The human Pangaea

Written By: - Date published: 8:10 am, December 9th, 2020 - 16 comments
Categories: covid-19, Environment, health, science, tourism - Tags: , ,

Wikipedia describes the last super-continent as

Pangaea or Pangea (/pænˈdʒiːə/[1]) was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras.[2][3] It assembled from earlier continental units approximately 335 million years ago, and it began to break apart about 175 million years ago.[4] In contrast to the present Earth and its distribution of continental mass, Pangaea was centred on the Equator and surrounded by the superoceanPanthalassa. Pangaea is the most recent supercontinent to have existed and the first to be reconstructed by geologists.

Wikipedia: “Pangaea“

However that last statement isn’t really correct. Humans have created the most recent virtual super-continent. At least as far as species movement has been concerned world wide. We’ve picked up species from around the world and transplanted them almost everywhere else.

My dinner last night consisted of a beef steak (probably from domestication of wild aurochs in the mid-east) , Kumara (originally from South America), and broccoli (probably originally the Mediterranean). All were carried to New Zealand by humans. The Māori brought a kumara with then, and then took up the much larger cultivars after European settlement. The rest of my delicious meal (says the cook) were brought in by settlers.

Humans are effectively camping in NZ and outside of the natural ecology of our islands. Outside of survival exercises, in my 60 odd years living here, I’ve never eaten food that is native to NZ. Fern root is edible – but only if you’re starving. Native birds are protected because almost all of them can be regarded as close to extinction. With berries, between that native birds and the Australian possums, competition is too fierce for mere humans to get any.

New Zealand is probably an extreme example because of the way that the Zealandia continent plate is largely submerged and has been down to very small islands several times over the last 65 million years. Our ecological diversity is that of small islands.

Most of this is well known. What is less well obvious are the consequences at the micro-biological level – for humans and for entire genera of species.

For instance read a 2018 National Geographic article on frogs and other amphibians.

MANY OF THE world’s amphibians are staring down an existential threat: an ancient skin-eating fungus that can wipe out entire forests’ worth of frogs in a flash.

This ecological super-villain, the chytrid fungus Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, has driven more than 200 amphibian species to extinction or near-extinction—radically rewiring ecosystems all over Earth.

“This is the worst pathogen in the history of the world, as far as we can tell, in terms of its impacts on biodiversity,” says Mat Fisher, an Imperial College London mycologist who studies the fungus.

Now, a global team of 58 researchers has uncovered the creature’s origin story. A groundbreaking study published in Science on Thursday reveals where and when the fungus most likely emerged: the Korean peninsula, sometime during the 1950s.

From there, scientists theorize that human activities inadvertently spread it far and wide—leading to amphibian die-offs across the Americas, Africa, Europe, and Australia.

National Geographic: “Ground Zero of Amphibian ‘Apocalypse’ Finally Found“

The significance of this is that amphibians have a significiant but still poorly understood effect on local ecosystems. They were almost everywhere, so much part of the background that it took some time to realise that there was a massive dieback going on.

In person, Bd infestations can look like biblical plagues. Each August, adult midwife toads in the French Pyrenees climb out of their birth lakes for the first time. The infected toads barely make it to shore. “They’ll do one last hop, and then they’ll expire in your hands,” says Fisher, one of the study’s coauthors. “You can walk the lakes—it’s just carpets of dead frogs.”

Similar die-offs started popping up in the 1970s, but researchers didn’t realize these “enigmatic declines” were a global phenomenon until the 1990s. In 1997, researchers first described Bd, and within a decade, they had connected it to the slaughters. Meanwhile, Bd‘s killing spree continued. From 2004 to 2008, one site in Panama lost 41 percent of its amphibian species to the fungus.

Most of the once-mysterious slaughters are now attributed to the “Global Panzootic Lineage,” a lethal strain nicknamed BdGPL.

National Geographic: “Ground Zero of Amphibian ‘Apocalypse’ Finally Found“

And there are potentially worse species of Bd from the same previously geographically limited area. There these diseases are in balance – probably because the affected species evolved alongside the pathogens. The problem is when they get moved by, usually by humans, into ecosystems that they didn’t evolve in and jump species.

In 2013, researchers identified B. salamandrivorans, a sister species of Bd known as Bsal. Its name translates to “salamander-devouring” for a reason. From 2009 to 2012, the fungus slashed Dutch fire salamander populations by more than 99 percent.

