Tuesday 7th of April 2026 12:32:50 AM
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Anatomy of a ‘housing scoop’

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NewsroomPlus.com

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Credit where credit’s due. TV3’s crew on The Nation do a great job in helping set the news agenda for the week – essentially part of their remit given the nature of the news cycle, and ditto TVNZ’s Q+A. 

There is barely anything that brings a smile to the face of a current affairs reporter more quickly than finding any form of hand grenade with the pin still intact. One of The Nation’s weapons – you could never call him a hidden weapon – is that master of the staccato, Pattrick (Paddy) Gower. The delivery of another ‘exclusive’ on Saturday received the full treatment, or at least as much of a treatment as could be squeezed into a five minute scoop.

The premise of the scoop about the Government’s flagship policy on state housing, was sound enough.

Paddy: “It can now be revealed the houses could be sold to [pause for dramatic effect, but with no apparent exclamation..] Australia”.

If you read the full transcript below, as compiled by NewsRoom_Plus, you’ll be able to follow the careful paint-by-numbers crafting of the scoop, along with some syllogisms along the way:

  1. First the tease – a potential buyer for state house has emerged.
    .
  2. It wants to sell to “private providers”. Are charities private providers? Is it right to use the word corporation for a charity?
    .
  3. Amp up the angle from a single, successful and well-regarded Australian charity looking at the process Treasury is running to sell housing stock – that is, the deeper context that five minutes can’t cope with –  to ask “Will you allow Australians to buy New Zealand state houses?”
    . 
  4. Validate there is an interested ‘buyer’ called Horizon Housing.
    .
  5. Validate the Government is “interested in doing business with them”. For emphasis and effect note that this isn’t just business time, it’s “serious business”.
    .
  6. Bend the logic just a tad and intimate the houses are “going offshore”. Mere semantics.
    .
  7. Underscore and get the ball rolling on the ‘wrongness’ of this with throws to Andrew Little, and Metiria Turei. With Winston Peters to follow as added punch.
    .
  8. Set up an antagonist or some form of friction, if there is one, for good measure – Iwi aren’t playing ball, cut to soundbite that indicates the view that the market value of problematic houses – remembering Mr English says it’s meant to be about the tenants most of all, not the houses – would, as a starting point, be zero.
    .
  9.  Flag the importance of the news with two key words to leave the audience with … “extremely controversial”, before trailing off with factual details of the process that’s underway.

No ripples, no story

When a story like this ‘breaks’, it’s generally a clarion signal to arms for political parties and other opposition groups, whereas the rush to release press statements at the weekend, and today, went in a moderate trickle like this:

 Saturday 27 June

  • 10.39 am – Green Party – Don’t sell our state houses to the Aussies, Mr English!
  • 10.45 am – NZ First – National to put State Houses and taxpayer dollars in overseas hands
  • 10.52 am – Labour Party – English wants to flog state houses to Aussies

Sunday 28 June

  • 10.05 am – State Housing Action Network -Shameless Desperation in proposed State House selloff to Australia

Monday 29 June 

  • 6.42 am – State Housing Action Network – Australians warned off buying New Zealand state houses
  • 12.46 pm – NZ First – State house sell-off to benefit Australia’s less well off

Having also kept a close eye on the Government’s planned sale of state houses, it’s easy to imagine that the Government might well have welcomed yet another potential source of confusion and diversion entering the picture. And the Prime Minister’s interview with Morning Report’s Guyon Espiner this morning – transcript below – wasn’t about adding lots of clarity.

After all who doesn’t like a story that gets turned into a minor beat up, not to mention stirring up some faux anti-Australian cards that could play into your hand?

Is there a voice of reason in this?

Scott Figenshow, the US-born executive director of Community Housing Aotearoa (CHA), was a go-to for radio at RNZ and Newstalk today and had some good points worth extrapolating:

  • If there is going to be any twisting of the idea of organisations with international links it’s true that Habitat for Humanity and the Salvation Army aren’t unique to New Zealand
  • The difference is both of those organisations aren’t unknown, overseas providers – they have long histories here of delivering community outcomes
  • The Salvation Army  signalled they want to work in partnerships not alone, nor did they ask to be pushed out
  • The process has some months to run yet and people should read documents like the Social Housing Reform Programme (SHRP) Market Information and Feedback Discussion Document of 17 June out of Treasury to get up to speed
  • Anyone bagging the Iwi Chairs Forum stance on a nil-consideration transfer for housing stock, just doesn’t get the investment ‘gap’ to take “old, cold and mouldy” housing and convert it to better housing and better communities
  • There are two loopholes that are being ignored in the current Community Housing regulations – one of them is the door is being left open to organisations that aren’t Not-for Profit or Not-for Dividend entities (something Horizons Housing is) and the door hasn’t been shut to organisations not based in New Zealand (something Horizons Housing can’t see it is.. yet).

Figenshow can be a good advocate. He’s dead right that the state of the ‘third sector’ of housing in New Zealand – state housing, social housing, community housing – is the poor cousin not just in terms of funding, but the way that the regulatory and policy environment has been stop-start, start-stop, and then – now supposedly – stop-start.

Unfortunately insisting that the environment we’re in needs to be spoken about as ‘transfers’ not ‘sales’ isn’t going to win the dominant narrative stakes as theyr’e currently being framed – either by soundbite-seeking pollies or by the media.

Figenshow and others in the sector, many of whom aren’t always being put on the airwaves, know full well too that for a long time Australia’s social housing environment has been seen as a virtual nirvana compared to the entirely sub-scale, stop-start nature of things here.

Has Government – successive governments by the way – shown a lack of clarity. Yep, but that doesn’t mean the shortcomings sit just with the politicians.

It’s fair of Figenshow to object to the risk of “replication” if a Horizon Housing did enter the ‘market’, but outside of rare urban exemplars like Wellington City Council’s housing programme, what is there that is in danger of being replicated at scale? (Not including, which is the real tragedy in all this, Housing NZ).

Let’s not be disingenuous

It would be disingenuous to deny the fact that organisations like Horizon Housing have a strong record of success. It would be ignorant not to acknowledge that they are the very organisations that Housing New Zealand and the community housing sector have been ‘reverse scoping’ almost constantly in recent years, including trips organised with the help of the New Zealand Council for Infrastructure Development.

It can’t be a surprise, let alone a shock, that the door might swing this way.

All of which makes it ironic that another of this Government’s major chess pieces – the Minister of Everything, Steven Joyce – just happens to be across at a meeting with our CER partner Australia today.

What’s he doing in Sydney, apart (I can just hear Paddy Gower saying this) from not hiring expensive cars for the day?

Well he’s attending at speaking at none other than the Infrastructure Partnerships Australia Major Projects Symposium, with the express purpose of promote New Zealand as an investment destination. And if you’re looking to locate just how this is relevant to housing and social housing in particular just go to http://www.infrastructure.org.au/Search.aspx and enter the word housing.

It’s a sure bet that the next time Messrs Key, English and Joyce – oh, yes and Minister for Social Housing Paula Bennett – get together, there will be plenty of notes to swap about applying international lessons to providing social housing for low-income New Zealanders.

“Social bonds, social housing and Serco sounds like a good combination doesn’t it?”

Contributed by Stephen Olsen – in recent times before joining NewsRoom_Plus, Stephen worked for both CHA and the Australasian Housing Institute in dual part-time positions as a communications manager and publications editor. While working at CHA he designed the Doorways2Housing campaign and co-produced a video production about housing in West Auckland called the Outrageous Bus Tour. 

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TV3 – The Nation – Saturday 27 June

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The Government appears to be changing its approach to its flagship policy of selling off state houses. It is now talking about leasing properties rather than selling them to community providers. And there’s interest from at least one overseas player – the Australian non-profit Horizon Housing.

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Lisa Collins: This year we’ve been keeping a close eye on the Government’s planned sale of state houses. That took another step this week as Treasury held meetings around the country with potential buyers, gauging the level of interest and getting feedback. From those meetings The Nation has learnt two things – the Government is radically changing its approach and a new potential buyer has emerged. Patrick Gower with this exclusive report.

Gower voiceover (visuals driving by state houses): New Zealand state houses – the Government has put them on the block. It wants to sell a lot to private providers because it believes they’ll do a better job. A big idea put forward in this year’s State of the Nation speech.

Footage of John Key delivering speech: So we’re taking a very different approach to provide quality social housing for New Zealanders who need it.

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Gower voiceover (visuals including Sydney Opera Hose, Australian flag): A different approach is right. The buyers were initially meant to be community groups like the Salvation Army. But get this. This is really different. It can now be revealed the houses could be sold to.. Australia.

Gower to Bill English: Will you allow Australians to buy New Zealand state houses?

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Bill English, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance: Yeah that’s possible.

Gower voiceover : And there’s already a keen buyer. Horizon Housing. It provides community housing in Australia, and has been in New Zealand scoping our stock this week.

Audio of Horizon Housing CEO Jason Cubit speaking from Brisbane: So far it looks interesting to us. Now we’d like to expand our business because we’re good at it. We’re normally very viable and we can hopefully make some surpluses and reinvest it back into the New Zealand economy.

Gower voiceover: Bill English keen to do business.

English to Gower: If they can register as a community housing provider, they have to be able to meet the criteria. Ahh if they’ve got expertise, particularly in larger scale operation of owning lots of properties. Ahh then we’re interested in doing business with them.

Gower voiceover: If Horizon gets involved it will do some serious business.

Jason Cubit: We’d need hundreds to consider doing it. Three, four, five hundred would be a minimum. We’re good at what we do and that’s why we’re interested.

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Gower voiceover: The Government wants to sell 1000 to 2000 houses this year. And Horizon Housing is prepared to buy four to five hundred state houses minimum. That’s at least a quarter of what’s on offer potentially going offshore – across the Tasman.

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Cut to Labour Party leader Andrew Little: This is not what taxpayers expect their taxpayer dollars to be used for. To line the pockets of an Australian organisation for the housing needs of the most vulnerable New Zealanders.

Cut to Green Party co-leader Metiria Turei: They are so desperate to rid themselves of the housing stock, they will go to any lengths to do it, including selling off to Australian agencies.

Gower to English: This is a long way isn’t it, from the Salvation Army owning these houses to some Australian .. corporation essentially, owning them.

English: I don’t think it’s a long way at all. We’re looking for people who can help us get a better result for our tenants.

Gower voiceover: Horizon manages 2,600 homes and has a property portfolio worth $100 million. In Queensland and New South Wales it is a not-for-profit. It puts its profits back into its services.

English: We’re not ruling out bidders or community housing providers just because they have some Australian content. In fact the banks who are going to be participating in this are largely Australian owned banks.

Cut to Winston Peters: This comes way out of left field. It shows how desperate they are.

Gower voiceover: English is even prepared to sell to other countries too.

English: I’d be pretty surprised if there are others. Possibly the UK where there’s a lot more experience in doing social housing.

Gower voiceover: The houses are New Zealand assets. The whole idea of the Government’s policy is that the community housing providers will do a better job than Housing New Zealand.

English: There has been quite a lot of taxpayers’ money go into these houses but in the end the tenants are more important than the houses.

Gower voiceover: The Australian interest will be welcomed by the Government because, it isn’t going well. The Salvation Army pulled out, and Iwi have put in a low-ball offer.

Cut to interview with Haami Piripi, of the Iwi Chairs Forum, from previous episode of The Nation:
Screen Shot 2015-06-29 at 4.39.44 amPiripi: We would argue that the market price is zero.
Lisa Collins: So are you saying, just to be clear, that if you take this on, iwi wants the houses for free?

Piripi: That would be our starting point.

Gower voiceover: And the Government has had to adapt. It is now talking about leasing properties, rather than selling them.

Gower to English: It looks like a back down on your major policy.

English: Well no it isn’t. We’d probably prefer sales. Ahh if there’s an opportunity though, that’s going to work for tenants that involves leasing then we wouldn’t want to rule that out.

Cut to Andrew Little: It’s a Government that’s desperate to make a plan that can’t work so far, to work. They’re looking for any body who’s going to take it up.

Gower to camera: Nobody expected these houses to be sold to foreign buyers. Because there was absolutely no mention, not a hint, from the Government that this would happen. Yes the Australian buyer has the expertise to do the job, but that won’t stop this from being extremely controversial.

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Gower voiceover: So a real sales job coming up for English.

Closeout by Lisa Collins: And great work behind the scenes form Torben Akel, Catherine Walbridge and Brook Sabin on that piece. Now the Government will seek expressions of interest from those keen on buying or leasing those houses in September and October. And the successful bidders will be announced next April.

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Radio New Zealand – Morning Report – Monday 29 June

This morning, Guyon Espiner interviews John Key about the possibility of state houses being snapped up by an Australian housing provider, Horizon Housing:

Prime Minister John Key: Remember what we’re doing here (is to) increase the stock of houses provided by social housing providers. So if you buy them on the basis that we’re selling them, you just can’t knock them over for instance and build a whole lot of private sector homes. So everybody agrees I think we need more of them because there’s clearly a demand. People agree that they need to continue to be improved and maintained in good order. So this outfit as I understand it, and I don’t know a huge amount about them, but they’re a charity in Queensland and they are a community housing provider. So on the basis that they’re going to simply buy these properties, maintain them and ensure that they’re well looked after, and provide the other services they provide I’d say it’s not a bad fit.

Espiner: So how does it improve the housing needs of low-income New Zealanders to have Australians owning the houses?

Key: I don’t think it matters whether they’re Australian. The issue that matters is are they in the business we’ve been talking about, in other words are they community housing providers, social housing providers. So the way it benefits us is that these are homes in areas where we think that they’re somewhat more superfluous to our requirements and that frees up capital, and then that capital can then be used say, for instance, as part of, you know, developments that we’re doing for affordable housing and the like.

Espiner: Wasn’t part of the argument that the Government wasn’t as responsive, and didn’t have the expertise and the local links to the community – so that’s why you were talking about, and the conversation has been about iwi, the Salvation Army, and other charities and groups in New Zealand who have real links into society and may be able to look after these people better…

Key: Well I would have thought that (they’re) likely to be the dominant purchasers. It’s very difficult to know of course because we’re just going through a process, but..

Espiner: .. but this is roughly a quarter of the homes that you’ve got for sale, if it is four or five hundred…

Key: Yeah, I mean ultimately let’s wait and see. As I said I don’t know a tremendous amount about them, and you know it’s one thing for someone to come over and show interest, and for the Minister of Finance to say well look in principle, theoretically they could fit the criteria. (Now we have to) see if they’ll actually go through it, but the purpose I would have thought if this outfit buys (houses) is for them to satisfy themselves that they can add value, because ultimately the provision of social housing, there is some money in that, but it’s um not the most lucrative thing in the world. I don’t know what other services they can or want to provide.

Espiner: But surely the idea was, as I said, to have local expertise and local engagement with these people. They offer none of that.

Key: We don’t entirely know all of those other details, I certainly don’t know yet. My point would simply be that, firstly, let’s go back to base one. What’s our core objective, that there are more social houses, we’re certainly going to fulfil that. Secondly there may well be advantages of social housing providers, with the links or different services they can provide, (which we) can’t rule out here (as I) don’t know what other things they particularly do. And thirdly … it’s all relative, if not them then maybe someone else is interested – maybe they’re not… that’s the final tendering process I guess that the Crown has got to go through. Ultimately someone will be selected, hopefully on what they bring to the table.

Espiner: It looks a little desperate though. You talked about the Sallies, they weren’t interested. Iwi wanted the houses for nothing, that presumably isn’t a goer. And now we’ve got the Aussies saying well we could do it.

Key: I don’t think that’s right. What it shows you is that there are international players who are involved in this sort of thing, and in this case they’re a charity in Australia. Quite what their interests in New Zealand would be, I don’t know. But maybe they’ve got wider actions here, I mean, there are lots of charities in New Zealand that have significant international linkages. It’s not unsual. Many of them are international charities that have an outpost if you like, or a posting, in New Zealand. Let’s kind of wait and see, but you know we don’t say that Greenpeace can’t offer or play a role in New Zealand simply because they have a big international footprint, and New Zealand’s not their head office.

Espiner: But they’re an advocacy group aren’t they, that’s hardly the same as providing social housing for low-income New Zealanders.

Key: There are other charities that operate in New Zealand and social providers that operate in New Zealand and also operate internationally.

ENDS

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David Robie on Fiji, PNG lead betrayal, but still West Papuans triumph

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Article by David Robie. This item was also published on Café Pacific. THE Melanesian Spearhead Group leaders’ summit in Honiara this week must go down as the most shameful since the organisation was founded two decades ago.

It had the opportunity to take a fully principled stand on behalf of the West Papuan people, brutally oppressed by Indonesia after an arguably “illegal” occupation for more than a half century.

Host nation Solomon Islands Prime Minister and chair Mannaseh Sogareve set the tone by making an impassioned plea at the start of the summit, predicting a “test” for the MSG. He said it would be an issue of human rights and the rule of law.

In the end, the MSG failed the test with a betrayal of the people of West Papua by the two largest members. Although ultimately it is a decision by consensus.

Instead, the MSG granted Indonesia a “promotion” to associate member status – an Asian country, not even Melanesian?

And the recently formed United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), which had been forced to jump through many hoops over the past year or so provide a united “one voice” Papuan  front, was given observer status as a “development partner” for overseas Papuans – the same level occupied by Jakarta since 2011 until its elevation.

Political bribery was at stake. Lucrative aid promises from Jakarta trumped blood ties between Melanesians.

Brave face

Most media and some commentators see this as a huge achievement by the West Papua lobby movement, and even the ULMWP is putting a brave face on it.

[caption id="attachment_4995" align="alignleft" width="300"]Disappointed ... but a step forward. United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP) leaders Octo Mote (left) and Benny Wenda with observer status at the Honiara meeting of the Melanesian Spearhead Group. Image: Stefan Armbruster/SBS Disappointed … but a step forward. United Liberation Movement
for West Papua (ULMWP) leaders Octo Mote (left)
and Benny Wenda with observer status
at the Honiara meeting
of the Melanesian Spearhead Group.
Image: Stefan Armbruster/SBS[/caption]

A statement circulated by the Free West Papua Campaign has praised the MSG decision as “making history” with political recognition – but at what price?

“After 53 years of political struggle for the right to self-determination, the ULMWP representing West Papuans, was today granted observer status,” said the statement.

Thanking the Melanesian leaders, ULMWP secretary-general Octovianus Mote said: “We applied for full membership at the instruction of MSG leaders in 2013 and 2014. Despite not getting full membership [then], we welcome the decision of the leaders as it is our first step to full political recognition.”

Mote added that it was a welcome first step, and the struggle wouldn’t end there.

But the truth is the West Papuans have been betrayed, especially by the Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and Fiji leader Voreqe Bainimarama. For the Fiji and PNG delegations, Indonesian-funded aid is more important than human rights for their Melanesian brothers.

The West Papuans should have been granted full membership now.

But at least the Melanesian nations are actually trying to engage with Indonesia over West Papua, so much better than the wimpish Australian and New Zealand approach.

The Solomon Islands had declared support for a compromise of observer status before the summit began while both Vanuatu and the Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) of New Caledonia both supported full membership.

The ULMWP had hoped to follow the FLNKS precedent in obtaining full MSG membership without being a sovereign government.

West Papuan petition

More than 150,000 West Papuans signed a petition supporting MSG membership and an under-cover Dutch journalist visiting the region shortly before the MSG summit reported overwhelming support for the ULMWP cause in spite of a crackdown by security forces.

Perhaps the wisest message made during the week was by former Solomon Islands Prime Minister Ezekiel Alebua who described the involvement of Indonesia in Melanesian political space as a mistake.

In an interview with Joey Tau of the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG), who was media adviser for the ULMWP camp, Alebua declared that the founding fathers of the MSG founded the bloc on the values of promoting Melanesian common interests such as heritage, culture and traditions of peace and harmony.

“With due respect to the current Melanesian leaders, we have a new wave of leaders in this region who are more interested in trade and commerce, and give very little attention to our true Melanesian recognition,” he said.

“There are economic interests with Indonesia, but our fellow Melanesians are being abused and tortured, and we must act morally.”

One of the great mysteries of all the hype is about “five Melanesian provinces” in Indonesia. This is patently misleading, there are only two: Papua and West Papua. Previously there was one, but it was split into two to make it easier to divide and rule.

While the other three provinces, Maluku, North Maluku and East Nusa Tenggara, may have Melanesian minorities, they cannot be genuinely characterised as Papuan.

Face value

Why were journalists in Honiara not challenging such statements?

Defending the MSG decision,  Bainimarama said: “Fiji believes we are acting in the best interests of the people in West Papua.”

He added: “For our part, Fiji has been guided by a number of overriding principles in approaching the West Papua issue. The first and foremost of these is that Indonesian sovereignty over West Papua cannot be questioned. The province[s are] an integral part of Indonesia.”

Bainimarama even commended President Joko Widodo for the “steps they are taking to improve conditions in West Papua for its Melanesian population”.

Frankly, it seems that Bainimarama and O’Neill and their advisers have been either conned or seduced by the promises of development aid from Jakarta.

The sovereignty argument is a false one. The so-called Act of Free Choice in 1969 was a fraud.

