General Debate 16 August 2024

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NeverMindTheBollocks

To which I can only say – Yeah, right.

International visitors aged 16+ will pay $35 to enter Te Papa from mid September.

Entry will remain free for all New Zealanders, including those who consider themselves to normally live in New Zealand, regardless of their visa or residency status.

The system will work on a high trust, self reporting model in which proof of nationality will not be required.

The decision is expected to raise several millions of dollars a year.

https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350376699/te-papa-introduce-35-fee-international-visitors/
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August 16, 2024 8:01am
- Drone
  
  Visitors to Wellington visit Te Papa because it sells itself as iconic. Most visitors bring children to see some uniquely New Zealand exhibits, its a place to spend a rainy windy Wellington day. Will they pay tomorrow, I doubt it. Charging will put people off visiting.
  
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  August 16, 2024 11:19am
- Biscuit
  
  Let’s be generous here.
  
  Let’s say that Te Papa’s ‘several’ mean ‘ten’.
  
  To get $10,000,000 off overseas tourists would need 85,714 of those tourists to fork out $35.
  
  I see the joint’s own website says it received 285,714 overseas tourists this current year.
  
  If you believe that suspiciously-exact figure.
  
  Expect to see, in not too many years, an announcement that;
  
  1. $35 a head ain’t enough and an increase – why not double, eh? – be brought in
  2. A fee of – oh, why not $35? – be levied on New Zealand residents
  3. A combination of 1. and 2.
  
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  August 16, 2024 11:53am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    I think you mean that to collect $10m at $35 a pop you would need 285,714 overseas visitors (prepared to pay), not 85,714.
    
    I couldn’t see anywhere on their website that stated the number of visitors, local or overseas but you may have a better eye than me. $1uffed (who I usually trust to get the date right and little else) stated there were 1.24 million visitors, of whom 600,000 were from overseas, in the last financial year.
    
    I saw nowhere that “several” means “ten” but even if it did, $10m would be raised if fewer than 50% of international visitors paid up. By way of comparison, when I visited the Guggenheim Art Gallery in Bilbao recently, the entry fee was EUR18, around NZ$33. Everybody pays, locals as well as international visitors.
    
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    August 17, 2024 3:48am
peterwn

So Chris Hipkins says that Wellington Girls College was treated poorly by the Ministry of Education. But hey! – who was Minister of Education for 5 ½ years from the 2017 election? And who appointed the subsequent Minister of Education for the last several months of the Labour government – Chris Hipkins the Prime Minister of course. He must have been pretty useless if he did not ensure his Ministry was doing its job properly – he must have a skin as thick as a rhino. Or is the sole purpose of Labour Ministers of Education to lick the boots of the teachers unions bosses.

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/08/14/wellington-girls-college-treated-poorly-by-ministry-hipkins/
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August 16, 2024 8:01am
- Paulus
  
  Remember Hipkins Mother is a very senior person in the Education Department too !
  
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  August 16, 2024 11:26am
- Biscuit
  
  But did the reporter who let Hipkins waffle on about ‘treated poorly’ ask him those questions, peterwyn?
  
  Not a chance…
  
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  August 16, 2024 11:55am
peterwn

Various documents concerning the cancellation of the rail ferries have just been released (Business Desk – paywalled). However a letter apparently sent by Kiwirail was not released – that letter apparently recommended that the new ferries be completed (there probably would have been lots of extras and escalations), then sold, this allegedly involving less loss than cancelling the contract. This seemed to me very much like pulling a ‘Trojan Horse’ trick since if Kiwirail could keep the building of the ferries going, there would be strong political pressure to complete the whole project right up to the time the new ferries sailed into the blue yonder (assuming someone wanted to buy them). Never mind that those ferries were not fit for purpose – they may never have been able to use the Tory Channel and would have serious difficulty operating near Picton. But then never let little things like that spoil a good story. Nicola and the Nats rightly did not fall for that ‘Trojan Horse’ trick and ordered the project be euthanised.
As for cancelling the contract, the theoretical maximum compensation would have been the contract price of the ferries but no more. In practice it would be significantly less. The contractor would be entitled to payment for much of the anticipated profit and for shipyard space and workers’ wages to the extent that alternative work cannot be found – the contractor is obliged to explore such possibilities in good faith. These aspects are all being currently negotiated. I would take a guess that Kiwirail would end up having to pay around 50% of the contract price to cancel. Presumably the idea of the shipyard building alternative smaller ferries is also being explored.
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August 16, 2024 8:02am
- Paulus
  
  Am very sure the Shipbuilders will be happy to revise the specifications and for them to build the two new smaller ferries with pricing reformation.
  They, unlike the Rail/Ferry Unions here, are not stupid.
  
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  August 16, 2024 11:30am
Chuck Bird

I hear Rod Carr climate change alarmist who has no science qualifications is making dire predictions. When is he being replaced and by who.
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August 16, 2024 8:04am
- all true
  
  To be replaced by a sensible, straightforward thinking person.
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:30am
- kowtow
  
  Climate change alarmism has no scientific basis . It is pure emotion .
  Climate change on the other hand is real .The Sun , planetary cycles and wobbles are the cause .
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:37am
- gravedodger
  
  Jimmy Shaw, odds paying a $1.05.
  Luxon seeking recognition, never gunna happen.
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:38am
- CJames
  
  If the government accepts climate change is real, there is no more need to do any research into it. No big fancy computers for GIGO. Nor do we need emissions targets as nothing we do will make any difference. The money saved could then be used to prepare for the effects of it. Better flood control, higher bridges and roads, more water storage dams. You know – the infrastructure we are so short of.
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:39am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    There is no doubt there is climate change. However, there is not climate emergency. The is a big difference. Carr’s replacement should not be another unqualified alarmist. Seymour sadly does not seem concerned.
    
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    August 16, 2024 8:47am
    - pdm
      
      I am backing NATURE to take care of `so called’ Climate Change like it has always done.
      
      Sure the climate is changing – but, that is what nature does and has always done.
      
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      August 16, 2024 8:57am
      - MCōs
        
        There could be a nuclear holocaust and the whole of humanity wiped out.
        But what the heck!
        Planet Earth would still be here even if we aren’t
        Nature would carry on it’s merry way and something else would adapt to the new environment
        
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        August 16, 2024 9:45am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Well you would lose that bet.
        
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        August 16, 2024 9:48am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Nature has worked for the last 4.5 billion or so years.
        As MCos says, a nuclear holocaust and the planet will still heal. Humans are really here for a short time with or without them wiping themselves out.
        Very sensible comment MCos.
        
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        August 16, 2024 10:01am
      - pdm
        
        mcos – or a Volcano Erupting near Tonga.
        
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        August 16, 2024 10:21am
      - otago-man
        
        Exactly pdm, please someone tell me how the ice ages melted and the Earth warmed many times before humans existed
        
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        August 16, 2024 11:05am
      - Paulus
        
        Do you mean that Nature has been involuting for millions of years ?
        
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        August 16, 2024 11:31am
      - kevn
        
        mcos… Cockroaches will be the last things to go.
        
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        August 16, 2024 4:20pm
    - Damocles11
      
      Seymour? Last time I checked the PM was corporate plant Christopher Luxon, the very woke mate of James Shaw.
      
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      August 16, 2024 9:08am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        You are right about Luxon but Seymour talked about getting rid of the whole climate change commission. That turned out to be very low on his priorities once elected. I expected better.
        
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        August 16, 2024 9:42am
      - malc
        
        It amazes me how many people (even on this blog) think David Seymour is running the country. Although some of us think he should be, the reality is that his power is roughly proportional to votes his party gained at the last election. Yes, the CCC should be abolished, but Luxon needs to take that decision and the chances of him doing it are about the same as me winning the 100 metre sprint at the next Olympics.
        
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        August 16, 2024 11:26am
    - Grunter
      
      +1 degree C in 170 years. We are the first generation that has some ability to measure something so unnoticeable. And we are loosing our siht over +1 degree 🤡
      
      I wonder why that would be….?
      
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      August 16, 2024 9:15am
      - alloytoo
        
        I would ask:
        
        What was the temperature variation in the prior 5000 years?
        
        I don’t believe that the climate didn’t change prior to the industrial revolution.
        
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        August 16, 2024 9:42am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        @alloyto0,
        
        The story of the Exit Glacier in Seward, Alaska. It was receding long before the industrial revolution. Flowed into the ocean some 12 miles away from where it is now.
        
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        August 16, 2024 10:11am
      - alloytoo
        
        @Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Many Glaciers are in geological terms brand new.
        
        Using them as a measure of climate change is pretty much the same as weather.
        
