Health: Changes To Drinking Water Standards

David Clark said many of the changes he is making, which will take effect on 1 March 2019, are clarifications or corrections, “but there are two changes which will significantly improve the ability to test and respond to the presence of harmful bacteria such as E.coli”. More>>

ALSO:

• BusinessDesk - Water regulation and funding reform on mid-2019 deadline
• NZ Govt - Wellbeing and Water – a necessary conversation
• Water NZ - Need for water sector reform reflected in proposals
• Infrastructure NZ - Right time to discuss the role of local government
• EMA - Time to address the dry topic of water
• Dunedin City Council - Dunedin responds to continued rain
• Hastings District Council - Open Day at wastewater treatment plant

IPCA: Police Detention "Unlawful But Reasonable"

The Independent Police Conduct Authority has found that while Police acted unlawfully in October 2017 when they detained a Queenstown man for a mental health assessment, their actions were reasonable in the circumstances. More>>

ALSO:

• NZ Police - Police response to IPCA report - Police maintains high level of public trust and confidence

Joint Statement: Chile President's NZ Visit

At the invitation of the Right Honourable Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand, His Excellency the President of the Republic of Chile, Sebastián Piñera, undertook a State Visit to New Zealand on 19 November 2018... More>>

ALSO:

• NZ Govt - Chile and NZ arrangement to protect seabirds- Inclusive Trade Action Group meets in Port Moresby
• The Nation - Trade and Export Growth Minister David Parker

Climate Change: Top Academics Call On Government To Take Action

One hundred and fifty academics and researchers from around Aotearoa, including Dame Anne Salmond, Emeriti Professors and several Fellows of the Royal Society, have signed a strongly-worded open letter to the Government demanding bold and urgent action to tackle climate change. More>>

ALSO:

• RNZ - Water rationing in Hawke's Bay as some rivers run dry
• ACT - PM pretends climate change isn’t a global issue
• Social Credit - Minister's Door Closed on Waste-to-Energy Plants

Teacher Qualifications, Class Sizes: Ten Year Plan For Early Learning

“Moving towards 100 percent qualified teachers in early childhood education centres and improving adult:child ratios are among some of the key proposals for change put forward by the sector and experts in the new draft ten year strategic plan for early learning,” Chris Hipkins said. More>>

ALSO:

• National - Questions remain over Government’s ECE plan
• Early Childhood Council - Early learning strategic plan ambitious
• NZ Kindergartens - High quality ECE – a right for every child
• NZEI - Consultation on ECE plan welcomed
• BestStart - NZ’s largest early childhood provider recruits overseas

Teacher Strikes: Meeting, March And Rally In Wellington

Throughout the Wellington region the NZEI rolling strikes entered their final day Friday. Thousands of teachers met in Wellington, Kapiti, Porirua and the Wairarapa. More>>

ALSO:

• NZEI - Concerned education unions consider joint action - Education unions' combined executives to meet
• Ministry of Education - Ministry of Education offers $10,000 to most teachers

14/11: Two Years’ Progress Since The Kaikoura Earthquake

Mayor John Leggett said it was a day for reflection, but also a time to recognise the work by many people to support progress towards recovery made across Marlborough since November 2016. More>>

ALSO:

• RNZ - Kaikōura property owners in limbo two years after quake
• Greater Wellington Regional Council - Earthquake scenario to practise emergency response
• Image 2017 Veronika Meduna - The Kaikoura Rebuild: A Scoop Foundation Investigation

Pike River: Mine Drift Re-Entry Plan To Proceed

“I’ve decided the Te Kāhui Whakamana Rua Tekau Mā Iwa - Pike River Recovery Agency, recommended course of action to enter the drift, using the existing access tunnel, is by far the safest option,” said Andrew Little. More>>

ALSO:

• RNZ - Pike River Mine re-entry: How it will happen
• Image via Documents - Pike River Re-Entery Report [PDF] - Ministerial Approval [PDF]
• NZ Govt - Little: Pike River drift re-entry to proceed
• Joint Media Statement - Chief Coroner and Police meet with Pike River families
• NZ Police - Pike River Mine re-entry
• Stand With Pike - We’re in!
• ACT - Peters’ ‘first to enter’ commitment another broken promise
• CTU - Working people killed in Pike River will not be forgotten
• E tu - E tū welcomes Pike River re-entry
• Peter Dunne - Dunne Speaks: The Pike River Re-entry

Trees: Surge Funding For Kauri Dieback And Myrtle Rust Research

“The $13.75 million investment announced today will mean that scientists can begin critically important research into kauri dieback and myrtle rust. It is vital that we get this work underway now to ensure that we combat these two pathogens and protect these taonga species." More>>