Timor-Leste was invaded illegally by Indonesia in 1975 and for the next 24 years, Jakarta argued the territory was “Indonesian sovereignty”. But Timor independence was restored in 2002.

‘Untrue statements’

Andrew Johnson, a 20-year veteran with the Australia West Papua Association, specialising in historical research and analysis, has taken issue with “untrue statements” in the Fijian and Indonesian “spin” at the MSG summit.

Writing in Pacific Scoop, he noted that:

The Indonesian delegate has claimed that the United Nations has made a resolution granting Indonesia sovereignty over West Papua, “Kita harus tahu, resolusi PBB telah mengakui Papua Barat adalah bagian dari Indonesia.”

And Fiji’s Prime Minister is telling the MSG gathering that “Indonesian sovereignty over West Papua cannot be questioned. The province is an integral part of Indonesia.”

But neither of those statements are true.

I wrote a draft UN General Assembly resolution that the Vanuatu Parliament wanted to tender five years ago asking that the International Court of Justice be allowed to give its advice whether West Papua is legally part of Indonesia or is a non-self-governing territory.

As it happens, I also believe West Papua is a UN Trust Territory due to Indonesia asking and the UN General Assembly putting UN Charter article 85 part 1 into effect when it made General Assembly Resolution 1752; the result of which would mean that New Zealand and other UN members are legally required to promote West Papua towards independence under article 76 of the Charter.

Whether I am correct, or the Fijian PM is correct, is a matter that only the International Court of Justice (ICJ) can answer.

The MSG has raised the issue of the sovereignty of West Papua, and I think it is long overdue that our governments asked the ICJ to answer the question whether West Papua is a UN trust territory or not.

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byWADE…new futures contracts on Greece: Goldman Steamer

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bywade, iammenotyou.com, cartoons, illustrations, greece, europe, financial
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www.facebook.com/bywade or look at more stuff and buy things in obscene volumes to show how successful and cool you are at www.iammenotyou.com…]]>

Second Drafts Of History: Time to choose a flag

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NewsroomPlus.com Contributed by Stephen Olsen – see also LinkedIn Pulse Five years ago, in 2010, I wrote a short article for a now defunct magazine called ProDesign. The topic was the design of the New Zealand flag, and the title of the published article was ‘First Drafts’.  With the moves to institute a flag change currently being run as a glossy  “engaging with government” exercise, it seemed time to dust that article off and give it a simple cut & paste reprint, below, at the end of my first proper post on LinkedIn. The impetus for ‘First Drafts’ was reading a piece in the Sunday Star-Times in which Sean McGarry, the then president of DINZ (the Designers Institute of New Zealand), was featured injecting a very abstract design as part of the languishing ‘flag debate’. Before I renew contact with Sean to see if he still has a copy of his draft design, I do recall something that was visually reminiscent of a Split Enz album cover! Prodesign editor Michael Barrett responded well to the idea of an article back in 2010, and under Sean’s leadership of DINZ it dovetailed neatly with an additional call to members of DINZ to engage on the challenge of flag design generally. The next stop in my research was a straight line to flag advocate extraordinaire Lloyd Morrison – a name that would, you’d think, have been mentioned frequently as a touchstone for the potential flag-changing path that the country is now on. Lloyd – who sadly passed away in 2012 at just 54 years old – had amassed a string of remarkable business achievements in his life, and supported many initiatives – as noted in a tribute from NZEdge.com producer Brian Sweeney. Yet one of the most elusive campaigns Morrison devoted his relentless energies to was not about building a business, it was about changing the flag. In 2010 his battle with cancer was taking a toll, and yet I’ll always remember he still made time for an interview for ProDesign, and furthermore for a ragtag meeting with McGarry, myself, Scoop’s Alastair Thompson and PR man Gerry Morris to entertain ideas for re-igniting that elusive campaign.

Fast forwarding to 2015

It’s interesting now to see Gareth Morgan, and the Morgan Foundation, enter the fray. And interesting to contrast Morgan’s Six Dumbest Objections to Changing Our Flag with Morrison’s Eight Reasons For A New New Zealand Flag Morrison – reasons to change:
  1. A flag is meant to be flown
  2. A flag needs to be instantly recognisable
  3. A flag is a brand
  4. A flag needs to connect emotionally
  5. A flag should represent great design
  6. A new flag can honour our past
  7. A new flag should say one thing
  8. The times they are a changin’
Morgan – dumb reasons not to change:
  1. You should never change your flag
  2. Our soldiers died for the flag
  3. We are all from Britain
  4. I like it
  5. Waste of money
  6. Flags don’t matter, do something important
One way that DINZ has been taking part this year is through a video, educatively describing how 5 principles of design can be applied to flags. Unfortunately, and somewhat like the Flag Consideration Panel roadshow, the views racked up on Youtube are an unstellar 131, and amazingly the window of time before ‘design sourcing’ shuts is 16 July. Listen up people, that’s just half-a-month left to:
  • ahem, share what you ‘stand for’ (quick it entitles to you have your name included on a national flagpole!)
  • hold or be part of a discussion in your community (there is a kit)
  • get your school involved (there is a kit for that too)
  • or meet the officially selected panel on their national road show, with just six stops left before it finishes up at Te Tii Waitangi Marae on Sunday 5 July.
And all happening 175 years after the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Between 17 July and 19 November the 12-member Flag Consideration Panel (or should that be a jury?) will be trimming designs down so that there are just four alternatives to flag preferences on in Referendum #1 between 20 November and 11 December this year. Referendum #2, also binding, will be run up that magical mystery flagpole from 3-24 March 2016, and the question will be how does the new ‘chosen one’ fly next to the old ruling flag? Which one will be the best bet to take a flutter on?

Not feeling inspired?

Michael Smythe at Design Assembly has written a nifty overview of what’s likely to unfold, using that well-worn wedding saying as the parameters for what we should expect to see emerge, namely: Something old; Something blue; Something borrowed; Something new. Arch-comparator Australia may not yet be biting this bullet, but it’s bound to happen there too and ideas have certainly been kicked around for years, like this example included in a very good overview of Australian graphic design by Canadian Robert L. Peters in 2007. Coincidentally with New Zealand, Fiji has been on the move to a new flag this year as reported by Fijian journalist Richard F. Naidu for NewsRoom_Plus, and will definitely be first past the post by a long margin. In Fiji feedback is due to end this Wednesday, July the 1st, when designs will be submitted to Cabinet for consideration and a vote in the Fijian Parliament will decide the new Fijian flag in time for the 45th celebration of independence on October the 10th. Reports out of the newly democratised nation relayed by Radio New Zealand have been that the Fijian public have been alienated by the process. Of the 23 final entries, nine feature a triangle emerging horizontally from the left, while five feature an identical wave and sail design, four have an identical boat on a straight line, and four others feature yellow stars or a sun. But after 1000-plus entries that went in, it was reported that designs were a matter of ‘design by committee‘. New Zealand’s own provocative ‘committee of one’, Gareth Morgan, has been seeking to spice up the design process here with a newly announced competition, especially calling on designs that best acknowledge the spirit of the Treaty of Waitangi, saying he’s concerned a lot of entries don’t represent Maori fairly enough. In good Morgan fashion there’s a prize too of $20,000, and entries close on Monday 13 July – details at designmyflag.nz and it’s well worth checking the latest entries (no jokes there!), which will in fact go before not just Morgan, but designers Mark Pennington (head designer Formway), Catherine Griffiths (designer and typographer) and Desna Whaanga-Schollum (Nga Aho co-chair) to help choose a winner to put into the mix by 16 July.

Off the sidelines for one day

Having revisited all of the above, I have been motivated today to think of what I would possibly submit as a flag design if a flag designer I could be, just for one day. Extra motivation was that during the week I was interviewed by Kristen Paterson, Station Manager at Wellington Access Radio about my views as a ‘working journalist’ on what’s wrong with journalism. Part of my take on that was that it is a temptation or trap as a journalist to be forever an elevated spectator or commentator, and seldom a participant. For today I got a sudden idea for a flag from heading up Wellington’s Kelburn Parade and being captivated by the blue sky – of late, a rare and beautiful climactic spectacle – and the way that two lofty cranes were positioned, thus: A little bit of photoshopping later and I ended up with this: Kind of what I had in mind, but what could I add? This?: Yeah, NAH : ) Then I was reminded of that constant image, of our two main islands of Te Ika a Maui and Te Wai Pounamu; pervasively, potently and ever-presently present. Those two fingers to the world, one called north and one called south – so often left off the edge of the map. Wouldn’t or couldn’t that be a compelling element of ‘our flag’? Then with recent satellite imagery of our long snow-covered land in mind, and a big nod to a matariki item at the Big Idea, I came up with this second draft effort of a woven motif showing off Aotearoa New Zealand in summer (yet to be submitted!) _______________________

Looking back 

PRO/DESIGN MAGAZINE – February/March 2010

FIRST DRAFTS – pdf copy here

Brief: In a landscape format, output to an A4 or A3 sheet of paper a simple, distinctive design that communicates a compelling point of difference and edge for ‘brand New Zealand’. Must be able to be flown on a flagpole. Also known as a flag. Deadline: Some time this decade. The sooner the better. The design community should take the lead and provide the solution to calls for a new New Zealand flag, according to Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ) president Sean McGarry. Having now entered the ‘flag debate’ through a feature in the Sunday Star-Times, Sean is convinced that the flag can only be made better by design, and that the design community. “I engaged on this not as an abstract exercise, but because it represents the best kind of challenge, namely how do you solve a problem like the NZ flag?” McGarry says. “The essence is that we’re a different nation now, in a different millennia. This is our logo to the world and we’ll only get one chance to make this change.” Lloyd Morrison, the passionate businessman who launched the NZFlag.com campaign back in 2004, is 100% behind the principle that focusing NZ’s best design minds on this problem could be just what’s needed to get a result. “The push for a referendum on NZFlag.com six years ago failed – mainly because we underestimated the huge effort required to communicate the aims, objectives and benefits of the campaign. The underlying issues haven’t changed: New Zealanders are still not emotionally connected to their flag, and are still dissatisfied with its design and with what it represents”. Morrison is keeping the issue alive at NZFlag.com and on a Facebook page (New Zealand Flag) but strongly believes the leadership this time around should pass to a body like DINZ. Some things are changing. The Tino Rangatiratanga flag is now getting its due – flying on the Auckland Harbour Bridge and other public sites for Waitangi Day this year. And next to rumblings about becoming a Republic made during bonnie Prince William’s visit in January, were vox pop comments such as “Let’s change our flag first and see how we feel after that”. For Morrison the way forward is to have a well-staged, publicly open process – probably leading to a panel that could possibly commission and select designs, through to public agreement on one final contender to go up against the reigning flag. “That way it’s one versus one,” he says. The same three questions he employs to challenge current support for what we have, could well be an acid test for the final selection, namely: What do you like about it?, Specifically what parts about it? And a handy clincher: What makes it different from the Australian flag? In amongst its high profile endorsers – many of them sports people, including All Black legends Colin Meads and Graham Mourie – the earlier 2004 campaign certainly captured some designer input from the likes of Peter Haythornthwaite, Donna Cross, Jeffy James, Turi Park, Cameron Sanders and Michael Smythe, with Dick Frizzell commenting “I can’t imagine why anybody WOULDN’T want a new flag!! ” Interestingly, the Returned Services Association said it would back changing New Zealand’s flag as long as a majority of voters support a change in a referendum. It’s been noted that if a new flag was chosen, the likelihood is the old flag and its history would not be forgotten and that it would be flown for ceremonial purposes. Morrison says that NZFlag.com put forward a silver fern design, one of our best known national visual icons, as a prompt for discussion and not as a proprietary option – and adds that he has no one preference from new designs that emerged in 2004 or from existing contenders. For instance, like muso Barnarby Weir, he is a fan of the well-known Friedensreich Hundertwasser design for a New Zealand flag. Canada offers direct parallels of a country that shifted its flag from what Otago academic Josh Barton has categorized as “Colonial nonsense” to a flag that is instantly recognizable. Thanks to political leadership there – back in 1964 would you believe – the Canadian parliament created a special flag committee and tasked it with finding a flag design in only six weeks. Exactly 35 meetings later the maple leaf flag was born – winning out over 389 rivals that contained beavers and 359 with fleur-de-lis. Go Canada! Will Australia beat us to the flagpole with a new flag? What will it take for change to happen here? Are you up for it? ProDesign certainly is. Alongside DINZ and NZFlag.com we will be running some suggestions on flag design on the ProDesign blog (www.prodesign.co.nz) Until then visit the links below for hints on flag design and examples of designs that arose during the debate stimulated by NZFlag.com Links: ENDS –]]>

NewsRoom Digest: Top NZ News Items for June 26, 2015

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Newsroom Digest

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest contains 5 media release snippets and 4 links for the day of Friday 26th June.

Top stories in the current news cycle include responses to Auckland Council getting set to hike its rates and its contentious transport levy, a story that the Reserve Bank has been told in official documents to stick to its knitting by the Treasury – with officials warning that rules on mortgage borrowing need to be within its mandate, and opposition from nutrition and obesity experts to meal replacement shakes being marketed for children.

NEWSROOM_PLUS extra – get a handle on further details of the Government’s cycleways announcement and media releases from around the country at: http://newsroomplus.com/2015/06/26/cycling-1/

SNIPPETS OF THE DAY

* Politics

Diplomat Unfairly Targeted: A New Zealand diplomat is unfairly in the spotlight for the government’s extravagant purchase of an $11 million apartment in New York, says New Zealand First Leader and Member of Parliament for Northland Rt Hon Winston Peters. “The two men responsible for this out-of-control spending are Foreign Minister Murray McCully and Finance Minister Bill English, the latter being in charge of one of the biggest borrowings by a government on record. Our United Nations representative, who will live in the apartment, is simply doing his job.” 

Greens Oppose Continuation Of Ruataniwha Project : The Ruataniwha dam project should not proceed, as it has already sucked up $12million of Hawke’s Bay ratepayers’ money and $6m from the taxpayer, and questions still remain about the dam’s viability in the wake of yesterday’s Board of Inquiry decision, the Green Party said today.

* Business

NZX Sells Its 50% Stake In Link Market Services NZ: After more than 10 years in a successful joint venture partnership, NZX today announces that its partner Link Market Services of Australia, a member of the Link Group, will purchase NZX’s 50% shareholding in Link Market Services (Link NZ). Link NZ is New Zealand’s leading provider of share registry services, with 12 of the S&P/NZX 20 issuers as clients.

Freightways Announces Upgrade: Freightways Limited (NZX:FRE) has announced a fleet upgrade of its airfreight service to meet the growing demands for its expanding express package business.

* Primary Industries

Biosecurity Pups Name:Fudge (girl) and Fritz (boy) are the winning names for two new biosecurity detector puppies that have been especially bred to stop pests and diseases from entering New Zealand.The Ministry for Primary Industries announced the beagle names today after running a public competition to name two puppies from its “F-litter”.

LINKS OF THE DAY

TOTAL GOODS EXPORTS FALL IN MAY: Total goods exports fell $214 million (4.7 percent) to $4.4 billion in May 2015 compared with May 2014, Statistics New Zealand said today. Milk powder, butter, and cheese exports led the fall, down 28 percent ($346 million). For more information about these statistics:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/imports_and_exports/OverseasMerchandiseTrade_HOTPMay15.aspx

LOCAL GOVERNMENT TAXATION REVENUE INCREASES: Local government finance statistics (GFS) had a net operating surplus of $0.9 billion for the June 2014 year, Statistics New Zealand said today. For more information about these statistics:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/government_finance/local_government/GovernmentFinanceStatisticsLocalGovernment_HOTPYeJun14.aspx

WORKERS NOT SAFE: There is a ‘it won’t happen to me’ attitude among workers and employers operating in New Zealand’s highest-risk industries.The Health and Safety Attitudes and Behaviours in the New Zealand Workforce survey studied New Zealand’s highest risk industries where most workers are injured or killed – agriculture, construction, forestry, manufacturing and commercial fishing. See overal survey results herehttp://www.business.govt.nz/worksafe/research/research-reports/reports/attitudes-and-behaviours-survey-qualitative-construction-report.pdf and results for the maritime industry herehttp://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/Publications-and-forms/Commercial-operations/Shipping-safety/Health-and-safety/MNZ-commercial-fishing-report-2014.pdf:

SUCCESSFUL PRODUCTION PLANS NEEDED AFTER FALL IN MILK PRICE: With milk prices down, the dairy industry needs to focus on the fundamentals of successful dairy production which have given the country its competitive advantage. Go here for more: http://www.dairynz.co.nz/news/latest-news/back-to-basics-to-sustain-dairys-competitiveness/

And that’s our sampling of the day that was on Friday 26th 2015.

Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>

Keith Rankin on Money ‘As If’ it was Magic

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Analysis by Keith Rankin. This article was also published on TheDailyBlog.co.nz.

Most of us who have money think of money ‘as if’ it was a commodity with magical properties. We believe that it is a kind of stuff that appreciates over time, that is instantly convertible into any good or service that we might demand (through a process called ‘shopping’), and that may be ‘produced’ in one time period and consumed in another.

Various metaphors have been used for this kind of thinking, with money having been likened to squirrels’ acorns, cans of baked beans (see my Acornomics on Scoop, 25 October 2013) or survivalists’ preserved peaches (Google: ‘Mayan prophecy “canned peaches”‘!). These metaphors all fall short, as none of these commodities are sufficiently magic. Unlike money subject to compound interest, acorns (for example) do not appreciate over time. Some alcoholic beverages appreciate over long periods, thanks to the process of fermentation enabled by that magic-like fungus, yeast. Yeast is thus a good metaphor for interest.

One concept used in advanced abstract economic growth modelling is economic putty-putty (yes, you may google it), which conveys a sense of plasticity while maintaining the fiction that economic output can be traded across time ‘as if’ old output (goods and services) was indistinguishable from new output.

The commodity metaphor I will use is necessarily a figment of the imagination. It’s ‘magic resin’, and gives us the neologism ‘resinomics’. Think of this yeast-infused resinous commodity as being amber-coloured and organic. Unlike gold, it appreciates continuously over time through a process of compound interest. Like gold bullion it may be stored in bulk or divided into small pieces of different sizes. Magic resin is instantly convertible (‘shopable’!) into a good or service appropriate to the amount of resin offered. Resin-money is destroyed when it is spent, conveying a sense of impoverishment through spending.

From a resinomic point of view, our individual and collective accumulations of resin (ie money) represent our economic wealth. The ‘economic problem’ is understood as how to make and accumulate as much resin as possible given limited resources. We understand production (and employment) as a process of ‘making money’. Thus, as businesses, we do things like catching fish in trawlers not because we want to catch fish, but because we want to ‘make’ money; money that we want because we understand it to behave as if it was magic resin.

Do you (dear reader) think of money in this way, as if it was magic resin? One simple test is the following question:

Which of these – ‘exports’ or ‘imports’ – represents the benefit of international trade?

If you were even tempted to answer ‘exports’ then this is the way that you most likely think about money. Of course it only takes a moment’s reflection to realise that the benefit of an exchange is what you get (‘imports’ in this example), and that the cost of an exchange is what you give up. We too easily think, however, that acquiring imports means that we give up the magic stuff that we regard as wealth.

It was good to see a commentator (Draco) to my last week’s posting on The Daily Blog (House Prices, Interest Rates and Money, 21 June 2015) agree that “money is a technology, not a commodity”, saying “all income needs to be spent in near real time to keep the economy moving”. While I’m sure I would differ with Draco on precisely how money works as a technology, at least he(?) understands the conundrum of money. Money, as a circulating medium, is a means that facilitates prosperity; money is an economic means, not an end in itself. Money is a means to wealth; it is not wealth.

Economic Problem Solving

To understand why so many economic issues are so intractable, we need a way of thinking about why so many people think about these problems through the particular frames that they choose to use. The classic case of confused economic thinking is the pension problem.

A good reference point here is David A Moss (a Harvard Business School professor), and his 2007 book A Concise Guide to Macroeconomics; What Managers, Executives and Students Need to Know (see relevant excerpts in Google Books). While Moss is no economic radical, he clearly understands the realities about wealth that most economics textbooks shy away from.

Moss has an excerpt called “The Pension Dilemma and the Centrality of Output”, at the end of his chapter on ‘Output’. That chapter clearly explains that economic output is ‘goods and services’, not money. In the excerpt he explains how there are no economic advantages in ‘pre-funded’ pension schemes (like the Australian pension fund) vis-à-vis ‘pay-as-you-go’ schemes (such as New Zealand Superannuation). Pre‑funded schemes are based on the principle that output saved today (eg 2015) can be consumed tomorrow (eg 2040) as if it was acorns or canned food or magic resin. The reality, however, is that whatever the scheme, tomorrow’s pensioners can only consume tomorrow’s output. They cannot consume today’s output tomorrow.

Moss says:

“The underlying problem is more straightforward than it seems. The amount of [current] output that a country produces is its ultimate budget constraint, regardless of how many stocks or bonds or social security cards may be floating around. Unless its output grows, a country cannot give more to its retirees without giving less to its workers. The key point to remember is that as a society, it is output, not financial wealth, that we have to rely on in the end.”

