"An experienced miner who once headed Spring Creek is behind plans to reopen it, with a decision from regulators due mid-2021."
Permit…and Jobs
"Terra Firma Mining Ltd announced in July it wanted to drain the mine and reopen it with a smaller operation, targeting the specialist market of silicon manufacturing.
It would target about 200,000 tonnes of coal a year and employ 60 staff when in production.
Terra Firma has already applied for the minerals permit, and says it has the staff and equipment ready to start work."
I've talked to many people…and they are genuinely Interested in what the Greens offer for Work alternatives? (Not just in the coal replacing areas either. )
Oh…and an FYI for the "interested"…I dont use coal. And see its replacement as Urgent. I also signed petition against Denniston mine …and others…. Anyway.
I am going purple in the face from holding my breath re cannabis outcome …hopefully I will be able to exhale @ 2pm..I actually voted no on the euthanasia bill…three reasons for that ..one is the high standard of palliative care in this country..so end of life suffering is minimised..(so what is the problem we are trying to fix here..?)..second is fear of abuse/coercion by family ..trying to hurry things along…and the third is class/race-based…as in the poor and those others already proven to receive less care than white folks..will no doubt be euthanized at a higher rate than those monied/white folks…and to my mind any one of those three reasons is reason enough to say no….
Kier Starmer apparently hit a cyclist and then left the scene before the police arrived in London on Sunday just past, he was apparently on his way to his tailor in his SUV at the time. It has given rise to a mild joke doing the rounds at the moment in the UK that goes he hit the cyclist because he indicated he was turning left but went right instead.
Such a joke is strong indicator that the jury of the wisdom of the crowd is now in on Starmer while the circumstances – few in the UK visit their tailor on a Sunday – gives us a glimpse of the world of the British elite. Out of touch, lacking self-awareness, narcissistic and a smug assumption of being above the law. No wonder the shambolic British coronavirus response has been marked by corruption, nepotism, and incompetence.
The British Labour party is still behind in the polls despite the catastrophic handing of the pandemic but it seems from news from the UK that the real enemy is the is still the Labour left and Jeremy Corbyn, and weaponising anti-Semitism as a way to ensure the most obvious current threat to the rule of the British ruling class are removed from anywhere near the levers of official power. Tory-lite waiting interminably for muggins turn.
Looking at the UK, you have to conclude their post-imperial decline is gathering pace. Covid has smashed British soft power. It is the biggest hit to British prestige and cultural influence since the fall of Singapore in 1942. The UK consists of a ghastly tinsel monarchy imprisoned in a Byzantine thicket of pretentious protocol, a frantic and ridiculous English nativism that props up a myth of great power status via hollow imperial pomposity, An economy that relies on selling weapons to brutal Wahhabist extremists, squandered oil reserves pissed up against the wall on tax cuts and sticking plaster welfare and a corrupt to its eyeballs upper class ruling clique that has given up even pretending to care about anyone except themselves and the crony capitalism they all benefit from. The electoral system is a train wreck, obsolete, dysfunctional yet apparently unreformable for reasons of Westminster’s "greatness" as the "Mother of Parliaments" (despite the fact that NZ's parliament is nowadays more representative, elected by a fairer system, and by a considerable margin the oldest fully representative parliament in the world).
What a shocking state of affairs, no wonder the Scots want out, Northern Ireland is thinking the South isn’t that bad after all and even the Wales, long regarded as the personal property of the British crown, is umming and arring about going it alone. I’d want to be shot of the English shit-show as well if I were them.
For those interested in the actual investigation into anti-Semetism within the Corbyn-led Labour Party, here's the summarised findings of the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission report for you to consider:
…and for those interested in some actual thoughts on Corbyn..or atleast opinion from people who are not on record as having gleeful bias against any and all policies and stands associated with Corbyn.. here's another great piece from David Graeber..
I was tempted to go over the Guardians hatchet job on Corbyn..however I recal covering their proud stand against Corbyn so often I started boring myself..I only hope the Guardian folk are enjoying life under Boris..and I wish them the best of luck getting any traction with Starmer..
Thanks for that vid Siobhan. Very fluent speaker well expressed thoughts. I didn't like to know that The Guardian were keeping up a running barrage against Corbyn but it seems so, and the best that can be said for that is they were consistent? But what stuck with me was that report on the way that officials within the Labour Party actively did as little as possible for him, which seems like an oxymoron. But it seems that there are many morons in politics, and oxy- is only one. Hah, sad laughter.
Being stabbed in the back puts him amongst Greats such as Julius Caesar, and one day if we have managed to record and retain our history, the treatment of him by his own embedded, and embittered? Party officials will be seen as an equivalent great tragedy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Julius_Caesar
I see that Mika 3.5 at 10.12am has linked to apparently the same David Graeber address. It definitely is worth listening to in full. Also to see the faces of famous wonderful Jewish people and historic moments, some of them infamous.
Sometimes we see national decay occurring faster than it is, because we want to see it.
States have this decade become masters at exploiting the seams between peace and war. What constitutes an asset or a weapon in this grey area longer has to go 'bang'.
Energy, cash, corrupt business practices, cyber attacks, assassination, fake news, propaganda, trade disputes, and indeed military intimidation are all examples used to gain advantage in this era of constant competition. In this respect the UK does very well.
It's not kind, or polite, or even-handed, or sometimes even rule based. And we've been waiting for hubris to catch up with UK colonialism in one great redemptive wave for a while.
It's not going to happen. London remains the financial capital of Europe. The UK remains the energy leader of Europe. Britain's public institutions remain strong. Its companies remain dominant in the world.
The last time I can recall someone trying to evaluate global soft and hard power as an evaluation of national capacity, it was the Henry Jackson Society.
Yes lots to debate in the methodology there, but worth a read all the same.
It all comes down to a pair of concepts we can easily grasp but spend little time pondering.The first is continuity: the idea that the positive things that make your life today possible—health, shelter, clean water, food, education, clothing, a functioning government, and so on—will still be around tomorrow. The second is economies of scale (and it's close cousin specialisation).
Both are necessary for successful nation to establish itself and then develop. Both heavily depend on geography; locations in the world that have secure borders, easily integrated interiors and sufficient size to gain economies of scale are rare.
For instance Russia has any amount of scale, but lacks decent borders, while NZ is the most protected nation on earth, but we're too small to gain scale. My main quibble with this document is that while it tosses many interesting factors into the mix, it places too low a weight on the ones that really matter in the long run.
The reason why I keep returning to this theme is that the post WW2 US-led order is coming to an end. It was a unique period of human history where virtually all nations could trade with all others, with both the security guarantee and trade mechanisms propped up by the USA. For all of our lifetimes, geography never really mattered the way it did through 10,000 yrs of conquest and empire.
