Victorious New Zealand PM Urged to Apply Covid-19 Lessons to the Climate Crisis

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern
New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern. By Newzild – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, link

Guest essay by Eric Worrall

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who won a historic landslide victory in national elections a week ago on a deep green manifesto, is being urged to apply lessons learned achieving New Zealands’ near total victory over Covid-19 to addressing the climate crisis.

New Zealand PM Ardern urged to apply crisis skills to climate change

Environmentalists urge re-elected leader, who won praise for her handling of the pandemic, to double down on fossil fuel use and farming emissions.

New Zealand’s re-elected Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern should use the skills she honed in successfully crushing the threat of Covid-19 to focus on a green recovery and help farmers tackle climate change’s “nuclear-free moment”, environmentalists said.

Ardern, whose Labour Party won a landslide victory in the general election last weekend, made a name for herself by responding decisively to the coronavirus pandemic and healing the nation after the killing of Muslims by a white supremacist.

Amanda Larsson, a senior campaigner at Greenpeace in Auckland, said Ardern had shown she excelled at leading her nation through a crisis.

The prime minister now needs “to apply the skills that she’s developed from dealing with the unthinkable, to tackling the ongoing, known crises such as climate change and biodiversity loss”, Larsson told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Read more: https://www.eco-business.com/news/new-zealand-pm-ardern-urged-to-apply-crisis-skills-to-climate-change/

Ardern, who previously governed with the help of the Green Party and New Zealand First, now has the numbers to govern without coalition partners. But she seems keen to maintain cordial relations with her green partners.

New Zealanders vote for climate ambition of Jacinda Ardern and Greens 

Published on 19/10/2020, 12:43pm

Jacinda Ardern won a second term as New Zealand leader with a landslide majority, in an endorsement of her government’s net zero emissions goal

By Joe Lo

New Zealand’s voters overwhelmingly endorsed the ambitious climate policies of Jacinda Ardern and her Green coalition partners, in a general election on Saturday.

Ardern’s Labour Party received nearly 50% of the vote and 53% of the seats in parliament, allowing her to govern for a second term without relying on other parties. However, she may still include the Greens in her next administration.

For the last three years, Labour has relied on the Greens and the populist New Zealand First to govern. While the Green Party increased its vote share from 6% to 8%, the climate-ambivalent New Zealand First lost all its seats.

Read more: https://www.climatechangenews.com/2020/10/19/new-zealanders-vote-climate-ambition-jacinda-ardern-greens/

It is anyone’s guess how Ardern’s commitment to ratchet up climate ambition will play out. There is no doubt she has a strong popular mandate for greater climate ambition.

The original Maori inhabitants’ name for New Zealand, Aotearoa, means “land of the long white cloud”. This is a fair description of New Zealand’s normal weather, especially during New Zealand’s long, cold winters, so solar power is probably a non starter.

New Zealand has some very windy places, and with all their tall mountain ranges New Zealand has potentially excellent hydroelectric sites which could be developed. In principle they could also develop their plentiful geothermal opportunities; like Iceland, New Zealand has some impressive volcano complexes, with plenty of strong heat sources accessibly close to the surface.

Of course all of this green development would take lots of money. Money New Zealand does not have. New Zealand might have achieved victory over Covid with their early, hard lockdown, but New Zealand’s economy is a mess.

However New Zealand’s national debt, though deteriorating rapidly, is still a manageable 48% of GDP. So in principle there is plenty of financial room for Ardern to borrow vast sums of money to fund New Zealand’s green transition, should she choose to do so.

I suspect if there is one place in the world where a full hearted “green Covid recovery” will be attempted, that nation is New Zealand.

0 0 votes
Article Rating

Discover more from Watts Up With That?

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

278 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Warren
October 24, 2020 3:22 am

Landslide eh? 50% is a landslide . . .

Dudley Horscroft
Reply to  Eric Worrall
October 24, 2020 9:36 am

No. NZ Labour is likely to get 64 seats, the Nats 35 seats, ALT 10, Greens 10 and Maori 1. Total 120. Final results not expected for some days yet.

Labour got about 49.5% of vote.

So not quite a ‘wipe out’.

Reply to  Dudley Horscroft
October 24, 2020 3:25 pm

20% plus ahead of the next major party is landslide
Even getting 50 % of vote , once 0.5 mill special votes are counted as is expected is quite rare in Western poltical sytems which have multiple parties

niceguy
Reply to  Duker
October 25, 2020 9:13 pm

She did what exactly? Allow the opposition to self destroy?

Greg
Reply to  Warren
October 24, 2020 6:09 am

Ardern’s Labour Party received nearly 50% of the vote and 53% of the seats in parliament

Yes, I was also wondering by what logic 50% of the vote and a narrow majority in the house, constituted a “landslide” win.

If the other side had won, this would be reported as “narrowly won” the election.

I suppose you could say she won by a head ( a horse’s head in her case ).

The amazing “skill” she showed in confining the entire nation under house arrest and detaining anyone found outside is presumably the kind of draconian, totalitarian measures fawning idiots at climatechangenews would like to see become the “new normal”.

BTW there are still cases of COVID-19 in NZ and the entire population is probably THE most vulnerable in the world, since they have near zero people with any immunity.

Nice work, horse-face. Very skilful.

Greg
Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 6:11 am

Oops ! I used the ski11, work which contains the ki11 word , let’s try agin.

Ardern’s Labour Party received nearly 50% of the vote and 53% of the seats in parliament

Yes, I was also wondering by what logic 50% of the vote and a narrow majority in the house, constituted a “landslide” win.

If the other side had won, this would be reported as “narrowly won” the election.

I suppose you could say she won by a head ( a horse’s head in her case ).

The amazing “ski11” she showed in confining the entire nation under house arrest and detaining anyone found outside is presumably the kind of draconian, totalitarian measures fawning idiots at climatechangenews would like to see become the “new normal”.

BTW there are sti11 cases of COVID-19 in NZ and the entire population is probably THE most vulnerable in the world, since they have near zero people with any immunity.

Nice work, horse-face. Very ski1ful.

Michael Jankowski
Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 11:59 am

“…If the other side had won, this would be reported as ‘narrowly won’ the election…”

Therein lies your problem.

You’re presuming there are just two sides. Her 50% is twice the percentage any other candidate got. That’s a “landslide.”

Going from 46 seats to 64 seats in Parliament sounds like a “landslide.” The closest thing to “the other side” is dropping from 56 seats to 35.

Ian Muir
Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 4:57 pm

Spot on.

Tonyb
Editor
Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 10:49 am

I am very happy with the description of a landslide at 50% as I can tell everyone here that the 52% received for brexit was a staggering landslide rather than a narrow mandate and that will shut all the remainers up

Tonyb

Ian Muir
Reply to  Tonyb
October 24, 2020 4:59 pm

Hahha. Brilliant. Good luck persuading the Remainiacs.

niceguy
Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 9:30 pm

No wonder French “prime minister” (as Trump calls him) “president(*) macron” is in love with Ardern.

Also, is Ardern malnourished or something?

(*) some people in France also call him under secretary of central planning

Broadie
Reply to  niceguy
October 26, 2020 3:05 pm

I wonder what would happen if you placed Greta Thunberg in charge of Venezuela?

I know, let’s place Ardern in charge of New Zealand and conduct an ‘in vitro’ experiment. Shouldn’t take long and no external funding will be required until what I expect will be the starving nation needs food supplies and a source of fibre for warm clothing.

Philo
Reply to  Greg
October 25, 2020 7:55 am

Keeping New Zealand “clear” of the corona virus is going to take a lot more than political machinations. Long term, people cannot build and maintain a modern society while under strict “anti-virus” regulations.
New Zealand already has high prices for many modern “necessities” driven by its isolation. Anti-virus can only increase costs.

Maybe they can cut the government employment, elected representatives included, in half and save a lot of money.

