Bob Edlin: Tarzan shouldn’t forget the Whanganui River’s special legal status....

Tarzan shouldn’t forget the Whanganui River’s special legal status – or how a National MP appeased the taniwha

The team at PoO noted the other day that a bloke named Brenden Hawkins was about to embark on “an extraordinary challenge”, attempting to become the first person to paddle a surfboard the full 235-kilometer length of the Whanganui River.

According to the press statement from I am Hope, he should now have set out on his journey. Or voyage.

Professor Robert MacCulloch: James Shaw Greenwashes the airline....

NZ's Biggest Hypocrite? (Former) Green Party Leader James Shaw, who sits on Air NZ's "Sustainability Panel", Greenwashes the airline, as its Emissions Targets are Dumped into the atmosphere.

Air NZ is now led by a chap who used to work at Walmart. But its pricing on domestic routes is anything like the budget basement prices that made Walmart successful in the US. So its certainly no Air Walmart, at least when it comes to buying tickets. Not only does it have monopoly powers on domestic routes, Air NZ also garnered international publicity when it stated that it was committed to a specified reduction in its emissions by 2030.

Mike's Minute: Today we say goodbye to James Shaw MP

So, bye bye James Shaw; Valedictory Day today.

He is in the interesting position of having left behind something potentially quite substantive.

The Net Zero laws, we will be neutral by 2050. But then that’s the problem isn't it? My bet is we wont.

Peter Dunne: James Shaw

If success in politics is measured by practical achievements rather than the volume of noise made, James Shaw has been the Greens’ most successful politician yet.

His unchallengeable legacy will be the zero-carbon legislation. Shaw knew that the key to that progressing was not only persuading the then major party of government, Labour, but far more importantly, the National Opposition, to support his plans to ensure the policy momentum was maintained when a change of government occurred. Shaw also understood that he needed at least tacit, if not more active, support from the business community, and major greenhouse gas producers like industry and agriculturalists.

Wendy Geus: James Shaw's greatest legacy is not the Carbon Zero Act

But the failed 2018 Census which showed his true character.

My abiding memory of James Shaw will be his eagerness to talk about what his legacy will be, whenever he got the chance. That in itself is a red light. Great individuals leave that to others.

Mike Hosking: James Shaw is a fish out of water when it comes to the Greens

I have never really been able to work James Shaw out.

As he quit his leadership yesterday, which made perfect sense, he waxed lyrical about the Green Party, and its achievements, and its place in the political landscape.

Which makes no sense because they are a mess and no longer remotely green, and he stands out like the dogs proverbials as the one remaining environmentalist.

Cam Slater: James Shaw Quits, Greens Continue to Lurch to Extreme Left

James Shaw has abandoned ship from the increasingly hard left Marxist Green Party. He was the last sensible MP, as far as sensible Greens go, left in the party. He will be a loss to them even though many Green members will be quietly cheering at his resignation.

The Greens have increasingly become harder and harder left wing, pushing their particular brand of cultural Marxism on us, along with embracing and advocating on behalf of terror organisations like Hamas and the Houthi rebels.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: I worry for the future of the Greens without Shaw

It's not altogether a surprise that James Shaw has quit as co-leader of the Green Party.

It's pretty well known that there are factions in the Green Party that have wanted him to move on for a while now.

There was a public attempt to remove him about a year and a half ago, and it while he won that- it always felt like it was only a temporary reprieve to get them through the election and safely out of Government.

Karl du Fresne: A few random thoughts post-election

■ My friend and former boss Robin Bromby, long domiciled in Australia but still a keen observer of New Zealand affairs, makes an interesting point in an email.
He asks, “When has a Wellington MP led his party to an election win? The last Wellington area MP to become PM after an election was Walter Nash in 1957. But the job now seems to be taken mainly by Aucklanders.”

Peter Hemmingson: 'Pinnochio' Shaw

In claiming to hold a BA from Victoria University of Wellington, Green Party co-leader, James Shaw, lied about his academic qualifications

Turned out he was a dropout who never completed his undergraduate degree.

