Unthinkable Renationalisation

Written By: - Date published: 10:02 am, July 21st, 2022 - 57 comments
Categories: assets, climate change, Economy, energy, Environment, Europe, Privatisation, privatisation, science, uncategorized - Tags:

Europe is leading the global fight against climate change by rapidly shifting away from fossil fuels. This now includes fully renationalising energy companies and forced decreases in gas use. What could New Zealand learn?

In the wake of the pandemic, Europe was rocked by disruptions in its energy supply that caused prices to surge – even before the turmoil triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Now those forces have combined to put Europe’s energy transition onto something of a wartime footing, testing the limits of an accelerated timeline to adopt new technologies and leaving consumers footing much higher bills.

Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has driven the continent back towards coal in the short term, but there may have to be warp-speed deployment of green energy this decade.

As of late last month, all EU states will be banned from allowing the sale of combustion engine vehicles by 2035. This is on the continent which hosts SEAT, VW, Ferrari, Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, Volvo, Peugeot, BMW, and all the others we have known to grow and love.

Norway, Sweden, Netherlands and Germany have been well underway preparing their car users for this. Others, well, it’s going to be more of a shock.

Over the last fortnight, France and the UK have already renationalised energy companies, ready for greater political oversight from impending massive energy disruption.

The UK government has also started to put in place a windfall tax against petroleum companies.

Germany had signalled that it was ready to renationalise, and then did so.

While the Prime Ministership of Boris Johnson was falling apart, Britain’s government passed a law to fully accelerate their energy security strategy. Once you get past the spin, it’s substantial.

Across Europe there is a simple truth: there just isn’t enough energy to go around anymore. Russia is severely limiting supplies to Europe, French President Emmanuel Macron is grappling with an ageing fleet of nuclear reactors, and a lack of regulatory oversight means British gas and power providers sold cheap energy without considering the return of a commodities supercycle.

Gazprom PJSC is choking exports through all major pipelines to Europe, so there’s real risk European nations won’t be able to store enough up for the next winter season. Putin is driving Germany and other states back to coal in the short term and even an heroic deployment of green energy will not see them through the incoming pain. It will likely be the sternest test of the EU. Screaming consumers can quickly turn into motivated voters that destroy governments.

New Zealand is in the exceedingly fortunate position that its electricity supply is about 88% renewable and for a large part not reliant on foreign fuel to fire its heaters and dehumifiers. Even its key exporter, Fonterra, uses local coal and is getting out of it. Finally.

New Zealand farming is already one of the most carbon efficient in the world, though there’s always room for improvement.

However the truth is that we still use around 46 million barrels of crude oil every year, or on average 1,600 litres per person every year. 46 million barrels would fill the Wellington stadium about 13 times.

With renewable electricity on one hand and oil vulnerability on the other, our total renewable energy stands at 40%, only bettered by Iceland and Norway.

Our key instruments to improve on this vulnerability are still in state hands if we have the plan to use them:

New Zealand still has 51% stakes in Genesis, Mercury, and Meridian. This government is despite political talk a passive shareholder who tends to let the Electricity Authority do their regulatory work rather than be an assertive shareholder.

New Zealand still has 100% ownership of Transpower the main grid supplier and operator. It is unfortunately heavily regulated by the Electricity Authority. The new Chair Dr Keith Turner issued a stark warning on our vulnerability to energy supply just days ago: “We are living on borrowed time“.

Whatever regulatory or political oversight over the actual prices for electricity we suckers have to pay hasn’t worked.

And so to oil. The New Zealand government allowed the sale of Z Energy to Ampol and the shutdown of Marsden Point, so we very much now operate as an Australian branch office for oil and petrol supply and distribution.

Rather than take strong regulatory steps against either fuel or electricity generators, the government has acted to spend several billion subsidising to dampen the fuel spike and extended it to the start of 2023. On international benchmarks New Zealand has below average taxes but the highest fuel price if you take that tax away.

It has also halved public transport prices for the potential 85% of us who live in cities, though it is a hard ask getting us back to pt use in such a pandemic infection state. It also strongly directs its Departments and its contract bidders to buy electric fleets.

New Zealand is in an extraordinarily vulnerable state for transport fuel and it is going to get worse in the next year. The Russia-Ukraine war and its effects continues to destabilise markets, the European continent leads the world on transition, but the electric car shift in New Zealand is coming off a very very low base. New Zealand is 4th in the OECD for car ownership rates and we’re just not set up to change that.

New Zealand is thus getting deliberately more reliant on both oil and electricity but isn’t making the public controls to hasten the shift with any urgency –  particularly when you see EU countries of all political stripe leading the way through energy supply and price spikes.

Surely a Labour government with all the international cache it is ever going to have, could at least follow the lead of governments from Conservative to independent to Social Democrat and take sufficiently strong action that our energy security is assured. Because right now we are one of the least energy secure countries on earth, and the world is energy-scary right now.

57 comments on “Unthinkable Renationalisation ”

  1. RedLogix 1

    Putin is driving Germany and other states back to coal in the short term and even an heroic deployment of green energy will not see them through the incoming pain.

    It will be much longer than short-term. The fact is that Germany is a cloudy and relatively windless location. Already they have an installed nameplate of wind energy that is twice their peak consumption – yet over the course of a year the actual generation accounts for barely 23% of their total energy. (I have seen another source that claims this figure is inflated and the real number is closer to 10%.)

    Another way to look at this is the doubling of installed capacity – mostly wind and solar for a miserable gain of 5% total generation:

    Germany's installed capacity for electric generation increased from 121 gigawatts (GW) in 2000 to 218 GW in 2019, an 80% increase, while electricity generation increased only 5% in the same period.

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

    At this rate they would need to install 20 times more solar and wind than they already have to run their existing economy on these sources alone. And still doesn't account for what happens when you get two weeks of cold, cloudy and windless weather in winter.

    In reality all of their renewable capacity is just about making up for the nuclear generation they are incomprehensibly closing down. And when the Russian gas finally shuts down – it will be brown coal all the way.

