Sorry but I find it now totally invalid to attempt to bring a situation that existed in the 1830s into present day life in NZ and to continue to extrapolate past injustices going forward. Most of Europe has a history of conquest, redefined countries, and borders, and to the present day that is continuing, with Russia having annexed the Crimea, for example, or China claiming Taiwan and Hong Kong, Assads regime ruthlessly killing many of its people, who have had to flee their country.NZ history has its own conflict, but conveniently the genocide and near extinction of the Moriori for example is hardly ever mentioned.Maori were predominantly hunter gatherers back then, often transient according to the constraints of a food source, and engaged in frequent acts of aggression with neighbouring tribal groups, with frequent slaughter and occupation of others territory. Ownership of land was not a widespread concept, the resources in a given area were exploited, often exhausted and then the land and settlements were abandoned, as the area could no longer sustain the population group.The land itself had little value, it was primarily the surrounding resources that were valued, such as available food, shellfish etc. It is why Maori population was concentrated in coastal regions.Not only is no one alive in NZ today that is responsible for what happened back then, but ultimately we all in NZ are subservient to the crown in some way or other. We use motorways, public facilities, National Parks, and benefit from the provision of education, health services, social welfare, security through the police and justice system, the list is endless almost. These are all collective benefits of being a New Zealander. There is plenty of available alternatives in the world today as to where to live. For example, the more remote areas of the highlands of Papua New Guinea may appeal to some, but not many, for good reason. Living there, is perhaps a bit of a parallel to early Maori occupied NZ. It is still a hunter gatherer society, and survival is a constant harsh prospect, health services hardly exist at all and there is a high level of malnutrition.On that point, health, this article seems to blame Europeans for decimation of the Maori population for disease. In that era, small pox still existed, as did polio, diptheria, tetanus, TB, whooping cough, and influenza. Sexually transmitted diseases were rife (though they were spared HIV), and all manner of waterborne diseases were prevalent, all of which nobody had any immunity to. People died in their thousands, and millions globally. Not just Maori, although influenza may have taken an increased toll.So I think what I am saying is we have to put history into a level of perspective, especially spanning back 180 years. In every generation, there are winners and losers. People lose their lot frequently through misadventure, war, such as we see in Syria. Ill health, bankruptcy, divorce, gambling, acts of god such as floods etc etc. Few families manage to hang on to their assets much past two generations globally, and millionaires come and go.Grieving what might have been, before our lives, is purely nonsensical and without doubt that sense of entitlement is now largely misplaced. Successive governments have in my view gone more than enough in that direction, attempting to right the wrongs of the past. The beneficiaries of some of those outcomes are often, in truth, distorted as to their level of entitlement to settlements, with the heirarchy at the top of Maoridom benefiting excessively, and the less fortunate beneath them again missing out. Greed by a few appears to trump the needy just about always unfortunately.
Suggest a watch on foreign investment vehicles through Singapore, that are investing (speculating) in NZ property also will be pertinent. Those companies and investors in Singapore need to be genuine Singaporean based companies and citizens. If Singaporean investment in residential housing in particular becomes rampant, then that loop hole will need to be closed similarly.
Hardly a Green decision, in fact a very poor decision for the economy and a disasterous one for the environment. Millions of single use bottles from our shores into the global environment, and a depletion of the acquifer. Can this decision be appealed I wonder. This has nothing to do with Maoridom or any other percieved karma as to the soundness of this decision. It is all to do with exploiting our natural resources, by an overseas investor, for excessive monetary gain. There is virtually zero in the deal for New Zealand, and an enormous environment cost, locally and globally, and with this decision, another associated land purchase by an overseas investor. The OIA have failed on this one, and so have the ministers involved. Job creation is only a small consideration here, and has to be balanced against environmental cost and economic real return for NZ.
Long overdue, with an emphasis back to upskilling employees toward better productivity and providing realistic incomes where participants in the work force feel valued. This will result in less churn, and better relationships between employees and employers. Corporate and SMEs sustainability will in fact be bettered. The concept that you can just hire another bunny at whim after summarily firing the previous employee as a low cost strategy is flawed. This results in low productivity and results in a business unable to effectively compete in the marketplace, due to a lack of investment and newly acquired skills by its employees. Substandard quality of output, with bad decisions and zero R&D are the most probable outcomes when you have significant churn in the labour market. Smart employers know better, and for the others it will be a education process to the benefit of all.
Maybe get a bike and enjoy would be my philosophy. It is an asset to the area surely, no exhaust fumes, traffic noise to worry about, just a few health conscious bods on bikes enjoying the lake scenery, the like of which when shared is a great experience.
The Hurunui catchment totally deserves preservation status, it is one of the few pristine river systems left in Canterbury. Dairy cow effluent into these streams and aquifers is not wanted, and already there has been massive degradation of streams, rivers and waterways in Canterbury as a result of intensified farming. The Canterbury plains is suited to horticulture, grain growing and sheep farming, not dairy with its high irrigation demands. The Canterbury region has suffered enough already, and significant effort is now necessary to restore the environment from its current state to allow recovery to its former self. The powers that be in ECan are still getting it wrong, pretty unusual for an environmental watchdog.
Misleading headline. Use of the new Hawaiki cable will not come free either, so they too will clip the ticket and rightly so. Undersea cables are not cheap. What the article should have stressed is that there will be a level of increased competition and our communication cable network is now more robust. Vodafone of course will be happy, not to be supporting Spark their main competitor in NZ, but they will be paying plenty neverthe less. Vodafone cannot expect to get a free lunch, if they dont actually invest and own networks such as undersea cables. If they wanted competition they could of invested in infrastructure years ago, but have failed to do so. (Maybe their net profit is actually greater, per dollar invested in their NZ? But the public should be aware that Vodafone is an offshore multinational, with less investment in NZ than Spark, providing less jobs and less benefits for NZ)I state this as an independent with no shareholdings etc in Spark. Just like to see the emphasis of this article a bit less slanted.
Excellent article. Over tourism is already here, with over one million visitors to Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park, alone. Management of tourism numbers and the impact that they create in specific regions, is long overdue. When posting photos of New Zealands pristine beaches, mountain areas, rivers, if we are smart, we should now automatically turn off geo-tagging prior to it hitting the Facebook or Instagram pages. We also need to better regulate and manage, the conduct of many of the tourist operators in NZ. The case of a driver, without a passenger license, driving an Alps Travel tourist bus in the South Island, along the Te Anau Milford highway full of tourists, should have seen that tourist operator out of business. Instead it was a $400 fine and a few hours of community service for the tourist operator. We need to ensure things are done better than that
Drivers that drive aggressively around motorbikes and cycles are in truth the problem. Sure some bike deaths are speed related, but when cars and trucks interact with a bike, it is the rider who dies, and the other motorists are more than contributory in most cases, squeezing cyclists is totally common and misjudging approaching motorbikes, even with their headlights on is another frequent occurrence, which i have often witnessed.
Avondale lacks anything in the way of offering a destination activity, be it recreational or retail. If Avondale is to regenerate, something of significant value for the community is needed, that will generate economic activity.A new swimming pool complex and gymnasium would be a good start. As Aucklands population has increased, existing swimming pools are coming under increasing pressure. The nearest pool complexes are Mt Alberts Phillips Aquatic Centre and Westwave Henderson. Furthermore, swimming is not only about fitness, but also about staying alive and preventing unnecessary drownings. Then build a serious gym and indoor cycling event centre, it would be a game changer and Auckland could do with such a facility. With the new roading access to the West via the tunnel this is a feasible location for such a complex and training centre. Downtown Auckland, Wynyard Quarter and the Viaduct has had decades of spending but no major facilities have been provided for, West Auckland, New Lynn Avondale or Mt Albert in recent years. Time to create something exceptional for the community and young aspiring athletes. Another Westfield Mall isnt the answer. Our youth deserve more than another opportunity to mindlessly stroll a mall, visit the food hall etc etc, they will benefit from active sports involvement and a major sports complex can provide this. The major codes, Rugby, Cricket, Netball are well catered for, and not all are interested in team sports, (acknowledging for example that there are only so many All Black vacancies to fill annually for aspiring players.) Time that swimming, Indoor basketball and cycling were given much more of an emphasis. Track cyclists have no high quality indoor venue in the entire Upper North Island, and a training venue may also enable road cyclists to actively train especially in the more severe winter months. We could do with more sucess stories in individual sports, such as Steven Adams, Sophie Pascoe, and this year, NZ has four riders in the Tour de France, more than the USA, with Jack Bauer, Patrick Bevan, George Bennett and Dion Smith. These athletes have exceptional ability, they and the ones to come next will benefit from such facilities being built, and it can be the impetus for more to enter these high performance sports. It is a case of build it, and they will come, absolutely, and a major sports centre will provide an opportunity for many over a large number of years to benefit health wise additionally.
Drone or aerial imagery doesnt lie, only the people that are into photo manipulation and their handlers. It is a stretch of belief that when asked to provide photos of an event, the photography provided, is by default designed to deceive. There must have been a directive surely, by someone to willfully manipulate imagery, and make it look good. Why else would someone unilaterally chose to provide what amounts to a lie, especially given that it is a presidential event of great importance. Wouldnt most photographers naturally want to get it right.
Totally agree with this article. We are a small country China is massive and an imbalance of power can be the obvious outcome, if we become a goal for chinas imperialism. China has demonstrated its expanding role in seeking political influence around the globe, from the Sea of Japan, building man made islands, then militarizing them, its increased influence in the Pacific, Vanuatu, Niue and the Cook Islands, and its ongoing support for North Korea. Chinas belt road policy is in its simplicity, a mechanism of advancing capital to countries that often can ill afford repayment, which then results in political control and influence by China.Recently Australia has identified as many as 2500 research workers from China as essentially being agencts or economic adversaries, working in our Universities and private research facilities. They are there to quote : Picking flowers to make honey (money) at home. Another definition is economic and military espionage. To do nothing is not an option for the NZ way of life. As a small nation, our policies have to be reset at the political and economic coal face. If we coast along in a purely benevolent manner, as we currently seem to do, we may risk all, in a matter of a couple of decades.NZ through government policy should start with a positive effort to identify within all our economic sectors, the effective ownership of every business entity. Determining off shore economic ownership of our industry, our primary sector, and our tourism in an expedient manner is our first priority, as is the retention of IP and economic gain within our borders. Then we must introduce policy to actually ensure that joint venture is exactly that, not skewed to an off shore wealth extraction model. Politically, it is important also to state our policy regarding off shore investment and IP protection, and to enforce it where necessary. Yes, this is NZ first across all political parties and levels of administration and economic activity. I dont see anything fundamentally wrong with that, in the face of Chinas imperialism, (denied or otherwise) or any other nation that so acts in a deliberate manner to gain economic ownership of a small nation.
Uber is about Uber and if you cannot see that you are denying the truth. Uber siphons serious money offshore tax unpaid at the expense to taxi drivers that pay tax in NZ, and eventually spend their proceeds within the NZ economy. For that reason I will never use Uber. Just saying, and there is also plenty of competition in the NZ taxi market without them.
Yeah,nah. Building production plants in China, will in all liklihood, lock Fonterra into an inflexible production arrangement within China, and will not achieve 1 autonomy or independence for Fonterra, nor prevent government intervention from within China. Fonterra may find itself subjected to demands such as, JV participation with chinese owned companies, (often these are simply investment vehicles for the chinese government). Even head accountants employed in JV companies are required to be representatives of the chinese corporations and government. India however, in my opinion, offers much greater independence and opportunities, that are of lower commercial risk, and less likely to become a victim of political interference and eventual ownership. One has only to look at the failed entry by Lion breweries into China to see how this could end up for Fonterra. ( Lion Nathan, which had invested some A$350m since 1995, wrote down the value of its China operations to just under A$100m in 2000. Fortunately it had a buyer at the end of it all, and sold its three breweries, clustered in the Yangtze river delta, to CRB, a partnership between SABMiller, the worlds second largest brewer, and the Hong Kong-listed China Resources Enterprises, for US$154m.)Does Fonterra wish to possibly go down this path I wonder? Sure, it looks like a natural progression, to establish dairy factories in China, but in my opinion such an investment has unquantified risk and negative consequence for shareholders, to be just as likely an outcome.
DOC needs to get their priorities sorted and come to the party. The great walks should have levies so they are self funded, and then DOC will have a budget to look after real NZ ie the one that is not on Instagram and in Facebook selfies
I am sorry, but the Tauranga Council offer in my opinion is a good one. In a lot of countries, you would now be in a position of getting zilch.The real cause of your loss is with the contractor/developer, who took your money and built the substandard units then went into liquidation.This situation should not have happened, absolutely, but the real target is the developer, who if it can be found acted fraudulently and criminally, can be held directly and personally financially accountable and bankrupted. The developer is unable to have the protection of limited liability of his company in this circumstance.As an aggrieved group of property owners, it is generally found that it is easier, and more productive to blame local bodies such as councils for all that went wrong. The last one standing is the easier target, and they have much reduced responsibility for failure than the developer.However, unless building inspectors remain constantly on site throughout the build process, construction companies can take shortcuts at any stage of work in progress, and often succeed, in that the shoddy work is hidden between inspections as the building progresses.There are cases of reinforcing steel installed as is specified, prior to the required inspection for a concrete floor,only to remove it just before the concrete has actually been poured. End result, no reinforcing and steel available for the next pour. A win win for the construction company.For this reason I believe Councils are held to account often on an unjustified basis, they are simple the last easy port of call for the aggrieved to be easily compensated.I suggest when it comes to construction, the legal status of a construction company should be ammended, so that in the case of a default, the shareholders do not have the capacity to wind up the company, or be liquidated, with creditors and potential property owners carrying the can. Personal liability should be immediate, as effectively they have been trading while insolvent. The alternative is for the company to be required to post a bond (prior to construction commencing) with a registered independent bond holder. In effect monies provided and deposited that are not available to the construction company until it has fully discharged its obligations to creditors and clients. If the company fails, the bond monies could be distributed directly to the creditors.People need to be properly protected as clients and creditors of developers and construction companies, and with a large number of failures the current system is not working. Change is necessary.
NZ should have its own recycling plant for all waste plastics. Shipping it off overseas for it to be probably dumped into the environment is not what we should be doing. All plastic consumables, and packaging should have a levy placed upon it to fund a major facility to deal with plastic waste into the future. The Greens solution is not sustainable and not aspirational, Sages sugestion is a total fail in my opinion.
Auckland needs its green spaces. We are fortunate to have the Domain and One Tree Hill, but for a city the size of Auckland, to see large areas for recreation to become allocated to housing would be retrograde. Perhaps we dont need as many golf courses as what we have at present, but if that is to change, these areas should be retained as parks for recreation. They serve as a place to get away from traffic noise, pollution from vehicles, a breath of fresh air, and a great place for individuals and families to enjoy. One Tree Hill and Cornwall Park is busier than ever, and with a growing population, it is all the more important to preserve parks and open space. The concrete of Wynyard Quarter is no substitute, and most of the green space of Britomart has now also been lost to development. We have other ways to increase housing in a growing Auckland, without sacrificing important recreational green spaces.
