I wonder why so many Fonterra farms don't want to open their gates…..
“Fonterra’s farm open day has been labelled an “absolute nonsense”, with just 14 farms taking part and the gates all but shut to anyone still hoping to get a ticket.”
The sooner we as a society stop believing Fonterra's advertising that all farmers are family #8 wire types, with the nice nuclear family living off the land with nice green fields, healthy cows and white wooly sheep the better.
The problem farms are the big industrial farms, and they will not be the ones open anyway
#8 wire types started dying out 30 years ago – apparently replaced by 'innovators' and 'disruptors' (going forward)
They've become so efficient and effective that it means things like NZ Post are able to get mail to the lower regions of the Himalayas, or North America as quickly as they can less than 2km across town (about 11 days)
If this article is true and they were already driving dangerously through red lights, it puts the police in a difficult situation. As they are not allowed to chase, but they need to get them off the road urgently.
Edit
This is not difficult to comprehend. When the police start the chase process, and scare and excite the driver causing him to drive worse than before, go faster and more recklessly, and drive through red lights. The line of controlled behaviour in the driver's mind is crossed, and it is fleeing and going faster that sweeps his remaining brain function.
Anybody who thinks and talks to psychologists and experts in driver behaviour would know that. The police are bloody-minded, authoritarian, irresponsible, punitive and sanctimonious – their lack of intelligent thought is a repetition of thinking of Olde England with its savage response to rule and law breaking that resulted in Australia's convict settlement.
The police desire to take severe action against the driver who may not cause harm to others, then ratchet up the probability by chasing him, secure in sanctimonious whitewashing of any damage they cause by mumbling that 'he should have stopped'. That reason doesn't cut it; in a modern era when we understand so much more, the police’s response is a primitive brain effect when chasing drivers like this.
There is so much known that can explain the scenario – the effect of bad economic conditions, bad childhood experiences and lack of socialisation and self-control of the wanted driver, his or her use of drugs to bolster self-esteem if used will further decrease self-conrol, then the psychological effects that follow that all, and the effect on the body of adrenaline etc affecting both fleeing driver and chasing police. It's all known and for police to follow the same behaviour as a dog chasing a cat makes them appear simple-minded, lacking in intelligence and unable to learn from good research, and the experience of other police forces with better methods.
Game theory says it all. This is not a game and we can’t just think about theories, we are talking about better ways of living our lives, and of trying to lessen risk. There is no such thing as risk free living, despite what the Transport Authority is trying to do, also Health and Safety – both of which tend to go OTT.
Looking at it from a dispassionate math point of view, what we do know is that we lose several people a year to police pursuits. some of those pursuits are the result of minor offences or traffic infringements.
If they can lower the rate of pursuits ending in a crash with better pursuit practises, fine. But at the moment it seems safer to get the driver on camera and pick them up the following day.
Yeah, but these days we have cameras as well as the reggo.
A few years ago the usual followup was "he said he'd lent it to someone, so we can't do anything". Heck, impound the car for a bit. Just make it a reasonable likelihood of some manner of inconvenience, and eventually they'll figure it out.
Besides, the success rate of actually catching them is pretty low with pursuits, anyway. Letting them go that night probably isn't too much less likely to get a result, but sure lowers the chances of a fatality.
Or possibly a bigger factor in the lack of success for next day follow-up is it just doesn't happen all that much (and probably never did). From page 61 of the Fleeing Drivers report:
Staff recognise that the inquiry phase can be beneficial for holding offenders accountable. However, the Review found that, in practice, there was variable engagement with inquiry phases and that there is a general culture within Police where investigating after a fleeing driver event is not afforded the same priority as investigating other criminal offences. There are possibly several reasons for this, with deficiencies in the accountability mechanisms for fleeing driver events likely to be a significant factor. At present, responsibility for a fleeing driver event is often not assigned to any staff after the pursuit has been abandoned. Therefore, there is no requirement for follow-up inquiries to identify and apprehend an offender.
Unlike other incidents that Police attends, unless a fleeing driver is identified and charged as an offender, fleeing driver events are not consistently recorded in the National Intelligence Application (NIA). As a result, no file is created, which hinders follow-up inquiries and leads to intelligence gaps.
(link near the end of this subthread or at 4.1 in today's Open Mike)
But that report also says there’s not routinely cameras in cars, so there’s only the fixed traffic cameras. Apparently the cops would like to have car and body cams, though.
Did you not read the article…he was already driving through red lights which means he may have killed someone on any one of those three previous times. It was fourth time unlucky.
If he had hit and killed someone on the second red light he ran (instead of the fourth), and the police had seen it and done nothing, are the police at fault? I bet a lot of the public would be pretty angry at the police for doing nothing.
"Stuff understands the driver of the fleeing car allegedly drove through at least three red lights during the pursuit before crashing into McCaul's car."
As I read your article Jimmy and if it is indeed a true article, the car was being pursued through all the red lights.
It started with the teen driver seen driving erratically. That could mean a number of things. And he was ordered to stop and didn't. It might be better if the police had an emergency call out team available, and didn't cruise around looking for people to stop who aren't keen to be found with drink or drugs on their breath. I wonder if the road toll, accidents and deaths, would go down?
Police earlier said the pursuit began when the driver of a black Toyota Caldina failed to stop for police on Papanui Rd, about 4am. The car, which had five teenagers inside, was signalled to stop due to the "erratic" way it was being driven, Canterbury police metro area commander Superintendent Lane Todd previously said…
The crash comes seven months after police and the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) released a review of police pursuits called Fleeing Drivers in New Zealand.
It made eight recommendations to improve how police respond to fleeing drivers, and favoured a risk-averse approach to pursuits.
"In general, the review found that there was a lack of understanding among staff about the risk officers create by initiating a pursuit and contributing to a fleeing vehicle," the report said….
In Canterbury, there were 360 fleeing driver incidents from January to June 2019, with 268 of them being abandoned.
During that same period last year, there were 208 fleeing driver incidents and 154 abandonments.
(The stats for this year compared to the same period last year showed considerably more incidents than last year, and about double the number that were not abandoned, so continued. It seems that Christchurch has become over-zealous. And I think they have had trouble with boy racers this year, which could explain the attention. I think that a new game plan is required. What have they done in similar situations in other jurisdictions across the world, Australian states for a start, that are not just the hard-line, get tough approach; Scandinavia? Italy?)
Mandatory 6 or 12 months with no parole for fleeing or failure to stop, running consecutively with any other sentence if a court case is held on other charges. No reductions for age, early guilty plea etc on this part of the total.
The police don't always get it right, but it seems like if you drive like a wanker to get away from them, you just might succeed if they're expected to give up in the name of public safety.
Well I would not be prepared to see that my good relative or friend was sacrificed by police chasing someone who hadn't stopped when ordered to help police with their enquiries. I think that there is a lack of balance in some people's responses to this matter on this post.
Good law helps the smooth and fair running of a country. When it isn't delivering those two aspects, it needs to be thought about and amended. Keep your had-line punitive approaches to yourselves. That sort of attitude in society ends up making everyone sour and eventually unhappy.
It's apparent that the reward of failing to stop is greater than risk of being caught because it's unsafe to be pursued, so something has to change. If you think it's fair some people who don't want to be spoken to by police can just nut off driving and put other road users and pedestrians at risk, then that's your case to make. I proffer that knowing once you're tagged, there will be a stinging consequence, whether the police chase you or not, is a better deterrent than senseless road tolls.
Teen is hooning around. Lights go on, he gets an adrenaline hit, puts his foot down. Even if he starts thinking during the chase, by that time he's facing your tough penalty so he's better off taking the risk, in his eyes.
Deterrents work on rational criminals. The ones who'll cop to half a dozen burglaries if they're caught outright for one or two, because the increase in sentence is trivial compared to the crimes they were caught for. The ones who'll put the knee in if it's just one or two people trying to detain them, but as soon as backup arrives they chill out because there's no point adding aggravated assault to the charge list for the night. Might even share some jokes, because none of it's personal.
But most teen fleeing drivers aren't as rational as you or they might think they are. Impulse control and thick as shit. Deterrence isn't a consideration for them.
I do get what you're saying and mostly agree with you, but I'd expect something other than no police chases ever has to be the start point. Isn't that just ceding the roads?
In addition to the two idiots mentioned below that successfully got away and went on to kill, I also had one acquaintance that tried running once. He crashed in under a minute and wrote off his family's car. He never tried running again.
How would feel about your "good relative or friend" getting killed by an idiot driver who had never been held accountable for his idiot driving because he had successfully got away every time when police attempted to stop him?
In my young and dumb and full of bravado years I had a couple of acquaintances that were in the habit of running from the cops. Both of them went on to kill innocents in crashes they caused through their idiot driving (no, the police weren't chasing them when they caused those fatals).
The point is that the police chasing stupid usually young people, or who are criminals afraid of getting arrested, will be more of a risk when being chased. Can anyone get that through their heads. It is a matter of logical thinking rather than emotional ones by commenters. The police become another hazard to the innocent, on top of the fool drivers being bad.
I'm sure it's not only teenagers who do it, in fact I'd put money on it.