    • Molly 1.1

      Farmers protests across Europe indicate the problems that will be occurring, due to the political class failing to act in a timely and effective manner, and now acting without consideration or mitigation of decisions.

      https://www.firstpost.com/world/explained-why-farmers-protests-that-kicked-off-in-the-netherlands-are-spreading-across-europe-10925091.html

      Foreign waka posted on this the other day, which lead to a good article:

      https://www.newsweek.com/popular-uprising-against-elites-has-gone-global-opinion-1722653

      But while the Dutch people are on the side of the farmers, their elites are behaving much as they did in Canada and the U.S., and not just those in government. Media outlets are refusing to even report the protests, and when they do, they cast the farmers as extremists.

      Why the disconnect? Every reliable poll of European newsrooms from Germany to the Netherlands show that climate change is a much more important topic for journalists than it is for ordinary people. It's not that average citizens don't care about climate change, but that they have the common sense to know that destroying their farm so the government's emission goals can be met in 2030 instead of 2035 will not change the planet's climate.

      After all, the Netherlands accounts for just 0.46 percent of the world's CO2 emissions, and while a further reduction might be desirable, it will not be decisive in combating climate change over the next eight years. It may make the country's elite to feel good about themselves, but it will also result in large parts of the population seeing their living standards decline and their economic existence targeted by the state for ideological reasons.

      There is a malaise in the West currently, where ideological goals are pursued at the expense of the lower middle and working classes. Whether it's truckers in Canada, farmers in the Netherlands, oil and gas companies in the United States, ideology, not science or hard evidence, is dominating the agenda, gratifying the elites while immiserating the working class.

      Ultimately, there is a risk that climate policies will do to Europe what Marxism did to Latin America. A continent with all the conditions for widespread prosperity and a healthy environment will impoverish and ruin itself for ideological reasons.

      In the end, both the people and the climate will be worse off.

      • RedLogix 1.1.1

        After all, the Netherlands accounts for just 0.46 percent of the world's CO2 emissions, and while a further reduction might be desirable, it will not be decisive in combating climate change over the next eight years.

        In the meantime the nation already responsible for by far the largest fraction of global CO2 emissions, China is still ramping up the build of new coal power stations. In 2021 they built more than half the new coal power stations in the entire world.

        In the face of such mind-boggling hypocrisy I can well understand why Dutch farmers object to being made sacrificial objects in a futile performative ritual to elitist luxury beliefs.

        • Molly 1.1.1.1

          I can't find the link, but there was an article about the concern of many Germans for the expected loss of energy production heading into winter. This manifests also in widespread public support for the farmer protests.

          The familiar disregard of insulated decision makers from the real world impacts of their legislation.

          • RedLogix 1.1.1.1.1

            Your last sentence sums up an age old problem – the elites are the last people to feel the actual impact of their unwise decisions.

            A quick search threw up this article:

            In a new paper, anthropologists examined a broad, global sample of 30 pre-modern societies. They found that when "good" governments—ones that provided goods and services for their people and did not starkly concentrate wealth and power—fell apart, they broke down more intensely than collapsing despotic regimes. And the researchers found a common thread in the collapse of good governments: leaders who undermined and broke from upholding core societal principles, morals, and ideals.

            • Molly 1.1.1.1.1.1

              Good article. Do you think our Western democracies may be at this stage:

              "We noted the potential for failure caused by an internal factor that might have been manageable if properly anticipated," says Richard Blanton, a professor emeritus of anthropology at Purdue University and the study's lead author. "We refer to an inexplicable failure of the principal leadership to uphold values and norms that had long guided the actions of previous leaders, followed by a subsequent loss of citizen confidence in the leadership and government and collapse."

              The failure of adequate checks and balances on leaders and governance also rings true:

              "Our findings provide insights that should be of value in the present, most notably that societies, even ones that are well governed, prosperous, and highly regarded by most citizens, are fragile human constructs that can fail," says Blanton. "In the cases we address, calamity could very likely have been avoided, yet, citizens and state-builders too willingly assumed that their leadership will feel an obligation to do as expected for the benefit of society. Given the failure to anticipate, the kinds of institutional guardrails required to minimize the consequences of moral failure were inadequate."

              But, notes Feinman, learning about what led to societies collapsing in the past can help us make better choices now: "History has a chance to tell us something. That doesn't mean it's going to repeat exactly, but it tends to rhyme. And so that means there are lessons in these situations."

              • RedLogix

                Yes. My belief – and I admit that it is just that – is that while the mistakes from the past should inform us, the human context has changed.

                While pre-industrial societies could rise and fall with usually only a regional impact at most – we are now in a global era where nations are all intimately connected, geographically, economically and socially at least. We cannot assume that exactly the same patterns will repeat.

                But yes I agree – increasingly large fractions of ordinary people everywhere are losing trust in their governing institutions – rightly or wrongly it doesn't matter. There are no signs that anyone in the elites knows how to respond to this, beyond a doubling down on the authoritarianism that created the problem in the first place.

                Lot more I might write to this – but in the interests of keeping to the spirit of Ad's post I'll leave it here.

          • Hanswurst 1.1.1.1.2

            […] the concern of many Germans for the expected loss of energy production heading into winter. This manifests also in widespread public support for the farmer protests.

            News to me. It's true, though, that some of us (my family included) are looking at supplementing the gas heating with electric heaters this winter.

        • satty 1.1.1.2

          This part:

          Netherlands accounts for just 0.46 percent of the world's CO2 emissions

          Is a very convenient excuse for a lot of countries to do nothing. Looking at the emissions by country, for example here: World-o-meter – CO2 Emission by Country, shows that even heavy industrial countries, like Germany, only produce ~2% of global emissions. Around 190 out of 209 countries can claim they don't have to reduce emissions, because they produce "only" 1% of the global emissions or less.

          The top 5 countries – China, US, India, Russia and Japan – have a population significantly over 100 million people and are big global producers of goods and services.

          Another easy excuse is to point to China's emissions: How much of the Chinese emissions are actually linked to products consumed outside China? If the "Western World" is so concerned about China's emissions (and using it as an excuse not to reduce their own CO2 emissions), the best start would be to stop importing any Chinese-produced products, inclusive products that include Chinese-produced parts.