Awesome, rail should never have been let go by National as a means of hauling heavy freight. Current government decision shows it is not in the pocket of road freight operators and for a relatively small investment,. When the entire Gisborne - Wellington rail corridor is again operational a large number of businesses and industries will benefit. Our roads dont withstand the hammering they get from logging trucks without constant remediation, this is the hidden subsidy that taxpayers pay for unnecessary high level road freight, especially the max load category. While the government is about it, rail from Helensville to Waitakere needs to happen again, maybe a commuter diesel unit has to be used due to the low tunnel at Waitakere, but linking this in to the proposed rapid rail hub from Westgate to downtown Akld is necessary, plenty of new houses to be build in that region.
There is really only one consideration for investors, property or shares, and that is when a correction occurs, have you got the ability to service debt, especially should interest rates rise as a property investor, or if you are a shareholder, do you have the ability to hold on to your portfolio throughout a downturn.You may be lucky enough to sell your shares prior to a major correction, but for by far the greater majority, this would be be at a reduced price. For those with available unallocated capital, post crash, serious returns will be possible with new share purchases in sound companies, that have been irrationally discounted by excessive selling across the market. But with property investment, residential or otherwise comes leveraging, so that small increases in interest levied on mortgages translates to a much greater ongoing commitment by mortgagers to service the loan. So your exposure to financial risk is all about your ability to service increased debt or in the case of shares suffer an interim paper loss. If we are not hit too hard, corrections are replaced by upward valuation in the short term and into the longer term. If it is a major correction, then the herd mentality inflicts more damage on the economy, with resultant increased loss of jobs, and a decline in economic activity .Unfortunately in NZ house price inflation has meant larger levels of personal debt and greater exposure to risk for a large number of households. It is this group that will fall the hardest if current circumstances were to change dramatically and they do not have the ability to service debt.The more prudent do not over extend themselves to lending risk, while the more reckless are naturally the most affected.
This capability has become essential, with China militarizing the Sea of Japan and likely to set up a naval base in Vanuatu, and with Russia establishing military alignment with Fiji, supplying container loads of weapons. Unfortunately these actions betray an underlying intent to exert military dominance in the Pacific, which I believe is not benign, but expansionist and a level of aggression that cannot be cons1d as a defense strategy for their respective regimes. Both countries are effectively dictatorships, with self imposed extensions to their leadership, they are certainly not Western style democracies, with elections neither transparent, and conducted under a level of coercion. We are doing the right thing to improve our capability and ability to monitor potential military expansion in the Pacific.
Just an outsiders point of view, but the appointment of Mike Hurrell seems to be a move in the right direction. Hurrell has 18 years experience in the industry, including international involvement. Further, his role has been operational at the customer interface, and right now, in the dairy industry, surely retaining customers (farmers), as suppliers to Fonterra is of prime importance. A NZ owned dairy industry must remain as a clear strategy for the future. Off shore investors in dairy, such as what has transpired with Synlait, for example, do not necessarily have NZ interests foremost. Instead their investments made in NZ are anticipated to give a return back to offshore stakeholders, and that is money moving out of the country. Farmers futures really rely on the Fonterra cooperative model, which assures certainty of predominantly New Zealand ownership.Also as a dairy farming group, it is in their interest to pay more attention to their environmental footprint and sustainability of farming practices, while offshore ownership of NZ farming is less likely to address this second environmental goal. Cobalt mining in the Congo, with Chinese involvement, is an example of how far offshore exploitation, with no conscience, can advance. Fonterras investment in China with Beingmate under Theo Spierings stewardship has amounted to a total disaster, (unless there is something we are not seeing). I am sure that Fonterra stakeholders would have no appetite for similarly bad decisions to also be made within the NZ market and an executive with a solid level of NZ experience and an awareness of stakeholder investment and risk, I would think, is the way to move Fonterra forward.
Never ordered an Uber and never will. Rapacious company preying on Uber drivers for an unreasonable percentage of their revenue and offering sweet all in return. Uber is not really interested in paying corporate tax on their profits derived from within NZ. We should boot them out and give NZ owner drivers and families their money instead. One of the worst corporate raiders operating in NZ in my opinion
Totally agree, a 71 percent off shore investor structure means lack of control for other shareholders, and perhaps, like Synlait it will end up near 100 percent foreign ownership in the future. Basically this company has served as a gateway to enable a revenue stream off shore.
I had assumed that only houses that were actual meth labs were the ones that were quarantined subject to a major decontamination. Silly me. Perhaps if toxicologists had been approached directly for advice, within NZ, then this bizarre extrapolation of risk would not have happened. Goes to show that those in charge of science based decisions, yet who have no scientific background, are really not suitable individuals, to make appropriate science based decisions. This is especially evident when the internet is the source of available material, without knowing either how it is applicable or relevant to a situation, and whether the sourced information is peer reviewed and robust. Organic chemists that can provide the level of contamination of chemical nasties in a home, will be able to determine whether a P lab (for example) has existed, and toxicologists can use this information to determine risk to health.I suggest the same approach should always be taken when it comes to evaluating the safety of our foods, checking extensively for pesticide residues, especially for example, glyphosate in our grains, a high risk food category for contaminant levels (maize wheat barley), and some vegetables that are grown in this country, and those that are imported. Toxicologists should become involved as to the risk analysis for carcinogenicity as detailed in recently updated WHO and FDA reports and guidelines. (We were never meant to eat or drink the stuff, nor should it be present in stock feed as a contaminant particularly in GMO maize based products.) Other foods are also high risk of contamination with chemicals that are hormone disruptors, estrogenic inducers, or likely to have other pesticide residues that expose the consumer to an unaceptable toxicity risk, be it the presence of organo phosphates, carbamates, herbicides such as paraquat etc etc.Similarly the safety of Vape products should be reevaluated. This is in relation to the safety of flavorant additives and in particular the presence of Diacetyl, which will result in Popcorn Lung, an irreversible condition, essentially bronchiectasis in those that use such products.. The safety of vape products was not properly evaluated, when to the delight of the tobacco companies that produce the products, our previous minister of health gave them the all clear, which caught the health ministry, tasked with the evaluation of the decision, somewhat by suprise. Nicotine patches are by far, a better way of achieving smoking cessation, safer, and more likely to give a positive outcome, as transdermal nicotine delivery does not pyschologically reinforce and mimic nicotine addiction, (providing a high then a low - craving)Again, bring in the toxicologists, respiratory specialists, and biochemists, pathologists, organic chemists, who would be only too willing to contribute their knowledge, rather that take an all clear decision from some dubious internet source or committee that may have a conflict of interest. Further this would prevent pseudo scientific outcomes, achieved by people in office who lack the necessary understanding to quantify risk and/or unwittingly misinterpret recommendations.
A new stadium probably ending up at more than two billion is hardly a priority at the moment for Auckland. Grandiose schemes have plagued Auckland in the past, with essential services always missing out. Personally a few hundred millon to the Auckland City Mission, and Drug and Alcohol treatment services, I would not mind at all, over the next few years. Investing in people who are in crisis is a better focus in my view, and in the last decade, we now have a major crisis at street level with numbers of homeless still on the rise. Unfortunately government funding for DHBs is severely constrained, and while we install cobbled intersections, and excessive levels of street furniture, (even seats with their own lighting underneath), at huge expense, the outcome is totally incongruous and aberrant. Hardly anyone sits on any of the large amounts of seats that exist around the Viaduct and Wynyard Quarter, for example, just a useless waste of money. (Not even the homeless can get comfortable on these windswept and exposed placements) It seems between Auckland City and Auckland Transport, their excessive embellishments to what is needed in a city has no limits. What is needed i believe, is an independent gatekeeper, as to how and where ratepayers money is spent, and what is functional and necessary at reasonable cost. Without doubt, Auckland City and AT require an independent authority to prioritise and rationalize their expenditure, and I believe government needs to look at this problem, and achieve significantly better outcomes for its cities. Auckland should not end up like New York for example, with a large number of the unfortunates of humanity, hunkering down near to heating vents in the streets, among swanky stores, with kid gloved doorman, pulling the dollars from the privileged big spenders. Auckland is really at that point already, just a bit less on the scale of things.Auckland City should not have the task to fund such social services from ratepayers, but smart initiatives are needed to get the 1 priorities for its residents to the forefront. Maybe a level of savings, that could easily be achieved out of current unneeded expenditure, could be partially directed toward a safer and more equitable city for all its inhabitants.
Instead, get rid of compulsory retirement at 65 years. Many older people are still preferring to work, and contributing to taxation, others are not so inclined or fit and will opt for retirement. Superannuation is much more affordable that has been previously estimated on,because of this trend, and if company policy were more lenient more older citizens would be in employment, and benefiting from it both financially and health wise.
Paltry fines mean it is good business practice to underpay staff, and ignore employment law. The savings on a construction site will be in the hundreds of thousands of unpaid workers income. It may be a few payments to inspectors for it all to go away is happening also, normal business practice in most of asiaDefinitely overdue to bring in rigorous penalties and the ability to deport transgressors and liquidate their businesses where appropriate. We are probably evidencing indicators that are associate with underlying corruption, tax evasion, and coercion of workers, let alone an evasion of building standards as to materials and general quality compliance. The inspectorate needs proper resources and internal scrutiny to ensure it is effective and in no way compromised from serving NZ in all areas with best practice outcomes.
Smart business operators are always confident. They do the right things by their employees and the structured environment they operate in, nothing to fear, only opportunities to capitalise on. Those that fear change because they are into exploitation of the labour market, tax avoidance, and taking shortcuts as to regulated standards, whether it be health and safety, building codes I have zero sympathy for. You either get your house in order or bear the consequences. That may mean for once, some businesses have to make an investment in plant equipment and machinery, rather than look to underpaid workers and dodgy practises to make a return. Just doing the latter is not a future strategy for business in a modern economy, it is a way of business we should have left behind.
An essential first step to help those that are displaced from society by whatever cause. Drug dependance and mental health issues are treatable and in NZ we have the ability to massively improve the situation if we focus on the problem. We have tended toward becoming a me only society and there are large social costs with that. These people need another life, one where they have self worth and can achieve and contribute to our society. People fall for all manner of reasons, we should become the right type of rockstar economy that helps the Claptons through addiction, rather than let people fade away their potential lost.
Totally necessary to have all encompassing origin labelling for food. I am not happy eating food from sources that i do not know about, often masquerading as NZ grown and produced. It would seem obvious that those that oppose transparent labelling on foods, have the most to hide and it may well be the likes of China and other countries,,(that have a notorious record for the use of banned herbicides, insecticides, and other chemical additives and possible adulterants) are influencing the outcome of this legislation. While we are about, it the term flavours is still being used on fruit juices etc. Consumers have a right to know what these are. I suspect most are organic and synthetic chemical flavorants, from the chemical industry. Currently I avoid where I can, flavourants and also especially, highly processed food such as ham, bacon, sausages, pate, etc full of nitrite preservatives. I want to be able to eat as healthily as I can, and obscuring processing and origin information, and the proper identification of additives etc is not helping consumers. Quite the opposite, it may well be allowing their health to inadvertently compromised. NZ food safety is well behind the eight ball, The regulators have no ability to vet all our imported foods at present, let alone those that are repackaged and relabelled. They simply have insufficient resources to test our foods for the presence of harmful compounds, whether it be mercury levels in seafood, glycosate levels in our grains and vegetables, nitrites, sulphur dioxide, tartrazine in our imported spices, benzoates in sauces, and so forth.The coalition as a government has an opportunity to dramatically improve the safety of what we eat, along the lines of the EUand its guidelines which are far more stringent that in eco friendly NZ. They need to step up and ensure that our food regulations are properly advanced, and that significant changes are made for our common good.
Suggest Vodafone spend some money on theire networks and front up with money for exchanges, or alternatively make an adequate offer of money for access. Maintaining and upgrading systems costs money, but oddly Vodafone does little in this regard in NZ. It just relies on a sympathy decision from the commerce comission without making likewise capital investment. Vodafones lack of cell coverage in NZ compared to Sparks, is case in point. They just dont spend on the cell towers to the extent that Spark does, so in the rural environment their service is iffy at best in many locations.
This is what happens when a knee jerk reaction is put into play, and it is totally now a disaster, a scenario that reflects on just how heartless this decision was, and also on the inadequacies of the authorities. If it is obvious when inacted, this policy would cause chaos, so why did the authorities continue with the process? Blindly following bad decisions shows an autocratic style of command, not very clever. Clearly, when it comes to migrants, there is little sympathy in the entire administration. It is also a known fact that the mafia control the area within Mexico within 30 km of the border with the US. People trafficking is a big money earner for the mob, and the US should be working in concert with the Mexican authorities to deal with this problem. Very obviously, a wall will not work, trafficking by sea will instead become the norm, as will other points of access.
I like the comments. It is simply impossible to win all the time. It has never happened in anything.Talk of leadership change already l see, blah blah blah. We are fortunate to have such excellent players. They are not X men, some rugby fans really do watch too much TV The Right Stuff etc etcAll rugby nations aspire to win, hopefully they get to put their best players forward. This was the ABs first loss in ages, have faith.
Well, dont think Helen will be up for it and maybe not the choice for Labour. Probably a younger candidate will be chosen, who should romp home,.given Nationals past performance over the last 9 years. Nationals brand, if you like has been seriously damaged, and neo liberal and self serving policies are not what NZ wants, and it has become increasingly so. So good luck with that debate at your conference. Perhaps no-bridges will get pushed out of office and may contest the seat, or will crusher Collins think she has a chance?.
Oh and please dont credit Gen Z for alone being environmentally aware, my experience is quite the opposite, recycling often just too difficult. Got the McDonalds, or the free Wifi at Starbucks, maybe its Uber Eats, more trash and inefficient high carbon footprint delivery, same for My Food Bag, no substitute for the supermarket, which you have to go to anyway. Then trash the cup, the plastic lid and straw, the bag, the packaging, wherever, whenever. Gen Z, Y, X, please get it right. These monikers are purely segmented marketing targets, with a few slightly more common attributes ascribed to them. In truth, we all use cellphones these days, some buy apple white computers and laptops the majority of the population are android and windows. All types of people buy organic, generally the more wealthy, no matter your marketing designation. Marketers are very good at creating differences or amplifying them, so that they can push more stuff on a particular group of individuals, and make them feel good about themselves, make them feel somehow special and so create an affinity for certain products, that they can then embrace, they are ours we own them etc .Nothing new to see here. Most of us also appreciate a level of justice, though rewarding mistakes is a funny definition of justice, in an english exam, where presumably people from all walks of life, are expected to know the answers. Are answers correct for just one generation, but incorrect for others, I wonder, just saying.
