The hoon for the week that was to March 4

Frustration with government inaction - along with a focus on the climate impacts of ‘big dairy’ - was a feature of Friday’s climate protest. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / Getty Images

TLDR: This week’s news in geo-politics and the political economy covered on The Kākā included:

• National released its plan to repeal Three Waters and push the responsibility, the bill and the blame for building infrastructure back down to councils, with Christopher Luxon pledging the plan would not increase rates, although he acknowledged councils may lift water charges; Monday’s email and podcast

• Christchurch City Council finally agreed a district plan that included some elements of the Government’s bi-partisan ‘Townhouse nation’ housing densification rules, but councillors took out more than a third of the expected new housing supply with a special ‘sunlight access’ clause and limiting densification in areas with poor bus services. Meanwhile, Auckland Council agreed to ask the Government for a delay of the rules (see more below); Thursday’s email and podcast

• Rob Campbell was sacked as chair of Te Whatu Ora and the Environmental Protection Agency after he criticised National’s Three Waters policy in a LinkedIn comment that ministers said breached impartiality guidelines for civil servants, although Campbell said his sacking was more to do with the Government’s discomfort with his very public support for co-governance; Friday’s email and podcast

• Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann and Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, Simon Upton, wrote scathing submissions about the two new bills designed to replace the Resource Management Act (RMA), describing them as overly complex, vague and vulnerable to a flood of litigation after being passed through Parliament in their current form; and, Friday’s email and podcast

• The Reserve Bank’s Chief Economist Paul Conway said he supported the idea of a market study of banks by the Commerce Commission to find out more about whether rising profit margins are a source of inflation. Monday’s interview and podcast with Paul Conway.

What we talked about on the ‘hoon’

In this week’s podcast above of the weekly ‘hoon’ webinar for paying subscribers at 5pm on Friday night, I talked with co-host

Peter Bale

and special guest

Robert Patman

about:

• Friday’s climate strike marches and actions by students;

• the debates about whether the United States is responsible for the Nordstream explosions;

• whether covid escaped from a lab in Wuhan;

• the latest on the United States’ warning it would sanction China if it supplied weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine;

• the latest signs Britain is about to join the CPTPP after finally doing a deal to resolve its disputes over the Northern Ireland trade border with the EU; and,

• the revelations in court documents about Rupert Murdoch's decision not to stop Fox News commentators from repeating lies about the use of Dominion voting machines to 'steal' the 2020 Presidential elections.

Other places I appeared this week

Thanks to the support of paying subscribers here, I’m able to spread the work from my public interest journalism here about housing affordability, climate change and poverty reduction around in other public venues.

I produced my weekly When the Facts Change podcast for The Spinoff on how rising corporate profit margins are fuelling a profit-price spiral here and overseas.

I talked with Jesse Mulligan on RNZ’s Afternoons programme on Wednesday about banks launching a new mortgage war through 4.99% deals with brokers.

I also talked with Jane Patterson for RNZ’s Focus on Politics about National’s Three Waters proposals. It’s not online yet, but I’ll update this later in the day when it arrives on RNZ’s website.

Longer reads and listens for the weekend

Here’s a few useful longer reads, scoops and podcasts for paying subscribers for the weekend.

Newsroom @NewsroomNZ

Auckland Council unanimously votes to seek a delay to a new Labour-National bipartisan housing intensification requirement - with Mayor Wayne Brown saying a refusal could cost national politicians at the election. @tmurphyNZ reports

newsroom.co.nzNew housing law hit by flood backwashAuckland councillors unanimously vote to seek a delay to a new Labour-National bipartisan housing intensification requirement - with Mayor Wayne Brown saying a refusal could cost national politicians at the election

Futurism @futurism

With fungal computers, mycelium—the branching, web-like root structure of the fungus—acts as conductors as well as the electronic components of a computer. (via @PopSci)

trib.alInside the lab that’s growing mushroom computersIt’s not “The Last of Us,” but it sure is weird. Here’s how mushrooms and fungi can be used to carry out problems computers typically solve.

The Indicator @theindicator

What do 70% of public companies in Silicon Valley have in common? They can all be traced back to the story of eight scientists who revolted against a terrible boss in 1957.

buff.lyHow venture capital built Silicon Valley : The Indicator from Planet MoneyIn 1957, a group of scientists fed up with their boss set the modern venture capital model in motion. Today, the story of the unconventional investment idea behind Silicon Valley startup culture and so much of the technology we use today. For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money,…

Quanta Magazine @QuantaMagazine

Loneliness doesn’t just make people feel isolated. It alters their brain in ways that can hinder their ability to trust and connect to others.

quantamagazine.orgHow Loneliness Reshapes the Brain | Quanta MagazineFeelings of loneliness prompt changes in the brain that further isolate people from social contact.

Reuters @Reuters

Analysis: Lithium price slide deepens as China battery giant bets on cheaper inputs reut.rs/3IBVQd8

Kirsty Needham @KirstyLNeedham

From the archives 2021: China’s gene giant harvests data from millions of pregnant women. reuters.com/investigates/s… via @specialreports

reuters.comChina’s gene giant harvests data from millions of pregnant womenA prenatal test used worldwide sends gene data of pregnant women to the company that developed it with China’s military. The U.S. sees a security risk.

Fun things

Phillip Rollo @ByPhillipRollo

The craziest thing has happened at the New Zealand Track and Field Championships. Twin sisters Addira and Chayille Collette have posted the exact same time to win the women’s under-20 100m final. https://t.co/A1SQlRIH0D

Dave Goosselink @davedunedin

Unconvinced about Dunedin City Council’s new destination marketing campaign… 🧐🌦

Ka kite ano

Bernard