Posts by Russel Norman

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  “Shortly or whenever”

  
  
  
  Gerry Brownlee will release the mining discussion paper “soon”, he said in Question Time today. But when is “soon”? Is it tomorrow, is it next week, next month, next century? Lindsay Tisch was filling in for Lockwood today during Question Time so he tried to help me understand what “soon” meant. Dr Russel Norman: I raise a [...] read more
  March 17, 2010 8:11 pm - 13 Comments
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  Dirty rivers update – my first dirty lake

  
  
  
  Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora is apparently the fourth largest lake in our country. And it has the consistency of pea soup; toxic pea soup to be precise. I visited there last Friday. Prue lent us a couple of kayaks, so myself and Monique from Radio NZ headed out into the soup. To keep us safe [...] read more
  March 11, 2010 4:05 pm - 31 Comments
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  MPS – structural problems remain

  
  
  
  We had the Reserve Bank Governor in front of Finance and Expenditure Committee today about his Monetary Policy Statement. The MPS is very much a steady as she goes document. But if you look more closely it’s not so pretty. For example it predicts the current account deficit returning to more than 7.2% by 2013 (from 1.8% in 2010). [...] read more
  March 11, 2010 2:34 pm - 37 Comments
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  Phil Heatley’s priorities

  
  
  
  An interesting aside to the Phil Heatley saga. I have been calling on central govt to consider sewerage systems as important infrastructure and financially support communities like Whangarei to upgrade them. There were 45 raw sewage discharges last year in Whangarei, many of them in the Harbour. Yuk. Phil Heatley, the local member, dismissed my suggestion that central [...] read more
  February 25, 2010 3:59 pm - 30 Comments
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  Fresh water wasted out to sea

  
  
  
  Now here’s something to send a shiver down the spine of anyone with green inclinations – John Key in the House yesterday when I asked him about his plans for more big dams in Canterbury:   Yes, I do agree that there is pressure on the aquifers in the Canterbury region. The way to resolve that is [...] read more
  February 24, 2010 10:53 am - 29 Comments
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  No boat ride for me and John

  
  
  
  My Dirty Rivers Rafting Tour is going so well that I invited the PM to join me. Since the launch on the Hutt River in late January, I have visited the Waihou in Waikato and the Taumarere in Northland, attracting some good local interest and starting some great conversations with locals about the state of their [...] read more
  February 16, 2010 5:09 pm - 17 Comments
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  Hutt river full of it too…

  
  
  
  Hawkes Bay DHB is worried about people getting sick from shit in our rivers and beaches, and now Hutt River too will give you diarrhoea, vomiting, cramps and skin infections according to this press release half an hour ago….. Greater Wellington Regional Council, Upper Hutt City Council and Regional Public Health are advising river users to [...] read more
  January 22, 2010 5:09 pm - 18 Comments
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  Hawkes Bay in the shit again

  
  
  
  It’s summer. Which means it’s time for the Hawkes Bay DHB to make itself unpopular, at least with those in the Bay who want to put the shit in the water under the carpet, by issuing this release: Recent heavy rain has caused pollution to contaminate many Hawke’s Bay waterways, says Hawke’s Bay District Health Board’s [...] read more
  January 20, 2010 9:39 pm - 9 Comments
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  PCE wades into Mackenzie debate

  
  
  
  The Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment has called for the Minister for the Environment to call in the applications for dairy farm conversions in the Mackenzie country. She argues that the applications have national significance and hence central govt should step in. She’s right. Whether you look at it from the perspective of the water quality [...] read more
  January 14, 2010 1:25 pm - 4 Comments
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  Avatar 3D

  
  
  
  I really enjoyed this movie. The story is compelling, the effects are astonishing and the 3D really worked. I can see why the anti-green anti-people brigade are hysterically upset about this movie. It is an overtly pro-environmental movie. It is an overtly anti-colonial movie. It is harshly anti-military and anti-private military contractors. And it suggests that resistance to [...] read more
  January 12, 2010 5:37 pm - 46 Comments