Power lines costs to rise 48% in 5 years, due partly to higher interest rates; Govt moves have already cost disabled people up to $215/fortnight; Population growth nearly double Stats NZ projections
Interesting news out of Melinda French (Gates)'s US$12 billion divorce settlement. She has set up a new charity called Pivotal Ventures that will donate US$1 billion to various charities supporting women and girls around the world. It includes a grant of US$20 million for Jacinda Ardern to distribute.
"Each leader will be provided with a $20 million fund to distribute to charitable organizations they consider to be doing urgent, impactful, and innovative work to improve women’s health and well-being in the U.S. and around the world."
Charity is good. But how about Melinda also working on geopolitical economic infrastructure that by necessity relies on a large underclass in poorer nations (often of women & children), i.e., what Naomi Klein calls the 'shadow lands' ??
FYI, the Education Review Office has just put out a note on GETS asking for a completely new HR Information System that "would suit a smaller government agency and serve as a single source of truth, accuracy and completeness for HR and employee data, reporting and management. An HRIS that is intuitive, reduces HR administration and ideally includes payroll." It currently employs 220 and in May the PSA said 25 roles were being 'disestablished'. The GETS document says ERO 'currently has 250 employees'. So not clear it would involve even more than the 25.
For sure we waste our most precious resource 💧 Utterly shameful.
And the money wasted treating and storing water that is destined to leak from pipes before there is any chance of it reaching our taps - surely another de facto tax / additional rates.
Serious about removing wasteful spending? fix the underlying cause, the literal cracks in our systems. Frustrating.
You literally can't go past a shelf in a store without passing by forever chemicals. My personal bugbear is fragranced everything. The reason the smell lingers (lasts for 4 weeks! as the ads proudly announce) is because they're attached to some kind of forever chemical.
We're unwillingly and unknowingly taking part in a great experiment: what is the maximum tolerated dose of these chemicals in humans from a lifetime exposure, from so many different sources, before they have a devastating chronic effect on health and fertility?
Yes we stopped buying anything like soap/laundry detergent etc with fragrances about a decade ago. Now if we are visiting friends etc we can't believe the over powering artificial smells that permeate their abodes - which they are oblivious to.
I’ve was involved in advising gov (in Oz) around single-use food packaging. Various state governments in Australia are very aware of the issues of forever chemicals and food packaging, because of payouts from firefighting foam contamination and chronic illnesses over the years. The wave of litigation from food packaging is going to be enormous. Please, everyone here use a reusable coffee cup when you get coffee to go (single-use = forever chemicals, doesn’t matter if it’s plastic lined or ‘compostable’).
What proportion of NZ homes aren't insured? The number is growing in the US. This via WaPo-gift link. One 2023 estimate, released by the industry group Insurance Information Institute, concluded that 12 percent of homeowners had no insurance in 2022, up from just 5 percent in 2019. https://wapo.st/4bzDaaZ
So if your insurance is withdrawn, or priced out of reach, you lose your home and join the precariat. So the insurance benefits the bank, not the person paying the premiums. Ouch
The infrastructure planners (such as they are) are totally dependant on the stats population projections. When I pointed out that these projections were consistently too low, I was told that it's not their job to come up with projections and they have to rely on the official figures.
Not that I've heard! The person from Te Waihanga we were meeting with acknowledged that part projections had been wrong but didn't think they had any choice but to use current projections or choice about using them.
Ok, thanks. Stepping back a little don’t we think this is a significant issue and should have some analysis undertaken on? (I mean a “review” but a proper independent one). Given the critically of population size and its growth rates we should be seeking way better performance in estimation than we’re getting as it drives so many downstream impacts. At a minimum we should have better understanding of what different drivers and levers produce as outputs - would love to see that somewhere too…
You are right here. The problem the forecasters have is that they have to rely on the government having a population plan. As Bernard has discussed many times, successive governments have relied on population growth to mask over poor productivity (and the whole housing issue). I'd hate to work at Treasury - telling the politicians that growth will only by x'000s so you only need to build infrastructure for that increase when you can look across to the Ministry for Immigration and see they are trying to double it!
Exactly, having no plan is madness, and will never produce an effective (nor efficient) outcome. Classic Cheshire Cat journey quite… no plan, no direction, no chance
Same with planning at councils. In Selwyn our growth has consistently beaten the Stats NZ "high" projection for years, partly because RM commissioners are expected to assume that health, ed etc will increase in step with actual rather than projected growth. But central govt, ministries and agencies continue to stick with "medium"... which makes everyone look increasingly incompetent.
At least our pipes don't leak much though - they're almost all <20yr old. Give it a couple more decades...
Interesting news out of Melinda French (Gates)'s US$12 billion divorce settlement. She has set up a new charity called Pivotal Ventures that will donate US$1 billion to various charities supporting women and girls around the world. It includes a grant of US$20 million for Jacinda Ardern to distribute.