The actual point is when directed to stop, you have to stop, just like you have to give your name to a cop if they ask, or if you don't and speed off, it's genuine cause for pursuit. I don't accept police shouldn't chase, they should, there's obviously a reason someone flees, but if it's causing death, as it sometimes does, then an alternative approach is needed. My approach is one of 'if you run, then you pay', and once it gets through to the have to get away drivers there's always a 6 month consequence whether you're chased or not, then it may make some who are only running for stupid reasons, for example licence violations, wise up and think again before flooring it.
'Aggravated' failure to stop for red and blue flashing lights while in the same act committing another driving offence, eg. speeding, dangerous driving and other offences, yields mandatory cumulative disqualification and heightened penalty – it's already in the law. At the very extreme end of the spectrum manslaughter is on.
Just saying…..(1) it hasn't worked, (2) heavier, heavier, heavier won't work either (car crushing?), and (3) it's a startling proposition that from time to time the paramountcy of public safety is best served by advised suspension of public safety. Proof that it's startling and unacceptable is that the police already employ a protocol which commands cessation of pursuit.
Slight correction to my "hasn't worked" assertion ….guess it might stamp out heinous failure to display rego/warrant if there were a mandatory order that the guilty party walk a mile in the fast lane of motorway busy hour. Public safety ?
Common sense dictates that there's a limit…..both ways. Going all Crusher ain't an answer. As well, it's ugly, stupid, and very spewy.
It seems there's no jail time involved for failing to stop, just a hefty fine (irrelevant to those with no means to pay) and driving disqualification (no deterrent to those already driving illegally).
5.6. Offenders and charging practices In New Zealand, section 52A of the Land Transport Act 1998 administers penalties for failing to stop or failing to remain stopped for an enforcement officer. The maximum penalty for a first offence is a $10,000 (NZD) fine.96 A mandatory six-month disqualification is also imposed on those drivers convicted of a first offence of failing to stop while exceeding the applicable speed limit or operating a motor vehicle in an otherwise dangerous manner (which is cumulative on any other disqualification ordered in respect of the same incident). This is commonly referred to as an “aggravated failing to stop” charge.
it's from a pdf entitled "Fleeing drivers in New Zealand" by the IPCA. page 63. Comes up when you search for the title.
It seems there's no jail time involved for failing to stop, just a hefty fine (irrelevant to those with no means to pay) and driving disqualification (no deterrent to those already driving illegally).
In contrast, all other Australian jurisdictions permit a term of imprisonment from the first offence of failing to stop, with Queensland and the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) having the most significant penalties. In Queensland, a conviction for failing to stop carries a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment and a fine up to $25,230 AUD. In the ACT, offenders on their second or subsequent offence can be imprisoned for up to three years and fined up to $63,000 AUD. In New South Wales, the penalties are more severe – offenders can be imprisoned for up to three years for first offence and up to five years for a second or subsequent offence.
Oddly enough, those praising the Australian approach haven't highlighted that difference.
(Didn't put the link in first time around cause it's a massive messy google search link. Let me know if the embed doesn't work)
"The police are bloody-minded, authoritarian, irresponsible, punitive and sanctimonious – their lack of intelligent thought is a repetition of thinking of Olde England with its savage response to rule and law breaking".
Why pick on the Police @grewarshark?
It's become a prerequisite for a sizable, if not all muddle to senior ranks across the public service. You missed out a couple of essential characteristics though. One is to lie (or in more acceptable terms: mislead, mis-speak, or be frugal with the truth or information) whilst keeping a straight face; and the other is to hide behind procedure and process – automated or otherwise.
There are one or two other desirable characteristics, such as a proven ability to take credit for the successes of subordinates, whilst apportioning blame to them when necessary.
A nice to have is a love of meetings, procrastination – especially when able to put it down to consultation with stakeholders; an ability to justify pay disparities between worker bees and their masters, and between the sexes; and political partisanship
That's an awful list of attributes OWT. Knowing it, how do you make any headway for better? It is said that the way to survive in quicksand is to lie down, which spreads your weight, and then what? Can you claw yourself along slowly towards something solid?
What innovative ways can we adopt to get out of our present morass here in li'l ole NZ.
Hope IN Change @ grey :). (a play on Hope AND change).
And a hope that voting for what we thought would be a progressive gummint will eventually come to pass in the fullness of time, going forward – such as Chippy's recognition that there needs to be public service reform – even if he hasn't yet realised where the roadblocks actually are.
A good dose of cynicism is always good as well JUST AS LONG as we are equally as cynical and questioning of ourselves as we are about others. (Except me of course – I'm the perfect specimen)
Go on – you're outstanding. Keep slogging on there, thinking and putting forward ideas, a thorn in the backside to the complacent, those with the wrong compass points, and the over-optimistic utopians. We will get past the thorn stage and get to the blackberries or the roses eventually, and I hope it is quickly so we can get prepared for the coming times. At present going forward is a bit weighed down with heavy side issues.
I suggest we reintroduce violence, The Rotan. The lowlife types who steal cars and joyride, etc, are precisely those who despise civilised penalties because they do not hurt them. They are also precisely the types who will practise domestic violence upon their women and children. They believe that violence works.
Fines and even jail will have no deterrent effect at all.
So there is a positive idea to be considered. And if the Left proposed it, toughie-boysie Soimon would be totally out-manoeuvred!!
Punishment and Reward. How do we break through the easy peasy attitude of young people who don't have long-term objectives to aim for, or long-term commitments to partners and children to anchor them, and bring out the being part of community thing?
The domestic violence has two sides too, one is the male thing of lashing out at the annoying other who is demanding of him and also vulnerable. The other is the role of the woman who has no clear future in mind except to find out about sex, get some sort of job and bring up kids without any definite ideas of principles. Materialistic values rule, and the children aren't taught to respect women as they watch their mothers talked down to, slapped around a bit, and perhaps both turn their self-disdain on their children. Who grow up without inner strength and little compassion.
You model yourself as on adult on your parents though perhaps unconsciously, or may aim to be totally different and be the opposite, but in either case resorting to authoritarian behaviour is likely to arise, and anger at disobedience arises also. Some parents think that when a baby is over say three months that it has brain capacity and when it cries it is deliberate and manipulating, and plans to annoy them and 'be naughty'.
There is so much wrong with the way we bring up youngsters, In Vino. How to teach a teenager the right behaviour that should have been modelled to them before age 7, it is said that by three the personality is forming I think? They need to go through perhaps a year of alternative family life, and feel the modelling, talk about their difficulties, and find themselves and a purpose for life. I am sure it has been tried somewhere, but we like to keep hitting our heads against brick walls, we have never been very clever with preparing children for adulthood and socialising them, even just teaching them basic sex education. This country gets more stupid about how to grow our children well, with every decade.
lol I got the cane at high school and those welts lasted for weeks – didn't really change much I think – I still swear. I'm sure the sadistic educator had nightmares for weeks though – having to stare at my bum as he whipped me 4 times. Still truth is there would be a queue for people willing to do the hurting via the stick to stop those people doing the hurting on others – a long one no doubt. All wanting to help by hurting. Seems a bit counter productive to me.
The Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has refused to accept an environmental award, saying the climate movement needed people in power to start to “listen” to “science” and not awards.
…She addressed the decision in a post on Instagram from the United States.
“The climate movement does not need any more awards,” she wrote.
“What we need is for our politicians and the people in power start to listen to the current, best available science.”
While thanking the Nordic Council for the “huge honour”, she also criticised Nordic countries for not living up to their “great reputation” on climate issues.
“There is no lack of bragging about this. There is no lack of beautiful words. But when it comes to our actual emissions and our ecological footprints per capita … then it’s a whole other story,” Thunberg said.
OMG SqHosking and Squawkesby will be having menopausal fits over this……be like refusing the Knight/Dame they've never been offered in the anxious face of all their hopes and aspirations. Poor wee ones.
They could welcome the support for easing the abatement on other income – but then Labour's plan is so slow paced National might be enacting it faster than if the government was re-elected.
They could question the nanny state idea of government paying an under 20 beneficiary's rent and power out of their dole – or does National really mean a spending card for those under 20 (given they would place others 20-25 on this regime as part of sanctions a move likely directly related to term limits for those under 25)?
The public aren't interested in the detail around how governments deal to the poor. Heck, most people on TS aren't interested in that, either. I'm asking how do we create a climate of opinion where the standard response to what Bridges is saying is an eye-roll. Of course, it's the 64 million dollar question, but the task is a necessary one.
The public aren't interested in the detail around how governments deal to the poor. Heck, most people on TS aren't interested in that, either.
Hang on Chris that's a little bit rough. Just because not everybody here comments on the state of poverty in NZ doesn't mean they don't care. I think you would find that people from all walks of life donate generously to organisations like the Salvation Army. In many cases and for many reasons that is the only thing they can do.
I just heard Simon Bridges say, "The evidence is clear." He was talking about withholding benefit payments from people who don't have their kids vaccinated.
Every word he says adds to the clear evidence: he is an idiot who believes in cretinous approaches and knows he will have cretinous followers keenly supporting him.
