Auckland's Storm Water Menace

In February 2012, following a week of severe thunderstorms in Auckland and associated reports of flash flooding, damaged properties and storm water systems not being able to cope with the deluges, I decided to pen an article for this blog. I penned it in the hope that someone would have the bravery to stand up on behalf of the Auckland Council and say, "we stuffed up and we will take responsibility for the repairs. We will take all appropriate steps to mitigate the hazard".

Perhaps my faith was misplaced. Now the Auckland Council has been found severely wanting for lack of planning to replace hundreds of kilometres of old storm water pipes, a good portion of which is corrugated iron. This problem, which has been brewing for decades, is not a new one. New or not, over the next few years - millions of dollars will have to be spent upgrading the key pipes in the network. Auckland has spent hundreds of millions of dollars trying to fix its transport system and getting the Britomart working properly. If it can invest that much so readily on railway and roads, then it can certainly spend more on the functionality of the storm water system.

In Christchurch when the then Mayor, Garry Moore suggested increasing the size of the city to 500,000 people, one of the many criticisms of his idea included sewerage and storm water pipe networks needing a thorough over haul. It was said that some of the piping was over 100 years old and struggled already to carry the volumes that were forced through it. Seismic activity on 04 September 2010, 22 February 2011, 13 June 2011 and 23 December 2012 all meant that these two vitally important networks are now getting their due overhaul.

But should it have needed an earthquake to make the Christchurch City Council wake up to its priorities? Of course not, though that is what it took.

This is an issue that should seriously bug Auckland. As a keen observer of meteorology and in particular meso-cyclonic systems such as thunderstorms, it bugs me that the city does not seem to have understood that every summer there is a high risk of at least one severe thunderstorm event passing through. These events typically bring very heavy rain at rates that might be anywhere between 25-50mm/hr. If they are slow moving systems that have popped up because of convection, one might stick around for an hour or more, which is plenty of time to cause some serious flooding. It will happen again. It might not be a severe thunderstorm either. It might be a low pressure system from the Tasman that stalls over the Auckland area and spends a day dumping its load on the city. However the next heavy rainfall event comes, the results will be similar if nothing is done.

Imagine coming home after a day at work, to find your home carpeted in mud. You go to your neighbours and find them sifting through their belongings, turfing most of them into a skip because they are no longer usable. Later that day you get a knock on the door. It's an engineer from the Council storm water unit. He has come to see how badly damaged your property is. He tells you that an elderly pipe ruptured under an influx of water it was never designed for. He further says that dozens of properties have been affected like yours.

If I were an Aucklander, who I vote for in 2013 might depend entirely on how they approach this issue - especially if a severe thunderstorm or other high intensity rainfall event floods my property so badly that it is uninhabitable.

An 8 Point Plan for Tertiary Education

This is the Tertiary policy NZF ran on in the 2011 Election.

"The key to our nation's economic and social future lies in education.  While tertiary education
cannot be allowed to be solely focused on skills for employment, such a focus must be a
significant element of any system.  The tertiary system must be designed  to maximise both
economic and social objectives, enhancing needed vocational skills and academic acumen.

AN EIGHT POINT PLAN FOR TERTIARY EDUCATION

1. Student Allowances provide financial assistance for full-time students.  At present, the
Student Allowance is means-tested on personal income and, for students under 25,
parental income. This means that only 57 per cent of students (2008 figure) receive the
Student Allowance.  New Zealand First will abolish income tests and introduce a universal
living allowance for all full-time students (including those aged 16 and 17) in tertiary
education from 2012.  A paper prepared by the Ministry of Education in 2008 calculated
the cost of a universal student allowance at approximately $728 million per annum.  We
estimate this would benefit almost 47,000 students and lead to a substantial reduction in
borrowing.  Students are the only group in New Zealand society forced to borrow to live.
New Zealand First will campaign vigorously to give all students a fair go.

2. Since tertiary education fees were introduced by Labour in 1989, student debt in
New Zealand has spiraled out of control.  As of 2010, the national student loan debt was
over $11 billion and growing at a rate of almost a billion per annum.  This is unsustainable
and it‟s forcing thousands of our best and brightest overseas.  It's time for a change of
direction.  New Zealand First recognises that our nation has significant skills and 36
workforce shortages in areas such as teaching, nursing, medicine, social work,
information technology and the physical sciences.  We will introduce a debt-write off
scheme so that graduates in these areas may trade a year's worth of debt for each year of
paid fulltime work in New Zealand.

NZ First will introduce a dollar for dollar student debt write-off scheme for graduates who
remain and work in New Zealand.  With student loan debt approaching $12 billion (2011)
and much of that debt never to be repaid, this scheme faces the reality that much student
debt is not an asset but simply bad debt.  In that respect given that those who take up the
scheme will be working and paying taxes in New Zealand there is not a cost factor.