For Moss, and most economists who are not employed in the finance industry, it’s economic growth that matters, not financial claims (of which money is the most ‘liquid’). The appreciation of pension funds that ‘invest’ in speculative assets is as illusory as any financial bubble. Indeed, these pre-funded retirement funds are significant culprits in inflating our perceptions of our wealth, and in creating financial crises when the bubbles burst.

I disagree with Moss’s apparent emphasis on steady economic growth. Success for me is an ‘elastic’ economy that is able to produce more goods and services when it has to, and conserves resources when it can. There’s a much greater chance that we can support our populations in relative comfort in 2040 if we focus today on productivity growth through input conservation over the next decade or so, rather than doing our best to squander resources today that we could save (ie conserve) and use if necessary to provide sufficient goods and services tomorrow.

Conclusion

It is a common and sometimes useful abstraction to think of one thing ‘as if’ it were another. Many of us think of God ‘as if’ He was a man. Neoclassical economists think of ‘economic men’ ‘as if’ they were rational pleasure-maximising pain-minimising beings with substantial foresight. Most of us (especially politicians, journalists, business persons and finance sector professionals) think of money ‘as if’ it were Magic Resin, as described above. (See this article ‘Stock Takes: Super Fund kudos shows Govt folly‘ from today’s NZ Herald as a resinomist report of our own sovereign wealth fund as a font of appreciating resin.) While most economists think differently, too many, especially when they are formulating public policy, think ‘as if’ they believe that money is akin to magic resin.

The reality is that money is a very useful medium of exchange (a social technology), material wealth is the goods and services (output) that we produce and enjoy, and that all output has a lifespan (very short in the case of services; slow depreciation in the case of a house).

We can however use output today to facilitate more output tomorrow. That process is called (by economists) ‘investment’ (not to be confused with what finance sector professionals call “investment”). Investment is essentially a process of ‘planting’ rather than consuming purchased output, for example as planting seeds in the ground or as demanding ‘plant and equipment’ to facilitate future production. Merely holding unspent money (or financial assets which are claims on money) in the expectation that it will appreciate like maturing whisky is a practice built on quite erroneous thinking about money. Yet almost all our policy debates – from retirement income to Greek debt to inequality – are all too easily framed around the assumption that unspent money accumulates ‘as if’ it were magic stuff.

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Media insight: Climate change process goes over our heads

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NewsroomPlus.com

Contributed by Olex Barnes 

What a great outing for the media it was yesterday. Such fun and excitement was to be had by us, as we pointed our cameras towards the roof of Parliament. Where four members of Greenpeace had managed to sneak up and unfurl not the most flattering of banners of John Key, as well as erecting several solar panels with which they could keep their electronics functioning.

Then at the prearranged time they abseiled down to peacefully get carted off by the police as we the media stood behind the barriers, loving every minute of it, with our inflated sense of importance, as the real story passed us by, the reason why Greenpeace was up there in the first place. The biggest threat that we currently face as a species, climate change.

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Flickr User: Nattu

The timing for the protests have been opportune, following on from in Wellington found ourselves cut off from our family and houses in the suburbs after another extreme weather event. Then barely a month later the Manawatu-Whanganui region is hit by a once in eighty year flooding that forced many people from their homes. This coupled with the extreme drought the North Island was faced with in 2012. Wellington did not see rain for over a month, something practically unheard of in the city of four seasons in one day. These climactic events are becoming more and more frequent. Climate change has moved away from data graphs to events that we are now experiencing with increasing frequency.

It’s this mounting evidence that was the reason for those activists being up on the roof of Parliament, and we the media should have taken their cue, and through truthfully speaking we should never have need for them to give us that cue, but we did and that is to our detriment.

A simple task was given to us, to start a conversation about what needs to be done to help combat climate change, to bring it into the public eye so that it can be seen to be discussed, and yes, so that pressure can then be applied to politicians and action can be taken.

As I stood outside Parliament last night, my fingers losing sensation (no you cannot use that to disprove climate change) my own camera locked on the events, I took mental stock of those members of the media around me. A median age similar to mine, mid 20’s. Those of us that are going to spend the majority of our lives facing the consequences of climate change. Here we were with this great opportunity to help change things. We could write articles, tying together the recent extreme weather that we have all witnessed to what we can expect in the future and what Greenpeace was doing on that roof. We could have furnished those stories with pictures of those families in Manawatu-Whanganui, and Taranaki who have lost everything in the flooding. Driven the point home.

Yet this was not the narrative that we chose to take, we focused on the immediate spectacle of activists abseiling down the front of parliament taking shots of them as they landed and police officers calming walked up to them to arrest them, then commenting on how they were lead away to the cheers of the crowd behind us. Then we turned the conversation back to narrow circumstances, focusing on the activists themselves, the messengers rather than the message. Now we are focusing on the potential of criminal charges, subtle and conventional vilification as a way of discrediting them and their message.

So at the end of this I would like to say that we the media, dropped the ball which we do on a regular basis, but this time those that reported are of an age who will face the consequences of not taking action on Climate Change and if we do not pick up the ball and run with it, we and our descendants are the ones that are going to suffer.

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Further Reading: Climate change are we listening – Brent Edwards, Radio New Zealand

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Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: NZ’s military future

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By Dr Bryce Edwards.

[caption id="attachment_4808" align="alignleft" width="150"]Dr Bryce Edwards. Dr Bryce Edwards.[/caption]

Largely flying under the radar of mainstream public debate, the Government has launched a major Defence Review and initial public consultations finished this week. Some polarised opinions on this revolve around how much New Zealand should spend on its military, and what international strategic alliances should be entered into. 

The Government’s current Defence Review poses three big questions: Who will defend us? How shall we fight? and How much are we willing to pay? That’s what Chris Trotter says in his newspaper column today – see: New Zealand’s defences rely on the kindness of our friends. Trotter argues that our domestic security continues to rest on the benevolence of New Zealand’s allies.

Trotter bemoans that rather than having a proper debate about defence issues, the Government is really only putting resources and energy into the flag design referendum. He says: “Deciding how our nation should be defended, and by whom, is surely as worthy of intense public debate as the colour of the flag they fight under?”

Also criticising the lack of debate, Karl du Fresne says that the recent Gallipoli military centenary should have been a time for major reflection on the state of the armed forces – see: The chance that was missed on Anzac Day. Like Trotter, du Fresne points to the military’s reliance on its international allies: “no one should kid themselves that they’re capable of defending us against attack. For that we would have to rely on our friends, principally Australia and the United States”.

He puts the decline in debate down to the “generational change in politics”, and the fact that the “RSA has lost its clout as its numbers have thinned, so there’s no one to harass the government on defence issues.  In any case, spending on defence has never been a vote winner”.

Similarly, Peter Greener of Victoria University’s Centre for Strategic Studies has recently argued that New Zealand has some once-in-a-generation decisions to be made about the direction of the defence forces, but this is occurring in the “foolish” absence of public debate – see: The defence debate New Zealand needs is underway. He suggests some upcoming major defence equipment purchases mean that there “never has there been a greater need for public awareness and debate than now”. 

Radicalism in the defence debate

For the best sense of the defence debate, and some of the polarised positions on the future of the New Zealand military, see Karl du Fresne’s comprehensive article in last week’s Listener: Fighting talk, which has now been unlocked for general viewing on their website. It’s a must-read review of a symposium that du Fresne attended, where some “mavericks” put forward some very different visions for the future of New Zealand’s defence arrangements. 

On one side of the debate, du Fresne reports on Chris Salt’s views that New Zealand currently has a “sitting ducks” defence policy that almost welcomes invasion by hostile forces. He declares the policy “devoid of honour and integrity”, and instead argues: “New Zealand needs to build a military force capable of deterring or repelling a much larger aggressor state – and without the need for substantial assistance from allies”.

The polar opposite point of view is put by Damien Rogers, a former Defence employee and now a lecturer in politics at Massey University. According to du Fresne, Rogers calls for a radical rethink of New Zealand’s defence needs, including the possibility of downsizing the Defence Force, reducing expenditure and critically re-evaluating New Zealand’s security partners. His argument seems to be that the current arrangements – including peacekeeping missions – are merely reinforcing imperialism while wasting resources that could much more effectively save lives and improve the world. 

Other academics are quoted as calling for significant realignments in New Zealand’s role in Asia and the Pacific. Du Fresne also declares that “Defence hasn’t been a hot-button political issue since the Anzus debate of the 1980s and 90s”.

Yet none of this defence radicalism or diversity appears to be reflected in our political parties, all of whom seem (to varying degrees) inclined towards consensus and the status quo. Compare this to the mid-1980s when there were bold and different positions from the parties on defence and foreign affairs, especially on New Zealand’s relations with the US and about nuclear weapons. Bob Jones’ New Zealand Party won about 11 per cent of the vote on a programme that included declaring New Zealand a non-aligned state and slashing defence expenditure. More recently, in 2013, Jones argued once again that NZ should abolish its armed forces. 

Richard Jackson of the National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Otago recently received a Marsden Fund grant to study how pacifism and non-violence might better underpin how countries like New Zealand operate and orientate to the world – see: Give peace a chance. This article says that Jackson “would like to see New Zealand get rid of its military forces and become an openly peaceful country, modelled on Costa Rica”. Emulating that nation, which abolished its military in 1948, New Zealand could become “The Costa Rica of the South Pacific”.

It’s all about the money

Should we get ready for a big increase in defence spending? Probably. Much of the current debate revolves around how much to spend. Karl du Fresne says that “by world standards our defence spending is low: just 1 per cent of GDP, compared with Australia (1.6 per cent), Britain (2.2) and the United States (3.8)” – see: The chance that was missed on Anzac Day. 

As a sign of where things are going, it’s worth remembering that a year ago the National Government announced “plans to invest more than $500 million in the Defence Force over the next four years” – see Isaac Davison’s Govt announces $100m boost for Defence. The Opposition’s response was: Defence Force funding not enough – Labour. 

The Defence Review is likely to recommend substantial new purchases of aircraft and ships when the Defence White Paper is released later this year. It is already established that the Air Force’s aging Hercules need to be replaced, and in April the leading procurement option was revealed: “the cost of two Boeing C-17 Globemasters would be at least $600m, with an operating cost of $20,000 per hour” – see Aimee Gulliver’s Defence Force could spend $600m on two new planes. 

The purchase of such expensive crafts is being led by New Zealand’s growing defence orientation to Antarctica, which requires planes that can fly all the way there and back without landing if necessary. This is explained by Richard Harman in his article NZ Antarctic flights on ice, which details an incident in which Foreign Minister Murray McCully was aboard a potentially disastrous flight.

Harman – who has been writing some must-read defence stories on his Politik website – also stresses the shift in the Government’s thinking towards Antarctica: “the ability of the Air Force and the Navy to service the Antarctica will be a major theme in the forthcoming white paper” – see: Our “unsuitable” defence equipment problems. 

For more on how the Defence Force is now orientating to maritime fields (but with some problems), see Kate Newton’s 2014 Radio New Zealand feature, The future-facing Defence Force. 

Procurement problems

In Harman’s last article (above), he also details the debacles over recently purchased helicopters that don’t work properly, army trucks that are too heavy for New Zealand roads, and naval patrol vessels that can’t travel very far offshore. The Defence Minister Gerry Brownlee is quoted as saying the helicopters were “a dreadful purchase”. 

The NH90 helicopters, which arrived in 2012 but were purchased by the previous government, have recently been revealed as something of a white elephant. According to Stacey Kirk’s report, during the recent Pacific aid mission after Cyclone Pam, “the defence force was unable to take any of its new NH90s to Vanuatu because they were too difficult to transport and would not cope with Pacific winds” – see: Gerry Brownlee: NH90 helicopters purchase ‘interesting’. NZ First’s Ron Mark is quoted as saying the purchase was “madness” and “verged on a scandal”.

A Herald editorial has slammed the defence forces for the purchase, saying that the $771 million expenditure was “the biggest single defence purchase since the navy’s two Anzac frigates in the 1980s” – see: ‘Challenging’ NH90 helicopters sorry look for Govt. 

Meanwhile, the previous helicopters are being sold off – see Aimee Gulliver’s NZDF selling 10 remaining Iroquois “as is”. 

And then there was the purchase of the LAVS, explained by du Fresne: “The government spent $650 million buying 105 light armoured vehicles in 2001 – a crazy decision – and only 11 have been deployed in combat (in Afghanistan, where they proved unsuitable)”.

The current military purchasing decision is for guns, with modern rifles replacing the old Steyr guns that have been used for two decades – see TV3’s New guns approved for Defence Force. The purchase is part of a wider weapon replacement programme. 

In the end, fiscal issues will play a strong role in determining future defence policy. This explains the last Labour Government’s defence decisions, according to Richard Harman, who has been looking at recently released Treasury documents – see: The Real reason the Army won our defence battle – and why it may soon have to retreat. 

This article suggests it was Treasury advice that underpinned the infamous decision to scrap the Air Force Skyhawk fighters. The department warned the incoming Government about the unsustainable costs of the current defence settings, and recommended a shift to resourcing the army instead, “because it was cheaper and less technologically complex”. 

A “land forces first” policy has dominated since then. But Harman “understands that Antarctica and the Southern Ocean are likely to feature much more prominently in the current Defence Review than the two lines they got in the 2009 review.  That would logically lead on to a greater emphasis in expenditure on the Air Force and the Navy.  And that would mark the end of the land based focus”.

New Zealand’s international strategic focus

The latest Global Peace Index gives New Zealand a ranking of fourth in the world for its peaceful environment. This suggests that all is well in terms of strategic and international relations. What’s more, New Zealand is effectively back in ANZUS, and next month will participate with Australia and the United States in a major training exercise – see Tom Hunt’s NZ off to play war games with the big boys. 

Yet the Government’s Defence Review continues to provoke questions about New Zealand’s role in the changing world order. On the new Incline website (recently set up at Victoria University to discuss New Zealand’s place in the world), there are three articles with very different opinions on how New Zealand should align itself and interact with the world – see Matthew Hill’s Will the 2015 Defence White Paper Go Far Enough?, Hugh White’s New Zealand’s Strategic Objectives in a Contested Asia and Beth Greener’s Getting New Zealand Beyond the Great Power Game. 

For an even more wide-ranging discussion of similar issues, see Colin James’ Global citizens in a world of disorder.

But Gerald Hensley – the former head of the Prime Minister’s Department and secretary of defence – says that in the current changing world order, New Zealand’s security needs are best met by diplomacy – see his paywalled NBR column, Diplomacy is back. He argues that New Zealand should be building up, not running down, its diplomatic capacity.

The Health of military management

How healthy and robust is the current defence force management? A recent TV3 3D investigation should be cause for concern – see Paula Penfold’s 20-minute documentary, The Untold story of the Battle of Baghak. The Defence Force appears to be desperately avoiding discussion of these major issues – see TV3’s Defence Force refusing to talk about Baghak – Goff. 

The forces’ ability to modernise is also under question, with its problems recruiting and retaining female staff – see Aimee Gulliver’s Low female Defence Force recruit numbers ‘disturbing’. Yet, also in terms of gender relations and modernisation, see Teuila Fuatai’s Defence Force hosts first same-sex wedding. 

Finally, is the Defence Force too fat? Aimee Gulliver reports that according to one measure, “nearly one in five soldiers are considered obese”, and so “sugary fizzy drinks and deep fried food” are now being restricted – see: Defence force staff carrying extra pounds. 

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byWADE…the TPPA could be cool…eh?

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bywade www.imamenotyou.com cartoons illustrations TPPA
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wrote about how cool the TPPA is…and there’s lots of other people who think it’s a really good thing too…so what’s all the fuss about? …let’s all march to parliament tomorrow and climb up onto it and tell our elected officials that we don’t want to know anything about  the TPPA…we don’t want to know what’s in it…that they don’t need to know what’s in it…and it’s ok that parliament doesn’t need to vote on it for new zealand to become party to it – because that’s just how democracy should work …what we should be worried about is what our flag should look like – that’s the big issue that we have correctly been directed to for good open honest debate… You can follow WADE (from a safe digital distance) at www.facebook.com/bywade or look at more stuff and buy things in obscene volumes to show how successful and cool you are at www.iammenotyou.com…]]>

New Zealand Report: Govt Purchase of New York $11.4m Apartment Extravagant + Battle of Two Studs

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[caption id="attachment_3755" align="alignright" width="300"]FiveAA Australia's breakfast show hosts Dave Penberthy, Mark Aiston, and Jane Reilly. FiveAA Australia’s breakfast show hosts Dave Penberthy, Mark Aiston, and Jane Reilly.[/caption] New Zealand Report: Selwyn Manning joins FiveAA’s breakfast team Jane Reilly, Mark Aiston and Dave Penberthy to discuss how NZ Govt has splurged millions on a New York City Manhattan apartment + The battle of two studs – Recorded LIVE on 26/06/15. ITEM ONE: The New Zealand Government has been criticised for splurging on an elite apartment in one of New York City’s most coveted areas of Manhattan. New Zealand tax payers paid $11.4 million for what is described as a swanky 280 square metre apartment on UN Plaza, that is near the Corner of 42nd Street and opposite the United Nations complex, with views of the East River. [caption id="attachment_4974" align="alignright" width="150"]United Nations Plaza-42nd Street - Image by Selwyn Manning. United Nations Plaza-42nd Street – Image by Selwyn Manning.[/caption] The pad will become the residence of New Zealand’s Permanent Representative, or Ambassador to the UN, career diplomat Gerard van Bohemen. Next week, New Zealand formally takes over the presidency of the UN security council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated Thursday night the ambassador’s new residence will also be used for diplomatic functions. But Labour’s foreign affairs spokesperson, David Shearer, who had worked at the UN at a senior level before entering politics, said the Government is out of touch and its purchase is simply extravagant. Only two years ago, the Foreign Minister gutted the diplomatic corps, laying off staff, selling off consulate and embassy assets around the world. Diplomatic staff objected and publicly signed a document in opposition to the Government’s slash and burn programme. At the end of the divisive exercise, the Government saved around $26 million. This week it spent almost have of that on the prestigious New York posting. ITEM TWO: (Ref. Stuff.co.nz) A Gisborne bull named Rangatira 13-38 this week sold for a record price of $100,000 at auction. And gauging from his photo, Rangitira seems pretty chuffed. Which is fair enough, as Rangitira lloosely translated into English means chief. He comes from a long line of Angus bulls that are basically royalty on the North Island’s east coast. His pedigree is pure Angus blue-blood. He is the son of Mt Mable Thor 660 who is a son of the well known bull, Fat Boy, who, as a nine year old is still good on the job. Which is more than we can say for poor ole hapless Art, the so-called Batchelor of New Zealand TV fame… This week he left the “winning contestant” Matilda at home while treating his mum to a sightseeing trip. All was going well until Art posted a photo of his mum on social media and wrote “Best start to the week, dragged up The Mount by the old girl!” If judged on charm alone, I think New Zealand has finally found its ultimate stud… Arise Rangitira 13-38! New Zealand Report broadcasts live on Fridays on FiveAA Australia and webcasts on EveningReport.nz, LiveNews.co.nz, and ForeignAffairs.co.nz.]]>

Pedalling some good news for cycling and cyclists

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NewsroomPlus.com

Transport Minister Simon Bridges announced a $333 million cycleways investment on 25 June 2015 that he says will “change the face of cycling in New Zealand”.

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Here is a one-stop shop of the announcement details and responses to the announcement, as supplied via and collated by NewsRoom_Plus. You might call it singing from the same cycleways.

The Minister’s Media Releases: 

The Minister has announced that, on top of the 13 cycleways projects announced in January, a further 41 will receive funding under the Urban Cycleways Programme.

“This is the single biggest investment in cycling in New Zealand’s history,” he says.

The programme is designed to pull together a range of funding sources to build the best possible cycling network that benefits all New Zealanders.

“The Government’s $100 million Urban Cycleways Fund has helped generate an overall investment of $333 million in cycling, getting world-class projects underway much sooner than may otherwise have been the case.”

More than $87 million will be spent in provincial centres, including Whangarei, Hamilton, Tauranga/Western Bay, Rotorua, Gisborne, Hastings/Napier, New Plymouth, Whanganui, Palmerston North, Blenheim, Nelson and Dunedin.

Together with those announced in January, these projects will make cycling a safer, more attractive transport choice for thousands of people around the country.

“The projects announced today will draw on the $90 million remaining in the Urban Cycleways Fund, as well as $107 million from the National Land Transport Fund, and $99 million from local government,” Mr Bridges says.

The Urban Cycleways Investment Panel assessed and recommended the projects to receive the funding.

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From the NZ Transport Agency, in conjunction with local councils: 

Funding boost to deliver more than 50km of new cycle facilities for Hawke’s Bay

Hawke’s Bay is already regarded as one of the best places in the country to cycle, and its star is set to rise following the Government’s announcement that more than 50km of cycle paths will be accelerated as part of the Urban Cycleways Programme.

Hastings District Council, Napier City Council and the NZ Transport Agency are together welcoming the funding, which will enable a huge extension to the region’s hugely successful iWay programme.