          Maybe Germany, which – if my memory serves correctly – was one of the top three global steel producers, should restart their steel plants and see how the country can continue reducing their emissions…

          • RedLogix 1.1.1.2.1

            I agree – allocating CO2 emissions by country is a fraught business. There are many different ways to look at it, each with their own political meaning.

            However the one very few people consider is Carbon Intensity per Unit GDP. This is the measure of how much carbon you emit for a given amount of wealth generation – and while you can see most developed nations have been improving – China still remains almost twice as bad as the US and way worse than the rest of the world.

            • satty 1.1.1.2.1.1

              Not sure comparing Carbon Intensity based on US dollar GDP is overly meaningful, because China tends to keep the Yuan artificially low, for example see Why is China's currency getting weaker

              I think the "efficient use of energy" would be a better comparison. Something like how much CO2 is produced per kWh and how much can a country produce per kWh (unfortunately, the comparison is done by a currency specific GDP, because that's what's everyone settled on).

              The best "solution" from a consumer perspective would be to have a "carbon tax" on fossil fuel on extraction and pass it through the production / transport process to the consumer (a little bit like GST). So the more efficient use of the fossil fuel would mean the production / transport cost would be lower. Therefore it might be possible for countries with higher labour costs but with more efficient production, to compete with low efficient low labour cost countries.

              But that's probably not going to happen, therefore more polluting countries with cheap labour will continue to have an advantage.

              • RedLogix

                Not sure comparing Carbon Intensity based on US dollar GDP is overly meaningful, because China tends to keep the Yuan artificially low,

                That is a good question and again I can accept that comparisons between nations are not easy, but in this case my second link suggests they have thought of this:

                The source for GDP data is the Maddison Project database. We calculate total GDP by multiplying the Maddison metric of GDP per capita, by total population. You can find our chart with this data here. GDP is measured in constant 2011 international-dollars. This means that it adjusts for price changes over time (inflation) and price differences between countries.

                Your suggestion on CO2 per kWhr is perfectly reasonable, yet given there is a very strong correlation between kWhr and GDP, it pretty much amounts to the same as the measure as I referenced.

                That link immediately above is quite good. Basically it means as long as China, and India to a lesser extent, keep building coal power stations – it really doesn’t matter a shit what the rest of us do.

        • mikesh 1.1.1.3

          In the meantime the nation already responsible for by far the largest fraction of global CO2 emissions, China

          On a per capita basis, surely not.

          • RedLogix 1.1.1.3.1

            In reality China can be thought of as two separate nations; a highly developed and industrialised First World nation consisting of the coastal cities and some of the regions like Sichuan – and a more populous and poorer nation in the interior.

            Most of the industrial CO2 comes from the First world part of China that represents only part of China's population – and on a per capita basis suddenly the numbers don't suit your argument at all.

            Imagine for instance if South Africa was to claim a very low CO2 per capita – by including the population of all it's much poorer, less industrial neighbours – everyone would see the dodge immediately. China gets away with it because most people don't think about how uneven regional development is in that nation.

            But as I suggested above CO2 per capita is just one legit way to allocate CO2 responsibility – but it is not without it's flaws and limitations and certainly does not convey the whole picture.

            • mikesh 1.1.1.3.1.1

              You seem to be suggesting that a large part of China's population should remain impoverished so that Western counties can continue with its high energy consumption. China still has a lot of catching up to do. I think we should cut them some slack by reducing our own consumption.

              • RedLogix

                No I was not suggesting that at all – but given their current terrible CO2 per unit GDP rate, if that impoverished portion of the Chinese population was to become as wealthy as the elite coastal cities – then Chinese CO2 production might rise from 28% of the global total to something close to 50%.

                I am pretty sure you are not advocating for that either.

      • Rosemary McDonald 1.1.2

        Media outlets are refusing to even report the protests, and when they do, they cast the farmers as extremists.

        Te Media have an habit of doing that.

        And folks just suck it up and spew it out like gospel.

        • Molly 1.1.2.1

          That's true.

          Been casually following the European protests by links brought up by Twitter.

          • Hanswurst 1.1.2.1.1

            I'd be wary of assuming that following Twitter links leads to less fairyland bias than following the traditional media.

            • Molly 1.1.2.1.1.1

              I follow the links to overseas media on this, because NZ doesn't seem particularly interested.

              But thanks for the tip.

      • joe90 1.1.3

        The Netherlands is smaller than the Canterbury region and farms twice the number of cattle and more than one hundred times as many pigs as Canterbury.

        Dutch farmers are drowning not only their own country but also large parts of low-land Belgium and Germany in ammonia and nitrogen-rich run-off that jiggers lakes, wet lands, water ways and oceans. They're also among the most subsidised farmers on the planet.

        And now they've had the hard-word to clean up their act by reducing stock levels, they don't like it. Poor babies.

  2. Tiger Mountain 2

    Well the Rogernomics Lab. Govt.set up Refining NZ mid 80s–essentially the then 5 main Oil Co.s– which created a vertically integrated petroleum market; importation/refining/distribution, including pipeline to Auck./retail and price setting, all by the same people.

    The oil companies basically had carte blanche to shaft NZ motorists and users, and with their transfer pricing model, profits went back to the parent companies offshore.

    Nationalisation of the industry is the obvious answer. Anywhere in the world such as Indonesia, Mid East or Latin America where there is cheap petrol there is also state/public ownership.

    The oil companies would not like that up ’em.

    and…return power generation and supply to full public ownership and control after booting Rio Tinto–compensation to the natzo created private market depending on them going quietly…

    • tc 2.1

      Here here, Keith turners stating the obvious as we've let the 'market' ream the customer, not provide a resilient enough network (blackouts, insufficient undergrounding of lines, lack of diversity) and it's totally dragged it's heels on extra renewables like wind farms.

      The one that was going from port Waikato down the west coast as one example that went pffft after the 08 election.

      About the same time we lost the 1:1 import export pricing so they game that margin by reselling power they had nothing to do with generating.

