Nick Smith Archive

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  John Key’s new Cabinet announced - by frog

  
  
  
  Prime Minister John Key announced his new Cabinet this morning. The line-up is pretty predictable, but some of the portfolio allocations and rankings are interesting: The big winners are Steven Joyce and Hekia Parata, moving up 10 and 13 places respectively in the Cabinet ranking. Parata replaces Anne Tolley as Minister of Education. Paula Bennett’s [...] read more
  December 12, 2011 1:02 pm - 10 Comments
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  Rena Oil Spill – Day Ten - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  Green Party member Renee Annan and I drove into the car park at Maketu Surf Club. Clumps of people were wandering around and there was a small pile of contaminated sand bags on the edge of the beach. We had no idea how bad the problems were at Maketü but we figured talking to the [...] read more
  October 17, 2011 7:58 am - 3 Comments
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  Fiddling about with e-Waste - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  I’m  puzzled as to why the Minister for the Environment is so unwilling to use the provisions of the Waste Minimisation Act to deal much more effectively with the issue of e-Waste in New Zealand. Dr Smith has announced today that he is  “…asking businesses to come forward with innovative solutions on how we can [...] read more
  September 8, 2011 9:00 am - 2 Comments
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  Batteries and the Basel Convention - by David Clendon

  
  
  
  I asked some questions in the House on Thursday of the Minister for Environment, about how well (or more to the point how badly) we are meeting our obligations under the Basel Convention in regard to lead acid batteries. The Convention came into force in the early ‘90s as a response to the then emerging [...] read more
  August 5, 2011 10:22 am - 7 Comments
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  Nick Smith lost for words on lignite mining - by frog

  
  
  
  It seems Environment Minister Nick Smith still doesn’t get it that “best practice” as far as lignite is concerned is to leave it in the ground. He was lost for words when challenged on this in Southland on Tuesday evening. read more
  June 30, 2011 10:27 am - 7 Comments
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  Cleaning up our country – toxic sites - by Catherine Delahunty

  
  
  
  The “100% Pure New Zealand” myth has long been busted but work to clean up the country has lagged behind for many years. This is partly because it costs real money to tackle our worst problems such as the roughly 20,000 contaminated sites across the country. One of the reasons I stood for Parliament was [...] read more
  May 26, 2011 9:06 am - 5 Comments
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  Shark finning: one of these isn’t like the other - by Gareth Hughes

  
  
  
  I’ll give you a clue: all bar one have taken on board a vast array of international advice, and adopted a policy that protects the apex predator in our largest and most complex ecosystem. read more
  May 24, 2011 10:07 pm - 6 Comments
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  MacDoctor and me: We agree and disagree on ACC - by frog

  
  
  
  Medical practitioner and right wing blogger MacDoctor has three recent posts on the disastrous failings of ACC to provide entitlements to injured claimants. I couldn’t agree more with MacDoctor’s definition of the problem. But I disagree vehemently with his faux solution of privatisation. read more
  May 17, 2011 7:11 pm - 2 Comments
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  Experts debunk National Policy Statement on Freshwater - by frog

  
  
  
  This week Environment Minister Nick Smith released a long awaited and long overdue National Policy Statement on Freshwater. Unfortunately he took the teeth out of what was a sound draft policy statement and removed the parts which would have made the most progress towards cleaning up our seriously polluted rivers and lakes. The governments’ announcement [...] read more
  May 11, 2011 1:46 pm - 6 Comments
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  ACC disentitlement saga a shameful exercise from start to finish - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  Four years ago the District Court decided that ACC claimants who were not earners at the time of their original injury, but who later became incapacitated from subsequent employment due to that injury, were not entitled to weekly compensation. Irrespective of the legal technicalities, it was an anomalous decision for a compensation scheme that is [...] read more
  December 9, 2010 11:04 am - 6 Comments
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  Questioning Nick Smith on climate change - by Kennedy Graham

  
  