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        August 16, 2024 11:05am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      An unqualified alarmist would still need to administer the Act. The clue is in the title.
      
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      August 16, 2024 9:50am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    I beleive that there is climate change, and it may be heading towards an emergency, but at the same time, NZ is in a position to do nothing effective about it.
    
    NZ contributes 0.08% of Global CO2 and produces 0.25% of Global GDP. By that reckoning, for every unit of GDP we produce, we produce 0.32 of a unit of Carbon.
    
    China Produces 32.88% of Global CO2 and 17.8% of Global GDP, so for every unit of GDP they produce, they emit nearly 2 units of Carbon.
    
    If China had the same level of CO2 Output per Unit of GDP as NZ, Global CO2 Emissions would drop by 27.1%!
    
    So why are we hell bent on sacrificing our economy when, unless the rest of the world plays ball, our best bet is to invest in mitigation?
    
    The Largest Economy in the world, The US, has a CO2 emission/GDP Ratio of 0.49. If China got down to that level, Global emissions would drop by 16%.
    
    NZ is not the problem. We are the solution.
    
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    August 16, 2024 9:06am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      You are right about everything but NZ’s eissions which is 0.15%. You can read more nonsense from Carr there as well as the 0.15% figure.
      
      https://genless.govt.nz/stories/new-zealand-isnt-too-small-to-make-a-difference/
      
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      August 16, 2024 9:49am
      - slightlyrighty
        
        Carr is looking at Total Greenhouse Gass emissions, as opposed to just CO2, so I am prepared to conceed that, but at the same time, they keep looking at Greenhouse Gas emissions per capita, which is a stupid way to measure this, and helps hide or minimise the contributions of more densly populated countries.
        
        A Ratio of Emissions measured against GDP would be a far more effective measure, and indicate Emission efficiency, and highlight where the most damage is being done.
        
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        August 16, 2024 10:31am
    - MCōs
      
      In WWII NZ mobilized around 200k people and the USSR 34mil
      Why did we bother?
      Why did my uncle give his life?
      We all know the answer. All else being equal one of us is equal to one of them and it’s the same with anything else
      
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      August 16, 2024 9:57am
      - RoboRob
        
        Sorry that’s a poor analogy. In war people are clearly on sides and all sides are all in.
        
        In climate change there is a lot of waffle and big talk. The big players ARE NOT ALL IN, in fact most are barely in at all. What is the point of tiny NZ trying to painfully get from 90+ % renewable energy to 100% when the big energy consuming countries are currently well less then 50% renewable.
        
        If anything in your analogy we are currently fighting the good fight and still waiting for our allies to join us.
        
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        August 16, 2024 10:18am
    - kowtow
      
      ‘it may be heading towards an emergency,’
      
      No it’s not . calm down and enjoy the Holocene. It’s what makes life so comfortable at the moment.
      
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      August 16, 2024 9:57am
      - Grunter
        
        “… calm down and enjoy the Holocene”
        
        Excellent comment! It would make a great bumper sticker or T-Shirt
        
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        August 16, 2024 11:49am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Keep calm and enjoy the holocene? Perhaps with a picture of someone reclining on a deck chair in the sun with a big grin?
        
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        August 16, 2024 2:31pm
    - PurplePen
      
      Not sure why people feel the necessity to state that they “believe in climate change” almost as if it’s a religion. Climate was, is and always will be changing.
      
      On emissions reduction our requirement needs only to be the bare minimum required to ensure we can still trade successfully with others and that’s it. The rest of our effort is on mitigation infrastructure but based on robust climate impact science and not exaggerated projection.
      
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      August 16, 2024 9:57am
- Chris Nisbet
  
  He seems to have this idea that we can just transition away from CO2 emissions and all will be good. I even heard him tell Michael Laws that it made economic sense to go net zero. I think that’s crazy talk. It seems to me we’re slowly figuring out what life would be like without fossil fuels, and we realise it won’t be pretty.
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:49am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    I just listened to the interview. I have also met Carr in person. He treats climate change as a religion.
    
    Does everyone here understand wind turbines are not emission free whereas nuclear power almost is?
    
    Wind turbines require a lot of concrete, steel and other materials and last about 20 years. Mining and constructing a wind turbine emits a lot of CO2. Constructing a nuclear power plant that lasts 80 to 100 years emits much less CO2 for the construction.
    
    Growing pine trees does not remove CO2 permanently but just until the wood rots or is burned.
    
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    August 16, 2024 9:32am
    - NothingLeft
      
      Not if you clear fell and land fill the wood. 🙂
      
      There is about 50x as much CO2 dissolved in the ocean as in the air, 10x as much CO2 in water as the whole of terrestrial biosphere and a gently warming ocean releases CO2 over time scales of centuries – a feedback that results in CO2 increases lagging ocean temperatures.
      
      I’m not convinced that natural cycles aren’t a big part of modern warming – there is a clear 1050year cycle in Minoan, Roman, Medieval and now Modern warming that remains unexplained. And there has been high variability in global temps and sea levels during the Holocene with past periods of ice-free Arctic and reduced glaciation and average rates of sea level rise through last 8000 years equal or greater to current change. ±1m over centuries is normal. That is the critical climate change context that thermageddonists never talk about.
      
      Climate change may be inconvenient but not at all ‘dangerous’ compared to likely entry into next global glaciation sometime in next 1-2 Millenia (based on Millankovich cycles) as Holocene interglacial comes to an end – something we absolutely need to prevent to preserve civilisation, a glacial world kills half of life off.
      
      With warming the tropics don’t get hotter (sea temps are limited by evaporation to ~31°C), they just extend to slightly greater latitudes, temperature latitudes may increase by a degree or two – which is almost universally a pleasant change the same as moving 1-200km closer to equator, and sea level will continue to slowly rise at a couple of mm per year. Less than past peaks of 5mm/yr seen during last 8000 years.
      
      So stop worrying about it and save anxiety for 1/ AI, 2/ pandemics (engineered or natural), 3/ nuke war + orwellian dystopia
      
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      August 16, 2024 10:22am
      - Chris Nisbet
        
        Yep, warmer is better.
        
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        August 16, 2024 11:58am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        “With warming the tropics don’t get hotter (sea temps are limited by evaporation to ~31°C), they just extend to slightly greater latitudes”
        
        Yes. Enabling crops to be grown further north or further south. Oh and people in those areas will freeze less. Shocking stuff!
        
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        August 16, 2024 2:34pm
    - RoboRob
      
      Thats the thing that ALWAYS gets me. If you really believe there is a climate emergency and we need to act whatever the cost to the economy, then you should be pushing Nuclear over almost all the other energy sources. But you ask these people about moving to Nuclear and suddenly its an economic argument, ‘Nuclear is too expensive’.
      
      Its almost like they don’t really believe in a climate emergency and are more interested in social engineering.
      
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      August 16, 2024 10:22am
      - Countrygirl
        
        https://nzffa.com/3387-2/
        My maths is slightly out but not much
        
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        August 17, 2024 9:47am
    - Countrygirl
      
      Growing the pine trees certainly uses the water we could use for hydro power. I think each 20cm tree uses daily, 400L.
      
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      August 16, 2024 10:56am
      - AitchW
        
        That sounds like an awful lot of water for a small tree.
        Are you confident in your assertion?
        
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        August 16, 2024 1:31pm
    - Paulus
      
      In Europe do they not attach a small Diesel motor to the Wind Turbines to ensure that when there is no wind they carry on ?
      
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      August 16, 2024 11:34am
      - AitchW
        
        In fairness I think they use the generator to help overcome inertia when the wind starts to blow. That’s a lot of fibreglass to get moving.
        
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        August 16, 2024 8:53pm
  - kowtow
    
    I’m not so sure the general commentariat do realise we need fossil fuels .
    They seem to say we need them for the next 20 – 50 years while this magical energy transition to magical new sources of energy are dreamed up .
    
    Beyond that they have nothing.
    
    It’s nuts.
    
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    August 16, 2024 10:00am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      No they do not understand.
      
      Try telling them that without fossil fuels, billions of people would starve, quickly. You just get blank looks.
      
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      August 16, 2024 10:26am
      - kowtow
        
        And there’d have been even more deforestation as poor people cut down trees to make charcoal to cook with ( and give themselves and their children terrible respiratory illnesses)
        
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        August 16, 2024 11:17am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Hence the “Just Stop Oil” twits. They are completely clueless about the real world consequences of “just” stopping oil.
        
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        August 16, 2024 2:41pm
  - PurplePen
    
    Australasia which includes NZ is already carbon neutral as per the published scientific paper linked below. From the article:
    
    “Australasia’s bottom-up carbon budget suggests that this region was close to neutral (−0.4 ± 77.0 TgC yr−1) from 2010 to 2019”.
    
