This is what the climate crisis looks like in New Zealand, so far

Written By: - Date published: 1:26 pm, August 19th, 2022 - 66 comments
Categories: climate change, disaster, global warming, nature, sustainability - Tags: , , , ,

Metservice and NIWA aren’t going to say this is climate change, because any of these floods and slips could have and have happened without AGW. But, the point here is that extreme weather events will get more extreme and more frequent. We already see this with the Buller region having now 4 major floods in a year. The climate crisis is on our doorstep, literally in the case of Nelson people this week.

Things that stand out. At the start of this particular atmospheric river, the forecast was for 56 hours of heavy rain for the upper West Coast from 9am Tues to 5pm Thurs. Two and a half days is a long time to be sitting waiting to see if you’re going to lose your home (again).

That’s in an area already saturated, and that’s had multiple serious floods since the pandemic started. There are now cumulative effects on people’s hearts, minds, bodies and homes. Fortunately for the Coast, they were spared the worst of the deluge, as the rainfall headed over the Nelson area instead.

As you look at these images, understand that more heavy rain is expected over the weekend.

Before,

After,

Hattip Joe90 for the before and after photos.

Stuff’s helicopter view video of the extent of the flooding in Nelson.

This RNZ video shows the spread of flooding in just one area. Of note here is how much vegetation is standing when tarmac isn’t, and the fact that shrub and tree ecosystems slow and spread water and thus limit damage. This looks exactly like flooding in the bush on the west side of the divide, and we should absolutely be learning from this in how we design suburban spaces.

This from this morning,

 

There are also flooding and slips in Wellington, Taranki, Gisborne and Northland. RNZ live updates here.

This twitter events feed is worth following to get a grasp of the breadth and complexity of what is happening.

While atmospheric rivers aren’t new and are in fact important aspects of our normal weather patterns, this one was acknowledged as being unusual,

Tristan Meyers, Meteorologist, NIWA, comments:

“Atmospheric rivers are huge plumes of moisture that move from the tropics to the mid-latitudes (where we are!). Atmospheric rivers are most common in the southwest of New Zealand, but can occur anywhere in New Zealand. New Zealand sees our peak atmospheric river activity during summer, and our lowest atmospheric river activity during winter. When these atmospheric rivers encounter other weather features or New Zealand’s mountainous terrain, the vast amount of water vapour within these atmospheric rivers can get ‘squeezed’ out, falling as heavy rain or snow. Atmospheric rivers are important to New Zealand’s water supply; for the West Coast of the South Island, atmospheric rivers bring 78% of total rainfall. However, they are also responsible for extreme rainfall events; up to 94% of extreme precipitation on the west coast of the South Island are from atmospheric rivers.

“This current atmospheric river is pretty exceptional; it’s long lasting (> 3 days) and has a very anomalously large moisture content. Current forecast models indicate that this would be classified as an ‘extreme’ to ‘exceptional’ atmospheric river – indeed, an analysis we undertook indicates that the amount of moisture in the atmosphere for this particular event is unprecedented for August in climatological data going back to 1959. As a caveat – we’d need to go back and analyse this to confirm whether or not that shapes out to be true after the event.

Insurance companies are saying that change is coming to premiums and coverage. Insurance Council chief executive Tim Grafton on RNZ in July,

…there was no doubt climate had arrived with the cost of weather-related insured losses doubling in the last five year period.

…

Grafton said the focus for society now had to be on reducing, controlling and avoiding the risks posed by future extreme weather events.

Stopping developers building houses in “dumb places” such as flood plains would be necessary to avoid increasing these risks, he said.

Common sense. But also a signal that insurance companies will be looking hard at where houses are being built and how they will or won’t insure them. New Zealand has been largely ignoring what’s been happening on the West Coast, parts of which are now leading contenders for the need for managed retreat, but I suspect that the Nelson floods are waking people up to the fact that the climate crisis isn’t just some sea level rises some vague time off the in the future. It’s houses, our houses, in valleys and all the unwise places that developers have been allowed to build where nature will now take over again.

Two days ago on RNZ,

Properties worth $1 million on Wellington’s Petone foreshore could reach $100,000 a year to insure in 20 years, a climate risk expert says.

…

A treasury report citing research by Aon from September 2021 said 5 percent of New Zealand properties (nearly 90,000 homes) had risk that, if fully priced, would be mean their flood risk premiums would be 1 percent of the property’s value.

That was potently $5000 a year for a $500,000 house.

Meanwhile, nearly 2 percent of homes – about 38,500 properties – faced premiums of 2 percent or more, meaning more than $10,000 a year for insurance.

Auckland, Christchurch, Lower Hutt, Napier and Palmerston North cities were the most exposed to flood hazards in absolute terms. But per head of population Buller, Thames-Coromandel District, Wairoa, Central Otago and Gore districts were the worst affected.

No mention of Nelson. Would love to know what criteria they were using and if that will now change.

Yesterday, RNZ,

The country’s largest insurer IAG says building in flood prone areas has to stop.

IAG has released a three-part plan to try speed up efforts to reduce flood risk from rivers.

It says there have been 10 major floods in Aotearoa in the past two years with insured losses of around $400 million. But the wider economic and social costs are into the billions.

We cannot say we were not warned.

The damage from this one event is mindboggling. But here’s the thing we haven’t got to grips with yet. Eventually we won’t have the financial, logistic, materials and labour capacity to keep repairing the damage.

If we keep doing what we are doing (not acting on climate), then at some point there will just be too many of these events to keep up with. Factor in international issues like oil supply, or collapse of the global food chain, and it’s not hard to see just how bad this could be.

Here’s the good news. It’s not too late for us to both mitigate (reduce the risk of runaway climate change that would collapse civilisation) and adapt (change how we design and run society so that we can take into account the changes happening in our environment). We can also reduce the ongoing cost to society of both of those if we act now.

Acting now means being willing to change, quite radically. All of us. The sooner we do this, the better chance we have of averting disaster.

Also good news is that systems thinking, sustainability, and whole system design are adept at solving these kinds of interwoven problems. We’re not there yet, but it is one of the choices available.