In an exam, there are questions and answers. The point of the exercise is to answer more correctly than incorrectly, it may involved stored knowledge or guesswork. Guesswork can let you down generally much more than 50% of the time. Why? Because there are always several good guesses available, at any one time. So, do we reward people for having acquired a level of knowledge or do we reward those for taking guesses. Or more correctly, in life, we should never reward the person that takes the guess and doesnt admit to it. In medicine do we administer a drug dose as a guess, or if asked for factual answers fake it? In engineering do we guess a structural load capability, or perhaps navigate a position on guesswork ? There are places for guesswork, thats where no one knows the answer, say next weeks Lotto result, or a game of trivial pursuit. In an exam, is it fair to actively discriminate against those who have knowledge by rewarding those that take a guess? Those that take a guess, may be feeling lucky, but like fake news, the chickens eventually come home to roost, and in the future I would not like to be a passenger in an aircraft for example with a pilot who takes a guess. Yes life can be unfair sometimes, but lets not trivialise reality, let not make life unfair most of the time, which is what this exam decision has in fact done, especially when it is in response to a social media campaign. Meanwhile to those in exams, the smart thing is to admit your deficiency and say you will take a guess on the answer. You may get a few marks for a calculated guess at the very least, and then rather than extrapolate the blame on someone else, the examiner, or whoever, take the learning on board. No one likes a person who takes a guess rather than being honest as to their deficiency of knowledge. After all, it need not be a permanent disability, you can quite literally learn from your mistakes, and improve your english, your maths or whatever, or is this also a trivial pursuit.
Statistically insignificant magnitude of price change to actually say prices are dropping with any level of significance. Probably the price variation is well within the level of error of the survey I suggest house prices could still well be upwards but slowing.
NZ government should be investing in areas other than infrastructure in my opinion. It should be investing in the new economy or we will simply again be left behind. Biotech and aquaculture to me immediately come to mind, these are areas in which, with sufficient funding we can compete effectively, and success in the former especially could yield enormous revenues and provide a better future for NZ. Where the money comes from should probably be government investment outside of the superannuation fund. Starts ups are higher risk, but to do nothing in this direction would translate to lost opportunity. Not to be involved in biotech is akin to being outside of the semiconductor or IT sector (which is more or less NZs current position). We pay for other countries investment and innovation through proceeds of tourism and primary industries. Biotech could be up there for NZ with higher margin into the future, and NZ could do with the added earnings and diversification. The government contribution has to come as a reciprocal shareholding, not gifted, is the only caveat.
Safe drinking water is a basic fundamental for human health. Nay sayers are totally uniformed as to the risks of waterborne diseases, as to just how serious the consequences can be. Third world countries know all about these, and coliform contamination is probably in most untreated water in NZ. Dairy run off is just one of the vectors, as are other animals such as aquatic wildlife, dry stock, and human contamination, from processing industries and activities. Time the anti chlorination and snyi water treatment league woke up to these facts, and educated themselves from reliable scientific sources. There is no conspiracy, only a desire to ensure a healthy population
A CGT is a broadening of the tax base and would tend to direct capital into meaningful business investment opportunities. However politically it would have to be jointly supported by all political parties. Otherwise it is obvious, introduction of a CGT would simply be used as a leverage by opposition parties to gain political leverage at the next elections. A reduction in say GST may be possible once a CGT was established, is another potential outcome into the future. All parties should come on board in a joint decision process on this one, and sign up to an agreement to support the eventual voted decision outcome on CGT when the proposed CGT has been fully evaluated. Without multiparty support, CGT becomes impossible to introduce.
Well they are lucky that they are only at the earthworks stage. During a receivership, paying out of all creditors is fortunately under statute and under the provisions of the Companies Act. Priorities of charges exist, with secured investors such as banks, IRD at the top, then creditors, then secured and unsecured investors. No one creditor can exert preferential rights just as a result of the quantum of monies owed them. Only those that have securing financial instruments with the company in receivership, have preferential rights. So basically those that are less exposed lose the least. I especially feel sorry for small contractors that are totally exposed to loss and the least likely to recover.
Oh so Renaul_ Peugeot, Airbus Industries, Samsung, AIG are not good enough for you, all with substantial government shareholding. Big opportunities need big money and in NZ there is not much of that around . Assisted by government projects with high financial barriers can be undertaken, ones that earn real export dollars, just saying.
Perhaps Northrop Grumman has employees that are unreliable. Loose screws surely cannot be a mistake, as assembly, like any aerospace project would have multiple checks with each process signed off through multiple procedures and by a number of personel. The possibility of deliberate actions, with the intention to cause the project to fail, must surely be a scenario that has to be entertained. Alternatively design faults may exist, which will have to be recognised as such, these would seem to be the only two possibilities.
The biggest hit is as a result of production constraint as OPEC got their member countries to act in unison once again. Fuel prices are set to increase well in excess of current prices, and we may experience yet another fuel shock. Government should actually become a player in the NZ oil & gas industry, not a bystander that merely collects royalties. Our economy would benefit enormously into the future, and the revenue could fund new clean tech, new hydro dams in particular so in mass NZ can move its vehicle fleet more to electric vehicles. Hydro is the most economic way forward, and the only way to achieve increased and reliable energy supply into the future. Trying to store electricity in battery systems is wasteful of scarce mineral resources and yes they die in as little as eight to ten years. So wind remains a fickle energy resource, solar is expensive per gigawatt and also solar panels die, again in as little as ten years, and geothermal while good, brings carbon dioxide and methane, greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere when previously safely underground.Meanwhile, our oil dependance continues, and for some applications for many decades forwards, probably for ever, and in the future I forsee synfuel becoming a necessary source of fuel. Hopefully NZ will get lucky over the next decade, with the likes of Barque etc or our oil import bill will become quite huge.
Spain, Italy, France all can be less expensive than New Zealand. Central Paris etc obviously more expensive but slightly more regional and real estate is affordable. It is why many Brits retain in these countries, and an excellent reason for them to stay in the EU. After Brexit, if that happens it may not be so easy to gain citizenship.Â
No sorry, her actions probably amount to dangerous driving due to poor judgement, she could still be prosecuted. Not all road transport law is prescribed or codified legislation.
Double yellow lines are normally not painted on the road unless overtaking in that area is deemed dangerous, generally due to a lack of visibility. I am a cyclist and drive a vehicle. I personally do not cross the yellow line in order to pass a cyclist, but wait until the cyclist has moved on to an area in which I can safely pass, and give the cyclist 1.5metres minimum clearance. This plaintiff may think she is safe to pass in this manner, but of course, if another vehicle suddenly arrives on the scene, to avoid a head on collison, she would veer to the left inevitably, and take out the cyclist. This is a common type of accident that can occur with cyclists and result in injury or death of a legitimate road user. It is a pity that the 1.5metre rule has not yet been legislated into our road code, with a substantial fine for such an infringement, it would help save lives.
Government needs to do much more, as our main cities become increasingly overpopulated, rural towns should be in an accelerated growth phase so people have better options as to where they live and work. This requires massive investment in rural NZ with new industry, and existing industry relocated out of the cities to provide income for those that wish to live in a small town, and own affordable homes. Without increasing jobs in the rural communities this cannot happen. There is no reason that artisan cheese and dairy factories for example, cannot exist in small communities, nor assembly factories for agricultural equipment, or downstream agricultural and aquaculture processing and so forth. Only NZ First has actually done something in this direction, had they not been part of the coalition I doubt we would have seen much in rural development.
Very sad to end your life when you have so much going for you, family, friends, respect. From all thats said, he lived a fast furious celeb life, on the road too often, and just needed to slow it down probably. We are not all immune to burn out and if you hit the wall you have to recognize it for what it is, seek help and do the right stuff. Staying physically fit, and cardio is a must for stress, as is relaxation, to give your brain some time out, just saying. Pity his friends and family didnt know or didnt recognize where he was at. As a writer, he told it as it was, am pretty sure, he will be greatly missed.
Funny but Chinas one child policy was a total pretense. Its population was 1 Billion in 1980 and 1.4 Billion 2017. Now a one child policy would have been generating a negative population growth over that period. Does that seem a little strange to you? Get your facts right please, or maybe you think they clone their children??
Well with the likes of Mark Richardson, and more recently, Duncan Garners narrow minded attitudes I would not show up either. Amanda Gillies is also full of self importance, and their collective attitudes are basically bigot audience fodder. Nah, give it a miss Winston, the country has better radio forums. Jeremy Wells comes to mind for example give the slot to no-bridges Bridges, they are all in good company together, and can rabbit on about highly significant non issues, for those who nothing better to listen too.
Airpoints accumulation is not a big enough incentive to induce additional flights except for perhaps a very small few customers. It is just a loyalty scheme for sticking with one airline and saves the customer a few dollars with their next trip, but generally this is an almost inconsequential amount compared to the additional cost of the next flight. The report that this article is based on I believe is truly misguided, if the writer believes the notion that because an individual might save in the vicinity of $100 - $200Â an individual will spend say $5000 to $10000 on a holiday they would otherwise not consider taking.
Their offbeat comedic style was pretty damn good, always entertaining and had an originality that is often missing in other comedy acts. These guys are undoubtably capable of more, just hope that happens.
Our major cities have excessive money poured into them, often with a very low benefit to cost ratio, whereas rural development is largely ignored. NZ First have been instrumental in getting some rural spend and infrastructure development under way, especially in Northland, and it is my opinion that rural NZ is sorely in need of billions of dollars of new development. New hydo-generation could future proof our electricity supply and get us to virtually 100% renewable electricity. Nimbyism is the main barrier to that perhaps, but government is also under performing in that direction. If we are to get serious on CO2 emissions, new electricity infrastructure is totally necessary. I also believe some farmers and landholders are getting on board to getting our waterways back to a healthy status, and spending additional in that area would not go amiss. New Zealands small towns can be regenerated, and with a focus on economic development in the regions, including new industry, some of the pressure will come off our larger cities, such as excessive population growth, and increased congestion and house prices that come with that. Unfortunately Labour are not doing well in much of this, and all parties should make regional development a priority for New Zealands future.
What happened at Fukushima and Chernobyl are particularly good reasons for keeping NZ nuclear free, for our energy generation requirements. We have affordable alternatives, and in actuality nuclear fission reactors end up very expensive to operate, despite what is claimed, and the waste they generate is extremely problematic. (A lot can happen over 10000 plus years in a storage facility) The majority of reactors are designated safe, but operation over time puts this assessment into question, and with NZs geological history and associated earthquake risk, they should never become an option in NZ. The cost of a disaster when it occurs, results in an immediate loss of life, and increased cancer risk to a large proportion of the population, with ongoing consequence. The financial consequence is massive, and crippling to a country, far and beyond other one off global disasters for which humans are directly or indirectly responsible for, such as the Deep Water Horizon oil spill.As to tourism of sites as Chernobyl, that seems insensitive to me, where so many end up further risking their lives, in an attempt to contain such disasters. There has to be good reason to enter such areas and exclusion zones, safety and scientific evaluation only, is my belief.And of course the scenario of health risk is still playing out. If you are interested, the published literature provides plenty of assessments and information, something that should probably be taught in schools. With the Chernobyl disaster, radiation was detected in Sweden the morning following the reactor explosion, and the scientists there were the first to raise the magnitude of the event beyond the slow response by the Soviet Authorities, and how it had affected the Ukraine, Belarus and Europe.(The bulk of the radiation, 70% affected Belarus, not the Ukraine or Russia)Most of the radiation released from the failed nuclear reactor was from iodine-131, cesium-134 and cesium-137. Iodine-131 has a relatively short half-life of eight days, but is rapidly ingested through the air and tends to localize in the thyroid gland. Cesium isotopes have longer half-lives (cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years) and are a concern for years after their release into the environment. The low estimate is that more than 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer may eventually be linked to radiation exposure in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Other estimates, probably more accurate are that Chernobyl may well have resulted in at least 90,000 additional premature deaths to affected populations, with an estimated 8.4 million people in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia who were exposed to an increased level of radiation. Due to the long-lived radiation in the region surrounding the former Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the area wont be safe for human habitation for at least 20,000 years.As for Fukushima, total atmospheric releases of radiation from Fukushima are estimated to be between 5.6 and 8.1 times that of Chernobyl, according to the 2013 World Nuclear Industry Status Report. Scientists affiliated with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the plant had released 15,000 terabecquerels of cancer-causing Cesium, half life 30 years, equivalent to about 168 times the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The Korea Atomic Energy Research (KAER) Institute outside of Seoul reported in July 2014 that Fukushima-Daiichis three reactor meltdowns may have emitted two to four times as much cesium-137 as the reactor catastrophe at Chernobyl, (the amount being released into the ocean four times that of atmospheric release.) This is now thought to be an estimate on the low side.The consequence on human population from Fukushima is possibly likely to follow a similar pattern to Chernobyl, though radiation monitoring by Japanese authorities is both more advanced and comprehensive, so population exposure to higher levels of radiation is probably consequentially less than that as a result of Chernobyl. However, there is still ongoing radioactive material being released into the pacific ocean, from Fukushima, with immense costs going forward. (The Chernobyl 2016 replacement sarcophagus cost USD2.45 Billion alone, with a life of maybe 100 years). It is estimated that the Fukushima reactors will take 30 to 40 years to decommission.
As you point out our differences are China, a totalitarian state, putting on a face of democratic involvement in the world, vs a small benign democratic country, New Zealand that upholds the rule of law within our borders but conveniently looks sideways, at what I also see as an impending threat to our way of life and our economic system. Short term gains in trade with China, (pitched as a benevolent trade partner) resulting in long term dependence with political and economic subservience to a rogue nation.
Sometime you just have to say times up when it comes to investor patience........ visionary in many ways but a high risk when it comes to delivering benefits to shareholders, I hope Tesla does pan out and become profitable in the near future. Residential big solar batteries from solar city should only be deployed where the alternative is diesel generation and the like, on remote islands and locations. If this technology were to become mainstream we will quickly exhaust rare earth metals Recycling of such batteries is expensive and results in often low recovery of rare elements. If we get to that point more than a little hand wringing will be necessary.
The right move, and once the initial investment is paid off, this will probably result in lowered operational cost and provide increased efficiencies within the plant. No transport costs of coal to the dairy factory and subsequent costs in dealing with the waste that comes with burning coal. A lowered carbon dioxide emission is probably the big advantage with 80% of NZ electricity generation coming from renewables. Reduced sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions are also an enormous plus. The only justifiable use for coal is the use of high grade coal in steel making. That is now really the reality.
I think that this funding is flawed as it is funding a reactive response to an intruder and associated threat, and does nothing to exclude the risk in the first place. The potential victim may think they are more secure with a fog cannon, but it assumes that it can be safely activated when a threat is perceived. That supposes that the retail attendant is behind the counter or carrying a remote controller at the time, and can anticipate the attack and defeat it with no further risk. The smarter way forward is to have cigarettes sold in secure premises, such as supermarkets which have security, or dispensed in an ATM like secure machine dispenser, in secure locations, outside premises with accompanying electronic surveillance. The dispensers could be stocked with a controlled number of packets of cigarettes, at a level that it is not worth attempting to ramraid or steal the machines. I do not think taxpayers money should go to retailers who unwisely continue to sell cigarettes when the security of the owners or employees cannot be guaranteed. It is the owners responsibility to ensure they maintain a level of adequate security for their premises, and fog cannons may not provide much improvement as to risk to retailers and their employees. In fact it may mean an intruder resorts to swifter acts of aggression, such as hand guns to counteract the deployment of fog cannons. Only suitable premises that afford a high level of security should be licensed to retail tobacco products, given the current environment. New Zealanders should not have any obligation past that, nor feel that they have to contribute the profitability of marginal retail stores.