National Geographic: “Ground Zero of Amphibian ‘Apocalypse’ Finally Found“

If all of this sounds horribly familiar to us these days – then it should. Humans are suffering the consequences of our virtual Pangaea super-continent of the rapid transit. A localised disease or one that jumps species gets spread by rapid travel and then causes pandemics.

The spread of species jumping Covid viruses across multiple species, including humans, is exactly the same wholesale killing process as Bd and happening for the same reasons. So far we have seen several closely related Covid diseases from SARS, MERS, and now Covid-19.

If this follows the course of pandemics in our history like smallpox or black death, we will probably see several more before the human population worldwide develops a population level immunity to that family of pathogens over the coming decades.

The problem is that there are a lot of families of viruses, fungi, bacteria, and prions around, and that is before getting into trying to count the species. As a species who appears to be committed to going everywhere and sticking our noses into everything, we’ve just been damn lucky over the last century.

Perhaps it is time to start thinking about what kinds of precautions we should be taking to prevent the currently inevitable pandemic repeats. Like getting really serious about border controls (and ignoring our tourism addictions). Or spending more money on preemptive discovery of potential threats.

16 comments on “The human Pangaea ”

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  1. Robert Guyton 1
    9 December 2020 at 9:03 am

    I guess the situation we find ourselves in now (as described by LPRENT) was inevitable; how could it have been otherwise – we're clever devils, us humans and can't/didn't resist the temptation to try everything, go everywhere. We've forced enormous change across the globe and beyond; from dead-frog-filled ponds to junk-littered space and the issue is an on-going, cumulative, worsening one.

    I was particularly hard-hit when the chytrid fungus was first reported, having been fascinated by frogs for as long as I can remember, catching and keeping them, crouching beside ponds watching them for hours on end, reading about them, collecting models of them and so on, and on, and on (my parents would have said) but only now learned of the "salamander-devouring" fungus (thanks, LPRENT!) and so am absorbing that bad news now. When I go out into my forest garden, I thrill to the birds there; tui, bellbird, fantail and others, but wonder, why are there so few? Where are the kokako, the huia, the laughing owl, the pouaki? That's not even thinking about the gecko that once would have been prolific here, perhaps living alongside of the tiny, silent native frogs that now eke out their existence on a few off-shore islands. Bats, tuatara; don't even think about it, I tell myself.

    I guess the question is, was the game lost the moment we started down this track of expanding our interests in the world, or are we enabled, by the same braininess that brought us here, to do something about the seemingly deadly situation we've created?

    And I wonder too, where the answer to that question comes from; our heads or our hearts?

    Presuming, of course, there is an answer.

  2. WeTheBleeple 2
    9 December 2020 at 9:28 am

    The palette of plants at our disposal has greatly increased our potential to create human inhabited paradise, while the invasives that arrived alongside more desirable species threaten to make any effort at 'taming nature' an arduous task.

    While a concerted focus on the natural world is desirable, I'm sure nature would prefer to avoid the gaze of man and his machinations right now.

    We have Eden at our fingertips and accountants on our backs.

    The price of ecosystem services must be factored into accounting, as it stands industries accounting of their activities is dishonest and skewed to support more destruction.

    Only when people and planet are more important than celebrity and money will we solve our problems (in a sustainable manner).

    • kejo 2.1
      9 December 2020 at 12:49 pm

      The clash between the laws of Physics (fixed) and the seemingly more powerful laws of commerce (ever manipulated) is not much recognised. It seems to me that the laws of ..natural systems should be taught as a foundation subject at university. I have never met anybody with a double degree in Physics and Commerce. They could be a severely conflicted person. Regards, Keith

      • WeTheBleeple 2.1.1
        9 December 2020 at 7:40 pm

        I do like this thinking. Environmental science was the closest I saw to common sense at uni, where they looked at ecology with mankind as a component. I also liked that they sourced information widely rather than peer reviewed work only.

        Environmental science mostly churns out advisors for larger scale construction and industrial efforts. These advisers might slow, but rarely halt, environmental destruction.

        The person with the knowledge is rarely ever the boss. Only laws can stop bosses from making final calls that go against wiser employees.

        Or, as you suggest, wiser bosses. If only.

  3. Craig H 3
    9 December 2020 at 9:33 am

    A reduction in international travel looks essential to me and international tourism should be first cab off the rank in that.