3. It doesn't help that the Government continues to under invest in the tertiary sector.  The
present National-ACT-United Future-Maori Party government has cut funding at a rate of
$250 per student (or 3.2 percent between 2008 and 2009). It's no wonder, then, that
student-staff ratios have decreased and the number of tutorials been slashed.  This is
affecting the quality  of teaching and putting many students at a disadvantage.
New Zealand First will restore CPI Adjustments for Tertiary Education so that funding
increases match the rate of inflation.  We will also increase support and funding to
regional Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics. It's unacceptable that in a time of high
unemployment polytechs are facing $70 million in cuts.  The Minister of Education has
even said some may be forced to close their doors. New Zealand First will enhance
access to higher education for all New Zealanders and ensure that regional institutions are
adequately funded.

4. The trades must also receive greater recognition so as to ensure that our nation has the
skill base needed to support economic development.  New Zealand First will invest more
in the Industry Training Fund and  substantially  increase the number of apprentices per
year.

5. New Zealand's tertiary fees are amongst the highest in the world.  New Zealand First is
committed to lowering tuition fees. We want to move towards a zero-fees model. One
way we might achieve this is by placing a cap on tuition fees and lowering them at a
progressive rate.

6. Under the National-ACT-United Future-Maori Party government, youth unemployment has
reached a phenomenal rate in New Zealand.  While welfare is not a long-term solution to
the problem, it is important that we provide people with a safety net.  With this in mind,
New Zealand First will ensure that all able-bodied persons under the age of 25 who are
unemployed are either enrolled in industry training or participating in community work
schemes through the NZ Conservation Corps and Youth Services Corp, the New Zealand
Defence Force or organisations in the community/voluntary sector. We must foster a
culture of social responsibility and sense of purpose.

7. At present, New Zealand lags behind the rest of the world in terms of research and
development.  New Zealand First will actively encourage strategic alliances between
industry, the Crown Research Institutes and tertiary institutions.  We  will increase the
number of government-funded research grants and scholarships available to graduates,
universities and employers.

8. NZ First is deeply concerned about the decline of our student associations and their ability
to represent student views.  Since the passage of Voluntary Student membership 37
legislation the ability for students to have a voice has been seriously eroded.  We do not
believe it is possible to have a viable university or student culture without an independent
student voice.  NZ First would therefore ensure that tertiary institutions fund proper
student representation and will enter discussions with the former on a financial model to
ensure it happens."

Winston: "The Force Is With Us"

Tribute from our good friends over at Punch Drunk Polity. 

Say what you will about these guys; they smashed the Separatists!

(and yes, "The Force Is With Us; For We Are The Force" is an actual Winston quote)

Interview with Critic Magazine

Recently Beau and I did an interview for Otago Uni's student mag Critic.

There's some golden quotes in there so check it out!

I also see they've identified me as "Leader and Troll-in-Chief".

Rogernomics: As Damaging As "20 Christchurch Earthquakes ... and counting"!

Is this the "Seismic Shift" Jim Anderton was talking about?

[Hat-tip, John Robb; source NZ Listener]

On National's Defence Cuts

Kipling's Tommy

"I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!"

National's Nick Knacks

“Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.” - Terry Pratchet.

What we have in New Zealand at the moment is a government that doesn’t see you as a human being, a person, a soul. We have a government that sees you as a consumer, a tax payer, a beneficiary, an immigrant, a net gain or a net cost. The problem with this is that instead of a government that is looking out for your needs and issues is you get a government that looks after the books and (depending on the year) treats you as a vote and a burden.

This has become apparent with recent moves by the government, namely welfare reform, benefit bashing with a John Key style “Smile and Wave” mask.

What we are seeing with the latest bout of welfare reform is the same ol’ same ol’ blame the parents: punish the children. As society has seen time and time again in the past this simply does not work. If a solo mother has more children on the DPB she is penalised, if she agrees to courses and further education she is rewarded. So instead of helping this poor woman, who surely has her individual problems, we treat her like an ingrate, a burden of society and we make sure to let the rest of society see her for the demon she is. Never mind that this policy takes more from the children this poor woman is trying to raise. It purposefully and unashamedly makes it harder for her to feed her children and labels it just punishment.

This is where, as Winston Peters put it in his last campaign, the welfare state has lost its dignity. Instead of using our resources to up skill and support people who desperately need state intervention. They treat New Zealanders as demons and ingrates, and if you treat people like trash for long enough you can’t be upset when thats what they become. How will the children of mothers who are constantly told they are worthless grow up?

The National government will have you believe that these people enjoy being on the DPB, that they are laughing at the hard working kiwis who go out of their way to starve their children in order to earn their below average income. The truth is these people have fallen through the cracks, and yes of course there are those that use these safety nets to their advantage, but punishing those who generally need your help is no way to stop the more opportunistic among us.