    SCIENTIFIC PAPER
    A Comprehensive Assessment of Anthropogenic and Natural Sources and Sinks of Australasia’s Carbon Budget
    
    https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2023GB007845
    
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    August 16, 2024 10:01am
    - AitchW
      
      Does that carbon neutrality include all the carbon exported as coal?
      
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      August 16, 2024 1:32pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    You will own nothing. You will eat bugs. You will not be happy, but you will be smart enough to not mention that to anyone, or even think it.
    
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    August 17, 2024 3:52am
- Grunter
  
  Fossil fuels have enabled people all around the world to insulate themselves from this massive +1 degree increase in temperature. I think we need more fossil fuels, not less.
  
  To quote the IPCC…
  “For every million people on earth, annual deaths from climate-related causes (extreme temperature, drought, flood, storms, wildfires) declined 98%–from an average of 247 per year during the 1920s to 2.5 per year during the 2010s.”
  And their sources:
  Data on disaster deaths come from EM-DAT, CRED / UCLouvain, Brussels, Belgium – http://www.emdat.be (D. Guha-Sapir).
  Population estimates for the 1920s from the Maddison Database 2010, the Groningen Growth and Development Centre, Faculty of Economics and Business at University of Groningen. For years not shown, population is assumed to have grown at a steady rate.
  Population estimates for the 2010s come from World Bank Data.
  
  IPCC AR6, WG1, chapter 4
  
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  August 16, 2024 9:22am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    The non insane countries WILL keep using fossil fuels while the decadent and now completely mental west kills itself off believing an insane hypothesis pushed by green communists.
    
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    August 16, 2024 2:43pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  To repeat, it does not matter who replaces him. I would argue that the position is not required. Obsessing about who should administer the Zero Carbon Act is futile so long as, well, so long as there is a Zero Carbon Act.
  
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  August 16, 2024 9:33am
  - Positan
    
    A couple of years back, the Nelson City Council created a new position, “Climate Change Champion.”
    
    The appointee lasted about two months – he went crazy because he had absolutely nothing to do – and so he quit. Non unexpectedly, the position has not been refilled.
    
    This was yet another of many examples where the easily-persuaded, led by the dogmatically-blind to realms of fatuous stupidity when able to be funded non-conscientiously and idiotically via votes of paranoid, ignorant and unqualified enthusiasts from the bottomless pocket of public monies.
    
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    August 16, 2024 9:47am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      So the Public Sector is full of crazy people with nothing to do. I agree with that.
      A decent physical 8 hour day of work would kill them.
      
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      August 16, 2024 10:28am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Just to note, most of the senior public servants I worked over the last decade worked from about 0730 through to about 1900. So at least 55 hours per week.
        
        I am not going to get into a discussion about the usefulness of their work. I am simply sharing my observation.
        
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        August 16, 2024 11:14am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Benedict, I was meaning very physical, like stacking 6 ton of steel in the rack by hand, one length at a time.
        
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        August 16, 2024 11:57am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Then dump the Zero Carbon Act as Dutton, the opposition leader in Oz will do if he is PM.
    
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    August 16, 2024 9:51am
    - RoboRob
      
      Unlike the Australians Luxon doesn’t have the balls to make that ‘captains call’.
      
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      August 16, 2024 10:23am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        And it wouldn’t be a “captain’s call” with Dutton. It would be a policy promise made very clear before the election.
        
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        August 16, 2024 2:46pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Australia does not have a Zero Carbon Act.
      
      Back to New Zealand. Repealing the Act would not negate the Paris Accord commitments. New Zealand will not be the first country in the world to withdraw. The first financial impacts of the Paris Accord will become apparent around 2027. That is not too far away.
      
      To illustrate the problem.. New Zealand faces spending about the same on carbon credits to 2030 as is spent on the entire school system.
      
      https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/518260/budget-2024-education-sees-funding-for-new-schools-training-and-cyber-security
      
      About $15 billion.
      
      Anyway nobody seems concerned except me. 😂
      
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      August 16, 2024 11:22am
      - Sacha
        
        – and me. It’s a racket, a rort for overseas businesses to get tax credits.
        
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        August 16, 2024 1:52pm
    - kevn
      
      BY…. That is fine and dandy, the few of them are the ones on big bux (as Maggie Pie might say), but what about the minions who make up the bulk of public service employees. Ask anyone who has had to deal with any govt dept. Dreadful in all ways.
      
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      August 16, 2024 4:26pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Dutton will just drop an early requirement at 2030 or 2035 but support a big reduction by 2050 by the use of nuclear power.
    
    I spoke to some clown from the Climate Change Commission and when I mentioned nuclear he dismissed nuclear he said everything could be done by solar panels and wind turbines. I asked him how long they would last and he did not have a clue.
    
    COP28 recommended tripling nuclear but these alarmists would not consider nuclear.
    
    What is wrong with nuclear to meet 2050 requirements?
    
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    August 16, 2024 10:26am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Nothing is wrong except the word “NUCLEAR.”
      It makes them go funny in the head.
      
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      August 16, 2024 10:30am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      You are barking up the wrong tree.
      
      Nuclear might be good for energy security. But it will do little to allow New Zealand to reach net zero. Simply because we are already 85 percent renewables.
      
      Australia is another matter entirely. Nuclear would displace the massive coal plants.
      
      As I have commented repeatedly, New Zealand is screwed because about half our emissions are from agriculture. There is no credible plan to address that. Indeed, I hear the government wants to double exports. Does that include agricultural exports? How does the government reconcile that objective with net zero?
      
      It is a complete mess of nation wrecking magnitude. On climate change Chris Luxon is in denial.
      
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      August 16, 2024 11:29am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        “Nuclear might be good for energy security. But it will do little to allow New Zealand to reach net zero. Simply because we are already 85 percent renewables.”
        
        Have you considered we are going to need more power due to increased population, more EVS and AI?
        
        There is no way we can go 100% renewables so it is a choice between nuclear or coal.
        
        4 2
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        August 16, 2024 12:14pm
      - Chuck Bird
        
        “New Zealand is screwed because about half our emissions are from agriculture.”
        
        That is debatable.
        
        https://methane-accord.co.nz/
        
        3 1
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        August 16, 2024 12:21pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        No it is not debatable.
        
        The Accord may reduce the obligations that domestic policy forces on dairy farmers. It will not alter New Zealand’s obligations to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
        
        If the farmers pay less that just means that the rest of the economy or the government needs to make up the difference.
        
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        August 16, 2024 12:28pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “Have you considered we are going to need more power due to increased population, more EVS and AI?”
        
        Yes that is why I stated that nuclear may be useful for energy security. I do not know because the economics of nuclear power generation is beyond my expertise. What is within my expertise is New Zealand’s emissions profile. Hence my conclusion that nuclear energy would not make a material difference to meeting net zero.
        
        Anyway who would decide to build a nuclear power station? Would any of the generators do so, even if the government passed a law guaranteeing resource consent? Or are you saying that the Government should actually pay for the construction and operation of one or more nuclear power stations?
        
        Sorry I just can’t see it.
        
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        August 16, 2024 12:34pm
      - Chuck Bird
        
        “Sorry I just can’t see it.”
        
        You are correct with Luxon. However, once Oz goes nuclear a different PM may. Ever, the Greens in the UK and Europe support nuclear and do the majority of Aussies.
        
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        August 16, 2024 1:00pm
      - AitchW
        
        I do wonder about the accuracy of the measurement of agricultural emissions. Do they take into account the offset of grass pasture, shelter belts, bush blocks and cash crops?
        When the body responsible for commissioning surveys is hostile to the industry being surveyed (I’m looking at you Labour government) can the results be relied on?
        
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        August 16, 2024 1:37pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        You never address my questions.
        
        Are you expecting a future New Zealand government to finance and operate nuclear power stations? Or do you expect generating companies to do that? If it is the former I do not believe that any government will do so. It has nothing to do with Chris Luxon.
        
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        August 16, 2024 2:12pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        BY “No it is not debatable.”
        
        NZ can not decide to tell the UN to go jump when it chooses to?
        
        Why do we worship the UN again?
        
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        August 16, 2024 2:51pm
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Yes New Zealand could withdraw from the UNFCCC. However are we going to be the only country in the world to do so? I prefer to deal in reality.
        
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        August 16, 2024 3:29pm
Simon

Government agrees approach for accelerating Māori development

The organisation will provide quality policy advice using the Treaty-based public policy framework Te Tautuhi ō Rongo, to ensure that the distinct rights and interests of Iwi (as collectives) and Māori (as citizens) are recognised and provided for.

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-agrees-approach-accelerating-m%C4%81ori-development

Lol – those distinct rights of Maori.