Well now the Yanks are going home, and once again geography will matter. And we're not really accustomed to this.
What can Biden do if deaths are pushing towards 300,000 by early January when (if) he assumes office – and still climbing? Trump has so poisoned the well that coordinated, national action seems impossible without battles on the streets with armed Covid-deniers.
2-5 are good, but are chasing after the virus. No. 6 requires that a safe, effective vaccine actually exists. No. 1 is where the opportunity lies to actually make a difference, but if executed via real actions like short, sharp lockdowns and giving everybody money to survive, will spark the contention and violence everyone fears.
I don't see Biden as having the will (or support from his donors) to do what actually works. And I certainly don't buy the insinuation that Biden is some sort of under-rated policy genius who will surprise everyone.
Were they given free rein to branch out wherever they saw fit?
This from the above link – green left: New bill aims to allow foreign troops and foreign police to be used in ‘emergencies’
The new bill has not received a lot of media attention. However, human rights lawyer Kellie Tranter said in September that “there are a number of elements that are concerning and will impact on civil liberties”.
In her briefing paper she said that the bill not only fails to properly define “other emergencies”, it also: “delegates too much responsibility for the call out to a single minister; permits foreign armies and police forces to be called in; does not restrict the use of force for defence forces and extends an unreasonable level of immunity for the defence force from criminal and civil penalties.
“Defence forces used in a civilian context should not be normalised”, she said…
This bill enables foreign military forces and foreign police to be used in emergencies; and with immunity from prosecution and the assistance that they are providing is at the discretions of the minister.
I think the lawyer in OZ sees the move as enabling a virtual occupying force if there were enough protests or on just about any excuse if blown up enough, and can be done on the brainfart of one particular minister.
It's a bit like the lawyer who got the judgement that the first week of lockdown was illegal, in my opinion.
It's good for lawyers to raise these points, but they're not really big news that the population should be aghast at. If there are so many protests in aus that state and federal police, supported by aussie soldiers, aren't enough, then inviting in the US 7th Fleet isn't going to help.
But if there are multi-state wildfires in the southeast and a tsunami hits the Gold Coast, better to smooth the legalities of international assistance now.
The 59th US presidential election is set to take place on Wednesday, New Zealand time.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) Safe Travel website said political activity, including rallies and protests, could be expected in the lead-up to the election and the presidential inauguration.
"Even protests or political rallies which are intended to be peaceful can result in violence," it said.
"A strong police and/or National Guard presence can be expected at any further protests. Police measures have, at times, included the use of rubber bullets and/or pepper spray to disperse crowds."
United States troops and others have practised maneouvres in NZ using a similar scenario happening here, to be the background for organising their actions.
They got the same as what NZ constables have, e.g. arresting the wrong person. Not exactly the same phrasing as "good faith", but a clear test of reasonableness.
The Democrats in the U.S.A and Labour in the UK have fought harder against their own progressive voices in Sanders and Corbyn than they have against their conservative governments. Makes me feel ill
I think I'll support The Canary it looks promising for useful information well presented.
I have been getting samples of what The Telegraph puts up and have formed my own opinion about it. It seems to me to appeal to the hoity toity in the UK and come out with snide little pieces about the young Royals, a fair amount to amuse the comfortable middle class, and sneery bits about left concerns with only a few that indicate a balanced viewpoint towards politics. I can't waste my time reading those things.
The Canary cheeps well by the looks of it. Thanks BG for putting that up. However I think I will donate to The Guardian too if they have a useful news service that will accept my 'mite'.
"Corbyn's worst crime was to speak out against Israel's treatment of Palestinians, and continued encroachment on their land."
I think it is more about the attempts by the Blairite wing of the party to use any means necessary to defeat Corbynism, and Corbyn's support for Palestine gave them the opportunity. I don't think Starmer et al are doing this because they have strong views on Israel and Palestine; their goal is to bring the days of the mass membership party to an end and turn UK Labour into a Blairite rump.
The ensuing civil war in UK Labour will run for decades after this.
I don't think the same applies to UK. UK Labour party has a long history of being the organised wing of the labour movement, and the links to the unions have been retained even during the Kinnock and Blair eras. So the potential for UK Labour to become again a mass socialist party of the working class has remained, in a way that it hasn't in NZ Labour.
Or the plan is to be so outrageous in the condemnation of anti-Semitism that barely exists, that you end up provoking the real thing. Thereby creating a retrospective justification of your original outrageous claims.
It looks to me like Britain is going down the same path of chaos and anarchy as the USA. The methods being used are different but the end result is the same. And it is the neoliberal ideology which is largely responsible – the rise in narcissism… power at all cost… nepotism (in Britain the notion that upper class toffs should rule) and deeply embedded corruption in high places.
This thought came to me this morning, it seems to fit in with yours.
The splitting of communism by capitalism in the apparent triumph of the USA over Russia's apparent ambitions seems to have resulted in lesser concern for people, effectiveness of the country's living conditions and businesses.
It seems to confirm the economic thing about needing competition to stop a monopoly getting slack and incompetent. Having communism seen as an opposition forced the USA to show that it was better in every way. Now it just shambles round like an old drunk with money, indulging itself uncaring about affects on others and looking for others drunk with whatever – finding the UK and perhaps France to be drinking buddies with, (and Australia eager to join the party and sneer at the wowsers outside).
Lisa from the Simpsons with a message to us in these times!
My point is confirmed about the need to love our parents, not disdain them, regard them as a boring drain on the country which it might surprise many people, is the received message by many from their treatment by authorities here.
More than 60 percent of new entrants in some low-decile schools in Christchurch struggle to express themselves in words. Of the 247 children tested by researchers at Canterbury University 16 percent could not pronounce the few words they did know properly.
The director of the Child Well-Being Research Institute, Professor Gail Gillon, who is leading the study, said the root causes were complex, including household stress and parents working multiple jobs to pay for the necessities of life, leaving them no time to spend with their children. Screen-time was also a factor because it reduces talking time.
Children aren't developing properly because their parents don't talk to them enough. Other matters have priority like getting back to work when they are still babies. And coming home tired and stressed from work ever after. For many, seeming to have a good standard of living, getting back to work to afford the house payments would be a priority after a certain amount of maternity leave.
Or the parents are in the precariat, and don't receive enough wages and state monetary assistance that is not a loan and when they are at home are too uptight and edgy to sit long with the child, playing with it, having little games of pick up the toy, singing with it, later reading with it.
There isn't time, they have to be out of their house in a month and have to find something else, hopefully near the kid's school, or they have to find a new school too. Etc etc and on. What a bloody life to offer young parents in a country that prided itself on being the best to bring children up in. All words, and fleeting emotion, a bit of sentimentality that we didn't really mean and care enough to hold onto. What hypocrites we have been. Can we find our way back to a reasonable standard of care now?? Or have we declined into sterile modernity and it's all SEP and technology will be brought forward to manage every aspect of our lives? Make up your minds.
