Politics 🗳️ NZ Politics

[Juno]

Unfortunately it serves a couple of purposes:

They can repeat their "Labour broke everything" mantra which they've been saying now for 5 years, with little real proof most of the time

it fits well into the neoliberal framework of "Big Government bad small government good". Portray everything as broken, government should get out of the way, conveniently hey we can privatise everything at no cost to the government.

A government that represents those same private interests. This one definitely does not care about the taxpayer, except maybe Winston, and that's a stretch.

Then you see headlines like this: https://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-b...solutely-critical/D5VRUYDXZFEHDOZCV7SGKLPMLE/

They've repealed the resource management act before christmas. They want to fast track dams, supposedly as infrastructure. This means private land will be bought at inflated costs and conservation land will be grabbed.

And as Bomber Bradbury points out, who really benefits? You need dams for mining... https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2024/02/21/of-course-luxon-wants-to-fast-track-dams/

In Hawkes Bay, and probably other places, what's being mined is water. Its the new gold.
First it was land and 90% of all the wetlands (the 'lungs' of the whenua that break down the decaying matter that sinks to the lowest part of an area and transforms it into clean, usuable, thriving ecosystems - carbon sinks anyone) have been drained and turned into 'productive' land, whether farms, orchards, crops, or subdivisions.
Then all the straws went into the aquifers and water consents were overallocated (growers, industry, etc) so the 800 year old water system that made the plains such a rich, verdant and thriving whenua is now 3 year old water and collapsing fast.
So water storage is a commercial plan to own water that comes from those aquifers and rain so it can be a precious commodity dollar-wise.
Bugger the people that live there and the once flourishing awa that had enough freshwater pressure in the rivers and underground water system to hold back seawater accretion. Hey, its ok if people will need to relocate from places like Haumoana, Te Awanga etc because losing that natural freshwater/ saltwater balance means the land as well as what is below it will erode and die off through saltwater poisoning...
The consents for the so-called dam/s along the Ngaruroro awa were applied for during the 'fast track' consenting process brought in to help quicken recovery from the cyclone down there.
Those dams have no business being consented.
And Luxon is bowing to pressure from the farming lobby who all want dams to intensify farming. More money for more waste. Nothing to do with energy or electricity, or any renewable commodities.
Now I'm not saying on-farm and community dams in some catchments aren't necessary but the above one is a rort - of the water consenting process and of the river that is part of the lifeblood of the Heretaunga Plains.
That, my friends is why Maori were given a seat to co-govern 3Waters. So much for that - many may end up rueing their stance on that one...
Now, watch fresh water become a very valuable commodity across the country in the coming years if that dam and others go ahead and now watch freshwater quality continue to degrade as sewage, stormwater poisons (from industry, roadrun-off etc) affect town water supply and the natural environment.
Its not all about money.
Those private, non-resident corporates don't give a damn about our quality of life, they just extract & leave to plunder the next dumb sucker.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

both?
shouldn’t every day people be able to feel safe enough to leave their homes and go about their business without having limbs chopped off with machetes because someone feels entitled to $15,000 worth of inventory at their business? or safe enough to drive in their car without being smashed in the face with a rifle butt and or carjacked?

and shouldn’t if you want to be out on parole for previous crimes already, with an ankle monitor no less! living like you’re in a GTA game be punished accordingly for those crimes?

No. They are mutually exclusive ideas. Trying to get the best of both worlds leads to exactly where we are.