  4. JanM 4
    9 December 2020 at 9:50 am

    "I’ve never eaten food that is native to NZ". I grow and eat NZ spinach and occasionally drink kawakawa tea

    • UncookedSelachimorpha 4.1
      9 December 2020 at 2:58 pm

      A lot of fish and shellfish consumed in NZ are also native species.

      But a good observation that there is very little native terrestrial food consumed. Pukeko are an exception, as are muttonbirds (only sort of terrestrial!).

  5. cathy-o 5
    9 December 2020 at 10:29 am

    i went to the Mary Dreaver lecture in Onehunga a couple of weeks ago or so. Siouxsie Wiles was the speaker. Totally fascinating, i would never have imagined anything like Bioluminescent Superbugs, but that is her field.

    as many people have warned us, more pandemics are inevitable. and as we have also been warned we are running out of antibiotics.

    a thing that stayed with me from the lecture is the chronic underfunding of Infectious Diseases research. seems a bit odd doesn't it, given Covid-19 and so on

    here's the link for donations

    https://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/giving/donate/a-z-list-of-funds/new-medicines-to-kill-superbugs-fund.html

  6. greywarshark 6
    9 December 2020 at 5:37 pm

    Myrtle Rust – part of the march of diseases that are killing off us and various of our icon species.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/country/432493/myrtle-rust-infection-kills-mature-tree-on-east-cape
    "The disease is a threat to the important and substantial mānuka and kānuka honey industry. Using the new app to accurately identify species of Myrtaceae in New Zealand will make it easier to monitor and report cases of myrtle rust.

    "By using the key, anyone, from farmers and trampers to gardeners and park users, will be able to identify plants to check for and report the tell-tale yellow spores, and diseased leaves," said Dawson.

    The NZ Myrtaceae Key is available from the Google Play store and the iPhone app store as a mobile app suitable for undertaking identifications in the field, or through a web-based browser hosted by Manaaki Whenua.
    .

    War of the Worlds H G Wells? Are the tiny things more fitted to survive than we bigger things?

    The Martians (also known as "Molluscs" or "Sarmaks") are a race of aliens from the planet Mars, who tried to invade Earth when their own homeworld became an inhospitable, frozen desert. Despite their primitive appearance, their intelligence and technology far exceeded our own prior to the invasion…

    The Martians on Earth are eventually killed by earth-borne bacteria, of which their immune systems couldn't cope due to having destroyed diseases on their home world of Mars. https://waroftheworlds.fandom.com/wiki/Martian

  7. Stuart Munro 7
    9 December 2020 at 7:04 pm

    It's been going on for awhile – most folk aren't aware of the keystone role chestnuts once played in US forest ecology – again, wiped out by human introduced fungal disease from Asia. There is some hope of a GE'd cure, but we ain't there yet.

    • Robert Guyton 7.1
      9 December 2020 at 7:55 pm

      For the chestnuts, more hope from the very, very few trees that survived and the "minders" who are quietly multiplying them again. I suspect our kauri will need that some sort of saving. Localisesd seed saving and propagation is the longer-lasting insurance against extinctions; ge just doesn't cut it for me, nor do cryogenic seed vaults. Give the people the material, let them weave stories around them and coupled with the plants will to survive, we'll enjoy success.

      • Stuart Munro 7.1.1
        9 December 2020 at 8:07 pm

        GE may be appropriate in this case – Asian chestnuts resist the blight. There are reports of centuries old ancient chestnut groves with surviving roots, perenially losing fresh foliage to the blight as they put them out. The Asian chestnut is a much smaller tree, not the forest giant. There are other efforts to breed resistance – thus far not successful. It's like they lost their kauri.

        American Chestnut Recovery Strategy | Ontario.ca

    • WeTheBleeple 7.2
      9 December 2020 at 8:09 pm

      In NZ we have the Kauri under threat, also a keystone species. However, the phytophthora responsible may have been here for some time. This lends weight to the theory some environmental factor is responsible. Some aspect of land use change to pasture and pine favors the pathogen compared to kauri forest soils. Then we traipse it in.

      https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/efp.12502

      Plants are not the only species affected by imbalances in soil microbes. The practice of ingesting small amounts of soil microbiota from our air and diet is considered an immune primer, but what manner of soil is being ingested by humans today?

