Sustainability and learning from forest gardening

Written By: - Date published: 6:15 am, April 11th, 2021 - 30 comments
Categories: climate change, Environment, farming, food, sustainability - Tags: , , , , ,

I’ve been wanting to write about sustainability for a while, taking a deepish dive into what it is, why it’s important, and how the mainstream is moving in the right direction but still allowing neoliberalism to co-opt and undermine it (aka greenwashing). Sustainability is meaningful when it incorporates some specific principles. It’s at core a state that arises from systems and the relationship between things. It’s not well understood with contemporary western thinking, although the best of the cutting edge sciences are digging into the holistic thinking required to make sense of it.

Below is an hour long video tour of Robert and Robyn Guyton’s 25 year old food forest on the South Coast of New Zealand in Riverton.  This is an exemplar of active, medium term projects in New Zealand that showcase sustainability while building practice and generating new knowledge. The kind of knowledge we will need going into the climate change/eco crises storms.

As Robert talks about the particulars of their food forest, he’s also describing sustainability principles. These are about food forestry, but for the most part such principles also work on other areas including social and political aspects of human culture. Sustainability is fractal like that.

The Guyton’s food forest is one of the oldest in New Zealand of the modern food gardening movement that arose in the UK in the 80s from the pre-regenag subcultures. Humans have always forest gardened, in New Zealand when Europeans arrived and decided that nothing was being done with the land here and let’s chop down all the trees and grow grass and sheep instead, Māori were in fact forest gardening along with hunting/gathering and cropping. Forest gardening is the practice of working with nature in ways that allow the systems to sustain themselves for very long periods of time or indefinitely. Such systems have minimal extraction from offsite, and minimal pollution while also producing for various human needs. Lots to learn, and yes, no reason this cannot be done at scale.

 

 

 

30 comments on “Sustainability and learning from forest gardening ”

  1. Ad 1

    Robert's the more famous, but Robyn is the brains behind pa. Her initiative to form an online shop of Southland's seasonal produce growers is one that will build bigger margins for crop growers against the supermarket duopoly.

    If anyone has specific initiatives that they want to crack into in regenerative farming, the government has a fund to apply for (and best of luck dealing with MPI):

    https://www.mpi.govt.nz/news/media-releases/mpi-calls-for-proposals-to-research-regenerative-farming-practices/

    • Robert Guyton 1.1

      Dammit! I missed all this, through taking Robyn away for the weekend of her birthday and a gathering of our children and their children at Kaka Point, where we splashed-about in the waves, listened to 33's on an ancient turn-table in the "crib" and ate like spoiled-things for two days…Ad's right, and horribly wrong at the same time 🙂 – Robyn's more famous than I am; watch "The Project" over the next wee while and see what I mean, but Ad's a sucker for great ideas and is swayed by one of Robyn's; she's the font of more than a few, but who, I squawk, climbs those ancient apple trees and snippets-off the scions?? Me, the lesser-brained Guyton, that's who!

  2. Andre 2

    no reason this cannot be done at scale.

    Let's take a squiz at how that forest compares in productivity compared to alternative ways of growing food to feed the masses.

    It has been reported that Robyn and Robert grow 60 to 70% of their vegetarian diet on their 2 acres (0.8 hectares). Let's make allowance for land devoted to the house, and for some of their production going off the property to others. Then we arrive at a rough estimate of one acre feeding one person a vegetarian diet.

    How does this compare to the rest of the world? Total world land area devoted to producing food is around 4.8 billion hectares, or 12 billion acres, or around 1.5 acres per person. That includes the massive amounts of really inefficient grazing land for food animals, as well as the massive amounts of croplands used to grow animal feed. That all uses way more land than a vegetarian diet.

    Drill down a bit to look at different populations, a clearly different picture emerges. Populations with a predominantly vegetarian diets, mostly poor countries but including a few wealthy nations such as Japan and Saudi Arabia, need a small fraction of the land per capita for food compared to meat heavy places such as NZ, US, Europe, Brazil, Argentina.

    Then drill down a little further to a middle of the pack country such as Austria (good chart on p 19). Their current meat-heavy-ish diet needs about 1 acre per person to supply, about the same as the Guyton's vegetarian diet. A modest reduction in animal products to a level claimed to be consistent with better health (cue Psycho Milt disputing this) would bring the land area required down to 0.65 acres per person, of which half is still required for the animal products remaining in the diet. By comparison, India feeds its population a mostly vegetarian diet from about 0.25 acres per capita.