“through improving Māori GDP per capita, reducing regulatory burdens, and activating opportunities for access to capital.”

There is a Maori per captia GDP number?. How long must racial spending and racial preferential treatment go on for ? Until Maori can make it just like everyone else? Or does it never stop?

Is there a connection between those “distinct rights” that National claim Maori have and Maori’s lower GDP per capita?
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August 16, 2024 8:07am
- Damocles11
  
  We hear that Maori want Tino Rangatiratanga (self determination), and indeed have received Treaty settlement largesse to make that happen via their tribal Hapu and Iwi structures. They are the captains of their fate, the masters of their own destiny…..yet also seemingly can’t progress without the ongoing targeted interventions of nanny state. 🤦🏻‍♂️
  
  [Mod – fixed spelling]
  
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  August 16, 2024 10:20am
artemisia

Herald today – Kaipara ratepayers face $25k bill after Māori ward abolished

Not completely clear to me, but it looks like $25k may be just the start if that is just for the representation review required by Local Government Commission to result in a proposal to be voted on by ratepayers next year.

Meanwhile request for judicial review of the Maori ward decision has been lodged by a group of local iwi as they had insufficient time to consult their constituency. The council will contest the application. Many councils and iwi will be watching the result with great interest, including who ends up paying the costs of the legal action. Plenty of time to consult before the review vote next year. Democracy in action.

Interesting photo of Miharo Edwards who “expresses her views at a Mangawhai meeting”. Up to her whether she wears a keffiyeh of course, but frankly she looks like a mad woman.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/kaipara-ratepayers-face-25k-bill-after-maori-ward-abolished/EMJ5CPZJLFGLTGJGSUDP4MSO6I/
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August 16, 2024 8:09am
Souvlaki

Goldsmith has made an excellent decisions wrt Dotcom.
Now, how about the same on Karrl Sroubek??
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August 16, 2024 8:09am
- Paulus
  
  But we are told Dotcom will now go to the Courts, at our costs, and that it will take four years.
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:23am
  - G152
    
    Drop him onto a flight ending at LA and tell the yanks hes coming….
    
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    August 16, 2024 10:46am
- nygr
  
  Is he still around? I’ll have to Czech on that one.
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:40am
- cmm
  
  Decision is one thing, action is quite another.
  
  Dotcom will only be gone when he’s in a US federal lock up. That could still be many months, if not years.
  
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  August 16, 2024 9:05am
- Bobba Fret
  
  But how many years will he drag out the appeal?
  
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  August 16, 2024 9:12am
  - Paulus
    
    Four years, we are told by media asked Lawyers this morning.
    
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    August 16, 2024 11:38am
- Ipanema69
  
  I posted this on the DC thread last night.
  
  Can one of the resident legal eagles tell me how DC can apply for a judicial review of the decision to issue the warrant?
  
  My understanding is that this has already been litigated to the supreme court. How does the process start again now that a warrant has been issued?
  
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  August 16, 2024 9:21am
  - civil serpent
    
    Any decision made by a public official acting under some legislative authority can be judicially reviewed under the Judicial Review Procedure Act 2016. It doesn’t matter if that decision was part of a chain of other earlier decisions
    
    But judicial review focusses on the decision-making process – i.e. was it fair, was everything done properly etc. It doesn’t focus on whether the decision itself is correct.
    
    So Dotcom may argue that the Min of J failed to take something into account that he should have, or considered something irrelevant, or was biased etc.
    
    If the Court agrees, then that doesn’t mean that KDC gets to stay. The Court would probably send it back to the Min of J saying “you mucked this up so do it again properly.”
    
    Yes, there are occasions when the Court will say that the process was so completely derailed that it should come to an end. Who knows, this may be one of them but I have my doubts.
    
    Long answer sorry and it only scratches the surface of this growth area in the law.
    
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    August 16, 2024 9:48am
- Ghost
  
  Last I read, September last year the case was set aside for a judicial review, have t seen anything since
  
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  August 16, 2024 9:57am
cmm

The deluded Raygun thinks the backlash she is getting is because she didn’t perform well: “I gave it my all”.

Nope, that’s not what this is about. It is nothing really to do with the crapness of her performance. It is really about the entitled mindset of the academic elite.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/olympics/olympics-2024-raygun-australian-breakdancer-breaks-silence-after-controversial-performance/ZD2LSZKYHFECLD4D5SGRIDKYTM/
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August 16, 2024 8:09am
- Rusty
  
  Rayguns husband was on the panel that got her selected.
  How corrupt was that?
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:31am
  - Ghost
    
    No he wasn’t. He did not take part in judging because she was in it.
    
    https://x.com/maskedoccult/status/1822915925781237779
    
    5 1
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    August 16, 2024 9:42am
- Flossie
  
  According to an item on news.com.au “Raygun breaks silence”….
  What’s this “breaks silence” popping up about everyone who speaks about anything lately even if they’ve been vocal about their issue since forever.
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:33am
  - Swifty
    
    Just like ‘xyz township is reeling’ following some event or ‘x slams y’ over some issue or ‘the abc community is outraged’ following a single letter to the editor.
    
    Then there is Stuff, RNZ and the Herald all with the ‘What You Need to Know’ pieces about some issue or another. Invariably I’ve got a number of relevant questions that I would think held by many which the pieces never answer.
    
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    August 16, 2024 11:11am
  - Biscuit
    
    Agreed, Flossie.
    
    I may just have to break MY silence and comment…
    
    3 0
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    August 16, 2024 12:00pm
- CJames
  
  I think what most people are mocking is the woman’s total lack of ability and expertise. No sense of self-awareness. That ridicule must be so humiliating for an academic and self-proclaimed expert. The staffroom meeting she goes back to would be very interesting. I won’t even get into the cultural appropriation to ridicule her which seems to be right-on wokeness.
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:34am
  - gravedodger
    
    That staff room will be oh so supportive, agreeing it was a total travesty no judge considered even a half a point for “turning up”???
    
    8 1
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    August 16, 2024 9:10am
  - Close Hen Counters
    
    I doubt she will ever have to show face at work again as others commenting (elsewhere) she will be worth millions now … not sure how, can’t imagine she would be hired for work Xmas do
    
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    August 16, 2024 12:32pm
- Gravelroad
  
  The Olympic Games have traditionally been a showcase for the best sports people with the most outstanding performances in the world at the time.
  If the organisers and selectors are now going to accept into the Olympics people who just want to game the system for personal advancement, or to pursue social warrior activism, it would be best to let us all know.
  It is claimed that this competitor was the best, but that cannot be true.
  It was just a game. So is that what the Olympic Games are all about now – gaming?
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:34am
  - CJames
    
    She was able to go because she won a rigged “international” competition.
    However, the Australians can now claim they selected their team on equity grounds. Being without ability, talent or skill is no longer a barrier. That gives hope to all useless couch potatoes.
    
    16 3
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    August 16, 2024 8:43am
    - AitchW
      
      How did no-one on the Aussie Olympic Committee look at the video of her cringeworthy performance and announce that the emperor had no clothes?
      Regardless of her having won some competition there must be some discretion to say “my god, this woman has no talent”.
      What a farce.
      Judgement even worse than the ill advised underarm delivery.
      
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      August 16, 2024 9:22am
  - cmm
    
    In the last few Olympics there have been competitors from disadvantaged nations like Eric the Eel – the “swimmer” from Equatorial New Guinea that nearly drowned. He only got the slot because of various connections and the Olympics falling over itself to be inclusive.
    
    In many ways Raygun’s performance could be viewed in a similar light. Break-dancing disadvantaged Australia needed to be tossed a bone in the name of inclusivity. I am sure though that they could have found better performers on the streets somewhere.
    
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    August 16, 2024 8:44am
    - pdm
      
      I still cannot understand how they managed to allow a Refugees Team.
      
      Next will it be a `no fixed abode’ team?
      
      4 5
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      August 16, 2024 9:00am
      - MCōs
        
        The IOC didn’t ‘allow’ a refugee team. They promoted the idea at the last three games and covered the costs.
        
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        August 16, 2024 9:22am
      - pdm
        
        mcos – isn’t what you say allowing a refugee team.
        
        Maybe even initiating it and paving the way for it.
        
        Would it not be better for said refugees to compete under the flag of the country they are estranged from?
        
        4 4
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        August 16, 2024 9:41am
      - AitchW
        
        Would it be insensitive to wonder if these ‘refugees’ are really doing it so hard if they’re able to train for and attend the Olympics?
        
        4 1
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        August 16, 2024 10:01am
      - MCōs
        
        Fourteen of the team are refugees from Iran
        That country is hardly going to select them as part of their team are they?
        