      Invasive organisms only arise when they have a niche to get a foothold in. Often they'll sit till something disturbs the environment and then they proliferate. Ploughs, salts, cides, clearance all disturb microbial communities.

      It stands to reason part of the solution to microbial invasion is ecosystem restoration.

  8. Phillip ure 8
    9 December 2020 at 9:46 pm

    sometimes the body of a post does not appear on my phone..

    this is one of those times..

  9. RedLogix 9
    10 December 2020 at 11:33 am

    From a strict evolutionary perspective maybe as many of 99% of all creatures who ever lived are extinct. Change is the constant feature of this landscape, and disease an ancient enemy; this human pangea being but one very recent event. There are two broad responses to change; one is to avoid it, the other to confront it. Each carries it's own risk/reward.

    Avoiding change, attempting to withdraw and isolate is an excellent short-term strategy. Initially at least, any new threat is poorly understood therefore minimising engagement is the correct action. But longer term it's a very poor response, the lack of learning and adaptation leads to stagnation and increasing vulnerability over time.

    Confronting change is of course the high risk option initially; one never knows whether something new is benign or deadly, so losses will be inevitable. Yet longer term the survivors of this strategy will learn and adapt sooner, will become more competitive and less vulnerable over time.

    (Ideally a species will combine the best of both strategies, and in a very broad sense this is part of why humans have been so successful, the feminine tends toward avoiding risk, the masculine toward confronting it, so in combination we adapt quickly with minimal losses … but this is a tangent to my point.)

    In essence this acknowledges the OP's core argument, that all change and in this instance an anthropomorphic one induced by the human propensity to travel across otherwise relatively isolated biological zones, is inducing entirely unintended pandemics with a largely unknown threat potential.

    The 'avoidance' strategy here would be to confine humans to cities, minimise our contact and impact on the wild world, allowing it time to find a new ecological balance. The 'confrontation' strategy would have us fully embrace a 'survival of the fittest' paradigm and accept that the anthropocene era we are in will mean both losses and victories, that sustaining a 'pristine natural world' in some sort of permanent stasis is an illusory goal.

    Without attempting any kind of prescriptive solution, I suggest that the intelligent approach would engage the best of both strategies; reducing and decoupling human dependency and impact on the natural world of photosynthesis, and invoking a transformation of our agricultural processes toward a more sophisticated harmonisation with living processes.

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    3 days ago

  • Geoffrey Miller: New Zealand’s foreign policy resets on AUKUS, Gaza and Ukraine
    New Zealand’s international relations are under new management. And Winston Peters, the new foreign minister, is already setting a change agenda. As expected, this includes a more pro-US positioning when it comes to the Pacific – where Peters will be picking up where he left off. Peters sought to align ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    3 days ago

  • Auckland rail tunnel the world’s most expensive
    Auckland’s city rail link is the most expensive rail project in the world per km, and the CRL boss has described the cost of infrastructure construction in Aotearoa as a crisis. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The 3.5 km City Rail Link (CRL) tunnel under Auckland’s CBD has cost ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • First big test coming
    The first big test of the new Government’s approach to Treaty matters is likely to be seen in the return of the Resource Management Act. RMA Minister Chris Bishop has confirmed that he intends to introduce legislation to repeal Labour’s recently passed Natural and Built Environments Act and its ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    3 days ago

  • The Song of Saqua: Volume III
    Time to revisit something I haven’t covered in a while: the D&D campaign, with Saqua the aquatic half-vampire. Last seen in July: https://phuulishfellow.wordpress.com/2023/07/27/the-song-of-saqua-volume-ii/ The delay is understandable, once one realises that the interim saw our DM come down with a life-threatening medical situation. They have since survived to make ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    3 days ago

  • Chris Bishop: Smokin’
    Yes. Correct. It was an election result. And now we are the elected government. ...
    My ThinksBy boonman
    4 days ago