    So it looks to me like the sustainability benefits from the Guyton's lifestyle and food production choices come from their adoption of a vegetarian diet. The food forest aspect of it doesn't look like a pointer to a better way to feed the masses, but is instead an expression of wealth and privilege that they are able to devote a large land area to a low-productivity means of feeding themselves, that they nevertheless apparently find satisfyingly enjoyable.

    To be sure, that they choose this way to amuse themselves is vastly better for the environment and all the rest of us than many of the other ways people amuse themselves, and vastly better for the environment than the high-intensity farming practices that actually do feed the masses of us. But let's be clear eyed about this, it's not a pointer to a way forward for general food production practices, because of the low productivity. At best, there's aspects of it that could be taken from it and adapted to improve other higher productivity farming methods.

    • greywarshark 2.1

      Ooh Andre that is a good objective view with balance and comparison with statistical information from over the world. That is interesting and we should bear in mind the scientific and the crop measurement etc. But that is not all, and that attitude is what is killing human culture and its soul.

      We need to use science as a tool, not to have professionals and academics instruct us in their findings, and then direct us like laboratory rats to where we can get the most, the best, the biggest, and the most efficient.

      We should listen and learn and then see how we can apply it to what we are led to try out, to seek, to appreciate, to satisfy practical needs; the lesser crop but the more long-lasting, the one that can be left fully grown in the earth till needed, the one that is not being attacked by old bugs or new invaders. Or we might just go for the one with pretty leaves that have tiny fruit that have to be searched for, but being careful to avoid the related one that has spreading rhizomes and will brazenly take over the garden.

      At present I have the thought that mandarins seem to be useful, and crop well. I have a smallish backyard that is sunny all year to some extent, we get some frosts in Nelson but my Meyer lemon grows happily now it is grown up. Is there a dwarfish mandarin, easy peel, that someone could recommend? I'd appreciate some guidance and I would go and order it if not immediately available. I'd like it's full name so I make sure I get what was recommended.

    • Robert Guyton 2.2

      The most important function of a forest-garden is not the production of x-amount of food, in my opinion, but the transformation that occurs in the minds of the forest-gardeners and the people who visit. We have to change our minds, in order to change our ways and the forest-garden: part civilisation and part wilderness, is where such transformations (powerfully and meaningfully) take place. Food, that is, for the soul and without soul, you're/we're *soul-less

      *see "corporation" Neo-liberal" "civilisation" 🙂

  3. greywarshark 3

    edit
    Thanks Ad for spreading the word about that Labour fund for regenerative farming. I don't know if it came under that heading, but yesterday (I think it was a repeat), I heard a farmer tell about establishing a wetland area on part of his farm that was unproductive land. I think he said that the land had been affected by an earthquake and become quite boggy. He doesn't have water lying around but has taken the opportunity to put in natives and so on.

    Also in the theme of embracing nature this news about growing kokako numbers is thrilling. I have a screensave of a huia and so remember it and its demise nearly every day. Good for us and the kokako I say!

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/440224/kokako-population-increasing-in-pirongia-forest-park

    Kokako have their say: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX_YI8D9n5A (Do you remember Yma Sumac – you are old!)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IY6wd-0I2rw – Some more shots showing the bird on the branch and ground, busy, lively. That’s the North Island Kokako but the South Island one?
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/410410/south-island-kokako-remains-elusive-despite-10k-reward

  4. Stuart Munro 4

    It seems a good way to live, and a food forest can presumably also accommodate small livestock like fish or quail for those of us not too keen on a vege only diet.

    But when we consider the squalid treeless infill housing of dystopian cities like Auckland, the food forest seems as distant a prospect as a ten acre block.

    One of the challenges of mitigating the wasteland created by out of control property speculation and mass low quality immigration, is to bring elements of the wild into even these spaces – the less biosphere in evidence, the greater the urgency to establish some.

    We have standards for insulation and the like, perhaps greenspace also needs to be required of new builds. Unless a more organic solution can be arrived at.

    Bit of a pipedream really – the incompetent economist wonks who have ruined NZ have dehomed half of us – greenspace might happen for them, the rest of us will be obliged to do without.

    • greywarshark 4.1

      Could you look at this Stuart. I wondered about something and thought you would know. https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-10-04-2021/#comment-1787684

    • AB 4.2

      "the squalid treeless infill housing of dystopian cities like Auckland"

      Good to see someone brave enough to say it. And the 'solution' to the housing crisis will be to try to build even more of this alienating trash.