        4 2
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        August 16, 2024 10:12am
      - AitchW
        
        Mcos, perhaps not. But is there a god given right to attend the Olympics? Can they not qualify for the team of their adopted country? Aussie is good at fast tracking citizenship applications for recent immigrants who might win a gold medal, and I’m sure other countries would equally motivated to do the same thing…
        
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        August 16, 2024 1:43pm
    - Damocles11
      
      Yeah, she was the exact opposite of disadvantaged. A privileged white woke woman sucking on the taxpayers teat for donkeys years, cloistered in cosy academia writing meaningless research papers. She is symptomatic of a range of leftist problems that we are grappling with.
      
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      August 16, 2024 9:14am
      - snowy
        
        Raygun is to breakdancing what Ardern was to leadership
        
        13 4
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        August 16, 2024 9:54am
  - NothingLeft
    
    Did you know that Art used to be in the modern Olympics?
    
    “Art competitions formed part of the modern Olympic Games during its early years, from 1912 to 1948. The competitions were part of the original intention of the Olympic Movement’s founder, Pierre de Frédy, Baron de Coubertin. Medals were awarded for works of art inspired by sport, divided into five categories: architecture, literature, music, painting, and sculpture”
    
    There have been a lot of other dumb Olympic events in the past, like poodle clipping, pistol dueling, how far you can drift in a pool without moving in a minute.
    
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    August 16, 2024 10:33am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Someone mentioned town planning.
      
      True story.
      
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      August 16, 2024 8:54pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    Anyone remember Eddie the eagle?
    
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    August 16, 2024 2:25pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Similarities between Trump and JFK’s assassination attempts.
No wonder there are conspiracy theories. There is a list of failures.

https://thepatriotexpress.com/therightwingclub/government-conspiracy-the-startling-similarities-between-trump-and-jfks-assassination-attempts/?
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August 16, 2024 8:13am
greybeard

“Te Papa is to introduce a $35 entry fee for international visitors aged 16 and over from September 17.
Visitors would self-identify their nationality and will not need to present ID, Te Papa said in a news release.”

What could possibly go wrong ! What idiots !
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August 16, 2024 8:14am
- Mike
  
  You might be surprised to find that not everyone will behave like you do.
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:21am
- peterwn
  
  If I was in a foreign visitor’s shoes, consumer resistance would quickly set in at that price.
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:22am
- Paulus
  
  One quick way to stop overseas visitors from going to Te Papa – but perhaps that is what they want !
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:25am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  They expect several millions in revenue per year. Nicely vague. Perhaps Te Papa has learned from the Huntewasser fiasco.
  
  Or perhaps not.
  
  The CEO should release the business case. What’s the net expectation over 3 years, after accounting for the loss of daily donations (because they’ll vanish); plus the cost of bollards, and ticketing software and hardware? Project management costs? Staff operating costs? Staff time during the procurement process?
  
  My bet is, not much.
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:30am
  - John Loveridge
    
    Let’s say $5m. Given Te Papa is open 364 days per year, a quick calculation shows that they’re expecting about 400 foreign visitors to walk in the door and pay the fee every day.
    
    Given that visitor numbers are about 1.5m per year, that would anticipate that about 10% are foreigners willing to stump up.
    
    Is that a reasonable expectation?
    
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    August 16, 2024 11:33am
- cmm
  
  I’ve only been to Te Papa once and found the experience somewhat meh.
  
  Do people really come to NZ, Wellington in particular, for the cultural experience? If you want to be steeped in old buildings and culture then you travel to Europe – not NZ.
  
  According to various stats, there are 1.2 million visitors to Te Papa every year of which half are from overseas (so 600,000 a year). Since over 3 million tourists visit NZ each year that’s about 20%.
  
  If people really are flocking to Wellington to see Te Papa then their business model might work.
  
  However I suspect many were like us, we just went there as something to do while waiting for the ferry.
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:30am
  - greybeard
    
    Their business model relies on overseas visitors identifying themselves as such and voluntarily paying the $35 fee. Why would they ?
    
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    August 16, 2024 8:33am
    - peterwn
      
      They can get it off tour parties easily, it would be part of the cost of the tour and the guides would arrange payment.
      
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      August 16, 2024 8:39am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Indeed. They will certainly struggle getting $35 off Australian and UK visitors.
        
        8 1
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        August 16, 2024 9:44am
    - MCōs
      
      Seems to work at the Auckland museum
      Of course in both locations it depends on honesty
      
      5 2
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      August 16, 2024 8:57am
      - Swifty
        
        I’ve seen it plenty of times in Thailand – I was always happy to pay the small sum requested.
        
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        August 16, 2024 9:28am
      - PurplePen
        
        Last time I visited Auckland and went to Auckland museum I had to pay as I couldn’t show that I lived in Auckland by showing a power or phone bill etc.
        
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        August 16, 2024 10:10am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        I take my Rates Bill and tell them I pay their salary.
        If they ask for a pay rise, I tell them I will organise a pay cut.
        
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        August 16, 2024 11:26am
      - MCōs
        
        Last holidays I took my 7yo granddaughter along to the museum and we strayed upon the war stuff
        That took a bit of explaining
        What’s a landline, Granddad?
        Well, it’s designed to blow your legs off
        It’s not easy explaining all those guns and bombs to a little kid whose life is filled with fun, love and laughter
        
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        August 16, 2024 1:02pm
      - lifesgood
        
        It works at Auckland Museum and the National Maritime Museum. Auckland residents have to prove they are residents by producing proof, i.e. and Auckland library card or an invoice with their name and address on otherwise they must pay the visitors fee. In the Case of Te Papa, all NZers pay towards its existence through their taxes and in the case of the Auckland Museum residents pay through their rates. I think the Te Papa proposal is fair and equitable. It wont turn people off, you can hardly even get a main course at a restaurant for $35 these days.
        
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        August 16, 2024 1:57pm
  - Flossie
    
    Been there and agree it’s a very meh experience.
    
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    August 16, 2024 8:37am
  - igm
    
    As John Banks once stated, “Te Papa is only suitable as a decent hotel!”
    
    4 5
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    August 16, 2024 8:50am
    - peterwn
      
      There was once a hotel on the site. Then to make room for the museum they cut the building from its foundations, put wheels under it and moved it to its present site on the corner of Cable and Tory streets.
      
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      August 16, 2024 1:37pm
  - mandk
    
    There are some good paintings in Te Papa’s collection.
    
    My favourite is Death of a Peasant, by Henry Lamb. It is not the most finely crafted, but it conveys an extraordinary depth of emotion.
    
    There is also some beautiful work by Samuel Peploe, one of the Scottish Colourists.
    
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    August 16, 2024 9:48am
    - PurplePen
      
      The art gallery section has been closed for months at the mo.
      
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      August 16, 2024 10:11am
  - NothingLeft
    
    yeah, it’s shit. Prioritizing style over substance. A sparse arrangement of superficial displays designed to appeal to aesthetic and political prejudices of terminally woke arts grads, rather than a busier and more detailed ware-house like display of the tens of thousands of potentially interesting-to-many historic items currently condemned to sit in pointless sad storage facilities in the Hutt Valley.
    
    Having more stuff on display is always better, and doesn’t need to be dumbed down to the level of 3 year old’s or wokester-sanitized by the suzerains of propriety. It’s such a waste of potential.
    
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    August 16, 2024 10:42am
  - I remember when
    
    cmm:
    While in the UK looking at the various castles and other majestic building they could call into London and enjoy the ‘free’-ly available world-class museums.
    
    2 1
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    August 16, 2024 11:03am
  - ecco
    
    People/tourists only go there because there’s not a lot to do in Wellington.
    
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    August 16, 2024 11:37pm
- Inandout
  
  Self Identify: ‘to believe that you are a particular kind of person, especially when other people do not think that you are that kind of person’. I can see arguments around this, especially citizens with foreign accents.
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:39am
  - lifesgood
    
    As I mentioned earlier, you have to provide proof at Ak Museum and Maritime Museum. If Te Papa doesn’t do this then more fool them.
    
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    August 16, 2024 1:59pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  They’ll have the honesty box out front I presume?
  
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  August 16, 2024 9:26am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Next minute they will be trying to charge $35 to New Zealanders who “look Chinese”. ☹️
  
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  August 16, 2024 9:42am
  - Biscuit
    
    Now THERE’S an idea, Benedict!
    
    [Insert tongue-in-cheek emoji, lest there be some humourless soul out there bleating ‘THAT’S WAYSIST!’)
    