ALSO:

• NZ First - Turning the Tide in the Battle Against Kauri Dieback
• Biological Heritage National Science Challenge - Kauri dieback and myrtle rust research to be accelerated
• The Tree Council Inc - New Hope for Kauri Dieback Research Programme

In Time For The Cup: Spark Sets 5G Date, Without Any Spectrum

Spark chief executive Simon Moutter has a big hairy audacious goal, to get the company's 5G mobile network up and running by July 2020 ... More>>

ALSO:

• Spark - Emirates Team NZ To Use Spark’s 5G Network In Cup Defence

Mesh Mess: Commerce Commission To Appeal Steel & Tube Sentence

The Commission has today filed an appeal against the sentence imposed on Steel and Tube Holdings Limited (Steel & Tube) for false and misleading representations about steel mesh products. More>>

"Bipartisan Inaction": Rapid Rent Increases

The median nationwide rent has gone up $20 a week over the past two month, a rapid increase that is part of an upward trend overseen by both Labour and National Governments... More>>

ALSO:

• National - Rents on the rise as Govt hurts low-income families
• Oxygen - Rental Market Statistics: October Report
• NZ Property Investors Federation - Indirect payment of letting fees may be unintended outcome

Commercial Scoop User? Help Scoop Survive (and Thrive!)

The ScoopPro licensing terms require that commercial users of Scoop.co.nz pay a reasonable fee in order to access the Scoop site so that this same information remains free and accessible to the wider public regardless of their disposable income. More>>

ALSO:

• Scoop Publishing - Your Organisation Can Now Sponsor a Section on Scoop.co.nz!

Joseph Cederwall: Building a Community Newsroom

A combination of new technology, ideas, institutions and business models and a renewed energy and commitment by the Scoop team, means Scoop aims to be at the forefront of the development of this renaissance that we term ‘News 3.0’. More>>

ALSO:

• Alastair Thompson - Saving The News
• Out-Link - Scoop 3.0 Crowdsale and Crowdfunding Campaign! | PledgeMe

Scoop 3.0: Saving The News

Scoop Co-Founder Alastair Thompson - One of the saddest aspects of the decline of the news industry, not just here in NZ - but everywhere, is that it often seems invisible, in large part because news is a confidence business... More>>

ALSO:

• Out-Link - Scoop 3.0 Crowdsale and Crowdfunding Campaign! | PledgeMe

UK Cabinet Backs Deal: Gordon Campbell On The Latest Roll Of The Brexit Dice

Brexit has left the British public looking like a nation of Wellington bus commuters. In both cases, the unholy mess bears no resemblance to what people were promised or the spin being used to justify it. More>>

Gordon Campbell: On The Democratic Leadership And Trump

On the big picture, the poll predictions were dead right. In the end, the Democratic Party won a clear victory in the House, and lost as expected in the Senate, where it had been defending at least 10 seats in regions that had voted heavily for Trump in 2016. More>>

ALSO:

• RNZ - US midterm elections 2018 - As It Happened
• Guardian Out-Link - Donald Trump fires Jeff Sessions, US attorney general – live updates
• BBC Out-Link - White House suspends credentials for CNN's Jim Acosta
• White House Correspondents' Association - Revocation of Jim Acosta's security credentials

New IPCC Report: ‘Unprecedented Changes’ Needed To Limit Global Warming

Limiting global warming to 1.5°C will require “far-reaching and unprecedented changes,” such as ditching coal for electricity to slash carbon emissions, says a special report that finds some of the actions needed are already under way, but the world must move faster… More>>

ALSO:

• UN - UNFCCC Secretariat Welcomes IPCC’s Global Warming Report - Climate change: Act now or pay a high price, says UN expert
• BusinessDesk - Next 12 years crucial to NZ climate change action - Shaw
• RNZ - Global warming: 'we now need to question ourselves'
• University of Canterbury - IPCC report ‘end of magical thinking’ about climate change
• Science Media Centre - IPCC 1.5C report - Expert Reaction
• NZ Govt - International global warming report lays out the challenge - Weather station to help protect atoll nation - NZ not yet reaping the gains of electric vehicles - Strong support for climate action
• Greens - Time to escape the volatile fossil fuel trap: Green Party
• Young Greens - Young Greens call on Government to act
• Greenpeace NZ - Seize the day and protect the Antarctic - OIA reveals oil giant OMV seeking drill extension - IPCC climate report gives us 10 years to save the world
• Forest And Bird - Government must get tough on climate change - Workers hit by climate-related job losses need a fair deal
• WWF - 100% possible to keep warming below 1.5°C - Overwhelming support for net zero target
• Climate Change and Business Conference - Global Warming of 1.5degreesC
• Climate Justice Taranaki - Petroleum companies under pressure
• Coal Action Network - New climate report a wakeup call for all governments
• OraTaiao - Urgent action needed to stop global temperatures rising
• World Meteorological Organization - Climate change report is a “wake-up” call on 1.5°C warming
• SPREP - 1.5 to stay alive: Reflecting on the IPCC Special Report
• LGNZ - Councils, business partners in climate change adaptation
• 350 Aotearoa - Climate groups protest ANZ
• The Nation - Minister for Climate Change James Shaw
• BusinessDesk - All gases target favoured in emissions scheme submissions
• Ministry for the Environment - 15,000 submissions on Zero Carbon Bill consultation released
• Te Arawa Lakes Trust - Rotorua climate change leaders to meet Minister
• Contact Energy - Contact Energy proud to support Climate Change Conference
• Caritas - Climate action should prioritise the poor – Caritas Report