      Long overdue for re-nationalisation even without the current energy situation IMO.

  3. Cricklewood 3

    You'd think if the elites wanted to lead by example they'd do something meaningful… like get rid of private jets for example.

    If we did something about the rampant over consumption of the top 1% our resources would go alot further…

  4. Poission 4

    New Zealand is thus getting deliberately more reliant on both oil and electricity but isn’t making the public controls to hasten the shift with any urgency – particularly when you see EU countries of all political stripe leading the way through energy supply and price spikes.

    Spain says Ole and repeats the Merkel Rhetoric back.

    https://twitter.com/bopanc/status/1549832231690043393?cxt=HHwWgoCw9YGNjoIrAAAA

    Electricity prices being 25% cheaper in Madrid then Berlin.

    • pat 4.1

      Ouch…that'll learn them (or not)

      • Poission 4.1.1

        Central and northern Europe ( as is the uk) are dependent on fossil fuels for space heating and hot water,both in residential and services such as hospitals.

        IEA electricity update jul 2022.

        Significantly reducing Europe’s reliance on fossil fuels will need a
        deep transformation of the energy system, including greater use of
        renewable energy and electrification of more energy end uses.
        Developing flexibility options will be key to a successful transition.
        Depending on how it is done, decarbonising the space heating
        sector could turn out to be a blessing or a curse.

        Space heating accounts for a large share of total energy demand in
        Europe, at over 60% of total residential and almost one-third of total
        services sector energy use in 2020. In turn, space heating
        accounted for over half of CO 2 emissions in the residential and more
        than one-quarter in the services sector

        A substantive amount of housing is not efficient for substitution to heat pumps which require better property insulation.

        Due to their technical characteristics (higher efficiency with lower
        heat generation), heat pumps are best suited for well-insulated
        buildings. However, many existing buildings in Europe were built
        without significant energy efficiency requirements in place. Various
        studies show that the current building envelope renovation rate of
        1.3% (with below 1% primary energy reduction) must be expanded
        to 2% to 4% to reach long-term decarbonisation targets.

        So there is a need for both increased renewable,greater energy savings,more housing efficiency,a higher rate for energy subsidy for voters, (Germany will need to triple from 43b Euro last year) all funded by debt.

        • pat 4.1.1.1

          The most critical thing needed is the one thing we cannot produce or modify….time

          • Poission 4.1.1.1.1

            Time is relevant,it seems more imperative to the on demand generation with short term goals,rather then those who see the same errors being repeated eg.Boom-bust-boom rinse repeat.

            • pat 4.1.1.1.1.1

              They thought they had tamed the business cycle…they only delayed it and increased its intensity.

              • Poission

                Whilst trying to overt a business downturn following covid,they increased the risk of sensitivity to shocks (where all contractions of the same sign ) return to a nearby position (hookes law of elasticity) Housing intervention by the government being a good example,of wanting to sustain high costs.

                In the energy sector we have 2 distinct areas,liquid (mostly for transportation) and energy for production and electrical generation .Looking at the electricity sector which is not at risk from overseas supply shocks it has been significantly stable over the last decade.

                2010 Generation 43540 gwh

                2021 Generation 43112 gwh

                The change in the generation mix has been a substitution from gas to wind and geothermal and renewables from 74.3-82%

                Consumption has decreased in Agriculture and manufacturing, and increased in commercial and residential.

                Generation loss has increased in HCDC (1.3 %) and decreased in local distribution by 4.6% (mostly due to solar and substation upgrades) the savings in local distribution loss are around 200 gwh.

                • pat

                  Electricity consumption has decreased from Ag?…that is a surprise…over what period?

                  • Poission

                    Peaked 2015,lots of efficiency gains have been introduced (as have manufacturing)

                    • pat

                      Would have picked a later peak than 2015…maybe 2017/18 for dairy conversions, which are energy intensive….but then there was a bit of back peddling around then.

                    • Poission

                      Irrigation is the big user there ,but seasonal,and during winter the use in some areas is for winter hydro (rakaia)

                      Agriculture (and processing) is seasonal dependent which frees up a lot of energy capacity for domestic and service heating etc,without a large demand (and price) spike.

                      A lot of the conversions had new technology upgrades( chilling etc) which would have reduced the unit volume use.

                    • pat

                      There is another (potentially) significant factor to be considered with dairy conversions…housing. The labour units on dairy are considerably higher than the previous activities and most is resident…there is also a considerable increase in support activity facilitated by the increased farm revenue.

                    • Poission

                      True.Increased rural population growth is a big issue with demand forecasting in rural/provincial centres.

                      A good example was the under investment in Southland hospital build which was designed with a population decrease forecast.

                      The subsequent job/and hence population demand was inverse to the forecast hence the hospital was undersized and underfunded from completion.

        • Incognito 4.1.1.2

          Where is your link?

    • Bearded Git 4.2

      Los españoles tienen que luchar su esquina.

      • Chris 4.2.1

        Sí, eso es cierto, pero ningún país es una isla en todos los sentidos.

        • Bearded Git 4.2.1.1

          Cierto. Hablas muy bien senor.

          • Chris 4.2.1.1.1

            Gracias, pero debo admitir que mi español es pobre y he usado un traductor en línea para responder a sus comentarios, incluido este. Entonces, a eso, debo decir que es probable que tu español sea mucho más avanzado que el mío.

  5. weka 5

    Very good Ad.

  6. RedLogix 6

    Ad

    Good post mate. Your final sentence nails it. As far as transport fuels are concerned NZ is at the long thin end of a supply chain starting in the Persian Gulf. There are so many things that could go wrong with this it is hard to know where to start.

    The problem is far too many people thinking that sooner or later the conditions of 2019 will return and security of supply will be 'normal' again. Well that is not going to happen – that world is gone and not coming back anytime soon.

    • Ad 6.1

      Thanks it was Poisson and a couple of others yesterday who provoked me out of quick sentences into actual writing.

      Dr Turner is an old crustie with a singular focus on his pumped hydro scheme, but you've got to heed the old crusties.