The extension will provide will provide 54.5km of both on-road cycle lanes and wide, off-road pathways, creating safe and convenient connections between residential areas, employment areas, schools and education centres, reserves and recreational areas.

Construction is expected to begin as soon as this year.

Napier Mayor Bill Dalton said with 92 percent of submitters to Napier City Council’s 2015-2025 Long Term Plan backing the Council’s plans to enhance the city cycle trails, the announcement was timely. Without Central Government and community funding the three-year project would likely take closer to 18 years.

“We have the support of our residents and Hawke’s Bay is recognised as one of the best places to cycle, now we can get on with our programme.”

Hastings mayor Lawrence Yule said news of the Government’s further investment in new cycleways was “very welcome”.

He said it would significantly enhance what was already a wonderful asset in the region.

“Through the iWay and the Rotary Pathways projects we already have more than 200 kilometres of cycleways across Hawke’s Bay. Adding more than 50 kilometres in the urban areas will link more of our suburbs together and connect those to the rest of the cycling routes. It will cement our reputation as the cycling capital of New Zealand.”

Transport Agency Central Regional Director Raewyn Bleakley says the projects will provide better connected facilities, give workers and school students a safe and healthy alternative, and also help to get cars off the road, which will improve traffic flow, particularly during busy peak times.

“Hawke’s Bay has an extensive and superbly managed network of cycleways, and through the extension of the successful iWay programme, the region will go from strength to strength as one of the best places in New Zealand to hop on a bike.

“Cycling is a key priority for the agency. Getting more New Zealanders cycling will connect people with a greater range of employment, education and social opportunities and contribute to a more environmentally sustainable future for our transport network.”

Across Napier and Hastings, a combined programme of investment totalling around $9m will be delivered over the next three years using investment from the Urban Cycleways Fund.

The Urban Cycleways Programme is designed to take full advantage of all available funding sources, including the National Land Transport Fund and local government, to enable high-quality projects to get underway much sooner than may otherwise have been the case.

The NZ Transport Agency anticipates the total investment in cycling in New Zealand over the next three years will be around $380 million to $400 million, delivering more than 250km of new urban cycleways and greater network connectivity.

More information and maps about the Napier-Hastings announcement, please refer to the attached fact sheet. To find out more about the Urban Cycleways Programme you can visit the NZ Transport Agency website http://www.nzta.govt.nz/UCPTO.

iWAY NAPIER EXTENSION

This project will provide 36.5km of both on-road cycle
lanes and wide, off-road pathways to complete the local network throughout Napier, connecting residential areas with employment areas, schools and education centres, reserves and recreational areas.

Benefits: The Napier iWay network provides a unique opportunity to use a series of wide storm drainage reserves through the urban area to create wide, off-road pathways, and will offer safer and connected routes for people to cycle to work, and for over 8,000 students who live within 500m of the routes to cycle to schools. These routes will form the backbone of the cycle network, largely separated from traffic, with the potential to attract an increased demand for cycling. The network is expected to attract around 700 new riders each day.

Construction is anticipated to begin in late 2015 and be completed by 2018.

iWAY HASTINGS

This project will provide 18km of on and off-road cycling routes, providing a connection between Napier and Hastings and links between residential areas, schools and employment areas, including a connection between north-eastern Hastings with the industrial area of Whakatu. The project will also connect Havelock North to State Highway 2 heading north, and south to Te Mata Park.

Benefits: This project will strengthen the network links in areas that still need attention, and provide safer and more connected routes for the growing numbers of users. These improved links will be particularly valuable to school children and adults with little previous cycling experience. The completed network is expected to attract over 350 new riders each day, with over 1,500 riders each day in total.

Construction is anticipated to begin in late 2015 and be completed by 2018.

+ Napier City Council: New Cycling Projects For Napier

Further to the NZ Transport Agency media release regarding money from the Urban Cycleways Fund being put to good use in Hawke’s Bay, here are some facts related to Napier you may be interested in:

·  Napier’s iWay extension comprises 36.5km of both on road cycle lanes and wide off road pathways to connect residential areas with employment areas, schools and education centres, reserves and recreational areas.

·  It is an opportunity to use a series of wide storm drainage reserves through the urban area, and to increase the number of safer and connected routes for people to cycle to school and to work.

·  It is expected to increase the number of people regularly cycling in Napier

·  Public consultation on the proposed routes will occur before they are confirmed

·  The proposed routes include: the Kennedy Road arterial route, the Westminster Ave connector, which will be a continuation of an existing off-road route running south from Prebensen Drive, and the old Tutaekuri River route, which will run north-south, parallel to the Georges Drain route and along another wide reserve area, connecting with Ford Road, allowing good connections via a short length of on road cycle lanes to the off road pathways on Prebensen Drive.

· Construction on the first routes is expected to start later this year and continue until 2018.

For more information, visit www.nzta.govt/UCP

New funding a major boost for safer urban cycling in Whangarei

Cycling in Whangarei will become an easier, safer and more enjoyable option following the announcement of a $4.8 million investment in cycling routes in the District.

The Government and Whangarei District Council (WDC) have announced a combined $4.81 million investment from local funds, the Urban Cycleways Fund and the NZ Transport Agency’s National Land Transport Fund today.

Over the next three years work on constructing the new 6.5km Kamo route as well as completing the Onerahi and Raumanga/Maunu routes is expected to total about $7 million.

The NZ Transport Agency’s Northland Regional Director, Ernst Zöllner says a major focus of the programme is to encourage more children to cycle safely to school.

“This is a key piece of infrastructure that will serve more than 5,200 students whose schools are within 500m of the route. It will separate cyclists from the high-volume traffic and reduce the pressure on State Highway 1 by providing an alternative off-road transport choice.

“We all know cycling is good for our environment and our health. This project, along with cycle training and education, will make it easier and safer for Whangarei residents to take part in physical activity, and that will improve the health and wellbeing of the community.”

Construction on the Kamo route is expected to begin in early 2016 and be completed by the middle of 2018. It’s estimated it will be used by more than 600 people a day. The 6.5km off-road route will follow the existing railway corridor between residential areas north of the city and the CBD, providing a connection for residential areas, the Auckland University Campus (Whangarei) and key recreational areas such as Kensington Park.

Whangarei Mayor Sheryl Mai said the contribution by the NZ Transport Agency and Government was to be celebrated.

“We have already made good progress in our District, with up to 7000 people a week using the Hatea Loop at peak times in summer, the Raumanga track almost completed, and work on the route to Onerahi about to kick off again.”

“The evidence shows that if these facilities are provided our people really will get out there and use them. We have an active mind-set and live in a pretty friendly climate, so we stand to get enormous benefit from these initiatives.”

The funding is part of a nationwide Urban Cycleways Programme which will see $296 million invested across 41 projects in 15 urban areas over the next three years to establish cycling as an integral part of the New Zealand transport network.

“Cycling is a key priority for the agency. Getting more New Zealanders cycling will connect people with a greater range of employment, education and social opportunities and contribute to a more environmentally sustainable future for our transport network,” says the Transport Agency’s Ernst Zöllner.

The Urban Cycleways Programme is designed to take full advantage of all available funding sources, including the National Land Transport Fund and local government, to enable high-quality projects to get underway much sooner than may otherwise have been the case.

The NZ Transport Agency anticipates the total investment in cycling in New Zealand over the next three years will be around $380 million to $400 million, delivering more than 250km of new urban cycleways and greater network connectivity.

To find out more about the Urban Cycleways Programme you can visit the NZ Transport Agency website http://www.nzta.govt.nz/UCP

From Christchurch City Council: 

Funding boost for Council cycleways network

A multi-million-dollar funding investment by central government will provide significant momentum to the delivery of a world-class network of cycleways in Christchurch, says the Council’s transport spokesman.

Phil Clearwater, who chairs the Infrastructure, Transport and Environment Committee, believes the funding assistance for seven of the Major Cycle Routes couldn’t have come at a better time.

“The Major Cycle Routes network is a significant piece of work that is integral to the 30-year plan for transport in the city. Being able to deliver $65 million of the $156 million programme over the next three years for a local investment of $23.5 million represents great value for Christchurch ratepayers.”

Mr Clearwater says the Council hopes to confirm its local funding commitment to the project in the next few days through the Long Term Plan 2015–25.

The Urban Cycleways Fund contributes $19.04 million, while there is potential for a further $22.57 million from the National Land Transport Fund.

“Our transport plan for the future identifies that we can’t keep building roads that cost a lot to maintain and get clogged up. We need to provide alternatives and the Major Cycle Routes network is one of those,” Mr Clearwater says.

Having this support from central government will help the Council deliver the first, high-priority sections of the Major Cycle Routes network. The seven routes selected for assistance provide important connections and were assessed by staff to be among the first to be built.

“They link the city centre with schools, the University of Canterbury as well as popular shopping, business and recreation areas,” Mr Clearwater says.

“We have heard a consistent message from our community about the need to deliver safer options for people who choose to ride and to know this has support at central government level is an endorsement of our plans.”

Don Babe, Chairman of cycling advocacy group Spokes Canterbury, describes today’s announcement as a Goldilocks moment for people who want more choice in their transport.

“In addition to the Council listening to the wishes of ratepayers, central government has also realised that there are few transport projects that provide benefits to so many people as cycling infrastructure.

“It is hoped this expenditure will provide the infrastructure to encourage those potential cyclists who would like to ride but are concerned about safety to try cycling. If this includes a lot of school children, the impact will be felt by society for a number of years.

“Congratulations to our local and national government for making these steps.”

Mr Clearwater says, “Everyone benefits if we can change the way people get around our city. However, to get the full benefit of the Major Cycle Routes we need to build the whole network and today’s announcement will help the Council achieve its aim of reshaping the way people get around our city.” 

A factsheet outlining the seven routes and funding proposals can be found on the Urban Cycleways Programme website, http://www.transport.govt.nz/land/land-transport-funding/urban-cycleways

There is information about the Major Cycle Routes on the Council’s website, www.ccc.govt.nz/cycleways

From Local Government New Zealand:

Local communities benefit from Urban Cycleways Programme

Local Government New Zealand (LGNZ) is pleased to confirm that 17 regions around New Zealand will benefit from Urban Cycleways Programme developments over the next three years.

LGNZ acknowledges the strong partnership between local and central government to make this happen, and welcomes the contribution from the Urban Cycleways Programme.

LGNZ president Lawrence Yule says this funding will assist many cities and regions across New Zealand.

“Given their population base, it’s good to see Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington contributing to and receiving significant investment.  However, an additional 27 projects across 12 other provincial centres will receive funding and make their own contribution under the Urban Cycleways Programme,” says Mr Yule.

LGNZ says local government and councils’ significant contribution to central government’s investment highlights the importance of cycling in cities, and will go a long way to help improve transport in urban centres across New Zealand.

“This investment, together with central government funding, will increase the vitality of our regions by providing more transportation options and encouraging people to get on their bikes, rather than jump in their cars,” says Mr Yule.

“Today’s funding announcement will invigorate regions around New Zealand, providing a safe and healthy transportation alternative.”

“Cycleways offer a healthy, environmentally sustainable transportation alternative for New Zealanders that will improve our cities,” says Mr Yule.

“Funding from the Urban Cycleways Programme means that some projects in design can now be realised.”

From the Green Party:

Government Cycling Announcement

The Green Party today welcomed the adoption of its cycling policy by the National Government.

“We campaigned hard on a sensible approach to safe cycling investment last year,” said transport spokesperson Julie Anne Genter.

“We are thrilled to see the National Government match the levels of funding for cycling that we proposed in our comprehensive transport budget.

“We hope they will soon adopt other smart, green transport policies, like funding the Auckland Central Rail Link to start on time, and keeping our electric freight trains.

“A smart, green approach to transport will give Kiwis greater choice, cost less, protect the climate and create happier, healthier towns and cities,” said Ms Genter.

And from the Cycling Advocacy Network. CAN is New Zealand’s national network of cycling advocates, and seeks to work with government, local authorities, businesses and the community on behalf of cyclists, for a better cycling environment.

Cyclists Applaud Massive Investment Programme.

Kiwis keen on cycling have hailed the biggest single investment in cycling in New Zealand’s history, announced today in Rotorua. Advocates for cycling have praised the scheme as ‘forward-thinking, clever groundwork’.

The Urban Cycleways Programme (UCP), managed by the NZTA, facilitates a record $333m million in spending for 54 selected urban cycling projects nationwide. $100 million of this is from the UCP, the remainder from Land Transport and local authority budgets. Councils throughout the country have drawn up detailed bids for the funding, which were assessed by an NZTA-led Investment Panel. Cycleways in cities from Whangarei to Dunedin will be built under the plan.

Cycling Advocates’ Network (CAN) were quick to commend UCP as ‘smart investment’. CAN interim project manager Will Andrews told press, ‘This is awesome. It’s forward-thinking, clever groundwork by the Prime Minister and Simon Bridges. It will boost the liveability of every town it touches by helping people choose not to use the car for short trips.’

The hard work for local councils now begins, in confirming their portion of projects’ budgets, getting the detailed design right, and convincing local voters of the many benefits and spin-off gains that flow from people swapping their car for a bike for certain journeys. 

‘Let’s hope this awesome announcement will be accompanied by rapid training of engineers in cycleway design, and by education of all road users in how to share space’, Andrews continued. ‘There will still be many streets where cyclists share with motor vehicles, so it’s important to keep improving the environment -especially in CBDs- with low speed limits and good junction design. But this is a tremendous initial step and a day to celebrate for anyone who wants congestion-free liveable NZ towns.’

Wellington cycleways were the subject of an additional release from the Minister, and from local National list MP Paul Foster-Bell: 

Minister of Transport: Wellington cycleways receive $53.3 million

Transport Minister Simon Bridges has today announced multi-million dollar funding to accelerate nine cycleway networks in the Wellington region, helping boost the city’s status as ‘the coolest little capital’.

Projects to receive funding under the Government’s Urban Cycleways Programme include the Melling to CBD route, and routes in the CBD and Eastern suburbs.

Lower Hutt’s Beltway path and Eastern Bays shared paths will be funded, as will Upper Hutt’s Rail Corridor Route. The Hutt River Trail will be sealed and widened, while funding will be available for Porirua’s Onepoto-Wi Neera Shared Pathway and Stride N’ Ride Kāpiti Coast.

“These projects are among 41 nationwide, which will make cycling a safer and more attractive transport choice,” Mr Bridges says.

“The Government’s $100 million Urban Cycleways Fund is designed to pull together a range of funding sources, and will result in a total investment in urban cycleways of $333 million over the four-year programme.

“The Urban Cycleways Programme demonstrates how central and local government can work together, delivering high-quality infrastructure which will encourage more people to ride to work, school, and everywhere in between,” Mr Bridges says.

New funding to speed up development of Wellington cycleways

Paul Foster-Bell is delighted locals will soon enjoy cycleways around Wellington sooner than previously planned thanks to $6.5 million of funding from the $333 million Urban Cycleways Programme. “The Wellington CBD and Eastern routes are important initiatives that will improve the health of our community.  “This new funding will accelerate the build, meaning we’ll all be able to take advantage of the cycleway earlier,” said Foster-Bell.

The Wellington CBD cycleway crosses the centre city and the Eastern route will connect Miramar, Seatoun, Lyall Bay and Houghton Bay into the CBD via cycleways both around the bays and through Newtown. Both will connect up to the existing Oriental Bay cycleway.  “These cycleways will complement other transport options we have here and the option to cycle safely will be another drawcard for the Capital.”

“It’s great to see central and local government co-operating on the cycleways, and I acknowledge the matching $6.64 million contribution by the Wellington City Council, with the remainder of the total $19.5 million project costs coming from the National Land Transport Fund. This cycleway is one of 41 similar projects around the country designed to encourage cycling by making it safer and more attractive. National’s commitment to providing safe and accessible urban cycleways is changing the face of cycling in New Zealand.

ENDS

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Keith Rankin on Japan’s Twenty-First Century Settlement

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Analysis by Keith Rankin. This article was also published on Scoop.co.nz.

To see a future that works for the time being – sort of – look to Japan.

While my main focus here is the Japanese settlement relating to public finance, I will first address some social matters. When in Japan last year with my family, we couldn’t help noticing the numbers of young people wearing surgical masks for no apparent reason. And we also noticed the unusually high proportion of people in cafes and other eateries who were alone.

While there are all sorts of historical, cultural and public health reasons for wearing facemasks, they seem to have become a kind of fashion accessory (sometimes compared to sun-glasses in the west). Or perhaps better described as an ‘anti-fashion’ accessory that coincides with the rise of celibacy, with intimate relationships becoming too much of a hassle to too many Japanese. It also coincides with a significant increase, especially among the more affluent, of the use of pets as human-relationship substitutes (2012 BBC Radio documentary It’s a Dog’s Life).

Quoting from Why do Japanese people wear surgical masks? It’s not always for health reasons, Japan Today, 23 Feb 2014: “One 46-year-old mother, who herself wears a mask every day in the winter to prevent getting sick, says her high-school-age daughter wears one for a completely different reason. ‘She puts on a mask and sticks headphones in her ears so that people won’t bother her. It makes it harder for them to start talking to her’.” A juvenile psychologist notes: “The trend of wearing a mask to prevent directly dealing with others may have roots in the current youth culture in which many of them are more accustomed to communicating indirectly through social media.” In one blogsite (Quartz: qz.com) these propensities are called “social firewalls”.

In the British Observer (20 Oct 2013), Abigail Haworth asked Why have young people in Japan stopped having sex? The rise of celibacy applies to both genders, and seems not to be a question of sexual orientation. It’s more a case of social ennui. This was reiterated in the Washington Post (Japan’s sexual apathy is endangering the global economy), with a substantial statistical analysis of why Japanese women and men aged 25-34 stay single. The reasons are similar for both genders.

The argument about Japan endangering the world economy on account of these demographic issues is taking the argument too far, however.

Japan is close to being the world’s largest creditor economy, owning, for example, well over one trillion dollars of American debt (Washington Post, 10 Oct 2013, This surprising chart shows which countries own the most U.S. debt). Much of that is American Government debt.

More importantly, the Japanese people have lent the equivalent of more than ten trillion US dollars to their own government sector. This is the Japanese financial settlement. Japanese have developed a financial culture of lending to their governments in lieu of being taxed by them. And there are signs that rising government debt in other economically developed nations is an indication that Japanese practices are spreading.

When I was in Japan in April 2014, the month that their GST (indirect tax) was raised from 5% to 8%, I mainly saw an affluent and comparatively relaxed society. However the statistics show a substantial consumer resistance to spending as a result of this modest tax increase. The result of the ensuing recession was a smaller – not a larger – tax take following the rise in this tax rate. The message is that it’s at least as difficult, politically, to raise taxes in Japan as it is in the USA.

So how does the Japanese financial settlement work? Japanese save in the full knowledge that they will only ever spend a small proportion of their savings. In effect, they lease their incomes to their national and local governments (and indeed to foreign governments), knowing that these governments must spend the otherwise unspent private incomes in order to maintain the equilibrium of affluence and relative equality that’s now well established. They get both the public benefit of the government spending and the private satisfaction of seeing the money spent by the governments still sitting as credits in their bank accounts.

The settlement works. The government spends the money on all sorts of projects (including large amounts on what we would dismiss as ‘pork-barrelling’) while the untaxed money is still available for private spending. And, so long as those private savings in the aggregate remain substantially unspent by the savers, the few who do wish to spend their savings are easily able to do so. It is tacitly understood that a ‘run on the government’ would have similar damaging consequences as a run on the banking system. So the run does not happen.

The funds advanced by Japanese households to their governments function not as a government obligation to repay households, but as a virtual tax. A key part of this settlement is the requirement that the government spends this de facto revenue, maintaining full employment and relative equality. Japan’s public debt could be 500% of GDP rather than its current 230% (compare to 36% in New Zealand) and that would make no difference. Japan’s government creditors – the citizens of Japan – know (tacitly) the disaster that they themselves would befall if there was any concerted effort to call in that public debt.

While there is no real issue of financial unsustainability, there is a growing issue of what Japanese governments can spend the money on; especially given the reticence in Asia to adopt western-style social welfare systems. It’s workfare, Japanese style, rather than welfare. Indeed we can see a rise in military spending as a reflection of this need to find new projects for public largesse. Unfortunately, rises in military spending tend to come, eventually, with rises in militarism; and the militarist dynamic is prone to take over following global financial collapses.

I see much of this being replicated in the affluent west. The increased social ennui, the increased resistance to taxation, and the increased willingness to accept increased public debt in lieu of increased taxation. Essentially these are the unrecognised ‘problems’ of past economic success. In the west we have had fewer inhibitions towards paying cash benefits than have Asian countries; the west has developed a constructive welfare tradition.

With a welfare tradition in the west, letting citizens make more of their own choices about spending and leisure gives a chance for a sustainable, equitable and peaceful economic future. (Further, rising social ennui can be dissipated once we acknowledge that paid work is not the be-all and end-all of life and achievement.) It just requires us to accept that governments must have much more debt on their books – what we owe to ourselves – than has ever been seen as acceptable in the past.