Shaw also claims to hold an MSc. from Bath University but has never substantiated this.

Chris Trotter: Delirious Hatred - The Dystopic Tendencies of Twenty-First Century Progressivism.

I think I have worked it out – why writing about today’s version of “progressive” politics leaves me feeling so depressed. In the end, the reason I cannot bring myself to vote for either Labour or the Greens is very simple: it’s because they are joyless; because the logical end-point of the ideology they espouse is one of universal dissatisfaction and unending conflict. In other words, their direction-of-travel is dystopic. That’s why so many voters are pulling away from parties they’ve supported all their adult lives. They don’t like where Labour and the Greens are going, and they’ll be damned if they’ll go there with them.

Garrick Tremain: Imagining

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on James Shaw's qualifications! 

Peter Williams: James Shaw (not) BA

Greens co-leader telling porkies about his academic record

The thing about politicians is that you have to be able to trust them, and to gain trust it helps if they tell the truth about their life and times and background before they went into politics.

For some bizarre reason James Shaw, Minister for Climate Change and co-leader of the Green Party, is telling the world through social media network LinkedIn that he has a BA from Victoria University.

Heather du Plessis-Allan: Good luck trying to convince Kiwis the climate dividend is a bad idea

Well, good luck to James Shaw trying to convince Kiwis it’s a bad idea for National to give us that climate dividend as part of their tax cuts.

He's going as hard as he can. Yesterday, he said it "pissed him off" and it was “incensing him”, and today he’s put out a press release saying he’s “insulted”.

What he’s upset about is that National has used the ETS money to pay for their tax cuts. The ETS money collects from us all paying a little tax every time we do something that pollutes the planet.

Mike Butler: Global warming ‘remedies’ damaging

In 1604, King James I of England published Counterblaste to Tobacco in which he condemned the smoking of this anti-social and health-destroying weed. He was correct, but it took 400 years for science to prove that it is harmful.

New Zealand scientist Dr Kelvin Duncan has written Global Warming: A Counter-blaste to the Man-made global warming hypothesis to clear away a psychosis created by repeated pronouncements that we humans are solely responsible for present climate change.

Alistair Boyce: NZ Political Economy - the greens agenda vs reality

As we enter the election campaign we are once again enduring unsubstantiated rhetoric and narrative, especially from the greens. Te pati Maori offer little more than divisive tribal economic naivety. Labour feeds us the sugary diet and ongoing delusion of smoke and mirror economic and social policy that can only extend NZ’s inflationary and cost of living predicament and further divide society. Polling makes it clear that the NZ electorate wants change, necessarily to the center-right.

Karl du Fresne: The anti-conspiracy theory conspiracy theorists

Today's Morning Report devoted seven minutes to a promotional plug for a new RNZ podcast called Undercurrent, which promises to expose rampant mis- and disinformation that we are told threatens to contaminate the coming election.

In the news story that preceded the plug, we were informed that Greens co-leader James Shaw was assaulted by a “conspiracy theorist” in 2019.

Garrick Tremain: Greta's dolls

 Here is Garrick Tremain's cartoon commentary on Greta's expensive sycophants! 

Ian Bradford: Can We Trust NIWA and Why “The Hottest Day This Century” May Not Be

Ian Wishart and Investigate Magazine have been probing NIWA’s records.

Cyclone Gabrielle  hit the country on the 14th February 2023. The Climate Change Minister said of the cyclones devastating effects: “ This is climate change.” ( From the Guardian 14th Feb 2023).

Let me remind Mr Shaw of the NASA definition of climate change.

“ No weather by itself is evidence of climate change/global warming, as the test is whether the weather adds to a new weather pattern over many years or even millennia.”

Dr Susan Pockett: Obliterating the climate crisis

QUESTION: WHY WON'T JAMES SHAW SHOW US HIS EVIDENCE THAT CLIMATE CHANGE IS CAUSED BY HUMAN CO2 EMISSIONS ?

ANSWER: Because he doesn't have any.

Climate change has been going on for millions of years. The current warming is nothing out of the ordinary.