    4 0
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    August 16, 2024 12:04pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Hunter tossed under the bus. Daddy can’t protect him anymore.

https://rightsideoffers.com/thepoliticalmovement/protected-no-more-doj-admits-hunter-received-money-to-influence-u-s-policy/?
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August 16, 2024 8:15am
softail 1450

Chuck Bird, Dame Ardern possibly ,she seems to be on every quango and NGO on the planet and I realise she doesn’t know a damn thing about Climate Change but she knew even less about running a country but never let that point bother her for her 6 years of destruction.
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August 16, 2024 8:16am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

XX and XY are not the same. Dennis Prager.
Video 31 minutes.

https://www.prageru.com/video/ep-354-xx-and-xy-are-not-the-same?
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August 16, 2024 8:17am
Yvette

With nearly 600,000 international visitors in the 2023/2024 financial year, Te Papa is expected to earn an additional $20 million per year from the move.
“You’ll walk into Te Papa and we’ll say, ‘Kia ora, how are you? Where have you come from today?’ And if you say, ‘Oh, I’ve come from Johnsonville’, then we’ll say, ‘Great, head up the stairs, head into the museum, have a wonderful visit’.
“And if you say, ‘Oh, I’m from France’ or ‘I’m from Germany’, we’ll say, ‘Awesome, head up the stairs, you’ll see the ticket desk right there, that’s where you can buy your ticket’.”

A question, which the RNZ “journalist” may have asked but apparently didn’t, is how were the “nearly 600,000 international visitors in the 2023/2024 financial year” identified, to provide the figures for the calculation which establishes the exact amount of $35 should be the entry fee for international visitors?

Last time I went into “Te Papa” was with a quite influential visiting American and his wife and one of their five sons and it would have been a fucking enormous embarrassment to have the situation of saying We are free, but you will have to pay $35 each, so $245 had the whole family been there – the RNZ article, unless I missed it, doesn’t indicate if there is any discount for children. One solution would be for me to buy tickets in advance for my visitors, but still that would be revealed to them, as a “Te Papa” staff member would still confront our group with the question of where we all were from.

(20,000,000 / 35 = 571,428 not 600,000 so were all these figures, as they say, “plucked from someone’s lower posterior abdominal aspect”?
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August 16, 2024 8:42am
- PurplePen
  
  It will quickly get around on travel sites that payment is voluntary, especially sites for low cost tourists and they’ll just ignore the ticket desk.
  
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  August 16, 2024 10:15am
- sirknz
  
  Divide the supposed benefits by 3, multiply the projected costs by 5-7 for any public sector business case. They massage the numbers, assumptions, and cases till the number is palatable to those paying the bills.
  
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  August 16, 2024 10:21am
- MCōs
  
  Maybe they’ll make an exception for influential Americans
  
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  August 16, 2024 10:21am
  - Mike
    
    A special lane for “Friends of Yvette”
    
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    August 16, 2024 11:08am
- greybeard
  
  Many of those 600,000 international visitors will have been under 16 years of age and therefore exempt from the new scheme anyway.
  So 600,000 becomes more like 300,000 and $21m becomes $10.5m, and the “business case” worsens.
  
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  August 16, 2024 10:27am
Damocles11

Regarding NZME and its decision not to publish the latest Hobsons Pledge advertisement in the Herald, it is worth bearing in mind that they were the top recipient of funding through Labours dastardly PIJF.
A piece published by the Taxpayers Union on 26 June 2023 listed 37 DEI cadetships and ‘an online tool detailing Pakeha land ownership over time as being amongst the purchases made with all that taxpayer largesse Labour were doling out to get the mainstream media to do their bidding.

‘37 Journalism Cadetships for Māori, Pasifika and diverse journalists, an online tool detailing Pakehā land ownership over time, Kaupapa Māori and Audio Innovation role for accessibility for low-vision mana whenua, 15 roles for coverage of remote court proceedings, support for community journalists in provincial newspapers, weekly bilingual section in Rotorua Weekender about iwi issues.’

According to on-line sources, NZME received $6,880,099.25 from the PIJF.
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August 16, 2024 9:36am
- pdm
  
  `According to on-line sources, NZME received $6,880,099.25 from the PIJF.’
  
  Probably the difference between solvency and insolvency.
  
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  August 16, 2024 10:30am
  - Ghost
    
    They posted a $12 million profit last year, down from $22 million in 2022. This years profit will be interesting
    
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    August 16, 2024 10:43am
  - Damocles11
    
    Another report on-line advises that they received $8.6 million in Covid era wage subsidies from Robbo.
    
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    August 16, 2024 10:48am
  - Biscuit
    
    pdm, I have to confess that the @0.25 there was mine. I’d cleaned out from unber the sofa cushions that week.
    
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    August 16, 2024 12:06pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Why would anyone on this site still be paying any NZME outfit a monthly subscription fee???
  
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  August 16, 2024 3:01pm
sirknz

Why is nobody pointing out that the areas where they are putting in LAP for liquor licencing are all traditionally poor and brown?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-booze-crackdown-no-sales-of-alcohol-in-supermarkets-and-liquor-stores-after-9pm-two-year-freeze-on-new-liquor-stores/E7ZHQUWDO5CXDLY7UHEJ53T5BI/

All that this will do is push the problems into the next suburb over, with more people being caught up in other people’s stupid decisions. If I was a sharp operator, I would be looking at the suburb boundaries and setting up shops on the suburb borders.
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August 16, 2024 10:36am
I remember when

Invoice arrives for oil and gas ban: Josie Pagan.
“Labour’s Megan Woods claims no new gas was going to be found anyway because exploration successes are rare in New Zealand.
But if no new gas was going to be found, then they would hardly have needed to ban exploration.
Either the ban was pointless symbolism, or it was effective and now we have a shortage of gas.”

Take your pick Megan.
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August 16, 2024 10:41am
- Mike
  
  It was symbolism, as offshore exploation here has been very expensive and very unsuccessful.
  
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  August 16, 2024 11:11am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Oh really. So how much natural gas has NZ received from NZ sources?
    
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    August 16, 2024 3:03pm
- kowtow
  
  What all commenters seem to agree on is the Ardern regime’s decision well and truly shafted any confidence overseas investors might have had to operate here .
  (as was pointed out by a number of erudite posters here at the time)
  
  So the damage is done ( whether there’s anything there simply doesn’t matter) .
  
  Now we all pay the price.
  
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  August 16, 2024 12:08pm
Damocles11

‘Systemic change’: that was always the goal. Covid was simply the excuse to carry it out.
According to the on-line report of the Public Interest Journalism Fund –

‘How did the PIJF serve Māori?
Inequity of Māori representation both within the country’s newsrooms and in the content they create is well documented. The PIJF created an opportunity to help redress the balance and encourage systemic change.
PIJF data distinguishes between content created by Māori media (owned by and for Māori) and Māori content created by non-Māori media entities.
Of $66,167,017 approved funding, $22,678,497 was allocated to Māori outcomes which was 34%. That comprised funding to Māori media ($16,258,698) and funding to non-Māori media for Māori content. 38 roles were approved for Māori media and a further 36 Māori content roles were approved for non-Māori media.’
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August 16, 2024 10:47am
imalwaysright

Iwi Chairs Forum want the cops to go easy on gang members.

Considering that the offspring of these iwi members are one of the largest groups used and abused by gangs, it is becoming obvious why maori kids are failing in this society.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/525234/iwi-chairs-forum-asks-police-to-use-discretion-in-applying-gang-patch-ban
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August 16, 2024 11:21am
Damocles11

I’m not one to promote the views of the CTU -especially Craig Rennie – but in this instance the following may be worth pondering on:

‘He said for inflation to meet the Reserve Bank’s forecast – it expects the annual rate to fall from 3.3% in the June quarter to 2.3% in the September quarter – consumption would have to be “absolutely smashed”.’

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/350380960/why-ocr-cut-not-necessarily-something-celebrate
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August 16, 2024 11:26am
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350380753/taurangas-maori-ward-councillor-leave-until-2025
This sounds familiar. What a rort, how stupid are Tauranga ratepayers to accept this nonsense.
Plain bloody corruption.
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August 16, 2024 11:40am
- rouppe
  
  Complete joke.
  
  He’d have known his illness at the time, which basically means it’s fraud
  
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  August 16, 2024 12:38pm
MCōs

I was recently laid low with lymphoma cancer, that was treated with chemotherapy and six months ago I had a clear scan
I was informed there would be a checkup arranged at three months and another scan at six months
Neither has happened so I rang up and they told me multiple appointments were being canceled due to a shortage of registrars
I’m not concerned for myself and if I was I know who to ring to get some action, but there’s winners and losers in our system when resources are tight . . . .
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August 16, 2024 11:53am
- Swifty
  
  Yes, what a pity then that Labour squandered billions in the years 2017-23 on non-essentials rather than lifting capacity in our health system.
  