  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #48
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science  Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Nov 26, 2023 thru Dec 2, 2023. Story of the Week CO2 readings from Mauna Loa show failure to combat climate change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Affirmative Action.
    Affirmative Action was a key theme at this election, although I don’t recall anyone using those particular words during the campaign.They’re positive words, and the way the topic was talked about was anything but. It certainly wasn’t a campaign of saying that Affirmative Action was a good thing, but that, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • 100 days of something
    It was at the end of the Foxton straights, at the end of 1978, at 100km/h, that someone tried to grab me from behind on my Yamaha.They seemed to be yanking my backpack. My first thought was outrage. My second was: but how? Where have they come from? And my ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Look who’s stepped up to champion Winston
    There’s no news to be gleaned from the government’s official website today  – it contains nothing more than the message about the site being under maintenance. The time this maintenance job is taking and the costs being incurred have us musing on the government’s commitment to an assault on inflation. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • What's The Story?
    Don’t you sometimes wish they’d just tell the truth? No matter how abhorrent or ugly, just straight up tell us the truth?C’mon guys, what you’re doing is bad enough anyway, pretending you’re not is only adding insult to injury.Instead of all this bollocks about the Smokefree changes being to do ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • The longest of weeks
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Friday Under New Management Week in review, quiz style1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Suggested sessions of EGU24 to submit abstracts to
    Like earlier this year, members from our team will be involved with next year's General Assembly of the European Geosciences Union (EGU). The conference will take place on premise in Vienna as well as online from April 14 to 19, 2024. The session catalog has been available since November 1 ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Under New Management
    1. Which of these best describes Aotearoa?a. Progressive nation, proud of its egalitarian spirit and belief in a fair go b. Best little country on the planet c. Under New Management 2. Which of these best describes the 100 days of action announced this week by the new government?a. Petulantb. Simplistic and wrongheaded c. ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • While we wait patiently, our new Minister of Education is up and going with a 100-day action plan
    Sorry to say, the government’s official website is still out of action. When Point of Order paid its daily visit, the message was the same as it has been for the past week: Site under maintenance Beehive.govt.nz is currently under maintenance. We will be back shortly. Thank you for your ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • DAVID FARRAR: Hysterical bullshit
    Radio NZ reports: Te Pāti Māori’s co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer has accused the new government of “deliberate .. systemic genocide” over its policies to roll back the smokefree policy and the Māori Health Authority. The left love hysterical language. If you oppose racial quotas in laws, you are a racist. And now if you sack ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #48 2023
    Open access notables From this week's government/NGO section, longitudinal data is gold and Leisorowitz, Maibachi et al. continue to mine ore from the US public with Climate Change in the American Mind: Politics & Policy, Fall 2023: Drawing on a representative sample of the U.S. adult population, the authors describe how registered ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • ELE LUDEMANN: It wasn’t just $55 million
    Ele Ludemann writes –  Winston Peters reckons media outlets were bribed by the $55 million Public Interest Journalism Fund. He is not the first to make such an accusation. Last year, the Platform outlined conditions media signed up to in return for funds from the PJIF: . . . ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Weekly Roundup 1-December-2023
    Wow, it’s December already, and it’s a Friday. So here are few things that caught our attention recently. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt covered the new government’s coalition agreements and what they mean for transport. On Tuesday Matt looked at AT’s plans for fare increases ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    6 days ago

  • Shane MacGowan Is Gone.
    Late 1996, The Dogs Bollix, Tamaki Makaurau.I’m at the front of the bar yelling my order to the bartender, jostling with other thirsty punters on a Friday night, keen to piss their wages up against a wall letting loose. The black stuff, long luscious pints of creamy goodness. Back down ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • The Hoon around the week to Dec 1
    Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop and other National, ACT and NZ First MPs applaud the signing of the coalition agreements, which included the reversal of anti-smoking measures while accelerating tax cuts for landlords. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • 2023 More Reading: November (+ Writing Update)
    Completed reads for November: A Modern Utopia, by H.G. Wells The Vampire (poem), by Heinrich August Ossenfelder The Corpus Hermeticum The Corpus Hermeticum is Mead’s translation. Now, this is indeed a very quiet month for reading. But there is a reason for that… You see, ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    6 days ago

  • Forward to 2017
    The coalition party agreements are mainly about returning to 2017 when National lost power. They show commonalities but also some serious divergencies.The two coalition agreements – one National and ACT, the other National and New Zealand First – are more than policy documents. They also describe the processes of the ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    7 days ago

  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    7 days ago

  • Questions a nine year old might ask the new Prime Minister
    First QuestionYou’re going to crack down on people ram-raiding dairies, because you say hard-working dairy owners shouldn’t have to worry about getting ram-raided.But once the chemist shops have pseudoephedrine in them again, they're going to get ram-raided all the time. Do chemists not work as hard as dairy owners?Second QuestionYou ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    7 days ago