If he knew someone with half a brain maybe they could explain to him about evidence of effective ways for people (or animals for that matter) to learn. Are punitive approaches better?
Who coulda seen this one coming? It seems those ellipses in the "rough transcript" of Donny Dumpsterfire's call to Zelensky weren't signifying innocent pauses in the conversation after all.
I think that Iwi should set up small to medium Sawmill that will take the fluctuating export market out and provide a better price per cube and jobs for local tangata whenua. I know personally that it is not to hard to do.
I think it's logical to pair Solar and Wind power together. I also think Aotearoa should have floating Solar power farms on all our Hydro dams this will have many cost savings and lower the evaporations rate of the dams.
Long read: Solar + wind, the benefits of co-location
Shared grid connections, complimentary resource availability, and more grid-friendly power are among the key advantages of pairing wind farms with solar arrays – and developers are quickly moving into the emerging space
We need to change the way we live fast as possible. It's only took 30 years to pump the same amount of carbon into our environment that has taken 200 years to pump into our environment.
We all have to do our bit to persuade our Papatuanuku government and businesses to change to a carbon neutral economy.
Climate scientist James Renwick says global governments are too slow to act to prevent disastrous levels of global warming.
says Renwick, sitting in his professorial office at Victoria University, where the Nobel Peace Prize certificate for his contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) is proudly framed on the wall.
Like a conscientious climate scientist, Renwick takes public transport from his Kāpiti Coast home to the university and back. We're late for the 4.15pm train, but his 62-year-old knees won't brook running.
But it's not his quirky persona that won him this year's Prime Minister's Science Communication Prize. While scientists sometimes become scientists because they're happier digging through data than interacting with humans, Renwick likes to talk and he's good at it. When Rotary invites him to meetings, he goes. And when the climate deniers troll, he hits reply rather than block.
I try to politely engage in conversation, point out the science.
Often he'll suggest chatting over coffee. That's usually the end of it.
"It's never really about the science, the facts, the evidence. It's about their own world view."
For 30 years, Renwick has been thinking, writing and talking about climate change, since writing the first report for the Ministry for the Environment about how climate change might affect New Zealand, in the 1990s. But in those three decades, the increase in carbon dioxide in It took 200 years to get to the first half and only 30 years for the second half," he notes carbon in the air has doubled.
And still, the policy makers are dawdling, Renwick says. As a lead author on the fourth IPCC report, in 2007, he naively
IPCC report announced that global CO₂ emissions had to almost halve by 2030 and reduce to zero by 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
"If the world is serious about 1½ degrees, 2020 is the absolute last year we can see any increase in emissions," Renwick says. "The corner has to be turned in the next year, and there just isn't any sign of that."
"It's not down to the individual to solve this problem, because it's a global economy. We can't do it just by ourselves. We've got to persuade governments and businesses to change."
Its good tangata are going to get quick referrals to MRI scans to diagnose some ills faster the faster one correct treatment is started the better the chances of curing the illness.
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Guided By The Stars? This gift of Matariki, then, what will be made of it? Can a people spiritually unconnected to anything other than their digital devices truly appreciate the relentless progress of gods and heroes across the heavens? The elders of Maoridom must wonder. Can Te Ao Māori be ...
The internet is a wonderful thing sometimes. Yesterday, I ran across an AI program that generates images via prompt: https://huggingface.co/spaces/dalle-mini/dalle-mini So I have been doing the logical thing with it. Getting it to generate Silmarillion characters in bizarre situations. Morgoth playing golf, and so forth. But one thing I ...
Stashing renewable energy Do a little internet sleuthing on renewable energy via your favorite search engine and you'll find some honest critique and much more dishonest misinformation (aka disinformation) to the effect that photovoltaic and wind generation are fickle energy supplies, over-abundant in some periods and absent in others. There's ...
The current New Zealand First Foundation trial in the High Court continues to show why reform is required when it comes to money in politics. The juicy details coming out each day show private wealth being funnelled into some peculiar schemes in an attempt to circumvent the Electoral Act. Yet ...
As in so many other areas of public policy, attitudes towards overseas investment in New Zealand – and anywhere, for that matter – boil down in the end to ideology. For proponents of the “free market”, there is really no issue. The market, in their view, must never be second-guessed; ...
Selwyn Manning and I discussed the upcoming NATO Leader’s summit (to which NZ Prime Minister Ardern is invited), the rival BRICS Leader’s summit and what they could mean for the Ruso-Ukrainian Wa and beyond. ...
New Zealand’s Most Profitable“Friend” Dangerous “Threat”: This country’s “Five Eyes” partners, heedless of the economic consequences for New Zealand, have cajoled and bullied its political class into becoming Sinophobes. They simply do not care that close to 40 percent of this country’s trade is with China. As far as Washington, London, ...
I have seen some natter around about how The Rings of Power represents the undue and unholy corporatisation of J.R.R. Tolkien. I won’t point out examples, but anyone who has seen YouTube commentary has a pretty good grasp of what I am talking about – the sentiment that ...
2017’s Queenmaker: Five years ago, Winston Peters’ choice ran counter to New Zealand’s informal, No. 8 wire, post-MMP constitution, which, up until 2017, had decreed that the party with the most votes got to supply the next prime minister. Had National not been in power for the previous 9 years, it ...
I've read some bad stuff about long covid recently, and Marc Daalder's recent Newsroom piece about what endemic covid means for Aotearoa got me wondering about whether the government was thinking about it. Mass-disability due to long covid has obvious implications for health and welfare spending, as well as for ...
Last year, a stranded kiwi criticised the MIQ system. Covid Minister Chris Hipkins responded by doxxing and defaming her. Now, he's been forced to apologise for that: Minister Chris Hipkins has admitted he released incorrect and personal information about journalist Charlotte Bellis, after she criticised the managed isolation system. ...
Gil-galad is an Elven Chad Gil-galad is an Elven Chad But Celebrimbor makes them mad Digesting leaks from Amazon Of Isildur and Pharazôn. The hair is short? The knives are keen. The beardless face of Dwarven Queen? With meteor and man-not-named The fandom temper is inflamed. Of Annatar ...
From the desk of Keir "Patriotic Duty" Starmer:“We have robust lines. We do not want to see these strikes to go ahead with the resulting disruption to the public. The government have failed to engage in any negotiations.“However, we also must show leadership and to that end, please be reminded ...
Has swapping Scott Morrison for Anthony Albanese made any discernible difference to Australia’s relations with the US, China, the Pacific and New Zealand ? Not so far. For example: Albanese has asked for more time to “consider” his response to New Zealand’s long running complaints about the so called “501” ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections The Biden administration in April 2021 dramatically ratcheted up the country’s greenhouse gas emissions reductions pledge under the Paris target, also known as its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). The Obama administration in 2014 had announced a commitment to cut U.S. emissions 26-28% below 2005 levels ...
Something I missed: the Central African Republic has abolished the death penalty: The National Assembly of the Central African Republic (CAR) passed a law abolishing the death penalty in the CAR on May 27, 2022. Once CAR President Touadéra promulgates the bill, the CAR will become the 24th abolitionist ...
Walking On Sunshine: National’s Sam Uffindell cantered home in the Tauranga By-Election, but the Outdoors & Freedom Party’s Sue Grey attracted an ominous level of support.THE RIGHT’S gadfly commentator, Matthew Hooton, summed up the Tauranga by-election in his usual pithy fashion. “Tonight’s result is poor for the National Party, catastrophic for ...
Te reo Māori is Dr. Anaha Hiini’s life purpose. Raised by his grandparents, Kepa and Maata Hiini, Anaha of Ngāti Tarāwhai, Tūhourangi, Ngāti Whakaue descent made a promise at the age of six to his late grandmother, Maata Hiini. “I’ve always had a passion for Māori culture. My first inspiration ...
Dr Carwyn Jones’ vision is to see Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the law given equal mana. Carwyn who holds a PhD in law and society and currently teaches Ahunga Tikanga (Māori Laws and Philosophy) at Te Wānanga o Raukawa after 15 years at Victoria University of Wellington has devoted ...
Jacinda Ardern’s decision to attend the upcoming North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Spain – but to skip the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Rwanda – symbolises the changes she is making to New Zealand foreign policy. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) starts today in ...
The outlook does not look that promising. Forecasting an economy is a mug’s game. The database on which the forecasts are founded is incomplete, out-of-date, and subject to errors, some of which will be revised after the forecasts are published. (No wonder weather-forecasting is easier.) One often has to adopt ...
by Don Franks It seems that almost each day now another ram raid shatters someone’s shop front and loots the premises. Prestigious Queen street is not immune, while attacks on small dairies have long stopped being headline news. Those of us not directly affected are becoming numbed to this form ...
It’s hard to believe that when we created Sciblogs in 2009, the iPhone was only two years old, being a ‘Youtuber’ wasn’t really a thing and Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok didn’t exist. But Science blogging was a big thing, particularly in the United States, where a number of scientists had ...
For 13 years, Sciblogs has been a staple in New Zealand’s science-writing landscape. Our bloggers have written about a vast variety of topics from climate change to covid, and from nanotechnology to household gadgets.But sadly, it’s time to close shop. Sciblogs will be shutting down on 30 June.When ...