Greg in NZ
Reply to  Philo
October 25, 2020 4:41 pm

Keeping New Zealand clear of imported foreign agents/actors – oops, campaigners, or in Cinders-speak, comrades – is antithesis to the greater political machinations encircling the globe with (cough!) pandemic-like speed.

The ‘Amanda Larsson’ Eric quotes, is an American campaigner spokes-mouth for Greenpees (sic) NZ, who squawks and squeals at every opportune moment, yet her shrill voice never reaches far, thank goodness.

Her puff-piece is one more expulsion of hot air, a minor release of carbon dioxide ‘pollution’ propaganda, egged on by the NZ Greens Party gaining 10 seats in the recent election (yet not invited to join Jacinda’s party in the Beehive).

Ironically, we have a 3-day long weekend celebrating Labour Day, Monday 26th, and so far the holiday road toll (deaths) is 6, while the Crown Virus is zero (0). Hmm, maybe we’ll have to hand in our cars and trucks and be issued brand-new e-bicycles made in China… to save the planet of course. Puff on/off.

Charles Nelson
Reply to  Warren
October 25, 2020 12:34 am

There are a lot of sheep in New Zealand.

Ill Tempered Klavier
Reply to  Charles Nelson
October 25, 2020 5:08 pm

Yep! NZ, the country with 4 million people and 40 million sheep.

Tilting farther to mutton every day 😉 😉

Peter K
Reply to  Ill Tempered Klavier
October 26, 2020 8:41 pm

It used to be 5 million people in NZ. One million have moved to Bondi, mostly working as security guards.

John Hagan
Reply to  Ill Tempered Klavier
October 28, 2020 3:52 am

Well, to be fair, she did have a great plan for dealing with Saruman’s Orc army.

October 24, 2020 3:29 am

You can’t solve global warming by locking people up

Hold on a minute. Maybe you CAN solve global warming by locking people up

But the “cure” is worse than the problem

Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 3:47 am

I am a New Zealander

I normally vote for the National Party (slightly Right), but in the recent election I voted for Labour (Jacinda Ardern – slightly Left)

I voted for Jacinda Ardern because she is a good Prime Minister, and a very genuine person

I DON’T WANT HER TO DO ANYTHING STUPID ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING

New Zealand is already doing its share for global warming. We have about 80% renewable electricity (hydro and geothermal)

Hydro and geothermal are RELIABLE renewable energy

Wind and solar are NOT reliable renewable energy

Please Jacinda, don’t ruin New Zealand by pandering to the Greens

ozspeaksup
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 3:57 am

too late matey
shes canned your offshore oil n gas
shes happy to ruin the dairy n sheep industry for claims of water pollution land use and methane
guess you and another many many will be looking to emigrtae to Aus
weve got a fair whack of NZ refugees here already
but you work hard and speak english
always a bonus

Greg
Reply to  ozspeaksup
October 24, 2020 6:21 am

Yep looks lile snarky was not listening.

If he did not want her to do anything stupid about GW, he should not have voted for her. If NZ already has the geological lucky draw with so much geothermal and hydro they can cover 80%, they should stick with that and say they have it covered.

Pointlessly going to what , 100% ? , is insane meaningless gesturing by such a small country.

She “healed” the country by removing everyone’s right to gun ownership: how kind. I’m sure all the rural ex-gun owners are feeling very “healed” as a result.

Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 11:06 am

But the geothermal heat flux in New Zealand is still everywhere less than 1 W/m^2. Hmmm, almost as if this metric is irrelevant …

Simon
Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 11:24 am

“She “healed” the country by removing everyone’s right to gun ownership: how kind. I’m sure all the rural ex-gun owners are feeling very “healed” as a result.”
That’s a bit dramatic. She removed the unnecessary semi automatic rifles with almost universal political support from other parties. And actually, the country is way better for it.

farmerbraun
Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 1:24 pm

” She removed the unnecessary semi automatic rifles”
Tell the truth Simon ; she changed the gun licensing laws to make it possible for the Australian(?) terrorist to bypass all the police scrutiny that had previously applied when purchasing firearms.
She actually made it very easy for him to get guns.
Why do you lie about this?

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 3:29 pm

“farmerbraun October 24, 2020 at 1:24 pm

Tell the truth Simon ; she changed the gun licensing laws to make it possible for the Australian(?) terrorist…”

He was Australian born. We have NZ born terrorists here in Aus, and they get deported back to NZ.

Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 3:33 pm

Not removed right to gun ownnership at all, as aside that right never existed andway as all gun owners require a license and hand guns were heavily restricted for a very long time.
All that changed was semi automatics above .22 were banned, and that was done by 119 to 1 vote in parliament. Included were lever and bolt action rifle with magazines above 10 rounds, but owners had option to modify at tax payers expense large capacity rifles to only have 10 or below.

sendergreen
Reply to  Duker
October 24, 2020 4:19 pm

Duker says :
“Not removed right to gun ownnership at all, as aside that right never existed and way as all gun owners require a license and hand guns were heavily restricted for a very long time.”
——————————————————————————-

Prairie fertilizer. The Right to bear arms is not an American invention but is ensrhined in the Common Law of The U’K., and a right of every Commonwealth nation.

All of those nations have treated that right like it was on the Barn Wall in George Orwells “Animal Farm”. Painting it away piece by piece until virtually no-one understands what we once owned as Commonwealth Citizens.

In the years between the World Wars, and after gentlemen including my dad and neighbors carried pistols or revolvers in their coat pockets when they went for a walk with their wives at night. And the policemen saluted them. Would you like to guess why ?

MarkW
Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 6:15 pm

Only a progressive would believe that the way to get guns out of the hands of criminals is to take away guns from the law abiding.

As always, the first thing progressives do when they get power, is to disarm the populace. All the better to herd them into the camps.

niceguy
Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 10:22 pm

“with almost universal political support from other parties”

And people wonder why opposition parties were crushed?

Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 11:19 pm

‘Right to bear arms is enshrined in common law in UK’- or anywhere else.
Gun lobby tried that line and Judge like every one else laughed it out of court.
“The party also argued that the law violated private property rights and the Bill of Rights 1688, which has a clause about the right to defend yourself with arms.

But [Judge] Wylie said the clause was about Protestants and included the words “as allowed by law”, that the gun law did not ban all firearms, and that the right to private property was never absolute; the Government can take property under, for example, the Public Works Act.”
https://www.guncontrol.nz/media/legal-challenge-to-government-gun-law-thrown-out

Even in 1688 the ‘right to arms’ excluded catholics and was ‘as allowed by law’

Reply to  Greg
October 24, 2020 11:27 pm

“But the geothermal heat flux in New Zealand is still everywhere less than 1 W/m^2”

Lucky for them theres certain areas of remnant volcanic activity where drilling to tap geothermal steam to drive turbine power stations is achieved and the output is demand driven unlike wind and in a suitable area to connect to the main power grid network.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_New_Zealand
The 5 largest, each over 100MW are rated at 672 MW in total

niceguy
Reply to  Greg
October 25, 2020 9:27 am

“But [Judge] Wylie said the clause was about Protestants and included the words “as allowed by law”,”

I’m sure the anti gun people cheered that kind of extreme “originalism”.

Reply to  Greg
October 25, 2020 12:38 pm

Duker,
You’re arguing my point. Geothermal energy has nothing to do with geothermal heat flux.

The flux is small, but the energy is great!

These areas are not hot due to “Downwelling” IR.

Reply to  Greg
October 25, 2020 2:11 pm

Do they still have an aluminium industry? Or was that long gone from earlier political ineptitude

ak in vt
Reply to  Greg
October 25, 2020 3:08 pm

Anyone read the Mosque shooter’s manifesto:

He was pro-China, and eco-fascist, hated conservatism and capitalism. In other words, very far left-winger. Maybe the people of New Zealand need to look a bit closer at their “liberal” government ad prime minister taking away their right to defend themselves against people like this man, Brenton Tarrant, and all other eco-fascists.

