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Plundering of water

Written By: - Date published: 6:34 am, July 5th, 2017 - 71 comments
Categories: disaster, Environment, sustainability, water - Tags: ,

NZ Pure Blue wants to build ‘the largest water bottling plant in the southern hemisphere’ in Putaruru

The same water bottling company that tried to suck Canterbury Plains dry before SumOfUs members stopped it now wants to build ‘the largest production bottling plant in the southern hemisphere’ in Waikato.

This monstrosity will drain Putaruru’s Blue Spring in the Waihou River of a staggering 6.9 million litres a day—more than a billion litres more per year than the Ashburton deal we came together and squashed.

Every drop of this pure, artesian water will be exported for at least 15 years if NZ Pure Blue has its way. Our most precious resource bottled, processed and shipped overseas all in the name of corporate profit.

There’s. No. Way. Tell the Waikato Regional Council to protect Putaruru’s precious Blue Spring.

We don’t even know how much NZ Pure Blue will pay for some of the purest water in the world—but we do know it won’t be anything close to what it’s worth. There aren’t even royalty laws like there are for oil and gas—even gravel—even though water is our most precious and valuable resource.

What we do know is that we can stop it. When NZ Pure Blue tried to drain the drought-prone Canterbury Plains for corporate profit, tens of thousands of NZ SumOfUs members stood up and said no. And we killed it. Now NZ Pure Blue thinks it can just move house and try again. We stopped it in Ashburton, we can stop it in South Waikato too.

Join us and tell the Waikato Regional Council to reject NZ Pure Blue’s application to suck the Waihou River dry.

More information

New Zealand anger as pristine lakes tapped for bottled water market

The Guardian. 27 March 2017.

NZ Pure Blue wants to send millions of litres of Waikato water offshore

NZ Herald. 27 June 2017.

Sign the petition (39,362 signatures so far)

TO: Waikato Regional Council

Reject NZ Pure Blue’s application to suck Putaruru’s Blue Spring dry!

71 comments on “Plundering of water ”

  1. tc 1

    Winnie was front page Waikato times this week about water, farming, land dev etc having a pop at WDC.

    Someone should put the old grandstander on the spot over this to make him take a position pre election.

  2. RedLogix 2

    Bottled water is an environmental crime anyway.

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/30/tackling-the-plastic-bottle-crisis-and-our-wider-disregard-for-nature

    https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/28/a-million-a-minute-worlds-plastic-bottle-binge-as-dangerous-as-climate-change

    Get that. One million fucking bottles a minute! Staggering folly. Never ever buy water in a plastic bottle.

    Oh and some years back we walked into these springs; a pleasant 90 min walk on open farmland and river banks. The springs really are an deep vivid colour and rather special.

    • Rae 2.1

      I think that side of all of this is the one that really needs working on to wake people up, I 100% agree with you

  3. Pete 3

    We can imagine it now, in the height of summer the Russian Billionaire trucking in 50,000 litres a day to water his Helena Bay lawn.

  4. ianmac 4

    Every little or big protest hopefully has cumulative effect. (Can cold water be a hot potato?)

  5. Wayne 5

    The various campaigns against bottling water are just ridiculous. New Zealand, compared to just about every country in the world, has a vast amount of water.

    The amount of water used for bottled water, relative to the supply, is trivial. Using figures like millions of litres just illustrates how much water there is. For instance a typical swimming pool has millions of litres, but compared to a river, it is nothing.

    “Plunder” might have emotional appeal but it is completely over the top, a modern moral panic with almost no basis in fact. The fact that Moana Maniapoto is on the case illustrates everything that is wrong with the campaign.It is frankly ridiculous to suggest that all bottled water be banned, a typical virtue signalling left response. It is the equivalent of Hollywood stars coming out for Hilliary, which probably helped ensure her electoral loss.

    The Europeans (Evian, Perrier, San Pellegrino, Vittel, etc) have been bottling huge quantities of water for decades without any moral panic.

    I have no problem with an appropriate levy, but in reality it could only be 1 to 5 cents per litre. I imagine for the bottler the sale price of litre is around 50c, quite possibly less. At present all of that price is the bottle, overheads, costs of bottling etc. In any event a water charging system can not have too many differential charges for different uses. For instance a 5 c litre charge for irrigation would probably be thousands of dollars a day for a typical diary farm. Mind you for many on the hard left that is exactly what they want, the end of the dairy industry.

    • Ah yes, Wayne, “the amount of water used for bottled water, relative to the supply, is trivial”. Quite right, but that’s not the real issue, though it’ll suit you to frame “ridiculous” campaigns against selling water through that narrow aspect.
      Are you completely unaware of why those campaigners are hot under the collar around this issue? I suspect you know full well, yet have chosen to try to set the scene for discussion, excluding the real focus of public anger, for your own ends.
      The water-for-sale issue reeks of the same thinking and behaviour that brought us the “swamp kauri” outrage; people sense they are being lied-to, mislead and shafted by “clever-dicks” with money and the support of the National Government. Calling them “ridiculous” is arrogant.

      • JamieB 5.1.1

        ” why those campaigners are hot under the collar around this issue?”

        Because they enjoy a perpetual state of complaining and campaigning? Once this dies down they’ll quickly move onto the next thing to remain hot under their collars.

        • left_forward 5.1.1.1

          You look to be a long way from understanding the motives of people who campaign to improve environment and society.

        • Robert Guyton 5.1.1.2

          JamieB – you had a go at explaining the behaviour and motivations of those people who are opposing the water-for-sale issue, but missed the mark by a country mile. Have you no experience at all of standing up for something important? Are you a stranger to the meaning of the word “heartfelt”? Are you Mike Hoskings? Do you at least believe yourself to be cloned from his rib?

      • Ian 5.1.2

        This is more like the clever dicks with limited resources getting upset because they didn’t think of it. The public anger is a media beat up fired by politicians on the left,like yourself Robert.
        Wayne talks a lot of sense.

    • “Mind you for many on the hard left that is exactly what they want, the end of the dairy industry.”

      Mind you for many on the hard right what they want is an exponential increase of the dairy herd in every possible part of the country, until the whole place stinks of cow shit and money.
      Just thought I’d post the balancing statement to your snarky claim.