  
  Last week I attended a seminar on climate change and the prospects for the Cancun summit in December.  I know that in our post-Copenhagen catatonia we all prefer not to think of climate change, but that will not solve the problem. The seminar was comprised mainly of government officials, academics and think tank experts.  There [...] read more
  October 28, 2010 11:06 am - 8 Comments
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  Nick Smith needs to open his ears to the deaf - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  As an MP I receive many lobbying letters.  Today one arrived that really caught my attention.  It was from the National Foundation for the Deaf, and it was about the cutbacks to ACC cover and entitlements for work-related hearing loss. Attached to the letter was a very detailed 82 page position paper.  The paper describes [...] read more
  October 22, 2010 4:45 pm - 2 Comments
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  The Forestry NES: Robert Guyton thumbs up, Nick Smith rotten - by frog

  
  
  
  Congratulations to one of our regular commenters, Robert Guyton, on his election to Environment Southland last weekend. I really hope Robert can make a difference in stopping the “Double Dipton” plan to double Southland’s dairy herd numbers, and stopping Gerry Brownlee’s Lignitemare. I was pondering a post on Nick Smith’s proposed National Environment Standard on forestry. read more
  October 12, 2010 7:03 pm - 13 Comments
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  More questions than answers over ACC cost shifting - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  A couple of months ago, following ACC Minister Nick Smith’s u-turn on counselling for ACC sexual abuse claimants, I called for an independent review of the wide-ranging cutbacks to ACC imposed by the Government. I have now asked some questions about people being moved from ACC to welfare benefits. What really disturbed me about the replies is the huge increase in the number of people being shifted from weekly compensation onto welfare benefits since March 2009. read more
  October 6, 2010 4:39 pm - 8 Comments
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  OIA laughs for a Friday afternoon - by frog

  
  
  
  I’ve been enjoying Idiot/Savant’s posts over at No Right Turn about his ongoing battles trying to get various Ministers in John Key’s Government to respond adequately to his OIA requests. I’ve had a couple of classics myself this week. read more
  September 24, 2010 2:54 pm - 6 Comments
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  MEUG complains $145m free money isn’t enough - by frog

  
  
  
  The Major Electricity Users Group (MEUG) is complaing that the $145 million cash dollars of taxpayer money that Nick Smith’s ETS will give them between now and the end of 2012 is simply not enough free money. read more
  September 3, 2010 2:23 pm - 15 Comments
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  Case for wider probe of ACC entitlement-cutting culture now even stronger - by Kevin Hague

  
  
  
  ACC’s use of Dr. Felicity Goodyear-Smith to advise on sexual abuse claims can only have resulted from catastrophic systems failure or a sick culture. New Zealanders need to know which, and Minister Smith must take steps to thoroughly investigate so the problems can be fixed read more
  August 30, 2010 10:58 am - 11 Comments
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  Yes Minister, climate change requires action - by frog

  
  
  
  John Key’s Government is going to do absolutely nothing to help New Zealanders prepare for what the scientists and actuaries know is already happening. read more
  August 20, 2010 2:58 pm - 20 Comments
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  Urgent: Tell the Govt that air quality matters! - by frog

  
  
  
  If you are concerned about the fact that 49% of New Zealanders live in areas where the quality of the air is dangerous because of avoidable particulates – submit by Friday this week on Nick Smith’s proposed changes to air quality standards! The Government is proposing to lower and delay air quality standards, which will [...] read more
  July 6, 2010 1:53 pm - 23 Comments
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  ACC “crisis” was all in Nick Smith’s head - by frog

  
  
  
  Remember the financial crisis with ACC? Remember Nick Smith describing ACC as “technically insolvent”, a claim that was rubbished at the time by NZ Herald economics editor Brian Fallow and actuary Jonathan Eriksen? Guess what? ACC is set to make a $2 billion surplus, and that’s before the levy increases and entitlement cuts have any impact, as they are only now beginning to phase in! read more
  June 28, 2010 9:38 am - 43 Comments