      We seriously need historical memory in Wellington and in Canberra for energy futures right now.

      • Poission 6.1.1

        Transpower has to make a lot of assumptions with its demand forecast model,such as new demands from EV or data processing centres which change on the whim of a political initiative.

        EV (home charging) could change demand issues if they could be managed by the local distributer say,with overnight differential rates (similar to HW)

  7. RedLogix 7

    Speaking of climate change – as I type sitting here at home in Brisbane the weather is so cold, wet and miserable I have a hot water bottle under my jacket.

    Figure that!

  8. Maurice 8

    "at the long thin end of a supply chain starting in the Persian Gulf"

    A considerable proportion of our transport fuel comes via Singapore, Japan and Korea and some of that supply chain still starts in ……. Russia (surprise!).

    https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/128409194/russian-oil-could-still-be-finding-its-way-to-nz-in-imported-petrol-and-diesel

    "The switch away from importing and refining crude oil appears to have complicated the task of ensuring the supply chain is clean of Russian oil."

    “As refineries source their crude from a number of different markets, the Government has limited visibility of all the inputs in the finished refined product,” she said. (Megan Woods)

  9. Stuart Munro 9

    Although reversing the egregious theft of NZ's generation resources is long overdue, I'm not sure it's the best or fastest climate mitigation strategy.

    Planting redwoods or kauri promises to sequester carbon while producing a resource so valuable burning it is not on the radar. And kauri cope well with higher temperatures – brown coal remnants from Central Otago show the region was once heavily forested – with kauri.

    An even faster route (which I have advocated here before) is re-establishing our kelp forests. Grows incredibly fast. A keystone species that also enhances our chronically mismanaged and thus declining fisheries.

    Even Buddha advised tree planting. It doesn't require rare minerals, just space, and sometimes a little care.

  10. Christine Rose 10

    The trope that NZ farmer's are the most carbon efficient in the world is not accurate, and the DairyNZ research which that claim was based on has been updated, showing we are in the middle of the international pack. The original calculations also excluded process heat and transport.

    Also, the Netherland's livestock reductions aren't because of GHG emissions but because of nitrate pollution to waterways. There are real limits to intensive agriculture, and contaminated freshwater is a clear indicator – as New Zealanders should also be aware. These rules won't just affect the Netherlands either, but are EU wide and we will see more changes to come. We can't just keep pumping this toxic waste into the environment and think it's ok, because it's farmers.