    • Panic gnat 101

      Moana is a stronger person than you’ll ever be – you exude weakness like sweat from your pores – hey wayne maybe we can sell THAT shit.

    • Andre 5.4

      A while back I was arguing here in support of the bottled water industry, provided it was taken from places where the effect was negligible (with the feedback I’m sure you can imagine).

      But I strongly oppose this particular proposal. Because the Te Waihou springs really is an environmental treasure, so it deserves extra protection. However, the resource is already heavily drawn on.

      As I understand, the total springs flow is 42 million litres per day. 5.3 million litres per day is already allocated. If another 6.9 million per day gets drawn, that’s nearly a third of the flow gone. That’s way way way too much load on a treasure like that. At any price.

      • marty mars 5.4.1

        The problem with your argument is who decides if it is negligible – government and local bodies cannot be trusted to get it right as the post here and recent efforts at Te Waikoropupu shows. Tangata whenua are the best bet for sanity on this issue.

    • tc 5.5

      Yes dear. Try harder wayne your argument is as transparent as the natural resource you want to give away.

      You guys arent satisfied with just ruining our waterways are you.

    • McFlock 5.6

      “virtue signalling”?
      Wayne, I frequently disagree with you, but I thought you were better than spouting 4chan space-fillers.

    • left_forward 5.7

      Kia ora Wayne,

      What is wrong with the idea of ending the dairy industry? – all that cruelty, death, environmental damage, and unsaturated fats. We have viable, alternative plant based milks which allow us to avoid all of that.

      This is a simple switch to sustainable and healthy farming – surely I didn’t need to be a ‘hard’ lefty to think about that!

    • Then Wayne perhaps you can tell me why water metres are being placed all over Aotearoa . One reason privatization of water. The corporate s will have taken over the “special” springs as a health source separate to the large corporate that will take over our water.
      Tories will deny it but just watch this space. I bet the first to Privatize
      will be Waipa District Council ,once again just watch this space.

    • Sacha 5.9

      As a proportion of *potable* water, not all of our polluted waterways.

    • Keepcalmcarryon 5.10

      Fuck off wayne, get your corrupt greedy national party mitts off what belongs to us all. You don’t have my permission to sell off my country.

    • Rae 5.11

      Am I to assume that the percentage of water you speak of is a percentage of the pure water, the kind that is sought by these bottlers and not a percentage of all fresh water in the country. Better be.
      And even a far right winger must be able to understand even the tiniest little bit that we have got to stop this business of single use plastic bottles, not just here, but everywhere

  6. Only the desperate, the depraved and dispicable want to bottle water and then sell it for profit.

    NO! Let’s stop these scum, let’s show them the truth about water and the truth about their sick creepy agenda to sell evrything. They’d sell you too if they could get away with it – don’t think that they wouldn’t.

    • In Vino 6.1

      Good one Marty. But these people call themselves ‘entrepreneurs’ (a French word) as if it were something good. They need to be called what they are: Profit-Gougers.

      • Red 6.1.1

        This topic really brings out the LWNJ, water bottlers are obviously meeting a need or would not be around, the water they take is not an issue on any criteria barring the rent a mob flavour Of the month,as favoured topics like alk house prices are no longer rising, peak oil has not happened, the dairy price crash was not the end of nz fsrming sector , peak Todd Barclay has past but a rest assured s new peak crisis is always around the corner for these wombats

  7. ianmac 7

    For one million litres, 1 cent per litre is $10,000 isn’t it?
    If that money went back into the local environment wouldn’t that be a big win!

    • It is a barbed hook imo. Can only get bigger, take more they will NEVER reduce it later only increase. Therefore that is another reason to oppose.

      Lotto putting money into fighting problem gambling – doesn’t add up to me. Bottle water capitalists putting money into protecting waterways? It is just so that they can make more money and frankly I’m not supporting that.

    • Red 7.2

      About 6k net once flushed though government departments

  8. Ad 8

    So if we added food colouring and alcohol, and put it in a glass bottle, we would be OK with it?

    • weka 8.1

      I’d be more ok with glass for sure. But there’s still the problem of the carbon miles. I’m good with not exporting alcohol too.

      • Ad 8.1.1

        So that means no export from New Zealand that involves a water-based fluid.
        Unless you start making some sensible policy distinctions other than banning water, the people who work in the following work areas will be quickly unemployed:

        – Wine industry
        – Beer industry
        – Juice industry
        – Milk industry
        – Sports drink industry
        – Honey industry
        – Meat industry
        – Fruit industry

        Which I am sure would be so fun to just ban everything that moves.
        Very satisfying.

        You need better policy distinctions.

        • weka 8.1.1.1

          Banning new bottled water is an easy one, why not start there? No job losses, protects the environment, puts a line in the sand around treating water as a common good rather than a commodity.

          And irrigation of course.

          These are not difficult things to do expect that there are still a lot of greedy people around, and another lot of people who think that the only way to make a living is via extractive industry. There are a whole bunch of other people with actual ideas on how to create meaningful employment that doesn’t trash the environment, we even have a political party based on that. Why not look at their work?

          The whole environment vs jobs thing is so 90s. We’re well past that now.

          And yes, ultimately exports need to account for carbon emissions or we need to do things differently. That too isn’t that hard to imagine without resorting to banning everything this week.

        • Robert Guyton 8.1.1.2

          Drink reductio ad absurdum – bottled taste sensation!

          • weka 8.1.1.2.1

            eau de reductio ad absurdum. Wouldn’t fit easily on the bottle though.

            • In Vino 8.1.1.2.1.1

              ‘Appellation Controllée + repeat of name should go on the label too.
              A big ask, sadly.

    • McFlock 8.2

      Well, here’s the thing:

      Unlike a few people here, I’m not opposed to water exports as such.

      I am opposed to exporting water from over-exploited canterbury.
      I am opposed to incrementally damaging some of our most beautiful places by taking water from them at source.
      I’m opposed to the idea that water running into the sea is wasted – it’s an integral part of some of our most valuable ecosystems.
      I’m opposed to the idea that our tourism industry and environmental record should be sold piecemeal. We can be “100% pure” or be responsible for millions of plastic water bottles being thrown away daily, not both.