By the way when I say 'our parents' I am thinking nation-wide not our personal parents. There seems a need for some group to be scapegoats in any society – that is where all the bad values tend to reside. And I fear that young parents and especially unmarried ones, have been made the official ones by the preachy, and pseudo-religious in management roles, and the cant of politicians who seem to be figures of rectitude in their electorates.
Yeah, will be comical to see them withdraw from one union, for the 'independence', and attempt to immediately join another far more restrictive and less sovereign one in Europe.
But yes, a hard border please, no use of Sterling in their economy and renewable permits needed to live and/or work in England will do for starters. Oi oi saveloy.
The greedy/grasping rentier-class/slumlords writ large…rents have gone up 25 percent in porirua in the last year..one of the poorest suburbs in nz…scum-sucking bastards they are..
Blast!! So sorry Barfly. So close and yet too far for the specials I think. However, I am heartened by the number of specials.. we need two thirds of those to get yes.
Also there is talk of a members bill if the vote is extremely close, so waiting.
I was thinking more that it would be in tune with their essential corporatism. But then again they are both action and risk averse – they may take a leaf from the book of Key.
So cannabis for personal use is banned, and will stay in the hands of the gangs and illegal trade, criminalising perfectly ordinary recreational users. Medicinal cannabis for perfectly legitimate reasons will remain in the hands of Big Pharma and be prohibitively expensive. I just don't get it.
It is going to be harder for the Green Party members to accept the party working with the government after they ruled out decriminalisation without any apparent consultation.
In contrast, the cannabis referendum is not binding. It was set up as part of the Green Party's confidence and supply agreement with Labour. A proposed legal regime is outlined in the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill, but there's no legal obligation for it to be adopted wholesale if the referendum passes.
"On the issue of marijuana, that is a conscience vote for the Labour Party… we do not have a position as a whole party," said Ardern. "My view therefore would not be the Labour Party view.
The first priority, she said, would be to ensure "young people do not end up damaging themselves as a result of access, because that is what I saw as a young person".
"Second, I don't want to see people unnecessarily criminalised. Whatever outcome, that’s what I think we should be looking to achieve."
Ardern was asked today if Labour would consider decriminalisation of cannabis as an alternative, if the legalisation effort failed but the party returned to power.
"Only if it is considered in the public interest to do so," she said. "What I am interested in doing is looking at the circumstances of the way that the change of law is happening now. Is it meeting our expectations?"
i think it was quite clear before the election that if the referendum were to fail that looking to the Labour party for something would be a big fat waste of time. As for the Green Party, the Labour Party at this stage owes them nothing and does not need to consult nor ask the Greens for anything.
As one person who supports the Greens all I can say is, I no longer trust the Labour Party to do the right thing. And I would advise that they reconsider taking Ministerial positions or having anything to do with them.
This three year period is going to be monumental disappointment and they would be better advised to have nothing to do with it and thus retain credibility via independence – holding this lot to account now needs to be their prime job.
The 'holding to account' needs to happen before any election, once the count is in its to late. And frankly, to many people got cought up in that fearmongering that National would have a chance – were clearly they never had. That led people to vote for Labour as if FPTP is still the law of the land. And in regards to the weed referendum, Labour was quite clear about 'not gonna do much if it gets a no vote' before the election.
And like National, Labour now risks becoming a no mates party.
It had a mandate for decriminalisation – around 49% for legalisation and a major group in the no campaign supported decriminalisatuion.
Not acting on that mandate, after the party leader said they would look to reduce harm to people (whatever the result) is indicative that Labour is going to upset half their own party and the Greens just to retain some centre support.
It'll take a year and people will be saying Ardern is the best National Party voter supported PM since Key. Not praise as high as that for Douglas, who was rated a better Min of Finance than Muldoon.
It'll take a year and people will be saying Ardern is the best National Party voter supported PM since Key.
some of us said that before the election 🙂 .
anyways, the child has fallen into the well, and no use for crying over spilled beans.
Fact is that Labour could tomorrow simply state that it would go the way of Holland, Canada, the US etc and start with decriming personal use, small possesion and growing for own use. Tomorrow. All on its own. And they don't. Everything else is not important. They have the numbers to go it alone and they don't. And worse even, they don't even bother coming up with a justification that is science based, costed – both the cost of implementation, the cost of savings in regards to prison time, home D etc, and the subsequent investment into mental health and general well being, and last the emotional one 'what about personal freedom and choice'. So it seems Labour has no issues with the status quo, no matter the harm it causes.
Which explains the no affordable dental and the cheap diabetic drug Maori get which means they go onto kidney dialysis 10 years before they should (which makes them more vulnerable during a pandemic).
National will not hold them to account, nor ACT – it has to be Greens.
I agree..the whole referendum thing was a cop-out .. an abdication of authority/leadership on arderns' part…she should have shown some leadership ..that's what leaders are expected to do…that's why they are elected…so now we end up with this mess..if we wanted 100 percent consensus all the time..we'd elect counsellors to rule over us..
Labour is competing to be the party of government, the space is more narrow since Key.
He kept interest free fees and WFF tax credits, Labour went brightline 2 to 5 years and now a top rate of tax like Clark had (both these adjustments National will remove in 2023 or 2026).
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Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8. The universe was ...
Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
Peter Dunne writes – The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled ...
1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
…it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisitionNOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes – The High Court ...
Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same?Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
Open access notablesIce acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment:In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
Mr Bombastic:Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
In 1974, the US Supreme Court issued its decision in United States v. Nixon, finding that the President was not a King, but was subject to the law and was required to turn over the evidence of his wrongdoing to the courts. It was a landmark decision for the rule ...
Every day now just seems to bring in more fresh meat for the grinder.In their relentlessly ideological drive to cut back on the “excessive bloat” (as they see it) of the previous Labour-led government, on the mountains of evidence accumulated in such a short period of time do not ...
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Megan Valére SosouMarket gardening site of the Itchèléré de Itagui agricultural cooperative in Dassa-Zoumè (Image credit: Megan Valère Sossou) For the residents of Dassa-Zoumè, a city in the West African country of Benin, choosing between drinking water and having enough ...
Buzz from the Beehive Melissa Lee – as may be discerned from the screenshot above – has not been demoted for doing something seriously wrong as Minister of ...
Labour is calling for the Government to urgently rethink its coalition commitment to restart live animal exports, Labour animal welfare spokesperson Rachel Boyack said. ...
Today’s Financial Stability Report has once again highlighted that poverty and deep inequality are political choices - and this Government is choosing to make them worse. ...
The Green Party is calling on the Government to do more for our households in most need as unemployment rises and the cost of living crisis endures. ...
