Search Results
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Comment:Open mike 14/06/2021
Date published: 6:41 pm, June 14th, 2021+1
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Comment:Auckland's Northern Pathway
Date published: 1:58 pm, June 12th, 2021I sincerely think the name of the blog is a misnomer. Inner Auckland Mostly would be more reflective. I think the quality of their posts are good, but they are dominated by the perspective and demographics of the authors. Greater Auckland does not reflect ...
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Comment:Auckland's Northern Pathway
Date published: 1:46 pm, June 12th, 2021" When transport planning includes this, but not the fundamental and necessary task of looking at the whole Auckland region to improve public transport services and make it an affordable option. I think they are wrong." ...and yet you ignore the rest of ...
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Comment:Auckland's Northern Pathway
Date published: 6:21 am, June 12th, 2021+1
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Comment:Auckland's Northern Pathway
Date published: 6:15 am, June 12th, 2021This cycle path has taken years. It essentially connects residential areas to other residential areas alongside the motorway. It is already well used. It will be interesting to see how it is used, I suspect it will be mainly recreational walkers and ...
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Comment:Auckland's Northern Pathway
Date published: 7:30 am, June 11th, 2021I've got a full day today, so won't be back till this evening to take part in the discussion, but since you asked so nicely... my 7am thought: 1. The use of "shovel-ready projects" irritated me from it's inception. For the most part, these were pet ...
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 7:48 pm, June 8th, 2021" and yet when developers do a masterplan with thousands of houses on it integrated into rail public transport, you revert to cynicism. " No, I'm suggesting that the identification of Drury for public transport investment over other possibly better options...
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 6:31 pm, June 8th, 2021"Your anecdata vs transport policy expertise.." Fair criticism, but one that doesn't allow for the possibility that the current framework does not result in good transport policy, or that it is influenced by political lobbying rather than assessed need. So...
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 4:31 pm, June 8th, 2021Purely a personal viewpoint, (after engaging with hopeful enthusiasm with the Unitary Plan process and transport, and various Auckland Council staffers and representatives) is that we could do much better than the planning and priority frameworks we ...
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 4:07 pm, June 8th, 2021We have many Auckland households that are struggling financially. They purchase or rent homes where they can get them, and commute to jobs that often don't meet the rising costs of living. When we conduct surveys or cost-benefit analysis for transport ...
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 3:55 pm, June 8th, 2021Eurgh. Not Chris Bishop! Chris Darby, the councillor. Thanks for pointing it out. Obviously, too long away from keyboard.
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 3:52 pm, June 8th, 2021"Paerata is a station that is funded within the Supporting Growth Alliance. Not that hard to google." Not really interested continuing to follow this. I know Paerata is on the current list of works, and the level of development it is in line for compared ...
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 3:51 pm, June 8th, 2021" Unlikely all of the small ones will ever be." And yet those are the ones where security for lone travellers is sorely needed.
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 12:46 pm, June 8th, 2021"You know what would encourage usage of public transport? Making it free." +1. Went to a meeting with Chris Bishop, and Matt from Greater Auckland who talked about a survey done on this topic, and who concluded that making public transport free would not ...
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 12:40 pm, June 8th, 2021Fair call. I used the word 'solely' because after searching I could not find any reference to any other method. That does not mean it does not exist. Would like to point out though, that many projects have a long incubation period and the origins of them ...
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 12:21 pm, June 8th, 2021Hi Sacha, Had a feeling you'd be replying. I don't have a inclination for hyperbole or baloney, so stand behind my initial statement. It was on one of their long-term plans produced a few years ago. I only found it because I was looking for some ...
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 11:48 am, June 8th, 2021The existing framework supports this anomaly. Those who are networked and have influence are able to utilise the current system to steer attention and resource allocation to their areas. It is very rarely - if ever - that the budget is acknowledged to be ...
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 11:30 am, June 8th, 2021+1. I've never had much time for him myself.
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 11:22 am, June 8th, 2021Hey, Rosemary. Not commenting much, but still reading. (I enjoy watching you, Sabine, weka, Jenny, Anne and many others to be keeping the valid critique going. Often have a few quiet chuckles reading comments that state much more eloquently - or forcefully...
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 11:15 am, June 8th, 2021When decision makers are those that often have all their transport costs met as part of their employment package, and earn enough to reside within a good commutable distance to their place of employment - you end up with decisions that fail to take into ...
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 11:08 am, June 8th, 2021I am considered Group 2, living in Counties Manukau, supposedly vaccinated by the end of May. 8th June 2021... crickets... More resources in regard to communications, planning and implementation are needed.
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 10:32 am, June 8th, 2021Having had a lot to do with the health system in the last year, from my perspective the issue regarding continuity of care is important. Very rarely are my appointments set up to see the same specialist each time, often I see someone new each time I go in,...
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 10:10 am, June 8th, 2021+1
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Comment:Open mike 08/06/2021
Date published: 10:08 am, June 8th, 2021" Occupy one lane of the Auckland Harbour Bridge – The government will magically increase your pay offer by another $780 million" As I've mentioned a few times over the last few years, I am cynical of the process that goes into Auckland Transport planning....
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Comment:Cycling Politics is Winnable Politics
Date published: 9:02 am, May 31st, 2021I would prefer they improved access and service to a greater number of Aucklanders. I had an AT long term plan that had in fine print on one of their spreadsheets on how they identified and prioritised projects. It relied, not on investigation and data ...
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Comment:Cycling Politics is Winnable Politics
Date published: 8:52 am, May 31st, 2021Partnering with an electric car company to recondition/recycle batteries (which at present is not part of their business model. Looking at you, Nissan) might be a better move. New industry that can take place anywhere, existing stream of second hand ...
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Comment:Open mike 11/05/2021
Date published: 5:15 pm, May 11th, 2021Considering the dire access to secure housing problem (which is exacerbated by many factors), and the (to my mind) pitiful increase in benefits that have been indicated by government, I thought of a possible way to slightly alleviate (not solve) the ...
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Comment:Open mike 22/03/2021
Date published: 10:58 am, March 22nd, 2021Have a relative working for one of the big Australian banks down in Wellington. Grant Robertson meets weekly with the head honcho to talk with them about how they think the housing market and economy is going. (I'm making a presumption here, that if he is ...
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Comment:Open mike 13/02/2021
Date published: 6:02 pm, February 13th, 2021The problem is, all the way through the Unitary Plan consultation, council planners said that intensification would be ensured to be of good design because of the Auckland Design Manual which would inform designers and developers of the design aspects they...
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Comment:WTF were you thinking Air New Zealand?
Date published: 12:31 pm, February 9th, 2021Reading this article reminded me of a documentary about striking Rolls Royce workers, who sabotaged plans to work on engines for Pinochet's regime. (Link to Guardian article here, documentary most likely online somewhere, since I watched it there and not ...
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Comment:Paora Goldsmith, Māori history and identity politics
Date published: 10:27 am, February 5th, 2021Local iwi were exporting produce, and assisted settlers before their land was confiscated, and distrbuted amongst those same settler families. I would expect that this situation was likely repeated in other rohe throughout NZ.
- Writing the Rights: No Right Turn is Wrong
New Zealand’s extreme form of parliamentary sovereignty is something of an international oddity these days. Under the New Zealand system, an Act passed by Parliament (and hence signed by the Governor-General) is automatically law. And in the absence of a written constitution, Parliament can Do Anything. Literally. Our checks ...3 hours ago - Unemployment Insurance
Providing for the redundantly unemployed is admirable but difficult and expensive to implement.The 2021 Budget announced that the government was, at the urging of Business NZ and the Council of Trade Unions, committed to the development of a Social Unemployment Insurance scheme. It is likely to have two main components. ...4 hours ago - Losing The “Struggle-Session” Over Climate Change.