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    Bryce Edwards writes – Last week former National Party leader Simon Bridges was appointed by the Government as the new chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA). You can read about the appointment in Thomas Coughlan’s article, Simon Bridges to become chair of NZ Transport Agency ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 hours ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' at 10:10am on Tuesday, March 19
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Gavin Jacobson talks to Thomas Piketty 10 years on from Capital in the 21st Century The SalvoLocal scoop: Green MP’s business being investigated over migrant exploitation claims Stuff Steve KilgallonLocal deep-dive: The commercial contractors making money from School ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 hours ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things on Tuesday, March 19
    It’s a home - but Kāinga Ora tenants accused of “abusing the privilege” may lose it. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The Government announced a crackdown on Kāinga Ora tenants who were unruly and/or behind on their rent, with Housing Minister Chris Bishop saying a place in a state ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    7 hours ago
  • New Life for Light Rail
    This is a guest post by Connor Sharp of Surface Light Rail  Light rail in Auckland: A way forward sooner than you think With the coup de grâce of Auckland Light Rail (ALR) earlier this year, and the shift of the government’s priorities to roads, roads, and more roads, it ...
    Greater AucklandBy Guest Post
    8 hours ago
  • Why Are Bosses Nearly All Buffoons?
    Note: As a paid-up Webworm member, I’ve recorded this Webworm as a mini-podcast for you as well. Some of you said you liked this option - so I aim to provide it when I get a chance to record! Read more ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    10 hours ago
  • Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6.06 pm on March 18
    TL;DR: In my ‘six-stack’ of substacks at 6.06pm on Monday, March 18:IKEA is accused of planting big forests in New Zealand to green-wash; REDD-MonitorA City for People takes a well-deserved victory lap over Wellington’s pro-YIMBY District Plan votes; A City for PeopleSteven Anastasiou takes a close look at the sticky ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    22 hours ago
  • Peters holds his ground on co-governance, but Willis wriggles on those tax cuts and SNA suspension l...
    Buzz from the Beehive Here’s hoping for a lively post-cabinet press conference when the PM and – perhaps – some of his ministers tell us what was discussed at their meeting today. Until then, Point of Order has precious little Beehive news to report after its latest monitoring of the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    1 day ago
  • Labour’s final report card
    David Farrar writes –  We now have almost all 2023 data in, which has allowed me to update my annual table of how  went against its promises. This is basically their final report card. The promise The result Build 100,000 affordable homes over 10 ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • “Drunk Uncle at a Wedding”
    I’m a bit worried that I’ve started a previous newsletter with the words “just when you think they couldn’t get any worse…” Seems lately that I could begin pretty much every issue with that opening. Such is the nature of our coalition government that they seem to be outdoing each ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 day ago
  • Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Geoffrey Miller writes – Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    1 day ago
  • Gordon Campbell on Dune 2, and images of Islam
    Depictions of Islam in Western popular culture have rarely been positive, even before 9/11. Five years on from the mosque shootings, this is one of the cultural headwinds that the Muslim community has to battle against. Whatever messages of tolerance and inclusion are offered in daylight, much of our culture ...
    1 day ago
  • New Rail Operations Centre Promises Better Train Services
    Last week Transport Minster Simeon Brown and Mayor Wayne Brown opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre. The new train control centre will see teams from KiwiRail, Auckland Transport and Auckland One Rail working more closely together to improve train services across the city. The Auckland Rail Operations Centre in ...
    1 day ago
  • Bernard's six newsy things at 6.36am on Monday, March 18
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson said in an exit interview with Q+A yesterday the Government can and should sustain more debt to invest in infrastructure for future generations. Elsewhere in the news in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 6:36am: Read more ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: Wang Yi’s perfectly-timed, Aukus-themed visit to New Zealand
    Timing is everything. And from China’s perspective, this week’s visit by its foreign minister to New Zealand could be coming at just the right moment. The visit by Wang Yi to Wellington will be his first since 2017. Anniversaries are important to Beijing. It is more than just a happy ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    1 day ago
  • The Kaka’s diary for the week to March 25 and beyond
    TL;DR: The key events to watch in Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the week to March 18 include:China’s Foreign Minister visiting Wellington today;A post-cabinet news conference this afternoon; the resumption of Parliament on Tuesday for two weeks before Easter;retiring former Labour Finance Minister Grant Robertson gives his valedictory speech in Parliament; ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago
  • Bitter and angry; Winston First
    New Zealand First Leader Winston Peters’s state-of-the-nation speech on Sunday was really a state-of-Winston-First speech. He barely mentioned any of the Government’s key policies and could not even wholly endorse its signature income tax cuts. Instead, he rehearsed all of his complaints about the Ardern Government, including an extraordinary claim ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #11
    A listing of 35 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, March 10, 2024 thru Sat, March 16, 2024. Story of the week This week we'll give you a little glimpse into how we collect links to share and ...
    1 day ago
  • Out of Touch.
    “I’ve been internalising a really complicated situation in my head.”When they kept telling us we should wait until we get to know him, were they taking the piss? Was it a case of, if you think this is bad, wait till you get to know the real Christopher, after the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • Bring out your Dad
    Happy fourth anniversary, Pandemic That Upended Bloody Everything. I have been observing it by enjoying my second bout of COVID. It’s 5.30 on Sunday morning and only now are lights turning back on for me.Allow me to copy and paste what I told reader Sara yesterday:Depleted, fogged and crappy. Resting, ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago
  • The bewildering world of Chris Luxon – Guns for all, not no lunch for kids
    .“$10 and a target that bleeds” - Bleeding Targets for Under $10!.Thanks for reading Frankly Speaking ! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.This government appears hell-bent on either scrapping life-saving legislation or reintroducing things that - frustrated critics insist - will be dangerous and likely ...
    Frankly SpeakingBy Frank Macskasy
    3 days ago
  • Expert Opinion: Ageing Boomers, Laurie & Les, Talk Politics.
    It hardly strikes me as fair to criticise a government for doing exactly what it said it was going to do. For actually keeping its promises.”THUNDER WAS PLAYING TAG with lightning flashes amongst the distant peaks. Its rolling cadences interrupted by the here-I-come-here-I-go Doppler effect of the occasional passing car. ...
    3 days ago
  • Manufacturing The Truth.
    Subversive & Disruptive Technologies: Just as happened with that other great regulator of the masses, the Medieval Church, the advent of a new and hard-to-control technology – the Internet –  is weakening the ties that bind. Then, and now, those who enjoy a monopoly on the dissemination of lies, cannot and will ...
    3 days ago
  • A Powerful Sensation of Déjà Vu.
    Been Here Before: To find the precedents for what this Coalition Government is proposing, it is necessary to return to the “glory days” of Muldoonism.THE COALITION GOVERNMENT has celebrated its first 100 days in office by checking-off the last of its listed commitments. It remains, however, an angry government. It ...
    3 days ago
  • Can you guess where world attention is focussed (according to Greenpeace)? It’s focussed on an EPA...
    Bob Edlin writes –  And what is the world watching today…? The email newsletter from Associated Press which landed in our mailbox early this morning advised: In the news today: The father of a school shooter has been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter; prosecutors in Trump’s hush-money case ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago
  • Further integrity problems for the Greens in suspending MP Darleen Tana
