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6:00 am, February 19th, 2026 - 41 comments
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Open mike is your post.
For announcements, general discussion, whatever you choose.
The usual rules of good behaviour apply (see the Policy).
Step up to the mike …
Masters of the universe.
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Mr. Nobody
@MmisterNobody
Palantir Technologies CEO Alex Karp couldn’t stay seated in his chair as he proudly stated, “We kill people sometimes,” while speaking to shareholders. Maniac.
https://xcancel.com/MmisterNobody/status/2023780218650194110
Our very own ACC has investments in Palantir through its global equity fund
NZ,s Defence Force has spent over 7.2 million dollars on Palantir software, and the SIS and GCSB use Palantir tools
Along with Rocket Lab launched satellites from Mahia peninsula(For Bluesky) that provide data to Israel for targeting Gaza , our moral ground as a country is looking decidedly shaky.
We must be thinking that the US will prevail and shield us from ICC/ICJ exposure
Not a great bet
BlackSky Gen-3 satellites.
This government is a complete and utter planning mess.
They pushed forward on a plan to intensify Auckland – it being one of the most land-hungry, inefficient and low density cities in the entire world.
But then Auckland Council put up a huge political stink and refused to implement it, so they got a special deal from the Government to do a legislative exception for 40% of our population.
So Auckland is in the middle of a huge Plan Change.
Auckland Council has not even received the consultation about this Plan Change.
But the consultation is so politically volatile that Luxon and Bishop are now going to roll over the entire process that Auckland Council desperately wanted as a compromise, and massively water it down.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland/chris-bishop-to-slash-auckland-housing-plan-from-2m-to-16m-homes/B4YIUGQVWNBWDN3AWY2ITXXM64/
If you want to tank development and tank house prices and scuttle the long term investments of over 1 million people who own houses and flats and land in Auckland, this is the way you do it for another 5 years.
This scale of uncertainty will take the remainder of this Parliamentary term to cure, and it's possible they may even not have time to legislate in the remainder of the sitting days of this term.
Which increases the risk that a new government will overturn it yet again.
Utter stupidity, legal and economic and social.
There is a silver lining – the Stuff report says some Cabinet ministers appear to have discovered democracy and are listening to the public.
Did they listen to the public? Or to their (financial) supporters only?
https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/02/19/govt-dials-back-auckland-upzoning-keeps-density-near-trains/
On RNZ a commentator on British politics examines the seriousness of the state of Britain's Labour party government. He says that unemployment is 5.2% and the percentage of 16-25 year old unemployed is now 16%!
Meanwhile, in New Zealand under National and escaping such scrutiny we have 5.4% unemployment and 22% 15-19 and 10%19-24 year olds out of work.
That of course in NZ means those out of work and seeking it which means that our figures are probably even more elevated than Britain's.
This clip is from the Roy Morgan Daily News Summary. It is a summary of an article in todays edition of The Australian newspaper. The project is the Australian equivalent of the Lake Onslow proposal.
"Roy Morgan Summary
The cost of the Snowy 2.0 pumped hydro project is currently estimated to be $40bn, compared with the original forecast of just $2bn. Snowy 2.0 will not generate electricity itself; this will be supplied from distant locations such as western Victoria and eastern South Australia, and delivered to the Snowy Mountains via about 2,000 massive towers on prime farm land. Meanwhile, the power price consequences of Snowy 2.0 are so dire that the federal government may have to add the $40bn cost to the budget deficit and national debt, rather than fund it via electricity prices. Australia will still have a very high-cost renewable system that is not globally competitive, but a complete disaster may be avoided."
I've quoted it in full as most people won't get the Roy Morgan newsletter.
We should be very glad that the Lake Onslow scheme was scrapped. When last heard of the cost estimates seemed to be rising rapidly, even if not quite up to the Snowy 2 numbers. Lake Onslow estimates rose from $4 billion in May 2022 to about $16 billion when it was scrapped in December 2023.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/467586/feasibility-update-on-4-billion-lake-onslow-project-expected-next-month
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/lake-onslow-pumped-hydro-scheme-scrapped
Why are you undermining Roy Morgan's market segmentation strategy (by posting that here)?
I mean they clearly have a right to put their best BS in front of you (for a cost which I assume your paying), but I thought the deal was you pay for it and they get to make it quite hard for anybody to work out just how much BS your talking points are based on. Isn't that how this is supposed to work?
The original article was, as I said, in The Australian newspaper. It is paywalled and I don't currently have a subscription.
And no, I don't pay directly for the Roy Morgan newsletter. You can get it yourself if you want to go to their site and sign up for it. I find that it sometimes brings to my attention a snippet of Australian business news that I can follow up on.