Blaming And Shaming: A "property owner" is humiliated before the masses during Mao Zedong's Cultural Revolution. Critical Race Theory may substitute "White Privilege" for "Class Privilege", but the inescapability of the offending group's responsibility for "oppression" is exactly the same. The self-abasement of School Strike For Climate Auckland for its ...8 hours ago - Cleaning up the fishing industry
The government is finally cleaning up the fishing industry, with cameras on boats and an end to high-grading, with an easier penalties regime to enforce it. Good. Because as we've seen over the years, the fishing industry is pervasively criminal, routinely violating the law on discarding fish and reporting bycatch. ...9 hours ago - PM’s critics should stick to the facts
There’s been a lot of grumbling lately amongst the right wing and certain mainstream media pundits who are looking to either score cheap political points or attract readers by attacking the Prime Minister.Of course some of the criticism is justified. After all no Government is perfect and there are always ...9 hours ago - Climate Change: Auckland fails IILast year, the Auckland Council passed a climate change plan, setting goals of halving emissions by 2030, and net-zero by 2050. So you'd expect their new transport plan to be consistent with that goal, right? Wrong: The 10-year transport plan for Auckland has emerged from consultation with small changes, ...10 hours ago
- Anti-fluoridation group tells porkies about NZ fluoridation review
FFNZ spreads misinformation about the NZ fluoridation review – yet again New Zealand opponents of community water fluoridation (CWF) are at it again. Their only response to the recently upgraded fluoridation review is to call it “propaganda” and to completely misrepresent it. But it’s interesting to look at their misrepresentation ...11 hours ago - Landmark decision in the sex and gender debate
On June 10, after two years of legal battles, Maya Forstater won a landmark legal ruling that looks set to change the direction of the sex and gender debates in the Britain, and provide legal protection for gender-critical people against discrimination and harassment. This ruling will be important in New Zealand. ...15 hours ago - CSLDF and the Government Accountability Project Launch New Scientific Integrity Reporting Project
This is a guest post by the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. Today, the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund and Government Accountability Project launched the Scientific Integrity Reporting Project: a confidential, anonymous way for scientists and others in science-adjacent roles to detail their experiences involving past and ongoing threats to scientific norms and scientific integrity. We ...1 day ago - Australia needs a Bill of Rights ActAustralia is one of the few western democracies not to have legal protection for fundamental human rights. The closest they come is recognising an implied right to freedom of political communication (but not other forms of freedom of expression) from the "representative government" clauses of their constitution. But some of ...1 day ago
- FalloutLast week I revealed how the Police had lied to the public over their "emissions-free fleet" strategy. Stuff's Henry Cooke has done the obvious followup of asking the Minister what she thinks about it, and it seems she is not happy: Police Minister Poto Williams says she is disappointed ...1 day ago
- Can we be born into the wrong body?by Don Franks Are some of us born into the wrong body? The possibility is sometimes offered as a clinching argument that some people need to, and are able to, change their sex. With one proviso, the answer has to be, yes, such a thing is possible. The only requirement ...1 day ago
- Moa’s Ark or flypaper of the Pacific – New Zealand’s place in the biology of the Pacific
It was the year 2002 and I was sitting in the shiny new office of our Biogeography Professor for my oral Diploma exam. It was going well, when I was asked to name an example of a Gondwanan distribution pattern, or in other words a species or group of species ...1 day ago - Auckland is the world’s ‘most liveable city’? Many Māori might disagreeElla Henry, Auckland University of Technology While I am always happy to celebrate any accolades my country and city might garner on the international stage, seeing Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau awarded the top ranking in a recent “most liveable cities” survey left me somewhat flummoxed. In particular, I would argue that ...1 day ago
- Patrick Gower – Hero of the week2 days ago
- Juliet Moses – Arsehole of the Week2 days ago
- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #24, 2021A hot budget problem This week's standout article for highlighting is Satellite and Ocean Data Reveal Marked Increase in Earth's Heating Rate (open access). From the two very different perspectives of above the atmosphere and below it, a team of authors led by Norman Loeb (head of NASA's CERES program) and including Gregory Johnson (head ...2 days ago
- Let it dieThe fishing industry is complaining in the Herald about their "labour shortage" and lamenting the fact that Young People These Days for some reason don't want to work for six weeks at a time doing hard, dangerous work on a boat in the middle of nowhere, and never seeing their ...2 days ago
- More bigotry in HungaryLast year Hungary ended legal recognition of trans people and banned gay people from adopting children. Now, they've followed that up with a Russian-style "propaganda law", banning "promotion" of homosexuality in schools or on TV: Hungary’s parliament has passed a law banning gay people from featuring in school educational ...2 days ago
- Institutionally corruptOver thirty years ago private investigator Daniel Morgan was murdered in London. The UK police repeatedly fucked up the investigation so obviously and blatantly that the government was forced to call a public inquiry. Now, after years of obstruction, it has finally reported back, finding the police to be "institutionally ...2 days ago
- With seas rising, stalled research budgets must also riseThis is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Gary Yohe and Eric Rignot From 1900 to 2000, the ocean along the U.S. East Coast rose at twice the annual rate of the pace in the previous 19 centuries, according to a recent study from Rutgers University. From Miami to New York to ...3 days ago
- Geoffrey Miller: Worst could be yet to come for New Zealanders’ perceptions of China
New Zealanders’ hostility towards China is growing rapidly – but the worst may be still ahead. International analyst Geoffrey Miller examines the latest survey results on how this country feels about China. The latest “Perceptions of Asia” survey from the Asia New Zealand Foundation, released today, shows a sharp rise ...3 days ago - Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – Cash for access to politicians continuesShould anyone have trust in politicians, given the manner in which they solicit money from the wealthy? Probably not, since virtually every party in Parliament in recent times has been found to be involved in flaunting the law or accepting dodgy donations from the rich. News reports of questionable donations ...3 days ago
- Proceed to your nearest (virtual) exit: gaming technology is teaching us how people respond to emer...Ruggiero Lovreglio, Massey University Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) aren’t just for gaming anymore, they’re also proving to be useful tools for disaster safety research. In fact, they could save lives. Around the world, natural and human-made disasters such as earthquakes, bushfires and terrorist attacks threaten substantial ...3 days ago
- Inaction speaks louder than wordsOne of the good things the government has done is implement a proactive release policy, requiring most cabinet papers to be published within 30 working days of a decision being made. Its not a perfect policy (note "most", but also they get to redact them however they want, without oversight), ...3 days ago
- Graham Adams: The dangers of putting media on the government’s payrollAccusations by a journalist that the Prime Minister leads an unusually secretive government don’t tell the whole story about its desire to control information. Graham Adams takes a closer look at the guidelines for the new $55 million journalism fund. Despite widespread cynicism about the Government’s ability to fulfil its ...3 days ago
- David Seymour caught telling liesAct Party Leader David SeymourIt really bothers me when the NZ Herald reports the claims of certain right wing politicians as the truth without any fact checking. Not only do they encourage dishonest politicians to continue to lie, they also degrade the standard of reporting we get in New Zealand.Of ...3 days ago
- To Speak, Or Not To Speak? That Is The Question.Speaking Rights: The spectacle of the nation’s prime minister being denied the right to speak to her fellow citizens, personally, on New Zealand’s national day would generate massive antagonism among Pakeha of both sexes. A refusal to be guided by the customs of Ngāpuhi, on the other hand, would be ...3 days ago
- We discovered what’s killing the world’s rarest penguin – and it could help us make a vaccineVartul Sangal, Northumbria University, Newcastle Yellow-eyed penguins are the most endangered penguin species in the world, with just 4,000 left in the wild. Found only in New Zealand and its outlying islands, these birds can grow up to 79cm tall and weigh 8.5kg, which is similar to a one-year-old ...3 days ago
- The COVID-19 lab leak theory highlights a glaring lack of global biosecurity regulationAlexander Gillespie, University of Waikato The revived debate over whether COVID-19 could be the result of an accidental release from the Wuhan Institute of Virology may never be adequately resolved. Either way, we risk not seeing the wood for the trees. While the World Health Organization (WHO) reported in ...3 days ago
- Opponents of fluoridation all at sea with new legislationImage credit: Why Ideology and Science Don’t Mix Opponents of community water fluoridation (CWF) should be supporting the proposed fluoridation legislation instead of organising opposition to it. Think about it. If Fluoride Free NZ (FFNZ) was honest in its claim that they are ...3 days ago
- Silent calamity: The health impacts of wildfire smoke
This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Bob Henson Articles on U.S. wildfires don’t often show a photo of someone gasping in a hospital bed or felled by a heart attack. Yet an increasing body of evidence suggests that the biggest societal impacts of increasing wildland fire are happening ...4 days ago- Smokefree 2025
The Government’s proposed approach for achieving SmokeFree 2025 is a bit over-the-top. The proposals would restrict tobacco sales to a smaller number of to-be-licenced R18 outlets, which could then be subject to a sinking lid; impose an annual one-year increase in the purchase age for tobacco until full prohibition were ...4 days ago- Update on Long-COVID
Prof John D. Potter* This blog post updates an earlier post on Long-COVID and reports that estimates of prevalence are still wide at about 15 to 65% of those initially infected with the pandemic virus, SARS-CoV-2. As things stand now across the world, we do not yet have systems in ...4 days ago- A long-overdue apology
The New Zealand government is going to formally apologise for the "dawn raids" which targeted Pacific peoples in the 1970's. Good. Terrorising people on the basis of their race was wrong and something which should be a lasting shame to New Zealand. But there's another wrong they need to apologise ...4 days ago- Climate Change: The return of feebate
The government has resurrected its feebate policy to lower transport emissions, taxing dirty vehicles to subsidise clean ones. Good. We've known for a long time that passive measures such as fuel economy ratings and up-front labelling of lifetime costs weren't enough, and neither was the ETS (which adds just a ...4 days ago- National wants to convert farms into pine forests
It really hasn’t been a good time on the opposition benches lately. Not only have we had the various National Party scandals to ensure a decline in their public support, they’ve also entirely misread the room when it comes to the Climate Change Commission’s final report and the Government’s Clean ...4 days ago- Government for sale again
When the National Party ran a "Cabinet Club", selling personal access to Cabinet Ministers in exchange for large donations, I called it Government for Sale. Now the Labour party is doing the same thing: The Labour Party is selling tickets to a “business conference" featuring the prime minister and ...4 days ago- Nobody Owns The Christchurch Tragedy.