  Labour bet on the growth under Key and English continuing unbroken. How wrong Labour were and how quick they were to stuff it all up.
  
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  August 16, 2024 11:58am
  - MCōs
    
    You can blame whoever you like.
    What is required is action now to resolve the situation.
    
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    August 16, 2024 12:36pm
    - Swifty
      
      Oh I quite agree, that’s why I’m so pleased Labour got smashed in the 2023 general election – no actions to resolve the situation would ever have come from them.
      
      They would just have made things even worse.
      
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      August 16, 2024 12:44pm
      - AitchW
        
        Quite right. Look at the total cluster the Minstry for the Disabled has been shown to be. Totally dysfunctional since it was established in 2022. Even when the Labour government delivered on an election promise they didn’t deliver. What a shame the international media ignore these indisputable facts and Ardern is still adored by the uninformed overseas.
        Hopefully she will be exposed on her apparently endless supply of quango and academic appointments.
        
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        August 16, 2024 1:52pm
- NothingLeft
  
  We are bearing the costs of excessive growth sapping govt + regulation driven by the destructive politics of envy and bureaucrats never ending urge to grow their power and empires while reducing accountability.
  
  They’ve wrecked productivity, making NZ poorer, meaning we can no longer afford to hold on to medical professionals in an internationally competitive job market.
  
  Socialist high tax big govt = equality of misery.
  
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  August 16, 2024 12:37pm
  - mandk
    
    Agreed.
    
    It’s becoming more and more clear that Labour’s primary concern was shovelling money out the door without any checks on whether the money was being spent, what it was being spent on, and what the spending had achieved.
    
    Witness Andrew Little’s $1.9 bn mental health budget for which he could not point to any results.
    
    Similarly, the more recent OT splurging without any evaluation of what it had achieved, as well as the Disability Services fiasco where there were no systems and accountability.
    
    If Directors in a private company behaved the same way, there would be prosecutions.
    
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    August 16, 2024 2:35pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Waitangi Tribunal releases scathing report on Treaty Principles Bill.
Sounds like the Waitangi Tribunal is getting a little alarmed. Chris Luxon will be looking at ways to stop the Bill even reaching the Select Committee stage.

Besides the Principles the Waitangi Tribunal needs to be reminded that what matters is the Three Articles in the Treaty.
“The tribunal report, released today, detailed various ways the Treaty Principles Bill was a breach of the Treaty of Waitangi.”
Which of the three Articles have been breached?

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/unfair-discriminatory-waitangi-tribunal-releases-scathing-report-on-treaty-principles-bill/ar-AA1oSJWd?
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August 16, 2024 12:39pm
- Damocles11
  
  Does Luxon have a spine? What a disappointment he is.
  
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  August 16, 2024 2:32pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    His spine is being manipulated by the Waitangi Tribunal and activist Maori like a Chiropractor does to your back. Sometimes works, sometimes lay down for 2 days.
    I am talking sciatica.
    
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    August 16, 2024 5:23pm
- sirknz
  
  Which of the three Articles have been breached?
  ********
  
  The never ending gravy train part.
  
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  August 16, 2024 4:41pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    You got it!!!
    
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    August 16, 2024 5:13pm
Steve Todd

Here’s the latest The Rest is Politics US, with Katty Kay and Anthony Scaramucci: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RP2re0IhyAo&t=145s. As always, it’s good stuff. Apparently, Shapiro wanted to be a sort of co-ish President.

See, especially, starting at 21:44, a six-minute discussion as to why it’s still a close race.

A tidbit from Katty Kay (at 28 minutes): What percentage of 18- to 29-year-olds voted in 2020? Answer: 50%, up 11 points from 2016!

See also, starting at 28:47, a 12-minute discussion on whether the Electoral College should be reformed.

And finally, a timely discussion, following on from my comment yesterday, about the Republican Party, starting at 41:30 (for 10 minutes), “Being a Republican today”.
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August 16, 2024 12:42pm
- Swifty
  
  I bet you can’t wait for the debates Steve!
  
  🤣
  
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  August 16, 2024 3:32pm
  - Steve Todd
    
    Heh, heh, too true, but I’m bored with saying that now.
    
    I will likely, however, throw in the occasional—
    
    “When we fight, we win”
    “Not going back!”
    
    —slogans as the weeks roll by.
    
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    August 16, 2024 5:22pm
    - Swifty
      
      Fair enough.
      
      Get into it.
      
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      August 16, 2024 5:37pm
Swifty

“We are free to make up shit, invent crown obligations never intended by the signatories, conjure from thin air new rights for Maori that others don’t receive and generally bend and twist the treaty principles to mean anything we wish them to mean in order to grant us cash and control – and you are not free to do anything to stop us.”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/525344/waitangi-tribunal-calls-for-treaty-principles-bill-to-be-abandoned-in-scathing-report
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August 16, 2024 12:42pm
- Damocles11
  
  This government are all talk. The two blowhards, Peters and Jones, talk about reigning in the Waitangi Tribunal and in practice do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. National are even worse, they are total ostriches on this matter. Luxon may end up being even worse than Key when it comes to selling us down the river.
  One man – David Seymour – is trying to bring equality to all and kill off the ever encroaching reach of ‘Te Tiriti’ into every aspect of our lives. The gutless, treacherous cowards are leaving it to him and him alone. What an absolute disgrace!
  
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  August 16, 2024 2:31pm
Swifty

Well said David Seymour:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/525346/david-seymour-welcomes-critical-waitangi-tribunal-report

What a good Maori he is.
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August 16, 2024 12:57pm
David Garrett

Look at this nonsense sentence passed down by a soft cock judge who used to be a Law Society toady, and apologist from criminals:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350380282/nomad-appalling-history-jailed-removing-bracelet-and-riding-stolen-cars

For a start, despite his “appalling history”, thanks to s.86 of the Parole Act that nine month sentence automatically becomes 4.5 months. Secondly, anyone with any knowledge of scum gang members will know very well the guy will be laughing his head off, and associating with his fellow gang members the minute he is released in 4.5 months time.

Krebs – who is personally known to me – is the epitome of the DCJ from a sheltered background who doesn’t have a clue what he is dealing with.
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August 16, 2024 1:07pm
- David Garrett
  
  Apologist FOR criminals…Krebs wrote the submission on behalf of the Law Society bemoaning how “draconian” – how the lefties love that word – the original 3S law was.
  
  At Select Committee, I asked him what steps he had taken to ensure that the submission he had made reflected the views of 50% plus one of the 6,000 lawyers in the country. Of course they had done nothing to ascertain how many lawyers agreed with their little committee of criminal apologists.
  
  Krebs had also either not read the submission, which perhaps had been written by someone else, or he had forgotten what was in it. By the end of my questioning, the journos were openly laughing at him.
  
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  August 16, 2024 1:17pm
  - fernglas
    
    The charge of unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle carries a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment. As far as I can see, removing an electronic monitoring device is not an offence, but can trigger a resentencing. The judge adopted a starting point of 12 months imprisonment, half the maximum sentence for the offence, after an uplift for his history, and reduced it to nine months after deductions for a guilty plea and youth. So that all seems pretty standard. What would you have given the offender?
    
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    August 16, 2024 3:41pm
    - cmm
      
      The need for re-sentencing is rather broken.
      Rather, anyone on parole or home D etc should be considered still under corrections control but just happen to be serving part of their sentence outside of prison according to a long list of conditions.
      
      Break ANY of the conditions and the parole or home D is immediately revoked. No need for a hearing.
      
      This should be considered an internal corrections discipline matter like breaking a rule in the prisons.
      
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      August 16, 2024 4:48pm
    - Keith White
      
      fernglas: an appropriate sentence for this class of recidivist with no respect for the social contract would be 3 years’ hard labour, living in a tent on the Central Plateau, up at 6 to start shovel-ready work on roads, culverts etc. 6 days a week.
      
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      August 16, 2024 5:00pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Tim Walz drops out after learning he has to visit Battleground States.
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August 16, 2024 1:18pm
- Mike
  
  Wut?
  
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  August 16, 2024 4:33pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Wooo! Got ya again Mike with the satire LOL!!!!
    
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    August 16, 2024 6:48pm
    - Ghost
      
      If that’s satire you need to learn how to do satire
      
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      August 16, 2024 6:57pm
Jack5

Has this been widely known?

The Nord Stream gas twin-pipeline from Russia was sabotaged two years ago by a Ukrainian team, says an article in the Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper says the Dutch military intelligence agency MIVD learned of the Ukrainian plot and warned the CIA. U.S. officials then promptly informed Germany.