Radical Options: By allocating the Broadcasting portfolio to the irrepressible, occasionally truculent, leader of Labour’s Māori caucus, Willie Jackson, the Prime Minister has, at the very least, confirmed that her appointment of Kiri Allan was no one-off. There are many words that could be used to describe Ardern’s placement of ...
A Delicate Juggler? The new Chief Censor, Ms Caroline Flora, owes New Zealand a comprehensive explanation of how she sees, and how she proposes to carry out, her role. Where, for example, is her duty to respect and protect the citizen’s right to freedom of expression positioned in relation to ...
Good grief. Has foreign policy commentary really devolved to the point where our diplomatic effort is being measured by how many overseas trips have been taken by our Foreign Minister? Weird, but apparently so. All this week, a series of media policy wonks have been invidiously comparing how many trips ...
Where we've been Time flies. This coming summer will mark 15 years of Skeptical Science focusing its effort on "traditional" climate science denial. Leaving aside frivolities, we've devoted most of our effort to combatting "serious" denial falling into a handful of broad categories of fairly crisp misconceptions: "radiative physics is wrong,""geophysics is ...
Mercenary army of bogus skeptics on parade Because they're both squarely centered in the Skeptical Science wheelhouse, this week we're highlighting two articles from our government and NGO section, where we collect high-quality articles not originating in academic research but featuring many of the important attributes of journal publications. Our mission ...
In the latest episode of AVFA Selwyn Manning and I discuss the evolution of Latin American politics and macroeconomic policy since the 1970s as well as US-Latin American relations during that time period. We use recent elections and the 2022 Summit of the Americas as anchor points. ...
The Scottish government has announced plans for another independence referendum: Nicola Sturgeon plans to hold a second referendum on Scottish independence in October next year if her government secures the legal approval to stage it. Angus Robertson, the Scottish government’s constitution secretary, said that provided ample time to pass ...
So far, the closer military relationship envisaged by Jacinda Ardern and Joseph Biden at their recent White House meeting has been analysed mainly in terms of what this means for our supposedly “independent” foreign policy. Not much attention has been paid to what having more interoperable defence forces might mean ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Jeff Masters For those puzzling over the various hurricane computer forecast models to figure out which one to believe, the best answer is: Don’t believe any of them. Put your trust in the National Hurricane Center, or NHC, forecast. Although an individual ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Scott Denning The excellent Julia Steinberger essay posted at this site in May provides a disturbing window into the psychology of teaching climate change to young people. It’s critically important to talk with youth about hard topics: love and sex, deadly contagion, school shootings, vicious ...
By Imogen Foote (Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington) A lack of consensus among international conservation regimes regarding albatross taxonomy makes management of these ocean roaming birds tricky. My PhD research aims to generate whole genome data for some of our most threatened albatrosses in a first attempt ...
Well, if that’s “minor” I’d be interested to see what a major reshuffle looks like.Jacinda Ardern has reminded New Zealand of the steel behind the spin in her cabinet refresh announced today. While the Prime Minister stressed that the changes were “triggered” by Kris Faafoi and Trevor Mallard and their ...
We’ve secured a major free trade agreement (FTA) with the European Union (EU) – a move that’s set to boost exports by $1.8 billion per annum, enhance our economic security, and enable New Zealand businesses to grow, by unlocking one of the world’s biggest and high value markets. The new ...
Our Government is committed to making sure that our health system works for all New Zealanders, no matter who you are or where you live. Transformation of our health system will take time, and the step we’re taking today – establishing Health New Zealand and the Māori Health Authority – ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to announce its support urgently for a moratorium on deep sea mining under the high seas, after Pacific nations joined forces this week to demand change. ...
We’re committed to ensuring that there is every opportunity for women and girls to succeed in Aotearoa New Zealand, with fewer barriers. Since coming into Government, we’ve worked hard to support women and girls, by improving services like healthcare and tackling issues like the gender pay gap. Here are just ...
Political pressure from the Green Party has pushed the Government to supply free masks to kids and teachers in schools across Aotearoa New Zealand. ...
The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand and the European Greens have published a joint statement calling for the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement to support climate action, phase out fossil fuel subsidies, cut agriculture emissions, protect human rights, and uphold Te Tiriti o Waitangi. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to guarantee that it will complete light rail and improve walking, cycling, and bus journeys across Wellington before digging new high-carbon tunnels. ...
The Green Party is urging Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker to commit to stronger ocean protection around Aotearoa and on the high seas while at the United Nations Oceans Conference in Portugal this week. ...
A strong Green voice in Parliament has helped reduce the influence large secret money will have in future elections and finally ensured overseas New Zealanders will retain the right to vote even while stranded by the Pandemic. But, the Government needs to go further to ensure our democracy works for ...
A new poll shows that the majority of people back the Greens’ call on the Government to overhaul the country’s criminally punitive, anti-evidence drug law. ...
The US Supreme Court’s decision on abortion is a reminder that we must take nothing for granted in Aotearoa, the Green Party says. “Aotearoa should be a place where everyone, no matter where they are from, or who they love, can choose what is right for their body and their ...
We’re proud to have delivered on our election commitment to establish a public holiday to celebrate Matariki. For the first time this year, New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own. ...
Proposed new legislation to reduce the risk that timber imported into Aotearoa New Zealand is sourced from illegal logging is a positive first step but it should go further, the Green Party says. ...
On World Refugee Day, the Green Party is calling on the new Minister for Immigration, Michael Wood to make up for the support that was not provided to people forced to leave their home countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. ...
This week, we’ve marked a major milestone in our school upgrade programme. We've supported 4,500 projects across the country for schools to upgrade classrooms, sports facilities, playgrounds and more, so Kiwi kids have the best possible environments to learn in. ...
We’ve delivered on our election commitment to make Matariki a public holiday. For the first time this year, all New Zealanders will have the chance to enjoy a mid-winter holiday that is uniquely our own with family and friends. Try our quiz below, then challenge your whānau! To celebrate, we’ve ...
The Green Party says the removal of pre-departure testing for arrivals into New Zealand means the Government must step up domestic measures to protect communities most at risk. ...
The long overdue resumption of the Pacific Access Category and Samoan Quota must be followed by an overhaul of the Recognised Seasonal Employers (RSE) scheme, says the Green Party. ...
Lessons must be learned from the Government's response to the Delta outbreak, which the Ministry of Health confirmed today left Māori, Pacific, and disabled communities at greater risk. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to withdraw the proposed Oranga Tamariki oversight legislation which strips away independence and fails to put children at the heart. ...
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern met UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in London overnight, and together took a number of steps to strengthen the already close ties between our two countries, and promote our common interests in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. “The UK is one of Aotearoa New Zealand’s oldest and closest friends and ...
Building a more secure, sustainable and prosperous future together: Joint Statement – Prime Ministers Jacinda Ardern and Boris Johnson 1. New Zealand and the United Kingdom are old friends and close partners. Our relationship rests on a bedrock of history, shared values, and deep people-to-people links, extending across almost all ...
Director Sir Robin Niblett, distinguished guests. What an honour it is to be back in London, and to be here at Chatham house. This visit represents much for me. The reopening of borders and resumption of travel after a difficult few years. The chance to bring life to the UK ...
Manawa maiea te pūtanga o Matariki Manawa maiea te ariki o te rangi Manawa maiea te mātahi o te tau! Introduction I’m pleased to join you for my second address at the 56th Annual Otago Foreign Policy School. The topic for this year is Space. Given that we are in ...
New Ministry will officially be called Whaikaha - Ministry of Disabled People Public Service Commission have appointed Geraldine Woods as Interim Chief Executive Office for Disability Issues to be folded into the new Ministry In what is a milestone day, the Government has launched Aotearoa New Zealand’s first Whaikaha ...
Nine new He Poutama Rangatahi programmes have been approved funding. These programmes will provide work-readiness, training and employment initiatives for over 820 rangatahi NEETS (not in education, employment or training), across Aotearoa New Zealand. "He Poutama Rangatahi has proven to be a very successful initiative which supports rangatahi to overcome ...
Minister for Māori Development Willie Jackson today announced the appointment of Crown representatives, Dr Charlotte Severne and Mr Bernie O’Donnell, to the Steering Committee that will determine the future of the Ihumātao land. “I’m pleased to have made the Crown appointments. Both Dr Severne and Mr O’Donnell have extensive ...
I begin by thanking each of you for accepting appointment to these boards. You’ve each been on the Ministerial committee that established Te Whatu Ora - Health New Zealand and Te Aka Whai Ora - the Māori Health Authority and I express my appreciation for the enormous task you collectively ...
Aotearoa New Zealand has reiterated its concerns over the continued erosion of rights, freedom and autonomy in Hong Kong. On the second anniversary of the introduction of the Hong Kong National Security Law, the Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta says developments in Hong Kong remain a cause for worry. “Two years ...
The Europol Agreement signed is a significant milestone for New Zealand and the European Union’s relationship, and reflects our shared principles of democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said today. The Prime Minister attended a signature ceremony in Brussels, as part of ...