    Bryce Edwards writes – Is another Green MP on their way out? And are the Greens severely tarnished by another integrity scandal? For the second time in three months, the Green Party has secretly suspended an MP over integrity issues. Mystery is surrounding the party’s decision to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago
  • Jacqui Van Der Kaay: Greens’ transparency missing in action
    For the last few years, the Green Party has been the party that has managed to avoid the plague of multiple scandals that have beleaguered other political parties. It appears that their luck has run out with a second scandal which, unfortunately for them, coincided with Golraz Ghahraman, the focus ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago
  • Bernard’s Dawn Chorus with six newsey things at 6:46am for Saturday, March 16
    TL;DR: The six newsey things that stood out to me as of 6:46am on Saturday, March 16.Andy Foster has accidentally allowed a Labour/Green amendment to cut road user chargers for plug-in hybrid vehicles, which the Government might accept; NZ Herald Thomas Coughlan Simeon Brown has rejected a plea from Westport ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago
  • How Did FTX Crash?
    What seemed a booming success a couple of years ago has collapsed into fraud convictions.I looked at the crash of FTX (short for ‘Futures Exchange’) in November 2022 to see whether it would impact on the financial system as a whole. Fortunately there was barely a ripple, probably because it ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    4 days ago
  • Elections in Russia and Ukraine
    Anybody following the situation in Ukraine and Russia would probably have been amused by a recent Tweet on X NATO seems to be putting in an awful lot of effort to influence what is, at least according to them, a sham election in an autocracy.When do the Ukrainians go to ...
    4 days ago
  • Bernard’s six stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15
    TL;DR: Shaun Baker on Wynyard Quarter's transformation. Magdalene Taylor on the problem with smart phones. How private equity are now all over reinsurance. Dylan Cleaver on rugby and CTE. Emily Atkin on ‘Big Meat’ looking like ‘Big Oil’.Bernard’s six-stack of substacks at 6pm on March 15Photo by Jeppe Hove Jensen ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Buzz from the Beehive Finance Minister Nicola Willis had plenty to say when addressing the Auckland Business Chamber on the economic growth that (she tells us) is flagging more than we thought. But the government intends to put new life into it:  We want our country to be a ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    4 days ago
  • National’s clean car tax advances
    The Transport and Infrastructure Committee has reported back on the Road User Charges (Light Electric RUC Vehicles) Amendment Bill, basicly rubberstamping it. While there was widespread support among submitters for the principle that EV and PHEV drivers should pay their fair share for the roads, they also overwhelmingly disagreed with ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    4 days ago
  • Government funding bailouts
    Peter Dunne writes – This week’s government bailout – the fifth in the last eighteen months – of the financially troubled Ruapehu Alpine Lifts company would have pleased many in the central North Island ski industry. The government’s stated rationale for the $7 million funding was that it ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Two offenders, different treatments.
    See if you can spot the difference. An Iranian born female MP from a progressive party is accused of serial shoplifting. Her name is leaked to the media, which goes into a pack frenzy even before the Police launch an … Continue reading ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    4 days ago
  • Treaty references omitted
    Ele Ludemann writes  – The government is omitting general Treaty references from legislation : The growth of Treaty of Waitangi clauses in legislation caused so much worry that a special oversight group was set up by the last Government in a bid to get greater coherence in the public service on Treaty ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • The Ghahraman Conflict
    What was that judge thinking? Peter Williams writes –  That Golriz Ghahraman and District Court Judge Maria Pecotic were once lawyer colleagues is incontrovertible. There is published evidence that they took at least one case to the Court of Appeal together. There was a report on ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 15
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Climate Scorpion – the sting is in the tail. Introducing planetary solvency. A paper via the University of Exeter’s Institute and Faculty of Actuaries.Local scoop: Kāinga Ora starts pulling out of its Auckland projects and selling land RNZ ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • The day Wellington up-zoned its future
    Wellington’s massively upzoned District Plan adds the opportunity for tens of thousands of new homes not just in the central city (such as these Webb St new builds) but also close to the CBD and public transport links. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: Wellington gave itself the chance of ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Weekly Roundup 15-March-2024
    It’s Friday and we’re halfway through March Madness. Here’s some of the things that caught our attention this week. This Week in Greater Auckland On Monday Matt asked how we can get better event trains and an option for grade separating Morningside Dr. On Tuesday Matt looked into ...
    Greater AucklandBy Greater Auckland
    4 days ago
  • That Word.
    Something you might not know about me is that I’m quite a stubborn person. No, really. I don’t much care for criticism I think’s unfair or that I disagree with. Few of us do I suppose.Back when I was a drinker I’d sometimes respond defensively, even angrily. There are things ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago
  • The Hoon around the week to March 15
    Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: The five things that mattered in Aotearoa’s political economy that we wrote and spoke about via The Kākā and elsewhere for paying subscribers in the last week included:PM Christopher Luxon said the reversal of interest deductibility for landlords was done to help renters, who ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    4 days ago
  • Labour’s policy gap
    It was not so much the Labour Party but really the Chris Hipkins party yesterday at Labour’s caucus retreat in Martinborough. The former Prime Minister was more or less consistent on wealth tax, which he was at best equivocal about, and social insurance, which he was not willing to revisit. ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    4 days ago
  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #11 2024
    Open access notables A Glimpse into the Future: The 2023 Ocean Temperature and Sea Ice Extremes in the Context of Longer-Term Climate Change, Kuhlbrodt et al., Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society: In the year 2023, we have seen extraordinary extrema in high sea surface temperature (SST) in the North Atlantic and in ...
    5 days ago
  • Melissa remains mute on media matters but has something to say (at a sporting event) about economic ...
     Buzz from the Beehive   The text reproduced above appears on a page which records all the media statements and speeches posted on the government’s official website by Melissa Lee as Minister of Media and Communications and/or by Jenny Marcroft, her Parliamentary Under-secretary.  It can be quickly analysed ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    5 days ago
  • The return of Muldoon
    For forty years, Robert Muldoon has been a dirty word in our politics. His style of government was so repulsive and authoritarian that the backlash to it helped set and entrench our constitutional norms. His pig-headedness over forcing through Think Big eventually gave us the RMA, with its participation and ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    5 days ago
  • Will the rental tax cut improve life for renters or landlords?
    Bryce Edwards writes –  Is the new government reducing tax on rental properties to benefit landlords or to cut the cost of rents? That’s the big question this week, after Associate Finance Minister David Seymour announced on Sunday that the Government would be reversing the Labour Government’s removal ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Geoffrey Miller: What Saudi Arabia’s rapid changes mean for New Zealand
    Saudi Arabia is rarely far from the international spotlight. The war in Gaza has brought new scrutiny to Saudi plans to normalise relations with Israel, while the fifth anniversary of the controversial killing of Jamal Khashoggi was marked shortly before the war began on October 7. And as the home ...
    Democracy ProjectBy Geoffrey Miller
    5 days ago
  • Racism’s double standards
    Questions need to be asked on both sides of the world Peter Williams writes –   The NRL Judiciary hands down an eight week suspension to Sydney Roosters forward Spencer Leniu , an Auckland-born Samoan, after he calls Ezra Mam, Sydney-orn but of Aboriginal and Torres Strait ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • It’s not a tax break