Either punish criminals so hard you reduce criminality by virtue of reducing undesirables; or fix the easily treatable issues like drug addiction or mental health issues.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

In Hawkes Bay, and probably other places, what's being mined is water. Its the new gold.
First it was land and 90% of all the wetlands (the 'lungs' of the whenua that break down the decaying matter that sinks to the lowest part of an area and transforms it into clean, usuable, thriving ecosystems - carbon sinks anyone) have been drained and turned into 'productive' land, whether farms, orchards, crops, or subdivisions.
Then all the straws went into the aquifers and water consents were overallocated (growers, industry, etc) so the 800 year old water system that made the plains such a rich, verdant and thriving whenua is now 3 year old water and collapsing fast.
So water storage is a commercial plan to own water that comes from those aquifers and rain so it can be a precious commodity dollar-wise.
Bugger the people that live there and the once flourishing awa that had enough freshwater pressure in the rivers and underground water system to hold back seawater accretion. Hey, its ok if people will need to relocate from places like Haumoana, Te Awanga etc because losing that natural freshwater/ saltwater balance means the land as well as what is below it will erode and die off through saltwater poisoning...
The consents for the so-called dam/s along the Ngaruroro awa were applied for during the 'fast track' consenting process brought in to help quicken recovery from the cyclone down there.
Those dams have no business being consented.
And Luxon is bowing to pressure from the farming lobby who all want dams to intensify farming. More money for more waste. Nothing to do with energy or electricity, or any renewable commodities.
Now I'm not saying on-farm and community dams in some catchments aren't necessary but the above one is a rort - of the water consenting process and of the river that is part of the lifeblood of the Heretaunga Plains.
That, my friends is why Maori were given a seat to co-govern 3Waters. So much for that - many may end up rueing their stance on that one...
Now, watch fresh water become a very valuable commodity across the country in the coming years if that dam and others go ahead and now watch freshwater quality continue to degrade as sewage, stormwater poisons (from industry, roadrun-off etc) affect town water supply and the natural environment.
Its not all about money.
Those private, non-resident corporates don't give a damn about our quality of life, they just extract & leave to plunder the next dumb sucker.

Aussies are learning that lesson with the Murray-Darling. If men in suits are talking about “water rights” taxpayers are getting robbed.

 

[marv.]

No. They are mutually exclusive ideas. Trying to get the best of both worlds leads to exactly where we are.

Either punish criminals so hard you reduce criminality by virtue of reducing undesirables; or fix the easily treatable issues like drug addiction or mental health issues.

yeah man, i hear you.
but what about the other issue? some people are just cunts.
i know people with ADHD and not a single one of them is that much of a shitbag.

people need to at some point in life be responsible and accountable for their own behavior.

i’ll tell you what, if that was my wife getting her head smashed in with the end of his gun, my first thought would not be that poor guy just needed more support.

victims and innocent people who contribute to society and try to make a nice life should just suck it up because shitty people like to name their kids stupid shit and make them into little criminals?

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

No. They are mutually exclusive ideas. Trying to get the best of both worlds leads to exactly where we are.

Either punish criminals so hard you reduce criminality by virtue of reducing undesirables; or fix the easily treatable issues like drug addiction or mental health issues.

I think long civilisations have imprisoned their worst, most evil and most violent during their prime reproductive years. Over 1,000’s of years the unlawful have been forced to procreated at a lower rate, slowly reducing them as a percentage of society.

Tilting evolution towards desirable attributes by stealth.

That’s the third purpose of prison outside punishment and rehabilitation and possibly over the long term the most important in shaping society.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

I think long civilisations have imprisoned their worst, most evil and most violent during their prime reproductive years. Over 1,000’s of years the unlawful have been forced to procreated at a lower rate, slowly reducing them as a percentage of society.

Tilting evolution towards desirable attributes by stealth.

That’s the third purpose of prison outside punishment and rehabilitation and possibly over the long term the most important in shaping society.

No tbh the dumb criminals were killed and the smart criminals obtained positions of power.

The problem is we have greatly expanded the definition of criminality without adjusting the scale of punishment.

 

[Juno]

I think long civilisations have imprisoned their worst, most evil and most violent during their prime reproductive years. Over 1,000’s of years the unlawful have been forced to procreated at a lower rate, slowly reducing them as a percentage of society.

Tilting evolution towards desirable attributes by stealth.

That’s the third purpose of prison outside punishment and rehabilitation and possibly over the long term the most important in shaping society.

What civilisations have done that who are examples of superior desirable attributes?