  • Finally
    Henry Kissinger is finally dead. Good fucking riddance. While Americans loved him, he was a war criminal, responsible for most of the atrocities of the final quarter of the twentieth century. Cambodia. Bangladesh. Chile. East Timor. All Kissinger. Because of these crimes, Americans revere him as a "statesman" (which says ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    7 days ago

  • Government in a hurry – Luxon lists 49 priorities in 100-day plan while Peters pledges to strength...
    Buzz from the Beehive Yes, ministers in the new government are delivering speeches and releasing press statements. But the message on the government’s official website was the same as it has been for the past several days, when Point of Order went looking for news from the Beehive that had ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 days ago

  • DAVID FARRAR: Luxon is absolutely right
    David Farrar writes  –  1 News reports: Christopher Luxon says he was told by some Kiwis on the campaign trail they “didn’t know” the difference between Waka Kotahi, Te Pūkenga and Te Whatu Ora. Speaking to Breakfast, the incoming prime minister said having English first on government agencies will “make sure” ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    7 days ago

  • Top 10 at 10 am for Thursday, Nov 30
    There are fears that mooted changes to building consent liability could end up driving the building industry into an uninsured hole. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Here’s my pick of the top 10 news and analysis links elsewhere as of 10 am on Thursday, November 30, including:The new Government’s ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on how climate change threatens cricket‘s future
    Well that didn’t last long, did it? Mere days after taking on what he called the “awesome responsibility” of being Prime Minister, M Christopher Luxon has started blaming everyone else, and complaining that he has inherited “economic vandalism on an unprecedented scale” – which is how most of us are ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    7 days ago

  • We need to talk about Tory.
    The first I knew of the news about Tory Whanau was when a tweet came up in my feed.The sort of tweet that makes you question humanity, or at least why you bother with Twitter. Which is increasingly a cesspit of vile inhabitants who lurk spreading negativity, hate, and every ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    7 days ago

  • Dangling Transport Solutions
    Cable Cars, Gondolas, Ropeways and Aerial Trams are all names for essentially the same technology and the world’s biggest maker of them are here to sell them as an public transport solution. Stuff reports: Austrian cable car company Doppelmayr has launched its case for adding aerial cable cars to New ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    7 days ago

  • November AMA
    Hi,It’s been awhile since I’ve done an Ask-Me-Anything on here, so today’s the day. Ask anything you like in the comments section, and I’ll be checking in today and tomorrow to answer.Leave a commentNext week I’ll be giving away a bunch of these Mister Organ blu-rays for readers in New ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    1 week ago

  • National’s early moves adding to cost of living pressure
    The cost of living grind continues, and the economic and inflation honeymoon is over before it began. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: PM Christopher Luxon unveiled his 100 day plan yesterday with an avowed focus of reducing cost-of-living pressures, but his Government’s initial moves and promises are actually elevating ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 week ago

  • Backwards to the future
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has confirmed that it will be back to the future on planning legislation. This will be just one of a number of moves which will see the new government go backwards as it repeals and cost-cuts its way into power. They will completely repeal one ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 week ago

  • New initiatives in science and technology could point the way ahead for Luxon government
    As the new government settles into the Beehive, expectations are high that it can sort out some  of  the  economic issues  confronting  New Zealand. It may take time for some new  ministers to get to grips with the range of their portfolio work and responsibilities before they can launch the  changes that  ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    1 week ago

  • Treaty pledge to secure funding is contentious – but is Peters being pursued by a lynch mob after ...
    TV3 political editor Jenna Lynch was among the corps of political reporters who bridled, when Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters told them what he thinks of them (which is not much). She was unabashed about letting her audience know she had bridled. More usefully, she drew attention to something which ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 week ago

  • How long does this last?
    I have a clear memory of every election since 1969 in this plucky little nation of ours. I swear I cannot recall a single one where the question being asked repeatedly in the first week of the new government was: how long do you reckon they’ll last? And that includes all ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • National’s giveaway politics
    We already know that national plans to boost smoking rates to collect more tobacco tax so they can give huge tax-cuts to mega-landlords. But this morning that policy got even more obscene - because it turns out that the tax cut is retrospective: Residential landlords will be able to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • Minister sets expectations of Commissioner
    Today I met with Police Commissioner Andrew Coster to set out my expectations, which he has agreed to, says Police Minister Mark Mitchell. Under section 16(1) of the Policing Act 2008, the Minister can expect the Police Commissioner to deliver on the Government’s direction and priorities, as now outlined in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    12 hours ago

