David Farrar: A sensible merger

The Government announced:

The Government has today confirmed the establishment of a new Ministry of Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport (MCERT), to support the Government’s ambitious reform agenda in housing, transport, urban development and the environment.

Zoran Rakovic: Shared Environment, Shared Love: Ending the Myth That Only Some of Us Care for New Zealand

New Zealand’s environment belongs to all who cherish it. It’s time to challenge the myth that only one culture holds the key to true ecological care.

It has become a common refrain in official documents, consultation papers, and government-funded summits across New Zealand: Māori are presented as the natural stewards of New Zealand's environment, the only true guardians of the land and waters, the only people whose relationship to the environment is described as spiritual, noble, and ancient. One would almost believe that environmental care was invented in the rohe of iwi, rather than an instinct present among countless peoples who have lived in harmony with the natural world.

Clive Bibby: Change needs to be based on a sustainable strategy - not driven by ideology

For those who have spent a lifetime working in the livestock industry, listening to farming leaders bemoan the current state of the sheep industry is not something we want to hear.

It isn’t that their claims of treachery by various governments aren’t justified - just that it appears to be too little too late and nobody in a position of authority in government circles appears willing to do anything about it. We have been down this road many times before and it is becoming tiresome waiting for a response from those who have the ability to make things happen that will avoid a repeat of disasters waiting to happen.

Clive Bibby: Living well without destroying the planet

By chance I noticed this headline on BBC TV news today that resonated.

The reason it caught my attention was because it is a comment that has application to just about every community on the planet, whether they be rich or poor.

And it has particular relevance to low decile communities like ours here on the East Coast because the process of achieving this utopian dream will require a greater degree of self sacrifice from the poorer families than those who already live on easy street.

Bjorn Lomborg: An Inconvenient Truth - Our climate policies cant save the environment. So what will?

In an effort to minimise the effects of climate change, countries in the developed world are chasing net-zero at all costs, causing high energy prices and reduced energy consumption.

The problem? In this video, Bjorn Lomborg explains how, across the world, it is countries with the highest energy consumption that create the most wealth, and it is those with the most wealth that are most able to care for the environment.

By enacting policies that reduce energy availability and increase cost, the 'net-zero' agenda is preventing the very thing it aims to achieve.

Click to view

Alexander Gillespie: NZ report card 2024 - how the country fared in 25 key global and domestic rankings

If it’s good enough for school and university students, it’s good enough for entire countries, too.

This report card provides a snapshot of how New Zealand fared across a wide range of international measures – where it did well, and where there’s room for improvement.

Hon Chris Bishop, Hon Todd McClay, Hon Andrew Hoggard: RMA Bill

Urgent changes to system through first RMA Amendment Bill

The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month.

RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment Bill which will make urgent changes to the resource management system.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 28/3/24

Past plans are undone by a government keen to make the most of ocean resources and cut that “dam red tape”

Waves of rain are set to lash much of the North Island during Easter Weekend as a low-pressure system forms east of New Zealand, according to a weather forecast published in the past day or so.

Niwa was warning of a “moisture-laden” long weekend, with rain expected to fall on eastern and northern holiday hotspots.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 3/10/23

Taxpayers might be piste off, as govt lending to ski field is lifted to $50m – but more corporate welfare is announced, too

The distributions of two dollops of corporate welfare have been proudly announced in government press statements today, but neither mentions or relates to the further taxpayer funding for ski fields on the skids.

The government’s official website tells of $7 million being provided to boost aerospace operators and an unstated sum to help forestry processors.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 21/9/23

That new hospital which Labour is promising – is it the same one which Sepuloni mentioned in May (before she backed off)?

Our busy ministers – desperately busy trying to whip up voters’ support as their poll support sags, among other things – have added just one item of news to the government’s official website over the past 24 hours or so.

Kate Hawkesby: Everyone seems to know what to do about killer seaweed - except the Govt

Labour announced yesterday that ‘bottom trawling and Danish seining will be banned in most of the Hauraki Gulf as part of a plan to better protect the 1.2-million-hectare marine park.’  

They have four options going for public consultation next week, one of them stipulating that ‘bottom-trawling would be banned from 89 per cent of the Gulf. Currently, 27 per cent of the Gulf is closed to bottom trawling and Danish seining fishing methods.’  

Bottom trawling involves dragging weighted nets over the seafloor to catch fish.  

Point of Order: 46 councils sought funding from a $350m transport trough....

.....and 46 councils are given funds (but we don’t know how much)

Hard on the heels of Chris Hipkins announcing an embarrassing U-turn on one (but only one) contentious aspect of the government’s Three Waters legislation, ministers seemed keen to remind the voters what a splendid government we have.