· New nationwide public health system · 20 district health boards disestablished and deficits wiped · 82,000 health employees directly employed by Health New Zealand · $24 billion health budget this year – up 43% since Labour took office in 2017 – in addition to separate funding for the new ...
Education Minister Chris Hipkins has announced appointments to the Teaching Council of Aotearoa New Zealand and the Board of Trustees of Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu (Te Kura). “Robyn Baker ONZM has been appointed as the chair of the Teaching Council. She has considerable governance experience and is a ...
European Commission President von der Leyen and Prime Minister of New Zealand Ardern met in Brussels on 30 June 2022. The encounter provided an opportunity to reaffirm that the European Union and Aotearoa New Zealand are longstanding partners with shared democratic values and interests, aligned positions on key international and ...
Export revenue to the EU to grow by up to $1.8 billion annually on full implementation. Duty-free access on 97% of New Zealand’s current exports to the EU; with over 91% being removed the day the FTA comes into force. NZ exporters set to save approx. $110 million per annum ...
57,000 EVs and Hybrid registered in first year of clean car scheme, 56% increase on previous year EVs and Non Plug-in Hybrids made up 20% of new passenger car sales in March/April 2022 The Government’s Clean Car Discount Scheme has been a success, with more than 57,000 light-electric and ...
Police Minister Chris Hipkins congratulates the newest Police wing – wing 355 – which graduated today in Porirua. “These 70 new constables heading for the frontline bring the total number of new officers since Labour took office to 3,303 and is the latest mark of our commitment to the Police ...
Members with a range of governance, financial and technical skills have been appointed to the Reserve Bank Board as part of the shift to strengthen the Bank’s decision-making and accountability arrangements. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand Act 2021 comes into force on 1 July 2022, with the establishment of ...
New Zealand to remain at Orange as case numbers start to creep up 50 child-size masks made available to every year 4-7 student in New Zealand 20,000-30,000 masks provided a week to all other students and school staff Extra funding to schools and early childhood services to supports better ...
Aotearoa New Zealand will join Ukraine’s case against Russia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which challenges Russia’s spurious attempt to justify its invasion under international law. Ukraine filed a case at the ICJ in February arguing Russia has falsely claimed genocide had occurred in Luhansk and Donetsk regions, as ...
The Government has taken another step forward in its work to eliminate family violence and sexual violence with the announcement today of a new Tangata Whenua Ministerial Advisory Group. A team of 11 experts in whānau Māori wellbeing will provide the Government independent advice on shaping family violence and sexual ...
Te Mahere Whai Mahi Wāhine: Women’s Employment Action Plan was launched today by Minister for Women Jan Tinetti – with the goal of ensuring New Zealand is a great place for women to work. “This Government is committed to improving women’s working lives. The current reality is that women have ...
The food and fibre sector acknowledged its people and leadership at last night’s 2022 Primary Industries Good Employer Awards, a time to celebrate their passion towards supporting employees by putting their health, welfare and wellbeing first,” Acting Minister of Agriculture Meka Whairiti said. “Award winners were selected from an extraordinary ...
Kia ora koutou katoa. It is a rare thing to have New Zealand represented at a NATO Summit. While we have worked together in theatres such as Afghanistan, and have been partners for just on a decade, today represents an important moment for our Pacific nation. New Zealand is ...
Te Arataki mō te Hauora Ngākau mō ngā Mōrehu a Tū me ō rātou Whānau, The Veteran, Family and Whānau Mental Health and Wellbeing Policy Framework “We ask a lot of those who serve in the military – and we ask a lot of the families and whānau who support ...
Associate Minister of Foreign Affairs Aupito William Sio has been appointed by the United Nations and Commonwealth as Aotearoa New Zealand’s advocacy champion for Small Island States. “Aotearoa New Zealand as a Pacific country is particularly focused on the interests of Pacific Small Island Developing States in our region. “This is a ...
An estimated 100,000 low income households will be eligible for increased support to pay their council rates, with changes to the rates rebate scheme taking effect from 1 July. Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced increases to both the maximum value of the rates rebate, and the income threshold ...
A long-standing physical activity programme that focuses on outcomes for Maori has been expanded to four new regions with Government investment almost doubled to increase its reach. He Oranga Poutama is managed by a combination of hapū, iwi, hauora and regional providers. An increase in funding from $1.8 million ...
The Government is progressing a preferred option for LGWM which will see Wellington’s transport links strengthened with light rail from Wellington Station to Island Bay, a new tunnel through Mt Victoria for public transport, and walking and cycling, and upgrades to improve traffic flow at the Basin Reserve. “Where previous ...
To Provost Muniz, to the Organisers at the Instituto de Empresa buenas tardes and as we would say in New Zealand, kia ora kotou katoa. To colleagues from the State Department, from Academia, and Civil Society Groups, to all our distinguished guests - kia ora tatou katoa. It’s a pleasure ...
On June 28, 2022, a meeting took place in Madrid between the President of the Government of the Kingdom of Spain, Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, and the Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, who was visiting Spain to participate in the Summit of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as one ...
A six-fold increase in the Aotearoa New Zealand-Spain working holiday scheme gives a huge boost to the number of young people who can live and work in each other’s countries, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. Jacinda Ardern and Spanish President Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón made the Working Holiday/Youth Mobility Scheme announcement ...
A significant barrier has been removed for people who want to stand in local government elections, with a change to the requirement to publish personal details in election advertising. The Associate Local Government Minister Kieran McAnulty has taken the Local Electoral (Advertising) Amendment Bill through its final stages in Parliament ...
New financial conduct scheme will ensure customers are treated fairly Banks, insurers and non-bank deposit takers to be licensed by the FMA in relation to their general conduct Sales incentives based on volume or value targets like bonuses for selling a certain number of financial products banned The Government ...
Legislation that bans major supermarkets from blocking their competitors’ access to land to set up new stores paves the way for greater competition in the sector, Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Dr David Clark said. The new law is the first in a suite of measures the Government is ...
The Government has announced an end to the requirement for border workers and corrections staff to be fully vaccinated. This will come into place from 2 July 2022. 100 per cent of corrections staff in prisons, and as of 23 June 2022 97 per cent of active border workers were ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta has concluded a visit to Rwanda reaffirming Aotearoa New Zealand’s engagement in the Commonwealth and meeting with key counterparts. “I would like to thank President Kagame and the people of Rwanda for their manaakitanga and expert hosting of this important meeting,” Nanaia Mahuta said. “CHOGM ...
Minister for Emergency Management Kieran McAnulty officially launched the new Monitoring, Alerting and Reporting (MAR) Centre at the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) today. The Government has stood up the centre in response to recommendations from the 2018 Ministerial Review following the 2016 Kaikoura earthquake and 2017 Port Hills fire, ...
Transport Minister Michael Wood has welcomed the announcement that a 110km/hr speed limit has been set for the SH1 Waikato Expressway, between Hampton Downs and Tamahere. “The Waikato Expressway is a key transport route for the Waikato region, connecting Auckland to the agricultural and business centres of the central North ...
Following feedback from the sector, Associate Minister of Education Jan Tinetti, today confirmed that new literacy and numeracy | te reo matatini me te pāngarau standards will be aligned with wider NCEA changes. “The education sector has asked for more time to put the literacy and numeracy | te reo ...
$4.5 million to provide Ukraine with additional non-lethal equipment and supplies such as medical kit for the Ukrainian Army Deployments extended for New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) intelligence, logistics and liaison officers in the UK, Germany, and Belgium Secondment of a senior New Zealand military officer to support International ...
Green Party candidate for Wellington's Motukairangi-Eastern Ward Luana Scowcroft is launching her campaign at Hataitai Centre (the former Hataitai Bowling Club) at 7pm tonight, Saturday July 2nd. Luana says that council's short-term thinking, and ...
The government has just announced the conclusion of a free trade agreement with the European Union. One Māori entity operating in the trade space, Ngā Toki Whakarururanga, is not celebrating. “We are aware that New Zealand negotiators genuinely sought ...
Buzz from the Beehive Down here on Earth – more particularly, in Ihumātao – progress on doing whatever is going to be done to that disputed patch of land has been glacial. Newsroom drew attention to the dawdling in an article in April which noted that Māori Development Minister Willie ...
PNG Post-Courier Today is officially the last day of campaigning in Papua New Guinea’s 2022 National General Election. Count tomorrow until Monday as rest days, but in politically charged PNG, anything is possible, including illegal last-minute clandestine campaigning. Polling is set to begin Tuesday, July 4, when millions will exercise ...
Asia Pacific Report newsdesk Greenpeace Aotearoa has condemned New Zealand for “standing by” while “deep wounds are inflicted on its Pacific neighbours” by silence over deep sea mining. Greenpeace’s seabed mining campaigner James Hita made the critical statement today after a dramatic shift at the UN Oceans conference in Lisbon ...