      • greywarshark 4.2.1

        Just what I anticipate AB. Like the choice offered in a brochure from a retirement village showing a sea of ordered black roofs like pens for special animals at an enclosed but free-range park.

      • RedLogix 4.2.2

        The overwhelming impression you get when you fly into Auckland on a nice evening is just how from the air it looks like a big green, overgrown village. Well compared to say LA or pretty much any big city in Asia.

        In fact flying over most continents, you get to see just how much wilderness there is, vast spaces pretty much empty of anything much human.

        The real problem that I think prompts your reaction is that we tend to build rather ugly, devoid of much organic architectural principle. I'm no expert on this, but some decades ago I avidly read Alexander's magnificent A Pattern Language, and in my mind it remains the visionary standard we should be aspiring to.

        • Stuart Munro 4.2.2.1

          that we tend to build rather ugly, devoid of much organic architectural principle.

          Although there is certainly a dearth of good design, both at the functional and the aesthetic level, I was really thinking (more in accord with Weka's and Robert's work) about how to incorporate more green, and perhaps more food production into cities, which presently are trending the other way.

          I notice there is a petition circulating to encourage recirculating aquaculture for households, and I imagine Robert's forest contains many specimens that, with a bit of thought, might render our built environments less barren. A bit of ecotopianism to counterbalance the subterranean denominators of corporate construction.

          • RedLogix 4.2.2.1.1

            I'm not disagreeing with your underlying point, but the days of NZ cities being based on suburbs with large sections and lots of trees are long gone – and they're not coming back.

            The trick with intensification is that it puts a premium on intelligent, patterned organisation of space. I can't even begin to precis Alexander's monumental work, but in essence it contains about 1000 or so descriptions of spatial 'patterns' starting on a regional scale and working gradually down through smaller and smaller scales and winding up literally at 'niche'.

            By observing and organically integrating patterns as the opportunity arises and generations pass, we create spaces that are both functional and attractive. So even if every household cannot have it's own urban forest, we certainly can manage this on a community based scale. It's the kind of thing we recognise instinctively when we experience it. For instance here in Brisbane I cycle home via one particular street that's just magical; a sensory overload of sounds, tree and flower scents, parrots and bats, and glimpses into homes that are open to the street, low fences, trees reaching right over the road, a broad footpath, and a real sense of vibrancy. It's a beautiful combination of patterns they've accidentally gotten right.

            In addition you might like this interesting reference:

            https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-79924-5

            Growing urbanisation is a threat to both mental health and biodiversity. Street trees are an important biodiversity component of urban greenspace, but little is known about their effects on mental health. Here, we analysed the association of street tree density and species richness with antidepressant prescribing for 9751 inhabitants of Leipzig, Germany. We examined spatial scale effects of street trees at different distances around participant’s homes, using Euclidean buffers of 100, 300, 500, and 1000 m. Employing generalised additive models, we found a lower rate of antidepressant prescriptions for people living within 100 m of higher density of street trees—although this relationship was marginally significant (p = 0.057) when confounding factors were considered. Density of street trees at further spatial distances, and species richness of street trees at any distance, were not associated with antidepressant prescriptions. However, for individuals with low socio-economic status, high density of street trees at 100 m around the home significantly reduced the probability of being prescribed antidepressants. The study suggests that unintentional daily contact to nature through street trees close to the home may reduce the risk of depression, especially for individuals in deprived groups. This has important implications for urban planning and nature-based health interventions in cities.

            • greywarshark 4.2.2.1.1.1

              Red Logix mentions this book – the blurb sounds promising.

              A Pattern Language: Let Christopher Alexander design your …

              https://archive.curbed.com › pattern-language-christoph…

              11/07/2019 — “A Pattern Language” is not about architecture, but about how <b>specific design choices can help us build better relationships.</b> By fitting a series of …

            • Robert Guyton 4.2.2.1.1.2

              Yes.

            • Stuart Munro 4.2.2.1.1.3

              A very good recommendation RL, thanks for that.

              • RedLogix

                That street I mentioned above – tonight I noticed that one of the houses has a brightly coloured 'box' on it's front fence – and on looking again I discovered that it's a free book exchange for everyone in the street.heart

                Another cool thing we see is that some people decide to extend their garden out onto the public grass verge – and as long as they don’t totally obstruct the footpath, the council lets them do this. It’s not exactly common, but we’ve seen quite a few now, and the effect can be quite charming, it softens and blends the spaces.

