Govt set to spend double on new ferries; Govt halves health IT spending, leaving hospitals on unsupported Windows 2012; 4,000 vulnerable kids’ future at risk after Govt abruptly cancels contract
Sadly the media will allow Nicola to sprinkle some ferry dust over another economic shipwreck and pronounce it a success. This lady’s not for turning or learning
Looks like some more book cooking going on around the ferries. So the two ships themselves cost nearly twice as much, for less. The contract cancellation costs still to be finalised and the landslide costs which grow with each delay ignored.
There will be but we won’t hear much about that from the clowns or the clown promoting media. I would imagine that transfer requirements at both ends is an example of an operation that wasn’t previously planned for.
Thank you for doing such amazing work Bernard. I cannot imagine getting up at 3am, let alone getting up at 3am and pulling all this together.
I think my brain just exploded 🤯.
When I think back to National claims that there was a hole in Labour’s budget (2020 I think) that certainly turned out to be a storm in a teacup.
Luxon and Willis stated that there was no hole in this budget when Labour pointed it out. This is not a storm in a teacup cup.
The Ferry debacle, all by itself, is reason enough to expect that the country (who would be responsible for such a thing?) creates a 50-100 year plan on infrastructure etc
Yet Nicky No Boats is standing in the house claiming she can't give numbers because it's commercially sensitive and she doesn't think an answer to whether a cost analysis of the impact on all users was done is in the public interest.
It's another WTF moment that is raising my blood pressure which isn't healthy for me at the moment.
We have a lot of problems in this country. I wonder if we could use some of the fairy farts, rainbow gold pots, and North Pole Elf production facilities to also solve childhood poverty, health underfunding, education disparities, housing inadequacies, and so on? According to the government's emission plan, apparently we have access to that kind of stuff now?
Oh dear god! Corin Dann on RNZ about the new emissions solutions plan: "sceptical"; Simon Watts: "the guy showed me a PowerPoint about it, and I've never seen such impressive animations, slide transitions, and classy font choices!"
Thanks Bernard. Both science rigour and consideration of real impacts, as advised by real experts in respective fields, will be lacking based on behaviour to date as the government enacts more austerity cuts and describes how it will mitigate carbon emission. eg carbon capture, and also adoption of methane reducing tech including feed additives, this likely to include Bovaer employing a highly toxic enzyme inhibitor which the manufacturers reassure, in spite of some evidence to the contrary and logic, is safe, and it is convenient as it allows countries to do less mitigation in other areas. The NZ exploration of seaweed products may be safer, or not, but any impact from modification of cow physiology via their food needs to be properly recognised regarding alteration to their health, and that of consumers of the treated animals' milk and beef. Metabolites of any additive also need to be assessed of course. Will the current govt support such due care? That most NZ babies and infants would be consuming much of the product, that the public of the UK an importer of NZ beef are wary about Bovaer already and protesting pouring milk down drains, suggests they'd be unwise not to.
Mary, your thoughtful comments point to the wider issue of the use of technology to 'solve' climate change. As Naomi Klein argues in her book 'This Changes Everything', debates around climate change do not consider any meaningful reflections on the destructive norms of (neoliberal) capitalism. The use of technologies, such as Bovaer, are part of norms of profit-generation by corporates - Elon Musk has made a lot of money from the sale of Tesla vehicles, but EV purchases are not going to resolve climate issues. (If I were cynical, I would say that oil producers and related sectors know that the world has gone beyond a climate tipping point, but will continue to promote technological solutions so profits are made. BTW, I should be cautious here because it may be that my superannuation scheme is returning money to me via investment in oil producers, etc.)
Exactly, it's the same game just played out with different characters each time. The proposed private capital injection into Kiwibank will deliver a dependable return for investors, directly into a sector that will literally take that money and 'magic' it into an additional $10b of lending to boost the residential property sector. And all while the financial sector rub their hands with glee, as our growing obsession with wealth/pension funds and public investment opportunities delivers a conveyor belt of money into their pockets via fixed fund management fees. And this is supposed to be "good" and "problem solving" for us?
The simplistic dishonest commentaries around e cars, around corporporations like ALCOA which is both intensely energy consuming and intensely polluting (especially so if their huge accumulated waste ends up in the natural water areas around it, but even without that the SO2 and fluorides released present an ongoing problem), and around many other products is extremely worrying. NZ pays a lot for any benefits from ALCOA.
The NZ public are underinformed about much that can impact them negatively, especially in the interests of corporate, and in some instances government, profits eg from GST. A pet concern of mine is ignorance about the risks reputable clinicians and scientists cite about regular vaping.
When it is illegal to state health risks should these impact an economy it gets scary. Interesting Australian legislation and a law firm there describing it as 'criminalisation of dissent' even when clear breaches of rules by companies.
Here there seems primarily a lack of concern by the govt of health or environmental impact of their or corporate decisions. There is little pushback.
Hence the dire need for good investigative journalism, better election processes where conflicts of interest less impactful, maybe a more robust constitution, certainly better literacy than seems to be in school leavers.
