Posts by Katharine Moody
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Hard News: And so it begins ..., in reply to Bart Janssen,
Longer term I’m starting to wonder if the public are willing to accept the binary system that they currently have.
Yes, relatives of mine in the US see that as a major problem - yet they feel that reform of political donations/money in politics is even more to blame for the deterioration of their democracy. And they see no way out in that regard.
Trump's failure to 'drain the swamp' has convinced them even more so that reform of the money in politics by elected members will never happen. Those that believe Trump had that intent at heart, simply see everything going on since through a lens that 'the swamp' wants rid of him.
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Hard News: Out of sight, out of mind:…, in reply to Russell Brown,
Yup for sure, Russell, that's it in a nutshell. And as a baby boomer, I feel inadequate and helpless where protecting the grandchildren is concerned. Like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. It was the reason for my desperation to get the baby boomers out of power at this election just past and such is my hope now that the generation of my children will solve it for theirs.
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Hard News: Out of sight, out of mind:…, in reply to Russell Brown,
There is a particular problem with the current generation of synthetic cannabinoids. One is the way they lock people in. The users I’ve talked to talk about doing a couple of cones, going unconscious (or dissociated) for an hour or two then waking up and immediately needing more. It’s vicious.
The other is their sheer potency, which is a deadly problem when the product is dosed by idiots in suburban garages. That’s why people are dying.
Yes, and it's that aspect of these particular substances - combined with the spate of recent deaths - and discussions with those attending these overdose events in the community, that makes me think again in ways that are against the principles I used to hold. As I said, I'm horrified by my own thoughts, but then how else do we defend the innocent and vulnerable?
I accept what you say about the 'large majority' (although I do wonder whether that is more true yesterday than it might be today and going forward), but as someone at the funeral said, "this has to stop right here and right now". And I asked myself, how many funerals has that same phrase been used at?
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Hard News: Out of sight, out of mind:…, in reply to Russell Brown,
importation penalties should be aligned with those for the most dangerous illicit drugs
That makes sense if it’s as good as it might get.
I attended the funeral of a friend’s daughter the other week – drug overdose and the thought was a suspected suicide, but with the type of unknown cuts/poisons on the street, how could we ever know? Her distraught father when I spoke to him following his return from identifying her body, commented on Hone Harawira’s suggestion that we introduce the death penalty for importation and manufacture of this shit.
Can’t say I’d necessarily oppose it if it was considered by our legislators – and that’s an admission by me that I’m horrified by. I simply can’t face the fact that every primary school child of today will no doubt become prey at some stage in their lives to these heinous individuals.
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Stuart Nash on this;
After Tuesday's sentencing, new Police Minister Stuart Nash said the Government would review legislation around psychoactive substances "as a matter of priority".
"I strongly suspect that when the law was passed no one envisaged the level of harm these psychoactive substances were going to cause the community," he said.
Given that lives are being lost, I'd hope the importation/dealing in these should be treated as involuntary manslaughter/criminally negligent homicide as a minimum.
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Hard News: Communications breakdown, in reply to Russell Brown,
Trite but true: sunlight is the best disinfectant. Wonderful. How many similar problems exist in other streets across AKL, I wonder.
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Hard News: Communications breakdown, in reply to Katharine Moody,
And just as an added aside – another report uncovered at the time was one on the potential future impacts of climate change (and the projected increase in rainfall patterns and intensity) – which of course, just amplified the problems in the future.
To ‘manage’ this – the council did a 20-year long-term plan (instead of the mandated 10 year one), so that it could project this future budget expenditure to deal with CC, 20 years out :-)… (in short, look like you are doing something when in fact you're not) which is, roughly – now.
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Hard News: Communications breakdown, in reply to Russell Brown,
LOL. In the Kapiti case (back in 2005), it was a local reporter for the Kapiti Observer who did the OIA requests that uncovered the very useful consultancy reports. He is now the Mayor - and he's on record about how utterly unaffordable the necessary upgrades and replacements for their ailing and aging stormwater systems are.
Yet, the new development rolls on!
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My guess is - the reason is the size of the backlog. If they had a comprehensive website/app regarding fault and maintenance schedules across the city for both water and sewerage systems - the amount of information imparted in that reporting might scare the horses, so to speak.
Which could spark a lot more PR work/headaches for them as neighbourhood groups banded together to lobby for their local project to get priority over others.
I saw this sort of situation unfold in Kapiti where stormwater infrastructure and works were concerned. After uncovering (via OIA) a number of (not previously made public) consultancy reports - some of the worst affected residents became aware of the magnitude of the problems across the whole district - not just in their own neighbourhood.
The council's plan was to fix all the known surface flooding problems within 10 years (at the then current capital budget levels) - and the consultancy reports suggested that in certain areas new development should cease, or the frequency and extent of ponding/surface flooding in existing neighbourhoods would increase considerably.
The council ended up with a bit of a PR nightmare... they still haven't got on top of the upgrade and replacement requirements and some roads and properties still flood regularly during significant rainfall events.
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Hard News: The climate changed, in reply to Hilary Stace,
Have read that paper, Hilary. Thanks for the link – very thought provoking and I don’t disagree with them that some sort of NZSF/EQC-like funding instrument is going to likely be needed to address the effects of CC.
The point I’d make however is that they place the emphasis on the use of this proposed fund for managed retreat/relocation of coastal assets – and I think this needs further consideration.
In many cases, I’d say that where private assets subject to SLR are concerned, that those will (and should to my mind), be left to the market (i.e., ongoing lower market pricing for those assets) and private insurers (retreat by them from that market and/or re-pricing of risk should they choose to participate in insuring coastal properties).
Additionally, I believe regulation should provide for owners of seafront private property to build their own coastal defences at their own cost on their own property boundaries – should they wish to take on that cost and that risk. The NZCPS (and hence planning/plans written under it) discourages the protection of private assets in the coastal environment. It should not – otherwise, you get this type of argument that compensation for the need to relocate (as a result of a plan for managed retreat that disadvantages the private property owner) should be publicly funded (which is effectively what these authors are arguing).
As they point out, SLR is a slow-moving hazard. I’d be concerned if wider society started planning for compensation associated with relocation of private assets from coastal hazards. I forsee so many costs associated with the relocation of public infrastructure that will likely overwhelm the need for public funding in future. And more to the point, many of these public assets under threat from climate change aren’t SLR threats, but rather they relate to the CC effects on rainfall patterns – and they are happening now.
The Manawatu Gorge being a prime example. Also, when you think of the Wellington storm event that closed both the rail line and SH2 at the Hutt Valley – the highway flooding arose from a freshwater stream arrester blowing out at Korokoro as a result of the record volume of rainfall in such a short space of time. Damage from storm surge to the rail line was minor in terms of a cost comparison. In simple terms, I suspect changes in rainfall patterns will ‘get us’ before encroachment from the sea does.
Sea defences have been relatively effective all around NZ for many, many years – and SLR is slow-moving and predictable, whereas these rainfall/flooding events are sudden and often unpredictable. Retreat from coastal hazard is in many ways far more costly, in both human/social as well as monetary terms, than defence. The authors don’t seem to acknowledge that.