66 comments on “This is what the climate crisis looks like in New Zealand, so far ”

  • Comments are now closed

  2. PsyclingLeft.Always 2
    19 August 2022 at 4:01 pm

    Susan joins me to discuss how a sustainable future is possible by starting with engineering principles. Rather than focusing on politics and economics, which can only react in the short-term, engineering provides long-term vision, planning and design which will reimagine a sustainable world—and drag politics and economics into the future.

    https://www.planetcritical.com/p/transition-engineering-a-sustainable?triedSigningIn=true#details

    "the accelerant of fossil fuel poured on it"

    Prof Susan Krumdieck….talks Sense

  3. Adrian 3
    19 August 2022 at 5:24 pm

    Those photos are just evidence of bad engineering, the houses are above the road on both sides therefor the roadway is running down the watercourse, any farmer could tell you what was going to happen. The fact that the road has torn up is just really bad road building, not compacting the service trenches properly and making the asphalt far to thin. Cheap as.

  4. DB Brown 4
    19 August 2022 at 5:58 pm

    Adrian's got a point. Roads ideally sit on a ridge. While we can't put the extreme rain event down to poor engineering we can design better.

    If this rain event had followed a drought it could have been a lot worse, bad as it seems.

    Israel is leaning hard into climate adaptation with large scale desalination plants to refill the (freshwater) Sea of Galilee.

    https://edition.cnn.com/2022/08/19/middleeast/israel-water-desalination-climate-cmd-intl/index.html

    They've clicked that water is the engine of their economy, and now they trade it with Jordan for solar power.

    • weka 4.1
      19 August 2022 at 6:28 pm

      I'm looking at the bare hills above the housing slipping away too. Lots of factors in this.

    • Adrian 4.2
      19 August 2022 at 8:01 pm

      This one is a bit different DB, in TeTau Ihu we were already at field capacity, actually exceeding it at over 30%, this water had no where to sink into and just headed flat out for the nearest watercourse or ephemeral stream. You are right about bone dry land, that shrinks and the water skids over the top but does lose a portion to soakage along the way.

  5. Robert Guyton 5
    19 August 2022 at 6:20 pm

    Gosh!!

    It's mind boggling!

  6. lprent 6
    19 August 2022 at 6:28 pm

    The last best hope for starting to deal with climate change is going to be the insurance system.

    Especially if they get a Minksy moment, something that seems to be getting more and more likely.

    Economist "Could climate change trigger a financial crisis?"

    of this one from 2019 "Changing weather could put insurance firms out of business"

    Our largest insurer certainly seems to pushing very hard on it. "IAG commits to three-step plan for hazard-prone Aotearoa".

    Seems like a good way to shift the doubters and shiftless – increase cost.

    • weka 6.1
      19 August 2022 at 6:35 pm

      I think so. Also the fear of god that one could lose one's retirement investment.

    • Poission 6.2
      19 August 2022 at 6:40 pm

      Insurance has not done much for poor decisions in either words,or professional liability.

      Liability Professional & Defamation, Directors & Officers and Public Product & Other 12 months to September 167,186,378 (claims)

      67% increase 2017-21

      https://www.icnz.org.nz/media-resources/market-data

      Munichre's biggest cost to profits has been the instability on the financial markets with a billion$ hit on investment losses.

  7. Chess Player 7
    19 August 2022 at 6:30 pm

    I think people are finding that flat land near to the ocean is not a good place to build their house.

    I think people are finding that cutting down the trees that hold the cliff up, and building a house on top of the cliff, is not a good idea.

    I think people are starting to realise why streams and rivers actually exist in certain places, having developed and embedded over millions of years.

    I think people are finding that the authorities that they voted for, and trusted to ensure they would be safe, are scarcely competent.

    I think people are not thinking.

    • Robert Guyton 7.1
      19 August 2022 at 6:44 pm

      "I think people are starting to realise… "

      "I think people are not thinking."

      What??

    • DB Brown 7.2
      19 August 2022 at 6:58 pm

      I'm sure I read a report parts of the shallow Moutere aquifer had been blocked…

      Here it is.

      "Based on hydrogeological investigations, three aquifers have been delineated in the
      Moutere Valley, i.e. Deep Moutere Aquifer (DMA), Middle Moutere Aquifer (MMA) and shallow Moutere Aquifer (SMA). Hydrogeological data shows that the aquifer system is a leaky one, with there being a low permeability zone between the DMA and MMA and another between the MMA and SMA. The SMA is confined at the surface by reworked valley infilling. "

      I might be barking up the wrong tree, but have we disconnected the shallow aquifer from feeding into the medium aquifer? Not purposely, of course…

      https://icm.landcareresearch.co.nz/knowledgebase/publications/public/Waiwhero_recharge_report.pdf

      • DB Brown 7.2.1
        20 August 2022 at 10:26 am

        I'll just repeat what I see to be a major issue with drainage in case it was missed:

        a low permeability zone between the [medium Moutere aquifer and the shallow Moutere aquifer]

        and

        The [shallow Moutere Aquifer] is confined at the surface by reworked valley infilling.

        This is what I think I'm looking at…

        The shallow aquifer has been disconnected ("confined at the surface") from being able to drain into the medium aquifer. If the medium aquifer and deep aquifers are also at capacity I have no real point (until they're less than full, then it's valid again).

        When the ground is wet water should soak relatively easily down into aquifers until the aquifers are full. If the shallow aquifer can't drain this possibly exacerbates any flooding in the region of the shallow Moutere aquifer.

        I’m having trouble locating data on aquifer levels in NZ. Are they simply very infrequently measured? Or my guess is I am missing something right under my nose?

  8. pat 8
    19 August 2022 at 7:12 pm

    Its not too late to attempt to adapt…but that still means there are thousands of properties that will need to be abandoned (one way or another) and a ton of infrastructure that will need to be either moved or upgraded and then there is the ongoing repairs….no easy solutions .

    Even if we make the effort, which is by no means guaranteed.

  9. Macro 9
    19 August 2022 at 9:06 pm

    Certain sectors of the Insurance industry have been warning of the serious consequences of an increasing warming Earth caused by human activity for over a decade now. I cannot find the original assessment by Munich RE now – it was around 2008 IIRC. but here is one of their many assessments and warnings on climate change from 2017. Munich Re Group or Munich Reinsurance Company is a German multinational insurance company based in Munich, Germany. It is one of the world's leading reinsurers.