  • New Zealand needs a strong and stable ETS
    New Zealand needs a strong and stable Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) that is well placed for the future, after emission units failed to sell for the fourth and final auction of the year, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says.  At today’s auction, 15 million New Zealand units (NZUs) – each ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    14 hours ago

  • PISA results show urgent need to teach the basics
    With 2022 PISA results showing a decline in achievement, Education Minister Erica Stanford is confident that the Coalition Government’s 100-day plan for education will improve outcomes for Kiwi kids.  The 2022 PISA results show a significant decline in the performance of 15-year-old students in maths compared to 2018 and confirms ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Collins leaves for Pacific defence meeting
    Defence Minister Judith Collins today departed for New Caledonia to attend the 8th annual South Pacific Defence Ministers’ meeting (SPDMM). “This meeting is an excellent opportunity to meet face-to-face with my Pacific counterparts to discuss regional security matters and to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to the Pacific,” Judith Collins says. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Working for Families gets cost of living boost
    Putting more money in the pockets of hard-working families is a priority of this Coalition Government, starting with an increase to Working for Families, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says. “We are starting our 100-day plan with a laser focus on bringing down the cost of living, because that is what ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme scrapped
    The Government has axed the $16 billion Lake Onslow pumped hydro scheme championed by the previous government, Energy Minister Simeon Brown says. “This hugely wasteful project was pouring money down the drain at a time when we need to be reining in spending and focussing on rebuilding the economy and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • NZ welcomes further pause in fighting in Gaza
    New Zealand welcomes the further one-day extension of the pause in fighting, which will allow the delivery of more urgently-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza and the release of more hostages, Foreign Minister Winston Peters said. “The human cost of the conflict is horrific, and New Zealand wants to see the violence ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • Condolences on passing of Henry Kissinger
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters today expressed on behalf of the New Zealand Government his condolences to the family of former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, who has passed away at the age of 100 at his home in Connecticut. “While opinions on his legacy are varied, Secretary Kissinger was ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • Backing our kids to learn the basics
    Every child deserves a world-leading education, and the Coalition Government is making that a priority as part of its 100-day plan. Education Minister Erica Stanford says that will start with banning cellphone use at school and ensuring all primary students spend one hour on reading, writing, and maths each day. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • US Business Summit Speech – Regional stability through trade
    I would like to begin by echoing the Prime Minister’s thanks to the organisers of this Summit, Fran O’Sullivan and the Auckland Business Chamber.  I want to also acknowledge the many leading exporters, sector representatives, diplomats, and other leaders we have joining us in the room. In particular, I would like ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Keynote Address to the United States Business Summit, Auckland
    Good morning. Thank you, Rosemary, for your warm introduction, and to Fran and Simon for this opportunity to make some brief comments about New Zealand’s relationship with the United States.  This is also a chance to acknowledge my colleague, Minister for Trade Todd McClay, Ambassador Tom Udall, Secretary of Foreign ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • India New Zealand Business Council Speech, India as a Strategic Priority
    Good morning, tēnā koutou and namaskar. Many thanks, Michael, for your warm welcome. I would like to acknowledge the work of the India New Zealand Business Council in facilitating today’s event and for the Council’s broader work in supporting a coordinated approach for lifting New Zealand-India relations. I want to also ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Coalition Government unveils 100-day plan
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has laid out the Coalition Government’s plan for its first 100 days from today. “The last few years have been incredibly tough for so many New Zealanders. People have put their trust in National, ACT and NZ First to steer them towards a better, more prosperous ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand welcomes European Parliament vote on the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement
    A significant milestone in ratifying the NZ-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA) was reached last night, with 524 of the 705 member European Parliament voting in favour to approve the agreement. “I’m delighted to hear of the successful vote to approve the NZ-EU FTA in the European Parliament overnight. This is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 weeks ago

  • Further humanitarian support for Gaza, the West Bank and Israel
    The Government is contributing a further $5 million to support the response to urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel, bringing New Zealand’s total contribution to the humanitarian response so far to $10 million. “New Zealand is deeply saddened by the loss of civilian life and the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 weeks ago

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