      But there’s also a value-added issue that you raise: exporting water is like exporting kauri logs or wood chips. Exporting wine is like exporting fabricated furniture. Even if we could take a quarter of the daily inflow of these springs without harming them, the environment, or our reputation, why the hell would we lock ourselves in for fifteen years of lowest possible product?

      • Andre 8.2.1

        Thing is, people are willing to pay bizarrely irrational high prices for the water before any real value gets added to it. It’s like someone being willing to pay a lot more for a raw log than they are for all the furniture that could be made from it. Bottled water retails at very roughly the same price as milk, but to produce a litre of milk in Canterbury requires around 250 litres of aquifer water (which has a couple hundred times the retail price of that litre of milk), which gets run through a cow to get loaded up with nitrates and coliforms then dumped back on the ground to pollute rivers and aquifers.

        Normally I’ve got a moral problem with taking financial advantage of the mentally deficient, but I’m happy to make an exception for selling water. Because for all the problems it creates, it’s still a much higher value and less environmentally damaging use of it than giving it away to big ag (which is what happens now). Provided a royalty gets paid.

        • garibaldi 8.2.1.1

          Water is the new oil and we are fools to give it away in long term contracts.
          Wars are going to be fought over water.
          Our water is a fantastic resource and our “leaders” are short sighted dumbarses for not highly prizing it, let alone not even pricing it.
          Where are the opposition parties on this? It’s a huge opportunity to crucify this govt. Come on Greens, make a noise !

          • Halfcrown 8.2.1.1.1

            “Water is the new oil ”

            You are right garibaldi, I remember when we had the first oil crises way back in 76/77 a certain National party man who I had one hell of a lot of time for said to me, ” future crises will be over water, not oil”. At the time I thought he’s lost his marbles, but he was right. I understand and I am really not sure, that the Syrian refugee crises was started by a severe drought caused by global warming. Also, big money is gearing up to control “own” the water as much as possible throughout the world.

        • marty mars 8.2.1.2

          You’re taking advantage of the desperate – wait a bit for a few to die then put the price up – nice big profit for you then yay

          • Andre 8.2.1.2.1

            Nobody who pays premium dollar for a small quantity of water shipped from somewhere remote like New Zealand is desperate. Because there will always be perfectly good locally produced water available at a lower price. Unless you meant desperately stupid and it somehow got truncated.

            • marty mars 8.2.1.2.1.1

              Yeah you’re not desperate therefore no one is. Water wars have started already – this is a problem for us all. Unless you sell water or guns then its profit city.

              • Andre

                Are you suggesting the tiny volumes of water in the premium bottled drinking water segment are somehow relevant to the widespread water shortages that cause agriculture failures and famine in places like Syria or the Horn of Africa?

                • Water wars have started.

                  Wars around the scarcity of water.

                  Whilst bottled water from here is tiny in volume that does not make it irrelevant, it makes it relevant and is ANOTHER reason to forego profits for some corporations over the common wealth of water to all citizens.

                  • Andre

                    On a worldwide scale, bottled water isn’t even visible as a hair-thin line on the chart of water use.

                    In 2017, worldwide bottled water was around 390 million cubic metres. In 2010, total anthropogenic water withdrawals from from rivers aquifers etc was around 4000 billion cubic metres, 10 000 times more than bottled water use. Even just evaporation from reservoirs was around 400 billion cubic metres, 1000 times more than bottled water use.

                    Bottled water is utterly irrelevant to the problems causing water wars, because it’s such a tiny tiny portion of water use.

                    http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/water_use/index.stm

                    https://www.statista.com/statistics/387255/global-bottled-water-consumption/

                    • The numbers aren’t the point for me but I suspect you already know that.

                    • In Vino

                      But bottled water is an unnecessary bourgeois pox upon the face modern consumerism. And the plastic bottle waste is an environmental crime.

                    • Andre

                      “bottled water is an unnecessary bourgeois pox upon the face modern consumerism”

                      I totally agree, with the caveat that there are still some developed world places (think Flint) and a lot of the Third World that doesn’t have safe high quality water. In Wisconsin the tap water was so vile I used bottled water for drinking and cooking. But in general, as far as I’m concerned, buyers of the stuff are morons with too much money. But if we’re in a position to satisfy those bizarre desires without harming our own commons, we may as well let that cash flow our way

                      If we want to enjoy the nice things about modern life, including using this utterly fantastic interwebby thingy to argue with strangers, we need to earn our way in the world so they keep sending us nice stuff in return. In the broad spectrum of unnecessary bourgeois poxy things we modern humans do, bottled water is lowish on the harm scale, especially compared to a lot of the other things we do to earn our way.

        • McFlock 8.2.1.3

          Or we could use the purity of the water as a wedge for high-end spirits.

          Intensive dairying is shit, yes. This is not a reason to sell our cleanest water, it is a reason to either lower the intensity of dary farming or make them clean up their act.

      • Ad 8.2.2

        So if the water was drawn from Putaruru, and put into glass bottles, your opposition would evaporate.

        The post is about water taken from Putaruru.

        The really high premium Antipodes water, among others, is exported in glass.

        • Johan 8.2.2.1

          Coming up with logical statements doesn’t seem to be your strength Ad.

        • McFlock 8.2.2.2

          Is Putaruru not beautiful?
          Does the water not flow into the sea?

          • Andre 8.2.2.2.1

            Putaruru is not beautiful. Trust me on this. It doesn’t even have the tacky pseudo-charm of Tirau. It has a food court that’s not bad, all things considered, but that’s the sum of positive things I can say about it.

            Te Waihou springs, on the other hand, is an outstandingly beautiful little patch of Aotearoa. Worthy of all the protection we can give it. Sadly, it loses its extraordinary attractiveness just a few short kilometres from the source as it flows through farmland. It probably loses its water quality at about the same place.

            • McFlock 8.2.2.2.1.1

              Well, there’s the solution then.

              Don’t bottle it, make the farmers clean their shit up up.

