What kind of system change do we want right now?

Written By: - Date published: 2:11 pm, March 19th, 2020 - 37 comments
Categories: food - Tags: , , ,

From the Herald article,

An Auckland woman in self-isolation has been left empty-handed after her online grocery order was cancelled without any warning.

The woman said her order at New World Stonefields comprised mostly of baby items and she was now working out how she would source her groceries

“We could have had someone else get everything for us but we’re now stuck.

There’s a conversation to be had, which the mainstream are already doing, about how to swiftly transition conventional systems into ones that can cope with the new landscape. For example, using a closed supermarket as a warehouse for online shopping. These processes take time (that Countdown example won’t be ready until sometimes in April), and smaller hacks within existing systems are being implemented too.

There’s been a new surge of panic buying in some places in NZ. Incognito mentioned in Open Mike about flattening the curve in relation to groceries, and we can be mindful here of the need for this, the relationship between our needs and supply lines. This isn’t new. In many circles conversations about how NZ only has enough food for three days in a big emergency is pretty normal (and may be part of people’s panic). But we’re not in that kind of emergency. The global system hasn’t collapsed, this is not a fast emergency despite all the stress of how quickly and often things are changing, it’s not a hard collapse. It’s that the demand has increased suddenly. That’s on the people.

Pertinent here is how many (or few) people trust society or the collective. We can and should be working on that. Lots of messaging to help people feel more secure would go a long way. How to share, how to trust, how to build security.

There’s another conversation that needs to happen too, which is the need for a cultural shift away from expecting the global food supply chain to be always the thing we rely on, and to working with our communities as our primary security. Someone in that woman’s street or wider area should be able to help with her shopping, but she is stuck because we don’t have those systems set up to be reliable either.

This isn’t always going to work of course, because humans are fallible and we’ve lost a lot of community skills in the last half century. But while I think changes to those conventional systems are needed, the wider need is to change in ways that not only meet the existing crisis but future proof us as well.

This is a particular skill set, I see it in regenerative, transition towns, permaculture sectors a lot, where it is normal to do both at the same time.  The first thing I see about that is how many people will be assuming that this is a temporary crisis and that we will go back to normal in time. I think this is unlikely and that we are entering a long period of transition, but we don’t yet know what to. Being committed to it being something good would go a long way.

In my circles I’m see the understanding that we need to start growing more food where we live. This isn’t a fear based, survivalist action. It’s a recognition that we will probably need to take some of the pressure off the food supply lines this year. People who already grow food will see growing more as a natural extension of what they do, and a proactive response to the crisis. In terms of the point above about big picture resilient design, it dovetails neatly with two things.

One is future proofing. Relocalising food supply to any extent makes society more stable, because small, complex systems are inherently more resilient.

The other is that it’s exactly what we need to be doing anyway in regards to climate change. This is the ideal opportunity to get a number of things right, and it is very easy in NZ to get a lot more people growing food. Not everyone mind, but more.

The added benefits here are that gardening is something we can do while staying at home, and for many it is a great stress relief. It also keeps us fit instead of going to the gym. The bigger, longer pictures is we can create jobs from local food growing, keep money in the community where it belongs, and foster better community connections.

The middle classes need to do some heavy lifting here. Make resources available to low income people in our communities so that they can garden. Lots of ways that this could happen right now, from tool buying/sharing, to teaching propagation. If you can’t garden, but have the funds, then pay someone else to grow food for your and your community.

If you’re in a part of the country that has panic buying this week, maybe swing past the Mitre10 or local garden centre and pick up some seeds or seedlings for the garden, and share them around.

Mod note: please take care to be kind. We’re all stressed in various ways, and some are managing and some aren’t, so let’s cut ourselves some collective slack and make everyone’s lives easier, including the mods. If you can’t be kind please at least think about respect.

37 comments on “What kind of system change do we want right now? ”

  1. Grant Insley 1

    Isn't it strange how the most popular opinions and fixes revolve around someone else doing something? Then like a breath of fresh air we have a suggestion we could be more self reliant. I have several different types of garden in my modest back yard. Raised beds, pyramids, espaliered fruit trees, various hydroponic sets even a small greenhouse with a static hydroponic system. I have 4 chooks and some top bar beehives. I advise the local community gardens and share my experiences via my Photographic FB page. It's what I was taught and yes it is therapeutic. even talked my GP into setting up some plants in flexi tubs, he now recognises what a great stress reliever it is for him. Honest it's not hard if the you use the techniques that suit your ability. The best bit? ALL of my gardens are relocatable!