Thanks for your efforts Bernard. It's almost unbelievable what these idiots expect the public to swallow. Is there any recourse, through the auditor general or ombudsman, or elsewhere? Maybe a petition to the king?
OMG, if you get a chance to watch Ram Raid Mums on TVNZ+ - all free - please do. People doing fantastic job of wrap around care of homeless children who commit crime and want to change their lives. Inspiring! But needs to be funded as all services for at risk youth.
Also on TVNZ+ the doco "Predict My Future" about the Dunedin Longitudinal Study is excellent. It shows why we need to continue to fund the full program. Highly recommended viewing.
Winston being announced as rail minister… NZ rail network’s last chance? (No, I’m not sealioning, I can’t stand him but will he get things moving again?)
Windows 8 was the 2012 version of Windows. This is what Wikipedia says about the update for Windows 8:
“Windows 10 was unveiled on September 30, 2014, as the successor for Windows 8, and was released on July 29, 2015.[59] It was distributed without charge to Windows 7 and 8.1 users for one year after release.”
I'm perplexed why the Health Department didn’t update Windows 8 to Windows 10 at no charge?
Yet again to satisfy the uncompromising policies of this appalling government, it will be us, the ordinary people of NZ that will pay the extra costs associated with this decision.
Will the Luxons & Willis’s pay the extra costs of ferry crossings? Will the transport operators absorb these extra costs? Will they be passed on as cost inflation of the goods we buy?
But of course, as Luxon & Willis are ‘rich so am sorted’ they won’t give a thought to the rest of us!
Sadly the media will allow Nicola to sprinkle some ferry dust over another economic shipwreck and pronounce it a success. This lady’s not for turning or learning
Ha! Like that line: 'This lady's not for turning or learning'
Kia ora Bernard
Looking forward to hearing what you make of the (non-)announcement about replacement ferries and port-side infrastructure.
Distinctly underwhelming and a detail-free zone is what I've gathered.
Tis true. So much fudging fudging…
And quite a few of the public are deaf to this incompetence.
You cant polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter
Looks like some more book cooking going on around the ferries. So the two ships themselves cost nearly twice as much, for less. The contract cancellation costs still to be finalised and the landslide costs which grow with each delay ignored.
Yes, does that estimated $900m include the ~$400m cancellation fee? Or are our new ferries set to actually cost us $1.3b?
I think you are correct with$1.3b, then add the terminal costs and potentially the added costs of making rail freight more expensive
The cancelation cost, the cost of enabling work completed prior to cancellation and the forward costs of freight handling are not included in the 900M
And are there sunk costs that will need to reworked etc because of the change in plan?
There will be but we won’t hear much about that from the clowns or the clown promoting media. I would imagine that transfer requirements at both ends is an example of an operation that wasn’t previously planned for.
Out it goes Bernard, what a cracker of a read!
Thanks Polly!
Thank you for doing such amazing work Bernard. I cannot imagine getting up at 3am, let alone getting up at 3am and pulling all this together.
I think my brain just exploded 🤯.
When I think back to National claims that there was a hole in Labour’s budget (2020 I think) that certainly turned out to be a storm in a teacup.
Luxon and Willis stated that there was no hole in this budget when Labour pointed it out. This is not a storm in a teacup cup.
The Ferry debacle, all by itself, is reason enough to expect that the country (who would be responsible for such a thing?) creates a 50-100 year plan on infrastructure etc
Yet Nicky No Boats is standing in the house claiming she can't give numbers because it's commercially sensitive and she doesn't think an answer to whether a cost analysis of the impact on all users was done is in the public interest.
It's another WTF moment that is raising my blood pressure which isn't healthy for me at the moment.
Big deep breaths and happy thoughts will help Merav. :)
Totally agree. The COC couldn't lie straight in Bed if you paid them (a lot).
We have a lot of problems in this country. I wonder if we could use some of the fairy farts, rainbow gold pots, and North Pole Elf production facilities to also solve childhood poverty, health underfunding, education disparities, housing inadequacies, and so on? According to the government's emission plan, apparently we have access to that kind of stuff now?
Oh dear god! Corin Dann on RNZ about the new emissions solutions plan: "sceptical"; Simon Watts: "the guy showed me a PowerPoint about it, and I've never seen such impressive animations, slide transitions, and classy font choices!"
Font choice is very important when conning your audience. No pun intended with the Fairy farts? :)
So our Minister of Finance thinks new Ferraris are half the price of new Toyota Corollas.
Thanks Bernard. Both science rigour and consideration of real impacts, as advised by real experts in respective fields, will be lacking based on behaviour to date as the government enacts more austerity cuts and describes how it will mitigate carbon emission. eg carbon capture, and also adoption of methane reducing tech including feed additives, this likely to include Bovaer employing a highly toxic enzyme inhibitor which the manufacturers reassure, in spite of some evidence to the contrary and logic, is safe, and it is convenient as it allows countries to do less mitigation in other areas. The NZ exploration of seaweed products may be safer, or not, but any impact from modification of cow physiology via their food needs to be properly recognised regarding alteration to their health, and that of consumers of the treated animals' milk and beef. Metabolites of any additive also need to be assessed of course. Will the current govt support such due care? That most NZ babies and infants would be consuming much of the product, that the public of the UK an importer of NZ beef are wary about Bovaer already and protesting pouring milk down drains, suggests they'd be unwise not to.
