funding Archive

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  Minister should come clean on uneconomic motorways - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  What does the Minister have to hide on his expensive motorways? read more
  December 7, 2011 2:07 pm - 2 Comments
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  Who will determine Auckland’s future? - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  The cabinet papers that Rodney Hide has released relating to Auckland’s Spatial Plan make for interesting reading. It is obvious that this government will attempt to call the tune on Auckland’s development, despite the substantial mandate that Auckland voters gave to their mayor and council just a few months ago. A  discussion document that will in part inform the Spatial [...] read more
  March 21, 2011 4:56 pm - 7 Comments
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  A balanced approach to transport funding? - by frog

  
  
  
  Graphs of the day.. This graph shows the  growth in traffic on state highways over the last 20 years as reported by the transport agency. The pink line is heavy traffic (trucks) and the blue is all traffic. As you can see it grew pretty steadily up to about 2005. It then plateaued, dropped a bit in 2008 [...] read more
  March 19, 2011 11:07 am - 11 Comments
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  Which motorway project(s) would you cut? - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  So, the Minister of Finance has confirmed its full steam ahead with the national motorway gamble. Even the Transport Minister has made it clear that he will not consider cutting the budget for the poster-child of uneconomic motorways, the Puhoi to Wellsford ‘Holiday Highway,’ after the quake. Government cabinet papers also say that the government [...] read more
  March 18, 2011 2:00 pm - 25 Comments
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  Auckland Bridge walk and cycleway – $10 a pop! - by frog

  
  
  
  The latest proposal for a walk/cycle way across Auckland Harbour Bridge would involve charging tourists $10 a pop. Seems a little crazy to me… read more
  February 9, 2011 11:11 am - 17 Comments
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  Govt understanding of the Tertiary sector: FAIL - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  Oh dear. Anyone who felt a wee bit nervous when Steven Joyce became Tertiary Education Minister has a right to feel justified in their fears after his last couple of annoucements. First, we hear there are plans to link funding for tertiary institutions to the pass rates of their students from 2012. This is a [...] read more
  March 10, 2010 3:19 pm - 26 Comments
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  Per Capita Funding Benefits Wealthier Schools - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  The additional funding for sports in secondary and primary schools sounds great but the devil is in the detail. Up til now the  funding under the Sportfit programme ($5.3 million) was targeted so that lower decile schools got more support. The new money which is $6 million to secondary schools and $6 million to primary [...] read more
  August 17, 2009 3:46 pm - 94 Comments
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  Accountancy and accountability - by frog

  
  
  
  Did everyone enjoy the brief interlude in the election campaign where we got to talk about issues other than Winston Peters and his unusual accountancy systems?  (Maybe Jim Bolger was on to something when he made him treasurer, given his ability to run a party on no declared donations.) Interestingly Winston’s $80,000 donation from the [...] read more
  October 29, 2008 3:49 pm - 7 Comments
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  The donations scandal - by frog

  
  
  
  No I’m not talking about not Ian Wishart’s one. The fact the both major parties are currently so lacking in major donors seems a scandal. It’s now only three weeks to the election and yet, as of ten days ago, Labour hasn’t declared a single received donation over $20,000 this year to help fund its [...] read more
  October 18, 2008 11:05 pm - 19 Comments
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  Exxon finally admits denialists cause problems - by frog

  
  
  
  Exxon has publicly admitted that its funding of climate change deniers is causing problems for action on climate change. It took the Greenpeace campaign, ExxonSecrets, a long time but patience and hard work has born fruit and they are to be congratulated. So which groups is Exxon dropping? According to Reuters, gone from the funding [...] read more
  June 10, 2008 10:01 am - 20 Comments
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  The Owen Glenn affair - by frog

  
  
  
  The Greens have not commented on the Owen Glenn saga, but contrary to allegations from Kiwiblog not because we are covering for Labour or scared of offending the Prime Minister. As we’ve often said, when it comes to policy and philosophy National has far more in common with Labour than the Greens do. And that’s [...] read more
  February 26, 2008 3:59 pm - 27 Comments
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  Herald defends disenfranchised Paratai Drive residents - by frog

  
  
  
  I’m confused.  Is the Herald confirming it thinks it is a good thing that a wealthy (sorry, ‘comfortable’) lawyer on Paratai Drive with very strong political views should be able to unaccountably spend $250,000 campaigning for or against whichever political party he wants? That hardly seems a level playing field for John Key’s favoured voters [...] read more
  November 14, 2007 10:47 am - 13 Comments