Each of three Beehive statements since the U-turn involved initiatives and handouts to improve our wellbeing.

Mind you, the benefits will be enjoyed in one case only by people living in certain parts of the country –

Matt Ridley: Eco-extremism has brought Sri Lanka to its knees

 

An obsession with organic farming ‘in sync with nature’ triggered an unsustainable but predictable economic crisis

Sri Lanka’s collapse, from one of the fastest growing Asian economies to a political, economic and humanitarian horror show, seems to have taken everybody by surprise.

Five years ago, the World Bank was extolling “how Sri Lanka intends to transition to a more competitive and inclusive upper-middle income country”. Right up to the middle of last year, despite the impact of the pandemic, the country’s misery index (inflation plus unemployment) was low and falling. Then the misery index took off like a rocket, quintupling in a year.

Clive Bibby: Let's get real

 

Why is that our leaders appear incapable of understanding the contributing factors involved in running a successful family business.

At a time when speculative decisions can have tragic consequences for the shareholders, one would hope that those who have responsibility for our survival maintain a tight control over the things that have been proven over time to matter. 

Yet the opposite appears to be true. 

Derek Mackie: The environment - who owns it?

The government, through the Department of Conservation (DOC), has set up an Options Development Group (ODG) to make recommendations on the co-governance and complete reform of the conservation system in New Zealand. 

Their draft report leaves the reader in no uncertain terms as to who will hold the power over conservation land and water. The He Puapua report appears to be the guiding document under which the ODG recommendations have been made and it will come as no surprise that the ODG was facilitated by an author of He Puapua. 

 I’ll quote from some of the key recommendations and sub-recommendations but I’m warning the reader that before you delve in, a translation book between Te Reo and English is strongly recommended, as well as a stiff drink and a blood pressure checkup. 

Derek Mackie: The environment - who cares?

It is estimated that there could be up to 1 trillion species on Earth. The environment is the myriad assemblage of all those species interacting and getting on with the job of life. Virtually all species use other species to survive - as a food source, as carriers to pollinate and spread seeds for reproduction, or to act as hosts or give shelter from the elements. Many species are in competition with each other….it’s a life and death struggle every day, all the time. 

 Successful species learn how to take what they need from the environment, survive and multiply. Really successful species learn how to modify and manage the environment to give them the food and resources they need, allowing them the freedom to learn and practice other skills which improve their survival chances. Simply subsisting is no longer the principal thought each morning. Only humans have managed to achieve that. 

 We all like to think we care about our environment. No right-minded person wants to live with polluted air or water, or have to look at an eyesore. Let’s not kid ourselves though - the environment most of us live in today is an urban one. Even our rural environments are much changed by farming, mining and forestry - all the things that are the foundations of our modern civilisation and that give us the amazing standard of living we enjoy today. There’s very little that’s original about our modern environment but I don’t hear anyone, save for Extinction Rebellion and similar end-of-the-world cults, suggesting we all go back to basics and sit around our carbon-neutral campfires discussing how great life used to be. 

Matt Ridley from the UK: Protecting the Sea

Britain may no longer have an empire, but it still rules a heck of a lot of waves. One of the manifesto commitments of the Conservative party in the last election was to create a “blue belt” of marine protected zones around the 14 overseas territories that still belong to this country. It has started fulfilling the promise and is already protecting more of the sea than any other nation.

How best to conserve marine life? No-take zones, where all fishing is banned, are hard to police and generate little income for locals or to support enforcement of the protection. Yet exploitation of the seas risks causing great damage.

Frank Newman: The End is Nigh!

Today life on Earth is going to end. We know this to be true because Christian evangelist, Harold Camping, says "The Bible guarantees it!”.

And if Harold is not right then we know it will end soon anyway, because environmental evangelist, Al Gore, says "science guarantees it!”. Al Gore is in fact a lot smarter than Harold Camping, and for a number of reasons.

Owen McShane: Retro Rail Alert

The New Zealand Government recently decided to follow the example of Montreal and Toronto by amalgamating the six City councils and the single Regional Council of the Auckland Region to create a united “Super City” of 1.4 million people.
Like similar amalgamated bodies, the new Auckland Council, which came into being on the 1st November, 2010, has fallen for the notion of regionally determined smart growth built around a huge investment in heavy rail.

Tim Ball: There Is No Water Shortage

There is no shortage of water. Amounts available vary regionally and change over time as precipitation amounts vary. Demand also changes with increases in population and economic development. Crude estimates indicate water use per person per day is 15 liters in undeveloped countries and approximately 900 liters in developed countries. Throughout history humans have developed remarkable techniques and technologies to deal with these issues. Few of these attempted to reduce demand, most worked to increase supply.