  10. PsyclingLeft.Always 10
    20 August 2022 at 8:03 am

    West Coast landowners hit by piles of flood debris were then hit with a council notice for clearing it from a nearby stream, highlighting bureaucratic problems as climate change causes more severe weather events.

    The Russells – by now stressing over a potential fine, appealed to council chair Allan Birchfield who drove up to the Cronadun farm with his daughter – council engineer Paulette Birchfield – to take a look.

    They concluded the Russells had done what was needed to get the creek back within its banks.

    https://www.newsroom.co.nz/after-the-flood-the-council-ticket

    West Coast Regional Council chairman Allan Birchfield again expressed his doubt about the government prediction.

    "The sea level is not going to rise so don't worry about it," Birchfield said.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/465207/west-coast-councillor-continues-denying-sea-level-rise

    Climate change caused by human activity, sea-level rise and the need to prepare for it – it is all a load of hogwash, according to the chairman of the West Coast Regional Council.

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/ldr/416440/climate-change-a-rort-west-coast-regional-council-chair

    Ol' Al Birchfield …climate change denier. Didn't realise his daughter was a Council Engineer. An "Interesting" connection…

  11. weka 11
    20 August 2022 at 9:45 am

    Buller's Mayor Jaime Cleine says repeated flood events in Westport are being driven by climate change and infrastructure neglect from previous councils.

    Good. Because he said earlier in the week that it was mother nature.

    https://rnz.liveblog.pro/lb-rnz/blogs/62ffd8c7957b5adbd6ab2555/index.html?liveblog._id=urn:newsml:localhost:2022-08-19T21:18:53.569218:5852b1b4-d90e-4665-845f-19a1227d3abe-%3Eeditorial

    • Mike the Lefty 11.1
      20 August 2022 at 7:35 pm

      The infrastructure neglect is one of the things that Three Waters aims to fix and it would have had positive results if it had been implemented one or more decades ago.

      So will the West Coast mayors now support Three Waters?

      • weka 11.1.1
        20 August 2022 at 8:22 pm

        I still need convincing the the loss of democracy trade off is worth it.

        • Descendant Of Smith 11.1.1.1
          21 August 2022 at 7:53 am

          Many, but not all, of the infrastructure systems were originally funded and/or built by central not local government. It isn't that long ago water boards existed.

          They were not undemocratically built and maintained then any more than they will be now.

          What has handing those assets over to largely right wing councils over the years got us – lots of rhetoric about councils should only be involved in core business – the roads, rates, rubbish type mantra – then when services such as council housing, etc were cut, staff laid off and services once run by councils privatised large sums went to subsidise the private sector – Hamilton's motor racing, Napier's Art Deco buses, Auckland's yacht races, conference centres all over the place, dams for small cadres of farmers and horticulturalists, etc rather than actually spending lots of money on the core business infrastructure.

          In many places the council handling of the three waters has been poor. The notion of local democracy loss as a reason for not doing this I don't think has any substance = it is just part of the right wing mantra of local involvement e.g. school boards is better. It ain't necessarily so and often just enables capture by vested interests.

          • PsyclingLeft.Always 11.1.1.1.1
            21 August 2022 at 9:03 am

            What has handing those assets over to largely right wing councils over the years got us

            dams for small cadres of farmers and horticulturalists, etc

            Damn Right ! The real reason behind groundswell and their angry reaction. They see their vested "ownership" of "their" Water becoming threatened.

            And they have been SHIT at looking after it. Reality : their main interest is, and always has been, extracting as much money from it as possible. That is all.

        • Descendant Of Smith 11.1.1.2
          21 August 2022 at 8:13 am

          The shocking scale of the problem was finally outed by the NZ Herald in December and January and came as a shock to most Aucklanders. Its due to stormwater-driven sewage overflows from the Western Bays, Ponsonby, Grey Lynn, Arch Hill, Mt Albert and Mt Eden areas. Areas especially targetted by pro-Unitary Plan advocates for intensification. These are some of the oldest parts of Auckland, some 16,000 dwellings served by what is called the ‘Combined Sewerage Area’. Built in the early 1900s and designed for a much smaller population it connects to the larger and (somewhat newer) Orakei sewer line which extends eastward to the Eastern Interceptor which then turns southward to the Mangere Wastewater Treatment Plant. The combined sewerage system is decrepid and increasingly overloaded. Local sewage overflows especially contaminate urban streams like Cox’s and Meola Creeks and inner harbour beaches from Point Chevalier to St Mary’s Bay. While the sewerage system which conveys human waste is within capacity – barely, when it rains as much as little as 5mm, which it does often in Auckland, it increases the volume in the pipes some 40 times over. The system is quickly overloaded with the result that surges of diluted human sewage pop open manholes in suburban streets and on peoples’ properties, spewing into urban waterways and the inner harbour.

          https://www.mikelee.co.nz/2017/03/aucklands-dirty-secret-can-we-handle-the-truth/

        • Mike the Lefty 11.1.1.3
          21 August 2022 at 8:23 am

          I'm not convinced that allowing Maori groups to have a say on the way drinking water, stormwater and sewerage is funded and operated is a loss of democracy at all. I think it is mostly right-wing scaremongering.

          • weka 11.1.1.3.1
            21 August 2022 at 9:52 am

            Dude, I support co-governance. The loss of democracy is to local communities.

            This whole left wing simplifying of the debate to soundbites is shocking. There are important issues here that need working through.

            • weka 11.1.1.3.1.1
              21 August 2022 at 9:52 am

              and, just to be clear, I'm well left of most of the people talking about this here. This isn't a right wing argument.

              • Mike the Lefty …
                21 August 2022 at 2:32 pm

                My argument is that until recently most people wouldn't have given a continental about how it is all done provided their drinking water is clean, the drains work and the sewerage system works – and somebody else gets to pay for it.

                Now the spotlight is on who actually controls what, who pays for it. how it has all been put on the never never for political gain and the whole system has been shown to be flawed.

                The new-found concern for "local democracy" shown by some pop-up civic leaders makes me laugh. It's not local democracy they are concerned about – it is how many votes they will get at the coming elections.

        • gsays 11.1.1.4
          21 August 2022 at 8:58 am

          While I take yr point about 3 Waters, my reckons say democracy will largely have to be ignored if we are to get serious about changing behaviour in regards CC.