Buzz from the Beehive Numbers, quotas and ratios have been high in ministerial considerations over the past 24 hours or so. Export revenue to the EU will grow by up to $1.8 ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Susan Harris Rimmer, Professor and Director of the Policy Innovation Hub, Griffith Business School, Griffith University Prime Minister Anthony Albanese admitted at the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Public Forum that some Australians may not understand why he’s at a NATO meeting ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jared Mondschein, Senior Research Fellow, US Studies Centre, University of Sydney When colonial Americans declared their independence on July 4 1776, they rejected more than British rule. They explicitly denounced the British form of government and the unlegislated norms, traditions and conventions ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra University of Canberra Professorial Fellow Michelle Grattan and Emma Larouche, from the University of Canberra’s Media and Communications team discuss the week in politics. They canvass the crossbenchers’ stoush with the Prime Minister over ...
"Aotearoa New Zealand remains concerned by the steady erosion of rights, freedoms, and autonomy that has occurred in Hong Kong as a result," the foreign minister said. ...
With one month to go until the closure of the 2021 Resident Visa, Immigration New Zealand (INZ) encourages those who are eligible for the 2021 Resident Visa to submit their applications before the category closes at 11:59pm on 31 July 2022. INZ has ...
Analysis - National's Christopher Luxon moves to defuse a potentially vote-losing disaster, the Health Minister's problems keep piling up and the PM speaks at a NATO summit and unveils an historic free trade agreement with the EU. ...
The government's signing of an Europol Agreement significant reflects shared principles of democracy, the rule of law, and respect for human rights, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Sara Tolbert, Associate Professor of Science and Environmental Education, University of Canterbury GettyImagesPlastic Free July has rolled around again and we’ll all be hearing about reducing plastic use in our daily lives. Much of the messaging is targeted toward young ...
Cost, sexism and racism are barriers to ethnic women entering Aotearoa New Zealand politics, a University of Auckland researcher says A University of Auckland researcher shedding light on the unseen and unheard stories of ethnic women in New Zealand politics ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Roderick Neilsen, Associate Professor TESOL/Languages Education, Deakin University Burned-out teachers in Australian primary and secondary schools are quitting in droves, while the majority of surveyed teachers are thinking about it. There are similar fears about Australia’s early childhood educators. However, there ...
Unions representing care and support workers are lodging a pay equity claim today to raise pay rates for a majority female workforce that has always been undervalued. The pay equity claim is a crucial step in stemming the crisis the care and support ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Lavender, Senior Lecturer, Institute of Health and Wellbeing, Federation University Australia Shutterstock I am sure you’ve been told you should stand up and move away from your work stations or use a standing desk where possible. One of the ...
The New Zealand Council of Trade Unions has today welcomed the Free Trade Agreement established between New Zealand and the European Union says President Richard Wagstaff. "The Agreement includes a number of welcome steps to make trade more ...
New Zealand is once again calling on the Government to overhaul an outdated system that determines what community programmes disabled adults have access to based on flawed assessments they were given as children. A case note published this week from ...
The meat and dairy industries are very disappointed with the outcome of the free trade deal struck between New Zealand and the European Union saying it falls far below their expectations. ...
The Prime Minister will need to explain to farmers why there were not more gains in meat and dairy in the trade agreement with the EU, the opposition says. ...
In a dramatic shift at the United Nations oceans conference in Lisbon this week, a series of Pacific Governments have formed an alliance to oppose deep sea mining in international waters but Greenpeace says the continued silence from the New Zealand ...
New Zealanders are amongst the highest generators of plastic waste in the world and on top of this there is now concern about the level of microplastics in our water. As Plastic-free July gets underway, Water New Zealand chief executive Gillian Blythe ...
“When will governments and trade negotiators realise they have more credibility if they tell the truth about free trade agreements (FTA) like the new deal with the European Union (EU), instead of their fancifully positive spin?”, asks Jane Kelsey, ...
National child abuse advocacy group - Child Matters - says yesterday’s revelation that authorities were never alerted to the extent of Malachi Subecz’s horrific injuries is a stark reminder that government legislation must change – and now. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hugh White, Emeritus Professor of Strategic Studies at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University Testing Washington: Chinese President Xi Jinping. Li Gang/Xinhua via AP How can Australia navigate the tough and dangerous strategic environment in Asia today with ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Kaufman, Research Fellow, Vaccine Uptake Group, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute Engin Akyurt/Unsplash The federal government has released a new A$11 million ad campaign urging Australians to “take on winter” by getting COVID boosters and influenza vaccines, as well as ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrew Macintosh, Professor and Director of Research, ANU Law School, Australian National University Climate Change Minister Chris Bowen is today expected to announce a much anticipated review of Australia’s carbon credit scheme, known as the Emissions Reduction Fund. In March, we exposed ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Esmé Louise James, Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Melbourne Netflix After a month of waiting, the season finale of Stranger Things season 4 has almost arrived on Netflix. This season, along with the nightmarish arch-villain Vecna, we have been ...
More than 91 percent of tariffs will be removed the day the deal comes into effect, while the value of NZ exports to the EU are estimated to increase by $1.8b a year by 2035. ...
RNZ News New Zealand has designated US groups the Proud Boys and The Base as terrorist entities. Set down in the government’s official journal of record — the Gazette — last Monday, 20 June, it was published publicly a week later but with no wider dissemination. The move — authorised ...
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I wonder why so many Fonterra farms don't want to open their gates…..
“Fonterra’s farm open day has been labelled an “absolute nonsense”, with just 14 farms taking part and the gates all but shut to anyone still hoping to get a ticket.”
https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/116986443/fonterra-accused-of-pr-stunt-with-open-gates-campaign
The sooner we as a society stop believing Fonterra's advertising that all farmers are family #8 wire types, with the nice nuclear family living off the land with nice green fields, healthy cows and white wooly sheep the better.
The problem farms are the big industrial farms, and they will not be the ones open anyway
But I really like that nice farming picture you painted Y-F. You are destroying my dreams, and I want NZ farms to be like that.
#8 wire types started dying out 30 years ago – apparently replaced by 'innovators' and 'disruptors' (going forward)
They've become so efficient and effective that it means things like NZ Post are able to get mail to the lower regions of the Himalayas, or North America as quickly as they can less than 2km across town (about 11 days)
Maybe because its a Worksafe nightmare, everybody must be accounted for, supervised and made aware of the risks.
Just having people and vehicles on the property increases the risk of M.Bovis type contamination.
Not all people are farmer friendly, Vegans, Safe, etc all looking too video anything in a negative light.
From the Farmers perspective, more hassle than reward, just not worth the aggrivation.
If this article is true and they were already driving dangerously through red lights, it puts the police in a difficult situation. As they are not allowed to chase, but they need to get them off the road urgently.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/117005490/fleeing-driver-allegedly-ran-at-least-three-red-lights-before-fatal-crash
Edit
This is not difficult to comprehend. When the police start the chase process, and scare and excite the driver causing him to drive worse than before, go faster and more recklessly, and drive through red lights. The line of controlled behaviour in the driver's mind is crossed, and it is fleeing and going faster that sweeps his remaining brain function.
Anybody who thinks and talks to psychologists and experts in driver behaviour would know that. The police are bloody-minded, authoritarian, irresponsible, punitive and sanctimonious – their lack of intelligent thought is a repetition of thinking of Olde England with its savage response to rule and law breaking that resulted in Australia's convict settlement.
The police desire to take severe action against the driver who may not cause harm to others, then ratchet up the probability by chasing him, secure in sanctimonious whitewashing of any damage they cause by mumbling that 'he should have stopped'. That reason doesn't cut it; in a modern era when we understand so much more, the police’s response is a primitive brain effect when chasing drivers like this.
There is so much known that can explain the scenario – the effect of bad economic conditions, bad childhood experiences and lack of socialisation and self-control of the wanted driver, his or her use of drugs to bolster self-esteem if used will further decrease self-conrol, then the psychological effects that follow that all, and the effect on the body of adrenaline etc affecting both fleeing driver and chasing police. It's all known and for police to follow the same behaviour as a dog chasing a cat makes them appear simple-minded, lacking in intelligence and unable to learn from good research, and the experience of other police forces with better methods.
There are many such as yourself GS who bring forward valid reasons why not to, yet what other solutions are there ?
and when a case will surface (police observed a car being driven in a reckless fashion) no action resulting in a crash ?
you already used the term “ may not” there is also the case “May Have”
i cannot see anything better than a neutral:loss result by using game theory.
Game theory says it all. This is not a game and we can’t just think about theories, we are talking about better ways of living our lives, and of trying to lessen risk. There is no such thing as risk free living, despite what the Transport Authority is trying to do, also Health and Safety – both of which tend to go OTT.
Looking at it from a dispassionate math point of view, what we do know is that we lose several people a year to police pursuits. some of those pursuits are the result of minor offences or traffic infringements.
If they can lower the rate of pursuits ending in a crash with better pursuit practises, fine. But at the moment it seems safer to get the driver on camera and pick them up the following day.
What's the success rate of trying to find them the next day and holding them accountable?
Back decades ago when I had acquaintances that ran from police, the next day success rate was precisely zero, as far as I could tell.
Yeah, but these days we have cameras as well as the reggo.
A few years ago the usual followup was "he said he'd lent it to someone, so we can't do anything". Heck, impound the car for a bit. Just make it a reasonable likelihood of some manner of inconvenience, and eventually they'll figure it out.