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

An interesting and informative piece about what our transport poster has been up to:

Looking Back at Labour’s Transport Performance​

The election is over and we have a change in government – though we will need to wait for the counting of special votes to see the exact makeup of that government. That makes it a good time to reflect back on the the last six years of a Labour government.

When it comes to transport, while there have certainly been some positive outcomes during Labour’s time in office, by and large, it’s been a massive disappointment.

Despite some great rhetoric and policy from ministers around the need for change, they largely failed to deliver on that. There are likely many reasons for this, but some that stick out to me are:

• Too much trust in officials to deliver change – Labour put far too much trust in the idea that if they just change the policy, officials will deliver it. As such, they tasked the very people who have spent their careers creating an unbalanced transport system with suddenly changing it – very much a case of putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. While in public statements those officials echoed the official policy lines, stories from behind the scenes would tell of how they actively worked against them, leading to ….
• Officials rewarded for lack of delivery – So many programmes of work were simply not delivered, or saw costs quickly blow out. Yet, instead of holding officials to account for this and pushing for more structural change in the transport industry, the government chose to effectively reward them with even more mega projects.
  For example, back in 2018 the government announced Waka Kotahi would make 870km of state highways and local roads safer via a $1.4 billion investment in median and side barriers. That was predicted to prevent around 160 deaths and serious injuries a year. That would be a fantastic investment for about the cost of a single motorway. But Waka Kotahi never seriously tried to deliver it – and instead of pushing them to, the government gave them a bunch of new mega motorways to build as part of the NZ Upgrade Programme, taking away any staff time and focus there might have been. The cost of those NZUP projects then blew out, doubling in size just a year later – yet there was still no accountability, and those same officials were then given even bigger pieces of work, such dreaming up fantasy $45 billion harbour crossing options.
  Of the original 870km of safety upgrades meant to be completed by 2021, as of earlier this year only around 85km had been delivered.
• A lack of strategic messaging – While ministers were good when giving speeches about the need for change and better cities, not enough effort was put into explaining to the nation as a whole the need for change and the options for achieving that. This is something I feel the government failed at not just with transport, but with other policy areas too, most notably the broader discussion around climate change.

Thinking about some specific items that have stood out…

---

Light Rail​

Light rail is a classic example of many of the issues listed above, and has been one of the most frustrating and disappointing aspects of transport policy over the last six years. It was a key part of Labour’s policy platform when they were elected to office in 2017 – and they were handed a scheme by Auckland Transport that had seen significant design work already undertaken.

Under Labour’s first transport minister Phil Twyford, Waka Kotahi were also ready to start delivering it, and my understanding is they had contracts ready to sign to start enabling works – that was, until the government got distracted by the NZ Super Fund proposal – which then led to the bizarre twin-track process that saw Waka Kotahi competing with the NZ Super Fund for who would build it. It turns out the Super Fund would have won the gig, had Winston Peters not blocked it a few months out from the 2020 election.

The new transport minister, Michael Wood, reset the process in 2021 – but notably put in charge the same consultants who were behind Waka Kotahi’s failed bid in the previous process; and this resulted in the tunnelled light rail proposal we have today.

I feel that both Phil Twyford and Michael Wood got distracted by thinking they could be the ones to right the wrongs of the past – for example, the abandonment of schemes like that pushed by Sir Dove-Myer Robinson. Both often repeated the urban legends that have built up around ‘Robbie’s Rail‘ but ignored the hard-learned lessons, that any programme needs to be fundable and builable in a rational, staged way. They were certainly encouraged by some officials and industry players to ‘build big‘ from the start, and not repeat the experience of the Harbour Bridge which soon needed to be expanded again – even though (as the Harbour Bridge example shows), taking a staged approach would likely have resulted in a better overall system.

Had they not been distracted, light rail along Dominion Rd would be in operation now – but sadly, the concept is probably now dead for a generation due to Labour’s mismanagement.

---

Walking and Cycling over the Harbour​

Another key project that the Labour took over was the plan to deliver Skypath, a walking and cycling connection over the Harbour Bridge that had been designed and consented by a group of passionate advocates. Labour handed it to Waka Kotahi to deliver.