          I don't see a population that is ready to surrender it's coffee habit, their trinkets and baubles from Ali Baba, or a seismic shift in spending ability (an end to drive-thrus, $5 pizzas, the whole industrial conveinience junk food addiction).

          • weka 11.1.1.4.1
            21 August 2022 at 9:59 am

            So Labour puts through 3 waters, National gets in in 2026 and monkey wrenches it. Can't just repeal it because too much work has been done by that time, so they start the process of privatising.

            We've been down this track before, and it ends badly. In the 80s Labour forced through a bunch of change, without taking people with them, and it created very long term problems. Democracy is fundamental to everything else.

        • Graeme 11.1.1.5
          21 August 2022 at 9:09 am

          Unfortunately it's democracy that has got us into the situation that 3 Waters has become the solution.

          No one gets elected to local government on a platform of putting the rates up (or reducing visible services) to dig up the streets to upgrade or repair pipes that no one can see and most likely aren't causing any trouble yet. There's not many votes in that.

          Council voters vote for politicians who say they are going to spend money on things voters can see and use directly and personally. Pipes are out of sight and don 't make a mess in my pretty street.

          The same dynamic applies in roading where NZTA / Waka Kotahi have incrementally taken over responsibility form TAs. That hasn't been as visibly dramatic a change because Waka Kotahi always administered and funded the State Highway network 100%, and funded TA roading by varying amounts. Now the boundary between SH and TA roading is quite blurred at a funding and operations level with very little input from Councils.

          It's democracy that's given Gore one of the best municipal Art Galleries in country, but a 19th century sewage system

          Time to explore other governance structures that combine benevolence and delivery with a strong focus on environmental outcomes. I think the 3 Waters structure meets those objectives and haven’t seen a better proposal presented in the debate.

          • weka 11.1.1.5.1
            21 August 2022 at 9:48 am

            Unfortunately it's democracy that has got us into the situation that 3 Waters has become the solution.

            no, it really hasn't, it's people that have done that not the system we use for governance. That we have such a poor form of democracy in local bodies is a sign to increase democracy not lessen it. Central and local governments could be doing the mahi of increasing participation. By that I don't just mean getting people to vote, although obviously that's a major issue. I mean actually participating in democracy for the other 1094 days of the three year term.

            Paternalism is attractive to the people in charge. It's less charming when it's NACT selling stuff or privatising.

            I support Labour's moves towards co-governance, in part because it breaks the hegemony of thought around what democracy and governance can look like. I hope that non-Māori will learn some thing and start thinking 'how come we aren't that well represented' and then figure out what to do about it. Three Waters works against that.

            Time to explore other governance structures that combine benevolence and delivery with a strong focus on environmental outcomes. I think the 3 Waters structure meets those objectives and haven’t seen a better proposal presented in the debate.

            Maybe Labour should have started with asking communities what they want. Instead of saying 'this is how it will be' and asking for feedback. It blows my mind that a model that will work for Auckland is considered appropriate to Gore or Te Anau or QL.

            And even if I am wrong about all of that, you still have to bring people with you, and that's not happening.

            (strengthening the local bodies legislation back towards community would be another thing that could be done).

        • Robert Guyton 11.1.1.6
          21 August 2022 at 9:47 am

          21 August 2022 at 8:58 am

          What gsays says.

          • weka 11.1.1.6.1
            21 August 2022 at 9:55 am

            who should be the dictator? If we're going to take the position that people will have to be forced to change (a la gsays' point on climate), then we should be talking about who gets to be in charge and force that to happen.

            Personally I think we should just hand everything over to the aunties, let them run the show. But I've been suggesting that for a long time now and haven't had many takers.

            • Robert Guyton 11.1.1.6.1.1
              21 August 2022 at 11:16 am

              I support the "aunties solution" but with a proviso and that is that the aunties petition all beings who will be affected by their actions; humans, crustaceans, cetaceans, cacti, comets te mea te mea.

              • weka …
                21 August 2022 at 12:16 pm

                agreed. A major benefit of having the aunties in charge is that they will be inclined to do exactly that.

                • weka …
                  21 August 2022 at 12:17 pm

                  still leaves us with the problem of how to enforce that.

                  One of the great failings of anarchism is that despite its other desirable attributes, it appears to have no plan for how to get others on board.

                  • arkie …
                    21 August 2022 at 12:31 pm

                    Mutual Aid is one such plan:

                    Kropotkin argued that mutual aid has pragmatic advantages for the survival of humans and animals and has been promoted through natural selection, and that mutual aid is arguably as ancient as human culture.

                    Building towards Dual Power:

                    Dual power is important because it prioritizes direct action, decentralized organization, and mutual aid now instead of perpetually waiting for some mythical, singular, and centralized mass revolution that never comes. It also creates a foundation to be built upon once capital and the state fall instead of starting from scratch.

                  • Robert Guyton …
                    21 August 2022 at 1:51 pm

                    Nephews 🙂

  12. Hunter Thompson II 12
    20 August 2022 at 10:04 am

    Nature holds the whip hand. I guess that was always the case but humans failed to see it (or pretended not to) and have racked up a large bill.

    Now the demand for payment has arrived.

  13. AB 13
    20 August 2022 at 12:15 pm

    Only tax cuts can save us. If I drown horribly in a muddy deluge, I will be happy because 'my money' is in my own pocket.

  14. Jenny how to get there 14
    21 August 2022 at 7:38 am

    This is what the climate crisis looks like in New Zealand, so far….

    This is what the symptoms of the climate crisis look like.

    The real climate crisis is a political crisis.

    The real crisis is a human crisis.

    Like a rabbit transfixed by the approaching headlights, the real climate crisis is our inability to act.

    The real crisis is not the approaching catastrophe about to crush the rabbit, the real crisis is the rabbit that refuses to move.

    Business as usual:

    "As we stare down the barrel of a climate emergency, our Government seems to think it's just fine to let a foreign-owned company extend its coal mine to let our dirty dairy industry carry on burning the stuff," spokeswoman Cindy Baxter said.

    "Whatever happened to our 'nuclear free moment' – seems it's business as usual."