  9. Ad 9

    The owners of NZBlue are New Zealanders:
    Mr John Paynter and Mr Royden Hartnett.

    http://www.coys.co.nz/company/?no=5745878-NZ+PURE+BLUE+LIMITED

  10. Glenn 10

    Fiji is doing well with the bottled water industry there apparently because they have a government who is prepared to enforce an acceptable return for it’s resources.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiji_Water
    “In November 2010, Fiji deported Fiji Water director of external affairs, David Roth, for “interfering in Fiji’s domestic affairs,” leading to the resignation of interim defence and immigration minister, Ratu Epeli Ganilau. Shortly afterwards, an increase in the tax from one-third of a Fiji cent per liter to 15 cents per liter for producers over 15 million liters/month which at that point in time applied only to Fiji Water, led the company to shut down its Fiji Island offices on November 29, 2010. This raise was to raise Fiji Water’s tax contribution on to the Fiji Government on the F$150 million (AUD 82 million) they exported each year from F$500,000 to F$22.6 million. The next step for the brand was thought to be a move to New Zealand. However, after threats from the government to give the well to another company,[ Fiji Water announced its intent to resume operations and accept the new tax levy.

    In December 2010, Fiji Water’s Fiji plant had 400 employees.[23] Fiji Water has also established a foundation to provide water filters to rural Fiji communities, many of which lack access to clean water”

    Even then the percentage Fiji is getting is not huge…but huge in comparison to NZ.
    NZ is being run by carpetbaggers.

    • Ad 10.1

      +100 good comparison

    • Andre 10.2

      There’s a lot of values and principles worthy of debate in that charge to Fiji’s water bottlers.

      15 cents per litre is an enormous charge on unprocessed water. Watercare in Auckland charges 0.15 cents per litre to supply treated water, and another 0.3 cents or so to take away 80% of it away again. 15 cents per litre would immediately stop all irrigation and almost all industrial use of water, and domestic would cut way way back to not much more than drinking and cooking, with showers once every couple of weeks.

      On the other hand, if the water supply isn’t absolutely premium quality from a natural source, its value as bottled water is bugger-all. Keeping the natural water quality high absolutely depends on looking after the commons. So since the water’s commercial value derives from keeping the commons in good condition, surely it’s fair to expect the bottlers to pay a hefty charge that at least partly goes back to maintaining the commons.

  11. RedLogix 11

    The core problem with bottled water is the entirely shitty business model. It utterly depends on the failure in many countries to provide public drinking water supplies that people trust.

    The typical Grade A municipal water supply in NZ is every bit as safe as anything that comes in a bottle. At a tiny, tiny fraction of the cost.

    The problem is huge nations, especially in Asia, don’t have water they trust. A lack of trust in public institutions is deeply endemic and a now wealthy middle class is growing an unprecedented demand for water they think they is safe.

    Three problems:

    1. The potential global demand in unknown and could easily exceed our ability to supply, No-one really understands where this industry could go to.

    2. The sheer volume of waste plastic is even more alarming. Put simply we need global agreements in place that require end-to-end life cycle management and of ALL manufactured products. The Europeans have made useful progress regionally, now it needs rolling out globally.

    The big cost in bottled water is distribution; if the same chain had to handle the waste bottle … the business model might look a lot less attractive.

    3. The big hot spud; no-one wants to touch the question of pricing water, because guess who will put their hands up and say they own it all? Not this close to an election.

    • Andre 11.1

      That doesn’t explain the popularity of bottled water in places with very high quality public water supplies, like most of New Zealand or, say, New York.

      Dunno about Asia, but most places I paid attention to the bottled water in Africa, there would be an expensive non-local choice, and a local product a lot cheaper. The empty bottles also seemed to be a valuable commodity.

      • Draco T Bastard 11.1.1

        That doesn’t explain the popularity of bottled water in places with very high quality public water supplies, like most of New Zealand or, say, New York.

        That’s advertising that persuades people that bottled water is better for them. This is, of course, a lie and so the advertising is nothing more than psychopathic manipulation of the populace.

  12. greywarshark 12

    The core problem with taking water from its area is that the world is going to be short of water and it is a resource that we also need. The gummint central and local who want to do this are dinosaurs who should be gently killed and then stuffed and mounted so they can be kept for posterity in a museum.

    Plus all the other dills who think that water grows on trees. Trees can’t even grow without water. There seems to be a circular argument here. Better stop exporting and have a fistfight about it instead of letting the pickpockets and asset strippers sell off our goodies while we don’t understand they are priceless.

  13. Well Wayne if you believe we have water to spare perhaps you will explain why water metres are being installed throughout the country.
    No doubt to privatize the water system .Blue spring will be sold as “special water’ but will still be part of a privatized water system.
    Tories will of course deny this but just watch this space and I bet one off the first to privatize their water will be the Wiapa District Council .
    Just watch this space.

  14. Ad 14

    If NZFirst gets in for 2017 – which it will either way- we are going to start needing a “national interest test” for stuff being exported: is it critical for our security?

    President Trump is planning to make a decision on whether to declare steel critical to national security under the rarely-used trade rule Section 232. The suggestion to even launch a Section 232 investigation was dismissed out of hand under President Bill Clinton because – in the words of Robert Lawrence a member of President Clinton’s Council of Economic Advisors – “it didn’t pass the laugh test”. Only 3 per cent of the steel produced in the United States went for defence purposes.

    That would also make it eligible for protection from imports.

    Worth applying that kind of logic to water if we are expecting a government to start really regulating this kind of export, and gives a sense of the scale of the decision both to the government and to the economy.

  15. Rae 15

    If water is to be extracted, bottled and exported then it should be done as an NZ venture, no foreign companies, no private interests. Reason for this, is that sometime down the track, the consent may have to change (reduce) or be stopped altogether. We should not allow these resources to be tied up for decades when the possibility that we may need that water for ourselves at some time in the future, exists.
    But then there is the matter of those single use plastic bottles, seriously the whole world, the whole human race has to accept we cannot keep doing this.

    • Ad 15.1

      If you seriously want to nationalize all water, then you better get ready to spend the next decade in the Waitangi Tribunal, Appeals Court, and Supreme Court.

      • Rae 15.1.1

        No reason to fear that. One thing is for certain it should not fall into the ownership or control of foreigners and that is precisely what is happening with these consents.Much rather Maori had that if anyone is to have it, frankly.

  16. Philj 16

    Simply brilliant Wayne,
    Despoil their water supply and then sell them clean bottled water! Genius.