Mass Outpourings Of Love And Solidarity: In excess of 20,000 Wellingtonians gathered at the basin Reserve in mid-March 2019 to reaffirm Prime Minister Ardern's "They are Us" response to the Christchurch Mosque Shootings. The opponents of the "They Are Us" movie project would rather the world was not reminded of ...4 days ago- 2021 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #24
Listing of articles linked to on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, June 7, 2021 through Sat, June 12, 2021 This week it was somewhat tricky to identify suitable articles for sharing which is why the list ended up shorter than it usually is. Articles Linked to ...5 days ago- Hoping For Divine Intervention.
By Any Chance, Are These Two Related? Climate Change Commission Chair, Rod Carr, and Michelangelo's Jehovah. Is that the message hidden in the CCC's report? That only divine intervention can save the planet from the effects of anthropogenic global warming?ROD CARR reminds me of God. Seriously, that beard. From a ...6 days ago- Re-Writing The Rules of the Game: Where Chile is Leading, Can Aotearoa-New Zealand Follow?
People Power: Ending neoliberalism requires massive and militant action on the ground. Between 2019 and 2020, the young and the poor made Chile ungovernable. Engaging in running battles with the Police and facing-down the army’s bullets, they rendered the political class and its mainstream media mouthpieces increasingly irrelevant to what ...6 days ago- National is falling apart
You’ve really got to wonder what possessed MP Simon Bridges to blatantly lie about gang violence he claimed to have witnessed yesterday.Perhaps he was just a bit desperate for some attention being that the headlines haven’t be very flattering for the National Party lately.His belief that misleading the public and ...6 days ago- How Are We Progressing with the War on Poverty?
Child Poverty Levels Are only Slowly Coming Down, What Next?Having settled on its macroeconomic settings, the Government then has to decide what to do with its revenue. In the 2021 Budget; it was largely committed to rolling forward existing spending, together with meeting some necessary commitments like dealing with covid ...6 days ago- They Are Us film should be made
Rose Byrne to play Jacinda Ardern in controversial movie ‘They Are Us’Framing is always an important aspect of media reports, especially when it comes to politics. In fact the way a story is framed can often determine whether a topic gains popular support or receives widespread public outrage.That’s been the ...7 days ago- The police lied to Parliament
Earlier today I blogged about the Ombudsman's final opinion on an OIA request for the police's "emissions-free fleet" strategy, in which the Ombudsman found that there never was such a strategy, and that the police repeatedly lied in an effort to hide that fact. But it turns out that I'm ...7 days ago- Spanish and Ukranian translations of The Debunking Handbook 2020
Since its publication last October, The Debunking Handbook 2020 has already been translated into 11 languages. Some of the translations have been created by volunteers who also help with Skeptical Science translations while others have been provided by outside or mixed teams. The Spanish translation was created by ...1 week ago- Tolkien and Anime: A Helm Hammerhand Adaptation
Now this is something I truly was not expecting. Warner Brothers is producing an Anime Movie of the story of Helm Hammerhand, titled The War of the Rohirrim:https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/lord-of-the-rings-anime-movie-in-the-works-from-new-line-warner-animation-group-1234965985/ My first instinct was to check the date. No, not 1st April. This is for real: a Tolkien story – one ...1 week ago- There was never an “emissions-free fleet” strategy
Last month, I did a post about my efforts to excavate the Police's "emissions-free fleet" strategy, and how my OIA request had been extended "for consultations", whizzed past its extended deadline, then refused as it would "soon be publicly available". My complaint to the Ombudsman gained an attempted explanation from ...1 week ago- Friday essay: a rare bird — how Europeans got the black swan so wrong
David Haworth, Monash University The black swan is an Australian icon. The official emblem of Western Australia, depicted in the state flag and coat-of-arms, it decorates several public buildings. The bird is also the namesake for Perth’s Swan River, where the British established the Swan River Colony in 1829. ...1 week ago- As more climate migrants cross borders seeking refuge, laws will need to adapt
Katharine M. Donato, Georgetown University; Amanda Carrico, University of Colorado Boulder; and Jonathan M. Gilligan, Vanderbilt University Climate change is upending people’s lives around the world, but when droughts, floods or sea level rise force them to leave their countries, people often find closed borders and little assistance. Part ...1 week ago- Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s relationship with Saudi Arabia faces increasing scrutiny
While New Zealand’s problematic but lucrative relationship with China gets lots of attention, there’s another important and similar relationship with Saudi Arabia that gets less attention. International analyst Geoffrey Miller explains why Riyadh is too important for Wellington to ignore. New Zealand’s new ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Barney Riley, ...1 week ago- Research now backs routinely offering pregnant women the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine
Michelle Wise, University of Auckland New Zealand and Australia will now routinely offer the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine to women at any stage of pregnancy, following an update of vaccination advice. This comes as research suggests the risk of severe outcomes from infection is significantly higher for pregnant women compared to ...1 week ago- The Irish lough that offers a window into the deep sea
James Bell, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington; Rob McAllen, University College Cork, and Valerio Micaroni, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington Deeper than most scuba divers can safely work and above where most underwater robots are designed to descend lie some of the most ...1 week ago- The economics of killing Huntly
RNZ reports that Genesis Energy's use of coal has spiked over the past few years, as they use to burn it rather than pay for gas: New Zealand has significantly increased its use of coal in recent years, despite its status as the worst, most polluting fossil fuel on ...1 week ago- Media Link: “A View from Afar” on NZ security strategy and the end of neoliberalism in South Ame...
I have not had much time to blog in recent weeks but continue the weekly series of podcasts with Selwyn Manning. This week we discussed efforts to develop a comprehensive national security strategy for New Zealand that goes beyond Defense White Papers and annual reports from various security agencies, then ...1 week ago- Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – Reforming the Official Information Act is a democratic test for...
In promising to be New Zealand’s most open and transparent government ever, Labour has one key challenge: reform the Official Information Act. This vital piece of machinery for democracy is in terrible disrepair, and the Government has promised to rewrite it for the modern age, but so far are stalling ...1 week ago- Hard Questions – Hard Answers.
1 week ago- Ian Powell: Lessons for NZ from Cuba, the Covid-19 vaccine powerhouse?
What can New Zealand learn from Cuba about fighting Covid-19? Plenty, especially in terms of producing vaccines, according to Health commentator Ian Powell. As the Medical Director for the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners Dr Bryan Betty is an important leadership voice for general practitioners. He is also ...1 week ago- Daniel Greene and the Mechanics of Writing Sex Scenes
YouTube fantasy commentator Daniel Greene has weighed in with a discussion of poorly written genre sex scenes: Now, the examples Greene cites are indeed poorly written… but they are not the sort of thing I see in published fantasy literature. Greene’s examples actually smack of fan-fiction, whereas ...1 week ago- Another sign of MBIE’s captivity
When the government asks the public to conserve electricity, its usually because we're on the edge of a supply crisis, and its necessary to ensure our own lights will stay on. And when it does that, people generally buy into it, because they can see the reason. But last month, ...1 week ago- A republic is demographicly irresistable
Via New Zealand Republic: younger kiwis support a republic (where "younger" is basicly "people under 50"): There's a bit more on NewsHub here. This is basicly like the support graph for Scottish independence, which seems to have become demographicly irresistable. Sadly, Jacinda Ardern - who implicitly claims to be ...1 week ago- Good riddance to the Tasman Mill
Last night Norske Skog announced it will close the Tasman Mill at the end of the month, with the loss of 160 jobs. Good. This mill is a major source of emissions, and in 2019 we subsidised it to the tune of 238342 tons - meaning it was about 0.3% ...1 week ago- Speaker: Adventures In Gender Identity
It started during a recent visit to a gynaecologist. Don’t worry, I’m fine. I felt an intense discomfort as I picked up my prescription and I knew immediately that this was gender dysphoria. I’d experienced it many times before but my understanding of it in the past was so narrow and ...1 week ago- Why Indigenous knowledge should be an essential part of how we govern the world’s oceans
Meg Parsons, University of Auckland and Lara Taylor, Manaaki Whenua – Landcare Research Our moana (ocean) is in a state of unprecedented ecological crisis. Multiple, cumulative impacts include pollution, sedimentation, overfishing, drilling and climate change. All affect the health of both marine life and coastal communities. To reverse the ...1 week ago- Skeptical Science New Research for Week #23, 2021
LIfe cycle analysis of "Dirk" Life cycle analysis (LCA) is a method used to evaluate the environmental impact of a product through its life cycle encompassing extraction and processing of the raw materials, manufacturing, distribution, use, recycling, and final disposal. From: Journal of Environmental Management, 2010. -- Science Direct Continuing with getting ...1 week ago- Climate Change: Scammed
Reading the Climate Change Commission's final advice, the obvious question is why their budgets are so much higher than those proposed in their draft (by about half a year's emissions over 14 years)? Simple: we're being baseline-scammed. The draft report set its budget based on 2018 emissions: But the ...1 week ago- Musings on J.K. Rowling and That Issue
Oh dear. Today I will tentatively offer some thoughts on that issue that has been rumbling along for some time. J.K. Rowling’s truly… interesting… obsession with transgenderism. I realise that I am coming rather late to the subject, but honestly Rowling’s tendency for outbursts means that the issue will ...1 week ago- A mini-Official Secrets Act for the Reserve Bank
The Finance and Expenditure Committee has reported back on the Reserve Bank of New Zealand Bill. Part of the bill is a new confidentiality clause, restricting publication or disclosure of information obtained using the bank's information-gathering powers. The first-reading version was actually good, with explicit recognition of the OIA. So ...1 week ago- Genomic solutions for a plant taonga: a high-quality rewarewa genome
Illustration credit: “Seven Sisters, Knightia excelsa” Jennifer Duval-Smith By Plant & Food Research High Quality Genomes project co-leader David Chagné The completion of the native rewarewa (Knightia excelsa) tree genome sequence is demonstrating New Zealand is now taking charge of producing genomes on its native species. These are species that ...1 week ago- Climate Change: Committing to failure again
The Climate Change Commission released its final advice to the government today, and the media is full of reports about how "ambitious" it is. Bullshit. Because when you look at the budgets - the only thing in the entire document that actually matters and has legal weight - they tell ...1 week ago- Bryce Edwards: Political Roundup – Jacinda Ardern’s opaque government by PR
One of the most important, and scathing, critiques of Jacinda Ardern’s Government was published this week by senior political journalist Andrea Vance. She reveals how the current administration has become adept and determined at keeping information secret and the public in the dark about crucial issues. You can read her ...1 week ago- Member’s Day
Today is a Member's Day, the first since the Budget. Unfortunately it looks like most of the time will be taken up with boring committee stages. First up is Anahila Kanongata’a-Suisuiki's District Court (Protection of Judgment Debtors with Disabilities) Amendment Bill, followed by Louise Upston's Rights for Victims of Insane ...1 week ago- A Failure of Tone: The National Party’s Week of Woe.