See:

https://thenewamerican.com/christchurch-shooter-praises-communist-china-condemns-conservatism-and-capitalism-media-call-him-a-trump-supporter/

Regards

AK in VT

mikebartnz
Reply to  ak in vt
October 25, 2020 7:10 pm

The fact is that he should never of had a firearms license and that is what they should have been investigating and not the knee jerk reaction that followed.

Jamie Moodie
Reply to  mikebartnz
October 25, 2020 10:55 pm

I’d appreciate a copy please

Its about time this communist was ousted for what she is and the lies she tells

jamie@renovatenow.co.uk

mikebartnz
Reply to  Jamie Moodie
October 25, 2020 11:21 pm

He had been in the country about three months when he got his license. Originally from Aussie but his travels after one of his parents had died (probably the last and that is why he could afford to travel) should have been a red flag. He should never been able to get one. The whole thing should have been about how he managed to get a firearms license rather than the knee jerk reaction. I am going from memory but I think that is fairly accurate.
What do you want a copy of? :((

Reply to  Greg
November 3, 2020 8:21 pm

This is what I love so much about the US Constitution: even though the first ten amendments are called the Bill of Rights, they aren’t rights granted to the population. They’re rules for the Federal government, telling it what it can’t do. Such as.

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. . . .”

“. . . .the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

And the beauty of the 10th Amendment:

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

sendergreen
Reply to  ozspeaksup
October 24, 2020 8:13 am

ozspeaksup says :

“guess you and another many many will be looking to emigrate to Aus
we’ve got a fair whack of NZ refugees here already”
——————————————————
Perhaps the southern hemisphere version of what the US is seeing. A flood of people leaving New York and California for saner pastures.

Historically looking back on Germans fleeing the Russian Zone of occupation in the late 1940’s … … the Russians got to the point where they began Walling up the zone, then shooting the emigres … from the heavily armed walls.

Because the populations who leave socialist regimes first are the people the regime needs to keep things running.

Not that I think NZ, New York, and Cailifornia are going to start shooting emigres. But it might “incentivize” informers to let the Government know early about prospective “escapees”. Watch those jurisdictions put severe limits on assets migrating with the emigres.

Reply to  sendergreen
October 24, 2020 10:06 am

It’s already been proposed. They even want to apply this wealth tax to people who left California and took their wealth with them.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwood/2020/08/17/california-proposes-168-income-tax-rate-plus-4-wealth-tax/#566e9e5d19a6

Jeff Alberts
Reply to  sendergreen
October 24, 2020 12:16 pm

“Perhaps the southern hemisphere version of what the US is seeing. A flood of people leaving New York and California for saner pastures.”

The problem is, those people MADE CA and NYC what they are. Now they’re going to make neighboring states into the same insane-states. We don’t want ’em.

sendergreen
Reply to  Jeff Alberts
October 24, 2020 12:38 pm

Jeff Alberts says :
The problem is, those people MADE CA and NYC what they are. Now they’re going to make neighboring states into the same insane-states. We don’t want ’em.
———————————————————
A bit simplistic Jeff, and only partially true.
Granted some are lefty progressives that are only fleeing the consequences.
Some are malevolent leftists who know they won in NY, and Cali and want to beef up the numbers of radicals in sane states.

But a lots are conservative business people, and agriculturalists who’ve seen the damage grow, and grow, and who’ve finally decided their families and future … overrule their historic loyalty to their State. Any good State would be enriched by their arrival.

Read some of Victor David Hanson’s works on this subject. Brilliant man.

Lawrence
Reply to  sendergreen
October 24, 2020 4:55 pm

I was at our service station the other day discussing local house prices and I mentioned that they would improve as Sydneysiders moved here to escape the rat race. A teenage girl behind me said she did not want them here ruining a lovely town so they could just F off.

If you live in a nice friendly town the last thing you need are woke city types.

Andy H
Reply to  ozspeaksup
October 24, 2020 10:16 am

Hmmm. I wonder if New Zealand will start importing Welsh Lamb if she kills off your sheep industry. 😉

Maybe she will just kill 2 birds with one stone and ban all incoming ships and aircraft. No importing of Covid or man made goods.

Reply to  Andy H
October 24, 2020 11:40 pm

Less restrictive than Australia regarding international air travel…. at least Kiwis can leave while Australians need the bureaucrats special stamp for ‘special circumstances’

Sheep industry isnt the issue , its the cows and their digestive system.
Any way it was the previous conservative partys government who signed the country up to the Paris climate treaty in 2017 plus voted for Arderns ( misguided) Zero Nett Carbon by 2050 or something legislation.

Tom Walsh
Reply to  ozspeaksup
October 25, 2020 4:27 am

Wait until she bans Rugby as “unsafe”

Jamie Moodie
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 4:02 am

You infantile moron. She’s already banned any exploration of cheap energy for NZ. Imprisoned us for a cough or two, banned freedom of speech and encouraged Maoris to adopt a victim status and milk all NZ taxpayers for everything they can get. Wake up.

Val
Reply to  Eric Worrall
October 24, 2020 8:29 am

Yes, let’s hope she follows the prudence of Daniel Andrews.

mikebartnz
Reply to  Eric Worrall
October 25, 2020 11:29 pm

I wouldn’t count on it. Having the victory she has she will probably think she can do what she likes and she almost will for the next three years but how far down the drain will we be by then.
I have a KiwiSaver account and when National was in it went up gradually most days with the odd dip but since Labor has been in it has been up and down like a whores drawers.

Firemann
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 5:07 am

Don’t come to Australia looking for a job. Morons like you are responsible for yet another Sh..hole in the making. She is an ex-commie, a totalitarian at heart, who is very good at closing society and destruction of industries like oil/gas and dairy, but never building anything new. Go and enjoy your back to caves road.

Megs
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 5:27 am

I absolutely and sincerely wish you luck in your plea Snarky, I fear you’ll need it. The scenic beauty wrapped up in the small package that is New Zealand should remain for many more folk to enjoy.

If only the natural gift of geothermal was enough for your beautiful country. Wind and solar are such a useless blight on the landscape.

Tim Flannery talked our government here in Australia into a geothermal project. It cost us a billion dollars, and that was quite some time ago. All for nought.

Lawrence
Reply to  Megs
October 24, 2020 5:01 pm

Different geothermal. In NZ they have active volcanic disturbances near or on the Earth’s surface. Tim Flannery was trying to drill holes in a hot rock five kilometres below and then pumping water through it. It was also located about as far away from where the power was needed as you can get. In the South Island the heat is near where it will be used. The only drawback with NZ geothermal is that they are active volcanoes the are dealing with.

Megs
Reply to  Lawrence
October 24, 2020 7:08 pm

Thanks Lawrence.

I don’t pretend to know much about geothermal power, but I figured that some sort of thermal activity would have been necessary to warrant spending a billion dollars out in the middle of nowhere.

A billion dollars is alot of money today, but it was an obscene amount to waste back in those days. They still trust him for advice. Nothing changes, they still don’t think things through.

Reply to  Lawrence
October 24, 2020 11:45 pm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_New_Zealand

The power stations arent near active active volcanoes, they havent had any volcanic activity in 2000 years ..although its close to one of the biggest eruptions in the last 10,000 years.

Reply to  Lawrence
October 25, 2020 5:02 pm

The ‘billions of dollars’ was for pumped hydro to allow the peaking fossil fueled plants to be ‘retired’ ( mostly gas but one last coal fired plant).
The principle is sound but all that off peak energy for pumping has to come from somewhere and I thought its already ‘allocated’ for off peak electric car charging at home ?

My idea is that a major hydro scheme that was built for aluminium smelter thats closing ( cant compete for power prices with Chinese coal plants!) be the proposed ‘peak’ only hydro plant. Doesnt need reverse pumping as the lake has plenty of water but it cant be both base load plant and peak power plant. The location isnt such of problem as there is an existing long distance HV DC line interconnector from the bottom of South Island to the bottom of North Island thats underused already during peak load.

Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 6:18 am

“New Zealand is already doing its share for global warming”

Any money spent on addressing the non problem of ‘global warming’ is nothing but waste, fraud and abuse.

