Archive for November, 2010

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  Joyce’s road and rail double standard - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  The Herald reported today that the business case for the Auckland CBD rail loop will not be released until December. This suggests that the government may be planning not to fund the loop and so they’re holding the news back until the silly season. Dropping a big piece of bad news just before Christmas is [...] read more
  November 9, 2010 3:36 pm - 2 Comments
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  The social cost of industrial dairying - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  This weekend I attended the Te Wai Pounamu Green Women’s Hui at the Glenburn Youth Camp in the heart of new dairy country. On the way, we flew in over an altered plain with giant circles marking out the irrigation of the vast fields. Others drove and noticed massive irrigators pumping in every field despite [...] read more
  November 9, 2010 3:31 pm - 7 Comments
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  Hillary accepts nuke free NZ badge - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  I forgot to tell you about my little exchange with Hillary Clinton last Thursday evening. I went up to her at the Parliamentary reception proudly displaying on my lapel a peace badge with a CND symbol over a map of NZ. read more
  November 9, 2010 11:13 am - 5 Comments
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  Political Perceptions of Economic Sustainability - by Kennedy Graham

  
  
  
  How do the three main political parties understand sustainability?  That’s the question for the final panel of the day-long economics conference the Green Party’s organising this Friday, in Parliament. After a full day exploring the issues of global and national sustainability, neo-classical and ecological economic theories, and how New Zealand can practically pursue sustainability in [...] read more
  November 9, 2010 9:57 am - 165 Comments
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  Equity for women stuck in reverse - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  Today the Biennial New Zealand Census on Women’s Participation in 2010 was released. It shows that women’s participation in governance, professional and public life is backsliding, and that we’re losing ground on the gender pay gap, with 24 public service departments having gender pay gaps greater than the total labour force. Depending on how you [...] read more
  November 8, 2010 5:53 pm - 3 Comments
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  Animal donation comes at right time - by Sue Kedgley

  
  
  
  You would think that the government would also work this out, too, and instead of defending the pork industry board, and the vested interests that want to keep animals in cages, they would take a lead in getting rid of animal cruelty. read more
  November 8, 2010 5:20 pm - 5 Comments
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  More reasons emerge for independent inquiry on ACC reforms - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  I’m pleased Simon Collins at the NZ Herald has picked up on my blog post last month in which I released figures showing the number of people being moved off ACC weekly compensation onto welfare benefits increased to 1956 people in the latest June year from 764 two years earlier. Collins also highlights some other [...] read more
  November 8, 2010 12:22 pm - 4 Comments
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  SAS shouldn’t be selling itself to the highest bidder - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  A chap emailed me this morning saying: “For several years I have maintained that NZ’s involvement in Afghanistan is not to protect NZ’s interests but to protect the financial interests of the NZ Rich List.” read more
  November 8, 2010 10:15 am - 6 Comments
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  Inflation under Key: Disgruntled yoghurt eaters should relax and buy a telly - by frog

  
  
  
  Here’s a breakdown of the big individual price movements in New Zealand since John Key took office, including what went up in price and what went down. The data reveals a story typically hidden by aggregation under our main measure of inflation—the Consumer Price Index or CPI. Biggest price falls: Audio-visual equipment -33% Other vehicle [...] read more
  November 8, 2010 10:05 am - 2 Comments
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  General debate, November 7, 2010 - by frog

  
  
  
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  November 7, 2010 7:06 am - 60 Comments
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  Way less than 10% Pure New Zealand marine environment - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  Kiwis love our ocean. Oceans cover 70% of our planet and represent over 95% of the biosphere and in New Zealand our waters are particularly special. You may not have noticed (I didn’t see anything in the papers about it) that last week a big conservation meeting wrapped up in Nagoya, Japan. The UN Convention [...] read more
  November 5, 2010 2:14 pm - 2 Comments
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  Neo-Muldoonism with a smile - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  I’ve posted before about the way this government is turning increasingly Muldoonist. The ECAN Act, the billion dollar infrastructure projects without any cost benefit analysis (Holiday Highway), the unlawful failure to answer OIA requests in time, the extensive use of urgency and so on. But now we have a new level of Muldoonism with this story. The [...] read more
  November 4, 2010 5:57 pm - 88 Comments
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  Removing ‘claim of right’ dangerous - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  The government is a poor loser. It didn’t bother to appeal after it lost the ‘intentional damage’ case against the three men who pricked a dome at the Waihopai spybase. But it hasn’t let the matter rest. Last month it laid a $1 million damages claim against the men. To add insult to injury, Justice [...] read more
  November 4, 2010 2:36 pm - 19 Comments
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  It’s business time at the Green Economics Conference next week - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  I’m looking forward to the conference on sustainable economics that we’re hosting in Wellington next week. The conference will include speakers from across the political spectrum, as well as business people, academics, and keynote speaker, Dr David Suzuki. My small part of the day will be to contribute to the session on New Zealand business, [...] read more
  November 4, 2010 12:50 pm - 3 Comments
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  Urgency – Nats go crazy - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  There’s been a lot of discussion lately about the Govt’s use of urgency. So I asked the library to do the stats. Which show that the Nats really are using urgency a lot more. Another example of their neo-Muldoonism. Urgency 48th and 49th Parliament (to 2 November 2010)                [...] read more
  November 3, 2010 9:05 pm - 22 Comments
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  Jeanette says we must keep the coal in the ground - by frog

  
  
  
  The Herald ran a very compelling op-ed by Jeanette Fitzsimons yesterday, suggesting that from a climate perspective our priority must be to keep most of the remaining fossil fuel in the ground. For 35 years I have been wrong about how to prevent climate change. It’s time I confessed. For 35 years I have worked [...] read more
  November 3, 2010 6:57 pm - 51 Comments
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  Uneconomic motorways – one thing Brash and I agree on - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  There aren’t many things that Don Brash and I agree on however one thing we have in common is we both share concerns around the Government’s massive motorway infrastructure projects. In the media statement on the latest 2025 Taskforce report it mentions “Public investment in big projects needed to be justified, such as the spending [...] read more
  November 3, 2010 6:07 pm - 11 Comments
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  Key in denial about inevitable impact of carbon charges and oil shocks - by Russel Norman

  
  
  
  John Key’s reaction to the distance-based UK departure tax shows just how out of touch he is about our economic future. This Government is deeply in denial. There is no question that climate change and rising fossil fuel prices will change travel patterns, and we should be taking this future into account in our tourism [...] read more
  November 3, 2010 2:45 pm - 16 Comments
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  Digital copyright and suspending suspension - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  I may be a geek, but not the type that can fix your computer. I love technology, and even though I haven’t had a huge history of looking into tech and copyright issues, I really enjoyed hearing submissions on the Copyright (Infringing File Sharing) Amendment Bill. The Bill essentially sets out a three-strike “notice and [...] read more
  November 3, 2010 1:42 pm - 48 Comments
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  School boards join the National Standards debate - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  It’s always nice to wake up to good news, and this morning it was the news that 225 school Boards of Trustees will today deliver the message to the Government that they have no confidence in National Standards, and will defer setting student achievement targets based on the standards for at least a year. read more
  November 3, 2010 10:32 am - 39 Comments