Among them, reigniting ‘mauri’ and ‘engaging multisensory experiences’
A press statement which advises that $236.5 million has been bestowed on 71 projects in the latest Endeavour Fund allocations is headed Research projects set to tackle NZs biggest challenges.
The message is reinforced in the first sentence, which says money has been allocated to projects
“… that seek to address some of our biggest challenges such as climate change.”
Researchers working on two methane projects have been granted $999,999 each over three years.
A project involving Moriori, music, “manawa” and “engaging multisensory experiences for indigenous cultural revitalisation” (really?) has been granted $1 million over two years.
The climate-change challenge posed by methane and the environmental importance of reducing it – we imagine – is generally understood by the taxpayers who have coughed up the millions that are being dished out.
The challenge posed by the bemusing mix of Moriori, music, manawa and multi-sensory experiences requires some explaining.
A much bigger lump of money – almost $14 million – has been granted to University of Waikato researchers who will be dealing with “mauri”, a mystical matter for many, maybe most, New Zealanders.
All going well, the researchers will come up with a measure of mauri, something which increasingly (we are told) is being restored, improved or otherwise subjected to earnest scientific endeavours around the country.
Verrall’s press statement was among the latest batch of Beehive press statements which include announcements to inform us our Ministers are –
In her announcement about the Endeavour Fund, Ayesha Verrall explained that:
Can’t quarrel with that too much, eh?
Verrall said some of the successful projects include developing new technology to reduce geothermal carbon emissions, forecasting future threats such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, and utilising artificial intelligence to make future weather and climate projections.
She also mentioned finding ways to protect Māui dolphins from toxoplasmosis, creating soilless precision farming via ultraclean water production, zero-emissions removal of nitrate from wastewater and using robotic fish to enable effective coastal kaitiakitanga.
Inevitably, she also acknowledged that another priority for the fund is to support Vision Mātauranga,
The press statement says the Endeavour Fund is New Zealand’s largest contestable funding system and selects
Point of Order checked out the winners of funding and noted that
Efforts to reduce agricultural methane are important to New Zealand’s policies on reducing climate change emissions.
But whoa.
Then we found –
But as we noted at the start of this post, the biggest dollop of funding – $13,950,715 over five years – has gone to researchers at the University of Waikato.
Their project is described as
Can scientists reignite something they can’t actually measure?
In this country, perhaps they can. But they obviously need a measure of money to try to perform their miracles.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
The climate-change challenge posed by methane and the environmental importance of reducing it – we imagine – is generally understood by the taxpayers who have coughed up the millions that are being dished out.
The challenge posed by the bemusing mix of Moriori, music, manawa and multi-sensory experiences requires some explaining.
A much bigger lump of money – almost $14 million – has been granted to University of Waikato researchers who will be dealing with “mauri”, a mystical matter for many, maybe most, New Zealanders.
All going well, the researchers will come up with a measure of mauri, something which increasingly (we are told) is being restored, improved or otherwise subjected to earnest scientific endeavours around the country.
Verrall’s press statement was among the latest batch of Beehive press statements which include announcements to inform us our Ministers are –
* Ready to try again with tax-law changes:
The annual tax rates and remedial matters Bill has been re-introduced. It is the same as the annual tax rates and remedial matters Bill introduced last week, but without the proposal to standardise the application of GST to fees and services of managed fund providers.
The Taxation (Annual Rates for 2022–23, Platform Economy, and Remedial Matters) Bill (No2) will be referred to a select committee for consideration and submissions, and will be passed by 31 March, 2023.
This is an annual Bill that confirms the taxation rates for the coming year and tidies up tax legislation.
The Bill contains more than 190 provisions changing the tax law spread over 9 main measures and a range of remedial amendments.
The full Bill can be viewed here:
* Reworking the law on political party donations.
The Government is introducing amendments to the Electoral Amendment Bill to ensure greater transparency around political donations. This has been triggered by the High Court ruling that a person receiving a donation must be involved in the “governance and management oversight of all the Party’s affairs” for it to be considered a “party donation”.
Justice Minister Kiri Allan says the amendment makes clear that a party donation is when a person donates to a political party or any other person with the intention that the donation is for the benefit of the party.
The amendments have been introduced in a Supplementary Order Paper that the Justice Committee will assess as part of its consideration of the Bill.