"Each leader will be provided with a $20 million fund to distribute to charitable organizations they consider to be doing urgent, impactful, and innovative work to improve women’s health and well-being in the U.S. and around the world."
Hey Bernard, I noticed you mixed up weekly and fortnightly in the text as well the voiced version. I'm sure families would love 250 a week but there's zero chance of that!
Regarding our electricity sector given our population do we really need so many Electricity Lines companies? If you think of all the duplication and waste surely we could survive with a reduced number and save money.
Canterbury for example has 4 lines companies all with well paid CEO's, CFO's COO's big HQ's etc. For example do we need 4 lines company CEO's in Canterbury all earning north of $600k in an industry that has a virtual monopoly?
always remember: it was Max Bragfart and the National government that split up the Electricity Department and consequently caused the massive costs of electricity for New Zealanders.
Max Bragfart publicly stated on TVNZ that the creation of multiple electricity providers would result in competition and reduce electricity prices for consumers. I remember shouting bullshit and lying arsehole at the TV at the time and nearly throwing my drink through the TV screen.
NEVER trust a National government (unless you are one of the few wealthy people in NZ).
One bright spot in a rather depressing day (and I'm relatively well off).
Sara Templeton really needs a medal for the honest, open and accountable way she represents the citizens and residents of Otautahi Christchurch. Unlike the mayor and his lackeys who lack the fortitude to stand up for our city.
Could this be opened to the public please - there is a serious case to be made for this type of in-depth analysis to be read widely to push back against the toxic tide of misinformation this govt is unleashing. Thanks
Tax cuts don't heal!
Patrick Medlicott
Looking forward to your review Bernard.
Interesting news out of Melinda French (Gates)'s US$12 billion divorce settlement. She has set up a new charity called Pivotal Ventures that will donate US$1 billion to various charities supporting women and girls around the world. It includes a grant of US$20 million for Jacinda Ardern to distribute.
"Each leader will be provided with a $20 million fund to distribute to charitable organizations they consider to be doing urgent, impactful, and innovative work to improve women’s health and well-being in the U.S. and around the world."
Detail here: https://www.pivotalventures.org/articles/melinda-french-gates-announces-1billlion-commitment-to-advance-women-globally
Charity is good. But how about Melinda also working on geopolitical economic infrastructure that by necessity relies on a large underclass in poorer nations (often of women & children), i.e., what Naomi Klein calls the 'shadow lands' ??
Good to know my recent yearly payment for use of Microsoft apps is - indirectly - doing some good in the world.
That’s really good, I will be interested in the programs that Jacinda selects.
Nature is healing...unless it's a Death cap mushroom!
😬
This is an excellent newsletter to subscribe to from the Washington Post's 'Climate Coach' Michael J Coren. https://s2.washingtonpost.com/camp-rw/?trackId=653d70545377754502a5ff4b&s=66574312efe5b4710f599d4c&linknum=2&linktot=66
FYI, the Education Review Office has just put out a note on GETS asking for a completely new HR Information System that "would suit a smaller government agency and serve as a single source of truth, accuracy and completeness for HR and employee data, reporting and management. An HRIS that is intuitive, reduces HR administration and ideally includes payroll." It currently employs 220 and in May the PSA said 25 roles were being 'disestablished'. The GETS document says ERO 'currently has 250 employees'. So not clear it would involve even more than the 25.
FYI I have the doc if anyone wants it. Just ping me via email or DM
Probably for the charter schools related new bureaucracy ?
Why can’t the government use one payroll system for all government employees? That should save a few million dollars every year.
For sure we waste our most precious resource 💧 Utterly shameful.
And the money wasted treating and storing water that is destined to leak from pipes before there is any chance of it reaching our taps - surely another de facto tax / additional rates.
Serious about removing wasteful spending? fix the underlying cause, the literal cracks in our systems. Frustrating.
FYI, Interesting from the New York Times on a growing wave of 'forever chemical' class action litigation building in the United States. https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/28/climate/pfas-forever-chemicals-industry-lawsuits.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_climatecoach&wpisrc=nl_climatecoach&login=email&auth=login-email
You literally can't go past a shelf in a store without passing by forever chemicals. My personal bugbear is fragranced everything. The reason the smell lingers (lasts for 4 weeks! as the ads proudly announce) is because they're attached to some kind of forever chemical.
We're unwillingly and unknowingly taking part in a great experiment: what is the maximum tolerated dose of these chemicals in humans from a lifetime exposure, from so many different sources, before they have a devastating chronic effect on health and fertility?
Yes we stopped buying anything like soap/laundry detergent etc with fragrances about a decade ago. Now if we are visiting friends etc we can't believe the over powering artificial smells that permeate their abodes - which they are oblivious to.