  17. Incognito 17

    This monstrosity will drain Putaruru’s Blue Spring in the Waihou River of a staggering 6.9 million litres a day.

    Hmmm, that must be getting close to or even exceed the total daily water consumption of the whole New Zealand population, not counting the tourists, of course.

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    * Bryce Edwards writes – The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The deal was struck by the Albanese Labor Government as ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    9 hours ago
  • Wayne Brown's #Auxit moment
    Boomers voted him in, but Brown’s Trumpish moments might spook Aucklanders worried about what a change to National nationally might mean. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR: Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown has become our version of Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, except without any of the insatiable appetite for media appearances. He ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    10 hours ago
  • Bryce Edwards: NZ needs to distance itself from Australia’s anti-China nuclear submarines
    The New Zealand Government has been silent about Australia’s decision to commit up to $400bn acquiring nuclear submarines, even though this is a significant threat to peace and stability in the Asia Pacific. The deal was struck by the Albanese Labor Government as part of its Aukus pact with the ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    10 hours ago
  • Posie Parker vs Transgender Rights.
    Recently you might have heard of a person called Posie Parker and her visit to Aotearoa. Perhaps you’re not quite sure what it’s all about. So let’s start with who this person is, why their visit is controversial, and what on earth a TERF is.Posie Parker is the super villain ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    12 hours ago
  • Select Committee told slow down; you’re moving too fast
    The chair of Parliament’s Select Committee looking at the Government’s resource management legislation wants the bills sent back for more public consultation. The proposal would effectively kill any chance of the bills making it into law before the election. Green MP, Eugenie Sage, stressing that she was speaking as ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    14 hours ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #12 2023
    Open access notables  The United States experienced some historical low temperature records during the just-concluded winter. It's a reminder that climate and weather are quite noisy; with regard to our warming climate,, as with a road ascending a mountain range we may steadily change our conditions but with lots of ...
    23 hours ago
  • What becomes of the broken hearted? Nanny State will step in to comfort them
    Buzz from the Beehive The Nanny State has scored some wins (or claimed them) in the past day or two but it faltered when it came to protecting Kiwi citizens from being savaged by one woman armed with a sharp tongue. The wins are recorded by triumphant ministers on the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Acceptance, decency, road food.
    Sometimes you see your friends making the case so well on social media you think: just copy and share.On acceptance and decency, from Michèle A’CourtA notable thing about anti-trans people is they way they talk about transgender women and men as though they are strangers “over there” when in fact ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago
  • Climate Change: More Labour sabotage
    Not that long ago, things were looking pretty good for climate change policy in Aotearoa. We finally had an ETS, and while it was full of pork and subsidies, it was delivering high and ever-rising carbon prices, sending a clear message to polluters to clean up or shut down. And ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 day ago
  • Is bundling restricting electricity competition?
    Comparing (and switching) electricity providers has become easier, but bundling power up with broadband and/or gas makes it more challenging. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The Kākā TL;DR: The new Consumer Advocacy Council set up as a result of the Labour Government’s Electricity Price Review in 2019 has called on either ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Westland Milk puts heat on competitors as global dairy demand  remains softer for longer
    Hokitika-based Westland Milk Products  has  put the heat on dairy giant Fonterra with  a $120m profit turnaround in 2022, driven by record sales. Westland paid its suppliers a 10c premium above the forecast Fonterra price per kilo, contributing $535m to the West Coast and Canterbury economies. The dairy ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    1 day ago
  • BRYCE EDWARDS’ Political Roundup:  The Beehive’s revolving door and corporate mateship
    * Bryce Edwards writes – New Zealanders are uncomfortable with the high level of influence corporate lobbyists have in New Zealand politics, and demands are growing for greater regulation. A recent poll shows 62 per cent of the public support having a two-year cooling off period between ministers leaving public ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Bryce Edwards: The Beehive’s revolving door and corporate mateship
    New Zealanders are uncomfortable with the high level of influence corporate lobbyists have in New Zealand politics, and demands are growing for greater regulation. A recent poll shows 62 per cent of the public support having a two-year cooling off period between ministers leaving public office and becoming lobbyists and ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    1 day ago
  • A miracle pill for our transport ills
    This is a guest post by accessibility and sustainable transport advocate Tim Adriaansen It originally appeared here.   A friend calls you and asks for your help. They tell you that while out and about nearby, they slipped over and landed arms-first. Now their wrist is swollen, hurting like ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    1 day ago
  • The Surprising Power of Floating Wind Turbines
    Floating offshore wind turbines offer incredible opportunities to capture powerful winds far out at sea. By unlocking this wind energy potential, they could be a key weapon in our arsenal in the fight against climate change. But how developed are these climate fighting clean energy giants? And why do I ...
    1 day ago
  • The next Maori challenge
    Over the past two or three weeks, a procession of Maori iwi and hapu in a series of little-noticed appearances before two Select Committees have been asking for more say for Maori over resource management decisions along the co-governance lines of Three Waters. Their submissions and appearances run counter ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago
  • Secret “war-crime” warrants by International Criminal Court is mischief-making
    The decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue war crimes arrest warrants for the Russian President and the Russia Children Ombudsman may have been welcomed by the ideologically committed but otherwise seems to have been greeted with widespread cynicism (see Situation in Ukraine: ICC judges issue arrest warrants ...
    2 days ago
  • How to answer Drunk Uncle Kevin's Climate Crisis reckons
    Let’s say you’re clasping your drink at a wedding, or a 40th, or a King’s Birthday Weekend family reunion and Drunk Uncle Kevin has just got going.He’s in an expansive frame of mind because we’re finally rid of that silly girl. But he wants to ask an honest question about ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • National’s Luxon may be glum about his poll ratings but has he found a winner in promising to rai...
    National Party leader Christopher Luxon may  be feeling glum about his poll ratings, but  he could be tapping  into  a rich political vein in  describing the current state of education as “alarming”. Luxon said educational achievement has been declining,  with a recent NCEA pilot exposing just how far it has ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    2 days ago
  • Climate Change: More Labour foot-dragging
    Yesterday the IPCC released the final part of its Sixth Assessment Report, warning us that we have very little time left in which to act to prevent catastrophic climate change, but pointing out that it is a problem that we can solve, with existing technology, and that anything we do ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago
  • Te Pāti Māori Are Revolutionaries – Not Reformists.
    Way Beyond Reform: Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer have no more interest in remaining permanent members of “New Zealand’s” House of Representatives than did Lenin and Trotsky in remaining permanent members of Tsar Nicolas II’s “democratically-elected” Duma. Like the Bolsheviks, Te Pāti Māori is a party of revolutionaries – not reformists.THE CROWN ...
    2 days ago