Larry in Texas
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 9:54 am

Too late, pal. You have given her, what appears from the articles cited, a mandate to go totalitarian and gonzo green. Good luck with all that. NZ might also lose its status within the Five Eyes intelligence sharing arrangement, as Arden seems to have made it a habit to draw closer to the Chinese Communist hegemonists as well and will not be trusted to not pass on sensitive information to them.

Kiwis becoming lemmings, what a sight that will be. If I were you, ozspeakup, I wouldn’t be letting in ANY folks fleeing NZ. Seems like people who flee one government don’t change their politics at all – they will continue to vote for the same politicians who created or will create the same problems they fled from (e.g. Californians fleeing to Texas).

Larry in Texas
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 10:03 am

By the way, be careful about geothermal. As we saw in Hawaii with Kilauea, one good eruption can ruin your geothermal plants for a long time to come. As NZ is in an earthquake zone, one major quake could also be ruinous. Better to have a LOT of energy options, from fossil fuel to hydro to nuclear to geothermal.

Megs
Reply to  Larry in Texas
October 24, 2020 2:50 pm

Good point Larry.

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Larry in Texas
October 24, 2020 4:49 pm

Does not have to be a natural event either. Rotorua is a geothermal region in NZ and the local authority has banned people from using hot water from the ground for pool heating because it was literally draining the heat out of the ground.

Bro. Steve
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 11:00 am

Sooner or later, everyone will learn that global progressivism is an all-encompassing world view that has no built-in brakes until you reach absolute totalitarianism. Sadly, for many “middle of the road voters,” the realization will come too late to stave off what’s coming.

It really shouldn’t take so long. Aardvark, has it escaped your notice that progressives constantly careen from crisis to crises, and every new emergency devolves into a massive power grab for Big Left?

A cute smile and pleasant manner are not good reasons to hand power to people who believe in despotic principles.

mike macray
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 1:05 pm

Snarky:
..”I am a New Zealander..”
Me too!
Born in Auckland NZ ..not to be confused with Oakland CA.. so I know the difference between a Kiwi and an Aardvark. What’s going on here? Aardvarks belong in Africa not Oceana, hence the expression ” Aardvark a mile for your smile” as they say in the Serengetti, otherwise I’m all on board with your comment.
Cheers
Mike

Derg
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 1:19 pm

“I DON’T WANT HER TO DO ANYTHING STUPID ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING“

Huh?

KT66
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 5:47 pm

Your forgetting that it is not what politicians say or how they say it, but what they do.

I have a brother that lives in Las Vegas. He knows that his now former senator advocated very poor public policy, while enriching himself and his family and friends using his office much like JB. Yet he still voted for him! Why? I asked. Because he just didn’t like the opponent despite that she advocated for far better policy. He believed the negative propaganda about her personality, while accepting the white washing of the now former senator’s record.

MarkG
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 8:18 pm

“I voted for Jacinda Ardern because she is a good Prime Minister, and a very genuine person

I DON’T WANT HER TO DO ANYTHING STUPID ABOUT GLOBAL WARMING”

Votes for Communist. Surprised he imposes communism.

John
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 25, 2020 2:09 am

I am a New Zealander too.
Hang your head in shame Snarky. You have a very different opinion of Jacinda Ardern than I do.
Jacinda Ardern, good Prime Minister and genuine should not be used in the same sentence.

You don’t want her to do anything stupid…LOL, you and I obviously read different news articles.

Henry
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 26, 2020 7:37 pm

this was in my inbox it describes what went on to a t and there has been more anti gun laws passed under cover of coronna police have unlimited poers to ban anything firearms related

A time line of a mass shooting

The Law, Crime and Community Safety Council held a conference over 27 28 April 2016 in Queenstown, New Zealand

NZ police where told that the semi automatic firearms in NZ had to go and laws changed to Australian like law.

This is despite New Zealand has about twice the rate of firearm ownership and a lower rate of firearm offending. Indicating that New Zealand’s gun laws work much better than Australia’s.

Attempt 1 2017 Law and order select committee and lobbing mostly thrown out by minister Paula Bennett

This exercise revealed that the police had a secret wish list

Chris Cahill became very active in promoting the police brass agenda with a number of claims that where later proved false .

Attempt 2 2017-18 A number of kiwis(about 1200) that were deported from Australia received firearms licenses. This may be consider an action to increase the likelihood of an “event”, but nothing. Major gangs also got more guns and were involved a few incidents .This may still be problematic as many firearms will have got into criminals hands.

Cahill is again active in promoting untruthful claims

Attempt 3

Give a firearms licence to a known terrorist without doing proper checks and this whole event was so outlandish it smells of interference in the process .

We know what happened “but did he work alone “?

Have more dodgy licences been issued ?

Key points

Warnings of a threat were passed to police by the mosque. These were ignored by police. One was very specific and on the mourning of the shooting. There were also repeated failures to act on warnings about a potential terrorist attack from the public on at least three occasions. It has been noted that there were reports that the SIS where watching attacker from an army source.

Senior-ranking police appeared to stand-over politicians in a way that could have been interpreted as a method of prevent others getting a balanced point of view.

The shooting community had a feeling that something was going to happen

(a port Arthur like event )

There was previously a statement from the PM: “we will not get firearms law changes without a port Arthur like event” Quoted in the media

The amendment was passed with unprecedented haste. This felt like it was entirely driven by emotion rather than facts.

The whole police senior management needs to explain there actions

Where they involved or had prior knowledge ?

Why in hell did they give the gunman a firearms licence ?

Did the police and certain politicians have the means motive and opportunity to have this event happen ?

What needs to happen to help prevent a repeat event ?

Hold the police accountable for there inactions

There is currently no mechanism for holding senior-ranking police officers to account for anything they just close ranks and lie

other suspicious actions and points

Is this about UN agenda 21 / 2030 given that UN secretary general António Guterres

visited the week after the shooting ?

Distribution of the shooters video and manifesto were banned without proper legal precedent.

John Podesta visited New Zealand the week before the shooting. What was the nature of his visit and why were image similar to his hand tattoos on one of the murder weapons?

Were any foreign government, or agencies, involved in any way?

farmerbraun
Reply to  Henry
October 26, 2020 9:25 pm

You missed out the big one .
He pleaded guilty , (surprise , surprise) thus preventing a full examination of all of the evidence.
Neat and tidy , eh?
It’s a complete mystery how he supported himself while travelling about the world .

Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 3:47 am

The “problem” of global warming was always just an excuse to impose the “cure” of global Technocracy. And, yes, the cure will be worse than anything you or I can imagine.

Robert of Ottawa
Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 8:09 am

You can’t solve global warming by locking people up

No but it’s a good excuse.

rickk
Reply to  Robert of Ottawa
October 24, 2020 9:17 am

“Solve” global warming ??

What is there to “solve”?

Reply to  rickk
October 24, 2020 9:54 am

Yep, and while we’re at it, what’s a climate crisis ?? Do these people think that talking gibberish can last forever in the internet age?

Rhoda R
Reply to  philincalifornia
October 24, 2020 3:59 pm

Why not? It’s worked so far.

Reply to  Snarky Aardvark
October 24, 2020 8:34 am

Snarky Aardvark October 24, 2020 at 3:29 am
You can’t solve global warming by locking people up

There’s nothing that needs to be solved. CO2 is NOT a Problem.

Climate change policies aren’t meant to control the climate,
they’re meant to control you – Paul Joseph Watson

October 24, 2020 3:31 am

Looks like an occasional cortex clone. It’s the teeth. I think they cave in when the brain is surgically removed. In men is its the pubic like facial growth.