He should be commended for his work and that comes from years of experience. But above all, he is straight up, not prone to weasel words, and sometimes this is necessary, especially when it comes to international relations. In contrast, John Key was not honest with New Zealanders, as to the extent of immigration and overseas investment that was occurring in NZ. Predominantly such investment was really only of benefit to speculators offshore, there were no checks and balances and the OIO was reduced to one staff member supposedly overseeing in excess of 600 applications per annum, for land purchases, business acquisition etc. This was allowed to happen under National, it was not accidental, Same for the mines inspectorate, again reduced to one operative inspector, an impossible task, to oversee NZ mining activity. As for Bridges, well he simply promised nine bridges too many, to be even considered relevant for comment.May this coalition last, and rectify the rorts that have occurred over the last decade especially. Many are still coming to light, in an environment where administrators can stump up and present the facts. Labour reform is likely, you can guarantee that, and where recently some employees were revealed to be earning the princely sum of about 80 cents per hour it is not at all suprising is it. Unfortunately, there are some in NZ, for which enough is never enough, and given the opportunity they will extract benefit with zero in return. It is because self regulation is a fail, that legislation is necessary to prevent wholesale exploitation and coercion of individuals. I further suggest that the drop in business confidence is really a result of these exploiters being over represented in the research data that was collected. They certainly have the most to lose, or should I put it more correctly, it is the area where most will gain. Such exploitation comes hand in hand with tax avoidance and money laundering, buying up multiple properties, and moving money quietly offshore. Without doubt this has been Nationals most negative legacy, and greatest fail, to encourage the extremes of the so called free market, which worked for a select few. This group were able to play the system with impunity, no regulations, no barriers to their excesses, just awesome. Guess their confidence will progressively get a little more dented, I certainly hope so.
Unfortunately some growers use nasty chemicals etc both herbicides and insecticides that can compromise food products. This is just one of the reasons why auditing is required. Selling at the farm gate should also require some level of inspection. Free range eggs from caged birds is another example, so yeah the devious and the dangerous cause problems for all. Mycoplasma bovis source and proliferation would have stopped quickly if an established audit program had been in place.
Politically in the too hard basket in NZ and has been for decades. However, untaxed profits on property speculation should still be ring fenced, and an equitable approach could achieve that. Many property investment companies are currently paying tax, according to annually declared profit. Taxation rules could be adjusted, and introduced, where tax becomes liable on unrealised profits derived through on going property investment, quantified by a scheme requiring annual revaluation of assets within a property portfolio. (indexed to property value average annual movements) Then it is just a matter of defining the allowable level of activity in the property market before the activity is deemed to be property investment, for financial return. It would then be consequent, like any business, that costs associated with investment such as finance costs, would be an offset on the annual return of the portfolio, unrealised or actual. Any losses that are incurred, should the property market correct, could be credited, but the loss would be with reference to the original value of the asset when purchased. Furthermore, at the onset of the new tax legislation, benefit already derived and accrued from existing property portfolios, would adjust for forward incurred losses that may occur, in the short term.I believe it is still a necessary move forward. After all, businesses in other sectors pay tax on unrealised assets, such as retailers, who pay tax on the increased value of physical stock, acquired and held unsold during the financial year. Shares in companies in the non property sector however tend to be a little different. Normally their valuation increases depends on a period of investment in the company, where capital is applied to achieve an end goal, such as achieving a level of production and eventual profit. It is not a buy and sell scenario generally, and during that period, the company pays little or no dividend to the shareholder. Any dividends received are of course taxable, but significant shareholder reward comes only with successful commercialization and performance of the enterprise. If a company fails, the shareholder often misses out altogether, as unlike the property company, residual assets can be small once the liabilities are paid. That is the disparity that exists in the NZ economy. The current taxation status encourages, the rewarding of property sector speculation. Often there are little in the way of inputs as to improvements in the property portfolio by the investor, and the material financial gain is purely reliant on a supply vs demand valuation model, which is self fulfilling. It does need to change, and all political parties should come on board to achieve necessary reform. New Zealands progress as a country relies on achieving growth and financial return within its economy and untaxed property gains, have resulted in a misdirection for applying capital to areas of investment, that could ensure our economic future.
There are a lot of unanswered questions regarding the Pike River mine disaster. These need to be answered and initiating another investigation, including hopefully, new found evidence, is only right.Without doubt, things should have been done differently, as mining operations can be generally undertaken safely, despite the risks. Operational imperatives such as monitoring of gas levels (methane), design of the mine, regulatory consent and oversight, are all areas where there appears to have been failings. The response to the initial explosion may also have lacked expediency and whether there may have been a window of opportunity to save lives also requires a review. Irrespective of recovering the miners lost in the disaster, such questions need answers, so we can fully understand how things went so wrong, and what is needed of all parties to prevent further mining disasters.
Oh I love these Nat supporters who think it is right that land be confiscated by the then government of the day without any payment to the titled holders of the land in question. Big Jerry should not only be made to apologise, but along with other ministers involved in this illegal forced decision. made to foot the entire legal bill on this issue. Why should those disadvantaged, by what amounted to an illegal land grab, have to pay legal bills in the defence of their rights.
Compunding interest charges are part of the problem. Originally student loans were to be interest free, and now look how that has worked out. Meanwhile the baby boomers had it almost all for free. Some room for movement is surely possible, so students are better incentivised to repay the principal, and forgo the interest and levies would seem fair.
So many people here that just dont get it. Folic acid is a naturally occurring vitamin, that is generally in insufficient amounts in our diet to prevent neural tube defects. Most women know that folate and iodine should be in their diets prior to pregnancy to prevent NTD. However for any number of reasons not all women are proactive or plan their pregnancies. This is what this is about, basically ensuring that all women have a diet that will prevent NTD. It is certainly not about mass medication, which is simply an ill informed hysterical attitude. All of us have all sorts of different levels of a large number of vitamins in our diets regardless, it is just that we dont know our status at any given time. Another example is that if we are too low in dietary vitamin C, we end up with scurvy. Early symptoms include weakness, feeling tired, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding from the skin may occur. Most of us in the world have sufficient vitamin C in our diets to not end up with scurvy, but where people have extremely poor dietary intake, does eating an orange for example amount to mass medication? I think not, and there is absolutely no difference in the rationale with preventing scurvy as to preventing NTD with folic acid supplementation, or preventing goitre with iodine supplementation.The fact that spina bifida and NTD continue in our population says it all, and these serious negative consequences are easily avoidable, and it is a tragedy to let this continue.
Totally a necessary move, as NZ was not achieving sufficient reduction in the use of single use plastic by voluntary measures, such as surcharges or industry led initiatives. The next step is of course a reduction of plastic packaging at source. Product packaging again needs to become sustainable. But this step is great news, and what environmentally conscious New Zealanders have been waiting for.
Bubble wrap is for packaging fragile items I thought. This new use seems pretty unbelievable. Has it gone through clinical trials to package humans I wonder.
Retrieving dog poop needs to have a rethink. If on grass verges etc I am totally in support of leaving it there to break down. Putting it in plastic and then in a landfill is not smart.For city streets, and popular beaches use compostable bags and an organic collection. Out in the country, low population areas, leave it there to break down naturally.
Totally agree. New Zealanders by birth or NZ passport holders in Australia need to be treated appropriately and fairly. Deportation should not be a given consequence when they have mostly lived their lives in Australia, and for all intent and purpose are Australian citizens, even though this may not have been formalized.
NZ has been stupid enough to also allow unregulated sale of vaping products, introducing nictotine addiction to many who were never even tobacco users. The safety of vaping has also been significantly over stated. The diacetyl content of many of the vape solutions can cause permanent lung damage, with bronchectiasis and irreversible loss of respiratory function. Regulation of the vaping industry, which is really an extension of the tobacco industry is needed now.
Lets put it this way. What would be Bridges travel expenses be if he actually had to foot the bill out of his own pocketI suggest a brief one month trial, where all MPs were only subsidised to 60% for travel by government services, when it is just a promo tour, with an adjustment for actual distance traveled, to and from the Beehive from the MPs personal residence.The formula could be something like (Cost of Travel MP promo travel) x 0.60 + (Cost of Home Return Journey MP x (0.8 x Distance Traveled)/ Distance Traveled x an affordability index = Total travel reimbursement for MPs The affordability index will be calculated on the basis of the MPs person assets and salary. An MP with few assets and a lower level of income will have personal contributions largely subsidized. We still want them to do their job and value their contribution.Essential travel, for necessary parliamentary business, publicly notified meetings with business organisations, overseas trade engagements and meetings with foreign leadership etc would be fully reimbursed.With my limited math, and my understanding of psychology this might work. Otherwise other formulae could be tested for an appropriate behavioural response.The goal of course is to disincentivize unnecessary expense to the taxpayer. Those MPs who are there for self promotion and a free lunch, I believe will be most responsive to such measures. When it hits them in the pocket, they may change their behaviour. Those that have conviction and a purpose will be responsible, they usually are, and it will effect them least. Furthermore the MPs that have least resources, will still be heard and seen around the country on the basis of the application of the affordability index.
Heavy rail expensive and less people, day commuters would use that option, you cant put heavy rail inner city streets just the same existing corridors. There may be section where light rail can travel much faster, where there is less vehicle pedestrian interactions also.
National on the back foot on this one. I expect a CGT will need an accord between all parties to be reached before it is introduced. That would be the smart option for the coalition. Properly assess the benefits, the way a CGT would be applied, and establish a possible mechanism for its introduction, then get consensus during the coalitions second or third term is the way to go. National may get to realise its utility and underlying equity by then.
The current legislation has resulted in a wide spread detrimental situations, to many of the newly employed, in a variety of ways. Employees in good faith, anticipate a long term employment, as advertised, only to find in truth, the 90 day initial employment provisions have been invoked to enable casualization of the workplace. Often, there may not be any intention to provide an ongoing level of employment, for many offered positions, nor in reality is there as would be anticipated, a pathway to increased remuneration associated with acquiring new skills. The 90 day provision is an easy mechanism to gain low cost labour, without ongoing obligation on behalf of the employer, and a means to achieve undisclosed variable cost flexibility for the business. In an oversupplied labour market this is an easy option for employers. Rather than offer short term contracting, which would only be attractive to casuals at generally a higher hourly rate, the carrot of a long term position with advancement means the newly employed will accept a lower initial level of remuneration that what they would otherwise, for an advertised short term position. A qualitative assessment at the end of the 90 day period is all that is necessary to terminate employment. not enough productivity situation has changed, sorry have decided you are not really suited for the position etc. The level at which this can occur is nearly impossible to quantify, but the absence of apprenticeships being offered, the high level of churn in the labour market, and some very low levels of remuneration that are being exposed and reported, (often below minimum wage), are prime indicators, all is not well with our current labour law.There are many good employers of course, that recognize there are productivity gains to be achieved, with increased tenure of employment of employees and associated acquisition of skills, but there are also no doubt many who are exploitative, and who are gaming the system. It would be unfair to allow this situation to continue especially for employees who are in a vulnerable position, trying to raise a family, with added financial obligations.
Maybe there is another alternative available in the interim, regarding the plight of refugees on Nauru.Is it possible to negotiate with Nauru leadership to take no risk refugees and families out of the detention centre on Nauru, and allow for Australia, NZ, UN and other aid agencies to provide for them, such as housing and education facilities on Nauru. They have been incarcerated for a sufficient period of time surely, to evaluate any risk with a move such as this, and if the Nauru government if sufficiently reimbursed for provision of housing etc could be amenable to this option. This would represent a move forward for all concerned, the detainees would not get citizenship at this stage, but could be positive contributors to the Nauru economy through well supervised sponsored progressive work schemes, by aid contributors. Naurus infrastructure could benefit through such a scheme, with the provision of aid and employment for both detainees and Naurus citizens. It would not be necessarily an end solution to their situation, but this also would not be an incentive to human traffickers to benefit from the current refugee situation. It would remove them however, from an institutionalized facility and it would be a humanitarian next move initiative, providing a level of freedom that is long overdue.
Well done. Obviously these speakers know they are not welcome in NZ, if they have to resort to a level of subterfuge to book a venue. This prospective speaker engagement will have cost you money to cancel, when you otherwise could probably have your venue booked for a music gig or whatever, that would be totally enjoyable. All the best going forward, and yes, wise to take security precautions, when dealing with extremist supporters.
Dash cam footage captures car narrowly miss oncoming truck in West Auckland
Needs to be prosecuted and taken off the road for a couple of years for that one. No skills, no brains no driving license.
Treaty of Waitangi: What was lost
Sorry but I find it now totally invalid to attempt to bring a situation that existed in the 1830s into present day life in NZ and to continue to extrapolate past injustices going forward. Most of Europe has a history of conquest, redefined countries, and borders, and to the present day that is continuing, with Russia having annexed the Crimea, for example, or China claiming Taiwan and Hong Kong, Assads regime ruthlessly killing many of its people, who have had to flee their country.NZ history has its own conflict, but conveniently the genocide and near extinction of the Moriori for example is hardly ever mentioned.Maori were predominantly hunter gatherers back then, often transient according to the constraints of a food source, and engaged in frequent acts of aggression with neighbouring tribal groups, with frequent slaughter and occupation of others territory. Ownership of land was not a widespread concept, the resources in a given area were exploited, often exhausted and then the land and settlements were abandoned, as the area could no longer sustain the population group.The land itself had little value, it was primarily the surrounding resources that were valued, such as available food, shellfish etc. It is why Maori population was concentrated in coastal regions.Not only is no one alive in NZ today that is responsible for what happened back then, but ultimately we all in NZ are subservient to the crown in some way or other. We use motorways, public facilities, National Parks, and benefit from the provision of education, health services, social welfare, security through the police and justice system, the list is endless almost. These are all collective benefits of being a New Zealander. There is plenty of available alternatives in the world today as to where to live. For example, the more remote areas of the highlands of Papua New Guinea may appeal to some, but not many, for good reason. Living there, is perhaps a bit of a parallel to early Maori occupied NZ. It is still a hunter gatherer society, and survival is a constant harsh prospect, health services hardly exist at all and there is a high level of malnutrition.On that point, health, this article seems to blame Europeans for decimation of the Maori population for disease. In that era, small pox still existed, as did polio, diptheria, tetanus, TB, whooping cough, and influenza. Sexually transmitted diseases were rife (though they were spared HIV), and all manner of waterborne diseases were prevalent, all of which nobody had any immunity to. People died in their thousands, and millions globally. Not just Maori, although influenza may have taken an increased toll.So I think what I am saying is we have to put history into a level of perspective, especially spanning back 180 years. In every generation, there are winners and losers. People lose their lot frequently through misadventure, war, such as we see in Syria. Ill health, bankruptcy, divorce, gambling, acts of god such as floods etc etc. Few families manage to hang on to their assets much past two generations globally, and millionaires come and go.Grieving what might have been, before our lives, is purely nonsensical and without doubt that sense of entitlement is now largely misplaced. Successive governments have in my view gone more than enough in that direction, attempting to right the wrongs of the past. The beneficiaries of some of those outcomes are often, in truth, distorted as to their level of entitlement to settlements, with the heirarchy at the top of Maoridom benefiting excessively, and the less fortunate beneath them again missing out. Greed by a few appears to trump the needy just about always unfortunately.
