Sales pitch
He just doesn’t give up does he? Maurice Williamson was spotted this morning still trying to sell his toll booth idea to Auckland […]
Environment
Whom to believe?
On Agenda on Sunday, National’s Transport spokesperson, Maurice Williamson, said National would impose tolls on major new road projects – Transmission Gully, Waterview […]
Adapting to the end of cheap oil
On August 1, Transit NZ and Land Transport NZ were merged into the NZ Transport Authority. The new organisation’s first major publication shows […]
Greens call for public input on ETS
One thing you can always say for the Greens, they’re democratic to their core. Currently, they find themselves facing a tough choice – […]
Mythbusting: Half of new generation is thermal
Reading National’s energy policy last week I was surprised to learn that of 1942MW of new generation that has come online since 2000 […]
Consquences on climate change
Deputy leader Bill English yesterday late afternoon released what could barely be described as National’s policy on climate change. I was sorry to […]
Lonely planet loves
The Lonely Planet has a new guide on Godzone and has lavished praise on our beauty but also offers a warning on “the environmental cost, with […]
Key demands we publish full quote
John Key called us to task in his interview with Wammo today: “every leftwing blogger out there has a field-day going on and […]
Ambitious for transport
Why are we spending $1 billion on Transmission Gully when by the time it is finished the price of petrol will be up […]
Hilarious
Greens on National’s plan to borrow to build more roads: “Lonely dinosaur seeks white elephant“
Key’s vision: tax cuts for rich, more debt for youse
In a speech described by attendees as ‘more bullet points’, John Key announced to the National Party conference today that National would borrow $5 […]
Between the lines: Nats’ outdoor rec policy
The ‘policies’ National is releasing are nothing more than bullet points but we know from a number of slips that these vague one-pagers […]
Kiwis love their rail
A poll on TV1 shows that Kiwis overwhelmingly support the Government move to bring rail back into public ownership. Despite a question that […]
Shouldn’t you be dead by now?
Australia’s ABC has a somewhat unusual online game to explain the impact of individuals on climate change to children. It’s called ‘Planet Slayer‘. […]
So much for ambition
Yesterday on Agenda, SOE Minister Trevor Mallard said that the Government was undertaking an exploratory study to see whether the factory that currently […]
Running on empty
A worrying report on the future of petrol prices is out today. It predicts petrol could hit $10 a litre in a decade. […]
Radio National
The day that National Radio publicises a ‘survey’ produced by Matthew Hooton is a very strange day. That day is today. Hooton’s ‘independent’ […]
Beyond the political showboating
Ok. Now that the political theatre is done maybe National and its allies would like to engage in proper debate on the freight […]
Reviewing the ‘truck strike’
As a piece of political theatre it’s good and people who walk to work, including myself, enjoyed the unusual sight and gave them […]
Who’s driving the ‘truck strike’?
So, let’s get this straight the Government has increased road user charges for diesel vehicles by half the amount recommended by the Ministry […]
Greens discover Nats full of hot air
A classic ‘cake and eat it’ from Crosby/Textor National has been their approach to climate change – stating they support tackling this issue […]
All aboard KiwiRail
Today marks the launch of KiwiRail. It’s great to have rail back in Kiwi hands, after a decade of asset-stripping. Now comes the […]
Enlightening debate
In Parliament yesterday: Anderton: “Has the Minister received any reports on how many National Party members it takes to change a light bulb?” Cullen: […]
CFL FTW
And the winner is… the compact fluorescent lightbulb! Stuff reports that “from late next year, the old incandescent bulbs will be phased out as […]
California to ban cell phone use for teen drivers
Apparently California is, on July 1, to become the 15th US state to ban cell phone use for teen drivers. In what looks […]
BBC/TVE Earth Report special: NZ
BBC and TVE screen an Earth Report special this week focussing on New Zealand’s objective to become carbon neutral: New Zealand, host for […]
A World Environment Day Carol
Garth George surprised me today, and a welcome surprise it was. Here’s an extract from his article – I decided that in this […]
Greens must not let ETS fail
The Dompost reports that the Greens will not vote for the Emissions Trading Scheme if the introduction of transport fuels into the scheme […]
Ambitious for big oil
We’ve all heard John Key bang on about his ambitions for New Zealand’s infrastructure and now one of my sources within the National […]
Telling porkies
The Herald and National have started attacking every piece of government spending as pork-barrelling. Here’s some of what they’re calling ‘wasteful, needless spending’: […]
Sockpuppet
Key lacks leadership on climate change
National has pulled its support for the emissions trading scheme which is intended to set limits on the emission of greenhouse gases and […]
Key’s green mask slips
Last year John Key announced National’s ‘Blue-Green’ Strategy. It contained the first shadow of acknowledgment from National that climate change is a serious […]
Rio Tinto threats backfire
Rio Tinto’s threat of capital strike appears to have backfired on them, with a political consensus emerging that the multinational has overplayed its […]
Rio Tinto threatens NZ with capital strike
Multi-national minerals company Rio Tinto is threatening to close its Tiwai Point aluminium smelter in Bluff and move its production offshore if the […]
Transport’s inclusion in ETS delayed
The Government has delayed the inclusion of transport in the Emissions Trading Scheme from 2009 to 2011. On the surface, that seems to […]