Mary, your thoughtful comments point to the wider issue of the use of technology to 'solve' climate change. As Naomi Klein argues in her book 'This Changes Everything', debates around climate change do not consider any meaningful reflections on the destructive norms of (neoliberal) capitalism. The use of technologies, such as Bovaer, are part of norms of profit-generation by corporates - Elon Musk has made a lot of money from the sale of Tesla vehicles, but EV purchases are not going to resolve climate issues. (If I were cynical, I would say that oil producers and related sectors know that the world has gone beyond a climate tipping point, but will continue to promote technological solutions so profits are made. BTW, I should be cautious here because it may be that my superannuation scheme is returning money to me via investment in oil producers, etc.)
Exactly, it's the same game just played out with different characters each time. The proposed private capital injection into Kiwibank will deliver a dependable return for investors, directly into a sector that will literally take that money and 'magic' it into an additional $10b of lending to boost the residential property sector. And all while the financial sector rub their hands with glee, as our growing obsession with wealth/pension funds and public investment opportunities delivers a conveyor belt of money into their pockets via fixed fund management fees. And this is supposed to be "good" and "problem solving" for us?
I agree.
The simplistic dishonest commentaries around e cars, around corporporations like ALCOA which is both intensely energy consuming and intensely polluting (especially so if their huge accumulated waste ends up in the natural water areas around it, but even without that the SO2 and fluorides released present an ongoing problem), and around many other products is extremely worrying. NZ pays a lot for any benefits from ALCOA.
The NZ public are underinformed about much that can impact them negatively, especially in the interests of corporate, and in some instances government, profits eg from GST. A pet concern of mine is ignorance about the risks reputable clinicians and scientists cite about regular vaping.
When it is illegal to state health risks should these impact an economy it gets scary. Interesting Australian legislation and a law firm there describing it as 'criminalisation of dissent' even when clear breaches of rules by companies.
Here there seems primarily a lack of concern by the govt of health or environmental impact of their or corporate decisions. There is little pushback.
Hence the dire need for good investigative journalism, better election processes where conflicts of interest less impactful, maybe a more robust constitution, certainly better literacy than seems to be in school leavers.
NZ needs all this..
Excuse the rave..
Re prev - a correction - the NZ Al smelter is called 'Tiwai Point' not ALCOA
Excuse corporporations.. I can't edit unless remove abd repost..
Maybe some apopopolexy in the mix?
Thanks for your efforts Bernard. It's almost unbelievable what these idiots expect the public to swallow. Is there any recourse, through the auditor general or ombudsman, or elsewhere? Maybe a petition to the king?
Democracy. I suppose. It feels captured to me.
OMG, if you get a chance to watch Ram Raid Mums on TVNZ+ - all free - please do. People doing fantastic job of wrap around care of homeless children who commit crime and want to change their lives. Inspiring! But needs to be funded as all services for at risk youth.
Also on TVNZ+ the doco "Predict My Future" about the Dunedin Longitudinal Study is excellent. It shows why we need to continue to fund the full program. Highly recommended viewing.
And the government should use the evidence-based data from the Dunedin Study to develop long-term policy for the good of all NZ citizens.
Absolutely 💯.
This government don't do evidence, it's all 'reckons'
Winston being announced as rail minister… NZ rail network’s last chance? (No, I’m not sealioning, I can’t stand him but will he get things moving again?)
I get the feeling this government has little to no respect for voters & out right contempt for children & youth.
Windows 8 was the 2012 version of Windows. This is what Wikipedia says about the update for Windows 8:
“Windows 10 was unveiled on September 30, 2014, as the successor for Windows 8, and was released on July 29, 2015.[59] It was distributed without charge to Windows 7 and 8.1 users for one year after release.”
I'm perplexed why the Health Department didn’t update Windows 8 to Windows 10 at no charge?
Software programs unstable on newer versions and they didn’t want to pay to update?
I just priced a new Ferrari, entry level around $250,000. (2024 Ferrari 296 GTS starts at $841,767)
A new, basic Toyota Corolla is available for a bit over $37,000, less than 15% the price of the basic Ferrari.
So, as the two irex Ferrari ferries would have cost us $551 million, we can expect the Toyota alternatives to cost us around $83 million.
Well done Nicola!
Yet again to satisfy the uncompromising policies of this appalling government, it will be us, the ordinary people of NZ that will pay the extra costs associated with this decision.
Will the Luxons & Willis’s pay the extra costs of ferry crossings? Will the transport operators absorb these extra costs? Will they be passed on as cost inflation of the goods we buy?
But of course, as Luxon & Willis are ‘rich so am sorted’ they won’t give a thought to the rest of us!