Chinese investors spooked by foreign buyer ban, says website
Suggest a watch on foreign investment vehicles through Singapore, that are investing (speculating) in NZ property also will be pertinent. Those companies and investors in Singapore need to be genuine Singaporean based companies and citizens. If Singaporean investment in residential housing in particular becomes rampant, then that loop hole will need to be closed similarly.
WeChat users offered top secret luxury apartment planned for Aucklands North Harbour
Dont think a NZ owned construction firm will get a look in either nor NZ workforce for the build.
Green Party members revolt over water bottling decision
Hardly a Green decision, in fact a very poor decision for the economy and a disasterous one for the environment. Millions of single use bottles from our shores into the global environment, and a depletion of the acquifer. Can this decision be appealed I wonder. This has nothing to do with Maoridom or any other percieved karma as to the soundness of this decision. It is all to do with exploiting our natural resources, by an overseas investor, for excessive monetary gain. There is virtually zero in the deal for New Zealand, and an enormous environment cost, locally and globally, and with this decision, another associated land purchase by an overseas investor. The OIA have failed on this one, and so have the ministers involved. Job creation is only a small consideration here, and has to be balanced against environmental cost and economic real return for NZ.
Workplace shake up in Government's sights - Jim Bolger to lead pay working group
Long overdue, with an emphasis back to upskilling employees toward better productivity and providing realistic incomes where participants in the work force feel valued. This will result in less churn, and better relationships between employees and employers. Corporate and SMEs sustainability will in fact be bettered. The concept that you can just hire another bunny at whim after summarily firing the previous employee as a low cost strategy is flawed. This results in low productivity and results in a business unable to effectively compete in the marketplace, due to a lack of investment and newly acquired skills by its employees. Substandard quality of output, with bad decisions and zero R&D are the most probable outcomes when you have significant churn in the labour market. Smart employers know better, and for the others it will be a education process to the benefit of all.
MPs criticism of cycle rail route near her property plain wrong
Maybe get a bike and enjoy would be my philosophy. It is an asset to the area surely, no exhaust fumes, traffic noise to worry about, just a few health conscious bods on bikes enjoying the lake scenery, the like of which when shared is a great experience.
Irrigation companies swimming against the current
The Hurunui catchment totally deserves preservation status, it is one of the few pristine river systems left in Canterbury. Dairy cow effluent into these streams and aquifers is not wanted, and already there has been massive degradation of streams, rivers and waterways in Canterbury as a result of intensified farming. The Canterbury plains is suited to horticulture, grain growing and sheep farming, not dairy with its high irrigation demands. The Canterbury region has suffered enough already, and significant effort is now necessary to restore the environment from its current state to allow recovery to its former self. The powers that be in ECan are still getting it wrong, pretty unusual for an environmental watchdog.
$445m NZ internet cable opens for traffic
Misleading headline. Use of the new Hawaiki cable will not come free either, so they too will clip the ticket and rightly so. Undersea cables are not cheap. What the article should have stressed is that there will be a level of increased competition and our communication cable network is now more robust. Vodafone of course will be happy, not to be supporting Spark their main competitor in NZ, but they will be paying plenty neverthe less. Vodafone cannot expect to get a free lunch, if they dont actually invest and own networks such as undersea cables. If they wanted competition they could of invested in infrastructure years ago, but have failed to do so. (Maybe their net profit is actually greater, per dollar invested in their NZ? But the public should be aware that Vodafone is an offshore multinational, with less investment in NZ than Spark, providing less jobs and less benefits for NZ)I state this as an independent with no shareholdings etc in Spark. Just like to see the emphasis of this article a bit less slanted.
The downside of too many tourists loving New Zealand
Excellent article. Over tourism is already here, with over one million visitors to Aoraki / Mt Cook National Park, alone. Management of tourism numbers and the impact that they create in specific regions, is long overdue. When posting photos of New Zealands pristine beaches, mountain areas, rivers, if we are smart, we should now automatically turn off geo-tagging prior to it hitting the Facebook or Instagram pages. We also need to better regulate and manage, the conduct of many of the tourist operators in NZ. The case of a driver, without a passenger license, driving an Alps Travel tourist bus in the South Island, along the Te Anau Milford highway full of tourists, should have seen that tourist operator out of business. Instead it was a $400 fine and a few hours of community service for the tourist operator. We need to ensure things are done better than that
Five dead, two injured in motorcycle crashes in past week as road toll nears crisis point
Drivers that drive aggressively around motorbikes and cycles are in truth the problem. Sure some bike deaths are speed related, but when cars and trucks interact with a bike, it is the rider who dies, and the other motorists are more than contributory in most cases, squeezing cyclists is totally common and misjudging approaching motorbikes, even with their headlights on is another frequent occurrence, which i have often witnessed.
The struggle to improve Auckland's 'Third World suburb'
Avondale lacks anything in the way of offering a destination activity, be it recreational or retail. If Avondale is to regenerate, something of significant value for the community is needed, that will generate economic activity.A new swimming pool complex and gymnasium would be a good start. As Aucklands population has increased, existing swimming pools are coming under increasing pressure. The nearest pool complexes are Mt Alberts Phillips Aquatic Centre and Westwave Henderson. Furthermore, swimming is not only about fitness, but also about staying alive and preventing unnecessary drownings. Then build a serious gym and indoor cycling event centre, it would be a game changer and Auckland could do with such a facility. With the new roading access to the West via the tunnel this is a feasible location for such a complex and training centre. Downtown Auckland, Wynyard Quarter and the Viaduct has had decades of spending but no major facilities have been provided for, West Auckland, New Lynn Avondale or Mt Albert in recent years. Time to create something exceptional for the community and young aspiring athletes. Another Westfield Mall isnt the answer. Our youth deserve more than another opportunity to mindlessly stroll a mall, visit the food hall etc etc, they will benefit from active sports involvement and a major sports complex can provide this. The major codes, Rugby, Cricket, Netball are well catered for, and not all are interested in team sports, (acknowledging for example that there are only so many All Black vacancies to fill annually for aspiring players.) Time that swimming, Indoor basketball and cycling were given much more of an emphasis. Track cyclists have no high quality indoor venue in the entire Upper North Island, and a training venue may also enable road cyclists to actively train especially in the more severe winter months. We could do with more sucess stories in individual sports, such as Steven Adams, Sophie Pascoe, and this year, NZ has four riders in the Tour de France, more than the USA, with Jack Bauer, Patrick Bevan, George Bennett and Dion Smith. These athletes have exceptional ability, they and the ones to come next will benefit from such facilities being built, and it can be the impetus for more to enter these high performance sports. It is a case of build it, and they will come, absolutely, and a major sports centre will provide an opportunity for many over a large number of years to benefit health wise additionally.
Photos of Donald Trump inauguration were changed to make crowd look bigger
Drone or aerial imagery doesnt lie, only the people that are into photo manipulation and their handlers. It is a stretch of belief that when asked to provide photos of an event, the photography provided, is by default designed to deceive. There must have been a directive surely, by someone to willfully manipulate imagery, and make it look good. Why else would someone unilaterally chose to provide what amounts to a lie, especially given that it is a presidential event of great importance. Wouldnt most photographers naturally want to get it right.
‘Serious storm clouds’ threaten NZ democracy - report
Totally agree with this article. We are a small country China is massive and an imbalance of power can be the obvious outcome, if we become a goal for chinas imperialism. China has demonstrated its expanding role in seeking political influence around the globe, from the Sea of Japan, building man made islands, then militarizing them, its increased influence in the Pacific, Vanuatu, Niue and the Cook Islands, and its ongoing support for North Korea. Chinas belt road policy is in its simplicity, a mechanism of advancing capital to countries that often can ill afford repayment, which then results in political control and influence by China.Recently Australia has identified as many as 2500 research workers from China as essentially being agencts or economic adversaries, working in our Universities and private research facilities. They are there to quote : Picking flowers to make honey (money) at home. Another definition is economic and military espionage. To do nothing is not an option for the NZ way of life. As a small nation, our policies have to be reset at the political and economic coal face. If we coast along in a purely benevolent manner, as we currently seem to do, we may risk all, in a matter of a couple of decades.NZ through government policy should start with a positive effort to identify within all our economic sectors, the effective ownership of every business entity. Determining off shore economic ownership of our industry, our primary sector, and our tourism in an expedient manner is our first priority, as is the retention of IP and economic gain within our borders. Then we must introduce policy to actually ensure that joint venture is exactly that, not skewed to an off shore wealth extraction model. Politically, it is important also to state our policy regarding off shore investment and IP protection, and to enforce it where necessary. Yes, this is NZ first across all political parties and levels of administration and economic activity. I dont see anything fundamentally wrong with that, in the face of Chinas imperialism, (denied or otherwise) or any other nation that so acts in a deliberate manner to gain economic ownership of a small nation.
Taxi firm unimpressed with Westpac cosying up to Uber
Uber is about Uber and if you cannot see that you are denying the truth. Uber siphons serious money offshore tax unpaid at the expense to taxi drivers that pay tax in NZ, and eventually spend their proceeds within the NZ economy. For that reason I will never use Uber. Just saying, and there is also plenty of competition in the NZ taxi market without them.
Fonterra weighs up whether to build processing plants in China
Yeah,nah. Building production plants in China, will in all liklihood, lock Fonterra into an inflexible production arrangement within China, and will not achieve 1 autonomy or independence for Fonterra, nor prevent government intervention from within China. Fonterra may find itself subjected to demands such as, JV participation with chinese owned companies, (often these are simply investment vehicles for the chinese government). Even head accountants employed in JV companies are required to be representatives of the chinese corporations and government. India however, in my opinion, offers much greater independence and opportunities, that are of lower commercial risk, and less likely to become a victim of political interference and eventual ownership. One has only to look at the failed entry by Lion breweries into China to see how this could end up for Fonterra. ( Lion Nathan, which had invested some A$350m since 1995, wrote down the value of its China operations to just under A$100m in 2000. Fortunately it had a buyer at the end of it all, and sold its three breweries, clustered in the Yangtze river delta, to CRB, a partnership between SABMiller, the worlds second largest brewer, and the Hong Kong-listed China Resources Enterprises, for US$154m.)Does Fonterra wish to possibly go down this path I wonder? Sure, it looks like a natural progression, to establish dairy factories in China, but in my opinion such an investment has unquantified risk and negative consequence for shareholders, to be just as likely an outcome.
Volunteers repair storm-damaged DOC track after fears it may be closed forever
DOC needs to get their priorities sorted and come to the party. The great walks should have levies so they are self funded, and then DOC will have a budget to look after real NZ ie the one that is not on Instagram and in Facebook selfies
Negotiations breakdown in Bella Vista debacle: all homeowners to sue Tauranga City Council
I am sorry, but the Tauranga Council offer in my opinion is a good one. In a lot of countries, you would now be in a position of getting zilch.The real cause of your loss is with the contractor/developer, who took your money and built the substandard units then went into liquidation.This situation should not have happened, absolutely, but the real target is the developer, who if it can be found acted fraudulently and criminally, can be held directly and personally financially accountable and bankrupted. The developer is unable to have the protection of limited liability of his company in this circumstance.As an aggrieved group of property owners, it is generally found that it is easier, and more productive to blame local bodies such as councils for all that went wrong. The last one standing is the easier target, and they have much reduced responsibility for failure than the developer.However, unless building inspectors remain constantly on site throughout the build process, construction companies can take shortcuts at any stage of work in progress, and often succeed, in that the shoddy work is hidden between inspections as the building progresses.There are cases of reinforcing steel installed as is specified, prior to the required inspection for a concrete floor,only to remove it just before the concrete has actually been poured. End result, no reinforcing and steel available for the next pour. A win win for the construction company.For this reason I believe Councils are held to account often on an unjustified basis, they are simple the last easy port of call for the aggrieved to be easily compensated.I suggest when it comes to construction, the legal status of a construction company should be ammended, so that in the case of a default, the shareholders do not have the capacity to wind up the company, or be liquidated, with creditors and potential property owners carrying the can. Personal liability should be immediate, as effectively they have been trading while insolvent. The alternative is for the company to be required to post a bond (prior to construction commencing) with a registered independent bond holder. In effect monies provided and deposited that are not available to the construction company until it has fully discharged its obligations to creditors and clients. If the company fails, the bond monies could be distributed directly to the creditors.People need to be properly protected as clients and creditors of developers and construction companies, and with a large number of failures the current system is not working. Change is necessary.
Larger landfill levy and Aucklanders laziness in sights of Govt recycling taskforce
NZ should have its own recycling plant for all waste plastics. Shipping it off overseas for it to be probably dumped into the environment is not what we should be doing. All plastic consumables, and packaging should have a levy placed upon it to fund a major facility to deal with plastic waste into the future. The Greens solution is not sustainable and not aspirational, Sages sugestion is a total fail in my opinion.
Politicians teed off over proposal for housing on six publicly-owned golf courses
Auckland needs its green spaces. We are fortunate to have the Domain and One Tree Hill, but for a city the size of Auckland, to see large areas for recreation to become allocated to housing would be retrograde. Perhaps we dont need as many golf courses as what we have at present, but if that is to change, these areas should be retained as parks for recreation. They serve as a place to get away from traffic noise, pollution from vehicles, a breath of fresh air, and a great place for individuals and families to enjoy. One Tree Hill and Cornwall Park is busier than ever, and with a growing population, it is all the more important to preserve parks and open space. The concrete of Wynyard Quarter is no substitute, and most of the green space of Britomart has now also been lost to development. We have other ways to increase housing in a growing Auckland, without sacrificing important recreational green spaces.
Slice of pristine South Island high country 'should finally become national park'
The OIA needs to be strengthened, no loopholes, no foreign investment through NZ registered companies also, is the expectation
Mothballed Napier-Wairoa rail line set to reopen
Awesome, rail should never have been let go by National as a means of hauling heavy freight. Current government decision shows it is not in the pocket of road freight operators and for a relatively small investment,. When the entire Gisborne - Wellington rail corridor is again operational a large number of businesses and industries will benefit. Our roads dont withstand the hammering they get from logging trucks without constant remediation, this is the hidden subsidy that taxpayers pay for unnecessary high level road freight, especially the max load category. While the government is about it, rail from Helensville to Waitakere needs to happen again, maybe a commuter diesel unit has to be used due to the low tunnel at Waitakere, but linking this in to the proposed rapid rail hub from Westgate to downtown Akld is necessary, plenty of new houses to be build in that region.
A decade on from the GFC, the world is less equipped to cope with the next crisis
There is really only one consideration for investors, property or shares, and that is when a correction occurs, have you got the ability to service debt, especially should interest rates rise as a property investor, or if you are a shareholder, do you have the ability to hold on to your portfolio throughout a downturn.You may be lucky enough to sell your shares prior to a major correction, but for by far the greater majority, this would be be at a reduced price. For those with available unallocated capital, post crash, serious returns will be possible with new share purchases in sound companies, that have been irrationally discounted by excessive selling across the market. But with property investment, residential or otherwise comes leveraging, so that small increases in interest levied on mortgages translates to a much greater ongoing commitment by mortgagers to service the loan. So your exposure to financial risk is all about your ability to service increased debt or in the case of shares suffer an interim paper loss. If we are not hit too hard, corrections are replaced by upward valuation in the short term and into the longer term. If it is a major correction, then the herd mentality inflicts more damage on the economy, with resultant increased loss of jobs, and a decline in economic activity .Unfortunately in NZ house price inflation has meant larger levels of personal debt and greater exposure to risk for a large number of households. It is this group that will fall the hardest if current circumstances were to change dramatically and they do not have the ability to service debt.The more prudent do not over extend themselves to lending risk, while the more reckless are naturally the most affected.