    • weka 1.1

      I reckon fruit and nut trees would be a good bet at the moment for people who don't normally garden. Bit long term for some, but very easy to do for people that have the space. Can be relocatable too!

  2. infused 2

    working from home won't stick. It's been tried. so many people just fuck around.

    • weka 2.1

      can't see the problem with that tbh, NZers work too hard as it is.

    • Brigid 2.2

      Can't agree with that.

      I found that I worked far more hours when I worked from home than I did when I worked from an office. The job is always there waiting for your attention. It does pay to have a job you enjoy of course.

      • JanM 2.2.1

        I agree

        . When I was lecturing the only way I could prepare in reasonable time was to work from home

    • KJT 2.3

      Found the opposite in fact. When I was doing an office job.

      Achieved a lot more than in the office. Especially avoiding all the pointless, meetings.

      Stopping the job from taking over my entire life, because my "office" was in the lounge, was the real issue.

  3. Rosemary McDonald 3

    "…maybe swing by and pick up some seeds…:

    Gee. Ta, weka. Now there will be all the 'nutters' in the garden centre buying up large.

    🙄

    Old People/Offspring conversation the other night went a bit sour as I pontificated quite emphatically that for the sake of Mother Earth we should not go back to our jet setting ways.

    'Stay home. Skype etc …use the tech you youngsters love to cut down dramatically on the overseas travel. Even After, don't go back to those planet fucking ways.'

    Went down like a cup of cold sick, initially.

    They'll come round.

    Just wait till I show them about the canals in Venice.

    (Link locked onto my clipboard and I can't free it )

    She's forgiving, our Mother, ain't she?

  4. Brigid 4

    Went to paknslave yesterday in Whangarei. The place was more crowded than I've ever seen any supermarket before, even more so than an Christmas. Queues of 4 or 5 at every checkout.

    Twas most strange.

    Called in at Mitrebe 10. Not a face mask to be seen. Too bad for those wanting to do some sanding etc.

    But Flip, the loverlies, have given us an unlimited connection cuz covid. Damn nice I reckon.

    • Did a small shop at New World tonight and weary butcher told me they had done more sales by 4pm than they did on Christmas Eve. All the workers looked tired and well over it.

    • RedBaronCV 5.1

      Hickeys view of the new normal – largely seems to be predicated around giving Nact a share of the power .

      • RedBaronCV 5.1.1

        any suggestion of that during the GFC – sharing power – that would be a "no"

        • Incognito 5.1.1.1

          Ah, yes, but this time we have a different team in power that is kinder and more inclusive 😉

  5. bill 6

    Just a very rough and ready sketch coming off the top of my head…

    A several hundred dollar per week universal payment to every person.

    Buy what you want with that. I guess people will initially buy stuff and "smash" as they do at present.

    But with several hundred dollars in the pocket, I can think of a fair few people who will dump time consuming and stupid jobs, so maybe it won't be possible to spend any of that several hundred dollars on "smash"…because no-one's turning up to produce it in the first place.

    All those people suddenly not holding down daft jobs is a lot of people suddenly confronted with the opportunity to rediscover community.

    So (illustrative, off the cuff example), although everyone walks away from the local toilet paper factory, communities kinda reckon they quite like having toilet paper, and so the toilet roll factory gets set back in motion by workers/members of communities who organise the work in ways to ameliorate the soul destroying reality that probably accompanies current toilet roll production (anyone who has ever worked in a factory will know what that's about)

    If the urge to rush to the final destination of right wing tosh is resisted (ie – a world where all human interactions are monetised), then the several hundred dollars per week that's initially spent on smash merely becomes a vehicle away from capitalist relationships – ie, the money itself loses value because no-one is really interested in charging for anything – the food is grown, children are cared for/schooled, infrastructure is maintained and hell, even toilet paper is produced 🙂

    And it's all done from a community perspective where individual identity is contingent upon or subsumed by something larger than self and not predicated on the dysfunctional individualistic nonsense that we're currently conditioned to.