Mad Mac
Reply to  Leo Smith
October 24, 2020 3:43 am

In the US there is a joke re AOC that Mr Ed wants his teeth back. Mr Ed was a long ago TV show about a talking horse.

ozspeaksup
Reply to  Mad Mac
October 24, 2020 3:59 am

Mr Ed was likeable and had class
AOC has nothing going for her

and Fang in NZ doesnt either

Nik
Reply to  ozspeaksup
October 24, 2020 4:48 am

Mr. Ed was also smart and witty.

mark from the midwest
Reply to  Nik
October 24, 2020 6:00 am

And he only spoke when he had something worth saying, a real sign of an extremely mature personality

Doug Huffman
Reply to  Nik
October 24, 2020 10:32 am

Walk around to Mr. Ed’s other end for a conversation with Occasional Cortex Jacinda Ardern

Scissor
Reply to  Leo Smith
October 24, 2020 5:04 am

There does seem to be a high correlation between left wing politics, tyrannical covid response, tyrannical climate response and horse teeth. Must be CO2.

Rhoda R
Reply to  Scissor
October 24, 2020 4:01 pm

Why not. It causes everything else.

MarkW
Reply to  Scissor
October 24, 2020 6:16 pm

CO2 makes wooden teeth grow?

Ian
Reply to  Leo Smith
October 24, 2020 8:44 am

comment image?w=1242&ssl=1

Jamie Moodie
October 24, 2020 3:36 am

The blind agreement many Kiwis have in supporting a serial liar and communist, who imprisons them whilst running a sustained fear campaign arpoiuad the common flu (CV19 wooooooooo) is quite worrying. She has very little pushback coming form a weak national party, who are incapable of reading and articulating a contrary view to almost anything, particular the climate emergency con and the corona con. This childlike adherence of the MSM and piss weak politicians who beat the moronic baying mobs obsession with C02 (the most essential substance on earth for all life) and CV19 being undesirable and very dangerous, is beyond humour. They are all utterly witless and clueless to a man woman and child, of which there are many. 1984 is alive and well in NZ. The NZ public needs to read and grow up and educate themselves re climate history, the value of C02 (we need more of it not less) and the CONrona Virus! For goodness sake you’re all being lied to on and industrial scale, you muppets. Without CO2, we will all perish! with adherence to Corona dogma we will all remain imprisoned by fear that these lefty idiots drive into us via the complicit MSM morons for years to come. Wake up and smell the coffee, nothin is wrong with our health or the weather at all. Grow a pair and tell the MSM and politicians you no longer need them.

Ross
Reply to  Jamie Moodie
October 24, 2020 8:34 am

Well put Jamie, most NZers are hard working , have a just get on with it attitude and therefore are compliant by nature to their detriment and will be misled by the shouty left.

Mike Lowe
Reply to  Ross
October 24, 2020 11:47 am

Agreed. And could somebody explain to the ignorant GreenFleece morons that we have no Climate Crisis in NZ or anywhere else?

griff
October 24, 2020 3:40 am

The link shows NZ solar climbing at a steady, steep, upward rate ‘As of February 2020, New Zealand has 118 MW of grid-connected photovoltaic (PV) solar power installed, of which 25 MW were installed in the preceding 12 months.’

solar of course works so long as it is light, you don’t need brilliant sunshine all the time for it to deliver.

fred250
Reply to  Eric Worrall
October 24, 2020 4:20 am

Whether it make sense or not, is immaterial to griff.

Greg
Reply to  fred250
October 24, 2020 6:46 am

“25 MW were installed in the preceding 12 months.”

WOW really kicking solar shyt down there in NZ then. I know folks with that much on one roof.

Mr.
Reply to  Eric Worrall
October 24, 2020 8:35 am

Yes Eric but it’s never enough for greens to just use existing renergy resources to greater effect, they have to don the whole apparatus of “fighting climate change”, and that means putting up lots & lots of solar panels and wind farms to SHOW their commitment to The Cause (as M. Mann once described his version of climate science).

mikebartnz
Reply to  griff
October 24, 2020 4:03 am

Griff I know of only one person with solar or wind and that is because they were quoted $20 odd thousand to get their power poled in and it was originally only going to be a weekend place. I have looked after their place when they have gone away so I know more than the average Joe about the pros and cons and it is mainly cons. A guy further up the road has a hydro system and that is a totally different story. 24/7 with may be twice a year when the header gets blocked because of a downpour. Please stop pushing shit uphill.

fretslider
Reply to  griff
October 24, 2020 5:39 am

I get it now

Guardian Reader in Free Fall.

Alex
Reply to  griff
October 24, 2020 8:54 am

Actually, solar PV makes a lot of sense if you have the same amount of hydro power.
If it is sunny, save the water!
If not, open the gateway!
I would make PV roofs obligatory for all new buildings.
However, prohibit using agricultural land for PV.

Juan Slayton
Reply to  Alex
October 24, 2020 10:44 am

I would make PV roofs obligatory for all new buildings.

Alex,
Here in California we have a housing shortage and we are being overrun with homeless people. Real estate prices are through the roof, and our legislature’s response? Require PV on most new housing. This is not going to help.

Don’t get me wrong. I have solar on my roof. In the right location it could be a useful part of an energy source mix. But to raise the cost of housing even more? Right now that is not a good policy. I will go halfway on this issue, however. It should be public policy to encourage (not require) that new construction have rooftop orientation that will enable retrofitting PV when times are better.

Alex
Reply to  Juan Slayton
October 24, 2020 11:24 am

What has that to do with homeless?
Housing in africa costs nothing, yet every second is homeless there.
In california, putting PV on the roof makes no change to the housing price. Do not kid me.
It is apple, google and co who make the price
You can and you are obliged to put PV on your roof in california.

Megs
Reply to  Alex
October 24, 2020 4:07 pm

People don’t ask questions Alex. Rooftop solar works at it’s optimum when there is no shade, apart from when the sun goes down of course, then it doesn’t work at all.

I digress, in a densely populated town or city people like to have trees, fair enough too. But if your roof is shaded, then you have been taken for a ride by the installer and you have wasted your money.

People don’t realise that there are different types of solar panels, that they can also vary in quality. They don’t know that bird droppings, if not cleaned off promptly can cause damage to the solar cells. That is not to do with surface damage but rather in the way a panel functions. It creates what they call a hotspot, and ultimately can cause a fire. The same problem occurs when dirt builds up around the frames. Areas that have hot summers can be a problem too, sometimes panels can start to delaminate, over a fairly short period of time.

Of course there are many other problems too, but a fire has a way of potentially putting an end to your life. Or destroying your home.

MarkW
Reply to  Alex
October 24, 2020 6:22 pm

So doubling the cost of housing will have no impact on homelessness?
You can lead a progressive to knowledge, but you can’t make them think.

Reply to  Juan Slayton
October 24, 2020 12:12 pm

Juan,

It wasn’t the legislature – it was an appointed board of anonymous, faceless, unelected folks who imposed the “solar on every residential roof” regulation. And it isn’t every roof (as you point out) – there are many, many exemptions.

The day before the board voted on this regulation, the head of the board was being interviewed on a local radio station. The interviewer asked if this wasn’t going to raise the cost of housing. His response was that it would only add $US30K to the cost of a house, and that would pay back, in lower electricity bills, in about 20 years. I was shocked that he’d admit such a thing. Of course, the next day, the amount was walked back to a mere $US9.5K per house. That won’t affect the ridiculous cost of housing in California at all, nor increase homelessness – no siree.

When our legislature wants to avoid having to make hard decisions, they appoint a board. A chap running here for city council wants to create 3 new boards for the city in the CoVID emergency, with no sunset terms.

Idiots.

David A
Reply to  Juan Slayton
October 25, 2020 8:30 am

Juan, you have solar due to rebates, and to the fact that solar, wind, and laws have driven the price of conventional steady state production far higher then they need to be

HAS
Reply to  Alex
October 24, 2020 12:29 pm

PV doesn’t make money in NZ, other forms of electricity are too cheap. We have some of the best wind in the world – roaring 40s and all that. Can probably double our non-fossil electricity generation without major price increases – although dry years every so often need gas.

But transport fuels for longer-haul transport in an isolated country will be a challenge, but not a bad climate to grow things.

MarkW
Reply to  Alex
October 24, 2020 6:21 pm

Has anyone else noticed how the first reaction of a progressive is to use the deadly force of government to force everyone else to live in a manner that the progressive approves of.