Mystery surrounds secret Kiwi survival bunker claims
Just saying a nuclear winter if it ever happens is quite long... by spring only a few insects would survive. John Connors long departed.
NZ expected to buy maritime surveillance aircraft with submarine hunting tech
This capability has become essential, with China militarizing the Sea of Japan and likely to set up a naval base in Vanuatu, and with Russia establishing military alignment with Fiji, supplying container loads of weapons. Unfortunately these actions betray an underlying intent to exert military dominance in the Pacific, which I believe is not benign, but expansionist and a level of aggression that cannot be cons1d as a defense strategy for their respective regimes. Both countries are effectively dictatorships, with self imposed extensions to their leadership, they are certainly not Western style democracies, with elections neither transparent, and conducted under a level of coercion. We are doing the right thing to improve our capability and ability to monitor potential military expansion in the Pacific.
Fonterra to save money on appointment of interim CEO Miles Hurrell
Just an outsiders point of view, but the appointment of Mike Hurrell seems to be a move in the right direction. Hurrell has 18 years experience in the industry, including international involvement. Further, his role has been operational at the customer interface, and right now, in the dairy industry, surely retaining customers (farmers), as suppliers to Fonterra is of prime importance. A NZ owned dairy industry must remain as a clear strategy for the future. Off shore investors in dairy, such as what has transpired with Synlait, for example, do not necessarily have NZ interests foremost. Instead their investments made in NZ are anticipated to give a return back to offshore stakeholders, and that is money moving out of the country. Farmers futures really rely on the Fonterra cooperative model, which assures certainty of predominantly New Zealand ownership.Also as a dairy farming group, it is in their interest to pay more attention to their environmental footprint and sustainability of farming practices, while offshore ownership of NZ farming is less likely to address this second environmental goal. Cobalt mining in the Congo, with Chinese involvement, is an example of how far offshore exploitation, with no conscience, can advance. Fonterras investment in China with Beingmate under Theo Spierings stewardship has amounted to a total disaster, (unless there is something we are not seeing). I am sure that Fonterra stakeholders would have no appetite for similarly bad decisions to also be made within the NZ market and an executive with a solid level of NZ experience and an awareness of stakeholder investment and risk, I would think, is the way to move Fonterra forward.
Low-rated Uber passengers to be barred from accessing service
Never ordered an Uber and never will. Rapacious company preying on Uber drivers for an unreasonable percentage of their revenue and offering sweet all in return. Uber is not really interested in paying corporate tax on their profits derived from within NZ. We should boot them out and give NZ owner drivers and families their money instead. One of the worst corporate raiders operating in NZ in my opinion
First tanker rolls into Mataura Valley Milk
Totally agree, a 71 percent off shore investor structure means lack of control for other shareholders, and perhaps, like Synlait it will end up near 100 percent foreign ownership in the future. Basically this company has served as a gateway to enable a revenue stream off shore.
The meth house is a myth: Theres no risk from drug smoking residue, Govt report finds
I had assumed that only houses that were actual meth labs were the ones that were quarantined subject to a major decontamination. Silly me. Perhaps if toxicologists had been approached directly for advice, within NZ, then this bizarre extrapolation of risk would not have happened. Goes to show that those in charge of science based decisions, yet who have no scientific background, are really not suitable individuals, to make appropriate science based decisions. This is especially evident when the internet is the source of available material, without knowing either how it is applicable or relevant to a situation, and whether the sourced information is peer reviewed and robust. Organic chemists that can provide the level of contamination of chemical nasties in a home, will be able to determine whether a P lab (for example) has existed, and toxicologists can use this information to determine risk to health.I suggest the same approach should always be taken when it comes to evaluating the safety of our foods, checking extensively for pesticide residues, especially for example, glyphosate in our grains, a high risk food category for contaminant levels (maize wheat barley), and some vegetables that are grown in this country, and those that are imported. Toxicologists should become involved as to the risk analysis for carcinogenicity as detailed in recently updated WHO and FDA reports and guidelines. (We were never meant to eat or drink the stuff, nor should it be present in stock feed as a contaminant particularly in GMO maize based products.) Other foods are also high risk of contamination with chemicals that are hormone disruptors, estrogenic inducers, or likely to have other pesticide residues that expose the consumer to an unaceptable toxicity risk, be it the presence of organo phosphates, carbamates, herbicides such as paraquat etc etc.Similarly the safety of Vape products should be reevaluated. This is in relation to the safety of flavorant additives and in particular the presence of Diacetyl, which will result in Popcorn Lung, an irreversible condition, essentially bronchiectasis in those that use such products.. The safety of vape products was not properly evaluated, when to the delight of the tobacco companies that produce the products, our previous minister of health gave them the all clear, which caught the health ministry, tasked with the evaluation of the decision, somewhat by suprise. Nicotine patches are by far, a better way of achieving smoking cessation, safer, and more likely to give a positive outcome, as transdermal nicotine delivery does not pyschologically reinforce and mimic nicotine addiction, (providing a high then a low - craving)Again, bring in the toxicologists, respiratory specialists, and biochemists, pathologists, organic chemists, who would be only too willing to contribute their knowledge, rather that take an all clear decision from some dubious internet source or committee that may have a conflict of interest. Further this would prevent pseudo scientific outcomes, achieved by people in office who lack the necessary understanding to quantify risk and/or unwittingly misinterpret recommendations.
Auckland councillors send letter of 'no confidence' to Mayor Phil Goff
A new stadium probably ending up at more than two billion is hardly a priority at the moment for Auckland. Grandiose schemes have plagued Auckland in the past, with essential services always missing out. Personally a few hundred millon to the Auckland City Mission, and Drug and Alcohol treatment services, I would not mind at all, over the next few years. Investing in people who are in crisis is a better focus in my view, and in the last decade, we now have a major crisis at street level with numbers of homeless still on the rise. Unfortunately government funding for DHBs is severely constrained, and while we install cobbled intersections, and excessive levels of street furniture, (even seats with their own lighting underneath), at huge expense, the outcome is totally incongruous and aberrant. Hardly anyone sits on any of the large amounts of seats that exist around the Viaduct and Wynyard Quarter, for example, just a useless waste of money. (Not even the homeless can get comfortable on these windswept and exposed placements) It seems between Auckland City and Auckland Transport, their excessive embellishments to what is needed in a city has no limits. What is needed i believe, is an independent gatekeeper, as to how and where ratepayers money is spent, and what is functional and necessary at reasonable cost. Without doubt, Auckland City and AT require an independent authority to prioritise and rationalize their expenditure, and I believe government needs to look at this problem, and achieve significantly better outcomes for its cities. Auckland should not end up like New York for example, with a large number of the unfortunates of humanity, hunkering down near to heating vents in the streets, among swanky stores, with kid gloved doorman, pulling the dollars from the privileged big spenders. Auckland is really at that point already, just a bit less on the scale of things.Auckland City should not have the task to fund such social services from ratepayers, but smart initiatives are needed to get the 1 priorities for its residents to the forefront. Maybe a level of savings, that could easily be achieved out of current unneeded expenditure, could be partially directed toward a safer and more equitable city for all its inhabitants.
Raise the pension age regardless of future Super affordability
Instead, get rid of compulsory retirement at 65 years. Many older people are still preferring to work, and contributing to taxation, others are not so inclined or fit and will opt for retirement. Superannuation is much more affordable that has been previously estimated on,because of this trend, and if company policy were more lenient more older citizens would be in employment, and benefiting from it both financially and health wise.
Building boss fined $7500 for breaching employment law
Paltry fines mean it is good business practice to underpay staff, and ignore employment law. The savings on a construction site will be in the hundreds of thousands of unpaid workers income. It may be a few payments to inspectors for it all to go away is happening also, normal business practice in most of asiaDefinitely overdue to bring in rigorous penalties and the ability to deport transgressors and liquidate their businesses where appropriate. We are probably evidencing indicators that are associate with underlying corruption, tax evasion, and coercion of workers, let alone an evasion of building standards as to materials and general quality compliance. The inspectorate needs proper resources and internal scrutiny to ensure it is effective and in no way compromised from serving NZ in all areas with best practice outcomes.
Minister, concerns from business aren't junk
Smart business operators are always confident. They do the right things by their employees and the structured environment they operate in, nothing to fear, only opportunities to capitalise on. Those that fear change because they are into exploitation of the labour market, tax avoidance, and taking shortcuts as to regulated standards, whether it be health and safety, building codes I have zero sympathy for. You either get your house in order or bear the consequences. That may mean for once, some businesses have to make an investment in plant equipment and machinery, rather than look to underpaid workers and dodgy practises to make a return. Just doing the latter is not a future strategy for business in a modern economy, it is a way of business we should have left behind.
Mayor Phil Goff announces Auckland homelessness census in effort to stop ballooning vagrancy problem
An essential first step to help those that are displaced from society by whatever cause. Drug dependance and mental health issues are treatable and in NZ we have the ability to massively improve the situation if we focus on the problem. We have tended toward becoming a me only society and there are large social costs with that. These people need another life, one where they have self worth and can achieve and contribute to our society. People fall for all manner of reasons, we should become the right type of rockstar economy that helps the Claptons through addiction, rather than let people fade away their potential lost.
Apple sees nothing impossible with new iPhones - including what we'll pay
That certainly at a price where the apple tax is significant
Former MP Sue Kedgely tears into 'watered down' country of origin food labelling
Totally necessary to have all encompassing origin labelling for food. I am not happy eating food from sources that i do not know about, often masquerading as NZ grown and produced. It would seem obvious that those that oppose transparent labelling on foods, have the most to hide and it may well be the likes of China and other countries,,(that have a notorious record for the use of banned herbicides, insecticides, and other chemical additives and possible adulterants) are influencing the outcome of this legislation. While we are about, it the term flavours is still being used on fruit juices etc. Consumers have a right to know what these are. I suspect most are organic and synthetic chemical flavorants, from the chemical industry. Currently I avoid where I can, flavourants and also especially, highly processed food such as ham, bacon, sausages, pate, etc full of nitrite preservatives. I want to be able to eat as healthily as I can, and obscuring processing and origin information, and the proper identification of additives etc is not helping consumers. Quite the opposite, it may well be allowing their health to inadvertently compromised. NZ food safety is well behind the eight ball, The regulators have no ability to vet all our imported foods at present, let alone those that are repackaged and relabelled. They simply have insufficient resources to test our foods for the presence of harmful compounds, whether it be mercury levels in seafood, glycosate levels in our grains and vegetables, nitrites, sulphur dioxide, tartrazine in our imported spices, benzoates in sauces, and so forth.The coalition as a government has an opportunity to dramatically improve the safety of what we eat, along the lines of the EUand its guidelines which are far more stringent that in eco friendly NZ. They need to step up and ensure that our food regulations are properly advanced, and that significant changes are made for our common good.
$445m NZ internet cable opens for traffic
Suggest Vodafone spend some money on theire networks and front up with money for exchanges, or alternatively make an adequate offer of money for access. Maintaining and upgrading systems costs money, but oddly Vodafone does little in this regard in NZ. It just relies on a sympathy decision from the commerce comission without making likewise capital investment. Vodafones lack of cell coverage in NZ compared to Sparks, is case in point. They just dont spend on the cell towers to the extent that Spark does, so in the rural environment their service is iffy at best in many locations.
What went wrong with Trump's family-separation effort at the border?
This is what happens when a knee jerk reaction is put into play, and it is totally now a disaster, a scenario that reflects on just how heartless this decision was, and also on the inadequacies of the authorities. If it is obvious when inacted, this policy would cause chaos, so why did the authorities continue with the process? Blindly following bad decisions shows an autocratic style of command, not very clever. Clearly, when it comes to migrants, there is little sympathy in the entire administration. It is also a known fact that the mafia control the area within Mexico within 30 km of the border with the US. People trafficking is a big money earner for the mob, and the US should be working in concert with the Mexican authorities to deal with this problem. Very obviously, a wall will not work, trafficking by sea will instead become the norm, as will other points of access.
Suddenly The Rugby Championship's not so dull after all
I like the comments. It is simply impossible to win all the time. It has never happened in anything.Talk of leadership change already l see, blah blah blah. We are fortunate to have such excellent players. They are not X men, some rugby fans really do watch too much TV The Right Stuff etc etcAll rugby nations aspire to win, hopefully they get to put their best players forward. This was the ABs first loss in ages, have faith.
Grassroots vs MPs over 2019 Auckland mayoral race
Well, dont think Helen will be up for it and maybe not the choice for Labour. Probably a younger candidate will be chosen, who should romp home,.given Nationals past performance over the last 9 years. Nationals brand, if you like has been seriously damaged, and neo liberal and self serving policies are not what NZ wants, and it has become increasingly so. So good luck with that debate at your conference. Perhaps no-bridges will get pushed out of office and may contest the seat, or will crusher Collins think she has a chance?.
Generational divide highlighted by exam is far from trivial
Oh and please dont credit Gen Z for alone being environmentally aware, my experience is quite the opposite, recycling often just too difficult. Got the McDonalds, or the free Wifi at Starbucks, maybe its Uber Eats, more trash and inefficient high carbon footprint delivery, same for My Food Bag, no substitute for the supermarket, which you have to go to anyway. Then trash the cup, the plastic lid and straw, the bag, the packaging, wherever, whenever. Gen Z, Y, X, please get it right. These monikers are purely segmented marketing targets, with a few slightly more common attributes ascribed to them. In truth, we all use cellphones these days, some buy apple white computers and laptops the majority of the population are android and windows. All types of people buy organic, generally the more wealthy, no matter your marketing designation. Marketers are very good at creating differences or amplifying them, so that they can push more stuff on a particular group of individuals, and make them feel good about themselves, make them feel somehow special and so create an affinity for certain products, that they can then embrace, they are ours we own them etc .Nothing new to see here. Most of us also appreciate a level of justice, though rewarding mistakes is a funny definition of justice, in an english exam, where presumably people from all walks of life, are expected to know the answers. Are answers correct for just one generation, but incorrect for others, I wonder, just saying.
