.
Again. What is Labour/Green policy?
Don't know about policy (I'm not a member of any political party) – wouldn't any previous policy now be in tatters thanks to Willis' decision? Still, a google suggests the Green party's transport spokesperson would be keen for the project to continue, despite sharing concerns about cost.
An interesting comment under that article got me thinking (again) about who really benefits from the 'off-again on-again' short-term planning for crucial infrastructure fostered by polarisation, political and otherwise.
As for the Labour party, a LabourVoices release by their transport spokesperson suggests they would have preferred the project to go ahead. Too partisan for my tastes, but certainly no more-so than NAct.
Out of curiosity, what was the National/Act policy prior to Willis' decision to can this infrastructure project?![smiley smiley](https://cdn2.thestandard.org.nz/wp-content/plugins/ark-wysiwyg-comment-editor/ckeditor/plugins/smiley/images/regular_smile.png)
And this is fun – the deputy PM being his usual helpful self
https://www.infrastructurenews.co.nz/future-freight-transport-dead-water/
Yes, that's rather the point. The OP was hoping for a 1-term government in order to 'sort this … mess out'?
None of the previous policies to continue the project or continue the project with modifications are viable any longer. I've not seen any new proposals from the opposition on what they would do now.
Links to what they claim they would have done, had they been re-elected are rather pointless.
While they were in opposition, did Nat/ACT/NZF have policies for securing the future of our vital North-South Island link for passengers and freight? And what's our CoC govt's plan now?
Btw, nice work holding our CoC govt to account here, in your uniquely centrist fashion.
I'm not the one calling for a one-term government to sort the issue out. Just the one asking for some evidence that the opposition has a plan to do this.
Perhaps you could link to the evidence that they do have a plan.
Well, now, that would be a pleasant change – but I can't see the highly oppositional nature of NZ politics achieving this.
I don't see any evidence that the previous Labour government were seeking cross-party support for their rail-ferry infrastructure investment, nor sharing the information they were receiving about the rapidly escalating budget.
Labour had cross party consensus with national on high density housing, but the nats have renegeded
Getting NZ Back on Track (link to an Emmerson cartoon)
https://cloudfront-ap-southeast-2.images.arcpublishing.com/nzme/QNAJHC2ACZGPXCDCFB6JCTBFWA.jpg
They had a plan in government, and the next government torpedoed the project. Maybe that was a good call – time will tell.
Over 5 months later, it's now time for our new govt to reveal and implement their (cost-effective) replacement plan to secure the future of the North-South Island link for passengers and freight. Or is that plan out already? Assuming they can access an internet, future generations of Kiwis will marvel at the foresight and long-term planning capabilities of today's politicians.
Yes, it would be great. Who is served by this "highly oppositional nature" that contributes to poor (at times very poor) governance? Imagine how much more productive, progressive and positive NZ could be with greater parliamentary bipartisan consensus.
Shaw understood the lasting value of bipartisan legislation, and achieved the same by working with National party MPs:
And all parliamentary parties bar National seem to think the principle of fairness trumps partisan politics with regard to restoring citizenship to people born in Western Samoa.
Then there's the housing density agreement, while it lasted.
The lead-up to TPP ratification (parliamentary approval not required) prompted public protests (I attended two), but the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (CPTPP) Amendment Bill enjoyed nearly unanimous support in the house – only Green MPs voted against.
The 'anti-smacking bill' also had strong parliamentary support (8 noes in a conscience vote during the Clark/Labour govt, with the Key/National govt having no appetite to repeal the legislation), while our last parliament unanimously passed a sex self-identification law, despite it being "a lightning rod for culture wars issues."
Bipartisan agreements are possible, and the 1st year after an election could be a good time to develop consensus (challenging with ACT/NZF on board, for sure). Otherwise, successive 'stop-start governments' will further divide NZ, and who would want that?
Lets hope today is the day that a government finally increases the tax brackets that haven't increased for about 13 years, even though the minimum wage has increased from around $13.00 per hour in 2011 to $23.15 today, as a person working full time on the minimum wage now gets in to paying 33% on their last bit of income!
The top tax bracket needs to be increased to a rate of 45% over $150k, rather than the current 39% over $180k.
Tax at 45% about 150K you reakon, that would put us close if not the highest rate of tax in the developed world. You would see a mad sell up and scramble for the airport, that would include your doctor's, business owners all the people that are way more productive than you, and that pay the majority of the tax. You really have to rethink your envious nature as 150k in the real world is not a very big income and alot of tradesmen are getting very close to that figure or over it, they would join the exodus. The drop in tax take would be disastrous.