Tone Deaf? From a party-political point of view (and what other point of view should a National Party MP be taking?) Paul Goldsmith’s comments regarding the “benefits” of colonisation merely played into the fast-solidifying narrative of National being a stale white bread party that can’t get out of its own way ...1 week ago- How virus detectives trace the origins of an outbreak – and why it’s so tricky
Marilyn J. Roossinck, Penn State Every time there is a major disease outbreak, one of the first questions scientists and the public ask is: “Where did this come from?” In order to predict and prevent future pandemics like COVID-19, researchers need to find the origin of the viruses that ...1 week ago - Silent calamity: The health impacts of wildfire smoke
- Working in partnership with our primary sector
A few great days at Fieldays are done and dusted! We had a huge team of Labour MPs at Mystery Creek this year – and we were there because partnering with farmers, growers, and our rural communities matters to us. ...4 hours ago - Chlöe Swarbrick puts Bill aimed at minimising alcohol harm in Members’ ballot
Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick has put the Sale and Supply of Alcohol (Harm Minimisation) Amendment Bill into the Members’ ballot. ...9 hours ago - Investing in our rural communitiesFarmers and growers have been the economic backbone for New Zealand throughout COVID-19, and our primary sector will be at the heart of our recovery. This week, as Fieldays gets underway, we’ve outlined the next steps in our work with farmers to secure our recovery. ...12 hours ago
- Green MPs back calls for work to stop immediately in Pūtiki Bay following unnecessary police presen...Green MPs Dr Elizabeth Kerekere and Chlöe Swarbrick strongly support the calls by Ngāti Paoa for Auckland Council to immediately step in to stop works happening in Pūtiki Bay/Kennedy Point today. ...1 day ago
- Acting boldly to address the housing crisis so we all thriveTēnā koe Minister Woods, ...3 days ago
- Addressing period poverty in schoolsToday, we’re taking the next step in our work to support children and young people in poverty, starting to roll out free period products in more than 1,600 schools and kura across New Zealand. ...3 days ago
- Dawn Raids apology welcomed, needs to be backed up with amnestyThe Green Party’s Te Mātāwaka Māori and Pasifika Caucus welcomes an announcement today by the Prime Minister to apologise for the Dawn Raids. ...4 days ago
- Making cleaner cars accessible to more KiwisToday, we’re taking action in line with the advice of the Climate Change Commission to reduce our carbon footprint, so future generations have a fair go. Our Clean Car package, announced this morning, delivers on our promise to cut transport emissions. It will make it easier to make the switch ...5 days ago
- Green Party set to deliver open letter to Immigration Minister with 17k signaturesThe Green Party will deliver its open letter asking the Minister for Immigration to fix the broken immigration system next week. ...6 days ago
- Dr Elizabeth Kerekere receives her COVID-19 vaccinationToday, Green Party MP Dr Elizabeth Kerekere received her COVID-19 vaccination from Tamaiti Whāngai COVID-19 vaccination centre, which had its official opening yesterday. ...1 week ago
- Our action on climate changeIn 2019, we established the Climate Change Commission to provide independent advice on climate change action and to hold this Government and future Governments to account. Today, the Commission's final advice was released. It sets out the total amount of global warming pollution Aotearoa must cut by 2035 to be ...1 week ago
- Our action on climate changeIn 2019, we established the Climate Change Commission to provide independent advice on climate change action and to hold this Government and future Governments to account. Today, the Commission's final advice was released. It sets out the total amount of global warming pollution Aotearoa must cut by 2035 to be ...1 week ago
- It’s time to get behind our nursesThe Green Party supports the 30,000 nurses striking today for better pay and safer working conditions. ...1 week ago
- Celebrating our oceansAotearoa New Zealand is surrounded by Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, the Pacific Ocean. The ocean is central to our identities and to our ecosystems. The Big Blue both isolates us from other countries and connects us to our Pacific neighbours. We have the seventh largest maritime area in the world, ranging from ...1 week ago
- Caring for the land, caring for peopleHere in New Zealand, we have a remarkable natural environment, with unique ecosystems and native species. It’s taken millions of years for Aotearoa to develop this precious environment – and it’s up to us to protect it! In collaboration with communities across the country, we’re doing just that. ...2 weeks ago
- Caring for the land, caring for peopleHere in New Zealand, we have a remarkable natural environment, with unique ecosystems and native species. It’s taken millions of years for Aotearoa to develop this precious environment – and it’s up to us to protect it! In collaboration with communities across the country, we’re doing just that. ...2 weeks ago
- How much do you know about Aotearoa’s unique environment?Test your knowledge this World Environment Day! Think you’re a nature super-fan? Can’t tell a kauri from a kāmahi? To celebrate World Environment Day this week, we’ve put together a quiz to test how much you know about Te Taiao. Flex your nature muscles or learn something new about the ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman receives her COVID-19 vaccinationToday Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman, who is immunocompromised, received her first COVID-19 vaccination at the Auckland CBD vaccination centre. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens welcome Auckland walking and cycling bridge, call for more climate focusThe Green Party is welcoming the Government’s renewed commitment to safe walking and cycling across the Waitematā Harbour, but warning that new highway investment puts our response to the climate change emergency at risk. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens call for Facebook to be held accountable for role in spreading disinformationThe Green Party is calling on the Government to hold Facebook accountable for its role in enabling behaviour which threatens democracy, by strongly regulating data privacy and the spread of dangerous disinformation. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens call for more protection of native whitebait species at risk of extinctionThe Green Party is pleased to see new whitebaiting measures, announced today, to establish a more consistent management regime across the country, but we must go further, faster, to protect our native taonga. ...2 weeks ago
- Greens’ Māori Caucus Te Mātāwaka call for Matariki Ahunga Nui to be expanded in school curricul...The Green Party are calling for an expansion of the current school curriculum on Matariki, so that a deeper understanding of how it relates to managing and harvesting food is explored. This push comes at the start of the Matariki season, the final year before it is set to become ...2 weeks ago
- Green Party launches petition for publicly-owned public transportThe Green Party is launching a petition calling on the Government to remove legislative barriers to public ownership of our public transport depots, vehicles and services. ...3 weeks ago
- Government taking action to protect albatross
New population figures for the critically endangered Antipodean albatross showing a 5 percent decline per year highlights the importance of reducing all threats to these very special birds, Acting Minister of Conservation Dr Ayesha Verrall says. The latest population modelling, carried out by Dragonfly Data Science, shows the Antipodean albatross ...5 hours ago - Adoption laws under reviewNew Zealand’s 66-year-old adoption laws are being reviewed, with public engagement beginning today. Justice Minister Kris Faafoi said the Government is seeking views on options for change to our adoption laws and system. “The Adoption Act has remained largely the same since 1955. We need our adoption laws to reflect ...12 hours ago
- Wider roll-out of cameras on boats to support sustainability and protect marine lifeUp to 300 inshore commercial fishing vessels will be fitted with on-board cameras by 2024 as part of the Government’s commitment to protect the natural marine environment for future generations. Minister for Oceans and Fisheries David Parker today announced the funding is now in place for the wider roll out ...1 day ago
- Plan for vaccine rollout for general population announcedNew Zealanders over 60 will be offered a vaccination from July 28 and those over 55 from August 11, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced today. The rollout of the vaccine to the general population will be done in age groups as is the approach commonly used overseas, with those over ...1 day ago
- New Zealand introduces Belarus travel bansNew Zealand has imposed travel bans on selected individuals associated with the Lukashenko regime, following ongoing concerns about election fraud and human rights abuses after the 2020 Belarus elections, Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta has announced. The ban covers more than fifty individuals, including the President and key members of ...1 day ago
- NZ economy grows driven by households, construction and business investmentThe Government’s efforts to secure the recovery have been reflected in the robust rebound of GDP figures released today which show the economy remains resilient despite the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Grant Robertson said. GDP increased 1.6 percent in the first three months of 2021. The Treasury had ...1 day ago
- Milestone 250th tower continues to improve rural connectivityThe Government has welcomed the completion of the 250th 4G mobile tower, as part of its push for better rural connectivity. Waikato’s Wiltsdown, which is roughly 80 kilometres south of Hamilton, is home to the new tower, deployed by the Rural Connectivity Group to enable improved service to 70 homes ...1 day ago