                Well in a short several hundred metres this street community has three of them.

                • Stuart Munro

                  Anything that reduces lawn (except perhaps as play space) has to be an improvement.

          • greywarshark 4.2.2.1.2

            What about doing something with roofs – that would be a way of working creatively and new-technically in closely positioned settlements? Can't find much for average home with hip roof – was thinking of stairway up to a flat roof access built around the low side of the roof .

            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_roof

            https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095263514000399

            https://www.wdc.govt.nz/files/assets/public/documents/council/standards-guidelines/whangarei-living-roof-guide.pdf

            https://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-design/shading

            https://www.pinterest.nz/macgalca/rooftop-terrace/

            https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/using-green-roofs-reduce-heat-islands

            • Stuart Munro 4.2.2.1.2.1

              There's certainly a lot that can be done with roofs – though the change I'd probably look for first would be vertical options like espaliers, vertical gardens, or vine culture systems. Wall space is largely dead under our existing city norms, reclaiming some of that space for life has to be an improvement. Planted walls don't seem to present the same leakage issues.

              One thing you see throughout Asia is pumpkins or melons trained over roofs in summer – they like the heat, and help keep the house cool, but die off over winter in much the same logic as grape pergolas.

              The thing would be not to have a monoculture of espaliered trees or whatever, but a suite of species and cultural techniques that replace dead space with living.

        • Robert Guyton 4.2.2.2

          I'm wondering if the good burghers of Auckland appreciate their big, green overgrown-ness 🙂

          And I mean, really appreciate.

    • Robert Guyton 4.3

      Let's (us de-homed) plant those green-spaces *everywhere a seed will strike and grow.

      *everywhere

  5. Cricklewood 5

    The key thing to take away from Robert's garden imho is the biodiversity, a mix of exotics & natives in harmony producing not only food but providing diverse habitat.

    Sadly we are moving away from diverse plantings and in fact cutting out exotic species and replacing with eco sourced natives, in a world where we likely see quite quick environmental change we are better to use wide and varied plantings perhaps taking plant stock to help manage this transition.

    • Robert Guyton 5.1

      Thanks, Cricklewood: biodiversity (complexity, multiplicity, random-ness, chaos, beauty also 🙂

  6. Sabine 6

    IF i could just get the council to stop spraying my fence line.

    Other then that, i am in the process of joining the local bee club and hope to create a space of a bee hive in the 'overgrown mess' that is my gardern. 🙂 Soon.

    • Robert Guyton 6.1

      I am truly excited to read this, Sabine! Love your (unseen but elegantly described) garden!

      • Sabine 6.1.1

        My house is easily identified by the exessive vegetation. people to the left and rigth moan about it, but then i only speak english when i want too, so i smile and hand them some crapapples and in the broadest german accent i say, Gut fuer Jelly making.

        Essentially i plant quite tightly, and let stuff go to seed -saves me next year plantings and i put trees in. 7 two years ago, and i will put another 7 or so for this next planting season. Alas i only watch my garden grow when i don't work. But the guys from the local bee club have approached me to see if i would have a hive over summer and yes, why thank you please. I should maybe prune the pear tree as she is approaching monster status, but the birds so love the fruit i can't reach.

  7. greywarshark 7

    Just an update on the world of finding out about plants and what we can do to remedy or advance our environment.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/440246/agromining-farming-of-metal-extracting-trees-and-plants-could-replace-mining

    When scientist Alan Baker made a cut in the side of an exotic plant in the Philippines jungle, the sap that bled out had a jade-green glow.

    The shrub was a newly discovered species, soon to be known as Phyllanthus Balgooyi, one of a rare variety of plants that naturally suck high amounts of metallic elements from the soil.

    The fluorescent sap turned out to be 9 percent nickel.

    It was a welcome finding, but not a surprise, as Professor Baker's research into so-called "hyperaccumulators" had already uncovered species that seemed to thrive on everything from cobalt to zinc, and even gold.

    "These are plants which can take up elements from the soil [at rates] orders of magnitude higher than normal plants," Professor Baker says.

    Scientists are now on a quest to discover whether farming these plants could provide an alternative to environmentally-destructive mining, while also helping to rehabilitate former mine sites.

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    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    21 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • Minister’s Ramadan message
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