Reply to  MarkW
November 3, 2020 8:48 pm

Robert A. Heinlein, from “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress” (1966):

“Must be a yearning deep in human heart to stop other people from doing as they please. Rules, laws — always for other fellow. A murky part of us, something we had before we came down out of trees, and failed to shuck when we stood up. Because not one of those people said: ‘Please pass this so that I won’t be able to do something I know I should stop.’ Nyet, tovarishchee, was always something they hated to see neighbors doing. Stop them ‘for their own good — not because speaker claimed to be harmed by it. “

Lrp
Reply to  Alex
October 24, 2020 6:22 pm

So, you want full baseload coverage for both hydro and solar? Socialist smarts!

Patrick MJD
Reply to  griff
October 24, 2020 3:23 pm

Get’s quite dark quite early in New Zealand in winter. Have you been to NZ Griff? Most civil engineering projects are delayed by years of greentape fighting in courts.

Don
Reply to  griff
October 24, 2020 3:26 pm

118MW of solar ! Is that right . As far as I am concerned electricity is a 24hr/7 day/52 week requirement . PV is at a maximum (fixed panels ) 9 hours output per day , being very generous and no clouds . For the rest of the day its output is zero so PV real output over 24 hrs is 44.3 MW in real terms . As is being found overseas , especially Germany PV brings tremendous difficulties with it’s hugely intermittent and frankly unreliable supply metric. The only way out of this non reliable Green technology inviability is some form of energy storage ie batteries or pumped hydro , both very very expensive and if you think a 1000 tonnes of Lithium batteries are “Green” or desirable well……… and the colossal earthworks and fossil fuel and engineering requirements of pumped hydro are worth the couple of hours of generation it supplies . For instance Australia is looking at such a scheme now , a 1 Billion + dollar pumped hydro scheme , 8 years construction to support a 2 Billion dollar combined wind and PV installation with a maximum of 600 MW x 12 hours .

MarkW
Reply to  griff
October 24, 2020 6:19 pm

And griff demonstates yet another thing that he knows nothing about.
While it is true that you don’t need direct sunlight to get a solar cell to work. It is also true that even slight levels of over cast decrease panel output by a very large amount.

Lrp
Reply to  griff
October 24, 2020 6:26 pm

You get about 1/10 of the rated capacity on overcast days.

John MacDonald
Reply to  griff
October 24, 2020 8:20 pm

Wow Griff, 118 MW. But why not mention demand:
Electricity sector in New Zealand
Data
Installed capacity (2017) 9,237 MW
Production (2017) 42,911 GWh
Share of fossil energy 18%
Share of renewable energy 82%

So 118 doesn’t look like much now.

Malcolm Taylor
Reply to  griff
October 25, 2020 9:27 pm

Solar power is brilliant at running a heat pump on a winter’s night in Central Otago when the temperature has dropped to -10 outside, or so I am told.

The studies I have seen about solar in NZ is that is good in the upper North Island, particularly when supported by battery backup. Passable in Central NZ, only when supported by batteries. And useless in the lower South Island.

very old white guy
October 24, 2020 3:43 am

Is it too early to say farewell to New Zealand and all it’s citizens?

Ken Irwin
Reply to  very old white guy
October 24, 2020 4:23 am

I’m not sure if successfully isolating yourself on an island and entirely cutting yourself off from the rest of the world – only to stave off the inevitable – constitutes a success.

Jan de Jong
Reply to  Ken Irwin
October 24, 2020 8:19 am

Exactly.

Klem
Reply to  very old white guy
October 24, 2020 4:24 am

If she used the UN and World Economic Forum’s famous slogan ‘Build Back Better’ or ‘The Great Reset’ in her campaign, then it isn’t too early.

Yes I know, you thought it was Biden’s slogan but its been used by the globalists since about 2015. Trudeau uses it, Boris Johnson uses it, it’s almost like a secret globalist code.

Say a prayer for NZ, folks. The Left ruins everything.

Zig Zag Wanderer
Reply to  very old white guy
October 24, 2020 4:31 am

Well….

As soon as the virus gets back into new Zealand, it’ll be a mess. The idea that you can eliminate it in one country, however isolated, is ludicrous. It’ll get in again, and wreak havoc because there will be no immunity.

Not ‘goodbye’, but commiserations.

mikebartnz
October 24, 2020 3:46 am

She won the election mainly with the female vote because over the covid caper she was all lovy dovy which women liked. Quite frankly since Labour has been in all my investments have done squat. Usually before an election the markets will be reserved and bounce back after. The trouble is there has been no bounce back. If she thinks that she can beat a virus she is totally delusional and the way people are behaving makes me think the humane race has gone totally insane. I am glad it is three years and not four between elections.

Reply to  mikebartnz
October 24, 2020 7:24 am

Leftists seem to really care, and promise giving money to everyone, so if your voters are half unemployed twenty somethings, they are hard to beat at the ballot box. A 5 year election cycle usually shows the economic failure of their policies and causes their dismissal. On a 3 year cycle, you might have to put up with them twice….

Reply to  DMacKenzie
October 24, 2020 8:22 am

Her success is actually the same as Trump’s if you really think about it…..voters looking for honesty and commitment in their political leaders, instead of the usual double-speak…..but eventually the are assessed by voters on their failure rate.

Simon
Reply to  DMacKenzie
October 24, 2020 11:33 am

“Her success is actually the same as Trump’s if you really think about it…..voters looking for honesty and commitment in their political leaders….
Ummm you may have picked the wrong person to compare Adern to. There is nothing Trumpian about her.

farmerbraun
Reply to  Simon
October 24, 2020 1:49 pm

“nothing Trumpian about her. ”
Trump’s I.Q. vs Jacinda’s – I agree , no contest, she’s brainless.

Simon
Reply to  Simon
October 24, 2020 9:06 pm

“Trump’s I.Q. vs Jacinda’s – I agree , no contest, she’s brainless.”
And Trump is a stable genius right? I mean he must be, he says so and everything he says is true. Right?

Reply to  Simon
November 3, 2020 8:53 pm

That’s twice in two days I’ve seen the term “stable genius” applied to Trump. Why is that? It’s an unusual construction that I’ve never seen before. Is it code for something?

Jamie Moodie
Reply to  James Schrumpf
November 3, 2020 10:44 pm

Trump is very unorthodox, and not a politician, (thank heavens) but is a doer who sees problems and fixes them, who sees opportunities and takes advantage of them, whilst politicians hide behind vague and vacuous language and ideas that political animals almost never deliver on. Trump delivers and makes stuff happen. This scares the shit out of the swamp of self anointed twits who become politicians to grandstand as important individuals and to make money. They care not one iota for the common man. Trump does.

October 24, 2020 3:48 am

Looks like 2 of the 5 Eyes, the U.K. and NZ have gone green.
What about the other 3?
President Trump delivered a Black Eye by dumping the Paris Accord, and candidate Biden squints a lot.

Ron Long
October 24, 2020 3:48 am

New Zealand? They have what…0.001 percent of the world’s carbon liberation? And they’re going to effect “Climate Change”? Somewhere in China they’re laughing. As noted, the wind blows and it brings new atmospheric conditions along with it. How does New Zealand manage to change the upwind atmospheric conditions? Green Weanie Nonsense. No nukes? Double nonsense.

Ron Long
October 24, 2020 3:52 am

Out of morbid curiosity/quarantine boredom I looked up Jacinda Ardern’s biography. Her B of Arts degree (2001) is in Communication. That’s right, she’s acting! Wake up New Zealand!

ozspeaksup
Reply to  Ron Long
October 24, 2020 4:02 am

her statement if she wasnt relected shed quit entirely had me hoping…
it also shows her huge ego trip
boss or takes her ball n leaves
if only…

mikebartnz
Reply to  Ron Long
October 24, 2020 4:07 am

I was awake but I now feel like going back to sleep. :))

Warren
Reply to  Ron Long
October 24, 2020 4:11 am

And her stint with Tony Blair!