- Quarantine Free Travel pause with Victoria to lift on TuesdayFollowing a further public health assessment of the COVID-19 outbreak in greater Melbourne, New Zealand’s Quarantine Free Travel pause with Victoria has been extended to 11.59pm on Tuesday 22 June, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. It has been determined that the risk to public health in New Zealand continues ...1 day ago
- Prime Minister mourns passing of Dr Sir Ian HassallPrime Minister Jacinda Ardern is mourning the passing of Dr Sir Ian Hassall, New Zealand’s first Children’s Commissioner and lifelong champion for children and children’s health. As a paediatrician Sir Ian contributed to a major world-first cot death study that has been directly credited with reducing cot deaths in New ...2 days ago
- APEC structural reform meeting a successAPEC ministers have agreed working together will be crucial to ensure economies recover from the impact of COVID-19. Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs David Clark, chaired the virtual APEC Structural Reform Ministerial Meeting today which revolved around the overarching theme of promoting balanced, inclusive, sustainable, innovative and secure growth ...2 days ago
- Digital hub to boost investment in forestryA new website has been launched at Fieldays to support the forestry sector find the information it needs to plant, grow and manage trees, and to encourage investment across the wider industry. Forestry Minister Stuart Nash says the new Canopy website is tailored for farmers, iwi and other forestry interests, ...2 days ago
- Government continues support for rangatahi to get into employment, education and trainingOver 230 rangatahi are set to benefit from further funding through four new He Poutama Rangatahi programmes, Minister for Social Development and Employment Carmel Sepuloni announced today. “We’re continuing to secure our economic recovery from COVID by investing in opportunities for rangatahi to get into meaningful employment, education or training ...2 days ago
- NCEA subjects up for consultationThe education sector, students, their parents, whānau and communities are invited to share their thoughts on a list of proposed NCEA subjects released today, Education Minister Chris Hipkins says. This is a significant part of the Government’s NCEA Change Programme that commenced in 2020 and will be largely implemented by ...2 days ago
- Major investment in plantain forage programme aims to improve freshwater qualityThe Government is backing a major programme investigating plantain’s potential to help farmers protect waterways and improve freshwater quality, Acting Agriculture Minister Meka Whaitiri announced at Fieldays today. The Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures (SFFF) fund is contributing $8.98 million to the $22.23 million seven-year programme, which aims to deliver ...2 days ago
- America’s Cup decisionThe Minister responsible for the America’s Cup has confirmed the joint Crown-Auckland Council offer to host the next regatta has been declined by the Board of Team New Zealand. “The exclusive period of negotiation between the Crown, Auckland Council, and Team New Zealand ends tomorrow, 17 June,” said Stuart Nash. ...2 days ago
- Food and fibres sector making significant strides towards New Zealand’s economic recoveryThe Government is backing the food and fibres sector to lead New Zealand's economic recovery from COVID-19 with targeted investments as part of its Fit for a Better World roadmap, Forestry Minister Stuart Nash said. “To drive New Zealand’s recovery, we launched the Fit for a Better World – Accelerating ...3 days ago
- Speech to He Whenua Taurikura – New Zealand’s annual hui on countering terrorism and violent...Check against delivery Can I begin by acknowledging the 51 shuhada, their families and the Muslim community. It is because of the atrocious violent act that was done to them which has led ultimately to this, the start of a dialogue and a conversation about how we as a nation ...3 days ago
- Cost of Government Southern Response proactive package releasedThe Government has announced the proactive package for some Southern Response policyholders could cost $313 million if all those eligible apply. In December, the Minister Responsible for the Earthquake Commission, David Clark announced a proactive package for SRES claimants who settled their claims before October 2014. It trailed the judgment ...3 days ago
- New support to reduce emissions from public building and construction projectsGovernment agencies are getting new support to reduce carbon emissions generated by construction of new buildings, with the release of practical guidance to shape decisions on public projects. The Ministers for Building and Construction and for Economic Development say a new Procurement Guide will help government agencies, private sector suppliers, ...3 days ago
- He Whenua Taurikura: New Zealand’s first Hui on Countering Terrorism and Violent ExtremismThe Prime Minister has opened New Zealand’s first hui on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism, which is being held in Christchurch over the next two days. The hui delivers on one of the recommendations from the report of the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch masjidain ...3 days ago
- Speech to inaugural Countering Terrorism HuiE aku nui, e aku rahi, Te whaka-kanohi mai o rātou mā, Ru-ruku-tia i runga i te ngākau whakapono, Ru-ruku-tia i runga i te ngākau aroha, Waitaha, Ngāti Mamoe, Ngai Tahu, nāu rā te reo pohiri. Tena tātou katoa. Ki te kotahi te kakaho ka whati, ki te kapuia, e ...3 days ago
- Campaign shines a light on elder abuseA new campaign is shining a spotlight on elder abuse, and urging people to protect older New Zealanders. Launched on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, the Office for Seniors’ campaign encourages friends, whānau and neighbours to look for the signs of abuse, which is often hidden in plain sight. “Research suggests ...4 days ago
- Farewelling sports administrator and philanthropist Sir Eion EdgarSport and Recreation Minister Grant Robertson today expressed his sorrow at the passing of Sir Eion Edgar – a leading sports administrator and celebrated philanthropist who has made a significant impact both within and beyond the sport sector. “Sir Eion’s energy, drive and generosity has been truly immense. He leaves ...4 days ago
- Government to apologise for Dawn RaidsThe Government will make a formal apology for the wrongs committed during the Dawn Raids of the 1970’s. Between 1974 and 1976, a series of rigorous immigration enforcement policies were carried out that resulted in targeted raids on the homes of Pacific families. The raids to find, convict and deport overstayers ...4 days ago
- Humanitarian support for Bangladesh and MyanmarForeign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta today announced that New Zealand is providing NZ $8.25 million in humanitarian assistance to support refugees and their host populations in Bangladesh and to support humanitarian need of internally displaced and conflict affected people in Myanmar. “Nearly four years after 900,000 Rohingya crossed the border ...4 days ago
- Poroporoaki: Dame Georgina Kamiria KirbyE Te Kōkō Tangiwai, Te Tuhi Mareikura, Te Kākākura Pokai kua riro i a matou. He toka tū moana ākinga ā tai, ākinga ā hau, ākinga ā ngaru tūātea. Haere atu rā ki te mūrau a te tini, ki te wenerau a te mano. E tae koe ki ngā rire ...4 days ago
- Feedback sought on future of housing and urban developmentNew Zealanders are encouraged to have their say on a long-term vision for housing and urban development to guide future work, the Housing Minister Megan Woods has announced. Consultation starts today on a Government Policy Statement on Housing and Urban Development (GPS-HUD), which will support the long-term direction of Aotearoa ...5 days ago
- Clean car package to drive down emissionsNew rebates for electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles start July 1 with up to $8,625 for new vehicles and $3,450 for used. Electric vehicle chargers now available every 75km along most state highways to give Kiwis confidence. Low Emission Transport Fund will have nearly four times the funding by 2023 ...5 days ago
- Progress towards simpler process for changing sex on birth certificatesThe Government is taking the next step to support transgender, non-binary and intersex New Zealanders, by progressing the Births, Deaths, Marriages and Relationships Registration Bill, Minister of Internal Affairs, Jan Tinetti announced today. “This Government understands that self-identification is a significant issue for transgender, non-binary and intersex New Zealanders, and ...6 days ago
- Crown speeds up engagement with takutai moana applicantsThe Crown is taking a new approach to takutai moana applications to give all applicants an opportunity to engage with the Crown and better support the Māori-Crown relationship, Treaty of Waitangi Negotiations Minister Andrew Little says. Following discussions with applicant groups, the Crown has reviewed the existing takutai moana application ...6 days ago
- Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment (AODT) Court opensThe Minister of Justice, Kris Faafoi, and the Minister for Courts, Aupito William Sio, have welcomed the opening of a new Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment (AODT) Court in Hamilton. The AODT Court (Te Whare Whakapiki Wairua) addresses situations where substance abuse and offending are intertwined. “New Zealanders have told ...6 days ago
- EU and UK FTAs top of list for first ministerial trip since COVID-19Trade and Export Growth Minister Damien O’Connor today announced details of his planned visit to the United Kingdom and European Union next week, where he will hold trade and agriculture discussions to further New Zealand’s economic recovery from COVID-19. The visit will add political weight to ongoing negotiations with both the EU ...7 days ago