  • When does history become “ancient”, on Tinetti’s watch as Minister of Education – and what o...
    Buzz from the Beehive Auckland was wiped off the map, when Education Minister Jan Tinetti delivered her speech of welcome as host of the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers “here in Tāmaki Makaurau”. But – fair to say – a reference was made later in the speech to a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago
  • Climate Catastrophe, but first rugby.
    Morning mate, how you going?Well, I was watching the news last night and they announced this scientific report on Climate Change. But before they got to it they had a story about the new All Blacks coach.Sounds like important news. It’s a bit of a worry really.Yeah, they were talking ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • What the US and European bank rescues mean for us
    Always a bailout: US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the Government would fully guarantee all savers in all smaller US banks if needed. Photo: Getty ImagesTL;DR: No wonder an entire generation of investors are used to ‘buying the dip’ and ‘holding on for dear life’. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Who will drain Wellington’s lobbying swamp?
    Wealthy vested interests have an oversized influence on political decisions in New Zealand. Partly that’s due to their use of corporate lobbyists. Fortunately, the influence lobbyists can have on decisions made by politicians is currently under scrutiny in Guyon Espiner’s in-depth series published by RNZ. Two of Espiner’s research exposés ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    2 days ago
  • It’s Raining Congestion
    Yesterday afternoon it rained and traffic around the region ground to a halt, once again highlighting why it is so important that our city gets on with improving the alternatives to driving. For additional irony, this happened on the same day the IPCC synthesis report landed, putting the focus on ...
    2 days ago
  • Checking The Left: The Dreadful Logic Of Fascism.
    The Beginning: Anti-Co-Governance agitator, Julian Batchelor, addresses the Dargaville stop of his travelling roadshow across New Zealand . Fascism almost always starts small. Sadly, it doesn’t always stay that way. Especially when the Left helps it to grow.THERE IS A DREADFUL LOGIC to the growth of fascism. To begin with, it ...
    3 days ago
  • Good Friends and Terrible Food
    Hi,From an incredibly rainy day in Los Angeles, I just wanted to check in. I guess this is the day Trump may or may not end up in cuffs? I’m attempting a somewhat slower, less frenzied week. I’ve had Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s new record on non-stop, and it’s been a ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    3 days ago
  • At a glance – What evidence is there for the hockey stick?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    3 days ago
  • Carry right on up there, Corporal Espiner
    RNZ has been shining their torch into corners where lobbyists lurk and asking such questions as: Do we like the look of this?and Is this as democratic as it could be?These are most certainly questions worth asking, and every bit as valid as, say:Are we shortchanged democratically by the way ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago
  • This smells
    RNZ has continued its look at the role of lobbyists by taking a closer look at the Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Andrew Kirton. He used to work for liquor companies, opposing (among other things) a container refund scheme which would have required them to take responsibility for their own ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago
  • Major issues on the table in Mahuta’s  talks in Beijing with China’s new Foreign Minister
    Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta has left for Beijing for the first ministerial visit to China since 2019. Mahuta is  to  meet China’s new foreign minister Qin Gang  where she  might have to call on all the  diplomatic skills  at  her  command. Almost certainly she  will  face  questions  on what  role ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    3 days ago
  • Inside TOP's Teal Card and political strategy
    TL;DR: The Opportunities Party’s Leader Raf Manji is hopeful the party’s new Teal Card, a type of Gold card for under 30s, will be popular with students, and not just in his Ilam electorate where students make up more than a quarter of the voters and where Manji is confident ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • Make Your Empties Go Another Round.
    When I was a kid New Zealand was actually pretty green. We didn’t really have plastic. The fruit and veges came in a cardboard box, the meat was wrapped in paper, milk came in a glass bottle, and even rubbish sacks were made of paper. Today if you sit down ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on how similar Vladimir Putin is to George W. Bush
    Looking back through the names of our Police Ministers down the years, the job has either been done by once or future party Bigfoots – Syd Holland, Richard Prebble, Juduth Collins, Chris Hipkins – or by far lesser lights like Keith Allen, Frank Gill, Ben Couch, Allen McCready, Clem Simich, ...
    3 days ago
  • CHRIS TROTTER:  Te Pāti Māori’s uncompromising threat to the status quo
    Chris Trotter writes – The Crown is a fickle friend. Any political movement deemed to be colourful but inconsequential is generally permitted to go about its business unmolested. The Crown’s media, RNZ and TVNZ, may even “celebrate” its existence (presumably as proof of Democracy’s broad-minded acceptance of diversity). ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Bryce Edwards: Shining a bright light on lobbyists in politics
    Four out of the five people who have held the top role of Prime Minister’s Chief of Staff since 2017 have been lobbyists. That’s a fact that should worry anyone who believes vested interests shouldn’t have a place at the centre of decision making. Chris Hipkins’ newly appointed Chief of ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Auckland Council Draft Budget – an unnecessary backwards step
    Feedback on Auckland Council’s draft 2023/24 budget closes on March 28th. You can read the consultation document here, and provide feedback here. Auckland Council is currently consulting on what is one of its most important ever Annual Plans – the ‘budget’ of what it will spend money on between July ...
    3 days ago
  • Talking’ Posey Parker Blues
    by Molten Moira from Motueka If you want to be a woman let me tell you what to do Get a piece of paper and a biro tooWrite down your new identification And boom! You’re now a woman of this nationSpelled W O M A Na real trans woman that isAs opposed ...
    RedlineBy Admin
    4 days ago
  • More Māori words make it into the OED, and polytech boss (with rules on words like “students”) ...
    Buzz from the Beehive   New Zealand Education Minister Jan Tinetti is hosting the inaugural Conference of Pacific Education Ministers for three days from today, welcoming Education Ministers and senior officials from 18 Pacific Island countries and territories, and from Australia. Here’s hoping they have brought translators with them – or ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • Social intercourse with haters and Nazis: an etiquette guide
    Let’s say you’ve come all the way from His Majesty’s United Kingdom to share with the folk of Australia and New Zealand your antipathy towards certain other human beings. And let’s say you call yourself a women’s rights activist.And let’s say 99 out of 100 people who listen to you ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago
  • The Greens, Labour, and coalition enforcement
    James Shaw gave the Green party's annual "state of the planet" address over the weekend, in which he expressed frustration with Labour for not doing enough on climate change. His solution is to elect more Green MPs, so they have more power within any government arrangement, and can hold Labour ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • This sounds familiar…
    RNZ this morning has the first story another investigative series by Guyon Espiner, this time into political lobbying. The first story focuses on lobbying by government agencies, specifically transpower, Pharmac, and assorted universities, and how they use lobbyists to manipulate public opinion and gather intelligence on the Ministers who oversee ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Letter to the NZ Herald: NCEA pseudoscience – “Mauri is present in all matter”
    Nick Matzke writes –   Dear NZ Herald, I am a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Auckland. I teach evolutionary biology, but I also have long experience in science education and (especially) political attempts to insert pseudoscience into science curricula in ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • So what would be the point of a Green vote again?
