National: Todd Muller Resigns As Leader Of The Opposition

Green Party: Unveils Clean Energy Plan

The Green Party is today unveiling part one of its plan for a fossil-fuel free Aotearoa, including an immediate ban on new industrial coal boilers. To ensure a just transition away from fossil-fuels, the Green Party’s Clean Energy Plan will: Establish a Clean ... More>>

ALSO:

• NZ Council of Trade Unions - Greens Energy Policies; Positive For Working Kiwis
• 350 Aotearoa - 350 Aotearoa Welcomes The Green Party’s Clean Energy Plan To Build A Fairer, Low-Carbon Future
• Greenpeace - Greenpeace Welcomes Green Party Plan To Boost Solar And End Coal/Gas

National Departures: Press Statement From Michelle Boag

Today I am announcing that I have resigned my membership of the NZ National Party. The last few days have underscored for me the unhealthy relationship I have developed with politics. For 47 years, I have devoted much of my professional and personal ... More>>

ALSO:

• National - Todd Muller Thanks Retiring MP Dr Jian Yang - Personal Statement From Hamish Walker

Govt: Statement From Rt Hon Winston Peters

Deputy Prime Minister and New Zealand First Leader Rt Hon Winston Peters has announced he is taking a short stint of medical leave this week. More>>

Isolation: Government And Air NZ Agree To Manage Incoming Bookings

Bookings for seats on Air New Zealand flights into New Zealand will be managed in the short term to ensure the Government is able to safely place New Zealanders arriving home into a managed isolation or quarantine facility, says Housing Minister Megan ... More>>

ALSO:

• Air NZ - Air New Zealand Limits Capacity On Inbound International Services
• ACT - Border Lockdown Shows Labour Governing For Labour

Government: New Investment Creates Over 2000 Jobs To Clean Up Waterways

A package of 23 projects across the country will clean up waterways and deliver over 2000 jobs Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and Environment Minister David Parker announced today. The $162 million dollar package will see 22 water clean-up projects ... More>>

ALSO:

• Marcus Anselm - Local Democracy Reporter - Cash Boost For Wairarapa Waterways
• Waikato Regional Council - Waikato Gets $5.5 Million In Funding For Quick-start Projects To Improve Fresh Water
• Greater Wellington Regional Council - Greater Wellington Wetland And Rivers Get $10 Million Boost
• Marlborough District Council - Mayor Welcomes Stream Restoration Funding

Eenrgy & Environment: Snail Like Progress On Government Vehicle Emissions Targets

First published in Energy and Environment on June 2, 2020. The latest data on the Government’s attempts to reduce the emissions of its transport fleet show no discernible progress. The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s data on reducing ... More>>

Election 2020: Green Party Unveils Income Policy

The Green Party is today unveiling its Poverty Action Plan, which includes a Guaranteed Minimum Income to ensure people have enough to live with dignity. The scheme resets income support payments to ensure everyone not in full-time paid work gets at least ... More>>

ALSO:

• NZ Council of Trade Unions - Unions Support Greens Policy Announcement To Help Make Aotearoa Fairer
• Social Credit Party - Greens Want Even More Taxes
• Tax Justice Aotearoa - Time To Tax Wealth As Well As Work
• Child Poverty Action Group - Greens’ Proposals Would Lift Families Out Of Poverty

Conservation: New Protection For Dolphins

Extensive new protections are being put in place as part of an updated plan to look after New Zealand’s native Hector’s and Māui dolphins, announced Minister of Fisheries Stuart Nash and Minister of Conservation Eugenie Sage today. More>>

ALSO:

• Science Media Centre - Dolphin Protection Plan Announced - Expert Reaction
• Forest And Bird - Loopholes Remain In Māui And Hector's Dolphin Protection
• Greenpeace NZ - Greenpeace Says Dolphin Threat Management Plan "promising, But Not Transformational"
• PEPANZ - Seismic Survey Policy Should Be Evidence And Science Based
• Straterra - Straterra Opposes Ideological Crack-down On Seismic Surveying

It’s All In The Genomes: New Study Reveals Scale Of Havelock North Campylobacteriosis Outbreak

When the campylobacteria outbreak hit Havelock North in 2016, no-one fully understood how widely it affected the local communities. Gene-sequencing technology used by scientists has shown the true scale of the outbreak. The joint study from ESR, Massey ... More>>

ALSO:

• NZ Govt - Major Investment In Safe Drinking Water
• University of Canterbury - Unravelling The Biomolecular Secrets Of Bacteria

Tiwai Point: Rio Tinto Announces Plans To Close Tiwai Point Smelter

Rio Tinto has just announced that it will wind down New Zealand Aluminium Smelters - the Tiwai Point smelter - saying the business is no longer viable. More>>

ALSO:

• NZ Govt - Government Will Support The People And Economy Of Southland
• NZ First - New Zealand First Disappointed Rio Tinto Playing Games With Southlanders
• NZ Taxpayers' Union - Pay Back The Money, Rio Tinto
• Science Media Centre - Tiwai Point Closure - Expert Reaction
• Contact Energy - Contact Says Smelter Closure Is ‘disappointing’
• Mercury Energy - Rio Tinto Decision Following Strategic Review Of Tiwai Smelter
• Greenpeace - Rio Tinto Departure Makes Decarbonisation Projects 'shovel Ready'
• ACT - Tiwai Closure Points To End Of Heavy Industry Under Ardern

Freight: New Report On Auckland Port Relocation

The Government has released a major new report on the options for relocating the Port of Auckland’s freight operations while deferring any decision on the issue. More>>

ALSO:

• National Road Carriers - Northport Impractical To Replace Ports Of Auckland Says National Road Carriers
• Road Transport Forum - Northport Expansion Unaffordable In A Global Pandemic

Taxation: Black-Market Tobacco Sidesteps $287 Million In Excise Tax

Year-on-year increases in consumption of illicit tobacco in New Zealand have seen illegal trade swell to 11.5% of the total market. If consumed legally, illicit products would have netted the Government $287 million in excise tax during 2019. Independent ... More>>

ALSO:

• NZ Taxpayers' Union - Law Changes Treat The Symptoms, Not The Cause Of Tobacco Black Market
• Vaping Trade Association of NZ - Government Rolling Out The Red Tape For Small Kiwi Vaping Industry

Energy Sector: Meridian Spilled Water To Hike Electricity Prices - Authority Ruling

The Electricity Authority has found that generator Meridian Energy manipulated the power market, costing consumers about $80 million. More>>

ALSO:

• NZ First - New Zealand First Demands Answers From Meridian Energy
• Waiau Rivercare Group Inc - Govt Confirms Special Treatment For Meridian, While Meridian Abuses Market, And Consumers Pay $80 Mn

XE Data Update: RBNZ Official Cash Rate Decision

The RBNZ will keep the Official Cash Rate (OCR) at 0.25%. T he key points in the RBNZ statement are: RBNZ keeps the OCR unchanged at 0.25% Maintain the LSAP (large scale asset purchase) at NZD$60 billion. Committee prepared to use additional monetary ... More>>

ALSO:

• National - Shambolic Coalition Creating Economic Uncertainty
• Reserve Bank - Monetary Policy Easing To Continue
• Finder - RBNZ Survey: Negative Cash Rate Is Imminent, Say Experts

Electricity: Kiwis Ignore Promise Of Cheaper Power

Electric Kiwi and Flick Electric Co are joint winners of Canstar Blue’s award for Most Satisfied Customers | Electricity Providers From putting on an extra layer – rather than turning on a heater – to turning off lights and choosing the energy-saving ... More>>

ALSO:

• Electricity Retailers' Association of NZ - Power Bills Down $156 In Five Years, A New 11-year Low
• NZ Energy and Environment Business Week - Carbon Prices Hit Record High As Shaw Warns About Them Going Lower
• Contact Energy - Energyclubnz Exits Market, Customers Switching To Contact

Gordon Campbell: On Why We Shouldn’t Be Pushed Into Re-Opening Our Borders

I believe in yesterday as much as Paul McCartney, but it was bemusing to see the amount of media attention lavished last week on the pandemic-related musings by former government science adviser Sir Peter Gluckman, former Prime Minister Helen Clark ... More>>

Gordon Campbell: On The Media Collusion With National’s Attack Lines

For most of the past week, any consumer of this country’s management of Covid-19 would think New Zealand was actually Brazil, or Texas. The media language has been full of claims of “botches” at the border, and laxness and inexcusable errors ... More>>

Gregor Thompson: Don’t Be Too Pessimistic About New Zealand’s Future.

With the first hurdle hopped our Government will be turning its attention to trying to soften the economic damage this pandemic has on our little archipelago. More>>

Eric Zuesse: U.S. Empire: Biden And Kerry Gave Orders To Ukraine’s President

Eric Zuesse, originally posted at Strategic Culture On May 19th, an implicit international political warning was issued, but it wasn’t issued between countries; it was issued between allied versus opposed factions within each of two countries: U.S. and Ukraine. ... More>>

APEC: COVID-19 Crisis Deepens Contraction In The APEC Region: Report

A new updated report from the APEC Policy Support Unit finds that the COVID-19 pandemic is causing a deeper contraction to the region’s economy. The APEC region’s economic growth is now expected to decline by 3.7 percent in 2020, down from its initial forecast ... More>>

Climate: Report Finds Economic Benefits Of Protecting 30% Of Planet's Land & Ocean Outweigh The Costs 5-To-1

'Protecting nature halts biodiversity loss, helps fight climate change, and lessens the chance of future pandemics. This is sound public policy, economically, ecologically, and morally.' by Jessica Corbett, staff writer Second growth redwood ... More>>

Writing: Eastbourne Writers To Discuss Trials And Tribulations Of Getting Books Out During A Pandemic

The three writers and their books. From left: John Horrocks, Anne Manchester and Pete Carter. The three writers - Pete Carter, John Horrocks and Anne Manchester - have written three very different books, one fiction, two non-fiction, but all three ... More>>