I don't understand the last couple of lines of your comment though.
Apparently "their best BS" is quite appealing to you.
BTW, "Meanwhile, the power price consequences of Snowy 2.0 are so dire that the federal government may have to add the $40bn cost to the budget deficit and national debt, rather than fund it via electricity prices." This is where they explain in their estimation how much pumped hydro reduces market electricity prices. By most people that's considered a benefit (though the commentary has somehow led you into making a schoolboy error in your thinking about the project).
Do you have any figures for how much pumped hydro would reduce market prices? The total amount that households in Victoria and NSW currently pay for electricity is around $4.5 billion for each state. There are about 3 million households in each state paying an average of about $1,500 each per year for their power. I wonder what the capital charges and operating costs for a $40 billion scheme are going to be?
Precise figures hard to come by there (and would have to be modelled) but adding 6.3 GW (Manapouri is 0.8 GW) of hydro when the lakes would be otherwise exhausted. The price impacts should be about the difference between coal power (still widely used in Australia) and hydro power.
I agree with the Australian author the price impacts are significant, but as you highlighted his claim here is unsourced.
I am someone who thinks that the Hydro lakes in both the North and South Islands add a lot to the beauty of the scenery.
Lakes Tekapo, Pukaki, Benmore and Aviemore all greatly improved the area they are in. All the others are also prettier than the rather barren land that was natural to the area.
Instead of building Lake Onslow I would far rather look at raising the lake levels in all the existing lakes and leave the water where it is until we need it.
Running water through a hydro station to generate power to pump the water back up into another lake so that it can run through a different station seems like total futility to me.
If you were using power from a nuclear station it could make sense but from a hydro station seems totally stupid to me if there is an option of increasing the capacity, and depth, of existing reservoirs with higher dams.
You were asking about the effect on market price, and before that about total project cost. Now you’re going on about scenery and options to increase capacity of existing NZ dams. What are the options? Let us know what you find out when you find out.
The effect of Lake Onslow Pumped Hydro Scheme on electricity prices has been modelled, of course, and can be found using Google. Go and do your homework and quibble about the validity of those numbers with yourself by yourself. Or go for the nuclear option!
Actually, running the water through the hydro generator to generate power to pump the water back up into another lake, sounds quite promising. You might just have invented a perpetual motion machine there.
The designers however didn't want to break the laws of physics and only thought they could manage the turbine running in reverse (as a pump) which takes electricity from elsewhere. This is useful as a bunch of potential wind (in New Zealand) or solar (in Australia) generation is otherwise lost. This otherwise lost generation can then be consumed around peak times.
Terra nullius always ends badly.
In addition, if you wreck the land surrounding those lakes to create more storage, what happens when demand rises and we hit the limits again? Why not just turn the whole Waitaki valley into a lake now and be done with it.
"whole Waitaki valley into a lake".
That might be just a trifle over the top. Even the Power Division of the MOW when I worked there in about 1970 didn't consider that.
It would be quite an impressive lake though, wouldn't it? It might even be larger than Lake Volta in Ghana.
why is over the top? where do you think the next lot of generation is going to come from?
I don't think we need something like the 3 Gorges Dam in New Zealand.
On the other hand there should be plenty of room for enhanced Geothermal power plants on the volcanic plateau in the North Island or near the alpine fault in the South. And I mean near, not right on top of the fault.
Apples meet oranges I'll wait for the feasibility report thanks.
What can go wrong has gone wrong and then some more in Snowy 2.0 the poor buggers.
Keep up.
'Lake Onslow ‘battery’ back on the table'
https://centralapp.nz/NewsStory/lake-onslow-battery-back-on-the-table/69002f10986b32002eec0b1d
If a private company spend their own money, and actually put it into the business, pay full commercial rates for the power they take, sell it back at the fair price for electricity and have no Government guarantees of any kind why should I care?
Provided, of course, that they put up a bond to remove all the construction and equipment they leave around when they go belly up.
If any public money gets into the mix, or any taxpayer obligations are incurred it should be scrapped.
Somehow I find it hard to believe that that is what David Parker has in mind.
@ad isn't it ironic, that it takes absolute incompetence from the land gentrys' political party, to stop runaway house prices.
Don't ta think?
Heh alwyn, Parker should go talk to China,
Presumably for the replacement harbour bridge as well – China appears to be able to build and deliver infrastructure at a fraction of the cost of doing it locally.
OFC, there are issues with that approach…..
Re the proposed Auckland bridge. I'm reminded that last year? someone referred to Monbiot's revelation on the Isle of Skye bridge that replaced ferry. Lovely bit of Important Infrastructure and Modern etc. Anyway here are two links about it, the BBC one is funny as well as serious – something for everyone.