    Alternatively, we can make like foetal in the corner, hoping and waiting for the whole shebang of last week/last month to be cobbled back together so we can carry on riding the world off a cliff of warming. 🙂

    • Stunned mullet 6.1

      A type of NZ kibbutzin movement ?

      • bill 6.1.1

        Exercising forms of self-empowering control and responsibility at a community level could have any number of labels and ideological sign posts attached to it. I don't really care what anyone might want to call the elevation of basic human wellbeing above an all pervasive and highly destructive chrematistic ideology.

        If you're thinking "NZ kibbutzin", then sure… whatever. Like I say, the name or label doesn't matter for me – as long as it doesn't foster an ideology that might impinge on our ability to bring into being, humane ways by which we might live, and dance, and die, and cry.

    • Incognito 6.2

      yes

  6. joe90 7

    What kind of system change do we want right now?

    One that sets this in stone.

    https://twitter.com/TXShamrock665/status/1240443419174014976

    Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.”

    –Abraham Lincoln September 30, 1859

    • KJT 7.1

      Funny that.

      As noted in the twin towers collapse.

      All those high paid accountants, lawyers and assorted financial wizards had to be shown by cleaners, maintenance workers and firemen that internal non structural walls are not solid barriers.

    • arkie 7.2

      Now is a great time to read Marx, which one can, online, for free!

      Capital
      A Critique of Political Economy

      Volume I
      Book One: The Process of Production of Capital

      https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/

  7. Robert Guyton 8

    Gardeners won't need to say, "I told you so!", they'll need instead to share their experience. Already, sales of seeds and seedlings are escalating. Fruit tree sales as well. Our environment centre organic food cooperative is already planning how to deliver to homes instead of opening our door, if it comes to that. I notice that our several community orchards are being visited "vigorously" and this was the intention should there ever be a crisis. It seems to me that everyone will see opportunity and confirmation of their world-view in the pandemic; the isolationists will believe their preparations have been wise, the traditionalists will welcome a return to the "simple, conservative old ways" and people like me will thrill to the potential that this is a turning-point for humanity's spiritual development smiley It'll all come out in the wash though but I'm betting things will never be the same.

    • weka 8.1

      that comment made me really happy 😀 I've been wondering what you've been up to, noticing your absence and hoping for a report. Ka tino pai.

      • Robert Guyton 8.1.1

        For you, weka.

        “Having resisted every warning and admonishment to transform and change our ways, we are now, as a collective, being forced into a cocoon ourselves, in lockdowns and self-isolation, to do the work we should have done generations ago.”

        “We are not going to break out of our collective dilemma if we cannot hear the voices of non-human creatures outside the door, and humbly accept their help. If, as it is assumed, this pandemic is a result of the woeful treatment of wild animals (60% of new human diseases are zoonotic), we have a lot of reckoning to face. It is hard for human beings, who have for generations never learned to say thank you to the planet that has hosted us all our lives, where it has never crossed our minds we had to honour life and give back, nor that we had soul work to do, legacies and tasks that we hold like a small kist in our hands, when we are born.”

        https://dark-mountain.net/outbreak/

  8. tc 9

    Comes down to a more agrarian lifestyle IMO. We've got the land types, fertility, rain etc and as scarcity bites harder distributing resources gets even tougher.

    The old food miles again as that reduces GG and helps CC if you grow/consume local.

    CVID19 today, sars and mers were recent warning shots…what’s tomorrow ?

  9. gsays 10

    Excellent post weka,

    There are lessons from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the impact on Cuba.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xhfpmKAEfy4

    Also a systemic change I would like to see is sharing. Not barter, nor trade or exchange but sharing.

    Sharing time, wisdom, food, knowledge.

    This can be done along side the system as it exists now.

    Try it, I reckon it will accord with everyyone's nature.