Unemployment is on the rise and it’s only going to get worse under this Government, Labour finance spokesperson Barbara Edmonds said. Stats NZ figures show the unemployment rate grew to 4.3 percent in the March quarter from 4 percent in the December quarter. “This is the second rise in unemployment ...
The New Zealand Labour Party welcomes the entering into force of the European Union and New Zealand free trade agreement. This agreement opens the door for a huge increase in trade opportunities with a market of 450 million people who are high value discerning consumers of New Zealand goods and ...
The National-led Government continues its fiscal jiggery pokery with its Pharmac announcement today, Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall says. “The government has increased Pharmac funding but conceded it will only make minimal increases in access to medicine”, said Ayesha Verrall “This is far from the bold promises made to fund ...
This afternoon’s interim Waitangi Tribunal report must be taken seriously as it affects our most vulnerable children, Labour children’s spokesperson Willow-Jean Prime. ...
Te Pāti Māori are demanding the New Zealand Government support an international independent investigation into mass graves that have been uncovered at two hospitals on the Gaza strip, following weeks of assault by Israeli troops. Among the 392 bodies that have been recovered, are children and elderly civilians. Many of ...
Our two-tiered system for veterans’ support is out of step with our closest partners, and all parties in Parliament should work together to fix it, Labour veterans’ affairs spokesperson Greg O’Connor said. ...
Stripping two Ministers of their portfolios just six months into the job shows Christopher Luxon’s management style is lacking, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said. ...
Tonight’s court decision to overturn the summons of the Children’s Minister has enabled the Crown to continue making decisions about Māori without evidence, says Te Pāti Māori spokesperson for Children, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi. “The judicial system has this evening told the nation that this government can do whatever they want when ...
It appears Nicola Willis is about to pull the rug out from under the feet of local communities still dealing with the aftermath of last year’s severe weather, and local councils relying on funding to build back from these disasters. ...
The Government is making short-sighted changes to the Resource Management Act (RMA) that will take away environmental protection in favour of short-term profits, Labour’s environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said today. ...
Labour welcomes the release of the report into the North Island weather events and looks forward to working with the Government to ensure that New Zealand is as prepared as it can be for the next natural disaster. ...
The Labour Party has called for the New Zealand Government to recognise Palestine, as a material step towards progressing the two-State solution needed to achieve a lasting peace in the region. ...
Some of our country’s most important work, stopping the sexual exploitation of children and violent extremism could go along with staff on the frontline at ports and airports. ...
The Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill will give projects such as new coal mines a ‘get out of jail free’ card to wreak havoc on the environment, Labour Leader Chris Hipkins said today. ...
The government's decision to reintroduce Three Strikes is a destructive and ineffective piece of law-making that will only exacerbate an inherently biased and racist criminal justice system, said Te Pāti Māori Justice Spokesperson, Tākuta Ferris, today. During the time Three Strikes was in place in Aotearoa, Māori and Pasifika received ...
Cuts to frontline hospital staff are not only a broken election promise, it shows the reckless tax cuts have well and truly hit the frontline of the health system, says Labour Health spokesperson Ayesha Verrall. ...
The Green Party has joined the call for public submissions on the fast-track legislation to be extended after the Ombudsman forced the Government to release the list of organisations invited to apply just hours before submissions close. ...
New Zealand’s good work at reducing climate emissions for three years in a row will be undone by the National government’s lack of ambition and scrapping programmes that were making a difference, Labour Party climate spokesperson Megan Woods said today. ...
More essential jobs could be on the chopping block, this time Ministry of Education staff on the school lunches team are set to find out whether they're in line to lose their jobs. ...
Te Pāti Māori is disgusted at the confirmation that hundreds are set to lose their jobs at Oranga Tamariki, and the disestablishment of the Treaty Response Unit. “This act of absolute carelessness and out of touch decision making is committing tamariki to state abuse.” Said Te Pāti Māori Oranga Tamariki ...
The Government is trying to bring in a law that will allow Ministers to cut corners and kill off native species, Labour environment spokesperson Rachel Brooking said. ...
Cancelling urgently needed new Cook Strait ferries and hiking the cost of public transport for many Kiwis so that National can announce the prospect of another tunnel for Wellington is not making good choices, Labour Transport Spokesperson Tangi Utikere said. ...
A laundry list of additional costs for Tāmaki Makarau Auckland shows the Minister for the city is not delivering for the people who live there, says Labour Auckland Issues spokesperson Shanan Halbert. ...
Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi, and Mema Paremata mō Tāmaki-Makaurau, Takutai Tarsh Kemp, will travel to the Gold Coast to strengthen ties with Māori in Australia next week (15-21 April). The visit, in the lead-up to the 9th Australian National Kapa haka Festival, will be an opportunity for both ...
The Green Party has today launched a step-by-step guide to help New Zealanders make their voice heard on the Government’s democracy dodging and anti-environment fast track legislation. ...
New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
Good evening – Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us. ...
From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure. The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say. “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff. “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says. “Every day, ...
Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges. “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service. It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
Distinguished guests - It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders. Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia. Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order. “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today. I am delighted ...
The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions. “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says. “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today. “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Paul Goldsmith is congratulating Mataaho Collective for winning the Golden Lion for best participant in the main exhibition at the Venice Biennale. "Congratulations to the Mataaho Collective for winning one of the world's most prestigious art prizes at the Venice Biennale. “It is good ...
The Government is reforming financial services to improve access to home loans and other lending, and strengthen customer protections, Commerce and Consumer Affairs Minister Andrew Bayly and Housing Minister Chris Bishop announced today. “Our coalition Government is committed to rebuilding the economy and making life simpler by cutting red tape. We are ...
Rongotai MP Julie Anne Genter has apologised in Parliament after National accused her of intimidating and attacking one of its ministers in the House. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Prime Minister and state and territory leaders met on Wednesday as the national cabinet to discuss a crisis gripping Australia – the horrific number of women murdered this year. The killings have shocked ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Radhika Raghav, Teaching Fellow, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Otago Netflix Indian director Sanjay Leela Bhansali is known for his big-budget Bollywood production, featuring grand sets, star casts, meticulously choreographed dance sequences and lavish costumes, jewellery and furnishings. ...
Sir Robert devoted his life to disability rights after living in institutions in his younger years, says Kaihautū Tika Hauātanga | Disability Rights Commissioner Prudence Walker. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anastasia Powell, Professor, Family and Sexual Violence, RMIT University Violence against women is not a women’s problem to solve, it is a whole of society problem to solve; and men in particular have to take responsibility. Those were the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jessica Allen, Senior Lecturer in Chemical and Renewable Energy Engineering, University of Newcastle Snapshot freddy/ShutterstockPlans to revive an old coal-fired power station using bioenergy are being considered in the Hunter region of New South Wales. Similar plans for the station ...