Waka Kotahi changed the design (to that shown below), to make the path wider and attach it directly to the piers of the bridge. But this version was going to cost a lot more.

Then, just over a year later they announcedthe price had nearly doubled as they now needed to build a completely separate structure. While the costs of many other projects blew out too, some by much more, the media and opposition parties focused their attention on this one project and eventually the government folded, scrapping it and sending the project back in to the unknown.

We also learned that it would have only cost around $1 billion to make that separate bridge a combined public transport and active mode bridge, meaning we could have solved the harbour crossing issue. Instead, the government have since poured millions into investigating tunnels, now estimated to cost up to $45 billion – which will see only road tunnels built, and still no guarantee that walking and cycling will be an option for decades more to come.

Just as with light rail, we could have had something – perhaps not perfect, but better than nothing. Instead, the project was handed over to the very same officials who had fought to prevent it for decades… and a focus on grandiose plans has meant that nothing has been delivered and now likely won’t be for another generation.

Labour even had the gall to blame advocates – who have been advancing the case for decades – for not supporting their surprise proposals strongly enough.

---

The Cycling Slowdown​

It wasn’t just across the harbour that we’ve seen issues with the delivery of cycling infrastructure. In Auckland at least, there was a noticeable slow down in cycling projects throughout Labour’s time in office – indeed, we are only just about to start some of the projects originally intended to be funded by John Key’s Urban Cycleways Fund that was announced in 2014.

While some of that lack of delivery is certainly the result of local decision-making, ministers didn’t do enough to push local authorities to deliver improvements.

It also hasn’t helped that a single project in Wellington, which is really a seawall to protect the motorway and rail line that just happens to have a cycleway on top, was allowed to suck up most of the three-year walking and cycling budget.

This is also emblematic of one of the deeper issues with how Labour managed transport. They changed budget settings with the intention of more focus being put on safety, public transport, walking and cycling… but then let Waka Kotahi shift around existing projects to use up that funding.

---

Road Safety​

Improving road safety has been a major part of Labour’s policy platform over the last six years, but there’s been far more noise around it than action. As noted above, the delivery of safety barriers has been abysmal and progress on many walking and cycling projects simply dried up.

There has been progress on safer speeds – and that has been successful – but even this struggled due to the lack of widespread strategic messaging about the need for change.

But the real failure has been that the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads hasn’t changed. For the 12 months to the end of September, 363 people lost their lives on our roads. That number is basically unchanged since Labour came to power in 2017 – and is also about the same as it was when National came to power in 2008.

Looking Back at Labour's Transport Performance - Greater Auckland

The election is over and we have a change in government – though we will need to wait for the counting of special votes to see the exact makeup of that government. That makes it a good time to reflect … Continued

www.greaterauckland.org.nz

 

[kos]

Sound like Yes Minister

How does anything get done?

The public service just swallow proposals and seemingly nothing gets done

Making it worse I guess is there’s only a handful of companies that can handle major projects

 

[Tragic]

The book is one of the cornerstones of our society and therefore libraries are of the upmost importance. Just my thoughts as an avid reader of anything and everything.

One of my bucket list items, if it was at all possible to go back would be to wander through the Great Library of Alexandria.

If you guys hadn't exposed bruce we could hear first hand what it was like.

 

[marv.]

View: https://www.instagram.com/reel/C0fKnIqyhqQ/?igsh=MW9nbHo3N3p1dDI=

hahahaha fucking state of it.

 

[MrFrankWhite]

What civilisations have done that who are examples of superior desirable attributes?

Every single one. Shit they still chopping of thieves of hands in Africa and the Middle East.
I’m guessing having one hand makes it a bit harder to get pussy in their culture…

 

[MrFrankWhite]

But the real failure has been that the number of deaths and serious injuries on our roads hasn’t changed. For the 12 months to the end of September, 363 people lost their lives on our roads. That number is basically unchanged since Labour came to power in 2017 – and is also about the same as it was when National came to power in 2008.