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/farming/116214332/bathurst-coal-buys-land-to-expand-mining-for-dairy-factories

    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/447679/new-zealand-likely-to-have-record-high-imports-of-coal-in-2021-officials

    https://environment.govt.nz/news/nzs-greenhouse-gas-emissions-have-increased/

  15. pat 15
    21 August 2022 at 10:36 am

    So in effect the quality of the decisions is directly related to the quality of the decision makers….as it ever was. Co-governance dosnt provide any path to improved decision quality, but it does reduce the pool of potential decision makers.

    Does changing the pool of decision makers necessarily change the quality? Especially when the technicalities remain unchanged.

    There has been a commonly stated refrain around co-governance that 'what is good for Maori is good for NZ'….that statement is about as valid as saying 'what is good for farmers is good for NZ', or 'what is good for property investors is good for NZ'….when the reality is 'what is good for NZ is good for all those groups'

    If we are to improve our water infrastructure it is the technical/resource limitations that need to be addressed and the governance form will follow.

  16. Robert Guyton 16
    21 August 2022 at 11:19 am

    "There has been a commonly stated refrain around co-governance that 'what is good for Maori is good for NZ'"

    I don't think that's true.

    The better refrain might be, "When Maori and non-Maori cooperate, the outcomes will be optimal".

    This is what co-governance is about, imo.

    • weka 16.1
      21 August 2022 at 12:21 pm

      nice framing.

      I'd add that Māori have perspectives, values and cultural practices we desperately need in the overculture, and the bringing into right relationship the Crown and Iwi/Hapū will create something that builds on the good of both sides.

  17. Stephen D 17
    21 August 2022 at 12:02 pm

    And remember Auckland’s Queen Street is built on top of the Waihorotiu Stream. Waters gonna do what waters gonna do.

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    Familiarity breeds consent. If you repeat the line “six years of economic mis-management” about 10,000 times, it sounds like the received wisdom, whatever the evidence to the contrary. Yes, the global pandemic and the global surge in inflation that came in its wake occurred here as well – but if ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    4 hours ago

  • MICHAEL BASSETT: Hapless Hipkins and his racism
    Michael Bassett writes – Without so much as batting an eyelid, Chris Hipkins told an audience on Saturday that there had been “more racism” in this election campaign than ever before. And he blamed it on the opposition parties, National, Act and New Zealand First. In those ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 hours ago

  • BRIAN EASTON: The ‘recession’ has been called off, but some households are still struggling
    While the economy is not doing too badly in output terms, external circumstances are not favourable, and there is probably a sizeable group of households struggling because of rising interest rates. Brian Easton writes – Last week’s announcement of a 0.9 percent increase in volume GDP for ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 hours ago

  • Monday’s Chorus: Richie Poulton's lament
    “You can't really undo what happens during childhood”, said the director of the Dunedin longitudinal study. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Richie Poulton, the director of the world-leading Dunedin longitudinal study showing how devastating poverty in early life is, died yesterday. With his final words, he lamented the lack ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    9 hours ago

  • North-western downgrades
    This is a guest post from reader Peter N As many of us know, Auckland Transport and Waka Kotahi are well into progressing works on the northwestern interim “busway” with services to kick off in just over a month from now on Sunday 12th November 2023. Some of the ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    10 hours ago

  • Has Webworm Found New Zealand’s Weirdest School?
    Hi,Before we talk about weird schools people choose to send their kids to, a few things on my mind. I adored the Ask Me Anything we did last week. Thanks for taking part. I love answering your weird and nosy questions, even questions about beans.I am excited and scared as Mister ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    11 hours ago

  • Another mother of a budget
    A National government would make spending cuts on a scale not seen since the 1990 – 96 Bolger government.That much was confirmed with the release of their Fiscal Plan on Friday.Government spending is currently high as a percentage of GDP — as high as it was during the Muldoon ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    13 hours ago

  • A crucial week starts as early voting opens in the NZ Elections … it’s been a ride so far. Are y...
    Chris Hipkins down with Covid, at least for 5 days isolation, National continue to obfuscate, ACT continues to double-down on the poor and Winston… well, he’s being Winston really. Voters beware: this week could be even more infuriating than the last. No Party is what they used to be ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    20 hours ago

  • 2023 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #39
    A chronological listing of news and opinion articles posted on the Skeptical Science Facebook Page during the past week: Sun, Sep 24, 2023 thru Sat, Sep 30, 2023. Story of the Week We’re not doomed yet’: climate scientist Michael Mann on our last chance to save human civilisation The renowned US ...
    Skeptical Science
    1 day ago

  • Clusterf**ck of Chaos.
    On the 11th of April 1945 advancing US forces liberated the Nazi concentration camp of Buchenwald near Weimar in Germany. In the coming days, under the order of General Patton, a thousand nearby residents were forced to march to the camp to see the atrocities that had been committed in ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago

  • The party of business deals with the future by pretending it isn’t coming
    Years and years ago, when Helen Clark was Prime Minister and John Key was gunning for her job, I had a conversation with a mate, a trader who knew John Key well enough to paint a helpful picture.It was many drinks ago so it’s not a complete one. But there’s ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 day ago

  • 2023 More Reading: September (+ Old Phuul update)
    Completed reads for September: The Lost Continent, by C.J. Cutcliffe Hyne Flatland, by Edwin Abbott All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria Remarque The Country of the Blind, by H.G. Wells The Day of the Triffids, by John Wyndham A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    2 days ago