Responding to the long-awaited release of judges’ special allowances, including free air travel and hotels for spouses, generous sabbaticals, and access to limousines, Taxpayers’ Union spokesman Alex Murphy said: “In what world does your employer ...
Analysis - The United States has unveiled plans to boost the weapons trade with Australia and the UK, on the same day that Winston Peters is expected to sketch NZ's position on AUKUS. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Andrea Carson, Professor of Political Communication, Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, La Trobe University Since Australia’s First Nations Voice to Parliament referendum in October 2023, diverse commentaries have sought to explain why it failed. But what does an analysis of media ...
Lawyers representing two iwi as well as the Māori Women’s Welfare League on Wednesday asked the Court of Appeal to overturn last week’s High Court decision on the Waitangi Tribunal’s decision to summons Children’s Minister Karen Chhour. The Tribunal is currently investigating the Government’s decision to repeal section 7AA of ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra The Albanese government will introduce legislation to ban deepfake pornography and provide more funding for the eSafety Commission to pilot age-assurance technologies. The contribution of internet sites to gender-based violence was one major issue ...
Average ordinary time hourly earnings, as measured by the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES), increased 5.2 percent in the year to the March 2024 quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. Annual wage cost inflation, as measured by the ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dimitrios Salampasis, FinTech Capability Lead | Senior Lecturer, Emerging Technologies and FinTech, Swinburne University of Technology Clem Onojeghuo/Unsplash In the digital era, the job market is increasingly becoming a minefield – demanding and difficult to navigate. According to the Australian Bureau ...
As of the March 2024 quarter, we can now look back on 20 years of data related to youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET), as collected by the Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS), according to figures released by Stats NZ today. "The ...
Thousands of workers attended public events in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch today to celebrate International Workers’ Day (May Day), but union representatives are urging caution and vigilance over the Government’s blatantly "anti-worker" ...
The seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 4.3 percent in the March 2024 quarter, compared with 4.0 percent in the previous quarter, according to figures released by Stats NZ today. ...
The PSA is warning the Government that the sensitive information of New Zealanders held by various agencies will fall into the wrong hands if the latest round of proposed cuts goes ahead. ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Talitha Best, Professor of Psychology, CQUniversity Australia Victoria Rodriguez/Unsplash How do sugar rushes work? – W.H, age nine, from Canberra What a terrific question W.H! Let’s explore this, starting with some of the basics. What is sugar? ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Karinna Saxby, Research Fellow, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne MART PRODUCTION/Pexels Increasing income support could help keep women and children safe according to new work demonstrating strong links between financial insecurity and domestic violence. ...
ANALYSIS:By Olli Hellmann, University of Waikato When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity. The battle of Gallipoli against ...
Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Mark A Gregory, Associate Professor, School of Engineering, RMIT University The telecommunications industry faces a major shakeup following the release of the post-incident report on last November’s 12-hour Optus outage. Telecommunications companies will have to share more information with customers during future ...
Welcome to The Spinoff Bookseller Confessional, in which we get to know Aotearoa’s booksellers. This week: Eden Denyer, bookseller at Unity Books Auckland.Weirdest question/request you’ve had on the shop floorA mother came in looking for anything we might have on Alaskan bison as that was her little boy’s ...
NZCTU Economist Craig Renney said new data released by Statistics New Zealand shows the need for Government to act now, with unemployment rising from 3.4% to 4.3%. ...
The outpouring of anger over Maiki Sherman’s hyperbolic presentation of this week’s ‘nightmare’ poll is itself an overreaction, argues Stewart Sowman-Lund. Politicians love nothing more than to pretend they don’t care about polls. This week, deputy prime minister Winston Peters said he didn’t give a “rat’s derriere” about a TVNZ ...
Asia Pacific Report Ngāti Kahungunu in Aotearoa New Zealand’s Hawkes Bay region has become the first indigenous Māori iwi (tribe) to sign a resolution calling for a “ceasefire in Palestine”, reports Te Ao Māori News. Reporter Te Aniwaniwa Paterson talked to Te Otāne Huata, who has been organising peace rallies ...
By Dale Luma in Port Moresby “We want grants and not concessional loans,” is the crisp message from Papua New Guinea businesses directly affected by the Black Wednesday looting four months ago. The businesses, which lost millions after the January 10 rioting and looting, say they need grants as part ...
Happy May Day. Join a union. Q: What’s worse than a staff break room where the only place to sit and have a cup of tea is on a teetering stack of old pornography magazines? A: Your boss replacing the magazine stacks with chairs that are “heartily encrusted with ...
By Koroi Hawkins, RNZ Pacific editor Former opposition leader Matthew Wale has been announced as the second prime ministerial candidate ahead of the election in Solomon Islands tomorrow. He will face off against former foreign affairs minister Jeremiah Manele, who was announced by the Coalition for National Unity and Transformation ...
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Coal Mining
"An experienced miner who once headed Spring Creek is behind plans to reopen it, with a decision from regulators due mid-2021."
Permit…and Jobs
"Terra Firma Mining Ltd announced in July it wanted to drain the mine and reopen it with a smaller operation, targeting the specialist market of silicon manufacturing.
It would target about 200,000 tonnes of coal a year and employ 60 staff when in production.
Terra Firma has already applied for the minerals permit, and says it has the staff and equipment ready to start work."
On this side…
https://www.letstalkaboutcoal.co.nz/coal-in-nz/
The other…
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK2010/S00211/activists-deliver-a-message-to-mining-lobby-straterra-as-mining-lobby-cancels-conference.htm
I've talked to many people…and they are genuinely Interested in what the Greens offer for Work alternatives? (Not just in the coal replacing areas either. )
Oh…and an FYI for the "interested"…I dont use coal. And see its replacement as Urgent. I also signed petition against Denniston mine …and others…. Anyway.
Fingers crossed that the cannabis referendum is close enough today to win outright or to flip on the specials
Yes, thinking of those who are living in hope of the affimative.
I am going purple in the face from holding my breath re cannabis outcome …hopefully I will be able to exhale @ 2pm..I actually voted no on the euthanasia bill…three reasons for that ..one is the high standard of palliative care in this country..so end of life suffering is minimised..(so what is the problem we are trying to fix here..?)..second is fear of abuse/coercion by family ..trying to hurry things along…and the third is class/race-based…as in the poor and those others already proven to receive less care than white folks..will no doubt be euthanized at a higher rate than those monied/white folks…and to my mind any one of those three reasons is reason enough to say no….
This must be how a national party voter felt on election nite. .I am 2 for zero on the referendums ..
Kier Starmer apparently hit a cyclist and then left the scene before the police arrived in London on Sunday just past, he was apparently on his way to his tailor in his SUV at the time. It has given rise to a mild joke doing the rounds at the moment in the UK that goes he hit the cyclist because he indicated he was turning left but went right instead.