Sommer
Reply to  Ron Long
October 24, 2020 7:39 am
mikebartnz
Reply to  Sommer
October 26, 2020 12:11 am

That would be like a kiss of death wouldn’t it. :))

Analitik
October 24, 2020 4:01 am

you don’t need brilliant sunshine all the time for it to deliver.

But you do if you want to deliver more than a few percent of the rated output. Try using some of this green tech you rabbit on about, griff, rather than just pasting information out of context.

Serge Wright
October 24, 2020 4:02 am

NZ has a fragile economy, consisting of farm exports and tourism. COVID lockdown means no more tourism and therefore the removal of the farm exports will complete their transition to the ‘Green’ economy. As an added bonus they will also produce the world’s first genuine climate refugees in the process.

sky king
October 24, 2020 4:06 am

https://audioboom.com/posts/7709609-new-zealand-s-canterbury-university-gags-and-persecutes-a-professor-who-speaks-out-on-prc-bad-act

Prof Anne-Marie Brady, @Anne_MarieBrady, @TheWilsonCenter; University of Canterbury in New Zealand who specialises in Chinese politics and its policies in the polar regions, has been gagged by her university as she wrote about Chinese predations. New Zealand has been a target of Chinese infiltration; is a strategically important location. China has worked hard to influence academe; Prof Brady has been targeted before, but this time the world academic community is coming to her defense. China’s effort here is to bankrupt Prof Brady into silence; she’s the first one for whom the China Democracy Fdn is fundraising to defend victims of Chinese predation. University of Canterbury is heavily connected to Harbin University PLA/Chinese military. Massive implications for the region, for the Five Eyes. Similar to what the Soviets did that got NZ kicked out of ANZUS—and Kiwis then patted themselves on the back for being morally superior.

Klem
October 24, 2020 4:08 am

I know a family that absolutely fell in love with NZ, so much so that they sold their home, packed up the kids and moved there. I didn’t blame them one bit.

They moved back to North America within 5 years because of the lunacy of the politics in NZ. And the re election of Ardern demonstrates it. What a shame.

Clyde Spencer
Reply to  Klem
October 24, 2020 10:05 am

My experiences with Kiwis has left me with the opinion that they are decent, likable people. Although, it used to be said that they were 20 years behind the US culturally and politically. That was my impression also when I first visited in 1979. Considering that the last time I was there, in 1989, our rental car was broken into and robbed in the Auckland museum parking lot by two drug-addled teenagers, within the first two hours after arriving, I believe they are quickly catching up. However, I suspect that there is still a residual naïveté that explains the popularity of the likes of Ardern. They will probably eventually come to their senses, after much damage has been done by the Left.

Boff Doff
October 24, 2020 4:12 am

Must get over to NZ to congratulate Ardern on winning the war against Covid!

‘ere, ‘ang on, the country is off limits to the world! What a victory! The Lord be praised! Let honours be showered on the great leader who has……. ended freedom.

Good grief.

Carl Friis-Hansen
October 24, 2020 4:31 am

What will happen if to NZ if they one day open up for tourism, which used to be a significant income for the country?

NZ is already green and all-in-all satisfying the Green agenda21 with unreasonable low CO2 contribution from electricity production, just like Norway.
The only solution to make NZ totally Green is to cancel the CO2 spewing sheep population.

mikebartnz
Reply to  Carl Friis-Hansen
October 24, 2020 4:49 am

The sheep population is about a quarter of what it was in the early eighties so the job is mostly done.

Klem
Reply to  mikebartnz
October 24, 2020 6:24 am

Thats remarkable. I live on the other side of the planet from NZ, and yet a leg of lamb from NZ is still cheaper than from the sheep farm just down the road from me.

How is this possible?

Reply to  Klem
October 24, 2020 10:28 am

Farmers in NZ don’t get EU subsidies.

Malcolm Taylor
Reply to  Klem
October 25, 2020 9:32 pm

In NZ that leg of lamb is the most expensive meat that a Kiwi can buy. A leg of pork, imported from China, is much cheaper.

WRMAC
Reply to  mikebartnz
October 24, 2020 7:17 am

It looks to me like there are more sheep than ever and they now vote. Islands are a good place for experiments. No one in, no one out. Check back in 10 years.

Michael Ernest Noll
October 24, 2020 4:36 am

So they paved paradise
Put up some wind turbines,
With three pretty white blades,
And a low whooshing hum.
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
‘Til it’s gone

icisil
October 24, 2020 5:18 am

Anyone know what PCR cycle thresholds NZ uses?

Leo
October 24, 2020 5:25 am

September 2020 was the least deadly month ever in Sweden, at least so far back as the data from SCB:s public database provides data.

Swedens big immigration and high unknown illegal migration for many years has created a crowded living situation in large cities, dispite a 220% higher death rate in the common immigrant groups in Sweden the country has managed well compared to our neighboring countries under a low lockdown situation.

Above all, we have not succeeded in protecting older immigrants in overcrowded housing.

https://www.expressen.se/nyheter/coronaviruset/studie-overdodlighet-i-vissa-invandrargrupper/

https://cornucopia.cornubot.se/2020/10/september-2020-least-deadly-month-ever.html

fretslider
October 24, 2020 5:28 am

In Scotland wee Jimmy Kranky was extolling the virues of renewable energy and all the jobs it would create. Then it dawned on Scottish yards that most of the work would be going to China and some to the UAE.

So where will NZ be getting its wind turbines? Will it be home grown green jobs?

Turbine parts for the Waipipi Wind Farm in South Taranaki have arrived in New Zealand.

The first Chinese ship carrying towers and blades arrived in Port Taranaki on May 21, about 10 days ahead of schedule, project manager Jim Pearson said. They will now be trucked to the 980ha site, which is on the coast between Waverley and Patea.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/the-country/news/south-taranaki-waipipi-wind-farm-parts-arrive-from-china/YZGHOJ3BWVA44CW6CTEYK7FBMA/

Er, no. China is laughing all the way to the bank.

October 24, 2020 5:53 am

“New Zealand has some very windy places, and with all their tall mountain ranges New Zealand has potentially excellent hydroelectric sites which could be developed.”
Dams are definately not ‘green’ and in most cases they are a severe destructive force on the nature of free flowing rivers, especially as they block fish migration. That’s not a good idea or clever considering many fish we eat spawn in rivers.
The Mekong River comes to mind.

Clyde Spencer
Reply to  Stephen Skinner
October 24, 2020 10:13 am

I haven’t kept up with the situation, but last time I was in NZ, I was made aware of the fact that the reservoirs are silting up faster than expected because the imported sport herbivores have denuded the hillsides. Without natural predators, there had been a population explosion of the exotic animals and the government resorted to shooting the animals from helicopters, and even poisoning them. Not very Green!

Megs
Reply to  Clyde Spencer
October 24, 2020 3:30 pm

We do things like that too, in Australia Clyde. Reality is no one wants to see a healthy animals life ended, but their numbers are causing extreme environmental damage. Australia has the largest population of wild camels outside of the Middle East. They are highly regarded outside of Australia.

Driving into the Northern Territory through South Australia was an eye opener for me. I thought that wild horses were a problem for the Snowy Alps region, there were herds of them in the Red Centre. There were thousands of feral goats too, particularly in northern South Australia. It was bizarre to see every tree and shrub all eaten from underneath as though carefully manicured. A campground near Uluru was overrun with feral rabbits, saw a cat, another introduced species catch one of them.

Deers, also introduced, have grown to unmanageable herd sizes in NSW. There is a fox den on our property, a family of them took out my neighbors chickens and guinea fowl. I think foxes are exquisite animals, though I don’t have any chickens, and there’s the fact that they are keen on eating native wildlife too. In an animals own environment, nature has a way of keeping a balanced population.

There isn’t a good way of reducing the populations of these animals, but they are competing with native species very successfully.