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Top Of The Morning News Digest – June 25 2015

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Newsroom Monitor logo* RNZ 7am – Top 5 items for 25 June 2015

1. The Secondary School Sports Council says some of the competition between schools is so intense that some are taking steps such as recruiting international players for brief stints. Principals’ groups have told RNZ they’re worried about the tactics and the pressure those young people are under to perform. The council intends to introduce a new integrity framework next term. 

2. The Boston marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has apologised for the damage he has done at a federal hearing to formally sentence him to death. He has been found guilty of killing 3 people and injuring 264 other people in April 2013, as well as fatally shooting a police officer. 

3. The Minister of Transport Simon Bridges says repairing flood damaged roads in the central North Island could cost up to $60 million. Mr Bridges gave the rough assessment after flying over areas yesterday where there are up to 2000 slips in all. The Government will pay for the repair of State Highways and increase its funding to district roading by up to 20 percent. 

4. Authorities will begin lifting the cordon on the Whanganui street where record flooding did the most damage, ANZAC Parade, today. Residents heard last night that they will be able to visit properties this afternoon. 

5. A Dutch court has ordered the government there to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25% within the next five years. The landmark ruling came in a case brought by activists who argued that if drastic reductions are not made the second half of the century will be marked by extreme weather events, as well as shortages of water and food. There were cheers in the courtroom when the judge delivered his verdict. 

Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Plus. –]]>

Radio: Across The Ditch – NZ Seeks Leverage off the Australia-China FTA + Record Cold Wave Hits NZ

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[caption id="attachment_1205" align="alignright" width="300"]Peter Godfrey and Selwyn Manning. Peter Godfrey and Selwyn Manning.[/caption] FiveAA Australia/EveningReport: Across The Ditch – This week Peter Godfrey and Selwyn Manning discuss how New Zealand is leveraging off Australia’s free trade agreement with China to get a better deal. Also, record low temperatures hit New Zealand’s South Island. Recorded LIVE on 25/06/15. ITEM ONE: Trans-Tasman FTA Rivalry. New Zealand is looking to apply some leverage off the Australia-China free trade agreement in an attempt to get China to relax an export volume cap – above which tariffs are applied to dairy exports. New Zealand’s trade minister Tim Grosser said this week: “Ours was the first FTA they did with any developed country. Things have moved on and we are using the Australian FTA as part of the structure of an argument as to why we know need to upgrade China’s first FTA. That is underway.” The New Zealand Herald reported this week Prime Minister John Key said the main aim was to try to remove the thresholds at which China can impose extra tariffs on products such as dairy. Under terms of the China-New Zealand free trade agreement, China can apply extra tariffs if the gross volume of exported dairy products exceeds an agreed to level. The cap was agreed to in 2008 when the then Labour-led Government’s trade minister Phil Goff struck the deal with the People’s Republic. Since then, the value of total two-way exports have exceeded expectations of both countries and remain on an upward trajectory, and are expected to exceed $30 billion in two-way trade by 2020. This means China is applying costly tariffs to New Zealand exports. New Zealand’s trade diplomats have been arguing that the Australia-China FTA sees the eventual removal of 96 percent of tariffs and that New Zealand wants to amend its FTA so two-way trade between NZ and China remains competitive. Fonterra, New Zealand’s dairy export conglomerate, has significant investment in Australia’s dairy sector so believes it will not be negatively affected by Australia having better access to Chinese consumer markets. But with Kiwi farmers suffering from a collapse in dairy commodity prices, especially with milk powder exports, FONTERRA and the NZ Government are determined to get a result. ITEM TWO Record Cold Temperatures in South Island. This week New Zealand has been recovering from severe floods that struck last week in Whanganui, Hokitika and Dunedin.With the more settled weather have come clear skies and below zero temperatures. We often discuss the weather and snow conditions, but check out these temperatures from around the country, as,reported in the NZ Herald:

      On Tuesday night some records were broken…In the North Island, the coldest spot was Taumaranui with -4.9C about 7am.
In the South Island, the coldest spot was Tara Hills near Omarama with -21.0C at 8.30amThe main centres were also very cold.Auckland (Whenuapai) -2.1C between 7am and 8am Hamilton (airport) -1.1C between 3am and 4am Tauranga (airport) 3.3C between 6am and 7am Wellington (Kelburn) 5.7C between 11pm and midnight Christchurch (airport) -3.6C between 5am to 6am Dunedin (city) -0.7C at 6am and (airport) -6.9C between 8am and 9am (Source: MetService) Across The Ditch broadcasts weekly on FiveAA Australia and webcasts on EveningReport.nz LiveNews.co.nz and ForeignAffairs.co.nz. –]]>

Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Redemption or death for Colin Craig’s Conservatives

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Political Roundup by Dr Bryce Edwards. [caption id="attachment_4808" align="alignleft" width="150"]Dr Bryce Edwards. Dr Bryce Edwards.[/caption]

Redemption is a powerful biblical and electoral concept. So can Colin Craig and his Conservative Party be welcomed back into the fold? At the moment it’s not looking likely, but Colin Craig works in mysterious ways.

Political party meltdowns don’t get much worse than this. A morally conservative party has faced its worse nightmare – its leader has been outed as engaging in “inappropriate” personal behaviour, and has resigned but is fighting to retain control of the party. The departure of nearly the entire party board, together with the continued outspokenness of Craig’s internal-party nemesis, surely spells political death. Yet, resurrection and redemption is still possible.

Can Colin Craig be resurrected?

Although Colin Craig appears to be utterly defeated – ousted from the leadership of his own party – there are plenty of signs that he might yet prevail. You can watch his latest extraordinary media appearance on TV3’s Paul Henry Show – see: Colin Craig refuses to back down. 

The Conservative Party board has essentially dissolved itself, and a “provisional board” or a general meeting of members is likely to occur. For details of the party board resignations, see Isaac Davison’s Poetic justice scuppers leadership. As Davison says, the exodus raises the “possibility of Colin Craig regaining control”, and “Mr Craig said yesterday the Conservative Party board was likely to dissolve and a membership vote would be held to choose the next leader”. Craig is also quoted saying that “The party still has a future” and “This is a really good watershed and I think good things will come out of it.”

According to Patrick Gower, “Craig might have engineered a reverse takeover” – see: Conservative Party in meltdown. But regaining the party could be a Pyrrhic victory: “Craig could be back on his throne. The problem is his kingdom has been discredited and destroyed”

Today Gower has elaborated on this in his 3-minute interview on the Paul Henry Show, saying “There is a Conservative Party in name only. Colin Craig started it. It’s a three-and-a-half million dollar baby. He’ll get control of it. But it has zero credibility with voters… Colin Craig has become a sad joke in this country” – see: Conservative Party implosion worst in our history. 

In response to Craig’s interview today, Gower also says that “Colin Craig has a god complex when it comes to the Conservative Party”, and labels the interview “Another bizarre moment in what will probably be another bizarre day in another bizarre week in the bizarro world of Colin Craig”.

A resurrected Craig-led Conservatives would face other problems, according to Tracy Watkins – see: Colin Craig fights for survival as the Conservative Party implodes. 

First, there is the moral issue: “For a morals-based party founded on a family values platform there does not appear to be any way back from the explosive impact of its leader being the subject of sexual harassment allegations, which he has denied”. Second, his return “will likely sound the death knell to any prospect of Key opening the door to a deal in 2017”.

A bigger problem might simply be the disunity, which is voter poison in this country – especially for minor parties. This is well put by John Armstrong today: who says that voters apply a simple test: “if a party cannot run itself properly, then there cannot be much hope of it running the country properly.  Because minor parties have scant loyal voters, they get punished more heavily than National and Labour. To the long list of minor parties which have found themselves on the wrong end of voters’ venom – the Alliance, United Future, Act, Internet Mana – add the Conservative Party” – see: Few survivors on Conservative train wreck. 

Similarly, David Farrar stresses the disunity factor (as well as the moral issue): “Voters hate disunity, and even if they force Colin Craig out, they will find the way it is being done will scare voters off.  The best coup is quick and quiet. Not done through the media.  It is difficult to see how Craig can continue as leader, if the sexual harassment allegations are correct.  They would not be fatal for all politicians, but for a party leader than campaigns on family values, they are more difficult” – see: The Conservative schism. 

In another blog post, Farrar says the party appears to be over: “It would be highly surprising to see Craig resume the leadership of the Conservatives after this. Also be surprising to see them remain a viable force – however they do have at least one other wealthy donor who can keep them alive. However they need a leader who can front a national campaign, and there seems no one apparent” – see: Craig admits to inappropriate behaviour. 

Yet according to Armstrong, the Conservatives are unlikely to survive without Craig: “As founder, funder and leader, Craig has built a substantial public profile for himself while ensuring his party has not been marginalised as a bunch of Bible-bashing reactionaries.  Without Craig at the helm, the Conservative Party would suffer the same fate as the New Zealand Party in the 1980s” – see: Lame duck or dead duck, that is the Conservative question. 

And in his column today, Armstrong reiterates this point: “At the risk of sounding like a cracked record, Craig is the Conservative Party and the Conservative Party is Craig.  Without him, the party amounts to little more than a political sect. It is now a political train wreck”.

Conservative scandal

The fate of Colin Craig and the Conservatives may be decided by the promised release of documents detailing the “facts” of the dispute between the politician and his former media adviser Rachel MacGregor – see Stacey Kirk’s Colin Craig expects ‘face-palm moments’ ahead. This article quotes Craig saying that the document would be both damaging and redeeming: “I mean obviously, there’s going to be one or two face-palm moments in there. But… they’ll amount to far less than the speculation so that can only be good for me as I’m concerned.”  

For a hint of what might be in the document, see TVNZ’s Colin Craig sent press secretary ‘poems and sexts’, Conservative Party board member claims. 

There is now a great deal of media attention on Craig’s “inappropriate” actions, as well as the way that he has dealt with these in the media. On the Pundit blog, Jane Young says “Craig seems to be joining an endless line of self-described Christian conservatives who preach a subjective notion they call “family values”, but fail to practice what they preach” – see: Another little Conservative politician train wreck…. 

Young compares Craig’s situation with that of former Christian Heritage Party leader Graham Capill, and tries to explain such behaviour via reference to the theories of American psychoanalyst Stephen Grosz.

Body language experts are also being called upon to explain what Craig and his wife were really feeling when they appeared together this week – see Belinda Feek’s Colin Craig’s body language – what did it mean? 

So should we be interested in such scandals? Certainly the role of the Conservative Party is to be taken seriously in politics. After all the party won many more votes than the Maori, Act, Mana, or United Future parties. By gaining four per cent of the party vote (over 95,000 votes) the Conservatives made themselves a serious force in New Zealand politics and very nearly became an important player in Parliament, if not government.

Newstalk ZB’s Frances Cook also argues that leaders such as Craig should be put under scrutiny, and she bemoans Craig’s legal threats: “When evidence is mounting that something went wrong behind the scenes, and caused Craig to resign, journalists would be abandoning their duty if they didn’t investigate and report it.  The standard is higher for those who want to be in politics. MPs run the country, hold huge amounts of power, and that means they come in for stronger criticism. The issues are too important to go easy on them” – see: Scandal shows Craig’s litigious side. 

Then there are issues raised about sexual politics. Referring also to Len Brown and Roger Sutton, Newstalk ZB’s Tim Fookes asks “What is it with men in high profile positions getting themselves in trouble with young women?” – see: Colin Craig’s Predicament. 

And to see some of the reactions in social media, see my blog posts, Top tweets on Colin Craig’s resignation and Top tweets on Colin Craig’s fightback press conference.

The Problems of “One man band” parties 

The demise of another minor political party might mean that New Zealand voters have an even smaller range of ideological options to vote for at the next election. But perhaps a bigger problem is the persistence of minor parties dominated by their leaders, who often play roles founding and funding the parties. 

Danyl Mclauchlan has blogged about this, including Dotcom’s Internet Mana Party, which has also failed miserably – see: Colin Craig and the failure of founder-funded political parties. He says “The founders of both parties were also the primary funders and that meant they got to do pretty much whatever they wanted”.

A different way of looking at it is proposed by National Party aligned columnist Liam Hehir who argues that New Zealand has two types of minor parties: Authentic vs Ornamental. By this he means that some parties have genuine ideologies and are part of a movement, such as the Green Party, and others are essentially personality cults – see: Conservative confusion over leadership. 

In terms of the Conservatives, Hehir sees the party as an “ornamental” one: “the Conservatives have always looked more like an instrument of Colin Craig’s ambitions than a coherent political organisation… In the minds of the public, the party is less about the ideas and more about the man who leads it – which is always risky given that individuals can always be discredited by the mistakes they inevitably make”.

The Colourful Conservatives

If Colin Craig is to have any chance of redemption with his morally conservative target market, he will probably need to show much more contrition, as well as convince his supporters that his sin was not as bad as is being suggested by opponents. There is no doubt that he has the ability to garner the necessary media coverage. 

Craig has always had an impressive ability to win public attention – largely due to his utterly colourful approach. And for this reason it’s worth watching David Farrier’s 2-minute heated interview that sparked his recent problems – see: Sauna Session with Colin Craig. 

Finally, New Zealand politics would certainly be less colourful without Colin Craig and the Conservatives, and cartoonists have been showing this in 2013 – see: Images of Colin Craig and the Conservative Party, in 2014 – see: Images of Colin Craig’s Conservative Party, and now, in 2015 – see: Recent cartoons about Colin Craig and the Conservatives.

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NewsRoom Digest: Top NZ News Items for June 24, 2015

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Newsroom Digest

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest contains 5 media release snippets and links for the day of Wednesday 24th June.

Top stories in the current news cycle – and at Parliament – include a raft of questions being put over the estimated $11 million spent on businessman Hamood Al Khalaf’s sheep farm in Saudi Arabia, more reactions to the situation of the two boys who were put on trial for the killing of West Auckland dairy owner Arun Kumar (one being convicted of manslaughter, the other acquitted), and assurances from Airways New Zealand that yesterday’s radar system failure is not likely to be repeated.

SNIPPETS OF THE DAY

* Politics

Safety And Well-Being For Children: Child Youth and Family (CYF) investigations into the safety of children should be mandatory in domestic violence cases involving families with children, the Green Party said today. The Greens’ call comes after two high profile judicial decisions this week – the coronial inquiry into the deaths of Bradley and Ellen Livingstone and the verdict in the trial of the West Auckland boys charged with the death of Arun Kumar.

Extended Youth Services: Social Development Minister Anne Tolley has introduced a bill extending the Youth Service to 19 year old parents and other 18 and 19 year olds at risk of long term welfare dependence.

* Business

Air New Zealand Earning And Shares Gain: Air New Zealand, the national carrier, expects annual earnings to rise by as much as 60 percent, with benign trading conditions continuing into the second half of the year. The shares gained 2.2 percent to $2.58 in today’s trading.

Shares Jump After Rebel Internet Provider Pulls Out: Sky Network Television and Spark New Zealand shares gained after the consortium of telecommunications companies and broadcasters cut a deal with rebel internet service providers, effectively blocking Kiwis from accessing global content in breach of the firms’ local rights.

* Primary Industries

Manuka Honey Definition: New Zealand’s lack of definition for what constitutes manuka honey has overseas regulators worried about forgeries, with China likely to introduce a certification scheme for the honey imports, the Ministry for Primary Industries is telling the country’s beekeepers.

LINKS OF THE DAY

NZ SEA LION ENDANGERED: The Sea Lion Trust is warning the Government to act now so that the animals don’t become a poster species for marine extinction after the International Union for Conservation of Nature has changed the threat classification for the New Zealand Sea Lion from vulnerable to endangered. See the IUCN’s Red List here:http://www.iucn.org/news_homepage/?21561/Conservation-successes-overshadowed-by-more-species-declines–IUCN-Red-List-update

AUCKLAND RENTAL PRICES BOILING WHILE CHRISTCHURCH COOLS: As rent increases slow in much of the country, Auckland is forging its own path with the median weekly rent reaching yet another high, up to $490 per week for May. Rents in Auckland have increased by 6.5 per cent in the year to May 2015, ahead of the national increase of 6.3 per cent. Read more: http://www.trademe.co.nz/property/price-index/for-rent/may-2015/

UNION SUPPORTS CORPORATE MANSLAUGHTER LAW BUT WORKERS LIFE MAIN PRIORITY: Corporate manslaughter law is vital to ensure justice is done when workers are killed on the job, but it’s far more important that workers can stay safe, healthy and alive, says the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union. Click here to see tourism statistics: http://www.med.govt.nz/about-us/publications/publications-by-topic/tourism-publications/key-tourism-statistics

U.S LIKELY TO FORCE PACE ON TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP : The United States is likely to try and force the pace of negotiations to conclude the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the next few weeks, following a vote in the US Senate last night that all but ensures President Barack Obama will gain so-called ‘fast track’ authority to complete the controversial agreement. More on this story click here: http://www.itsourfuture.org.nz/us-likely-to-force-pace-on-tpp-with-fast-track-in-place/

MORE ROAD SAFETY INFO FOR VISITING DRIVERS: Associate Transport Minister Craig Foss is welcoming an initiative to provide road safety messages to every visitor from China travelling on a general visitor visa. Read more here: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/more-road-safety-info-visiting-drivers

NEW ZEALAND IS OUR PLACE TO VOLUNTEER: National Volunteer Week (NVW) (21 – 27 June) is in full swing volunteers and the place volunteering has in Aotearoa New Zealand’s communities is celebrated. For more information about VNZ, National Volunteer Week, or to find a volunteer opportunity go tohttp://www.volunteeringnz.org.nz

And that’s our sampling of the day that was on Wednesday 24th June 2015.

Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>

Keith Rankin on Greece’s Economic Woes are Systemic

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Analysis by Keith Rankin. This article was also published on Scoop.co.nz.

In The Daily Blog on 13 June, I wrote (Greece and all that – Unpacking Austerity in Europe) about Greece’s resistance to the ongoing attempts within Europe to make Greece a scapegoat for the systemic problems of the Eurozone (Euro Area) of the European Union (EU). And I likened Greece’s debt situation with that of Germany in the late 1920s, noting the irony that it is now Germany which is most insistent on making Greece pay for the wider systemic problem. It was interesting then to come across Jeffrey Sachs’ article The Endgame in Greece for (Project Syndicate) which makes many of the same points as mine, including references to the global financial situation of the 1920s. His is an urgent plea for the ruling classes in Europe to see the bigger picture.

In the 1920s the debt problem was remarkably similar to the Euro problem today, with its systemic problems relating to the gold standard being equivalent to the Euro problems today. I will add here that another analogue country for Greece may be the United Kingdom. It was the British exit (‘Brexit’?) from the gold standard that triggered the ultimate downfall of the interwar gold standard, and there will be many people aware in Europe today just how significant a Grexit could be for the Euro Area as a whole. Interestingly, the 1931 Brexit, arguably the most significant global financial event of the twentieth century, immediately restored economic health to the United Kingdom, as if a huge boil had been successfully lanced. Europe, still committed to an untenable gold standard, continued to languish with huge political consequences. 

Some of my comments in the discussion from my 13 June essay.

“The debt that accumulated in Portugal, Ireland, Greece and Spain in the first decade of the Euro was essentially ‘vendor finance’. In particular, Germany’s export machine cranked up and made all these sales to the southern countries. In trade you get paid (for your exports), directly or indirectly, in imports. Germany did not want to accept imports as payments. Instead, Germany and other mainly northern countries became creditors, meaning that the south should pay later (in the form of exports from the south to the north). That ‘later’ is now, so the northern countries need to accept payment in the form of imports. The southern countries (and Ireland) are now running current account surpluses. They are meeting their trade obligations as best as they can, under extremely difficult circumstances. But they are exporting to countries outside of the Euro area. The problem that is accentuating the crisis is the failure of the northern countries to accept payment in the form of imports. Yes, in Greece, due to lax fiscal systems, the government took on much of what would otherwise have been private debt. Further, the Greek government itself had been a good customer of German businesses. The major reason why public debt stands out much more in Greece, however, is the Olympic Games of 2004, awarded to Athens in 1997, before the Euro currency was created. This was an international event, and it was appropriate that infrastructure in Greece was improved for such an event.”

The whole Euro crisis from the outset has been misframed as a ‘sovereign debt crisis’, when it is really a crisis of unbalanced trade, which itself largely emanates from the “tribal” (Sachs’ word) mercantilism pursued by the Germans, Dutch and others. These countries took advantage of the Euro area as a means to notch up huge and ongoing trade surpluses, believing somehow that such ‘vendor finance’ strategies (export more, import less, receive IOUs in lieu of imports) represented economic success. By definition, the countries they exported to racked up huge debts. Repayment of these debts can only take place if the tribal northern countries completely reverse their mercantilist strategies. 