The CIA warned the office of the Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, to stop the operation. Zelenesky in turn ordered Valeriy Zaluzhniy, then commander in chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Zaluzhniy ignored the order.
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August 16, 2024 1:39pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Confirming what I thought all along. super unsurprising from a simple qui bono prospective. All the claims of Russians or CIA etc doing it were just dopey.
  
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  August 16, 2024 3:25pm
- cmm
  
  As I said at the time, this job really didn’t need special forces or other sophisticated skills or equipment.
  
  It was in shallow water in a calm waters. A reasonably trained recreational SCUBA diver could do it with 15 minutes training on where to place the explosives.
  
  Nor did it need submarines and fancy stuff. As I said then, a recreational fishing boat would easily do the job. I don’t know how much explosives were involved, but I hunch somewhere around the 200kg range.
  
  Of course they were keen to keep this under wraps. The Ukrainians sabotaged the German economy. That’s going to piss off a lot of Germans giving them military support.
  
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  August 16, 2024 3:32pm
- Damocles11
  
  ‘A spokesperson for the Ukrainian president has denied the claims.’
  
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  August 16, 2024 3:51pm
- kevn
  
  Jack5…. Just creates a way for US and Germany to withdraw from the conflict. Need to play games first.
  
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  August 16, 2024 4:29pm
- Jack5
  
  Here’s the “WSJ” response bit that poster Damocles11 alludes to:
  
  “The Journal spoke to four senior Ukrainian defense and security officials who either participated in or had direct knowledge of the plot. All of them said the pipelines were a legitimate target in Ukraine’s war of defense against Russia.
  
  “Portions of their account were corroborated by a nearly two-year German police investigation into the attack, which has obtained evidence including email, mobile and satellite phones communications, as well as fingerprints and DNA samples from the alleged sabotage team. The Germany inquiry hasn’t directly linked President Zelensky to the clandestine operation.
  
  “Gen. Zaluzhniy, now Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom, said in a text exchange that he knows nothing of any such operation and that any suggestion to the contrary is a ‘mere provocation.’ Ukraine’s armed forces, he added, weren’t authorized to conduct overseas missions, and he therefore wouldn’t have been involved.
  
  “A senior official of the main Ukrainian intelligence service, SBU, denied his government had anything to do with the sabotage, and said that Zelensky in particular ‘did not approve the implementation of any such actions on the territory of third countries and did not issue relevant orders’.”
  
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  August 16, 2024 8:00pm
Steve Todd

Michael Popok explains why bringing back KellyAnne Conway to run Trump’s campaign simply won’t work, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aexdaohj6cM. [16 minutes]

The splurge says—

“A fight in the Trump family has spilled out into the public and may signal Trump desperately hiring KellyAnne Conway to run his campaign and fire his campaign directors, again. Michael Popok explains why Conway can’t stop the death spiral of the Trump Campaign, and why a 2016 campaign strategy against Hillary, can’t beat VP Harris in 2024 given the rise of the women’s vote to regain their rights and the new demographics of America which is less white and more diverse.”

Trump supporters need to be aware of this sort of commentary.

Posted in the interests of balance. Enjoy.
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August 16, 2024 3:32pm
Swifty

It’s thank heavens for small mercies, I suppose – at least that terrible Karanina Sumeo hasn’t been reappointed for another term:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/525363/new-leadership-announced-for-human-rights-commission

Her enthusiastic backing of the reckless Fair Pay legislation during a cost of living crisis was an appalling stance to take. It would have added buckets of petrol to the cost of living inferno with prices of goods and services skyrocketing even further as a result.

As an aside, Rainbow joined my small circle for regular drinks when we were at Auckland City Council together years ago – a good bugger.
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August 16, 2024 3:49pm
- Steve Todd
  
  Hey, Swifty. I think you mean “at Wellington City Council”.
  
  Stephen Rainbow was a Green councillor in Wellington from 1989 to 1998. I recall you saying you lived in Wellington back around then.
  
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  August 16, 2024 5:10pm
  - Swifty
    
    You’re right Steve, I was born and raised in Wellie, left in ‘93, used to drink with Rainbow in about ‘07 or ‘08 when he was performing some comms function (from memory) for the pre-Super City Auckland City Council.
    
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    August 16, 2024 5:33pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      Ah, thanks, Swifty, that explains it. His Wikipedia entry is a bit light on what he has been up to, post-1998.
      
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      August 16, 2024 7:04pm
thirteenstars

Fantastic news from the Free Speech Union newsletter:

Well, Dr. Stephen Rainbow has been appointed the new Chief Human Rights Commissioner, a supporter and friend of the Free Speech Union, who has a strong background defending speech rights. (In fact, he was one of the first cases we took on years ago when he ran into a spot of bother himself for raising concerns about the Conversion Therapy Legislation that was going through Parliament).

But, what I am most excited to tell you is that Dr. Melissa Derby, a founding member of the Free Speech Union, who only recently resigned from her position from our Council, has been made the Race Relations Commissioner!

https://x.com/NZFreeSpeech/status/1824278065322823951
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August 16, 2024 4:02pm
Steve Todd

Oh, dear. I suspect Trump might well have lost the election this afternoon, our time.

Sorry, Trumpistas, but you need to see this. During a speech on Thursday night Trump said the Medal of Freedom he gave to billionaire donor Miriam Adelson was better than the Medal of Honor given to soldiers, because “they’re either in very bad shape … or they’re dead”, while “she gets it and she’s a healthy, beautiful woman”.

See the whole 15 minutes, here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZZnebOv030.

It’s disgusting. This appalling creature, who is clearly out of his time, might have got away with it previously, but, in August 2024, he is a very much diminished man, who people are becoming heartily sick-to-death of.

Roll on Wednesday, 6 November, our time, I say.
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August 16, 2024 4:50pm
- Mike
  
  I have little doubt that those words can be interpreted to mean whatever the cult members want to believe.
  
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  August 16, 2024 5:27pm
  - graham
    
    So tell us, Mike – how do YOU interpret them? Inquiring minds want to know …
    
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    August 16, 2024 6:51pm
- kevn
  
  Steve… Yep, the way to go ?
  https://x.com/EuroConOfficial/status/1815092772824879120
  
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  August 16, 2024 5:55pm
- Inandout
  
  What has been and what will be.
  
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  August 16, 2024 6:09pm
cmm

Yeah this will show them!

Filthy foriegners will be thinking twice before invading our shores and undermining our health with illegal cigarettes

After smuggling in nearly half a million smokes, evading about $675,000 of tobacco taxes three Malaysian nationals will get home D, then sent back home.

I wonder how many shipments were successful before this one was intercepted? I bet they’re laughing all the way to the bank!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350381673/three-malaysian-nationals-sentenced-smuggling-half-million-cigarettes
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August 16, 2024 5:21pm
Steve Todd

Okay, Kiwibloggers, one more (and it’s a beauty).

See Kamala Harris’ “wildly effective” ad, that is now playing on Fox News, and then, at 2 minutes, the ad put out by ‘Evangelicals for Harris’, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjqReUl7roU. [13 minutes]

The splurge says: “By focusing on the needs of the middle class, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has earned the support of Evangelicals for Harris. Cenk Uygur and Ben Gleib discuss on The Young Turks.

“The newly energized electorate behind Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid is sweeping through faith-based sectors, even among voices who are unexpected. Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, aim to rally more of that support across different voting blocs at next week’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which is set for August 19 through August 22. The nominees are expected to outline their vision for the nation, a message that will resonate deeply with some supporters while others will be simply looking for a pitch different from that of former President Donald Trump.”

Also, at 10:25, see the NYT/Siena College poll of non-college white voters in MI, PA and WI.

I say it again, there’s something going on out there.
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August 16, 2024 6:24pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350381847/code-black-whangarei-hospital-after-hitting-over-150-ed-capacity
No surprise: Whangarei is the home to druggies, bene ferals, multi-generational dependents.
Booze. Drugs. Takeaways. What the hell do you expect ?
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August 16, 2024 6:58pm
Scooter

Ok so “whangai father” means adopted. Why not just say that or write the whole bloody article in Maori. Dropping in random words into another language is not going to help anyone learn. Just virtue signaling bullshit and they know that if it’s all in Maori no one except a small minority can read it.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/murder-victim-arohaina-henares-father-sentenced-for-courtroom-attack-on-her-killer/NW4H7NRMY5BX7AD2F6SVCM2RH4/
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August 16, 2024 7:54pm
- fernglas
  
  Whangai father doesn’t mean “adopted”, and the concept doesn’t translate easily, but New Zealanders ought to be familiar with the expression. If you don’t understand it, then perhaps you should learn a bit more about the country you live in.
  
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  August 16, 2024 9:48pm

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