Looking Back at Labour's Transport Performance - Greater Auckland

The election is over and we have a change in government – though we will need to wait for the counting of special votes to see the exact makeup of that government. That makes it a good time to reflect … Continued

www.greaterauckland.org.nz

As I’ve said many times, beware mediocre academics. All that money wasted, not a single life saved. However if you built national driver education into schools, it would radically drop…

 

[wizard of Tauranga]

As I’ve said many times, beware mediocre academics. All that money wasted, not a single life saved. However if you built national driver education into schools, it would radically drop…

Almost half our road toll is simply drug/ alcohol related.

In 2022, NZ road toll was 374 people. There were 163 fatal crashes where driver alcohol/drugs was a contributing factor. In these crashes, 178 people died, 245 people were seriously injured, and 1081 people suffered minor injuries.

47% was alcohol/ drug related; 40% weren’t wearing seat belts and only 11% was only speed…

Yet the focus is on speeding

Te Marutau — Ngā tatauranga ā-tau | Safety — Annual statistics

www.transport.govt.nz

 

[dean]

Almost half our road toll is simply drug/ alcohol related.

In 2022, NZ road toll was 374 people. There were 163 fatal crashes where driver alcohol/drugs was a contributing factor. In these crashes, 178 people died, 245 people were seriously injured, and 1081 people suffered minor injuries.

47% was alcohol/ drug related; 40% weren’t wearing seat belts and only 11% was only speed…

Yet the focus is on speeding

Te Marutau — Ngā tatauranga ā-tau | Safety — Annual statistics

www.transport.govt.nz

A message last week on our neighbourhood social media thread was from a mother asking if anyone had a cheap car to sell. S he said she didn't care if it didn't have a WOF or registration, it was just to drive her moko's around in.
Some people are a statistic waiting to happen.

 

[MaybeTop8]

Almost half our road toll is simply drug/ alcohol related.

In 2022, NZ road toll was 374 people. There were 163 fatal crashes where driver alcohol/drugs was a contributing factor. In these crashes, 178 people died, 245 people were seriously injured, and 1081 people suffered minor injuries.

47% was alcohol/ drug related; 40% weren’t wearing seat belts and only 11% was only speed…

Yet the focus is on speeding

Te Marutau — Ngā tatauranga ā-tau | Safety — Annual statistics

www.transport.govt.nz

For once, think before you say something.

Speed and lack of control kills. End of story. If you want to drive fast go and live in europe with straight roads and autobahns.

Take responsibility for what you're actually saying. This isn't a culture war issue it's simple physics.

 

[dean]

For once, think before you say something.

Speed and lack of control kills. End of story. If you want to drive fast go and live in europe with straight roads and autobahns.

Take responsibility for what you're actually saying. This isn't a culture war issue it's simple physics.

Pot and kettle?

 

[Lord Gnome of Waiheke]

For once, think before you say something.

Speed and lack of control kills. End of story. If you want to drive fast go and live in europe with straight roads and autobahns.

Take responsibility for what you're actually saying. This isn't a culture war issue it's simple physics.

He's not a fan of that there book learnin'!

 

[Noitall]

47% was alcohol/ drug related

Can be a very swayed statistic. While I’m not defending those driving while impaired, those affected aren’t necessarily the ones that cause the crash. There will certainly be instances where they are, but once an incident draws the police and testing is required in an alcohol or drug form, these people are guilty of driving while impaired but haven’t necessarily caused the crash that the statistics are accumulated for.

 

[dean]

Can be a very swayed statistic. While I’m not defending those driving while impaired, those affected aren’t necessarily the ones that cause the crash. There will certainly be instances where they are, but once an incident draws the police and testing is required in an alcohol or drug form, these people are guilty of driving while impaired but haven’t necessarily caused the crash that the statistics are accumulated for.

Certainly the case with cannabis. I think it just needs to show up in a blood test and it is a stat, under the influence.