Sachs mentions the issue of perceived ‘moral hazard’ as being central to the issue. Here are my words:

 “I think there’s no technical issue [forcing Greece out of the Euro Area, if the Greek government defaults]. In practice, it would be a negotiated default on part of the public, debt. Actually, I understand that already happened, around 2012. Certainly the Greek public debt to GDP ratio has not gone up by as much as it should have, given the size of the Greek government’s ongoing deficits. To foregive all Greece’s public debt would be seen as an extreme case of moral hazard. We have to remember that, from the European creditors (bond-holders’) point of view, this is not really about Greece. It’s about Spain, Italy and France. The creditors would want a punishment meted out that is at least proportionate to the size of the crime as they see it. Also it’s political. The Euro conservatives and centrists do not want to be forced to even contemplate the Syriza analysis of the systemic crisis that Europe faces. Instead, the Euro Area as a whole is trying to worm its way out by running increasing trade surpluses with the rest of the world. That means, in time, a globalisation of the Euro crisis.”

On the matters of the role of agricultural trade crises before the 1930s’ Great Depression, and the role of government austerity measures to restrict imports, I commented:

“Thanks for raising this issue [of falling agricultural prices]. You are right in that falling agricultural prices and import-aversion were significant forces in bringing about the Great Depression. But the main means to reduce imports in the 1920s were deflationary policies, not protectionist policies. The causes of the Great Depression lie in the global economy of the 1920s, and the eventual cure lay in the (eventual) individual sub-global (national and imperial) responses in the 1930s. The 1920s was about countries trying to run trade surpluses through policies of ‘internal devaluation’, known then as ‘deflation’. The goal was to reduce imports and to increase exports. This made some sense to the deficit countries with dwindling gold reserves, including the UK and of course Germany. The worst offenders were the money hoarders, USA and France. It is true that the US Smoot-Hawley tariff of 1930 substantially aggravated the extreme global imbalance. This is because the US was the country that had been running trade surpluses for a decade; the world economy then needed the US to become its biggest spender. Instead, the US did the very opposite, substantially reducing its imports. One of the most important events bringing the UK out of depression, and eventually much of the rest of the world was the (intended temporary) abandonment of free trade (in 1931). It gave Britain the freedom to adopt expansionary policies which could be assured to boost the British domestic economy. Britain’s imports soon revived, despite tariffs, as British incomes recovered. Important here to NZ was the negotiated ‘imperial preference’, through which growth in British imports would boost empire exports. In return, NZ switched to buying a significantly greater proportion of its imports from the UK (eg British instead of American cars). Through the late 1930s, a revival of the empire economy facilitated a revival of the global economy, though too late to bring Germany back into the global trading system.”

On the matter of the future of the European Union and the Euro Area, I commented:

“I sense that the EU nations not in the Euro Area will eventually have to make a choice: join the Euro Area or leave the European Union. The coming referendum in the UK confirms English ambivalence towards the EU, signaling an eventual exit, even if the referendum favours staying in. The interesting subtext is, I understand, that Scottish independence may be facilitated. Scotland would like to join Ireland as a full member of the EU and the Euro Area.”

The so-called ‘Greek crisis’ will not go away if Syriza does come to an accommodation with the Greek government’s creditors. It’s a systemic crisis that still has quite a long way to run. As I noted above, the logic of the tribal European financial establishment “means, in time, a globalisation of the Euro crisis“. 

What gives me hope is the youth and intellectual capacity of Syriza. Young Greek intellectuals are providing, through practical adversity, the leadership that is required to address global systemic problems. I sense, in the making, a global revolution in political economy not unlike the mid‑nineteenth century Darwinian revolution in biology. Intellectual revolutions are generally generational revolutions. Eventually the resistant older generation passes on, rather than conceding intellectual defeat.

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Cleaners show support for Wellington City Council’s Living Wage policy

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NewsroomPlus.com Contributed By: Olexander Barnes The weather outlook wasn’t flash, but that was never going to put off the 200 plus Wellington City Council cleaners and their supporters who met in front of Wesley Church on Taranaki Street to have breakfast before they began their march towards Civic Square in support of the council’s policy of providing all its workers with a living wage.

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© Olexander Barnes
The march was organised by Living Wage Movement Aotearoa NZ and was supported by the Public Services Association. The Living Wage Movement Aotearoa has been one of the main groups in fighting for employees to be paid a living wage. This is a wage that the average person and their family can live off comfortably, rather than the minimum wage which is lower and does not provide enough money for a full-time worker to sustain themselves and their family. Many of the participants held mops, an object synonymous with cleaners as they marched through Manners Mall towards Civic Square with their route taking them past the council’s chambers. They were led by rousing tunes provided by Wellington band Brass Razoo. Once gathered at Civic Square, a great deal of support was shown to the council for its actions in the adoption and implementing a living wage policy for its workers. Members of the council who were present were invited to come forward, of which several of those present did. Shortly thereafter Wellington Mayor Celia Wade-Brown appeared in her Mayoral Apparel, to cheers from the gathered crowd and was warmly embraced by one of the organisers. Deputy Mayor Justin Lester then took the megaphone, telling the gathered crowd of the council’s continued dedication to making sure that its workers would be paid a living wage.
Wellington Mayor Celia Wade Brown © Olexander Barnes
The megaphone was then handed over to Celia who recalled her shock to learn when the policy was first put forward how many of the council’s workers were not paid a wage that they could live off. She continued in saying that the council would be expanding the policy to cover those working as contractors to the council but said that this would have to be done on a case-by-case basis in relation to each contracted company. After Celia finished her speech, Brass Razoo gave one last energetic blast on their horns before the march ended and people filtered off to their jobs. –]]>

Jane Kelsey on Obama’s machinations win razor thin vote on Fast Track, NZ now on a hiding to nothing with TPPA

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Source: Professor Jane Kelsey.

[poll id=”15″] [caption id="attachment_1844" align="alignleft" width="200"]Professor Jane Kelsey. Professor Jane Kelsey.[/caption]

Unprecedented procedural machinations and an unholy alliance with the Republicans have secured US President Obama a super-majority to advance his Fast Track bill in the US Senate by a single vote. The bill itself will be voted on tomorrow.

According to University of Auckland law professor Jane Kelsey, ‘The damage to relations between the President and his core Democrat constituency may be irrecoverable, making the content of any final Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) deal a central of next year’s election campaign’.

‘The Republicans will now extract their pound of flesh on behalf of their corporate sponsors and local constituencies. We can expect even more intense pressure to deliver to Big Phrma, demands for more radical restrictions on state-owned enterprises, and renewed pressure to include rules against so-called currency manipulation.’

The Fast Track law also gives Congress a greater say in the ‘certification’ process, where they will oversee other countries’ compliance with US demands before the President can bring any final agreement into force.

‘Attention now shifts to the long-delayed meeting of ministers where the twelve countries will resume their secret negotiations and seek to strike a deal. We should expect that meeting within the next few weeks.’

The US and Japan still need to reach a bilateral agreement on agriculture and automobiles, which is far from certain. If they can, the final trade-offs on crucial social issues like medicine patents and investment rules will begin.

‘Both Prime Minister Key and Trade Minister Groser effectively conceded over the past week that New Zealand is on a hiding to nothing on dairy in the TPPA’, Professor Kelsey said.

Minister Groser has downgraded his bottom line from the elimination of all agricultural tariffs over time to simply requiring that ‘dairy is part of the deal’. Even that is not guaranteed.

‘No-one should be surprised that there’s nothing of substance on the table for New Zealand. Dairy is one of the most sensitive items for the US, Canada and Japan. New Zealand has nothing to trade-off in return, and the government is clearly desperate to be part of a final deal whatever the terms’, Professor Kelsey said.

‘Just as Obama has rolled the dice and “won” at enormous cost to his own party and to working families in the USA, the Key government is prepared to play Russian roulette with our future. The people of New Zealand will be the losers, but unlike the US Congress, our Parliament won’t get the final say’.

—

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byWADE…guns don’t kill people – americans do…

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bywade, guns, www.iammenotyou.com, cartoons, illustration
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kill each other all the time – in between killing people spreading democracy in other countries when they invade go to help or drone-strikes after coffee at their desks in utah… …but that’s straying really…whether it’s guns or a new car – always buy from someone you know…so you know there’s a better chance that it’s working properly You can follow WADE (from a safe digital distance) at www.facebook.com/bywade or look at more stuff and buy things in obscene volumes to show how successful and cool you are at www.iammenotyou.com…]]>

NewsRoom Digest: Top NZ News Items for June 23, 2015

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Newsroom Digest

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest contains 5 media release snippets and 4 links for the day of Tuesday 23rd June.

Top stories in the current news cycle include continued coverage about the state of state houses with the Child Poverty action Group zeroing in on health risks to children, ongoing concerns about the need for agencies to improve their handling of family violence cases and stories about the widespread damage and disruption by the extreme flooding across Whanganui and Taranaki.

SNIPPETS OF THE DAY

* Politics

New Bill To Enforce Tax Rules: Revenue Minister Todd McClay and Land Information Minister Louise Upston have welcomed the introduction of a new bill which will help Inland Revenue enforce the tax rules around property.

Petition Welcomed: A petition campaigning for a public inquiry into assisted dying has been welcomed by Epsom MP David Seymour, who accepted the petition with Iain Lees-Galloway, Chris Bishop, and Kevin Hague today.

* Business

Kiwi At Lowest In 5 years: The New Zealand dollar hit a fresh five-year low as traders firm up expectations for more interest rate cuts following a weaker-than-expected gross domestic product report last week, and as upbeat US economic data strengthens the case for US rate hikes in September.

Banks Gaining Profits: New Zealand’s five major banks (ANZ, ASB, BNZ, Kiwibank and Westpac) have continued to show strong profits and lending growth in the first quarter of the 2015 calendar year (being 1 January 2015 to 31 March 2015, 1Q2015) however lending margins are beginning to contract due to stiff competition.

* Primary Industries

Farmer Confidence Drops: New Zealand farmer confidence slumped to the lowest level in a decade in the second quarter as dairy farmers turned gloomy. Farmer confidence in the agricultural economy turned to a negative net 45 percent in the second quarter, from a positive net 13 percent in the first quarter, touching its lowest level since early 2006, according to Rabobank’s latest rural confidence survey.

LINKS OF THE DAY 

GOOD INFORMATION IMPORTANT IN WELL-BEING OF DISABLED MAORI: A new report from Statistics New Zealand shows the importance of collecting good information about the one in four Māori who are disabled. For findings from the 2013 Disability Survey – report, click here:http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/health/disabilities/He-haua-maori-findings-from-2013-disability-survey.aspx

REPORT SHOWS INFLUENCE OF SENIOR CITIZENS ON NZ ECONOMY: A new report has highlighted the economic influence of older people in New Zealand, Senior Citizens Minister Maggie Barry says. Read more herewww.osc.govt.nz and here http://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/research/business-of-ageing/index.html

KIWIS REMAIN CONFIDENT IN NZ’S FINANCIAL MARKETS, SURVEY SHOWS: Confidence in New Zealand’s financial markets remains stable, with 60% of New Zealanders feeling confident in the state of the country’s financial markets. The full survey can be seen here: https://www.fma.govt.nz/assets/Fact-sheets/Investor-research-2015-16-June.pdf

HAVE YOUR SAY ON THE FUTURE OF TB CONTROL IN NZ: Anyone with an interest in the future management of bovine tuberculosis (TB) in New Zealand is invited to make a submission on a proposal for the future bovine TB National Pest Management Plan. Consultation on the proposal opened today. For more information, go here:www.tbplanreview.co.nz

And that’s our sampling of the day that was on Tuesday 23rd June 2015.

Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>

OECD Criticism of NZ’s Lacklustre Pacific Aid Performance A Litmus-Test of What We Have Become

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Former New Zealand prime minister Sir John Key, (right) with former US president, Barak Obama pictured on the golf course in Hawaii. Key is currently ANZ New Zealand's chairperson.
Evening Report
Evening Report
OECD Criticism of NZ's Lacklustre Pacific Aid Performance A Litmus-Test of What We Have Become
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Editorial by Selwyn Manning.

Listen (here) to Selwyn Manning discussing this issue on Radio New Zealand's The Panel with Jim Mora and Penny Ashton.
Selwyn Manning, editor – EveningReport.nz

The OECD issued a report this morning urging the New Zealand Government to increase its aid contributions to the Pacific region. The OECD stated: “… in terms of the amount of aid provided, New Zealand lags other donors in the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC).

The Review recommends the country use its economic recovery as an opportunity to raise its ambitions and set a time frame for lifting its aid budget towards an internationally agreed target for donor countries of 0.7% of gross national income (GNI).”

As the OECD report reveals, New Zealand’s GNI lags behind other OECD nations in contributions.

New Zealand’s 2014 level amounts to 0.27% of our gross national income (GNI), compared to an OECD average of 0.39%.

It is true that our country has a proud history of supporting our regional neighbours, especially when disaster strikes. Our defence forces, our police, our administrators, Civil Defence specialists, NGOs, our diplomatic corps all have well-honed skills that assist our Pacific neighbours to be ready for disaster, to respond efficiently, and to assist in restoration when a country and its peoples have been brought to their knees.

The OECD has acknowledged this valuable contribution. But we also have a responsibility to share our economic successes with our Pacific neighbours, especially those who have helped to shape New Zealand into the developed country it is.

The OECD is not suggesting handouts, but rather aid tagged to capacity-building, assistance that helps these small island states to sustain their independence, position their economies so as to prosper and reach their potential.

It’s a regional partnership, a regional pact, a regional investment. The OECD report is a wake-up call for the National-led Government to reconsider what this country stands for.

It follows justified criticisms that New Zealand is failing to pull its weight by accepting refugees in numbers previously agreed-to by successive governments.

At this juncture, a comparative exercise will help us to understand who we were as a nation, what we have become, and what we could be:

  • The Lange Labour Government is remembered for nudging NZ toward being an independent Pacific Island state (and for cementing our anti-nuclear legislation within the New Zealand way);
  • the Bolger National Government is remembered for aligning our trade policy closer to Asia;
  • the Clark Labour Government for maintaining relative independence over the Iraq invasion while preparing New Zealand for a warming of relations with the USA;
  • and the Key National Government will be remembered for its embrace of the US superpower’s security intelligence interests and multilateral corporate trade frameworks like the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA).

The OECD has identified how we as a nation have neglected our patch in the Pacific. It need not be that way. We can change the trajectory this nation is on.

Further details, see the OECD statement: New Zealand in a good position to raise development aid ambitions on ForeignAffairs.co.nz. –

Every Everest needs a Climathon

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NewsroomPlus.com

In contrast to the less-than-inspiring ‘them to us’ experience of the Government’s Climate Change Contribution Consultation – as covered at NewsRoom_Journal in a two-part write up last month – Wellington citizens who took part in a globally organised Climathon on Friday 19 & Saturday 20 June could leave the room with a real sense of achievement. 

Hugely experienced Motu Policy Fellow Catherine Leining counts herself among those disappointed at the limitations attached to official consultation about climate change, and shared some insights at the beginning of the Climathon in Wellington on Friday night.

Speaking from her experience of being at the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference, also known as the Copenhagen Summit, Leining identified what was a personally deep turning point at that event.

It was a point at which gestures towards incremental thinking about climate change could no longer suffice. A point at which it became apparent only transformational thinking and change will really suffice if we are going adapt to, and for, a future that in a quote from the stock of Yogi Berra just “ain’t what it used to be”.

Leining’s brief contribution in kicking off the Climathon, was about inspiring people to bring breakthrough ideas into play – invoking D. Elton Trueblood’s quote about one of the roots of discovery of the meaning of human life being to plant trees under which we know “full well” we will never sit, and Eric Hoffer’s words: “In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists”.

A popular quote Leining added to the mix, with the most recent currency and resonance, was attributable to Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, from two years ago:

“If climate change is our generation’s Everest I would applaud New Zealand leading the race to the top. This is up to you.” 

That well reported quote certainly serves as a call to action, and chimed in well as a double meaning for the word Climathon.

So what was this Climathon thing all about?

Climathon_global

When I went looking for a succinct description for this global event, one of the best was this grab from one of the sites promoting a simultaneous Climathon event in Brazil. As a marvellous bonus the Portugese phrasing “maratona de trabalhos” just sounds so apropos – with the word trabalhos also capturing meanings like craftmanship, hardship, painstaking and service.

And Climate-KIC? It is one of three Knowledge and Innovation Communities (KICs) created in 2010 by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT). It describes itself as “Europe’s largest public-private innovation partnership focused on climate change, consisting of dynamic companies, the best academic institutions and the public sector”.

The split across the three sectors is approximately 50% business, 30% academic and 20% public and not for profit.  Its 13 European centres are organised through national centres each managed by a director, and regional centres, collectively managed by a director and co-ordinated via a steering group. Its central office is based in London.

It’s 30 core partners are: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol; Arcadis; ASTER; Bayer Technology Services; Birmingham City Council; Chalmers University of Technology; Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives; Deltares; DTU – Technical University of Denmark; ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology; Forschungszentrum Julich; GDF Suez; German Research Centre for Geosciences; Grundfos A/S; Imperial College London; INRA – L’Institute national de la recherche agronomique; Institute of Sustainability; IVACE – Valencian Institute of Business Competitiveness; KLM; PIK – Potsdam Institue for Climate Impact Research; South Pole Group; Technische Universitat Berlin; Technische Universiteit Delft; TNO – Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research; Universite de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines; University of Copenhagen; UPMC – Universite Pierre et Marie Curie; Utrecht University; VELUX A/S; and the Wageningen University & Research Centre. (See more details below).

Getting Wellington on to the slate of city venues for the Climathon – which included Addis Ababa, Beijing, Birmingham, Boston, Copenhagen,  Frankfurt, Gothenburg,Helsinki, London, New Delhi, Perth, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Wałbrzych, Washington DC, Winterhur – was itself a great result.

Aside from the support of co-hosts Victoria University of Wellington and Wellington City Council, and local supporting partners the New Zealand Centre for Sustainable Cities, The Deep South National Science Challenge, Viclink and VUWSA, thanks for this would have to go to the standout efforts of local go-getters Enspiral, with leads Anthony Cabraal and Silvia Zuur, and supporting team

Climathon_Enspiral
Left to right – rear: Anthony Cabraal, Geordi Dearns, Mix Irving, Bart De Vries, Genevieve Parkes; front: Rory, Silvia Zuur, Jack Tolley.

Having picked up the baton at a relatively late stage, this experienced crew (think Open Source // Open Society) attracted a turnout of around 60 people to what Climate-KIC billed as a “hackathon-style climate change event”.

As far as the Wellington event went, it could have been easy, as with climate change, to be overwhelmed.

That’s where the facilitation of Silvia Zuur in particular kept things on track with a very clear emphasis on a stage-by-stage approach to action, learning through experiment and diving into collaboration. After all, as Zuur pointed out, “what can’t 24 hours do?”

Climathon-2

It was certainly true – as corroborated by Charlotte Hayes’ excellent event reportage for the KiwiConnect blog – that no time was wasted in the opening team group brainstorming on the themes of Business & Policy, Culture, Energy & Water, Food, Transport & Aviation, and a session I sat in on, Urban Cities.

Before getting stuck into the hard work of doing what we could, where we were, with what we had – really not much more than our feet and our mobile devices – this first session allowed for broad level framing of problems and fast paced ‘what if?’ discussions. It also immediately highlighted – just in the Urban Cities group alone – what a diverse set of people who had never met had been drawn to Climathon: two engineers, a designer, policy analysts, a community activist, an architect, a land use planner, a postgrad student and even a journalist, and not all just from Wellington.

Sitting as a background driver to the full event, was the carrot that up to three projects would be in the running to be supported for five months to further develop whatever project they might have begun to hatch with mentorship, workshops and learning opportunities, space to work (at Ensprial) and connections. Another, not to be sneezed at carrot being that Climate-KIC would be choosing the best ideas from the crop initiated by these city Climathons to be selected to travel to present in Paris during the United Nations COP21 climate change conference in December.

… and at the end of the day

By 6pm on Saturday 20 June, six teams emerged with whistlestop presentations to make to a panel made up of: Chelsea Robinson (a co-founder of Generation Zero and Lifehack co-lead); Professor Philippa Howden-Chapman aided by Associate Professor Ralph Chapman; Geoff Todd, the MD at Viclink; and Dan Zwartz, a research fellow at the Antarctic Research Centre.

Here’s a summary of all ten emergent propositions,  boiled down to some indicative ‘what if?’ questions.

  • Carbon Productivity Crusaders – what if substitutes for the biggest users of energy like Tiwai Point in Southland were put through rigorous analysis to plan for substitute uses, and if all big users were put “in the cross hairs?”
  • Communicating Change – what if our workplaces – where most spend the majority of our waking and working days – could be open to more structured internal communications opportunities around the issues of climate change, and open to making changes ‘from within’ by encouraging climate change intrapreneurs?
  • Conscious Commuters – what if we could lessen the barriers and strengthen the links between cycling and public transport with better facilities like a bike-on-trains connector?
  • Creative Climate Capital – what if Wellington rebranded itself as an exemplar of preparedness for climate change with a constant and changing set of installations and exhibits?