Besides, the success rate of actually catching them is pretty low with pursuits, anyway. Letting them go that night probably isn't too much less likely to get a result, but sure lowers the chances of a fatality.
Or possibly a bigger factor in the lack of success for next day follow-up is it just doesn't happen all that much (and probably never did). From page 61 of the Fleeing Drivers report:
(link near the end of this subthread or at 4.1 in today's Open Mike)
But that report also says there’s not routinely cameras in cars, so there’s only the fixed traffic cameras. Apparently the cops would like to have car and body cams, though.
So cabs have better camera pickup than cop cars. 🙄 Sounds same old same old lol.
the cost of an HD dash cam and a cam on the back seat is pretty trivial these days, I would have thought. Meh.
Did you not read the article…he was already driving through red lights which means he may have killed someone on any one of those three previous times. It was fourth time unlucky.
If he had hit and killed someone on the second red light he ran (instead of the fourth), and the police had seen it and done nothing, are the police at fault? I bet a lot of the public would be pretty angry at the police for doing nothing.
Hi Jimmy
I've read the article twice now and can not see where it says he was already running red lights.
It says "…allegedly drove through at least three red lights during the pursuit…"
Could you point out where it says before the chase started?
"Stuff understands the driver of the fleeing car allegedly drove through at least three red lights during the pursuit before crashing into McCaul's car."
As I read your article Jimmy and if it is indeed a true article, the car was being pursued through all the red lights.
It started with the teen driver seen driving erratically. That could mean a number of things. And he was ordered to stop and didn't. It might be better if the police had an emergency call out team available, and didn't cruise around looking for people to stop who aren't keen to be found with drink or drugs on their breath. I wonder if the road toll, accidents and deaths, would go down?
Police earlier said the pursuit began when the driver of a black Toyota Caldina failed to stop for police on Papanui Rd, about 4am. The car, which had five teenagers inside, was signalled to stop due to the "erratic" way it was being driven, Canterbury police metro area commander Superintendent Lane Todd previously said…
McCaul was the fifth person to die relating to police pursuits in Christchurch this year.
The crash comes seven months after police and the Independent Police Conduct Authority (IPCA) released a review of police pursuits called Fleeing Drivers in New Zealand.
It made eight recommendations to improve how police respond to fleeing drivers, and favoured a risk-averse approach to pursuits.
"In general, the review found that there was a lack of understanding among staff about the risk officers create by initiating a pursuit and contributing to a fleeing vehicle," the report said….
In Canterbury, there were 360 fleeing driver incidents from January to June 2019, with 268 of them being abandoned.
During that same period last year, there were 208 fleeing driver incidents and 154 abandonments.
(The stats for this year compared to the same period last year showed considerably more incidents than last year, and about double the number that were not abandoned, so continued. It seems that Christchurch has become over-zealous. And I think they have had trouble with boy racers this year, which could explain the attention. I think that a new game plan is required. What have they done in similar situations in other jurisdictions across the world, Australian states for a start, that are not just the hard-line, get tough approach; Scandinavia? Italy?)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/117005490/fleeing-driver-allegedly-ran-at-least-three-red-lights-before-fatal-crash
🙂
Mandatory 6 or 12 months with no parole for fleeing or failure to stop, running consecutively with any other sentence if a court case is held on other charges. No reductions for age, early guilty plea etc on this part of the total.
The police don't always get it right, but it seems like if you drive like a wanker to get away from them, you just might succeed if they're expected to give up in the name of public safety.
Well I would not be prepared to see that my good relative or friend was sacrificed by police chasing someone who hadn't stopped when ordered to help police with their enquiries. I think that there is a lack of balance in some people's responses to this matter on this post.
Good law helps the smooth and fair running of a country. When it isn't delivering those two aspects, it needs to be thought about and amended. Keep your had-line punitive approaches to yourselves. That sort of attitude in society ends up making everyone sour and eventually unhappy.
It's apparent that the reward of failing to stop is greater than risk of being caught because it's unsafe to be pursued, so something has to change. If you think it's fair some people who don't want to be spoken to by police can just nut off driving and put other road users and pedestrians at risk, then that's your case to make. I proffer that knowing once you're tagged, there will be a stinging consequence, whether the police chase you or not, is a better deterrent than senseless road tolls.
It still relies on a rational calculation.
Teen is hooning around. Lights go on, he gets an adrenaline hit, puts his foot down. Even if he starts thinking during the chase, by that time he's facing your tough penalty so he's better off taking the risk, in his eyes.
Deterrents work on rational criminals. The ones who'll cop to half a dozen burglaries if they're caught outright for one or two, because the increase in sentence is trivial compared to the crimes they were caught for. The ones who'll put the knee in if it's just one or two people trying to detain them, but as soon as backup arrives they chill out because there's no point adding aggravated assault to the charge list for the night. Might even share some jokes, because none of it's personal.
But most teen fleeing drivers aren't as rational as you or they might think they are. Impulse control and thick as shit. Deterrence isn't a consideration for them.
@McFlock
I do get what you're saying and mostly agree with you, but I'd expect something other than no police chases ever has to be the start point. Isn't that just ceding the roads?
In addition to the two idiots mentioned below that successfully got away and went on to kill, I also had one acquaintance that tried running once. He crashed in under a minute and wrote off his family's car. He never tried running again.
How would feel about your "good relative or friend" getting killed by an idiot driver who had never been held accountable for his idiot driving because he had successfully got away every time when police attempted to stop him?
In my young and dumb and full of bravado years I had a couple of acquaintances that were in the habit of running from the cops. Both of them went on to kill innocents in crashes they caused through their idiot driving (no, the police weren't chasing them when they caused those fatals).
Sobering and pointed post.
The point is that the police chasing stupid usually young people, or who are criminals afraid of getting arrested, will be more of a risk when being chased. Can anyone get that through their heads. It is a matter of logical thinking rather than emotional ones by commenters. The police become another hazard to the innocent, on top of the fool drivers being bad.
Thats what teenagers do " if you drive like a wanker to get away from them"
The point is before the sirens and lights went on it was only 'erratically' , which is a police nonsense word like 'suspicious'.
what they really were doing was 'late at night , an older car , 2 or more young people'
So a person is dead because a car driving was erratic?
Where are the words dangerous driving or known dangerous criminal that would justify a chase ?
I'm sure it's not only teenagers who do it, in fact I'd put money on it.
The actual point is when directed to stop, you have to stop, just like you have to give your name to a cop if they ask, or if you don't and speed off, it's genuine cause for pursuit. I don't accept police shouldn't chase, they should, there's obviously a reason someone flees, but if it's causing death, as it sometimes does, then an alternative approach is needed. My approach is one of 'if you run, then you pay', and once it gets through to the have to get away drivers there's always a 6 month consequence whether you're chased or not, then it may make some who are only running for stupid reasons, for example licence violations, wise up and think again before flooring it.
'Aggravated' failure to stop for red and blue flashing lights while in the same act committing another driving offence, eg. speeding, dangerous driving and other offences, yields mandatory cumulative disqualification and heightened penalty – it's already in the law. At the very extreme end of the spectrum manslaughter is on.
Just saying…..(1) it hasn't worked, (2) heavier, heavier, heavier won't work either (car crushing?), and (3) it's a startling proposition that from time to time the paramountcy of public safety is best served by advised suspension of public safety. Proof that it's startling and unacceptable is that the police already employ a protocol which commands cessation of pursuit.
Slight correction to my "hasn't worked" assertion ….guess it might stamp out heinous failure to display rego/warrant if there were a mandatory order that the guilty party walk a mile in the fast lane of motorway busy hour. Public safety ?
Common sense dictates that there's a limit…..both ways. Going all Crusher ain't an answer. As well, it's ugly, stupid, and very spewy.
I don't think it's going crusher, at all, but am happy to see credible alternatives put forward.
It seems there's no jail time involved for failing to stop, just a hefty fine (irrelevant to those with no means to pay) and driving disqualification (no deterrent to those already driving illegally).
it's from a pdf entitled "Fleeing drivers in New Zealand" by the IPCA. page 63. Comes up when you search for the title.
Was thinking the same thing.
From that same pdf:
Oddly enough, those praising the Australian approach haven't highlighted that difference.
(Didn't put the link in first time around cause it's a massive messy google search link. Let me know if the embed doesn't work)
"The police are bloody-minded, authoritarian, irresponsible, punitive and sanctimonious – their lack of intelligent thought is a repetition of thinking of Olde England with its savage response to rule and law breaking".
Why pick on the Police @grewarshark?
It's become a prerequisite for a sizable, if not all muddle to senior ranks across the public service. You missed out a couple of essential characteristics though. One is to lie (or in more acceptable terms: mislead, mis-speak, or be frugal with the truth or information) whilst keeping a straight face; and the other is to hide behind procedure and process – automated or otherwise.
There are one or two other desirable characteristics, such as a proven ability to take credit for the successes of subordinates, whilst apportioning blame to them when necessary.