    James Shaw has again said the Greens would be better ‘in the tent’ with Labour than out, despite Labour’s policy bonfire last week torching much of what the Government was doing to reduce emissions. File Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTL;DR: The Green Party has never been more popular than in some ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Gas stoves pose health risks. Are gas furnaces and other appliances safe to use?
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Sarah Wesseler Poor air quality is a long-standing problem in Los Angeles, where the first major outbreak of smog during World War II was so intense that some residents thought the city had been attacked by chemical weapons. Cars were eventually discovered ...
    4 days ago
  • Genetic Heritage and Co Governance
    Yesterday I was reading an excellent newsletter from David Slack, and I started writing a comment “Sounds like some excellent genetic heritage…” and then I stopped.There was something about the phrase genetic heritage that stopped me in tracks. Is that a phrase I want to be saying? It’s kind of ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • BRIAN EASTON: Radical Uncertainty
    Brian Easton writes – Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s Middle East strategy, 20 years after the Iraq War
    This week marks the twentieth anniversary of the Iraq War. While it strongly opposed the US-led invasion, New Zealand’s then Labour-led government led by Prime Minister Helen Clark did deploy military engineers to try to help rebuild Iraq in mid-2003. With violence soaring, their 12-month deployment ended without being renewed ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    4 days ago
  • The motorways are finished
    After seventy years, Auckland’s motorway network is finally finished. In July 1953 the first section of motorway in Auckland was opened between Ellerslie-Panmure Highway and Mt Wellington Highway. The final stage opens to traffic this week with the completion of the motorway part of the Northern Corridor Improvements project. Aucklanders ...
    4 days ago
  • Kicking National’s tyres
    National’s appointment of Todd McClay as Agriculture spokesperson clearly signals that the party is in trouble with the farming vote. McClay was not an obvious choice, but he does have a record as a political scrapper. The party needs that because sources say it has been shedding farming votes ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago
  • As long as there is cricket, the world is somehow okay.
    Rays of white light come flooding into my lounge, into my face from over the top of my neighbour’s hedge. I have to look away as the window of the conservatory is awash in light, as if you were driving towards the sun after a rain shower and suddenly blinded. ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • So much of what was there remains
    The columnists in Private Eye take pen names, so I have not the least idea who any of them are. But I greatly appreciate their expert insight, especially MD, who writes the medical column, offering informed and often damning critique of the UK health system and the politicians who keep ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A chronological listing of news articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Mar 12, 2023 thru Sat, Mar 18, 2023. Story of the Week Guest post: What 13,500 citations reveal about the IPCC’s climate science report   IPCC WG1 AR6 SPM Report Cover - Changing ...
    6 days ago
  • Financial capability services are being bucked up, but Stuart Nash shouldn’t have to see if they c...
    Buzz from the Beehive  The building of financial capability was brought into our considerations when Social Development and Employment Minister Carmel Sepuloni announced she had dipped into the government’s coffers for $3 million for “providers” to help people and families access community-based Building Financial Capability services. That wording suggests some ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Things that make you go Hmmmm.
    Do you ever come across something that makes you go Hmmmm?You mean like the song?No, I wasn’t thinking of the song, but I am now - thanks for that. I was thinking of things you read or hear that make you stop and go Hmmmm.Yeah, I know what you mean, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago
  • The hoon for the week that was to March 19
    By the end of the week, the dramas over Stuart Nash overshadowed Hipkins’ policy bonfire. File photo: Lynn GrieveasonTLDR: This week’s news in geopolitics and the political economy covered on The Kākā included:PM Chris Hipkins’ announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but ...
    The KakaBy Peter Bale
    6 days ago
  • Saving Stuart Nash: Explaining Chris Hipkins' unexpected political calculation
    When word went out that Prime Minister Chris Hipkins would be making an announcement about Stuart Nash on the tiles at parliament at 2:45pm yesterday, the assumption was that it was over. That we had reached tipping point for Nash’s time as minister. But by 3pm - when, coincidentally, the ...
    PunditBy Tim Watkin
    7 days ago
  • Radical Uncertainty
    Two senior economists challenge some of the foundations of current economics. It is easy to criticise economic science by misrepresenting it, by selective quotations, and by ignoring that it progresses, like all sciences, by improving and abandoning old theories. The critics may go on to attack physics by citing Newton.So ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    1 week ago
  • Jump onto the weekly hoon on Riverside at 5pm
    Photo by Walker Fenton on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week again when and I co-host our ‘hoon’ webinar with paying subscribers to The Kaka for an hour at 5 pm. Jump on this link on Riverside (we’ve moved from Zoom) for our chat about the week’s news with ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • The Dream of Florian Neame: Accepted
    In a nice bit of news, my 2550-word deindustrial science-fiction piece, The Dream of Florian Neame, has been accepted for publication at New Maps Magazine (https://www.new-maps.com/). I have published there before, of course, with Of Tin and Tintagel coming out last year. While I still await the ...
    1 week ago
  • Snakes and leaders
    And so this is Friday, and what have we learned?It was a week with all the usual luggage: minister brags and then he quits, Hollywood red carpet is full of twits. And all the while, hanging over the trivial stuff: existential dread, and portents of doom.Depending on who you read ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago
  • This station is Karanga-a-Hape, Chur!
    When I changed the name of this newsletter from The Daily Read to Nick’s Kōrero I was a bit worried whether people would know what Kōrero meant or not. I added a definition when I announced the change and kind of assumed people who weren’t familiar with it would get ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago
  • Greens don’t shy from promoting a candidate’s queerness but are quiet about govt announcement on...
    There was a time when a political party’s publicity people would counsel against promoting a candidate as queer. No matter which of two dictionary meanings the voting public might choose to apply – the old meaning of odd, strange, weird, or aberrant, or the more recent meaning of gay, homosexual ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago
  • Ask Me Anything about the week to March 17
    Photo by Joakim Honkasalo on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for the next hour, including:PM Chris Hipkins announcement of the rest of a policy bonfire to save a combined $1.7 billion, but which blew up ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • Slow consenting could create $16b climate liability by 2050
    Even though concern over the climate change threat is becoming more mainstream, our governments continue to opt out of the difficult decisions at the expense of time, and cost for future generations. Photo: Lynn Grieveson/Getty ImagesTLDR: Now we have a climate liability number to measure the potential failure of the ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago
  • THOMAS CRANMER: Challenging progressivism in New Zealand’s culture wars
    Thomas Cranmer writes  Like it or not, the culture wars have entered New Zealand politics and look set to broaden and intensify. The culture wars are often viewed as an exclusively American phenomenon, but the reality is that they are becoming increasingly prominent in countries around the world, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago
  • Gordon Campbell on firing Stuart Nash, plus a music playlist
    Here’s an analogy for the Stuart Nash saga. If people are to be forgiven for their sins, Catholic dogma requires two factors to be present. There has to be a sincere act of confession about what has been done, but also a sincere act of contrition, which signals a painful ...
    1 week ago