Climathon_Culture

  • Culture Clash – what if, before racing to develop ‘band aid’ apps for instance, there was a project that did everything it could to pull apart, flip, re-interrogate and synthesise all of the assumptions that get in the way of people understanding how to respond to climate change challenges – be that attitudes or behaviours?
  • Inspiring Events – what if we could create and run climate change awareness events that captivated the hearts and minds of people? Example: Wellington On A Plate with a climate change theme around food.
  • Map My Meal – what if there was a way, an app, for people to factor in everything about the food products they might purchase to become informed about low environmental impact and high impact – country of origin, fair trade, free trade, organic or not, packaging?
  • Our Space – what if we started to navigate our way through new planning and legal pathways to maximise the idle but abundant land available in suburban backyards to open it up to uses like modular prefabs that could be rented, or for shared gardens?
  • Po0ol – what if small-to-medium businesses like retailers could access a tool to monitor and measure every aspect of their consumption of resources aligned to ISO standards, not just their electricity usage, to lead on to certifications like the Enviromark?
  • Tax Haven – what if you walked into a pop-up shop and when you went to buy the products on sale, say an apple for instance, and salesperson let you know that the marked price had a ‘tax’ to be added to it to cover the added ‘climate change cost’?

(Note: The Tax Haven idea presented by team-mates (and flatmates) Seth Hickling & Pete Jacobson rounded out the presentations with a humorous skit based on a mock pop-up shop. Way to sell the pitch guys!)

ClimathonPanel2

And the panels three “favourites”, after intense supplementary questions (and some well-earnt pizza), were …. Conscious Commuters, Our Space and Po0ol.

Climathon didn’t knock off Everest, but it did magically bring climate change down to a human scale – a scale that allowed this switched on group of people to channel their energies towards actions that might help realise the hope that we can still re-purpose life on Planet Earth, as we know it.

Or as Ants Cabraal says: “Saving the world, one hackathon at a time..”

Around the world with Climathon 2015

Snapshots of the activities and results from the round of Climathons held around the world have been arriving in – from a Storify to team-winning stories and images. Here’s a photo just in today via #climathon on Twitter from São Paulo of that city’s proud winning team:
So what questions were events at other city Climathons focused on? Here are some excerpts from the overall Climate-KIC city challenges:
  • Boston – how can the city of Boston prepare for the multifaceted threats posed by climate change-associated sea level rise? Climathon teams may consider innovative solutions that include reporting tools, remote sensing applications, early warning systems, shelter location maps, and emergency response plans.
    .
  • Washington D.C. How can public-private partnerships reduce food waste or loss generated by the District of Columbia’s residential or commercial sectors? Update here: http://gwtoday.gwu.edu/
    .
  • Rio de Janeiro ecological urbanism within the city of Rio de Janeiro to collaborate and create diverse, innovative and multidisciplinary solutions and tools around urban mobility problems. Update here: www.dropbox.com
    .
  • São Paulo Which solutions can be developed and applied to assist the citizens of São Paulo to improve biodiversity conservation in the city?
    .
  • Birmingham What is the role of the citizen in a zero waste Birmingham?
    .
  • London How can London collect better air quality data from various travel and transport modes? How can we reduce the impact that poor air quality has in London – making the invisible, visible – through creating maps to enable people to plan low pollution routes through the city? How can we link open spaces to community groups wanting to grow food in a sustainable London? Solving problems in London around the issues of energy from waste? Update here: blog.amee.com
    .
  • Helsinki How can we make schools more energy efficient and healthy by innovative data visualization and other applications?
    .
  • Gothenburg, Sweden How can innovation platforms be instrumental in catalysing city climate initiatives in the city of Gothenburg?
    .
  • Copenhagen How will Copenhagen motivate behavioural change in our citizens’ to be climate smart through the use of data-driven services?
    .
  • Frankfurt How will the city of Frankfurt deliver its transition to a low-carbon economy?
    .
  • Winterhur How can the growing city of Winterthur, Switzerland create eco-efficient mobility?
    .
  • Wałbrzych, Poland How can we increase residents’ engagement in the use of renewable energy sources in Wałbrzych?
    .
  • Addis Ababa, Ethiopia How can local business contribute to more sustainable, climate-smart urban water management?
    .
  • New Delhi How can we motivate people to responsibly segregate their waste in their homes?
    .
  • Beijing How to encourage citizens to install distributed PV panels? How can citizens have better ways to invest in distributed PV panels?

_________________

Advance publicity and releases:

  • 17 June – ‘Climathon’ Seeks Climate Solutions From All Across the Globe
  • 17 June – Wellington leads the way with Climathon
  • 17 June – Pope Francis to speak out on climate change during 24-hour global Climathon
  • 15 June – Climathon: Major cities across 6 continents unite for 24-hours to find climate change solutions

More about Climate-KIC

Together with its partners, Climate-KIC identifies markets for climate mitigation and adaption innovations through pathfinder projects, and invest in innovation projects to create products and services and take them to market through existing businesses, new joint ventures and spin-off companies.

Projects are classified by type (Pathfinder, Innovation, Flagship) and eight themes: Greenhouse gas monitoring; Adaptation services; Making transitions happen; Sustainable city systems; The built environment; Land and water; Industrial symbiosis; and Developing a bio-economy.

For an overview here’s the A to Z list of 62 of Climate-KIC’s projects sorted by NewsRoom_Plus – link to the Climate-KIC page here:

  • Accompany cities in energy strategy.
    Providing tools to support the energy transition of European Cities
  • Adaptation Tool for Local Authorities.
    Enhancing the capabilities of local authorities to implement
  • Azofast.
    Producing Azolla biomass for a large scale production of proteins and raw materials for food and non-food purposes
  • Behavioural Change for Sustainable Urban Mobility.
    Developing business models to engage the private sector in sustainable urban mobility
  • Benchmarking the most promising CO2 Reuse technologies.
    Exploring the possibilities of using CO2 as an industrial feedstock
  • Biogas, Energising the Countryside.
    Creating a more efficient solution to agricultural greenhouse has emissions
  • Biogas2Market.
    Business opportunities for sustainable biogas production
  • Blue Green Dream.
    Using water and vegetation together to make our cities more liveable
  • Building Technologies Accelerator.
    Measurable carbon reduction in the building technology market
  • CarboCount: Carbon accounting of Europe’s regions.
    Answering the demand for independent, reliable and verifiable information on greenhouse gas emissions at a regional level
  • Carbon Emissions from Cities.
    Providing transparency in urban greenhouse emissions data
  • Carbon-neutral, Low Emission Gas Turbine using Steam Injection.
    Developing the new paradigm in gas turbine technology
  • Catalysing Green Infrastructures.
    Increasing green space in flood prone areas
  • Climate Data Factory.
    Distributing user-friendly climate projections data to facilitate adaptation strategies
  • Climate Impact Expert System.
    Generating climate relevant information for multiple impacted sectors and present them in an online tool
  • Closed Loop Communities.
    Encouraging resource efficiency at a local level
  • Community of Practice for Integrated Food Clusters.
    Providing a platform to develop resource efficiencies in food production and supply
  • Cool Farm Tool Space.
    Developing tailored remote sensing solutions for farmers to monitor report and verify their greenhouse gas emissions
  • CO₂ Base Products – From Dream to Reality.
    Shaping a Sustainable Future for Synthetic Polymer Production
  • Delivering sustainable energy solutions for ports.
    Bringing innovation to container terminals in European ports to reduce carbon emissions
  • Demand supply mapping for adaptation of local actors.
    Providing a demand-driven and self-sustaining service that addresses Climate Change Adaptation in European municipalities
  • Diffusion of E-Bikes.
    Converting E-Bikes into scalable public transportation
  • Employer led CO₂ and Energy Reductions by Employees.
    Encouraging a greener lifestyle at home and at work
  • Eurbanlab: Accelerating urban innovations.
    Systemic innovations in a good process make cities sustainable
  • Europe-wide Use of Sustainable Energy from Aquifers.
    Using thermal storage systems to reduce carbon emissions
  • European Energy Performance of Properties Analysis.
    Supporting the development of an overarching European Energy Performance Certificate
  • Extreme Events for Energy Providers.
    Climate adaptation strategies in the energy sector as a response to extreme weather events
  • Flexibilization of industries enables sustainable energy systems.
    Exploring opportunities for flexible operation of major energy consuming industries in reaction to increasingly volatile energy systems
  • Fuel Supply Chain Development and Flight Operations.
    Reducing Carbon Emissions in the Aviation Sector
  • Fugitive Methane Emissions from hard-to tackle sites and sources.
    Fugitive Methane Emissions from hard-to tackle sites and sources
  • Fully Optimised and Reliable Emissions Tool.
    Tackling the climatic impact of deforestation and degradation efficiently
  • Global facility for calculating investments needed to bridge the climate induced water gap.
    Assessing the demand and availability of water resources to develop adaptation strategies
  • Greenhouse Gas Data for Investment Decisions.
    Quantifying the climatic impacts and risks of investments
  • Horizon scanning the European Bioeconomy.
    Scoping the horizon of opportunity for the bioeconomy sector
  • Implementation & Adoption of Carbon footprint in Tourism travel packages.
    Defining carbon footprints of tourism packages
  • Interface Applications and Serious Games.
    Raising the awareness of climate mitigation potential throughout society
  • iPort at Amsterdam Airport.
    Reducing carbon emission and costs in the aviation industry through innovative airport design and handling processes
  • KIC Transitions.
    Mitigating climate change as a result of urbanisation
  • Know Carbon.
    Guiding consumer behavior to reduce GHG emissions
  • Metropolitan Food Clusters for climate-proof agriculture by an increased resources use efficiency.
    Optimising food production chains to increase productivity and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
  • MicroAlgae Biorefinery.
    Developing microalgae into a commercial activity for bulk products
  • MIRIADE.
    Developing the market for the latest technology in greenhouse gas monitoring
  • Monitoring, Reporting and Verification Sector.
    Improving Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  • Mun-E-P (Municipal E-Bus Planner).
    Driving the transition from diesel to electrified buses in local public transport
  • Neighbourhood Demonstrators.
    New approaches to delivering sustainable places
  • One Tonne Society.
    A field test of CO2 footprint reduction in private households with regard to the areas mobility, private consumption and housing energy
  • Open Access Catastrophe Model.
    Insuring the risk of catastrophes
  • Pioneer Cities.
    Identifying and sharing solutions for tackling climate change in urban areas across Europe
  • Prediction of the Impact of Climate Change and Urban Sprawl on ECOsystem Services.
    An Integrated Approach for Preserving Natural Resources
  • Realising carbon footprint reduction in food and non-food chain by new production systems based on LED lighting.
    Reducing the carbon footprint of greenhouse horticulture
  • Reduced Footprints of Monumental Structures, Landscapes and Buildings.
    Building a market for reducing energy emissions in heritage buildings
  • Smart Urban Adapt.
    A cloud-based, user friendly hub that integrates all city planning applications and services
  • Smart Urban Water.
    A step change in urban water management
  • Sustainable Campus, Launching Customer.
    Creating a great European campus network by bringing climate innovation research to the market
  • SWIPO – Smart Wiring for Power Grid Stability.
    Helping to redesign energy transmission grids in order to cope with the stresses of climate change
  • Transition Cities.
    Building an integrated innovation system for the transition to a low carbon economy
  • Transition to Zero Emission Bus Transportation.
    Accelerating the move to Zero Emissions Bus systems
  • Urban Mobile Instruments for Environmental Monitoring.
    Urban Resistance to the Effects of Climate Change
  • Visualisation of Energy Efficiency Performance and User Behaviour.
    Sense4EN: Changing Individual Attitudes to Climate Change
  • Waste 2.0.
    Intelligent Environmental Services for Urban Areas
  • Water and Energy for Climate Change.
    Utilising waste heat for water production and climate control
  • Working with Nature.
    Business opportunities for sustainable coastal and river engineering

And here’s an A to Z list of start-ups sorted by year of ‘founding’ by NewsRoom_Plus – link to the Climate-KIC page here:

2015

  • Algreen BV – Everyday algae
  • BladeRunner Energy – Grow with the Flow
  • CARBON DELTA – The best financial data on climate change
  • eMio – Electric scooter sharing
  • Lilium – Electric flying as the future of private mobility
  • MgAubel – recyclable mineral composites
  • Modalyzer – Mobility insights
  • Open Foret
  • PCM Cooling – Reliable cooling with minimal energy waste
  • Unlocking land value

2014

  • 3R Waste Management – Plastic waste recycling
  • Adaptavate – Breathing a breath of fresh air into the buildings of the future
  • Adaptricity – Innovative Software for Power Systems in Transition
  • Agromet – Meteo climatic forecasts for food sector
  • Alchemie Technology Ltd – Digital solutions for sustainable manufacturing
  • Cambond – Biomass-based Green Glue for Green Board and Green Construction
  • Canary Control – Home heating control management
  • Delft Spectral Technologies – High speed optical measurement
  • Design By Sol – It is about time that our expiry dates got smarter
  • Desolenator – Transforming sunshine into water
  • DutchEES – We make heating affordable
  • e.Ray – Delivering hydrokinetic power plants
  • EARTHWAYS – Redefining geothermal energy
  • Eaternity – Appetite for Change – CO2-calculation for restaurants
  • Ecoglobe – Ecological water treatment and reuse
  • Eddy Labs – Harnessing Sound for the Smart Home
  • Enit Systems – Energy management for industry
  • ET Index Ltd – Carbon-tilted index provider
  • Flipflower – Standalone hybrid public lighting system
  • Green City Solutions – A new generation of urban infrastructure
  • Heliac – Revolutionizing the field of concentrated solar power
  • H2GO P – Powering the future
  • ImagineCargo Sustainable Courier – Packages delivered bike-train-bike instead of truck-plane-truck
  • INTEKO – Save your money and give the climate a chance!
  • LEDsafari – Sharing knowledge to make a sustainable world
  • Nordic Power Converters – Small, low cost power supplies
  • Novagg Limited – The world’s greenest structural lightweight aggregate
  • OpenTRV – Saving energy via intelligent heating controls
  • Palletechnology Ltd. – Smart pallets and an Industrial Internet of Things platform for an evolved supply chain
  • PowerWindow – Transparent and patented energy producing windows
  • Rencat – Catalyzing Green Power
  • ReWinner – Reusing Building Products & Materials
  • Shared Electric – Smart from the Start – Tools for electricity utilities making their consumers responsive
  • Solar Application Lab – Configurable power converters
  • Suntherm – Transforming residential heating systems to occupy less physical space and to retain heat more efficiently, for longer periods of time and at lower cost to the end-consumer
  • Torque Wind Turbine R&D BV – Wind turbine development, production and sales
  • TroFaCo – Action for climate change and rural development in developing countries
  • Upside Energy – Enabling people to get paid for not using energy
  • WeAct – Empowers people to live more sustainably
  • Woodyshousing – Smart housing makes quality affordable: everywhere, everytime!
  • Zum guten Heinrich – Delivers sustainable food whilst reducing food waste

2013

  • Agrilution – Kitchen device for home-growing vegetables and herbs
  • Algoritmica – Predictive maintenance software
  • Making unused private parking accessible to the public via mobile
  • akvola Technologies – Sustainable water treatment
  • Aqualligence – Water contamination alert service
  • aQysta – Hydro-powered irrigation system
  • Avular – Agricultural data platform
  • Carbon Analytics – Cloud computing solutions for emissions management
  • CarbonOrO – Carbon capture from gasses
  • CLOSCA -A fashionable bicycle eco helmet that collapses for easy storage
  • Cogent Heat Energy Storage Systems (CHESS) – Carbon negative power
  • Coheat – Residential heat networks
  • Dingify – Unlimited 3D printing on location
  • E-STONE – Renewable energy storage
  • EcoBrix – Easy accessible mobile wastewater treatment solutions
  • Energie 365 – Smart grid solutions
  • ENERMAP – Online platform of Energy Performance Certificates
  • Flissade – Innovative façade system
  • GreenStar Statistics – Improvement of Driving Behaviour
  • GrowUp Urban Farms – Aquaponic urban farm
  • Hello Energie – Delivery of electricity and gas
  • JackSavior – New design for the audio jack plug
  • Kassence – Improving the micro climate to improve our climate – convenient in- and outdoor sensors
  • Lumenaza – Transparent regional electricity markets
  • NER (Nafici Environmental Research Ltd) – Eco paper from wheat straw, not trees
  • Nerdalize – Heating Buildings with Computing Power
  • One Earth One Ocean
  • One Nights Tent – Bio-based product design
  • One Shore – We know diesel. We love solar
  • Open Utility – Peer-to-peer energy marketplace
  • OsmoBlue – Generate electricity from low-temperature heat
  • Reduse – home of the Unprinter – Give your paper new life
  • ReVibe Ene – Enabling a sustainable and self-sufficient power source for low-current applications
  • Repurpose
  • ruction b.v – 3Dconcrete printing
  • SNOCOM B.V. – Energy efficient snow removal
  • StexFibers B.V. – Hemp for High Quality Textiles
  • Strawberry – The inkless printer
  • Sunfloat – more performance from PV panels
  • Trakeo – Supply chain sustainability compliance
  • Tube Barrier – Flexible Flood Protection
  • UrbanSeeds – Indoors waste recycling solution
  • Windmanufactur – Volkwind-Turbines – people’s small wind turbines
  • ZIGZAGSOLAR – Aesthetic solar power from facades

2012

  • Aqdot – Smart microcapsules
  • Aquademia – Information for precision agriculture
  • Awaju – Private household energy management.
  • Better Taxi – Think mobility. Throw in social change & ecology
  • BringBee – The home delivery network: Crowdsourced & Green Deliveries
  • Carzapp – Next generation carsharing
  • CocoPallet – Low cost eco transport pallets from coconut waste
  • DexLeChem – Our innovation: Your green future in chemistry! *
  • Disdro – Impact by measuring rain
  • eBikeFINDER – Stop searching for your E-Bike. Find it.
  • ECF Farmsystems GmbH – Planning and construction aquapnic farm systems in urban environments
  • ElectricFeel – Smart Urban Mobility: E-Bike-Transportation System
  • Elemental Water Makers – Renewable driven desalination
  • FARMTASY – Bring Farmville into real life!
  • Greengineering – DrainMiserTM: Doubles the energy from your Dollar
  • Lumo
  • MeshPower – Solar micro-grid
  • Milk the Sun – The photovoltaic marketplace.
  • Mobile Water Management – Saving water using smartphones
  • MOCS – Modular composite structures
  • NOVOTEK – Cogeneration based on wood biomass
  • PlugSurfing – Just charge.
  • q-Bot – Underfloor insulation with robots
  • QwikSense – Building Performance Dashboard
  • Rezatec – Analyzing earth data
  • Solandeo – Metering and power management for small renewable energy plants
  • Solarfreeze.net – Cooling by the sun
  • SolarSwing – Innovative solar shading
  • Stignergy SA – Energy Control & Optimization by Bio-inspired Technology
  • Thermondo – The easy way to your new heating
  • Tvilight – Intelligent Lighting Solutions
  • ViriCiti B.V. – Influencing energy consumption

2011

  • Agora Energy – Smart bins for Cities, Cutting cost and CO2 emission by 40%
  • Antaco UK – Biomass to biocoal
  • Archimedes Solutions – Archisol: Provider of sustainable energy solutions
  • B.V. – Connecting horticulture buyers and suppliers worldwide
  • BoxTango GmbH – Logistics with passion – green container transport
  • CarbonGenie – Changing travel behavior
  • Cella Energy – Safe, low-cost hydrogen storage material
  • Cohere – Smart charging for electric vehicles
  • Ebee – A technology provider for the utility and automotive industry
  • Econic Technologies – Polymers from CO2
  • Empower Generation – Clean Energy Market Builder
  • Eternal Sun – Solar testing equipment
  • Fleet Cleaner – Hull cleaning and inspection equipment
  • Pectcof B.V. – Biorefinery of coffee biomass
  • Pilio – Energy analytic software and hardware
  • Solease – Leasing of solar PV systems
  • tado° – Intelligent Climate Control
  • Urban-e MSC GmbH – Innovative Mobility
  • Virtual Streamlining – Smart aerodynamic drag reduction for reducing vehicle fuel consumption
  • Yellow Pallet B.V. – Use waste agri-fibers of fruit plants to produce pallets
  • Ynsect – Insect products

2010

  • Airino – High-resolution agronomic data on demand
  • Bettervest – Crowd-funding platform for energy-efficiency projects
  • Bluerise – Harnessing the ocean’s power
  • Eternum Energy – Creating micro energy businesses in off-grid Africa
  • Evolution Energie – Energy efficiency software
  • Giaura – On-site CO2 supply
  • Qarnot computing – Green computing & free heating
  • SAFETY LINE – Airline fuel efficiency
  • Virtenio GmbH – Smart wireless devices
  • Waste2Chemical – Making sustainability profitable

2009

  • Climeworks AG – Capturing CO2 from air
  • Econitor GmbH – Save energy, Easy
  • Naked Energy – Solar energy redefined
  • Plant-e – Electricity generation with living plants while the plants are growing
  • Sénova – Your home energy efficiency is now easy to improve
  • SimGas BV – Biogas solutions for the sub-tropics

2008

  • Fruition Sciences
  • Holland Container Innovations B.V. – HCI Foldable Container

2007

E-volo – The world’s first green helicopter

2000

Select Innovations – Intelligent energy, efficient lighting control solutions

NOT founded yet, or no date:

  • 21st century technology for preventing wildfire and illegal logging
  • BIO2CHP – “Don’t throw what you pay to grow”
  • BIOMON
  • Bringing delicious insects onto the plates of Europe
  • CALTROPe – Reducing the impact of rising sea levels in the world’s delta regions
  • Captain Plant – Veggie Burger: healthy food for people on the move
  • Corellian – Fuel reducing aerodynamic products
  • eChecker – A power test bench for all E-bikes.
  • essento
  • Founded: Not founded yet
  • Founded: Not founded yet
  • Freemium service for modern hitchhikers
  • Good – Bio-based panels for building
  • HitchHyper
  • IndieWatt
  • Libralato – The world’s first 1-stroke engine – an ‘eco-engine’ for the 21st century
  • Magic Mitad – Connecting high level technologies with basic needs
  • mobile hydro – Energy for off-grid areas
  • ModuTank – Modular composite water tank
  • Mr. Green Trading – Setting an end to emerging markets’ plastic waste menace
  • Nature Today – Nature marketing & communication
  • Ooho! – Edible water packaging
  • Renewable energy production and supply
  • SEA-V- Inspire your employees to have a positive impact!
  • Smart Crusher – Concrete trash is cash
  • Social Fabric – Supporting the creation of sustainable clothes
  • SUREST – Sunlight energy solutions for better living
  • Symoto – Online systems modeling software
  • TEN innovation design – Enhance shrimp production toward sustainable development
  • THE ELECTRIC HOTEL – Human centric power generation
  • Use – Circular headphone service
  • Veganaut – Discover a new world – Gamifying a social movement
  • WaterHub – Bio-based infrastructure services to reduce CO2 emission
  • Younergy – Manage your own energy!