Such a joke is strong indicator that the jury of the wisdom of the crowd is now in on Starmer while the circumstances – few in the UK visit their tailor on a Sunday – gives us a glimpse of the world of the British elite. Out of touch, lacking self-awareness, narcissistic and a smug assumption of being above the law. No wonder the shambolic British coronavirus response has been marked by corruption, nepotism, and incompetence.
The British Labour party is still behind in the polls despite the catastrophic handing of the pandemic but it seems from news from the UK that the real enemy is the is still the Labour left and Jeremy Corbyn, and weaponising anti-Semitism as a way to ensure the most obvious current threat to the rule of the British ruling class are removed from anywhere near the levers of official power. Tory-lite waiting interminably for muggins turn.
Looking at the UK, you have to conclude their post-imperial decline is gathering pace. Covid has smashed British soft power. It is the biggest hit to British prestige and cultural influence since the fall of Singapore in 1942. The UK consists of a ghastly tinsel monarchy imprisoned in a Byzantine thicket of pretentious protocol, a frantic and ridiculous English nativism that props up a myth of great power status via hollow imperial pomposity, An economy that relies on selling weapons to brutal Wahhabist extremists, squandered oil reserves pissed up against the wall on tax cuts and sticking plaster welfare and a corrupt to its eyeballs upper class ruling clique that has given up even pretending to care about anyone except themselves and the crony capitalism they all benefit from. The electoral system is a train wreck, obsolete, dysfunctional yet apparently unreformable for reasons of Westminster’s "greatness" as the "Mother of Parliaments" (despite the fact that NZ's parliament is nowadays more representative, elected by a fairer system, and by a considerable margin the oldest fully representative parliament in the world).
What a shocking state of affairs, no wonder the Scots want out, Northern Ireland is thinking the South isn’t that bad after all and even the Wales, long regarded as the personal property of the British crown, is umming and arring about going it alone. I’d want to be shot of the English shit-show as well if I were them.
Starmer's continuing to do a wonderful job on behalf of the tories. Reminds us that the ABC brigade are still around in parts under Ardern.
Great summation, wonderful writing, nice one.
For those interested in the actual investigation into anti-Semetism within the Corbyn-led Labour Party, here's the summarised findings of the UK's Equality and Human Rights Commission report for you to consider:
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2020/oct/29/key-findings-of-the-ehrc-inquiry-into-labour-antisemitism
…and for those interested in some actual thoughts on Corbyn..or atleast opinion from people who are not on record as having gleeful bias against any and all policies and stands associated with Corbyn.. here's another great piece from David Graeber..
I was tempted to go over the Guardians hatchet job on Corbyn..however I recal covering their proud stand against Corbyn so often I started boring myself..I only hope the Guardian folk are enjoying life under Boris..and I wish them the best of luck getting any traction with Starmer..
Read the EHRC report. It's where the actual investigation is.
If you don't like The Guardian, try the actual report and make up your own mind.
and I shall keep in mind the History between the EHRC and Corbyn..
https://jewishnews.timesofisrael.com/former-equalities-watchdog-chief-trevor-phillips-suspended-from-labour/
and this..
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/libertycentral/2009/jul/21/equality-human-rights-commission
So, while interesting I do not regard the EHRC to be the final word on this issue.
Thanks for that vid Siobhan. Very fluent speaker well expressed thoughts. I didn't like to know that The Guardian were keeping up a running barrage against Corbyn but it seems so, and the best that can be said for that is they were consistent? But what stuck with me was that report on the way that officials within the Labour Party actively did as little as possible for him, which seems like an oxymoron. But it seems that there are many morons in politics, and oxy- is only one. Hah, sad laughter.
Being stabbed in the back puts him amongst Greats such as Julius Caesar, and one day if we have managed to record and retain our history, the treatment of him by his own embedded, and embittered? Party officials will be seen as an equivalent great tragedy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Julius_Caesar
I see that Mika 3.5 at 10.12am has linked to apparently the same David Graeber address. It definitely is worth listening to in full. Also to see the faces of famous wonderful Jewish people and historic moments, some of them infamous.
Sometimes we see national decay occurring faster than it is, because we want to see it.
States have this decade become masters at exploiting the seams between peace and war. What constitutes an asset or a weapon in this grey area longer has to go 'bang'.
Energy, cash, corrupt business practices, cyber attacks, assassination, fake news, propaganda, trade disputes, and indeed military intimidation are all examples used to gain advantage in this era of constant competition. In this respect the UK does very well.
It's not kind, or polite, or even-handed, or sometimes even rule based. And we've been waiting for hubris to catch up with UK colonialism in one great redemptive wave for a while.
It's not going to happen. London remains the financial capital of Europe. The UK remains the energy leader of Europe. Britain's public institutions remain strong. Its companies remain dominant in the world.
The last time I can recall someone trying to evaluate global soft and hard power as an evaluation of national capacity, it was the Henry Jackson Society.
https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/HJS-2019-Audit-of-Geopolitical-Capability-Report-web.pdf
Britain was still ranked second in the world.
Plenty to argue about in the methodology section, but there's no story of inevitable entropy in there.
Yes lots to debate in the methodology there, but worth a read all the same.
It all comes down to a pair of concepts we can easily grasp but spend little time pondering.The first is continuity: the idea that the positive things that make your life today possible—health, shelter, clean water, food, education, clothing, a functioning government, and so on—will still be around tomorrow. The second is economies of scale (and it's close cousin specialisation).
Both are necessary for successful nation to establish itself and then develop. Both heavily depend on geography; locations in the world that have secure borders, easily integrated interiors and sufficient size to gain economies of scale are rare.
For instance Russia has any amount of scale, but lacks decent borders, while NZ is the most protected nation on earth, but we're too small to gain scale. My main quibble with this document is that while it tosses many interesting factors into the mix, it places too low a weight on the ones that really matter in the long run.
The reason why I keep returning to this theme is that the post WW2 US-led order is coming to an end. It was a unique period of human history where virtually all nations could trade with all others, with both the security guarantee and trade mechanisms propped up by the USA. For all of our lifetimes, geography never really mattered the way it did through 10,000 yrs of conquest and empire.
Well now the Yanks are going home, and once again geography will matter. And we're not really accustomed to this.
Really interesting video from a Jewish socialist/anarchist on the background to anti-semitism and accusations of such within the political left.
https://www.doubledown.news/watch/2020/12/april/the-weaponisation-of-labour-antisemitism-david-graeber
First we had the nasty-ass honey badger don't care, now we have nasty-ass covey spreader don't care.
What can Biden do if deaths are pushing towards 300,000 by early January when (if) he assumes office – and still climbing? Trump has so poisoned the well that coordinated, national action seems impossible without battles on the streets with armed Covid-deniers.