  • District Court Judges appointed
    Attorney-General David Parker has announced the appointment of Christopher John Dellabarca of Wellington, Dr Katie Jane Elkin of Wellington, Caroline Mary Hickman of Napier, Ngaroma Tahana of Rotorua, Tania Rose Williams Blyth of Hamilton and Nicola Jan Wills of Wellington as District Court Judges.  Chris Dellabarca Mr Dellabarca commenced his ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • New project set to supercharge ocean economy in Nelson Tasman
    A new Government-backed project will help ocean-related businesses in the Nelson Tasman region to accelerate their growth and boost jobs. “The Nelson Tasman region is home to more than 400 blue economy businesses, accounting for more than 30 percent of New Zealand’s economic activity in fishing, aquaculture, and seafood processing,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • National’s education policy: where’s the funding?
    After three years of COVID-19 disruptions schools are finally settling down and National want to throw that all in the air with major disruption to learning and underinvestment.  “National’s education policy lacks the very thing teachers, parents and students need after a tough couple of years, certainty and stability,” Education ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Free programme to help older entrepreneurs and inventors
    People aged over 50 with innovative business ideas will now be able to receive support to advance their ideas to the next stage of development, Minister for Seniors Ginny Andersen said today. “Seniors have some great entrepreneurial ideas, and this programme will give them the support to take that next ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Government target increased to keep powering up the Māori economy
    A cross government target for relevant government procurement contracts for goods and services to be awarded to Māori businesses annually will increase to 8%, after the initial 5% target was exceeded. The progressive procurement policy was introduced in 2020 to increase supplier diversity, starting with Māori businesses, for the estimated ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Continued progress on reducing poverty in challenging times
    77,000 fewer children living in low income households on the after-housing-costs primary measure since Labour took office Eight of the nine child poverty measures have seen a statistically significant reduction since 2018. All nine have reduced 28,700 fewer children experiencing material hardship since 2018 Measures taken by the Government during ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech at Fiji Investment and Trade Business Forum
    Deputy Prime Minister Kamikamica; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. Tēnā koutou katoa, ni sa bula vinaka saka, namaste. Deputy Prime Minister, a very warm welcome to Aotearoa. I trust you have been enjoying your time here and thank you for joining us here today. To all delegates who have travelled to be ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Government investments boost and diversify local economies in lower South Island
    $2.9 million convertible loan for Scapegrace Distillery to meet growing national and international demand $4.5m underwrite to support Silverlight Studios’ project to establish a film studio in Wanaka Gore’s James Cumming Community Centre and Library to be official opened tomorrow with support of $3m from the COVID-19 Response and Recovery ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Government future-proofs EV charging
    Transport Minister Michael Wood has today launched the first national EV (electric vehicle) charging strategy, Charging Our Future, which includes plans to provide EV charging stations in almost every town in New Zealand. “Our vision is for Aotearoa New Zealand to have world-class EV charging infrastructure that is accessible, affordable, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • World-leading family harm prevention campaign supports young NZers
    Associate Minister for Social Development and Employment Priyanca Radhakrishnan has today launched the Love Better campaign in a world-leading approach to family harm prevention. Love Better will initially support young people through their experience of break-ups, developing positive and life-long attitudes to dealing with hurt. “Over 1,200 young kiwis told ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • First Chief Clinical Advisor welcomed into Coroners Court
    Hon Rino Tirikatene, Minister for Courts, welcomes the Ministry of Justice’s appointment of Dr Garry Clearwater as New Zealand’s first Chief Clinical Advisor working with the Coroners Court. “This appointment is significant for the Coroners Court and New Zealand’s wider coronial system.” Minister Tirikatene said. Through Budget 2022, the Government ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago
  • Next steps for affected properties post Cyclone and floods
    The Government via the Cyclone Taskforce is working with local government and insurance companies to build a picture of high-risk areas following Cyclone Gabrielle and January floods. “The Taskforce, led by Sir Brian Roche, has been working with insurance companies to undertake an assessment of high-risk areas so we can ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • New appointment to Māori Land Court bench
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