- Arihia Bennett to chair Royal Commission Ministerial Advisory GroupTe Rūnanga o Ngāi Tahu chief executive Arihia Bennett MNZM has been appointed chair of the newly appointed Ministerial Advisory Group on the Government’s Response to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into the terrorist attack on Christchurch mosques. “Twenty-eight people from diverse backgrounds across Aotearoa have been selected for the ...7 days ago
- Speech to the New Zealand Medical Association General Practitioners' Conference, RotoruaKi ngā pou maha o te whare hauora o Aotearoa, kei te mihiTo the pillars of our health system I acknowledge/thank you Ki te ope hapai hauora o roto o tēnei rūma, kei te mihi To our health force here in the room today, I acknowledge/thank you He taura tangata, ...1 week ago
- Karangahape Road upgrades are streets aheadThe upgrades to Karangahape Road makes the iconic street more pedestrian and cycle-friendly, attractive and environmentally sustainable, Transport Minister Michael Wood and Auckland Mayor Phil Goff said at the formal celebration of the completion of the Karangahape Road Enhancements project. The project included widening footpaths supporting a better outdoor dining ...1 week ago
- Speech to APEC business eventE ngā tumu herenga waka, ākina ā ngaru, ākina ā tai ka whakatere ngā waka ki te whakapapa pounamu, otirā, ki Tamaki o ngā waka Tena koutou katoa… To the great leaders assembled, who guided your waka through turbulent times, challenging waters and you continue to navigate your respective waka ...1 week ago
- Pause on Quarantine Free Travel with Victoria extendedFollowing an assessment of the COVID-19 outbreak in greater Melbourne, New Zealand’s Quarantine Free Travel pause with Victoria will continue for a further seven days, COVID-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins says. There are now 93 cases associated with the outbreak in greater Melbourne, spread over four clusters. Contact tracing efforts ...1 week ago
- Supplier Diversity Aotearoa Summit: Navigate 2021*** Check with delivery *** A mihi to all who have contributed to making today a success – starting with you! As you have explored and navigated government procurement today you will hopefully have reflected on the journey of our people so far – and how you can make a ...1 week ago
- Pukemiro School to closePukemiro Primary School near Huntly will close following years of declining roll numbers, Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced today. “I’ve consulted with the School Commissioner, and this decision acknowledges the fact that the few remaining students from last term are now settled at other nearby schools. “I want to thank ...1 week ago
- Govt acts to protect NZers from harmful contentNew Zealanders will be better protected from harmful or illegal content as a result of work to design a modern, flexible and coherent regulatory framework, Minister of Internal Affairs Jan Tinetti announced today. New Zealand currently has a content regulatory system that is comprised of six different arrangements covering some ...1 week ago
- RSF condemns Hong Kong police storming of Apple Daily – 5 arrested
Hundreds of police officers search the Apple Daily group’s headquarters after five senior staff were arrested under the National Security Law, accused of “collusion with foreign forces”. Video: Al Jazeera Pacific Media Watch newsdesk Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has condemned yesterday’s police raid on Hong Kong media outlet Apple Daily’s ...31 mins ago - Vanuatu Supreme Court confirms 19 government MPs lose seatsRNZ Pacific Vanuatu Supreme Court judge Justice Oliver Saksak has upheld a decision by the former Speaker of Parliament to expel 19 government MPs from Parliament. The court ruling could trigger the collapse of Vanuatu’s government but a subsequent appeal is likely to grant a stay of execution for the ...31 mins ago
- Fiji reports another 115 covid cases – new hospital death investigatedBy Vijay Narayan in Suva Fiji health authorities have announced 115 new covid-19 cases for the 24 hour period ending at 8am today. Health Secretary Dr James Fong said 12 cases were from new clusters – 8 of them from Max Value Supermarket, Lami, and 4 from Public Rental Board. ...31 mins ago
- Auckland’s ‘most liveable’ city loses some gloss with Pacific criticismAsia Pacific Report newsdesk Days after being condemned by the largest Pacific Island capital — Port Moresby, the Economist’s Global Liveability Index has been criticised in Auckland by one of New Zealand’s most respected “green” columnists. The criticisms come from different ends of the spectrum — Port Moresby was third ...31 mins ago
- Samoan court declares Sagaga 2 seat void – 26-24 balance for FASTBy Soli Wilson in Apia A Human Rights Protection Party (HRPP) associate minister has had his seat of Sagaga 2 in the Samoa general election declared void by the Supreme Court following a legal challenge, triggering a byelection. This means previously elected Member of Parliament Seiuli Ueligitone Seiuli, a member ...31 mins ago
- Warnings to anti-vaxxers slowing rollout in Solomons and PNGBy Johnny Blades, Anti-vax misinformation is throwing a spanner in the works for covid-19 vaccination programmes in Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands, with the prime ministers of both countries firing warnings at those spreading it. PNG Prime Minister James Marape issued a blunt statement this week, ...31 mins ago
- Fishing vessel cameras aim to curb catch dumping
Fishing boats will now have to bring their entire catch back to port - as part of moves to ensure skippers report other wildlife that is accidentally caught. ...4 hours ago - Concerned about the latest AstraZeneca news? These 3 graphics help you make sense of the riskSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Hassan Vally, Associate Professor, La Trobe University Yesterday’s announcement the AstraZeneca COVID vaccine would now only be recommended for the over 60s has highlighted the many ways we think about risk. The decision reflects a greater understanding of the real, but extremely ...5 hours ago
- The limits of advocacy: arts sector told to stop worrying and be happySource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Justin O’Connor, Professor of Cultural Economy, University of South Australia Most people with an interest in art and culture in Australia believe it is in deep crisis, and you’d be hard pressed to find someone who didn’t think the crisis predated the ...6 hours ago
- Three weeks without electricity? That’s the reality facing thousands of Victorians, and it will ha...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Anthony Richardson, Researcher and Teacher, Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University James Ross/AAP Last week’s storm system wreaked havoc across Victoria. Some 220,000 households and businesses lost power, and residents in the hills on Melbourne’s fringe were warned yesterday it ...6 hours ago
- ‘A slow and painful journey’: why did it take over 20 years to approve the new Alzheimer’s dru...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ralph N. Martins, Professor and Chair in Ageing and Alzheimer’s Disease, Edith Cowan University Shutterstock A new drug to treat Alzheimer’s disease was last week given accelerated approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration. The drug is called ...6 hours ago
- VIDEO: Michelle Grattan on Scott Morrison’s return to Australia and a change in vaccine adviceSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Michelle Grattan discusses the week in politics with University of Canberra Associate Professor Caroline Fisher. This week the pair discuss the outcomes of Scott Morrison’s attendance at the G7 summit in Cornwall, including a face-to-face ...6 hours ago
- The Friday Poem: Millennium taffeta, by Laura Vincent
A new poem from poet and food writer Laura Vincent.Millennium taffeta all today’s ills point directlyto the paucity of purple taffeta shot through with bluesewn into bandeau and a-lineit moved with a conspicuous rustlewhat wouldn’t we have done for that fabricwhich launched a thousand reputations did you live through the unsparing dominance ...6 hours ago - ANZASW Congratulates Hilary Weaver For Appointment As IFSW Indigenous Commissioner
...6 hours ago - Stolen wages: Northern Territory class action will hold the Commonwealth to accountSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Thalia Anthony, Professor of Law, University of Technology Sydney Alan Lambert, CC BY-SA This article contains names and images of people who have passed. On August 23 1966, Vincent Lingiari and his fellow Aboriginal stock workers walked off the Wave ...7 hours ago
- Health Ministry Push Flows Over To Improved Drinking-water, Boost In Compliance – ReportA push by the Ministry of Health to increase awareness among drinking-water suppliers of their responsibilities has led to tighter auditing and a boost in overall compliance, with standards up by 2.4% compared to last year. There was also a slight ...7 hours ago
- The latest ‘spasm’ of violence in Gaza is unlikely to be the lastSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Tony Walker, Vice-chancellor’s fellow, La Trobe University The Israel-Palestine conflict has experienced its first violent spasm in the term of a new Israeli government. However, hostilities have since been contained, for the time being. Provocative demonstrations this week in Arab East Jerusalem ...7 hours ago
- Doc Edge: Seven documentaries to watch in this year’s festivalThis year’s Doc Edge film festival features 83 documentaries from New Zealand and around the world. And until July 11, most of them are available to watch online. Here are seven worth checking out.High Tide Don’t Hide Youth-led climate protests have brought hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders onto the streets ...8 hours ago
- Union Hosts Free Matariki Hui OnlineEducation union NZEI Te Riu Roa is set to host five online wāhanga this weekend ahead of Matariki - a follow up from its successful 2020 Matariki series on Matariki and tamariki. Saturday's programme features a range of incredible speakers - Stacey ...8 hours ago
- Belarus pays penalty for ignoring concerns about its electoral and human rights record – NZ bans ...