I’ve was involved in advising gov (in Oz) around single-use food packaging. Various state governments in Australia are very aware of the issues of forever chemicals and food packaging, because of payouts from firefighting foam contamination and chronic illnesses over the years. The wave of litigation from food packaging is going to be enormous. Please, everyone here use a reusable coffee cup when you get coffee to go (single-use = forever chemicals, doesn’t matter if it’s plastic lined or ‘compostable’).
What proportion of NZ homes aren't insured? The number is growing in the US. This via WaPo-gift link. One 2023 estimate, released by the industry group Insurance Information Institute, concluded that 12 percent of homeowners had no insurance in 2022, up from just 5 percent in 2019. https://wapo.st/4bzDaaZ
I don’t know about America but here in New Zealand if you have a mortgage you HAVE TO HAVE insurance
So if your insurance is withdrawn, or priced out of reach, you lose your home and join the precariat. So the insurance benefits the bank, not the person paying the premiums. Ouch
The infrastructure planners (such as they are) are totally dependant on the stats population projections. When I pointed out that these projections were consistently too low, I was told that it's not their job to come up with projections and they have to rely on the official figures.
Does anyone know why (or have an explanation for why) there has been systemic under-estimation for past 3 decades?
Not that I've heard! The person from Te Waihanga we were meeting with acknowledged that part projections had been wrong but didn't think they had any choice but to use current projections or choice about using them.
Ok, thanks. Stepping back a little don’t we think this is a significant issue and should have some analysis undertaken on? (I mean a “review” but a proper independent one). Given the critically of population size and its growth rates we should be seeking way better performance in estimation than we’re getting as it drives so many downstream impacts. At a minimum we should have better understanding of what different drivers and levers produce as outputs - would love to see that somewhere too…
You are right here. The problem the forecasters have is that they have to rely on the government having a population plan. As Bernard has discussed many times, successive governments have relied on population growth to mask over poor productivity (and the whole housing issue). I'd hate to work at Treasury - telling the politicians that growth will only by x'000s so you only need to build infrastructure for that increase when you can look across to the Ministry for Immigration and see they are trying to double it!
Exactly, having no plan is madness, and will never produce an effective (nor efficient) outcome. Classic Cheshire Cat journey quite… no plan, no direction, no chance
Same with planning at councils. In Selwyn our growth has consistently beaten the Stats NZ "high" projection for years, partly because RM commissioners are expected to assume that health, ed etc will increase in step with actual rather than projected growth. But central govt, ministries and agencies continue to stick with "medium"... which makes everyone look increasingly incompetent.
At least our pipes don't leak much though - they're almost all <20yr old. Give it a couple more decades...
Interesting news out of Melinda French (Gates)'s US$12 billion divorce settlement. She has set up a new charity called Pivotal Ventures that will donate US$1 billion to various charities supporting women and girls around the world. It includes a grant of US$20 million for Jacinda Ardern to distribute.
"Each leader will be provided with a $20 million fund to distribute to charitable organizations they consider to be doing urgent, impactful, and innovative work to improve women’s health and well-being in the U.S. and around the world."
Detail here: https://www.pivotalventures.org/articles/melinda-french-gates-announces-1billlion-commitment-to-advance-women-globally
Hey Bernard, I noticed you mixed up weekly and fortnightly in the text as well the voiced version. I'm sure families would love 250 a week but there's zero chance of that!
And that easy mix up was probably intentional, by the Nats when they initially released it.
Regarding our electricity sector given our population do we really need so many Electricity Lines companies? If you think of all the duplication and waste surely we could survive with a reduced number and save money.
Canterbury for example has 4 lines companies all with well paid CEO's, CFO's COO's big HQ's etc. For example do we need 4 lines company CEO's in Canterbury all earning north of $600k in an industry that has a virtual monopoly?
National Grid anyone?
always remember: it was Max Bragfart and the National government that split up the Electricity Department and consequently caused the massive costs of electricity for New Zealanders.
Max Bragfart publicly stated on TVNZ that the creation of multiple electricity providers would result in competition and reduce electricity prices for consumers. I remember shouting bullshit and lying arsehole at the TV at the time and nearly throwing my drink through the TV screen.
NEVER trust a National government (unless you are one of the few wealthy people in NZ).
Yes, he never could, or did, explain exactly how that was going to work.
One bright spot in a rather depressing day (and I'm relatively well off).
Sara Templeton really needs a medal for the honest, open and accountable way she represents the citizens and residents of Otautahi Christchurch. Unlike the mayor and his lackeys who lack the fortitude to stand up for our city.
Local body elections next year.. Sara for Mayor!
Could this be opened to the public please - there is a serious case to be made for this type of in-depth analysis to be read widely to push back against the toxic tide of misinformation this govt is unleashing. Thanks
Link to the hoon with Ganesh???