The Committee is due to report back on the Bill to the House of Representatives by 5 December. The Bill is expected to be enacted in time for the 2023 General Election.
* Further involving the state in the forestry business
Forestry Minister Stuart Nash said a new partnership between the Government and Oji Fibre Solutions “could” boost the development of sustainable wood products, hydrogen and bio-fuels at the Kinleith Mill near Tokoroa, creating jobs and reducing emissions across the economy.
Whether it “will” bring those benefits – obviously – is not being promised and what is entailed is not immediately apparent.
But in the third paragraph Nash tells us
“This joint feasibility study is the perfect opportunity to think differently about the way we process wood in New Zealand, to tap into the bio-economy, and harness the valuable by-products of wood fibre.”
And:
“Throughout this study, we’ll investigate how we can make high-value and sustainable bio-products from wood.”
* Being munificent to the Māori media (with $40 million of public funding)
Māori Development Minister Willie Jackson has announced the Māori Broadcasting Strategy after Cabinet agreed to a three-year plan which outlines the priorities for the Māori media sector.
The Cabinet paper sets out key actions that form the foundation of the plan. This includes setting clear outcomes and priorities for the sector, improving coordination with the wider public media system, and supporting workforce development.
The Government announced a $40 million investment in Budget 2022, to support Māori media to transition to a new public media environment and prepare it to increasingly deliver a fuller range of Māori content.
In her announcement about the Endeavour Fund, Ayesha Verrall explained that:
“The Government is focused on building a productive, sustainable and inclusive economy, and the projects we are announcing today play a key role in helping to deliver that.
“We’re supporting and investing in research which will have future potential economic benefits as well as addressing some of our biggest challenges such as climate change.”
Can’t quarrel with that too much, eh?
Verrall said some of the successful projects include developing new technology to reduce geothermal carbon emissions, forecasting future threats such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, and utilising artificial intelligence to make future weather and climate projections.
She also mentioned finding ways to protect Māui dolphins from toxoplasmosis, creating soilless precision farming via ultraclean water production, zero-emissions removal of nitrate from wastewater and using robotic fish to enable effective coastal kaitiakitanga.
Inevitably, she also acknowledged that another priority for the fund is to support Vision Mātauranga,
“… which aims to unlock the science and innovation potential of Māori knowledge.”
The press statement says the Endeavour Fund is New Zealand’s largest contestable funding system and selects
“… excellent research proposals that will provide the highest potential impacts across a range of economic, environmental and societal objectives to transform our future.
Point of Order checked out the winners of funding and noted that
* The National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Limited was granted $999,999 over three years for a project described as:
“Top-down accounting of methane: Protecting farmers from carbon-cost for misattributed wetland methane”.
* AgResearch Limited secured $999,999 over three years for
“Machine learning and CRISPR technologies to understand rumen methanogen interactions”.
Efforts to reduce agricultural methane are important to New Zealand’s policies on reducing climate change emissions.
But whoa.
Then we found –
* The University of Otago secured funding of $1 million over two years for ….
“Moriori, Music and Manawa: Engaging Multisensory Experiences for Indigenous Cultural Revitalisation”.
But as we noted at the start of this post, the biggest dollop of funding – $13,950,715 over five years – has gone to researchers at the University of Waikato.
Their project is described as
“Pou rāhui, pou tikanga, pou oranga: reigniting the mauri of Tīkapa Moana and Te Moananui-ā-Toi.”
Can scientists reignite something they can’t actually measure?
In this country, perhaps they can. But they obviously need a measure of money to try to perform their miracles.
3 comments:
“...seek to address some of our biggest challenges... “? They forgot to add “... and some of our most inconsequential.“ In a word “disgraceful“. Clearly this lot have little to no understating of how to budget, nor what's important to us as a nation. Another nail for their coffin that's well overdue for occupation.
the world was laughing when rand paul talked about nsf funding cocaine-fuelled sex habits of quails with 875K usd. looks like the joke's on us now :(
Pretty much $236 million down the drain for all the good it will do to individual NZders.
This bunch of wastrels really know how to throw money away and get nothing for it.
They must be modelling their housing, mental health, and child poverty strategies along the same lines.
It would be great to see how much money Labour have pissed down the drain since they got re-elected in 2020.
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