  • Losing The Left.
    Descending Into The Dark: The ideological cadres currently controlling both Labour and the Greens are forcing “justice”, “participation” and “democracy” to make way for what is “appropriate” and “responsible”. But, where does that leave the people who, for most of their adult lives, have voted for left-wing parties, precisely to ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • The New “Emperor’s New Clothes”.
    “‘BUT HE HASN’T GOT ANYTHING ON,’ a little boy said ….. ‘But he hasn’t got anything on!’ the whole town cried out at last.”On this optimistic note, Hans Christian Andersen brings his cautionary tale of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” to an end.Andersen’s children’s story was written nearly two centuries ago, ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • BRYCE EDWARDS: The vested interests shaping National Party policies
      Bryce Edwards writes – As the National Party gets closer to government, lobbyists and business interests will be lining up for influence and to get policies adopted. It’s therefore in the public interest to have much more scrutiny and transparency about potential conflicts of interests that ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • LINDSAY MITCHELL: A conundrum for those pushing racist dogma
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – The heavily promoted narrative, which has ramped up over the last six years, is that Maori somehow have special vulnerabilities which arise from outside forces they cannot control; that contemporary society fails to meet their needs. They are not receptive to messages and ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • CHRIS TROTTER:  The greater of two evils
    Not Labour: If you’re out to punish the government you once loved, then the last thing you need is to be shown evidence that the opposition parties are much, much worse.   Chris Trotter writes – THE GREATEST VIRTUE of being the Opposition is not being the Government. Only very ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • The Hoon around the week to Sept 30
    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:Labour presented a climate manifesto that aimed to claim the high ground on climate action vs National, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Litanies, articles of faith, and being a beneficiary
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past two weeks.Friday 29Play it, ElvisElection Hell special!! This week’s quiz is a bumper edition featuring a few of the more popular questions from last weekend’s show, as well as a few we didn’t ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Litanies, articles of faith, and being a beneficiary
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past two weeks.Friday 29Play it, ElvisElection Hell special!! This week’s quiz is a bumper edition featuring a few of the more popular questions from last weekend’s show, as well as a few we didn’t ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • The ‘Recession’ Has Been Called Off, But Some Households Are Still Struggling
    While the economy is not doing too badly in output terms, external circumstances are not favourable, and there is probably a sizeable group of households struggling because of rising interest rates.Last week’s announcement of a 0.9 percent increase in volume GDP for the June quarter had the commentariat backing down ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    3 days ago

  • Climate Change: The wrong direction
    This week the International Energy Association released its Net Zero Roadmap, intended to guide us towards a liveable climate. The report demanded huge increases in renewable generation, no new gas or oil, and massive cuts to methane emissions. It was positive about our current path, but recommended that countries with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • “Racism” becomes a buzz word on the campaign trail – but our media watchdogs stay muzzled when...
    Buzz from the Beehive  Oh, dear.  We have nothing to report from the Beehive. At least, we have nothing to report from the government’s official website. But the drones have not gone silent.  They are out on the election campaign trail, busy buzzing about this and that in the hope ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • Play it, Elvis
    Election Hell special!! This week’s quiz is a bumper edition featuring a few of the more popular questions from last weekend’s show, as well as a few we didn’t have time for. You’re welcome, etc. Let us press on, etc. 1.  What did Christopher Luxon use to his advantage in ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Pure class warfare
    National unveiled its fiscal policy today, announcing all the usual things which business cares about and I don't. But it did finally tell us how National plans to pay for its handouts to landlords: by effectively cutting benefits: The biggest saving announced on Friday was $2b cut from the ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • Ask Me Anything about the week to Sept 29
    Photo by Anna Ogiienko on UnsplashIt’s that time of the week for an ‘Ask Me Anything’ session for paying subscribers about the week that was for an hour, including:duelling fiscal plans from National and Labour;Labour cutting cycling spending while accusing National of being weak on climate;Research showing the need for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Weekly Roundup 29-September-2023
    Welcome to Friday and the last one for September. This week in Greater Auckland On Monday, Matt highlighted at the latest with the City Rail Link. On Tuesday, Matt covered the interesting items from Auckland Transport’s latest board meeting agendas. On Thursday, a guest post from Darren Davis ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    3 days ago

  • Protest at Parliament: The Reunion.
    Brian’s god spoke to him. He, for of course the Lord in Tamaki’s mind was a male god, with a mighty rod, and probably some black leathers. He, told Brian - “you must put a stop to all this love, hope, and kindness”. And it did please the Brian.He said ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Labour cuts $50m from cycleway spending
    Labour is cutting spending on cycling infrastructure while still trying to claim the higher ground on climate. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Labour Government released a climate manifesto this week to try to claim the high ground against National, despite having ignored the Climate Commission’s advice to toughen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • The Greater Of Two Evils.
    Not Labour: If you’re out to punish the government you once loved, then the last thing you need is to be shown evidence that the opposition parties are much, much worse.THE GREATEST VIRTUE of being the Opposition is not being the Government. Only very rarely is an opposition party elected ...
    Bowalley Road
    3 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #39 2023
    Open access notables "Net zero is only a distraction— we just have to end fossil fuel emissions." The latter is true but the former isn't, or  not in the real world as it's likely to be in the immediate future. And "just" just doesn't enter into it; we don't have ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Chris Trotter: Losing the Left
    IN THE CURRENT MIX of electoral alternatives, there is no longer a credible left-wing party. Not when “a credible left-wing party” is defined as: a class-oriented, mass-based, democratically-structured political organisation; dedicated to promoting ideas sharply critical of laissez-faire capitalism; and committed to advancing democratic, egalitarian and emancipatory ideals across the ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    4 days ago

  • Road rage at Kia Kaha Primary School
    It is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha Primary School!It can be any time when you are telling a story.Telling stories about things that happened in the past is how we learn from our mistakes.If we want to.Anyway, it is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Road rage at Kia Kaha Primary School
    It is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha Primary School!It can be any time when you are telling a story.Telling stories about things that happened in the past is how we learn from our mistakes.If we want to.Anyway, it is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Road rage at Kia Kaha Primary School
    It is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha Primary School!It can be any time when you are telling a story.Telling stories about things that happened in the past is how we learn from our mistakes.If we want to.Anyway, it is not the school holidays yet at Kia Kaha ...
    More than a fieldingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Hipkins fires up in leaders’ debate, but has the curtain already fallen on the Labour-led coalitio...
    Labour’s  Chris Hipkins came out firing, in the  leaders’ debate  on Newshub’s evening programme, and most of  the pundits  rated  him the winner against National’s  Christopher Luxon. But will this make any difference when New  Zealanders  start casting their ballots? The problem  for  Hipkins is  that  voters are  all too ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    4 days ago

  • Govt is energising housing projects with solar power – and fuelling the public’s concept of a di...
    Buzz from the Beehive  Not long after Point of Order published data which show the substantial number of New Zealanders (77%) who believe NZ is becoming more divided, government ministers were braying about a programme which distributes some money to “the public” and some to “Maori”. The ministers were dishing ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago

  • MIKE GRIMSHAW: Election 2023 – a totemic & charisma failure?
    The D&W analysis Michael Grimshaw writes –  Given the apathy, disengagement, disillusionment, and all-round ennui of this year’s general election, it was considered time to bring in those noted political operatives and spin doctors D&W, the long-established consultancy firm run by Emile Durkheim and Max Weber. Known for ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • FROM BFD: Will Winston be the spectre we think?
    Kissy kissy. Cartoon credit BoomSlang. The BFD. JC writes-  Allow me to preface this contribution with the following statement: If I were asked to express a preference between a National/ACT coalition or a National/ACT/NZF coalition then it would be the former. This week Luxon declared his position, ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • California’s climate disclosure bill could have a huge impact across the U.S.
    This re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Andy Furillo was originally published by Capital & Main and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. The California Legislature took a step last week that has the potential to accelerate the fight against climate ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Untangling South East Queensland’s Public Transport
    This is a cross post Adventures in Transitland by Darren Davis. I recently visited Brisbane and South East Queensland and came away both impressed while also pondering some key changes to make public transport even better in the region. Here goes with my take on things. A bit of ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    4 days ago

  • Try A Little Kindness.
    My daughter arrived home from the supermarket yesterday and she seemed a bit worried about something. It turned out she wanted to know if someone could get her bank number from a receipt.We wound the story back.She was in the store and there was a man there who was distressed, ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • What makes NZFirst tick
    New Zealand’s longest-running political roadshow rolled into Opotiki yesterday, with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters knowing another poll last night showed he would make it back to Parliament and National would need him and his party if they wanted to form a government. The Newshub Reid Research poll ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    5 days ago

  • September AMA
    Hi,As September draws to a close — I feel it’s probably time to do an Ask Me Anything. You know how it goes: If you have any burning questions, fire away in the comments and I will do my best to answer. You might have questions about Webworm, or podcast ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago

  • Bludgers lying in the scratcher making fools of us all
    The mediocrity who stands to be a Prime Minister has a litany.He uses it a bit like a Koru Lounge card. He will brandish it to say: these people are eligible. And more than that, too: These people are deserving. They have earned this policy.They have a right to this policy. What ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • More “partnerships” (by the look of it) and redress of over $30 million in Treaty settlement wit...
    Buzz from the Beehive Point of Order has waited until now – 3.45pm – for today’s officially posted government announcements.  There have been none. The only addition to the news on the Beehive’s website was posted later yesterday, after we had published our September 26 Buzz report. It came from ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago

  • ALEX HOLLAND: Labour’s spending
    Alex Holland writes –  In 2017 when Labour came to power, crown spending was $76 billion per year. Now in 2023 it is $139 billion per year, which equates to a $63 billion annual increase (over $1 billion extra spend every week!) In 2017, New Zealand’s government debt ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • If not now, then when?
    Labour released its fiscal plan today, promising the same old, same old: "responsibility", balanced books, and of course no new taxes: "Labour will maintain income tax settings to provide consistency and certainty in these volatile times. Now is not the time for additional taxes or to promise billions of ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago

  • THE FACTS:  77% of Kiwis believe NZ is becoming more divided
    The Facts has posted –        KEY INSIGHTSOf New Zealander’s polled: Social unity/division 77%believe NZ is becoming more divided (42% ‘much more’ + 35% ‘a little more’) 3%believe NZ is becoming less divided (1% ‘much less’ + 2% ‘a little less’) ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the cynical brutality of the centre-right’s welfare policies
    The centre-right’s enthusiasm for forcing people off the benefit and into paid work is matched only by the enthusiasm (shared by Treasury and the Reserve Bank) for throwing people out of paid work to curb inflation, and achieve the optimal balance of workers to job seekers deemed to be desirable ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    5 days ago

  • Wednesday’s Chorus: Arthur Grimes on why building many, many more social houses is so critical
    New research shows that tenants in social housing - such as these Wellington apartments - are just as happy as home owners and much happier than private tenants. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The election campaign took an ugly turn yesterday, and in completely the wrong direction. All three ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago

  • Bennie Bashing.
    If there’s one thing the mob loves more than keeping Māori in their place, more than getting tough on the gangs, maybe even more than tax cuts. It’s a good old round of beneficiary bashing.Are those meanies in the ACT party stealing your votes because they think David Seymour is ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • The kindest cuts
    Labour kicks off the fiscal credibility battle today with the release of its fiscal plan. National is expected to follow, possibly as soon as Thursday, with its own plan, which may (or may not) address the large hole that the problems with its foreign buyers’ ban might open up. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • Green right turn in Britain? Well, a start
    While it may be unlikely to register in New Zealand’s general election, Britain’s PM Rishi Sunak has done something which might just be important in the long run. He’s announced a far-reaching change in his Conservative government’s approach to environmental, and particularly net zero, policy. The starting point – ...
    Point of OrderBy xtrdnry
    6 days ago

  • At a glance – How do human CO2 emissions compare to natural CO2 emissions?
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • How could this happen?
    Canada is in uproar after the exposure that its parliament on September 22 provided a standing ovation to a Nazi veteran who had been invited into the chamber to participate in the parliamentary welcome to Ukrainian President Zelensky. Yaroslav Hunka, 98, a Ukrainian man who volunteered for service in ...
    Open ParachuteBy Ken
    6 days ago

  • Always Be Campaigning
    The big screen is a great place to lay out the ways of the salesman. He comes ready-made for Panto, ripe for lampooning.This is not to disparage that life. I have known many good people of that kind. But there is a type, brazen as all get out. The camera ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • STEPHEN FRANKS: Press seek to publicly shame doctor – we must push back
    The following is a message sent yesterday from lawyer Stephen Franks on behalf of the Free Speech Union. I don’t like to interrupt first thing Monday morning, but we’ve just become aware of a case where we think immediate and overwhelming attention could help turn the tide. It involves someone ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Competing on cruelty
    The right-wing message calendar is clearly reading "cruelty" today, because both National and NZ First have released beneficiary-bashing policies. National is promising a "traffic light" system to police and kick beneficiaries, which will no doubt be accompanied by arbitrary internal targets to classify people as "orange" or "red" to keep ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago

  • Further funding for Pharmac (forgotten in the Budget?) looks like a $1bn appeal from a PM in need of...
    Buzz from the Beehive One Labour plan  – for 3000 more public homes by 2025 – is the most recent to be posted on the government’s official website. Another – a prime ministerial promise of more funding for Pharmac – has been released as a Labour Party press statement. Who ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: The Vested interests shaping National Party policies
    As the National Party gets closer to government, lobbyists and business interests will be lining up for influence and to get policies adopted. It’s therefore in the public interest to have much more scrutiny and transparency about potential conflicts of interests that might arise. One of the key individuals of ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    6 days ago

  • Labour may be on way out of power and NZ First back in – but will Peters go into coalition with Na...
    Voters  are deserting Labour in droves, despite Chris  Hipkins’  valiant  rearguard  action.  So  where  are they  heading?  Clearly  not all of them are going to vote National, which concedes that  the  outcome  will be “close”. To the Right of National, the ACT party just a  few weeks  ago  was ...
    Point of OrderBy tutere44
    6 days ago

  • GRAHAM ADAMS: Will the racists please stand up?
    Accusations of racism by journalists and MPs are being called out. Graham Adams writes –    With the election less than three weeks away, what co-governance means in practice — including in water management, education, planning law and local government — remains largely obscure. Which is hardly ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on whether Winston Peters can be a moderating influence
    As the centre-right has (finally!) been subjected to media interrogation, the polls are indicating that some voters may be starting to have second thoughts about the wisdom of giving National and ACT the power to govern alone. That’s why yesterday’s Newshub/Reid Research poll had the National/ACT combo dropping to 60 ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    6 days ago

  • Tuesday’s Chorus: RBNZ set to rain on National's victory parade
    ANZ has increased its forecast for house inflation later this year on signs of growing momentum in the market ahead of the election. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: National has campaigned against the Labour Government’s record on inflation and mortgage rates, but there’s now a growing chance the Reserve ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • After a Pittsburgh coal processing plant closed, ER visits plummeted
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Katie Myers. This story was originally published by Grist and is part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story. Pittsburgh, in its founding, was blessed and cursed with two abundant natural resources: free-flowing rivers and a nearby coal seam. ...
    Skeptical Science
    6 days ago

  • September-23 AT Board Meeting
    Today the AT board meet again and once again I’ve taken a look at what’s on the agenda to find the most interesting items. Closed Agenda Interestingly when I first looked at the agendas this paper was there but at the time of writing this post it had been ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    6 days ago

  • Electorate Watch: West Coast-Tasman
    Continuing my series on interesting electorates, today it’s West Coast-Tasman.A long thin electorate running down the northern half of the west coast of the South Island. Think sand flies, beautiful landscapes, lots of rain, Pike River, alternative lifestylers, whitebaiting, and the spiritual home of the Labour Party. A brief word ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Big money brings Winston back
    National leader Christopher Luxon yesterday morning conceded it and last night’s Newshub poll confirmed it; Winston Peters and NZ First are not only back but highly likely to be part of the next government. It is a remarkable comeback for a party that was tossed out of Parliament in ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    7 days ago

  • 20 days until Election Day, 7 until early voting begins… but what changes will we really see here?
    As this blogger, alongside many others, has already posited in another forum: we all know the National Party’s “budget” (meaning this concept of even adding up numbers properly is doing a lot of heavy, heavy lifting right now) is utter and complete bunk (read hung, drawn and quartered and ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    7 days ago

  • A night out
    Everyone was asking, Are you nervous? and my response was various forms of God, yes.I've written more speeches than I can count; not much surprises me when the speaker gets to their feet and the room goes quiet.But a play? Never.YOU CAME! THANK YOU! Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    1 week ago

  • A pallid shade of Green III
    Clearly Labour's focus groups are telling it that it needs to pay more attention to climate change - because hot on the heels of their weaksauce energy efficiency pilot programme and not-great-but-better-than-nothing solar grants, they've released a full climate manifesto. Unfortunately, the core policies in it - a second Emissions ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    1 week ago

  • New Zealand resumes peacekeeping force leadership
    New Zealand will again contribute to the leadership of the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, with a senior New Zealand Defence Force officer returning as Interim Force Commander. Defence Minister Andrew Little and Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta have announced the deployment of New Zealand ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    49 mins ago

  • New national direction provides clarity for development and the environment
    The Government has taken an important step in implementing the new resource management system, by issuing a draft National Planning Framework (NPF) document under the new legislation, Environment Minister David Parker said today. “The NPF consolidates existing national direction, bringing together around 20 existing instruments including policy statements, standards, and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 hours ago

  • Government shows further commitment to pay equity for healthcare workers
    The Government welcomes the proposed pay equity settlement that will see significant pay increases for around 18,000 Te Whatu Ora Allied, Scientific, and Technical employees, if accepted said Health Minister Ayesha Verrall. The proposal reached between Te Whatu Ora, the New Zealand Public Service Association Te Pūkenga Here Tikanga Mahi ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago

  • 100 new public EV chargers to be added to national network
    The public EV charging network has received a significant boost with government co-funding announced today for over 100 EV chargers – with over 200 charging ports altogether – across New Zealand, and many planned to be up and running on key holiday routes by Christmas this year. Minister of Energy ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Safeguarding Tuvalu language and identity
    Tuvalu is in the spotlight this week as communities across New Zealand celebrate Vaiaso o te Gagana Tuvalu – Tuvalu Language Week. “The Government has a proven record of supporting Pacific communities and ensuring more of our languages are spoken, heard and celebrated,” Pacific Peoples Minister Barbara Edmonds said. “Many ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • New community-level energy projects to support more than 800 Māori households
    Seven more innovative community-scale energy projects will receive government funding through the Māori and Public Housing Renewable Energy Fund to bring more affordable, locally generated clean energy to more than 800 Māori households, Energy and Resources Minister Dr Megan Woods says. “We’ve already funded 42 small-scale clean energy projects that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Huge boost to Te Tai Tokerau flood resilience
    The Government has approved new funding that will boost resilience and greatly reduce the risk of major flood damage across Te Tai Tokerau. Significant weather events this year caused severe flooding and damage across the region. The $8.9m will be used to provide some of the smaller communities and maraes ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Napier’s largest public housing development comes with solar
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