New Zealand has imposed travel bans on 50 individuals associated with the Lukashenko regime in Belarus elections. Among those in the naughty books are the President and key members of his Administration, the Electoral Commission, the police and other security forces. This will show ‘em we mean business, if they ...8 hours ago - The Unity Books bestseller chart for the week ending 18 JuneThe only published and available best-selling indie book chart in New Zealand is the top 10 sales list recorded every week at Unity Books’ stores in High St, Auckland, and Willis St, Wellington.AUCKLAND1 The Neil Gaiman Reader: Selected Fiction by Neil Gaiman (Headline Publishing, $60)The ultimate feast, with nearly 50 ...8 hours ago
- Stealth speed bumps leave South Aucklanders fumingThe nationwide Innovating Streets programme promised to make streets safer, but as a group of Māngere East residents are discovering, if the work is only partially complete, their local roads can get even more dangerous.Recent weeks have seen mounds of asphalt rise on Māngere roads like swells in calm water. ...8 hours ago
- ‘Fix-it’ Notice Needed On Critical Health System UnderstaffingThe Association of Salaried Medical Specialists Toi Mata Hauora says an urgent ‘fix-it’ notice needs to be issued to address an understaffing crisis across the health system. According to Radio New Zealand, Worksafe has issued Wellington Free Ambulance with ...9 hours ago
- ‘We have filed a case under your name’: beware of tax scams — they’ll be everywhere this EOF...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Haskell-Dowland, Associate Dean (Computing and Security), Edith Cowan University Shutterstock The end of the financial year is near. So all of us — especially those scrambling at the last minute to get their receipts in order — should keep ...9 hours ago
- Celebrities reveal the best gossip they’ve heard about themselvesGossip Week: In this special episode of FIRST, we asked our celebrities to share their favourite pieces of completely unfounded gossip about themselves.All week, The Spinoff is taking a look at the role of gossip in Aotearoa’s past, present and future – read more Gossip Week content here.Newshub’s political editor ...10 hours ago
- Keith Rankin Analysis – Policies for Reducing the Environmental Costs of Urban TransportAnalysis by Keith Rankin. Environmental costs are a big deal, which need to be properly factored into our economic decision-making. Last week the Government announced a rebate scheme for electric and hybrid vehicles. Keith Rankin. These days we emphasise the very important greenhouse costs arising from the burning of fossil ...10 hours ago
- What Is The New Zealand Government Trying To Bury In Pike River Mine?Tom Peters, Socialist Equality Group 17 June 2021, original url: https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/06/17/pike-j17.html The New Zealand Labour Party government’s plan to abandon the underground investigation into the 2010 Pike River coal mine disaster has sparked significant opposition. Nearly ...10 hours ago
- Finally, Transparency At Sea – Cameras On BoatsForest & Bird is celebrating the Government’s announcement to put cameras on over 300 commercial fishing boats. “It’s been a long time coming, and has taken a ground swell of public pressure but we’ve finally achieved what will be ...10 hours ago
- Exclusive: We found out what nature is gossiping aboutGossip Week: The Spinoff’s gossip coverage so far this week has been dominated by people. It’s time to stop being so self-centred and see what’s abuzz in our native forests. All week, The Spinoff is taking a look at the role of gossip in Aotearoa’s past, present and future – read ...10 hours ago
- Look who’s singing the farm sector’s praises – none other than the Minister whose environmenta...
Labour ministers are beating the farming drum (as never before). On stage at the Fieldays at Mystery Creek, one of the first out of the block (given the absence of Agriculture Minister Damien O’Connor negotiating free trade in London with the UK) was Oceans and Fisheries Minister David Parker. He ...11 hours ago - Covid-19: PM Jacinda Ardern pleased with vaccination programme as she prepares to get immunisedDespite about only 7.7 percent of the population being fully vaccinated against Covid-19, Jacinda Ardern is pleased with progress of the immunisation programme. ...12 hours ago
- This week's best-sellers
This week's biggest-selling New Zealand books, as recorded by the Nielsen BookScan New Zealand bestseller list and described by Steve Braunias FICTION 1 Bug Week by Airini Beautrais (Victoria University Press, $30) Number one for the fifth consecutive week - a miracle for a collection of short stories. 2 Auē ...13 hours ago - 50 Years On, Polynesian Panthers Share Their Story In Their Own Words“Long before risking our freedom as Polynesian Panthers, we were simply Polynesian. It was time to be heard. It was time to mobilise. It was time to fight back.” <img src="https://img.scoop.co.nz/stories/images/2106/770cea8fd63818f34f24.jpeg" ...13 hours ago
- Ministry Wrong To See Future In GE CigarettesThere is concern that The Ministry of Health has been hoodwinked into promoting Genetic Engineering of tobacco as a credible option towards a Smoke Free Aotearoa. Submissions on the Smoke Free 2025 consultation document have closed, and it is positive ...13 hours ago
- Approaching zero: super-chilled mirrors edge towards the borders of gravity and quantum physicsSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By David Ernest McClelland, Distinguised Professor and Director Centre for Gravitational Astrophysics, Australian National University Caltech / MIT / LIGO Lab, Author provided The LIGO gravitational wave observatory in the United States is so sensitive to vibrations it can detect the ...14 hours ago
- The Labor Party has long struggled over a position on Israel and Palestine. Here’s whySource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Dennis Altman, Professorial Fellow in Human Security, La Trobe University After the brutal conflict in Gaza flared yet again in the past month, and the end of Benyamin Netanyahu’s 12 years as prime minister of Israel, attention is again focused on the ...14 hours ago
- New Zealand has one of the lowest numbers of refugees per capita in the world — there is room for ...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Jay Marlowe, Associate Professor, Co-Director Centre for Asia Pacific Refugee Studies, University of Auckland Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern marks World Refugee Day 2020 at the Mangere Refugee Resettlement Centre in Auckland. GettyImages When COVID-19 forced New Zealand to shut its borders, it ...14 hours ago
- What if I can’t get in for my second Pfizer dose and the gap is longer than 3 weeks?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Nathan Bartlett, Associate Professor, School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of Newcastle Jessica Hill/AP/AAP Bookings for the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine have been halted in Victoria this week, amid shortages of the vaccine. Some Victorians who’ve had ...14 hours ago
- Victoria’s wild storms show how easily disasters can threaten our water supplySource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Ian Wright, Senior Lecturer in Environmental Science, Western Sydney University The wild storms that recently raged across eastern Victoria caused major property and environmental damage, and loss of lives. They’ve also triggered serious water contamination incidents. Yarra Valley Water issued an ...14 hours ago
- Why universities must act on the rise of a new kind of bullying: incivilitySource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Lynn Bosetti, Professor in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies, University of British Columbia Shutterstock Incivility is on the rise in university culture. If you are an academic you’ve likely seen or experienced instances of bullying, incivility or mobbing in department ...14 hours ago
- Australia needs construction waste recycling plants — but locals first need to be won overSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Salman Shooshtarian, Research Fellow, RMIT University Shutterstock Strong community opposition to a proposed waste facility in regional New South Wales made headlines earlier this year. The A$3.9 million facility would occupy 2.7 hectares of Gunnedah’s industrial estate. It’s intended to ...14 hours ago
- Vital Signs: Why has growth slowed globally? It has something to do with technologySource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Richard Holden, Professor of Economics, UNSW Even before COVID-19 hit, Australia was experiencing slow growth in GDP per capita and real wages. There has been a distinctly lower rate of both economic and real wages growth since the financial crisis of 2008-09. ...14 hours ago
- Friday essay: how our new archaeological research investigates Dark Emu’s idea of Aboriginal ‘ag...Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michael Westaway, Australian Research Council Future Fellow, Archaeology, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland An aerial view of an Aboriginal stone arrangement in the Channel Country of Central Australia. Such arrangements may be associated with initiation ceremonies and exchange of ...14 hours ago
- How New Zealand plugged the leak on insider tradingGossip Week: Insider trading and the sharing of sensitive financial information is a big no-no in New Zealand. However, there was a time when it was all part of the game.All week, The Spinoff is taking a look at the role of gossip in Aotearoa’s past, present and future – ...14 hours ago