Rhoda R
Reply to  Megs
October 24, 2020 4:16 pm

Maybe that’s the answer to the forest fire/greenie problem – get a bunch of feral goats to establish themselves in these forest regions and let them eat off all the undergrowth that feeds the wild fires. No need for humans to go in there and pull out the fuel load so the greenies have nothing to bitch about.

Megs
Reply to  Rhoda R
October 24, 2020 6:19 pm

You know what Rhoda, you are spot on! Those feral goats eat everything they can reach.

I’ll tell you something to make you smile. I live in the country and there’s an organisation here in the region that started a business that rents out domesticated goat herds to clear small properties of weed infestations. They fence off sections at a time and move them around.

Some people just don’t like to use chemicals.

Clyde Spencer
Reply to  Rhoda R
October 24, 2020 6:57 pm

Megs
There is a similar story here in the US that you may not have heard. With urging from Teddy Roosevelt, a campaign was started to eliminate predators from the Kaibab Forest at the Grand Canyon. It was spectacularly successful. With no predators to rein in the deer, the population exploded. It didn’t take long before everything green was eaten as high up as the deer could reach standing on their hind legs to browse. Then the deer population crashed! I haven’t personally seen it, but I have read that even today one can still see the browse line in the lower branches of the trees.

Megs
Reply to  Clyde Spencer
October 24, 2020 8:12 pm

It’s a really strange thing to see Clyde, kilometers of native landscape all trimmed underneath at exactly the same level and little of anything on the ground either. Didn’t always see the animals themselves but it was certainly easy to see that they’d been there.

Reply to  Megs
October 25, 2020 2:29 am

On some Pacific Islands there have been successful eradication of rats that were/are devastating to the indigenous wild life. The same can be done in Australia with a number of invasive animals. Camel and Dear meat are eaten in many countries so first neutering followed by exporting to countries that eat Camel and Dear, such as Africa and China. Then there are Patterson’s Curse, the Cane Toad and Rabbits. I don’t think introducing any more animals or plants to control a previous introduction is a good idea.

Wade
October 24, 2020 5:56 am

Yet again, COVID-19 and environmentalism linked. The horror of the lockdowns is just what the eco-communists want, permanently. And just as lockdowns are completely ineffective at stopping a virus, so will the horror of the eco-commies dream will be at stopping global warming. It has never ever about saving lives or saving the environment; that is just a red herring. It has always been about power and control. The brainwashed pawns won’t realize that until it is too late. If they are very very lucky, the brainwashed pawns won’t be a part of the many red purges.

fretslider
October 24, 2020 6:03 am

Can anyone explain why when I post a comment at 13:29 (BST) It does not appear until 14:00 This is the case for all my posts; an half an hour delay.

Perhaps it loops the solar system first?

icisil
Reply to  fretslider
October 24, 2020 7:34 am

That’s not unusual. My posts’ appearances range from instantly to maybe a half hour, heavily weighted towards the latter. Some kind of moderation delay.

Reply to  fretslider
October 24, 2020 8:15 am

icisil is exactly right.

And, BTW, please don’t blame the moderator(s). They do an excellent job overall, allowing posts both logical and well-reasoned as well as those that are uninformed and/or, well, “off-planet”. Their main purpose, I assume, is to filter out spammers and bots, and in that they are amazingly effective.

WUWT is one of the most-visited websites on the Web, and I commend all of its moderators, especially ctm, for their excellence and professionalism in managing the comments posted to the hundreds of articles appearing on WUWT over the course of a year.

And I’ll just conclude by saying that NO submitted post is so important that it cannot withstand 30 minutes (even up to an hour) delay before appearing.

“Patience is a virtue” . . . this is true.

fretslider
Reply to  Gordon A. Dressler
October 24, 2020 11:52 am

I blame nobody, I was just curious.

I like to think it goes out to Pluto first

Tom Abbott
Reply to  fretslider
October 24, 2020 8:31 am

The comment software is a little flaky.

Most of my posts take a while to show up. Occasionally, they will appear immediately.

What I do is wait until it is about five minutes after the top of the hour before I refresh the page, and my posts will be there.

A lot of people double post because they think their first post didn’t go through. It went through, it just takes a while to show up sometimes.

And this delay doesn’t have anything to do with moderation. It’s just a software quirk.

Mack
October 24, 2020 6:23 am

Right down at the bottom end of NZ there is an aluminium smelter which sucks up about 13% of NZ’s total electricity. It’s totally powered by hydro from the nearby Manapouri dam. There is serious talk that this smelter will close next year (Covid + downturn aluminium demand and prices) and I think Jacinda is happy to let them go to the wall… bugger Invercargill and the workers at the smelter… the greens should be pleased. If the transmission lines are improved to the North Island then the whole country could just about run on hydro…. Jacinda’s nuclear/climate free moment. Then we need to cull off all our livestock, stop eating meat and sit around eating lentils, to really be world leaders in “combatting climate change”.

Vald
Reply to  Mack
October 24, 2020 6:55 am

Why not, that’s who you voted for. Kiwis have become too soft and left women in charge.

Patrick MJD
Reply to  Vald
October 24, 2020 4:44 pm

“Vald October 24, 2020 at 6:55 am”

NZers also voted for the first female NZ PM, Herr Clarken Fuhrer. She, when Minister for Health, single handedly destroyed what was the best health care system in the world in the 80’s. She, when PM in the 00’s, thought anyone earning NZ$60k+ was “rich”, so she put up the top rate income tax to 39%.

Ardern is going to prove the days during the reign of Herr Clarken Fuhrer to have been the good old days in the land of milk and honey.

Mr.
Reply to  Mack
October 24, 2020 8:48 am

And just as in “Animal Farm”, Jacinda and her cabal will continue to enjoy the fruits of the proles’ labors unabated.

Clyde Spencer
Reply to  Mack
October 24, 2020 10:18 am

Mack
Do away with mutton and you can eat venison. They have similar taste and it is unlikely that the deer and related ungulates will ever be eradicated. The extremely rugged terrain will provide a reservoir of animals that will continue to spread out to the lower elevations where they can be harvested more easily.

Malcolm Taylor
Reply to  Mack
October 25, 2020 9:50 pm

Tiwai smelter uses 600 MW continuously and combined with the rest of Otago and Southland the area has a total demand of between 900 and 1100 MW. The power stations in Otago and Southland have an installed capacity of of 1950 MW and median output of 1000 MW. The lines north from Otago and Southland have a maximum capacity of 680 MW, but they are being upgraded to 1080 MW.

That means that without the smelter and even after the lines upgrade there will be many times that those lines will constrain and hydro stations will spill water. Jacinda Ardern and the Labour party have produced a policy that will overcome that issue. They want to investigate a pumped storage hydro station at Lake Onslow that will be big enough to take up this difference. As far as I am concerned this is their only decent energy policy. The opposition National Party argued against it without even looking at the numbers, but the further right ACT party at least said they would look at the numbers after the investigations were completed.

Even with this extra 600 MW becoming available, only 400 MW could be transmitted north from area, so that would replace one of the two CCGT plants in the North Island. The proposed 860 MW Castle Hill wind farm would replace the existing 500 MW of installed coal burning plant which is already at the end of its economic life. But the other 400 MW CCGT, the 300 MW of gas fired peaking plant and the 150 MW of diesel fired peaking plant will all still be needed.

Alastair Brickell
Reply to  Malcolm Taylor
October 26, 2020 6:15 am

Malcolm Taylor
October 25, 2020 at 9:50 pm

Thanks for some useful factual data.
Living on the Coromandel I worry quite a bit about a major volcanic eruption wrecking some of our hydro stations in the central North Island and the interconnector lines from the South Island not being adequate to keep us powered up. It could also take some time to clear all the HT lines of wet conductive ash.
Thus I have a petrol generator and lots of fuel on hand just in case. I see panic setting in as fuel and food become unavailable. Just look at what happened with toilet paper!

Dave O.
October 24, 2020 6:29 am

I’d like her or somebody to solve our 30 degree below normal temperatures and record snowfall problem.

1 2 3