ENDS – Contributed by Stephen Olsen 

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NewsRoom Digest: Top NZ News Items for June 22, 2015

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Newsroom Digest

This edition of NewsRoom_Digest contains 7 media release snippets and 4 links of the day from Monday 22nd June.

Top stories in the current news cycle include ongoing coverage of the impact and extent of adverse and extreme weather, especially the flooding in Whanganui, reportage alleging a high percentage of scientists consider they are being ‘gagged’ from speaking out on issues publicly, and the Chief Coroner’s criticism of police and psychologists involved in the case of Dunedin man Edward Livingstone, who killed his children before turning a shotgun on himself.

SNIPPETS OF THE DAY

* Politics

Swamp Kauri Shamble Continues: Further evidence that the Ministry of Primary Industries may have been negligent in its implementation of the Forests Act 1949, including confusing diameter and circumference measurements, means a moratorium on swamp kauri mining and exports is urgent, says the Green Party.

Prove Refugee Numbers Says Greens: The Green Party is challenging John Key to produce a breakdown of numbers for his claim that New Zealand accepts 3000 to 4000 refugees a year, despite Ministry of Immigration numbers showing otherwise.

* Business

Interest In A2 Take Over: A2 Milk Co, the dual-listed milk marketing company, has received an expression of interest from two associated trade parties keen on taking over the company, which may force the firm to shelve a planned capital raising. The shares jumped to an 11-month high.

Jobs Secure Following Safe Air Sale: Air New Zealand said it wasn’t expecting any job losses as a result of the sale of its Safe Air engineering subsidiary to European aerospace giant Airbus Group.

* Primary Industries

Freshwater Fish On Calenders: NIWA researchers have produced a series of calendars to inform people when New Zealand’s native freshwater and sport fish are migrating and spawning. It is the first time the information has been available in one place and, although it was designed to assist the forestry industry minimise the effects of their business on key freshwater fish species, NIWA hopes it will be used by anyone wanting to carry out work near freshwater.

* General

Volunteers Working With Prisoners: Every week hundreds of members of the public voluntarily go to prison because they want to make a difference with offenders. Corrections has 2,000 registered volunteers and each year they make around 20,000 visits to New Zealand’s prisons to work with prisoners.

Sponge Round Approved: An Independent Police Conduct Authority investigation has endorsed the way in which the Police used a new tactical option, known as a ‘sponge round’, when they were faced with apprehending an aggressive and threatening man.

LINKS OF THE DAY

CHINA TOPS VISITOR ARRIVALS: Visitor arrivals to New Zealand numbered 176,700 in May 2015, up 10 percent on May 2014, Statistics New Zealand said today. This was driven by more visitors from China. See statistics here: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/Migration/IntTravelAndMigration_HOTPMay15.aspx

CHRISTCHURCH RETAIL SALES CONTINUE TO RISE: Retail and hospitality sales in Christchurch city continue to rise, Statistics New Zealand said today. Sales for the March 2015 quarter were $1.9 billion, a 5.4 percent increase compared with the same quarter in 2014. This compares with an increase of 5.1 percent at the national level. Visit Christchurch Retail Trade Indicator – March 2015 quarter here: http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/industry_sectors/RetailTrade/ChristchurchRetailTradeIndicator_HOTPMar15qtr.aspx

CAN NUTRIENTS TREAT MENTAL ILLNESS: Nutrients may be able to treat ADHD, bipolar disorder, anxiety, stress and PTSD according to University of Canterbury (UC) Professor Julia Rucklidge, who will speak at a public lecture in Christchurch this Wednesday. Register online for this free event at http://www.canterbury.ac.nz/wiw/.

DRONE DELIVERY TRIAL A SUCCESS: Continuing Fastway Couriers’ commitment to technology and innovation, the friendly courier experts have invested in Flirtey, the world’s first commercial aerial delivery service, marking the beginning of an exciting collaboration. Fastway and Flirtey recently successfully trialled their first drone parcel delivery in Auckland, transporting auto parts from the Fastway office in Penrose to the TR Group headquarters in Mount Wellington, a trip over factories and traffic clogged roads delivering car parts. See the journey in this video:

And that’s our sampling of the day that was on Monday 22nd June 2015.

Brought to EveningReport by Newsroom Digest. –]]>

byWADE…why NZ won’t take more refugees…

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bywade, iammenotyou.com, illustration, cartoon, refugees, western arrogance
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“why won’t new zealand save more refugees?” it’s simple really…it’s a bit depressing being reminded of all that awful hardship, suffering, needless death and the outright criminal foreign policies that create so many refugees…isn’t it? …it’s much better to celebrate Netflix or even the free movies you can stream from popcorntime right on your tablet…so convenient and such variety to enjoy during these long winter months…inside…not on a boat…in the warm with loads of food, too many clothes, no-one trying to kill us and our children not dying in front of our eyes… Life is good. You can follow WADE (from a safe digital distance) at www.facebook.com/bywade or look at more stuff and buy things in obscene volumes to show how successful and cool you are at www.iammenotyou.com…      ]]>

Bryce Edwards’ Political Roundup: Why won’t New Zealand save more refugees?

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Political Roundup by Dr Bryce Edwards

[caption id="attachment_4808" align="alignleft" width="150"]Dr Bryce Edwards. Dr Bryce Edwards.[/caption]

Should New Zealand accept more refugees? This is an especially important question in the lead up to World Refugee Day (tomorrow) and in the midst of an escalating global crisis for those fleeing their homes due to war and other disasters. 

New Zealand is a heartless country and a bad global citizen. There’s really no other conclusion to be drawn from the pitifully low number of refugees allowed into this country. A disdain for refugees can be seen in the response to TVNZ’s Pippa Wetzell advocating for New Zealand to increase our refugee numbers – see her one-minute plea: Pippa’s view: We need to up our refugee quota. The response on the Seven Sharp Facebook Page has been ferocious. I’ve collated and commented on some of these responses in my own blog post, Do Seven Sharp viewers agree with Pippa on refugees? And now, Wetzell has responded to the debate with Pippa’s view: While we may not agree, at least celebrate a robust debate.

Seven Sharp also broadcast an excellent five-minute item by Gill Higgins on the story of an Afghani refugee who made it to Australia on a small boat via people smugglers – see: “We’re whistling and waving lifejackets to get attention but nothing helped”.

Standing up for the vulnerable of the world

The latest attempt by asylum seekers to get to New Zealand involved a banner held aloft: “Please try to understand our painful life New Zealand Government and save our life. Please”.  

So why don’t we listen and act? Rachel Smalley says that fortunate citizens of the world such as New Zealanders are at the top of the wealth pyramid and choose not to help those in crisis: “it’s important, I think, to remember to look down from time to time.  Why is it that we fear extending a hand to some who are displaced, or destitute, or facing persecution?  Why is it, as Kiwis, we are so fearful of looking down the pyramid?  It’s something I ask myself all the time – and I still don’t know the answer“ – see: Amnesty’s damning report. 

Smalley bemoans that “we like to think of asylum seekers as faceless, nameless people who, somehow, aren’t as human as we are or as deserving of life, people whose lives are somehow worth less than ours. A child asylum seeker is less deserving it seems than a western child.  In New Zealand, increasingly, I think we chose to de-humanise the situation. If we take the humanity out of it, we’re less likely to emotionally connect with it, or feel compassion, or feel compelled to help”.

In a column last month, Smalley also discusses why New Zealanders have an irrational fear of refugees: “But here’s the thing.  There is nothing frightening about a refugee, nothing at all.  But there is everything to fear about an ignorant and xenophobic society which increasingly shuts the door on humanity” – see: Nothing frightening about a refugee. 

Today Smalley writes about World Refugee Day, and sheds some light on the humanitarians who work with refugees – “the extraordinary people who do everything they can to sustain life when dictators and regimes go to war”.

Columnist and author Tracey Barnett says we should be ashamed of ourselves: ““No one, including New Zealand, was willing to look in the mirror. Maybe that’s because the truth is, our own reflection isn’t terribly pretty. As families risk their lives at sea rather than die in the war that has engulfed them, New Zealand has quietly just shrugged. It’s not our crisis. It’s so far away.  We’re missing the boat entirely. We are every bit a part of the problem. New Zealand has very quietly closed the door to refugees from long-term neglect.  Our miniscule UNHCR refugee quota has been stalled for an incredible 28 years now. Even though we’ve grown in population over those three decades by almost 40 percent, our per capita commitment to refugees has shrunk into microscopic size. Indeed, the only time our annual quota changed was to drop by 50 places in 1997.  We like to believe our own clichés; we’re decent world citizens who punch above our weight. But that’s not what the numbers say” – see: Look in the Mirror, New Zealand.

Barnett has a series of very good one-minute videos on Youtube that address misconceptions about refugees: Can New Zealand Get a Refugee Boat Arrival?, Define a refugee, an asylum seeker and an economic migrant?, Are boat arrivals really jumping the UN queue? Barnett also runs the Wage Peace Facebook page. 

Let in more refugees

Should we take in more of the world’s destitute and displaced? Despite the disdain expressed by some for refugees, there’s actually some momentum for change at the moment, largely spearheaded by the Doing Our Bit lobby group led by Murdoch Stephens. See, also, the Doing Our Bit Facebook page. Today the group is drawing attention to the latest United Nations report Global Trends: Forced Displacement in 2014, which shows that in per capita terms, New Zealand is now ranked at 90th in the world. They say we need to at least double our intake.

Other NGOs are pushing strongly for a substantial increase. Today the executive director of Amnesty International, Grant Bayldon has come out to complain that “In the face of the largest number of refugees worldwide since World War 2, New Zealand hasn’t increased its refugee quota in almost 30 years” – see: Time overdue for NZ to increase refugee intake. 

Unusually for the New Zealand Red Cross, it too has entered the political realm to argue today for the Government to double our quota – see the Herald’s Government to consider more refugees. Retired Anglican bishop John Bluck has also argued that “allowing in 750 refugees a year is ludicrously low” – see his column, Welcoming strangers has never been more urgent. 

The momentum for an increase can also be seen an array of newspaper editorials. For example both the Herald and the Dominion Post have both published two editorials each calling for an increase. In its editorial, Pitiful refugee quota will no longer cut it, the Herald says “Next month, this country assumes the presidency of the UN Security Council. As such, it should be setting an example to the international community, not least on humanitarian issues”.

A second Herald editorial, Modest refugee intake should be much higher, deals with the economic costs of accepting more refugees, and declares “this would be more than offset by the benefits. New Zealand’s experience with refugees has, by and large, been positive.  Refugees tend to be particularly keen to contribute to the country that has taken them in. There can be no doubt that New Zealand has the capability to accept more”.

The quota should be doubled according to the Dominion Post editorial, Clear signals needed over people trafficking, which also points out that “Our current refugee intake is much more miserly than Australia’s”. A second editorial, New Zealand should take more refugees is even stronger, and admonishes the Government for its various arguments against increasing the quota. It concludes: “We could have a refugee policy which was a source of pride rather than shame”.

See also, the Otago Daily Times editorial, Accepting more refugees, which points out that “New Zealand has a long tradition of helping, from Jewish refugees in the 1930s, Poles in the 1940s and many thousands after World War 2”, but that this has now reversed.

Perhaps the best opinion piece on the issue is Brian Rudman’s Helping a few more refugees the least we can do. He complains that even the current quota of 750 refugees is often not filled each year. He says there is nothing to fear from increasing the quota: “Given that last year, New Zealand issued resident visas to 44,008 migrants, doubling the annual refugee quota to 1500 hardly seems a threat to the New Zealand way of life.  As a country totally peopled by migrants all seeking a better life, our present policy does seem very selfish”.

Politicians dragging the chain

Despite the momentum to increase New Zealand’s refugee quota, politicians are making all sorts of excuses not to do so. The arguments are best seen in Radio New Zealand’s article, Key says refugee quota is at right level. The Prime Minister says: “But if you look at the scale of the issue – because it is a very significant issue – if we were to go back to our original target and go up from 750 to 850, or go from 750 to 1000, it’s hard to believe that’s going to resolve the issue because we’re talking about millions of people”. 

The responses to Key’s arguments are reported in Nicholas Jones’ article, Plea to increase refugee numbers, which quotes Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s global secretary-general. He says “It won’t change everything if the quota goes from 750 to 1500, but it all adds up. For those 750 extra people who are resettled it makes a world of difference … they are not drops in the ocean, they are real human beings with families”.

Amnesty International are fighting to ensure that countries like Lebanon continue to allow refugees to enter, but Shetty says: “They had a million people coming into the country … how will we ask the Lebanese Prime Minister to not shut their boundaries if we can’t say that New Zealand is even going to take 750 people more?”

National’s other main argument is that we should focus on “quality not quantity”, making sure that the current intake of refugees are properly looked after before letting in more. This is something of an absurd argument according to former MP Keith Locke, who says: “Are we really such a miserly society that we can’t improve the lot of refugees here and increase the quota at the same time?” – see: Boatpeople need our help, not our fear. 

For more on the Government’s stance, see Brent Edwards’ Govt gets scant advice on refugee quota. This includes Sue Moroney’s allegation that with Government cuts to the refugee budget, even the current quota will be hard to fill. 

National-aligned blogger David Farrar also writes on the quota numbers, saying: “I am sympathetic to calls for a modest increase in our quota. Maybe have it as a proportion of our population, so it rises a bit over time. But this is not a good time to increase it” – see: Devoy on Refugees.

But it’s not just National dragging its feet. The Labour Party, too, has presided over the same tiny quota, and every time it gets into power it rejects calls for an increase. Now in opposition again, Labour says it would increase the numbers, but not by much. According to Jo Moir “Labour Party leader Andrew Little told TVNZ’s Breakfast the Government should lift the refugee quota to 1000, if not more” – see: Call for Government to lift refugee quota. 

Other opposition parties are no better. The Greens have made an announcement this week – see Newswire’s Greens draft Bill to increase refugee quota. But the meagre increase by the Greens is to 1000 a year, which is almost an endorsement of the current settings rather than any sort of challenge or meaningful alternative. 

New Zealand First is also being lauded for advocating an increase to the quota – see Nicholas Jones’ Dame Susan Devoy backs Winston Peters on refugee numbers. Yet it has to be pointed out that the party’s support is contingent on cuts in immigration elsewhere. Furthermore, it’s a moderation of New Zealand First’s earlier policy (in the 1990s) of tripling refugee numbers. And, as David Farrar points out, Peters actually has a more significant history of attacking refugees – see: Peters flip-flops on refugees. 

Is New Zealand complicit in the Australian people smuggler pay-off controversy?

Last week a boat of asylum seekers who were apparently bound for New Zealand were intercepted by Australian authorities, who allegedly paid their people-smuggling hosts to take them elsewhere. The latest on the alleged Australian government bribery can be read in the Guardian article by Shalailah Medhora: People smugglers paid by Australian spy, Indonesia police documents allege. 

Given the boat was headed to New Zealand, this has raised questions about New Zealand’s potential involvement, or stance, on what happened. There has been condemnation of the Australian actions by newspapers here – see the Herald editorial, Abbott’s boat people policy morally bereft and the Dominion Post’s Clear signals needed over people trafficking. The latter editorial acknowledges that John Key says he had no knowledge of the payments, but says: He needs to go further and rule out any New Zealand involvement with them”. 

Others have called for New Zealand to distance itself from such payments to people smugglers, and for a more independent policy on asylum seekers. But Michael Timmins argues this isn’t likely: “this government is not interested. Refugees don’t buy a lot of milk powder” – see: Paying off the people smugglers. 

Timmins also says the latest incident raises questions about New Zealand’s potential part in what happened last week. Similarly, Keith Locke argues that New Zealand is involved – see: NZ should have no truck with Abbott’s bribery. He asks “whether the Australian navy is under instructions from the New Zealand government to intercept any such boat and send it back to Indonesia”.  

Finally, since it’s World Refugee Day tomorrow, it’s worth looking at how existing refugees are settling into New Zealand. Today the Herald has published an interesting profile: Settlers grateful for safer lives and careers in New Zealand. And for more extensive updates of what refugees – including some of the “Tampa Boys” – are doing in the community see Stacey Knott’s excellent series of articles: Getting to grips with an alien culture, Future built on father’s sacrifice, Refugees show resilience in a new land, and Former refugees in memory mode. 

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Keith Rankin on House Prices, Interest Rates and Money

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Analysis by Keith Rankin. This article was also published on TheDailyBlog.co.nz.

[caption id="attachment_4075" align="alignleft" width="300"]Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler. Reserve Bank governor Graeme Wheeler.[/caption]

ON 11 JUNE, Reserve Bank Governor Graeme Wheeler reduced the Official Cash Rate (of interest) from 3.5% to 3.25%, with a promise of more reductions to come. Not a big deal in itself, but an action imbued with plenty of meaning. In essence, Wheeler has diagnosed that we need to take on more debt to maintain the health of our economy. We need money to move more, and to sit around less.

Generally this action has been welcomed, but the caveat is that most commentators believe that this will further boost the Auckland housing market.

The reality is that banks must earn income through lending and gathering interest from their customers. Otherwise, to pay interest to depositors, they would be running Ponzi schemes. (Ponzi finance is borrowing by a middleman to pay interest, as distinct from earning interest to pay interest.) So the banks, in order to earn interest, would be lending into the housing market regardless of the rate of interest.

What the reduced OCR (Official Cash Rate) does is make it easier for banks to make loans to businesses who do not have the security that property gives (albeit deceptively) to mortgage lending. What banks need to do – for their sake as well as ours – is to find business borrowers who are neither property speculators nor dairy farmers.

From 2003 to 2008, the OCR was raised from 5% to 8.25%. It had no impact whatsoever on rising house prices. If fact the rising OCR, perversely, probably fuelled the property speculation of that time. By discouraging lending to the tradable sector in particular, adversely affected by an exchange rate whose rise was linked to the high and rising OCR, the banks chose to raise the proportion of their lending that went into the housing market. That in turn increased the (artificial and temporary) capital gains on housing, thereby making interest rates of over 8% increasingly acceptable both to speculative house buyers and to banks blinded by what they saw as increasing collateral.

In those days, around 2007, ordinary bank deposits were fetching 8%. (Some people even felt that an unearned 8% was less than they were entitled to; they got greedy and went for 10% at Hanover.) Someone had to pay those 8% interest rates. The interest payers included the highly leveraged mortgagors thinking they were clever property wizzes. Clearly the bubble wouldn’t last. (The interest payers also included the poor customers of the money shops.)

Lending to people on the security of financial assets is insensitive to interest rates. Lending to productive businesses is much more connected to the rate of interest. Lower interest rates enable banks to better perform their social function – of facilitating the moving of money through the real economy of goods and services.

At 3.25%, wholesale interest rates in New Zealand remain far too high. When we think of debt as simply trade across time – which is precisely what debt is – in the 2010s’ global environment we have too many people not wanting to buy stuff today but thinking they might want to buy stuff tomorrow. It means that the true price in New Zealand of spending today is closer to 0% than to 3%. Indeed, in the world as a whole, negative interest rates are required to get people to buy today what today’s employed workers are producing.

Speculators are people who think that assets such as city land are just a way of making money as if money was actual wealth. They are people who already have more money than they can usefully use, so they use it uselessly to gather unto themselves even more money that they cannot usefully use. Rising house prices in cities such as Auckland are a consequence of global inequality, not local interest rates.

Money is a technology, not a commodity. Money works best when it is not overpriced, and when it is possessed by people who will spend it. Watch this space for more about what money really is, and isn’t.

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