    • georgecom 10.1

      Cuba is an interesting case study. If you talk to Cubanos who are old enough to live through the special period it certainly has left its scars on them. The measures Cuba took such as urban gardening and localised food distribution helped to ensure no one starved. They redesigned their food production system. What lifted Cuba out of the special period however, and stabilised their economy, was opening up to global tourism and toward the end of the 1990s patronage from Hugo Chavez and Venezuela. The Cuban economic model was and continues to be fundamentally broken. In a sense tourism and Chavez allowed the system to continue on without fundamental change. Some change, but not fundamental. One very interesting aspect to look at is 17 minutes through the video, Miguel Salcines from the UBPC Organiponico in Alamar. A highly productive worker collective urban market garden.

  10. Tiger Mountain 11

    Stream of etc. post…Well something has to change, like dispatching neo liberalism and capitalist hegemony. Little fun in the short term for those that lose people in the pandemic. Life is an existential dilemma at the best of times, but it typically goes on for 7 or more decades for many, so this virus has essentially massively sharpened up our fight or flight mechanism and sense of mortality.

    What is life really all about? Food miles, and a whole bunch of service related, discretionary spending is going to change alright (not picking on all you life coaches and dog walkers out there). Talk to people in your circles. Start a neighbours garden or collective enterprise of some sort. Swap skills. We already do that in some places obviously, but it is new to many others. Supermarket workers–get together on how to deal with abusive power shoppers. i.e. an operator puts hand up and all tills close until a manager has talked to the aggressive person. Take charge. The EMA is already encouraging SME employers to do silly things with leave etc. without thinking long term.

    Start small till you learn the techniques–solar charger for your phone and gadgets, and gasp–transistor radio, a pot of herbs or chillies, a lemon tree, Rig up a small rain water collection tank in the yard–for emergency drinking or garden use.

    All those corporates that scurried off to low wage corners have left NZ without even a footwear or credible clothing industry. “we created great value for shareholders but unfortunately the planet burned” as the old joke goes. Time to get serious–could Fisher and Paykel Health turn production to protective gear and ventilators? Good post Weka.

    • bill 11.1

      All those corporates that scurried off to low wage corners have left NZ without even a footwear or credible clothing industry.

      That's quite a big deal. It's not as though the old machinery is sitting around gathering dust and just waiting for a brush off and a 'once over' – the arseholes trashed any machinery they might otherwise have been leaving behind.

      The other big deal is that goods we have sitting around tend to be unservicable – the days of "opening the toaster" to see what's broken with an idea of repairing it are basically gone.

      And with the possibility of repair disappearing, the ability to repair has also disappeared – ie, the simple "how" and the once 'common knowledge' work arounds…

      Actually. How many houses on an average street do you reckon contain no tools whatsoever?

      So yeah. Production, driven by fashion and ideas of disposability, has led us a merry glitzy dance up this here garden path. And now we just have to make the best of what we've got.

      edit – I could agree with the suggestion that the government mandate production from the likes of Fisher and Paykel in the very short term.

    • RedBaronCV 11.2

      Err Fisher & Paykel healthcare already do that sort of stuff and are working hard as according to their stock exchange notifications

  11. Adrian 13

    Had a revelation today when I walked past empty shelves of toilet paper on my way to try and buy a small bag of non-existant flour and it was this…FFS stay away from the flour diet, it obviously gives you the worst dose of the shits imaginable.

  12. I cannot understand why several commentators, of clearly political and/or theoretical economic views have not joined this post. Their know all wisdom is sadly missed.

    They almost always butt in, usually quite irrelevantly.

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    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
    5 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
    5 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
    6 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