Jamal Khashoggi: UK, France, Germany Join Calls For Credible Investigation

Germany, the United Kingdom and France share the grave concern expressed by others including HRVP Mogherini and UNSG Guterres, and are treating this incident with the utmost seriousness. More>>

ALSO:

• Gordon Campbell - The West’s role arming Khashoggi’s killers - On the polls and National’s leadership (and Erdogan)
• NZ Govt - Death of Jamal Khashoggi
• United Nations - Business leaders standing up for missing Saudi journalist - UN experts deeply concerned by State-sponsored abductions - Saudi Arabia urged to reveal all it knows about Khasoggi - UN demands probe into disappearance of Saudi journalist
• Binoy Kampmark - Embassy Disappearances: Jamal Khashoggi
• Ross Meurant - Praetorian Guards - Protection for They Who Expose Bad Things
• UN Watch - Saudi rights record praised by 75 UN delegations

MSF Not Wanted: Nauru Government Shows Continued Callousness

The Nauruan Government’s decision to ask Doctors Without Borders to immediately leave shows continued callousness towards asylum seekers desperately seeking a safe place to call home, Green MP Golriz Ghahraman said today. More>>

ALSO:

• Pacific Media Watch - NAURU: Loss of MSF mental health carers heightens fears
• Binoy Kampmark - Australian Complicity: Nauru and Silencing Journalism
• Royal Australasian College of Physicians - Child, family immigration detention is health emergency

Sulawesi Quake, Tsunami: Aid Response Begins

Oxfam and its local partners are standing by to deploy emergency staff and resources to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, as an estimated 1.5 million people are thought to be affected by the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit on Friday. More>>

ALSO:

• TVNZ - Q+A: Winston Peters interviewed by Corin Dann
• NZ Govt - Minister of Foreign Affairs to visit Indonesia and Thailand

2021: NZ To Host Women’s Rugby World Cup

New Zealand’s successful bid to host the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup will raise the profile of the game locally and provide a valuable economic boost for the game, Minister for Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson says. More>>

ALSO:

• RNZ - Tana Umaga stands down as Blues coach

Max Rashbrooke Review: Mahler 7 - NZSO

Gustav Mahler’s Seventh Symphony may be one of the least well-known of its ilk, but Edo de Waart and the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra made a compelling case for a reassessment. They showed us a work of immense variety, surprising contrast and delicate shades of light and dark. More>>

Howard Davis Review: Strange Overtones - David Byrne's American Utopia Tour

Scotch-born singer-songwriter David Byrne starts each show on his latest world tour stroking a pink brain as he sits alone at a table in a gray three-button Kenzo suit singing a song called Here from his latest album American Utopia. More>>

Governor-General's Speech: Armistice Day 100 Years On

The response was more muted amongst our soldiers at the Front. Many received the news quietly... There was no cheering. The chaps didn’t get excited. It was just a matter of relief. We didn’t celebrate at all. More>>

ALSO:

• Wellington.Scoop - Gun salute, silence, cacophony, and service to mark Armistice centenary
• NZ Govt - Speech: Ardern - Armistice Day National Ceremony 2018 - Foreign Minister attends Armistice Day and Paris Peace Forum - Conservation Minister to visit UK and Egypt
• Bay of Plenty Regional Council - Local bodies join in Armistice Day celebrations
• Reserve Bank - Armistice Day coin decides kick-off for All Blacks game

Auckland Fringe Programme: A Celebration Of The Bizarre And Beautiful

Building on a huge 2018 programme that saw 492 creatives take 81 events for ventures around the city for a total of 347 performances, Auckland Fringe returns this summer, running February 19 – March 3, 2019. More>>