Generational divide highlighted by exam is far from trivial
In an exam, there are questions and answers. The point of the exercise is to answer more correctly than incorrectly, it may involved stored knowledge or guesswork. Guesswork can let you down generally much more than 50% of the time. Why? Because there are always several good guesses available, at any one time. So, do we reward people for having acquired a level of knowledge or do we reward those for taking guesses. Or more correctly, in life, we should never reward the person that takes the guess and doesnt admit to it. In medicine do we administer a drug dose as a guess, or if asked for factual answers fake it? In engineering do we guess a structural load capability, or perhaps navigate a position on guesswork ? There are places for guesswork, thats where no one knows the answer, say next weeks Lotto result, or a game of trivial pursuit. In an exam, is it fair to actively discriminate against those who have knowledge by rewarding those that take a guess? Those that take a guess, may be feeling lucky, but like fake news, the chickens eventually come home to roost, and in the future I would not like to be a passenger in an aircraft for example with a pilot who takes a guess. Yes life can be unfair sometimes, but lets not trivialise reality, let not make life unfair most of the time, which is what this exam decision has in fact done, especially when it is in response to a social media campaign. Meanwhile to those in exams, the smart thing is to admit your deficiency and say you will take a guess on the answer. You may get a few marks for a calculated guess at the very least, and then rather than extrapolate the blame on someone else, the examiner, or whoever, take the learning on board. No one likes a person who takes a guess rather than being honest as to their deficiency of knowledge. After all, it need not be a permanent disability, you can quite literally learn from your mistakes, and improve your english, your maths or whatever, or is this also a trivial pursuit.
QV data shows New Zealand house prices falling
Statistically insignificant magnitude of price change to actually say prices are dropping with any level of significance. Probably the price variation is well within the level of error of the survey I suggest house prices could still well be upwards but slowing.
The Super Fund: a $40 billion nest egg which could quickly become a political football
NZ government should be investing in areas other than infrastructure in my opinion. It should be investing in the new economy or we will simply again be left behind. Biotech and aquaculture to me immediately come to mind, these are areas in which, with sufficient funding we can compete effectively, and success in the former especially could yield enormous revenues and provide a better future for NZ. Where the money comes from should probably be government investment outside of the superannuation fund. Starts ups are higher risk, but to do nothing in this direction would translate to lost opportunity. Not to be involved in biotech is akin to being outside of the semiconductor or IT sector (which is more or less NZs current position). We pay for other countries investment and innovation through proceeds of tourism and primary industries. Biotech could be up there for NZ with higher margin into the future, and NZ could do with the added earnings and diversification. The government contribution has to come as a reciprocal shareholding, not gifted, is the only caveat.
Law change planned to speed up changes to drinking water standards
Safe drinking water is a basic fundamental for human health. Nay sayers are totally uniformed as to the risks of waterborne diseases, as to just how serious the consequences can be. Third world countries know all about these, and coliform contamination is probably in most untreated water in NZ. Dairy run off is just one of the vectors, as are other animals such as aquatic wildlife, dry stock, and human contamination, from processing industries and activities. Time the anti chlorination and snyi water treatment league woke up to these facts, and educated themselves from reliable scientific sources. There is no conspiracy, only a desire to ensure a healthy population
Labour may be preparing to shelve major tax reform, but is it really last chance saloon?
A CGT is a broadening of the tax base and would tend to direct capital into meaningful business investment opportunities. However politically it would have to be jointly supported by all political parties. Otherwise it is obvious, introduction of a CGT would simply be used as a leverage by opposition parties to gain political leverage at the next elections. A reduction in say GST may be possible once a CGT was established, is another potential outcome into the future. All parties should come on board in a joint decision process on this one, and sign up to an agreement to support the eventual voted decision outcome on CGT when the proposed CGT has been fully evaluated. Without multiparty support, CGT becomes impossible to introduce.
Ebert receivership hits Synlait dairy factory project at Pokeno
Well they are lucky that they are only at the earthworks stage. During a receivership, paying out of all creditors is fortunately under statute and under the provisions of the Companies Act. Priorities of charges exist, with secured investors such as banks, IRD at the top, then creditors, then secured and unsecured investors. No one creditor can exert preferential rights just as a result of the quantum of monies owed them. Only those that have securing financial instruments with the company in receivership, have preferential rights. So basically those that are less exposed lose the least. I especially feel sorry for small contractors that are totally exposed to loss and the least likely to recover.
The Super Fund: a $40 billion nest egg which could quickly become a political football
Oh so Renaul_ Peugeot, Airbus Industries, Samsung, AIG are not good enough for you, all with substantial government shareholding. Big opportunities need big money and in NZ there is not much of that around . Assisted by government projects with high financial barriers can be undertaken, ones that earn real export dollars, just saying.
Nasa's next great space telescope is stuck on Earth after screwy errors
Perhaps Northrop Grumman has employees that are unreliable. Loose screws surely cannot be a mistake, as assembly, like any aerospace project would have multiple checks with each process signed off through multiple procedures and by a number of personel. The possibility of deliberate actions, with the intention to cause the project to fail, must surely be a scenario that has to be entertained. Alternatively design faults may exist, which will have to be recognised as such, these would seem to be the only two possibilities.
The Auckland fuel tax always looked doomed, just not quite this quickly
The biggest hit is as a result of production constraint as OPEC got their member countries to act in unison once again. Fuel prices are set to increase well in excess of current prices, and we may experience yet another fuel shock. Government should actually become a player in the NZ oil & gas industry, not a bystander that merely collects royalties. Our economy would benefit enormously into the future, and the revenue could fund new clean tech, new hydro dams in particular so in mass NZ can move its vehicle fleet more to electric vehicles. Hydro is the most economic way forward, and the only way to achieve increased and reliable energy supply into the future. Trying to store electricity in battery systems is wasteful of scarce mineral resources and yes they die in as little as eight to ten years. So wind remains a fickle energy resource, solar is expensive per gigawatt and also solar panels die, again in as little as ten years, and geothermal while good, brings carbon dioxide and methane, greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere when previously safely underground.Meanwhile, our oil dependance continues, and for some applications for many decades forwards, probably for ever, and in the future I forsee synfuel becoming a necessary source of fuel. Hopefully NZ will get lucky over the next decade, with the likes of Barque etc or our oil import bill will become quite huge.
The truth about Spain according to Kiwis who live there
Spain, Italy, France all can be less expensive than New Zealand. Central Paris etc obviously more expensive but slightly more regional and real estate is affordable. It is why many Brits retain in these countries, and an excellent reason for them to stay in the EU. After Brexit, if that happens it may not be so easy to gain citizenship.Â
Fined by police for passing cyclists, hell from boy racers every night
No sorry, her actions probably amount to dangerous driving due to poor judgement, she could still be prosecuted. Not all road transport law is prescribed or codified legislation.
Almond milk that is 97.5% not almond
Haha just drink ten times as much to get ur almond intake, simple. Simpler still wake up consumers and dont buy the stuff
Fined by police for passing cyclists, hell from boy racers every night
Double yellow lines are normally not painted on the road unless overtaking in that area is deemed dangerous, generally due to a lack of visibility. I am a cyclist and drive a vehicle. I personally do not cross the yellow line in order to pass a cyclist, but wait until the cyclist has moved on to an area in which I can safely pass, and give the cyclist 1.5metres minimum clearance. This plaintiff may think she is safe to pass in this manner, but of course, if another vehicle suddenly arrives on the scene, to avoid a head on collison, she would veer to the left inevitably, and take out the cyclist. This is a common type of accident that can occur with cyclists and result in injury or death of a legitimate road user. It is a pity that the 1.5metre rule has not yet been legislated into our road code, with a substantial fine for such an infringement, it would help save lives.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern calls for end to town vs country on climate
Government needs to do much more, as our main cities become increasingly overpopulated, rural towns should be in an accelerated growth phase so people have better options as to where they live and work. This requires massive investment in rural NZ with new industry, and existing industry relocated out of the cities to provide income for those that wish to live in a small town, and own affordable homes. Without increasing jobs in the rural communities this cannot happen. There is no reason that artisan cheese and dairy factories for example, cannot exist in small communities, nor assembly factories for agricultural equipment, or downstream agricultural and aquaculture processing and so forth. Only NZ First has actually done something in this direction, had they not been part of the coalition I doubt we would have seen much in rural development.
New Zealand chefs react to passing of 'legend' Anthony Bourdain
Very sad to end your life when you have so much going for you, family, friends, respect. From all thats said, he lived a fast furious celeb life, on the road too often, and just needed to slow it down probably. We are not all immune to burn out and if you hit the wall you have to recognize it for what it is, seek help and do the right stuff. Staying physically fit, and cardio is a must for stress, as is relaxation, to give your brain some time out, just saying. Pity his friends and family didnt know or didnt recognize where he was at. As a writer, he told it as it was, am pretty sure, he will be greatly missed.
Is it time to scrap frequent flyer programmes like Airpoints to combat the climate crisis?
Funny but Chinas one child policy was a total pretense. Its population was 1 Billion in 1980 and 1.4 Billion 2017. Now a one child policy would have been generating a negative population growth over that period. Does that seem a little strange to you? Get your facts right please, or maybe you think they clone their children??
The AM Show: Acting Prime Minister Winston Peters uninvited for the next six weeks
Well with the likes of Mark Richardson, and more recently, Duncan Garners narrow minded attitudes I would not show up either. Amanda Gillies is also full of self importance, and their collective attitudes are basically bigot audience fodder. Nah, give it a miss Winston, the country has better radio forums. Jeremy Wells comes to mind for example give the slot to no-bridges Bridges, they are all in good company together, and can rabbit on about highly significant non issues, for those who nothing better to listen too.
Is it time to scrap frequent flyer programmes like Airpoints to combat the climate crisis?
Airpoints accumulation is not a big enough incentive to induce additional flights except for perhaps a very small few customers. It is just a loyalty scheme for sticking with one airline and saves the customer a few dollars with their next trip, but generally this is an almost inconsequential amount compared to the additional cost of the next flight. The report that this article is based on I believe is truly misguided, if the writer believes the notion that because an individual might save in the vicinity of $100 - $200Â an individual will spend say $5000 to $10000 on a holiday they would otherwise not consider taking.
Flight Of The Conchords return to TV with an hour-long special
Their offbeat comedic style was pretty damn good, always entertaining and had an originality that is often missing in other comedy acts. These guys are undoubtably capable of more, just hope that happens.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern calls for end to town vs country on climate
Our major cities have excessive money poured into them, often with a very low benefit to cost ratio, whereas rural development is largely ignored. NZ First have been instrumental in getting some rural spend and infrastructure development under way, especially in Northland, and it is my opinion that rural NZ is sorely in need of billions of dollars of new development. New hydo-generation could future proof our electricity supply and get us to virtually 100% renewable electricity. Nimbyism is the main barrier to that perhaps, but government is also under performing in that direction. If we are to get serious on CO2 emissions, new electricity infrastructure is totally necessary. I also believe some farmers and landholders are getting on board to getting our waterways back to a healthy status, and spending additional in that area would not go amiss. New Zealands small towns can be regenerated, and with a focus on economic development in the regions, including new industry, some of the pressure will come off our larger cities, such as excessive population growth, and increased congestion and house prices that come with that. Unfortunately Labour are not doing well in much of this, and all parties should make regional development a priority for New Zealands future.
Japanese authorities 'examining' David Farrier's Dark Tourist series
What happened at Fukushima and Chernobyl are particularly good reasons for keeping NZ nuclear free, for our energy generation requirements. We have affordable alternatives, and in actuality nuclear fission reactors end up very expensive to operate, despite what is claimed, and the waste they generate is extremely problematic. (A lot can happen over 10000 plus years in a storage facility) The majority of reactors are designated safe, but operation over time puts this assessment into question, and with NZs geological history and associated earthquake risk, they should never become an option in NZ. The cost of a disaster when it occurs, results in an immediate loss of life, and increased cancer risk to a large proportion of the population, with ongoing consequence. The financial consequence is massive, and crippling to a country, far and beyond other one off global disasters for which humans are directly or indirectly responsible for, such as the Deep Water Horizon oil spill.As to tourism of sites as Chernobyl, that seems insensitive to me, where so many end up further risking their lives, in an attempt to contain such disasters. There has to be good reason to enter such areas and exclusion zones, safety and scientific evaluation only, is my belief.And of course the scenario of health risk is still playing out. If you are interested, the published literature provides plenty of assessments and information, something that should probably be taught in schools. With the Chernobyl disaster, radiation was detected in Sweden the morning following the reactor explosion, and the scientists there were the first to raise the magnitude of the event beyond the slow response by the Soviet Authorities, and how it had affected the Ukraine, Belarus and Europe.(The bulk of the radiation, 70% affected Belarus, not the Ukraine or Russia)Most of the radiation released from the failed nuclear reactor was from iodine-131, cesium-134 and cesium-137. Iodine-131 has a relatively short half-life of eight days, but is rapidly ingested through the air and tends to localize in the thyroid gland. Cesium isotopes have longer half-lives (cesium-137 has a half-life of 30 years) and are a concern for years after their release into the environment. The low estimate is that more than 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer may eventually be linked to radiation exposure in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia. Other estimates, probably more accurate are that Chernobyl may well have resulted in at least 90,000 additional premature deaths to affected populations, with an estimated 8.4 million people in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia who were exposed to an increased level of radiation. Due to the long-lived radiation in the region surrounding the former Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the area wont be safe for human habitation for at least 20,000 years.As for Fukushima, total atmospheric releases of radiation from Fukushima are estimated to be between 5.6 and 8.1 times that of Chernobyl, according to the 2013 World Nuclear Industry Status Report. Scientists affiliated with the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency said the plant had released 15,000 terabecquerels of cancer-causing Cesium, half life 30 years, equivalent to about 168 times the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima. The Korea Atomic Energy Research (KAER) Institute outside of Seoul reported in July 2014 that Fukushima-Daiichis three reactor meltdowns may have emitted two to four times as much cesium-137 as the reactor catastrophe at Chernobyl, (the amount being released into the ocean four times that of atmospheric release.) This is now thought to be an estimate on the low side.The consequence on human population from Fukushima is possibly likely to follow a similar pattern to Chernobyl, though radiation monitoring by Japanese authorities is both more advanced and comprehensive, so population exposure to higher levels of radiation is probably consequentially less than that as a result of Chernobyl. However, there is still ongoing radioactive material being released into the pacific ocean, from Fukushima, with immense costs going forward. (The Chernobyl 2016 replacement sarcophagus cost USD2.45 Billion alone, with a life of maybe 100 years). It is estimated that the Fukushima reactors will take 30 to 40 years to decommission.
‘Serious storm clouds’ threaten NZ democracy - report
As you point out our differences are China, a totalitarian state, putting on a face of democratic involvement in the world, vs a small benign democratic country, New Zealand that upholds the rule of law within our borders but conveniently looks sideways, at what I also see as an impending threat to our way of life and our economic system. Short term gains in trade with China, (pitched as a benevolent trade partner) resulting in long term dependence with political and economic subservience to a rogue nation.
Elon Musk is a visionary - but he's been missing deadlines since he was a kid
Sometime you just have to say times up when it comes to investor patience........ visionary in many ways but a high risk when it comes to delivering benefits to shareholders, I hope Tesla does pan out and become profitable in the near future. Residential big solar batteries from solar city should only be deployed where the alternative is diesel generation and the like, on remote islands and locations. If this technology were to become mainstream we will quickly exhaust rare earth metals Recycling of such batteries is expensive and results in often low recovery of rare elements. If we get to that point more than a little hand wringing will be necessary.