  • 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
    6 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
    8 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
    9 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
    22 hours ago
  • Kāinga Ora instructed to end Sustaining Tenancies
    Kāinga Ora – Homes & Communities has been instructed to end the Sustaining Tenancies Framework and take stronger measures against persistent antisocial behaviour by tenants, says Housing Minister Chris Bishop. “Earlier today Finance Minister Nicola Willis and I sent an interim Letter of Expectations to the Board of Kāinga Ora. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber: Growth is the answer
    Tēna koutou katoa. Greetings everyone. Thank you to the Auckland Chamber of Commerce and the Honourable Simon Bridges for hosting this address today. I acknowledge the business leaders in this room, the leaders and governors, the employers, the entrepreneurs, the investors, and the wealth creators. The coalition Government shares your ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago
  • Singapore rounds out regional trip
    Minister Winston Peters completed the final leg of his visit to South and South East Asia in Singapore today, where he focused on enhancing one of New Zealand’s indispensable strategic partnerships.      “Singapore is our most important defence partner in South East Asia, our fourth-largest trading partner and a ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Minister van Velden represents New Zealand at International Democracy Summit
    Minister of Internal Affairs and Workplace Relations and Safety, Hon. Brooke van Velden, will travel to the Republic of Korea to represent New Zealand at the Third Summit for Democracy on 18 March. The summit, hosted by the Republic of Korea, was first convened by the United States in 2021, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Insurance Council of NZ Speech, 7 March 2024, Auckland
    ICNZ Speech 7 March 2024, Auckland  Acknowledgements and opening  Mōrena, ngā mihi nui. Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho.  Good morning, it’s a privilege to be here to open the ICNZ annual conference, thank you to Mark for the Mihi Whakatau  My thanks to Tim Grafton for inviting me ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Five-year anniversary of Christchurch terror attacks
    Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Lead Coordination Minister Judith Collins have expressed their deepest sympathy on the five-year anniversary of the Christchurch terror attacks. “March 15, 2019, was a day when families, communities and the country came together both in sorrow and solidarity,” Mr Luxon says.  “Today we pay our respects to the 51 shuhada ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024
    Speech for Financial Advice NZ Conference 5 March 2024  Acknowledgements and opening  Morena, Nga Mihi Nui.  Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Nor Whanganui aho. Thanks Nate for your Mihi Whakatau  Good morning. It’s a pleasure to formally open your conference this morning. What a lovely day in Wellington, What a great ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago
  • Early visit to Indonesia strengthens ties
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters held discussions in Jakarta today about the future of relations between New Zealand and South East Asia’s most populous country.   “We are in Jakarta so early in our new government’s term to reflect the huge importance we place on our relationship with Indonesia and South ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • China Foreign Minister to visit
    Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters has announced that the Foreign Minister of China, Wang Yi, will visit New Zealand next week.  “We look forward to re-engaging with Foreign Minister Wang Yi and discussing the full breadth of the bilateral relationship, which is one of New Zealand’s ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Minister opens new Auckland Rail Operations Centre
    Transport Minister Simeon Brown has today opened the new Auckland Rail Operations Centre, which will bring together KiwiRail, Auckland Transport, and Auckland One Rail to improve service reliability for Aucklanders. “The recent train disruptions in Auckland have highlighted how important it is KiwiRail and Auckland’s rail agencies work together to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Celebrating 10 years of Crankworx Rotorua
    The Government is proud to support the 10th edition of Crankworx Rotorua as the Crankworx World Tour returns to Rotorua from 16-24 March 2024, says Minister for Economic Development Melissa Lee.  “Over the past 10 years as Crankworx Rotorua has grown, so too have the economic and social benefits that ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government delivering on tax commitments
    Legislation implementing coalition Government tax commitments and addressing long-standing tax anomalies will be progressed in Parliament next week, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The legislation is contained in an Amendment Paper to the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill issued today.  “The Amendment Paper represents ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Significant Natural Areas requirement to be suspended
    Associate Environment Minister Andrew Hoggard has today announced that the Government has agreed to suspend the requirement for councils to comply with the Significant Natural Areas (SNA) provisions of the National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity for three years, while it replaces the Resource Management Act (RMA).“As it stands, SNAs ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government classifies drought conditions in Top of the South as medium-scale adverse event
    Agriculture Minister Todd McClay has classified the drought conditions in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts as a medium-scale adverse event, acknowledging the challenging conditions facing farmers and growers in the district. “Parts of Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are in the grip of an intense dry spell. I know ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • Government partnership to tackle $332m facial eczema problem
    The Government is helping farmers eradicate the significant impact of facial eczema (FE) in pastoral animals, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced.  “A $20 million partnership jointly funded by Beef + Lamb NZ, the Government, and the primary sector will save farmers an estimated NZD$332 million per year, and aims to ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago
  • NZ, India chart path to enhanced relationship
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has completed a successful visit to India, saying it was an important step in taking the relationship between the two countries to the next level.   “We have laid a strong foundation for the Coalition Government’s priority of enhancing New Zealand-India relations to generate significant future benefit for both countries,” says Mr Peters, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Ruapehu Alpine Lifts bailout the last, say Ministers
    Cabinet has agreed to provide $7 million to ensure the 2024 ski season can go ahead on the Whakapapa ski field in the central North Island but has told the operator Ruapehu Alpine Lifts it is the last financial support it will receive from taxpayers. Cabinet also agreed to provide ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Govt takes action to drive better cancer services
    Health Minister Dr Shane Reti says the launch of a new mobile breast screening unit in Counties Manukau reinforces the coalition Government’s commitment to drive better cancer services for all New Zealanders. Speaking at the launch of the new mobile clinic, Dr Reti says it’s a great example of taking ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Work begins on SH29 upgrades near Tauriko
    Unlocking economic growth and land for housing are critical elements of the Government’s plan for our transport network, and planned upgrades to State Highway 29 (SH29) near Tauriko will deliver strongly on those priorities, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “The SH29 upgrades near Tauriko will improve safety at the intersections ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Fresh produce price drop welcome
    Lower fruit and vegetable prices are welcome news for New Zealanders who have been doing it tough at the supermarket, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. Stats NZ reported today the price of fruit and vegetables has dropped 9.3 percent in the 12 months to February 2024.  “Lower fruit and vege ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Statement to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the sixty-eighth session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to the 68th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW68)
    Tēnā koutou katoa and greetings to you all.  Chair, I am honoured to address the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women. I acknowledge the many crises impacting the rights of women and girls. Heightened global tensions, war, climate related and humanitarian disasters, and price inflation all ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Government backs rural led catchment projects
    The coalition Government is supporting farmers to enhance land management practices by investing $3.3 million in locally led catchment groups, Agriculture Minister Todd McClay announced. “Farmers and growers deliver significant prosperity for New Zealand and it’s vital their ongoing efforts to improve land management practices and water quality are supported,” ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago
  • Speech to Auckland Business Chamber
    Good evening everyone and thank you for that lovely introduction.   Thank you also to the Honourable Simon Bridges for the invitation to address your members. Since being sworn in, this coalition Government has hit the ground running with our 100-day plan, delivering the changes that New Zealanders expect of us. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Commission’s advice on ETS settings tabled
    Recommendations from the Climate Change Commission for New Zealand on the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) auction and unit limit settings for the next five years have been tabled in Parliament, Climate Change Minister Simon Watts says. “The Commission provides advice on the ETS annually. This is the third time the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Government lowering building costs
    The coalition Government is beginning its fight to lower building costs and reduce red tape by exempting minor building work from paying the building levy, says Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk. “Currently, any building project worth $20,444 including GST or more is subject to the building levy which is ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Trustee tax change welcomed
    Proposed changes to tax legislation to prevent the over-taxation of low-earning trusts are welcome, Finance Minister Nicola Willis says. The changes have been recommended by Parliament’s Finance and Expenditure Committee following consideration of submissions on the Taxation (Annual Rates for 2023–24, Multinational Tax, and Remedial Matters) Bill. “One of the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister’s Ramadan message
    Assalaamu alaikum. السَّلَام عليكم In light of the holy month of Ramadan, I want to extend my warmest wishes to our Muslim community in New Zealand. Ramadan is a time for spiritual reflection, renewed devotion, perseverance, generosity, and forgiveness.  It’s a time to strengthen our bonds and appreciate the diversity ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Minister appoints new NZTA Chair
    Former Transport Minister and CEO of the Auckland Business Chamber Hon Simon Bridges has been appointed as the new Board Chair of the New Zealand Transport Agency (NZTA) for a three-year term, Transport Minister Simeon Brown announced today. “Simon brings extensive experience and knowledge in transport policy and governance to the role. He will ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Speech to Life Sciences Summit
    Good morning all, it is a pleasure to be here as Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology.  It is fantastic to see how connected and collaborative the life science and biotechnology industry is here in New Zealand. I would like to thank BioTechNZ and NZTech for the invitation to address ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago
  • Progress continues apace on water storage
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones says he is looking forward to the day when three key water projects in Northland are up and running, unlocking the full potential of land in the region. Mr Jones attended a community event at the site of the Otawere reservoir near Kerikeri on Friday. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
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  • Government agrees to restore interest deductions
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