On reflection perhaps you are right Sealegs. The real issue is the blatant unfairness of the top 5% owning such a large proportion of capital assets.
So a much better option would be a meaningful Wealth Tax or a Land Tax while keeping the 39% above $180k threshold. The Greens had a WT in their last manifesto that looked workable and fair.
Sure, 33 cents starting above the MW.
a person working full time on the minimum wage now gets in to paying 33% on their last bit of income!
An increase from 30% to 33% on their last bit of income doesn't seem like much of a hardship.
by last bit you mean $152-00.
Min wage for 40 hours is $48,152 per annum.
I don't disagree that brackets should be adjusted but then I think three things should be adjusted for all workers by the rate of inflation every year.
1. Minimum wage
2. All wages for everyone as many contracts now have no provision for annual pay increases (or at best an annual review discussion which results in no increase)
3. Tax brackets
This way workers would at least maintain their income value.
Unions and individuals could then negotiate for productivity etc increases.
I'd link pay equity agreements to the median or average wage – so they do not fall back in real terms.
And I'd link a tax bracket to MW level (I'd leave others as they are).
Apologies, I hadn't had my morning coffee when commenting above so wasn't fully awake. The minimum wage gets you in to the 30% tax bracket not 33%! Still far too high a tax rate IMO. And then of course, anything you spend your net income on mostly has GST of 15% on it.
With current housing costs, not necessarily as mortgage repayments (including interest) and rent are both exempt from GST.
Legacy of the great tax swap, where tax on high incomes, inheritances and unearned gains was decreased, and GST and income tax on median incomes and below, increased!
We will see a repeat today, no matter how they dress it up with spin. Low income earners, families and those on welfare will see a “block of cheese” per month at best. Most of which will be clawed back by private child care providers, landlords, power companies and other vultures. Not to mention National’s sneaky increased taxes, sorry! user pays charges.
It is staggering that Braid of Mainfreight has been ignored by Simeon Brown who at a stretch I would reckon doesn’t know which end of a truck or ferry is the front.
We're 'in it', all right, but 'together'? Really, m'lady, surely you jest.
King Luxon: Chow down landLords – let's get your income back on track.
![](https://images.thespinoff.co.nz/1/2022/08/Side-Eye-45-The-Table-Feature-Image.jpg?w=1024)
The Side Eye’s Two New Zealands: The Table
$728,800 – awful – how does one even survive on such a pittance?
Surprised these Kiwis haven't buggered off – what's keeping them here?
So how much do you feel the tax should be?
TEN times as much 800,000 @ 22% – $176,000 [$624,000 left]
TWENTY times as much 800,000 @ 44% – $352,000 [$448,000 left]
At what level do you think they would bugger off and pay no tax at all?
Did they bugger off when tax was much higher? It is such an idle bullshit threat.
Are we as country, rather than themselves as individuals, better off since they have have lower tax rates. Look around you the answer is clearly no.
How low should tax be until it trickles down? When will the well-off ever be satisfied? The answer is never. The rich will never be satisfied. They can never be rich enough. Profit is just a private tax as opposed to a public one.
This 'capital flight' nonsense can be filed under 'trickle down' and 'market decides' myths. It’s next to the “The right are good managers of the economy” in the fiction area.
Just neo-liberal bulldust,
No one ever says quite where they are going to go to.
Australia has higher taxes, 14% employer contribution to super, asset testing of superannuation payments and most NZ businesses who move to Oz fail.
The UK has death duties as does the US, Ireland, the US, France, Germany etc.
I'm keen on the Green / TPM wealth taxes – would be under their thresholds. If not a wealth tax, then maybe a 45% tax rate on income over A$190,001.
Given an exchange rate of ~92 Australian cents to the NZ$, our threshold for a 45% tax rate might be ~NZ$210,000, so income of NZ$800,000 would attract ~$265,500 in tax on the $590,000 over that threshold (leaving an absolute pittance of NZ$324,500 – such penury is almost unimaginable), in addition to whatever tax might be owing on the first $210,000.
So, how much do you feel the tax should be?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_tax_rates
No idea – do you? Might depend (in part) on what's keeping them here now.
Well, yes, perhaps that is an ultimate goal for some – to "pay no tax at all".
Heh – “the rich and dodgy” – can’t help helping themselves.