    Ele Ludemann writes – Contrary to what many headlines and news stories are saying, residential landlords are not getting a tax break. The government is simply restoring to them the tax deductibility of interest they had until the previous government removed it. There is no logical reason ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • The Plastic Pig Collective and Chris' Imaginary Friends.
    I can't remember when it was goodMoments of happiness in bloomMaybe I just misunderstoodAll of the love we left behindWatching our flashbacks intertwineMemories I will never findIn spite of whatever you becomeForget that reckless thing turned onI think our lives have just begunI think our lives have just begunDoes anyone ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago
  • Who is responsible for young offenders?
    Michael Bassett writes – At first reading, a front-page story in the New Zealand Herald on 13 March was bizarre. A group of severely intellectually limited teenagers, with little understanding of the law, have been pleading to the Justice Select Committee not to pass a bill dealing with ram ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago
  • Gordon Campbell on National’s fantasy trip to La La Landlord Land
    How much political capital is Christopher Luxon willing to burn through in order to deliver his $2.9 billion gift to landlords? Evidently, Luxon is: (a) unable to cost the policy accurately. As Anna Burns-Francis pointed out to him on Breakfast TV, the original ”rock solid” $2.1 billion cost he was ...
    5 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 14
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Jonathon Porritt calling bullshit in his own blog post on mainstream climate science as ‘The New Denialism’.Local scoop: The Wellington City Council’s list of proposed changes to the IHP recommendations to be debated later today was leaked this ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • No, Prime Minister, rents don’t rise or fall with landlords’ costs
    TL;DR: Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said yesterday tenants should be grateful for the reinstatement of interest deductibility because landlords would pass on their lower tax costs in the form of lower rents. That would be true if landlords were regulated monopolies such as Transpower or Auckland Airport1, but they’re not, ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    5 days ago
  • Cartoons: ‘At least I didn’t make things awkward’
    This is a re-post from Yale Climate Connections by Tom Toro Tom Toro is a cartoonist and author. He has published over 200 cartoons in The New Yorker since 2010. His cartoons appear in Playboy, the Paris Review, the New York Times, American Bystander, and elsewhere. Related: What 10 EV lovers ...
    5 days ago
  • Solving traffic congestion with Richard Prebble
    The business section of the NZ Herald is full of opinion. Among the more opinionated of all is the ex-Minister of Transport, ex-Minister of Railways, ex MP for Auckland Central (1975-93, Labour), Wellington Central (1996-99, ACT, then list-2005), ex-leader of the ACT Party, uncle to actor Antonia, the veritable granddaddy ...
    Greater AucklandBy Patrick Reynolds
    5 days ago
  • I Think I'm Done Flying Boeing
    Hi,Just quickly — I’m blown away by the stories you’ve shared with me over the last week since I put out the ‘Gary’ podcast, where I told you about the time my friend’s flatmate killed the neighbour.And you keep telling me stories — in the comments section, and in my ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 days ago
  • Invoking Aristotle: Of Rings of Power, Stones, and Ships
    The first season of Rings of Power was not awful. It was thoroughly underwhelming, yes, and left a lingering sense of disappointment, but it was more expensive mediocrity than catastrophe. I wrote at length about the series as it came out (see the Review section of the blog, and go ...
    6 days ago
  • Van Velden brings free-market approach to changing labour laws – but her colleagues stick to distr...
    Buzz from the Beehive Workplace Relations and Safety Minister Brooke van Velden told Auckland Business Chamber members they were the first audience to hear her priorities as a minister in a government committed to cutting red tape and regulations. She brandished her liberalising credentials, saying Flexible labour markets are the ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • Why Newshub failed
    Chris Trotter writes – TO UNDERSTAND WHY NEWSHUB FAILED, it is necessary to understand how TVNZ changed. Up until 1989, the state broadcaster had been funded by a broadcasting licence fee, collected from every citizen in possession of a television set, supplemented by a relatively modest (compared ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Māori Party on the warpath against landlords and seabed miners – let’s see if mystical creature...
    Bob Edlin writes  –  The Māori Party has been busy issuing a mix of warnings and threats as its expresses its opposition to interest deductibility for landlords and the plans of seabed miners. It remains to be seen whether they  follow the example of indigenous litigants in Australia, ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago
  • There’s a name for this
    Every year, in the Budget, Parliament forks out money to government agencies to do certain things. And every year, as part of the annual review cycle, those agencies are meant to report on whether they have done the things Parliament gave them that money for. Agencies which consistently fail to ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    6 days ago
  • Echoes of 1968 in 2024?  Pocock on the repetitive problems of the New Left
    Mike Grimshaw writes – Recent events in American universities point to an underlying crisis of coherent thinking, an issue that increasingly affects the progressive left across the Western world. This of course is nothing new as anyone who can either remember or has read of the late ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago
  • Two bar blues
    The thing about life’s little victories is that they can be followed by a defeat.Reader Darryl told me on Monday night:Test again Dave. My “head cold” last week became COVID within 24 hours, and is still with me. I hear the new variants take a bit longer to show up ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago
  • Bernard's Top 10 @ 10 'pick 'n' mix' for March 13
    TL;DR: My top 10 news and analysis links this morning include:Today’s must-read: Angus Deaton on rethinking his economics IMFLocal scoop: The people behind Tamarind, the firm that left a $500m cleanup bill for taxpayers at Taranaki’s Tui oil well, are back operating in Taranaki under a different company name. Jonathan ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago
  • AT Need To Lift Their Game
    Normally when we talk about accessing public transport it’s about improving how easy it is to get to, such as how easy is it to cross roads in a station/stop’s walking catchment, is it possible to cycle to safely, do bus connections work, or even if are there new routes/connections ...
    6 days ago
  • Christopher's Whopper.
    Politicians are not renowned for telling the truth. Some tell us things that are verifiably not true. They offer statements that omit critical pieces of information. Gloss over risks, preferring to offer the best case scenario.Some not truths are quite small, others amusing in their transparency. There are those repeated ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    6 days ago

  • Positive progress for social worker workforce
    New Zealand’s social workers are qualified, experienced, and more representative of the communities they serve, Social Development and Employment Minister Louise Upston says. “I want to acknowledge and applaud New Zealand’s social workers for the hard work they do, providing invaluable support for our most vulnerable. “To coincide with World ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 hours ago
  • Minister confirms reduced RUC rate for PHEVs
    Cabinet has agreed to a reduced road user charge (RUC) rate for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. Owners of PHEVs will be eligible for a reduced rate of $38 per 1,000km once all light electric vehicles (EVs) move into the RUC system from 1 April.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 hours ago
  • Trade access to overseas markets creates jobs
    Minister of Agriculture and Trade, Todd McClay, says that today’s opening of Riverland Foods manufacturing plant in Christchurch is a great example of how trade access to overseas markets creates jobs in New Zealand.  Speaking at the official opening of this state-of-the-art pet food factory the Minister noted that exports ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago
  • NZ and Chinese Foreign Ministers hold official talks
    Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Wellington today. “It was a pleasure to host Foreign Minister Wang Yi during his first official visit to New Zealand since 2017. Our discussions were wide-ranging and enabled engagement on many facets of New Zealand’s relationship with China, including trade, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    24 hours ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
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