Fonterra Stirling plant first in New Zealand to convert from coal to electricity
The right move, and once the initial investment is paid off, this will probably result in lowered operational cost and provide increased efficiencies within the plant. No transport costs of coal to the dairy factory and subsequent costs in dealing with the waste that comes with burning coal. A lowered carbon dioxide emission is probably the big advantage with 80% of NZ electricity generation coming from renewables. Reduced sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides emissions are also an enormous plus. The only justifiable use for coal is the use of high grade coal in steel making. That is now really the reality.
Government funding available for 400 small businesses to stop robberies
I think that this funding is flawed as it is funding a reactive response to an intruder and associated threat, and does nothing to exclude the risk in the first place. The potential victim may think they are more secure with a fog cannon, but it assumes that it can be safely activated when a threat is perceived. That supposes that the retail attendant is behind the counter or carrying a remote controller at the time, and can anticipate the attack and defeat it with no further risk. The smarter way forward is to have cigarettes sold in secure premises, such as supermarkets which have security, or dispensed in an ATM like secure machine dispenser, in secure locations, outside premises with accompanying electronic surveillance. The dispensers could be stocked with a controlled number of packets of cigarettes, at a level that it is not worth attempting to ramraid or steal the machines. I do not think taxpayers money should go to retailers who unwisely continue to sell cigarettes when the security of the owners or employees cannot be guaranteed. It is the owners responsibility to ensure they maintain a level of adequate security for their premises, and fog cannons may not provide much improvement as to risk to retailers and their employees. In fact it may mean an intruder resorts to swifter acts of aggression, such as hand guns to counteract the deployment of fog cannons. Only suitable premises that afford a high level of security should be licensed to retail tobacco products, given the current environment. New Zealanders should not have any obligation past that, nor feel that they have to contribute the profitability of marginal retail stores.
Politicians rate Winston Peters' time as PM
He should be commended for his work and that comes from years of experience. But above all, he is straight up, not prone to weasel words, and sometimes this is necessary, especially when it comes to international relations. In contrast, John Key was not honest with New Zealanders, as to the extent of immigration and overseas investment that was occurring in NZ. Predominantly such investment was really only of benefit to speculators offshore, there were no checks and balances and the OIO was reduced to one staff member supposedly overseeing in excess of 600 applications per annum, for land purchases, business acquisition etc. This was allowed to happen under National, it was not accidental, Same for the mines inspectorate, again reduced to one operative inspector, an impossible task, to oversee NZ mining activity. As for Bridges, well he simply promised nine bridges too many, to be even considered relevant for comment.May this coalition last, and rectify the rorts that have occurred over the last decade especially. Many are still coming to light, in an environment where administrators can stump up and present the facts. Labour reform is likely, you can guarantee that, and where recently some employees were revealed to be earning the princely sum of about 80 cents per hour it is not at all suprising is it. Unfortunately, there are some in NZ, for which enough is never enough, and given the opportunity they will extract benefit with zero in return. It is because self regulation is a fail, that legislation is necessary to prevent wholesale exploitation and coercion of individuals. I further suggest that the drop in business confidence is really a result of these exploiters being over represented in the research data that was collected. They certainly have the most to lose, or should I put it more correctly, it is the area where most will gain. Such exploitation comes hand in hand with tax avoidance and money laundering, buying up multiple properties, and moving money quietly offshore. Without doubt this has been Nationals most negative legacy, and greatest fail, to encourage the extremes of the so called free market, which worked for a select few. This group were able to play the system with impunity, no regulations, no barriers to their excesses, just awesome. Guess their confidence will progressively get a little more dented, I certainly hope so.
Food Act bites some small operators as compliance costs rise
Unfortunately some growers use nasty chemicals etc both herbicides and insecticides that can compromise food products. This is just one of the reasons why auditing is required. Selling at the farm gate should also require some level of inspection. Free range eggs from caged birds is another example, so yeah the devious and the dangerous cause problems for all. Mycoplasma bovis source and proliferation would have stopped quickly if an established audit program had been in place.
Capital gains tax debate not over, Grant Robertson suggests
Politically in the too hard basket in NZ and has been for decades. However, untaxed profits on property speculation should still be ring fenced, and an equitable approach could achieve that. Many property investment companies are currently paying tax, according to annually declared profit. Taxation rules could be adjusted, and introduced, where tax becomes liable on unrealised profits derived through on going property investment, quantified by a scheme requiring annual revaluation of assets within a property portfolio. (indexed to property value average annual movements) Then it is just a matter of defining the allowable level of activity in the property market before the activity is deemed to be property investment, for financial return. It would then be consequent, like any business, that costs associated with investment such as finance costs, would be an offset on the annual return of the portfolio, unrealised or actual. Any losses that are incurred, should the property market correct, could be credited, but the loss would be with reference to the original value of the asset when purchased. Furthermore, at the onset of the new tax legislation, benefit already derived and accrued from existing property portfolios, would adjust for forward incurred losses that may occur, in the short term.I believe it is still a necessary move forward. After all, businesses in other sectors pay tax on unrealised assets, such as retailers, who pay tax on the increased value of physical stock, acquired and held unsold during the financial year. Shares in companies in the non property sector however tend to be a little different. Normally their valuation increases depends on a period of investment in the company, where capital is applied to achieve an end goal, such as achieving a level of production and eventual profit. It is not a buy and sell scenario generally, and during that period, the company pays little or no dividend to the shareholder. Any dividends received are of course taxable, but significant shareholder reward comes only with successful commercialization and performance of the enterprise. If a company fails, the shareholder often misses out altogether, as unlike the property company, residual assets can be small once the liabilities are paid. That is the disparity that exists in the NZ economy. The current taxation status encourages, the rewarding of property sector speculation. Often there are little in the way of inputs as to improvements in the property portfolio by the investor, and the material financial gain is purely reliant on a supply vs demand valuation model, which is self fulfilling. It does need to change, and all political parties should come on board to achieve necessary reform. New Zealands progress as a country relies on achieving growth and financial return within its economy and untaxed property gains, have resulted in a misdirection for applying capital to areas of investment, that could ensure our economic future.
Inside Pike River: parent Bernie Monk enters mine for first time
There are a lot of unanswered questions regarding the Pike River mine disaster. These need to be answered and initiating another investigation, including hopefully, new found evidence, is only right.Without doubt, things should have been done differently, as mining operations can be generally undertaken safely, despite the risks. Operational imperatives such as monitoring of gas levels (methane), design of the mine, regulatory consent and oversight, are all areas where there appears to have been failings. The response to the initial explosion may also have lacked expediency and whether there may have been a window of opportunity to save lives also requires a review. Irrespective of recovering the miners lost in the disaster, such questions need answers, so we can fully understand how things went so wrong, and what is needed of all parties to prevent further mining disasters.
Expect delays: full body x-ray scanners coming to New Zealand airports
Security advantages outweigh inconvenience surely.
Red-zoned 'Quake Outcasts' to be paid - but not all will go
Oh I love these Nat supporters who think it is right that land be confiscated by the then government of the day without any payment to the titled holders of the land in question. Big Jerry should not only be made to apologise, but along with other ministers involved in this illegal forced decision. made to foot the entire legal bill on this issue. Why should those disadvantaged, by what amounted to an illegal land grab, have to pay legal bills in the defence of their rights.
Inland Revenue loses track of thousands of Kiwi student loan debtors in Australia
Compunding interest charges are part of the problem. Originally student loans were to be interest free, and now look how that has worked out. Meanwhile the baby boomers had it almost all for free. Some room for movement is surely possible, so students are better incentivised to repay the principal, and forgo the interest and levies would seem fair.
Mandatory folic acid in bread will reduce serious birth defects, report finds
So many people here that just dont get it. Folic acid is a naturally occurring vitamin, that is generally in insufficient amounts in our diet to prevent neural tube defects. Most women know that folate and iodine should be in their diets prior to pregnancy to prevent NTD. However for any number of reasons not all women are proactive or plan their pregnancies. This is what this is about, basically ensuring that all women have a diet that will prevent NTD. It is certainly not about mass medication, which is simply an ill informed hysterical attitude. All of us have all sorts of different levels of a large number of vitamins in our diets regardless, it is just that we dont know our status at any given time. Another example is that if we are too low in dietary vitamin C, we end up with scurvy. Early symptoms include weakness, feeling tired, and sore arms and legs. Without treatment, decreased red blood cells, gum disease, changes to hair, and bleeding from the skin may occur. Most of us in the world have sufficient vitamin C in our diets to not end up with scurvy, but where people have extremely poor dietary intake, does eating an orange for example amount to mass medication? I think not, and there is absolutely no difference in the rationale with preventing scurvy as to preventing NTD with folic acid supplementation, or preventing goitre with iodine supplementation.The fact that spina bifida and NTD continue in our population says it all, and these serious negative consequences are easily avoidable, and it is a tragedy to let this continue.
Plastic bags ban anticipated well by the retail sector: expert
Totally a necessary move, as NZ was not achieving sufficient reduction in the use of single use plastic by voluntary measures, such as surcharges or industry led initiatives. The next step is of course a reduction of plastic packaging at source. Product packaging again needs to become sustainable. But this step is great news, and what environmentally conscious New Zealanders have been waiting for.
Social housing provider bubble wraps windows after tenant complains of cold
Bubble wrap is for packaging fragile items I thought. This new use seems pretty unbelievable. Has it gone through clinical trials to package humans I wonder.
Plastic bags ban anticipated well by the retail sector: expert
Retrieving dog poop needs to have a rethink. If on grass verges etc I am totally in support of leaving it there to break down. Putting it in plastic and then in a landfill is not smart.For city streets, and popular beaches use compostable bags and an organic collection. Out in the country, low population areas, leave it there to break down naturally.
Did you really just say that? Julie Bishop to Winston Peters
Totally agree. New Zealanders by birth or NZ passport holders in Australia need to be treated appropriately and fairly. Deportation should not be a given consequence when they have mostly lived their lives in Australia, and for all intent and purpose are Australian citizens, even though this may not have been formalized.
US cracks down on e-cigarette makers amid 'epidemic of nicotine addiction' among youth
NZ has been stupid enough to also allow unregulated sale of vaping products, introducing nictotine addiction to many who were never even tobacco users. The safety of vaping has also been significantly over stated. The diacetyl content of many of the vape solutions can cause permanent lung damage, with bronchectiasis and irreversible loss of respiratory function. Regulation of the vaping industry, which is really an extension of the tobacco industry is needed now.
Full list of MPs expenses shows spending topped $2.1 million
Lets put it this way. What would be Bridges travel expenses be if he actually had to foot the bill out of his own pocketI suggest a brief one month trial, where all MPs were only subsidised to 60% for travel by government services, when it is just a promo tour, with an adjustment for actual distance traveled, to and from the Beehive from the MPs personal residence.The formula could be something like (Cost of Travel MP promo travel) x 0.60 + (Cost of Home Return Journey MP x (0.8 x Distance Traveled)/ Distance Traveled x an affordability index = Total travel reimbursement for MPs The affordability index will be calculated on the basis of the MPs person assets and salary. An MP with few assets and a lower level of income will have personal contributions largely subsidized. We still want them to do their job and value their contribution.Essential travel, for necessary parliamentary business, publicly notified meetings with business organisations, overseas trade engagements and meetings with foreign leadership etc would be fully reimbursed.With my limited math, and my understanding of psychology this might work. Otherwise other formulae could be tested for an appropriate behavioural response.The goal of course is to disincentivize unnecessary expense to the taxpayer. Those MPs who are there for self promotion and a free lunch, I believe will be most responsive to such measures. When it hits them in the pocket, they may change their behaviour. Those that have conviction and a purpose will be responsible, they usually are, and it will effect them least. Furthermore the MPs that have least resources, will still be heard and seen around the country on the basis of the application of the affordability index.
Transport Minister Phil Twyford says light rail not primarily for tourists
Heavy rail expensive and less people, day commuters would use that option, you cant put heavy rail inner city streets just the same existing corridors. There may be section where light rail can travel much faster, where there is less vehicle pedestrian interactions also.
Capital gains tax debate not over, Grant Robertson suggests
National on the back foot on this one. I expect a CGT will need an accord between all parties to be reached before it is introduced. That would be the smart option for the coalition. Properly assess the benefits, the way a CGT would be applied, and establish a possible mechanism for its introduction, then get consensus during the coalitions second or third term is the way to go. National may get to realise its utility and underlying equity by then.
Winston Peters says controversial labour law is still a 'work in progress'
The current legislation has resulted in a wide spread detrimental situations, to many of the newly employed, in a variety of ways. Employees in good faith, anticipate a long term employment, as advertised, only to find in truth, the 90 day initial employment provisions have been invoked to enable casualization of the workplace. Often, there may not be any intention to provide an ongoing level of employment, for many offered positions, nor in reality is there as would be anticipated, a pathway to increased remuneration associated with acquiring new skills. The 90 day provision is an easy mechanism to gain low cost labour, without ongoing obligation on behalf of the employer, and a means to achieve undisclosed variable cost flexibility for the business. In an oversupplied labour market this is an easy option for employers. Rather than offer short term contracting, which would only be attractive to casuals at generally a higher hourly rate, the carrot of a long term position with advancement means the newly employed will accept a lower initial level of remuneration that what they would otherwise, for an advertised short term position. A qualitative assessment at the end of the 90 day period is all that is necessary to terminate employment. not enough productivity situation has changed, sorry have decided you are not really suited for the position etc. The level at which this can occur is nearly impossible to quantify, but the absence of apprenticeships being offered, the high level of churn in the labour market, and some very low levels of remuneration that are being exposed and reported, (often below minimum wage), are prime indicators, all is not well with our current labour law.There are many good employers of course, that recognize there are productivity gains to be achieved, with increased tenure of employment of employees and associated acquisition of skills, but there are also no doubt many who are exploitative, and who are gaming the system. It would be unfair to allow this situation to continue especially for employees who are in a vulnerable position, trying to raise a family, with added financial obligations.
What is Winston Peters up to in refugee spat?
Maybe there is another alternative available in the interim, regarding the plight of refugees on Nauru.Is it possible to negotiate with Nauru leadership to take no risk refugees and families out of the detention centre on Nauru, and allow for Australia, NZ, UN and other aid agencies to provide for them, such as housing and education facilities on Nauru. They have been incarcerated for a sufficient period of time surely, to evaluate any risk with a move such as this, and if the Nauru government if sufficiently reimbursed for provision of housing etc could be amenable to this option. This would represent a move forward for all concerned, the detainees would not get citizenship at this stage, but could be positive contributors to the Nauru economy through well supervised sponsored progressive work schemes, by aid contributors. Naurus infrastructure could benefit through such a scheme, with the provision of aid and employment for both detainees and Naurus citizens. It would not be necessarily an end solution to their situation, but this also would not be an incentive to human traffickers to benefit from the current refugee situation. It would remove them however, from an institutionalized facility and it would be a humanitarian next move initiative, providing a level of freedom that is long overdue.
Auckland's Powerstation owner apologises for booking controversial speakers
Well done. Obviously these speakers know they are not welcome in NZ, if they have to resort to a level of subterfuge to book a venue. This prospective speaker engagement will have cost you money to cancel, when you otherwise could probably have your venue booked for a music gig or whatever, that would be totally enjoyable. All the best going forward, and yes, wise to take security precautions, when dealing with extremist supporters.