- Live updates, June 18: Worksafe concerned over paramedic fatigueWelcome to The Spinoff’s live updates for June 18, bringing you the latest news updated throughout the day. Get in touch at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz7.45am: Worksafe concerned over paramedic fatigueWorksafe is concerned about worker fatigue among Wellington Free Ambulance paramedics, and has issued instructions to fix it, reports Eva Corlett for Radio ...14 hours ago
- The Bulletin: Interest rate hike tipped after GDP figuresGood morning and welcome to The Bulletin. In today’s edition: Interest rate hike tipped after GDP figures, major changes to rules for commercial fisheries, and Covid vaccine rollout timeline released.They’re probably not the sort of numbers you’d pop champagne over, but the NZ economy has avoided falling into a recession. The NZ ...14 hours ago
- Cook Islands businesses see uptick but labour shortages remain
Pacific island nation looks to NZ school holidays, and is in talks with Australia to expand its travel bubble, writes Adam Jacobson. Many Cook Islands businesses are experiencing a boom a month since the travel bubble with New Zealand opened, but major labour shortages are presenting a serious challenge to ...15 hours ago - Auckland Council Leads With Human Rights Standards For Goods And Service ProvidersUyghur Solidarity Aotearoa New Zealand are proud of Auckland City councillors for their unanimous vote yesterday at Auckland Council’s Finance & Performance Committee in amending the Group Procurement Policy, to ensure it requires all goods ...16 hours ago
- The March Of Migrants II – June 26Close to one thousand people marched through centre of Auckland on 5 June 2021, in the first March of Migrants organised by The Federation of Migrants - FAM. Issues faced by migrants due to the broken immigration system remain unresolved. Therefore, ...16 hours ago
- How to lose friends but influence history
Nicholas Agar explains how to understand some of the crazy things world leaders have said about the pandemic High on the list of callous statements about the pandemic was the one recently attributed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson that he would rather see bodies piled “high in their thousands” ...16 hours ago - National wants new mental health units fast-tracked
National is calling on the Government to speed up a build programme to replace outdated mental health units and do more to fix other ‘unacceptable’ facilities. Oliver Lewis reports in the final article in a five-part series on mental health inpatient units. Mental health units around New Zealand have been ...16 hours ago - Anna Rawhiti-Connell: From victim to villain in NZ's housing crisis
That Anna Rawhiti-Connell is able to make the rash decision to buy a house in the suburb of Beach Haven - somewhere she'd never been - makes her wonder if she's now a villain of the housing crisis I was a bit drunk when I decided to move to the Auckland ...16 hours ago - Newsroom daily quiz, Friday 18 June
Got a good quiz question? Send Newsroom your questions. ...16 hours ago - Climate change is all of our business
Biodiverse ecosystems are, quite literally, lifesaving. Here's why we cannot separate ourselves, nor our financial markets, from this fragile equation. It’s no secret we’re living in an increasingly unstable climate. Apart from the disastrous effects climate change is wreaking on biodiversity and humanity at large, the crisis is changing our ...16 hours ago - Olympic Bonds: Rebecca Petch and her power coach
Rebecca Petch, who's taken over from Sarah Walker as our BMX Olympic medal hope, has made a huge jump ahead in power thanks to her strength and conditioning coach, Shaun Paterson, as Sarah Cowley Ross discovers in our Olympic Bonds series. It’s the first five pedal strokes that make the difference. And that’s something ...16 hours ago - Falling harvests threaten to nip NZ wine's worldwide growth in the bud
After a $1.9bn bumper export year, falling harvests nip our wine's growth in the bud. ...16 hours ago - Changing South: Blackball, the West Coast town that refused to die
From coal and cannabis to a writers’ festival and a forest track – Blackball is the town that refused to die A writers’ residency, a literary festival, a museum of working class history, a legendary pub and now a 55-kilometre walking and biking track through dramatic West Coast scenery - Blackball, ...16 hours ago - Newsroom's daily sudoku, Friday 18 June
...16 hours ago - Newsroom daily crossword, Friday 18 June
...16 hours ago - Falling harvests nip NZ wine's worldwide growth in the bud
After a $1.9bn bumper export year, falling harvests nip our wine's growth in the bud. ...16 hours ago - Match fit: A sleep expert on surviving the overnight World Test Championship finalThe World Test Championship final poses severe challenges for any NZ-based fan hoping to watch it overnight. We asked a sleep expert for some survival tips, and whether it is totally foolish to stay up all night and then podcast. If you’ve been a long-suffering New Zealand cricket fan for decades, ...16 hours ago
- The best and very, very worst schoolyard gossip, rankedGossip week: Still traumatised from the stories she was told about Po from the Teletubbies and Steve from Blue’s Clues, Alice Webb-Liddall seeks closure in a ranking of schoolyard gossip.All week, The Spinoff is taking a look at the role of gossip in Aotearoa’s past, present and future – read ...17 hours ago
- Bernard Hickey: Our empires of cold and mouldAs winter sets in, it’s worth facing facts: Our houses are heat-leaking mould machines – and we won’t meet our child poverty and carbon zero targets unless something drastic is done to fix them, writes Bernard Hickey.Follow When the Facts Change on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast provider.Back ...17 hours ago
- The strategy to protect NZ seas you haven't heard of
The governance of maritime domains more critical than at any point since WWII, a Cabinet minister says. ...17 hours ago - 'Suspicions' about economic growth's sustainability
New Zealand's GDP rose by 1.6 percent in the March quarter, but continued volatility paints a murkier picture of the economy's recovery from Covid, economists say. Three-month-old data isn't much help when assessing the health of the economy during one of the most uncertain periods in modern history. The latest Stats NZ’s ...17 hours ago - The trials of putting tragedy on screen
Plans for the They Are Us film have people complaining it's too soon after the Christchurch mosque attacks, and it's the wrong story - but we don't know yet what the story is about. When news broke last week that Hollywood producers were planning a film based around the events of the ...17 hours ago - Winston Peters' comeback no sure bet
The rift between NZ First’s favoured president and its leader calls into question the latter's future. ...17 hours ago - Rod Oram: World has co-crises it must solve in tandem
New Zealand and the rest of the world can't solve the climate crisis or the biodiversity crisis separately, but must work on them in tandem, writes Rod Oram ...17 hours ago - Grattan on Friday: Will bolshie Nationals or Joe Biden have more sway with Morrison on 2050 target?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra Many observers have been assuming Scott Morrison’s strategy is to creep towards endorsing the 2050 target of net zero emissions, finally embracing it before the Glasgow climate conference in November. But this week’s developments suggest ...23 hours ago
- Australians under 60 will no longer receive the AstraZeneca vaccine. So what’s changed?Source: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Paul Griffin, Associate Professor, Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, The University of Queensland Australians aged under 60 will no longer receive first doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to the rare risk of a serious blood clotting disorder among people aged 50 to ...1 day ago
- The Handmaid’s Tale season finale: At last, something to smile aboutThe Handmaid’s Tale season finales are always big, but this finale went bigger than we expected. Tara Ward recaps the gripping final episode of season four. This was the season of The Handmaid’s Tale when June Osborne got almost everything she wanted. She escaped from Gilead, reunited with her husband and ...1 day ago
- The Biden-Putin summit: no magic reset of relations, but no hitting the snooze button, eitherSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Matthew Sussex, Associate Professor, National Security College, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University Patrick Semansky/AP Much speculation surrounded the lead up to the just concluded summit in Geneva between US President Joe Biden and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir ...1 day ago
- Greens Want Government To Get Cameras On Boats FasterThe Green Party welcomes progress to get cameras on around 300 inshore fishing vessels, but wants the Government to move faster and the industry to contribute more funding. “Our oceans are taonga. The Government and industry need to move with urgency to ...1 day ago
- The march of the titanosaurs: the Snake Creek Tracksite unveiledSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Poropat, Adjunct Researcher, Swinburne University of Technology Fossilised bones belonging to enormous long-necked sauropod dinosaurs have been known from western Queensland since the 1930s, when Austrosaurus mckillopi was discovered on Clutha Station near Maxwelton. Since then, western Queensland has yielded many ...1 day ago
- We moved hundreds of tonnes of rock to preserve the dinosaur footprints of the Snake Creek TracksiteSource: The Conversation (Au and NZ) – By Stephen Poropat, Adjunct Researcher, Swinburne University of Technology Fossilised bones belonging to enormous long-necked sauropod dinosaurs have been known from western Queensland since the 1930s, when Austrosaurus mckillopi was discovered on Clutha Station near Maxwelton. Since then, western Queensland has yielded many ...1 day ago
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