A nice to have is a love of meetings, procrastination – especially when able to put it down to consultation with stakeholders; an ability to justify pay disparities between worker bees and their masters, and between the sexes; and political partisanship
That's an awful list of attributes OWT. Knowing it, how do you make any headway for better? It is said that the way to survive in quicksand is to lie down, which spreads your weight, and then what? Can you claw yourself along slowly towards something solid?
What innovative ways can we adopt to get out of our present morass here in li'l ole NZ.
Hope IN Change @ grey :). (a play on Hope AND change).
And a hope that voting for what we thought would be a progressive gummint will eventually come to pass in the fullness of time, going forward – such as Chippy's recognition that there needs to be public service reform – even if he hasn't yet realised where the roadblocks actually are.
A good dose of cynicism is always good as well JUST AS LONG as we are equally as cynical and questioning of ourselves as we are about others. (Except me of course – I'm the perfect specimen)
Go on – you're outstanding. Keep slogging on there, thinking and putting forward ideas, a thorn in the backside to the complacent, those with the wrong compass points, and the over-optimistic utopians. We will get past the thorn stage and get to the blackberries or the roses eventually, and I hope it is quickly so we can get prepared for the coming times. At present going forward is a bit weighed down with heavy side issues.
I suggest we reintroduce violence, The Rotan. The lowlife types who steal cars and joyride, etc, are precisely those who despise civilised penalties because they do not hurt them. They are also precisely the types who will practise domestic violence upon their women and children. They believe that violence works.
Fines and even jail will have no deterrent effect at all.
So there is a positive idea to be considered. And if the Left proposed it, toughie-boysie Soimon would be totally out-manoeuvred!!
Punishment and Reward. How do we break through the easy peasy attitude of young people who don't have long-term objectives to aim for, or long-term commitments to partners and children to anchor them, and bring out the being part of community thing?
The domestic violence has two sides too, one is the male thing of lashing out at the annoying other who is demanding of him and also vulnerable. The other is the role of the woman who has no clear future in mind except to find out about sex, get some sort of job and bring up kids without any definite ideas of principles. Materialistic values rule, and the children aren't taught to respect women as they watch their mothers talked down to, slapped around a bit, and perhaps both turn their self-disdain on their children. Who grow up without inner strength and little compassion.
You model yourself as on adult on your parents though perhaps unconsciously, or may aim to be totally different and be the opposite, but in either case resorting to authoritarian behaviour is likely to arise, and anger at disobedience arises also. Some parents think that when a baby is over say three months that it has brain capacity and when it cries it is deliberate and manipulating, and plans to annoy them and 'be naughty'.
There is so much wrong with the way we bring up youngsters, In Vino. How to teach a teenager the right behaviour that should have been modelled to them before age 7, it is said that by three the personality is forming I think? They need to go through perhaps a year of alternative family life, and feel the modelling, talk about their difficulties, and find themselves and a purpose for life. I am sure it has been tried somewhere, but we like to keep hitting our heads against brick walls, we have never been very clever with preparing children for adulthood and socialising them, even just teaching them basic sex education. This country gets more stupid about how to grow our children well, with every decade.
lol I got the cane at high school and those welts lasted for weeks – didn't really change much I think – I still swear. I'm sure the sadistic educator had nightmares for weeks though – having to stare at my bum as he whipped me 4 times. Still truth is there would be a queue for people willing to do the hurting via the stick to stop those people doing the hurting on others – a long one no doubt. All wanting to help by hurting. Seems a bit counter productive to me.
I know it's naughty….
I couldn't help but think the theme for images on posts on TS today was puppets and masters.
A hero at age 16
OMG SqHosking and Squawkesby will be having menopausal fits over this……be like refusing the Knight/Dame they've never been offered in the anxious face of all their hopes and aspirations. Poor wee ones.
I think she would have done the same with the Nobel Peace Prize. All credit to her.
How is the government going to deal with the popular response sentiment like this inevitably receives? Such a difficult task yet crucial task.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/117017482/national-promises-welfare-crackdown-and-return-to-social-investment-if-elected
They could welcome the support for easing the abatement on other income – but then Labour's plan is so slow paced National might be enacting it faster than if the government was re-elected.
They could question the nanny state idea of government paying an under 20 beneficiary's rent and power out of their dole – or does National really mean a spending card for those under 20 (given they would place others 20-25 on this regime as part of sanctions a move likely directly related to term limits for those under 25)?
The public aren't interested in the detail around how governments deal to the poor. Heck, most people on TS aren't interested in that, either. I'm asking how do we create a climate of opinion where the standard response to what Bridges is saying is an eye-roll. Of course, it's the 64 million dollar question, but the task is a necessary one.
Hang on Chris that's a little bit rough. Just because not everybody here comments on the state of poverty in NZ doesn't mean they don't care. I think you would find that people from all walks of life donate generously to organisations like the Salvation Army. In many cases and for many reasons that is the only thing they can do.
That's not what I said.
Happy to accept that but can't quite figure out what you mean. Genuine question – not trying to be a smart arse. 🙂
Edit: Think I’ve got – sort of.
I just heard Simon Bridges say, "The evidence is clear." He was talking about withholding benefit payments from people who don't have their kids vaccinated.
Every word he says adds to the clear evidence: he is an idiot who believes in cretinous approaches and knows he will have cretinous followers keenly supporting him.
If he knew someone with half a brain maybe they could explain to him about evidence of effective ways for people (or animals for that matter) to learn. Are punitive approaches better?
Does that means that gang members who don't get their kids vaccinated will end up owing money?
Bridges is well into bullshit territory these days. Flailing about until Collins knifes him.
The evidence is clear that Simon Bridges talks like a former Crown prosecutor but not as a Leader of the Opposition and potential Prime Minister.
He must have made a crap lawyer.
Winston reckoned in the House that Simon was never operating in the Courtroom but that he was an office worker. Not denied by Simon.
Isn't Simon the son of a preacherman – would have picked up some mannerisms from father perhaps.
Who coulda seen this one coming? It seems those ellipses in the "rough transcript" of Donny Dumpsterfire's call to Zelensky weren't signifying innocent pauses in the conversation after all.
https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2019/10/and-now-ellipsesgate/
Kia ora Breakfast they have blocked my other device
Kia Ora 1 News.
The system needs a total overhaul to make it fair and just.
The dangers of Global Warming are here and Now.
That's good controller of opossum they kill a lot of our beautiful birds and other wildlife.
Ka kite Ano.
Kia Ora Te Ao Maori News.
Ka pai.
Eco Maori ignores idiots
I think that Iwi should set up small to medium Sawmill that will take the fluctuating export market out and provide a better price per cube and jobs for local tangata whenua. I know personally that it is not to hard to do.
Ka kite Ano
I think it's logical to pair Solar and Wind power together. I also think Aotearoa should have floating Solar power farms on all our Hydro dams this will have many cost savings and lower the evaporations rate of the dams.
Long read: Solar + wind, the benefits of co-location
Shared grid connections, complimentary resource availability, and more grid-friendly power are among the key advantages of pairing wind farms with solar arrays – and developers are quickly moving into the emerging space
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://www.pv-magazine-australia.com/2019/10/12/long-read-solar-wind-the-benefits-of-co-location/?utm_source=Bibblio&utm_campaign=Network
We need to change the way we live fast as possible. It's only took 30 years to pump the same amount of carbon into our environment that has taken 200 years to pump into our environment.
We all have to do our bit to persuade our Papatuanuku government and businesses to change to a carbon neutral economy.
Climate scientist James Renwick says global governments are too slow to act to prevent disastrous levels of global warming.
says Renwick, sitting in his professorial office at Victoria University, where the Nobel Peace Prize certificate for his contribution to the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC) is proudly framed on the wall.
Like a conscientious climate scientist, Renwick takes public transport from his Kāpiti Coast home to the university and back. We're late for the 4.15pm train, but his 62-year-old knees won't brook running.
But it's not his quirky persona that won him this year's Prime Minister's Science Communication Prize. While scientists sometimes become scientists because they're happier digging through data than interacting with humans, Renwick likes to talk and he's good at it. When Rotary invites him to meetings, he goes. And when the climate deniers troll, he hits reply rather than block.
I try to politely engage in conversation, point out the science.
Often he'll suggest chatting over coffee. That's usually the end of it.
"It's never really about the science, the facts, the evidence. It's about their own world view."
For 30 years, Renwick has been thinking, writing and talking about climate change, since writing the first report for the Ministry for the Environment about how climate change might affect New Zealand, in the 1990s. But in those three decades, the increase in carbon dioxide in It took 200 years to get to the first half and only 30 years for the second half," he notes carbon in the air has doubled.
And still, the policy makers are dawdling, Renwick says. As a lead author on the fourth IPCC report, in 2007, he naively
IPCC report announced that global CO₂ emissions had to almost halve by 2030 and reduce to zero by 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.
"If the world is serious about 1½ degrees, 2020 is the absolute last year we can see any increase in emissions," Renwick says. "The corner has to be turned in the next year, and there just isn't any sign of that."
"It's not down to the individual to solve this problem, because it's a global economy. We can't do it just by ourselves. We've got to persuade governments and businesses to change."
Ka kite Ano link below.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/environment/climate-news/116804801/climate-scientist-james-renwick-talks-the-talk-on-climate-change.
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