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6:00 am, March 30th, 2026 - 27 comments
Categories: open mike -
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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 …
It was always coming…because TINA. (FFS there always was..and maybe still is, as I have previously commented and linked for years !)
And Ol' Trucker Dom Kalasih (ex Z Energy, Waka Kotahi et al) on what they really really want….
Ol' Dom replaced Nick Leggett….as the Trucker lobbyist mouthpiece.
As I say I have commented for many years about the absolute vital necessity for NZ (which includes South Island) to have Rail,Coastal Shipping etc etc.
Heavy trucks wreck roads and bridges, isn't it?
Short version…
Just some of Links I have previously posted…
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1910/S00094/nz-roads-will-never-cope-with-heavier-trucks.htm
https://www.greaterauckland.org.nz/2022/03/22/trucks-not-paying-fair-share/
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/441993/rail-funding-plan-rubbished-by-trucking-lobby-and-opposition
Well that was new and useful information, PLA – thanks!
Oh allgood if any are useful to you. There are these too (I have many :)…I have also signed petitions and put submissions to Parliament…
First one is old..but IMO still relevant (has link to PDF)
Hope helps, but Action is better: )
The problem with the Lake Onslow system is that you can build 1000 mw of battery storage close to where it is most needed for roughly $4 billion. The cost of this will probably halve in 10 years. It has to stack up against this.
Have you factored in that Onslow will still be operational in 100 years time. How long do batteries last?
@ $40 million/mwh = $4000/kwh = > twice the installed cost of top end home storage.
Nah.
If he means 1000 mwh for $4 billion then it is $ 4 million/mwh not $40 million. Still pricey but not quite as bad as you suggest.
However 1000 mwh is only 1/5000 of what Onslow is meant to be so it is about 1,000 or 2,000 times the price of the lake scheme per unit of storage. I still don't think that Lake Onslow makes any sense though but if a private group want to build it without any taxpayer subsidy let them go ahead.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/590781/lake-onslow-pumped-hydro-scheme-considered-for-fast-track-by-government
Pumped hydro makes sense. Maybe so does a taxpayer-funded LNG import facility.
Finally everyone outside government is starting to see how strong the Gentailer influence has been within MBIE and Transpower.
Firstly in the knifing of the Onslow project under Woods, despite ears and ears of research and project formation.
That was bad but there was of course more.
Then there was their LNG port which they promoted. The LNG port impending collapse inside government should act as a peak moment for the Gentailer dominance over policy.
The most egregious cartel behaviour wasn't the LNG port. It was the cabal they formed to stockpile coal together to prop up Huntly thermal – even as backup.
The next step after the LNG port failure will be for NZSUperFund to grow a pair and tell everyone how the Fast Track seabed mining proposal that failed did successfully collapse offshore wind energy for years to come.
The Gentailers have been egregiously patch-protective and will be seen for who they really are:
an active cartel who are fleecing New Zealand and killing our entire heavy manufacturing base, and crushing any potential new generating competitor.
Still more than twice the cost of home storage despite my superfluous zero.
“Prepare your family”
/
Country Joe McDonald – I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixin'-To-Die Rag
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2026/03/29/pentagon-reportedly-preparing-for-weeks-of-ground-operations-in-iran/
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/591007/fuel-crisis-auckland-mayor-says-government-should-promote-public-transport-over-driving
Should this be postponed?
When is it supposed to start? Why should it be postponed and from when to when?
Anything to discourage vehicle use at the least efficient times should be implemented yesterday. If the COC won't entertain the carrot approach by reducing public transport fares, and in reality that won't work for most drivers, then the stick will have to come out.
I like the phrasing, Time of Use Charging. Once it's happening it'll be the Traffic Jam Tax and the howls of protest will be exquisite. Just wish QLDC would hurry up and get it going on Frankton Road which often takes 20 min to cover 5 km, and that's most of the day, not peak. Charging for that privilege is bound to induce some spectacular meltdowns from the entitled.
Traffic is growing in Queenstown by about 4% per year.
So no Graeme, traffic will never get better and it will always get worse.
I wasn't expecting ToU charging to make any difference, just speculating on the response. Hopefully the charging will enable funding to provide some alternative options. Cycling is, on average, quicker between Queenstown and Frankton, sometimes much quicker. I hope the Trails Trust make the southern trail out to Jacks Point really wide because that's going to get heavy use once it's built.
I thought it was ironic that the National Partys one piece of advice to the NZ driving public is to maybe, don't leave our cars idling, when I thought that is exactly what the Nats are doing, "idling". Also fascinating to watch how their belief system works out, believing the market will sort it out, either it will or it won't but we get to see it working out in real time.
https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/problem-not-going-away-govt-urged-do-more-diesel
We have a Mazda 3 Hatchback which has an Auto Stop facility – when turned on the car's motor stops when the car comes to a halt at an intersection/traffic lights, until the driver's foot is taken off the brake and back onto the accelerator.
I had that feature once on a hire car, and ended up hating it. Several times I came to a brief halt at a roundabout, only to miss a gap in the traffic coming from the right because the motor had cut out and didn't fire up again in time. It's not as if much fuel is saved anyway.
We've got a Demio with the auto stop and have got to quite like it. The silence when you're stopped in traffic (way of life in Queenstown now) is nice, but yes, you have to be paying attention at roundabouts and intersections to be going in time but usually the power comes back very quickly. Have tested it by turning it off for a bit and it does save fuel around town, but the car is very economical anyway.
Mazda CX 5. The starter motor starts the car moving as it fires up the engine. So pretty quick off the mark. Havn,t noticed us getting away at the lights markedly slower than other vehicles, we have had without the feature. Don't know about economy but it is very light on gas anyway compared with our previous cars.
The AU state of Victoria is doing free public transport due to the oil crisis.
NSW isn't.
Victoria is run by Labor,
NSW isn't.
Pretty similar to COVID.
Free public transport!!! Not on the CoC's watch – sounds too much like communism.
The CoC is 'govt' by and for the sorted – the sorted, our CEO included, will be fine.
Slight correction, Ad. Victoria has a Labor state government, so does NSW, although Victoria's current Labor government has been somewhat more left wing than NSW's Labor government. Note that Tasmania, which has a Coalition (Conservative) state govenrment has also brought in a free public transport policy, similar to Victoria's.
Unsurprising job number decline in these two sectors.
https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360977144/almost-8000-construction-manufacturing-jobs-gone