Well, he could just follow the plan he has set out. It includes:
1. Set consistent, evidence-based guidance to stop outbreaks
2. Seriously ramp up testing
3. Establish a US Public Health Jobs Corps
4. Help people get health insurance
5. Create a caregiving workforce
6. Bolster resources for vaccine distribution and PPE production
There's trucks of detail under that.
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/10/28/928392673/coronavirus-is-a-key-campaign-issue-whats-joe-biden-s-plan
Of course, for any of that, Biden has to win.
2-5 are good, but are chasing after the virus. No. 6 requires that a safe, effective vaccine actually exists. No. 1 is where the opportunity lies to actually make a difference, but if executed via real actions like short, sharp lockdowns and giving everybody money to survive, will spark the contention and violence everyone fears.
I don't see Biden as having the will (or support from his donors) to do what actually works. And I certainly don't buy the insinuation that Biden is some sort of under-rated policy genius who will surprise everyone.
What the heck are they expecting in Australia?
Hiring Fijian troops to run their refugee concentration camps?
Didn't we get Aussie cops to assist after the earthquake?
Were they given free rein to branch out wherever they saw fit?
This from the above link – green left:
New bill aims to allow foreign troops and foreign police to be used in ‘emergencies’
The new bill has not received a lot of media attention. However, human rights lawyer Kellie Tranter said in September that “there are a number of elements that are concerning and will impact on civil liberties”.
In her briefing paper she said that the bill not only fails to properly define “other emergencies”, it also: “delegates too much responsibility for the call out to a single minister; permits foreign armies and police forces to be called in; does not restrict the use of force for defence forces and extends an unreasonable level of immunity for the defence force from criminal and civil penalties.
“Defence forces used in a civilian context should not be normalised”, she said…
This bill enables foreign military forces and foreign police to be used in emergencies; and with immunity from prosecution and the assistance that they are providing is at the discretions of the minister.
Same rein as NZ cops.
I think the lawyer in OZ sees the move as enabling a virtual occupying force if there were enough protests or on just about any excuse if blown up enough, and can be done on the brainfart of one particular minister.
It's a bit like the lawyer who got the judgement that the first week of lockdown was illegal, in my opinion.
It's good for lawyers to raise these points, but they're not really big news that the population should be aghast at. If there are so many protests in aus that state and federal police, supported by aussie soldiers, aren't enough, then inviting in the US 7th Fleet isn't going to help.
But if there are multi-state wildfires in the southeast and a tsunami hits the Gold Coast, better to smooth the legalities of international assistance now.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/429483/ministry-of-foreign-affairs-and-trade-issues-warning-for-new-zealanders-ahead-of-us-election
The 59th US presidential election is set to take place on Wednesday, New Zealand time.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) Safe Travel website said political activity, including rallies and protests, could be expected in the lead-up to the election and the presidential inauguration.
"Even protests or political rallies which are intended to be peaceful can result in violence," it said.
"A strong police and/or National Guard presence can be expected at any further protests. Police measures have, at times, included the use of rubber bullets and/or pepper spray to disperse crowds."
United States troops and others have practised maneouvres in NZ using a similar scenario happening here, to be the background for organising their actions.
And a mutual training agreement does not require emergency powers.
They didn't get immunity from prosecution when carrying out their duties.
They got the same as what NZ constables have, e.g. arresting the wrong person. Not exactly the same phrasing as "good faith", but a clear test of reasonableness.
Corbyn's worst crime was to speak out against Israel's treatment of Palestinians, and continued encroachment on their land.
The Democrats in the U.S.A and Labour in the UK have fought harder against their own progressive voices in Sanders and Corbyn than they have against their conservative governments. Makes me feel ill
Corbyn's victimisation by Starmer is not going down well.
https://www.thecanary.co/uk/2020/10/29/jeremy-corbyns-shocking-suspension-is-met-with-an-outpouring-of-solidarity-on-social-media/
I think I'll support The Canary it looks promising for useful information well presented.
I have been getting samples of what The Telegraph puts up and have formed my own opinion about it. It seems to me to appeal to the hoity toity in the UK and come out with snide little pieces about the young Royals, a fair amount to amuse the comfortable middle class, and sneery bits about left concerns with only a few that indicate a balanced viewpoint towards politics. I can't waste my time reading those things.
The Canary cheeps well by the looks of it. Thanks BG for putting that up. However I think I will donate to The Guardian too if they have a useful news service that will accept my 'mite'.
I think it is more about the attempts by the Blairite wing of the party to use any means necessary to defeat Corbynism, and Corbyn's support for Palestine gave them the opportunity. I don't think Starmer et al are doing this because they have strong views on Israel and Palestine; their goal is to bring the days of the mass membership party to an end and turn UK Labour into a Blairite rump.
The ensuing civil war in UK Labour will run for decades after this.
Agreed Mika….if they had MMP Corbyn would already have formed a new left wing party.
I don't think the same applies to UK. UK Labour party has a long history of being the organised wing of the labour movement, and the links to the unions have been retained even during the Kinnock and Blair eras. So the potential for UK Labour to become again a mass socialist party of the working class has remained, in a way that it hasn't in NZ Labour.
Or the plan is to be so outrageous in the condemnation of anti-Semitism that barely exists, that you end up provoking the real thing. Thereby creating a retrospective justification of your original outrageous claims.
More than one Jewish socialist commentator has suggested this is what has actually happened.
Or being lazy about anything involving disagreeing with anybody. That mural thing was just stupid.
Corbyn's worst crime was losing when he should have won.
The rest is excuses.
It looks to me like Britain is going down the same path of chaos and anarchy as the USA. The methods being used are different but the end result is the same. And it is the neoliberal ideology which is largely responsible – the rise in narcissism… power at all cost… nepotism (in Britain the notion that upper class toffs should rule) and deeply embedded corruption in high places.
This thought came to me this morning, it seems to fit in with yours.
The splitting of communism by capitalism in the apparent triumph of the USA over Russia's apparent ambitions seems to have resulted in lesser concern for people, effectiveness of the country's living conditions and businesses.
It seems to confirm the economic thing about needing competition to stop a monopoly getting slack and incompetent. Having communism seen as an opposition forced the USA to show that it was better in every way. Now it just shambles round like an old drunk with money, indulging itself uncaring about affects on others and looking for others drunk with whatever – finding the UK and perhaps France to be drinking buddies with, (and Australia eager to join the party and sneer at the wowsers outside).
Lisa from the Simpsons with a message to us in these times!
My point is confirmed about the need to love our parents, not disdain them, regard them as a boring drain on the country which it might surprise many people, is the received message by many from their treatment by authorities here.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/429462/screen-time-a-concern-as-research-finds-poor-language-skills-for-new-entrant-children
Alarming numbers of children are starting school with very poor language skills, with some only speaking like two year olds…
More than 60 percent of new entrants in some low-decile schools in Christchurch struggle to express themselves in words.