A bridge, 130 convictions and a 30-year fight: The tolls that made criminals of islanders : 16 October 2025 |https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4gkege9zm3o
and | https://www.monbiot.com/2004/12/29/a-scandal-of-secrecy-and-collusion/
A Scandal of Secrecy and Collusion :Why have we paid £93m for a £15m bridge? By George Monbiot Published in the Guardian 28th December 2004
I see that Winston Peters has been commenting on a statement by the out-going Indian High Commissioner.
When he says the following isn't he breaking the law. I understood it was an offence to describe yourself as a lawyer if you aren't currently registered and hold a practicing certificate.
"Told about the Indian High Commissioner’s comments, Peters said, “Yeah, well she might say that, but she’s not a trained lawyer, I am.”.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/indias-high-commissioner-to-new-zealand-says-nzd33-billion-investment-an-aspiration-in-free-trade-agreement-winston-peters-says-its-hard-commitment/premium/G6IL7FOR2ZFNRLYMXDLR5GULPI/
As far as I can see Winston doesn't have these so isn't he breaking the law?
Given that he describes himself as a "trained lawyer" he's saying that he qualified – not that he's currently practicing.
Never try to catch Winston out on this kind of verbal tapdance – he's been doing it since before you were born – and he is an export.
Winston's so old the law he learnt was carved into tablets on mt Sinai
Could we save ourselves most of these tremendous likely costs for energy etc by simply acknowledging that we are over-reaching ourselves, and are doing unsustainable things and are never happy when we do achieve some goal or project which is often not needed except for hyperbole and chest thumping!!
Film coming to Hoyts probably about: 'How to Make a Killing' | 105 min|26 Feb 2026Disowned at birth by his obscenely wealthy family, blue-collar Becket Redfellow (Glen Powell) will stop at nothing to reclaim his inheritance.
Slow down, be simple yet wise,imbibe our learnings philosophic and psychological, not war-making and tech-driven slavery and digging up the earth in search of minerals for uses becoming more harmful to our psyches. (Just a little voice from a worm at the bottom of a compost bin!
Marvelous news!
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/587343/mining-company-withdraws-application-for-fast-track-approval-to-mine-taranaki-seabed
Marvellous news but short lived: wack- mole-is being played.
Tara Iti (NZ Fairy Tern)
Ongoing Sandmining Concerns
While the victory for the Taranaki is positive, McCallum Bros Ltd have now filed their fast track application to mine sand at Bream Bay for the next 35 years. You can stay up to date with the latest activities via the Bream Bay Guardians Society. The next beach protest at Ruakākā is March 15th – please head along if you're nearby! We continue to support communities in this rohe, where our most endangered bird, the tara iti nests and feeds.
Add your voice today:
https://www.endangeredspecies.org.nz/sign-petition-stop-sandmining-bream-bay
You can find that and other projects here: https://www.fasttrack.govt.nz/projects?query=%21showall&f.Project+Sector%7CprojectSector=Mining%2Fquarrying
Winston confesses he lies about other MP's for electoral reasons.
There should be a question to the relevant Minister, has Peters ever raised the issue of the name Aotearoa being removed from the passport, or not?
Let the irrelevance of his posturing resonate.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360940911/im-not-sorry-winston-peters-accuses-those-who-have-called-him-racist-being-pearl-clutchers
I hate to say it but for once I agree with Alwyn.
The fact is that solar power with attached battery storage has now become so cheap, and the technology associated with it feeding into the grid has become so much better, that Onslow no longer makes sense
It is important to note that this was probably not the case 6-7 years ago…but that is history. It is lucky we didn't start Onslow.
On the same topic I read the other day how Australia has developed AI based software to aid the incorporation of battery storage into the grid and so smooth power prices. (Sorry can't link while overseas)
PS love bWag’s carved into stone jest above.
lol
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https://www.solarchoice.net.au/solar-batteries/is-home-battery-storage-worth-it/
Onslow: 5,000,000 MWh capacity for $20 billion = $4000 per MWh ($4/kwh) versus domestic battery storage @$800-$1100/kwh.
All good but that's a lot of roofs to put solar panels on, or a lot of paddocks full of them. But reality is that we need both, and then some, to replace our current fossil use. Solar and battery is fine for evening peaks but come the year when Pukakai and Hawea are at 60% in May, then Onslow has the capacity to keep the light on.
That's assuming there's enough cheap wind to fill it, because in that scenario it's unlikely there would be much hydro spill to provide the cheap power Onslow needs to pump uphill.
If we want to scale roof-top solar we do.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_Iberian_Peninsula_blackout#Variable_renewable_energy_use
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inertial_response