Bouquets for the new government
Mining, big data, social investment, paid parental leave, and pēpi in the House. The new government’s not mucking around remedying some of the previous government’s plunder and pillage policies.
Mining
EPA to be gutted – for doing its job
Looks like National is planning to take over the Environmental Protection Agency.
Save the Denniston Plateau
Lies, damn lies, and rigged polling questions
In 2010 the largest protest for a generation in NZ marched down Queen St to oppose mining. But by squinting sideways at some rigged polling questions, industry advocates (aided and abetted by dumb headline writers) would have you believe that we the people support mining…
Mining II: The Empire Strikes Back
A little over a year ago the biggest single protest march in this country since 1938 put the final nail in the coffin of the Nats’ amateur hour plans to mine our most precious conservation land. Or so we thought…
Unconscionable
It seems I’m not alone in feeling outrage at attempts to bury any sensible debate on the shape and extent of New Zealand’s coal operations
Barrier residents deserve real representation
The Dominion Post has revealed that only hours after criticising National’s plans to mine on Great Barrier, Auckland Central MP Nikki Kaye was […]
Schedule 4 back-down won’t solve the problem
If, as seems increasingly likely, the Government drops its plans to desecrate the best of schedule 4 land, will it be cause for celebration? In a word, no. Kathy at Greenpeace weblog examines Brownlee and his wet dreams
DPF strikes out
I don’t read Kiwiblog often. DPF is capable of interesting political commentary or detailed policy wonkery on occasion, but most of the time it is editorial cut and paste jobs, troll farming, or postcards from his latest holiday. Ho hummm. Even a casual reader such as myself, however, can’t help but notice that National’s eternal spinster is having a pretty appalling week.
Not even miners will dig Gerry out
When you’re that far on the backfoot, it’s not hard to teeter further. The CTU has today come out against the Government’s mining […]
Why the miners are so keen on public land
Most of this country’s mineral wealth lies under private land, according to the government’s own figures. So, why are the Nats so determined to override public opinion and let their mining allies dig up our precious protected lands? Simple: mining on private land means paying a lease to the owner. Mining on public land is cheaper: we’re played like chumps for bigger profits.
Massive public outrage in North & South
Wow! An incredible 50,000 people have turned out in Auckland this May Day to protest the Government’s plan to open protected land to mining. I can’t think of another demonstration in New Zealand on this scale. If this isn’t the final nail in the coffin of the mining plan, then the Key Government has a serious death wish.
Xena and Sheryl do the dirty on Brownlee
Remember back in 2007 when Gerry Brownlee took some really bad PR advice and unfathomably released a video entitled “Sexy Coal”? It was […]
Solid Energy co-opts kids to push coal
Solid Energy has been caught out commissioning future leaders to pen fantasy stories in school hours. The company is inviting high school students in key coal-mining areas to submit an essay on: “The role of coal in sustainable energy solutions for New Zealandâ€.
Privatising national parks
Over at Pundit Claire Browning points out that the National government is trying to get away with a huge con. They promised not to privatise state assets (in their first term), but now they are effectively privatising the biggest asset of them all…
Gerry’s gift to future generations
O Canada
Depressing reading in this piece by George Monbiot on Canada: So here I am, watching the astonishing spectacle of a beautiful, cultured nation […]
What the government wants to dig up
[Post reproduced with permission from No Right Turn] This is a picture of the north-western part of Mount Aspiring National Park, which the […]
Rape and Pillage
The Conservation Minister, Tim Groser is quoted today: “If you can extract wealth from that [conservation land], that’s what we should do.” Stuff […]