Of the 247 children tested by researchers at Canterbury University 16 percent could not pronounce the few words they did know properly.
The director of the Child Well-Being Research Institute, Professor Gail Gillon, who is leading the study, said the root causes were complex, including household stress and parents working multiple jobs to pay for the necessities of life, leaving them no time to spend with their children.
Screen-time was also a factor because it reduces talking time.
Children aren't developing properly because their parents don't talk to them enough. Other matters have priority like getting back to work when they are still babies. And coming home tired and stressed from work ever after. For many, seeming to have a good standard of living, getting back to work to afford the house payments would be a priority after a certain amount of maternity leave.
Or the parents are in the precariat, and don't receive enough wages and state monetary assistance that is not a loan and when they are at home are too uptight and edgy to sit long with the child, playing with it, having little games of pick up the toy, singing with it, later reading with it.
There isn't time, they have to be out of their house in a month and have to find something else, hopefully near the kid's school, or they have to find a new school too. Etc etc and on. What a bloody life to offer young parents in a country that prided itself on being the best to bring children up in. All words, and fleeting emotion, a bit of sentimentality that we didn't really mean and care enough to hold onto. What hypocrites we have been. Can we find our way back to a reasonable standard of care now?? Or have we declined into sterile modernity and it's all SEP and technology will be brought forward to manage every aspect of our lives? Make up your minds.
By the way when I say 'our parents' I am thinking nation-wide not our personal parents. There seems a need for some group to be scapegoats in any society – that is where all the bad values tend to reside. And I fear that young parents and especially unmarried ones, have been made the official ones by the preachy, and pseudo-religious in management roles, and the cant of politicians who seem to be figures of rectitude in their electorates.
Can't wait to see Scotland vote for Independence and get rid of the sassenachs. Eisd O Eisd.
Yeah, will be comical to see them withdraw from one union, for the 'independence', and attempt to immediately join another far more restrictive and less sovereign one in Europe.
But yes, a hard border please, no use of Sterling in their economy and renewable permits needed to live and/or work in England will do for starters. Oi oi saveloy.
cant wait for scotland to vote for independence. end of union jack, we will HAVE to change our flag then.
The greedy/grasping rentier-class/slumlords writ large…rents have gone up 25 percent in porirua in the last year..one of the poorest suburbs in nz…scum-sucking bastards they are..
Agree. We need a working class Gvt to regulate rents based on the min-wage
Blast!! So sorry Barfly. So close and yet too far for the specials I think. However, I am heartened by the number of specials.. we need two thirds of those to get yes.
Also there is talk of a members bill if the vote is extremely close, so waiting.
At only 53% against in the cannabis referendum a member's bill would make sense.
It would get through in a referendum vote in 10 years time anyway.
Labour, being keen to support the post-Covid economy, may put it through anyway, if the referendum is pretty close.
They are saying on Stuff that if 69% of the 480k specials vote yes it will win.
Not impossible.
I was thinking more that it would be in tune with their essential corporatism. But then again they are both action and risk averse – they may take a leaf from the book of Key.
Stuart that is a perfect ditty for those who can't deal to the the nitty gritty.
So cannabis for personal use is banned, and will stay in the hands of the gangs and illegal trade, criminalising perfectly ordinary recreational users. Medicinal cannabis for perfectly legitimate reasons will remain in the hands of Big Pharma and be prohibitively expensive. I just don't get it.
It is going to be harder for the Green Party members to accept the party working with the government after they ruled out decriminalisation without any apparent consultation.
Questions
Because on the grounds of loss of trust alone, this is now quite possible.
this is from September
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/09/cannabis-referendum-jacinda-ardern-reveals-why-she-won-t-publicly-take-a-side.html
this from October
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/jacinda-ardern-outlines-priorities-cannabis-reform-regardless-whether-referendum-passes
i think it was quite clear before the election that if the referendum were to fail that looking to the Labour party for something would be a big fat waste of time. As for the Green Party, the Labour Party at this stage owes them nothing and does not need to consult nor ask the Greens for anything.
As one person who supports the Greens all I can say is, I no longer trust the Labour Party to do the right thing. And I would advise that they reconsider taking Ministerial positions or having anything to do with them.
This three year period is going to be monumental disappointment and they would be better advised to have nothing to do with it and thus retain credibility via independence – holding this lot to account now needs to be their prime job.
The 'holding to account' needs to happen before any election, once the count is in its to late. And frankly, to many people got cought up in that fearmongering that National would have a chance – were clearly they never had. That led people to vote for Labour as if FPTP is still the law of the land. And in regards to the weed referendum, Labour was quite clear about 'not gonna do much if it gets a no vote' before the election.
And like National, Labour now risks becoming a no mates party.
It had a mandate for decriminalisation – around 49% for legalisation and a major group in the no campaign supported decriminalisatuion.
Not acting on that mandate, after the party leader said they would look to reduce harm to people (whatever the result) is indicative that Labour is going to upset half their own party and the Greens just to retain some centre support.
It'll take a year and people will be saying Ardern is the best National Party voter supported PM since Key. Not praise as high as that for Douglas, who was rated a better Min of Finance than Muldoon.
some of us said that before the election 🙂 .
anyways, the child has fallen into the well, and no use for crying over spilled beans.
Fact is that Labour could tomorrow simply state that it would go the way of Holland, Canada, the US etc and start with decriming personal use, small possesion and growing for own use. Tomorrow. All on its own. And they don't. Everything else is not important. They have the numbers to go it alone and they don't. And worse even, they don't even bother coming up with a justification that is science based, costed – both the cost of implementation, the cost of savings in regards to prison time, home D etc, and the subsequent investment into mental health and general well being, and last the emotional one 'what about personal freedom and choice'. So it seems Labour has no issues with the status quo, no matter the harm it causes.
Which explains the no affordable dental and the cheap diabetic drug Maori get which means they go onto kidney dialysis 10 years before they should (which makes them more vulnerable during a pandemic).
National will not hold them to account, nor ACT – it has to be Greens.
It should be us who holds them to account. All of them.
I agree..the whole referendum thing was a cop-out .. an abdication of authority/leadership on arderns' part…she should have shown some leadership ..that's what leaders are expected to do…that's why they are elected…so now we end up with this mess..if we wanted 100 percent consensus all the time..we'd elect counsellors to rule over us..
Labour is competing to be the party of government, the space is more narrow since Key.
He kept interest free fees and WFF tax credits, Labour went brightline 2 to 5 years and now a top rate of tax like Clark had (both these adjustments National will remove in 2023 or 2026).
The referendum was the Greens idea I thought – part of their agreement with Labour following the 2017 election.