ECE no place to cut corners

Green Government will revoke dodgy fast-track projects

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January 8, 2025

Source: Green Party

The Green Party has warned that a Green Government will revoke the consents of companies who override environmental protections as part of Fast-Track legislation being passed today.

“The industry is on notice: consents granted under this regime that shortcut our democracy, sidestep environmental protections and degrade te taiao will be revoked by a Green Government,” says the Green Party Spokesperson for the Environment, Lan Pham.

“This legislation is our out-of-touch Government’s gift to Kiwis to digest while they enjoy their summer in the stunning natural environment, knowing so much of it is now open to private interests to develop it under fast-track for the sake of making a quick buck.

“The environment provides the basis for life itself. We must be responsible stewards of the natural world which sustains us, and ditch the regressive exploitative and extractive approach that benefits an already wealthy few at the expense of all of us.

“Despite numerous democratic and environmental red flags, this legislation looks set to push through a raft of dangerous projects without proper checks and balances. New Zealanders do not want or deserve the environmental destruction this legislation looks set to unleash.

“What’s worse is that Cabinet has approved a raft of projects said to have ‘significant national or regional benefits’ despite companies failing to even bother answering this question in their application.

“Companies who are meant to disclose their track record of prior compliance or enforcement actions against them, have in numerous cases failed to do so. Despite some having a concerning track record when it comes to compliance and environmental damage, this Government is inexplicably giving them the green light to bulldoze our natural world for private gain all over again.

“This legislation has been shrouded in smoke and mirrors from the start and covered in controversy from the outset. A Green Government will put people and planet before profit and revoke consents that exploit our environment under the fast track,” says Lan Pham.

Government for the wealthy keeps pushing austerity

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January 8, 2025

Source: Green Party

The Green Party says the Half Year Economic and Fiscal Update shows how the Government is failing to address the massive social and infrastructure deficits our country faces.

“Christopher Luxon is choosing to prolong the recession and kneecap productivity through merciless cuts,” says the Green Party Co-Leader and Finance spokesperson, Chlöe Swarbrick.

“Today’s HYEFU shows the Government’s trickle-down decisions come at the cost of the very ‘economic growth’ they crow so much about. It doesn’t add up and it doesn’t make sense, and they clearly don’t care.

“For all the bluster, ‘the economy’ is just all of us, the things we make, and the rules we put in place to create the world we want to live in. Under a Green Government, people and planet would be put before profit, through a fairer tax system and a guaranteed minimum income.

“But right now, the Government is redistributing wealth upwards with their trickle-down tax cuts, while gutting public services and infrastructure spending, and shifting costs onto regular people.

“This is the austerity play book: defund public services to failure, watch them fail, then privatise; take the so-called ‘cost’ off the Government’s books and watch those costs rise for regular people.

“Christopher Luxon’s Government wants to play Monopoly when what we need is a responsible Government. It would pay for them to learn that the game was designed to educate children about the pitfalls of an economy premised on land speculation and luck,” says Chlöe Swarbrick.

Govt’s miserly 1.5% minimum wage will take workers backwards

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January 8, 2025

Source: Green Party

The Government’s announcement today of a 1.5 per cent increase to minimum wage is another blow for workers, with inflation projected to exceed the increase, meaning it’s a real terms pay reduction for many.

“This adds insult to injury for our workers who have been under constant attack under this Government,” says Green Party spokesperson for Workplace Relations, Teanau Tuiono.

“The Green Party’s Income Guarantee provides a clear alternative, a commitment to every New Zealander that no matter what, you will have enough to put food on the table, a safe place to call home, and live a decent life–all paid for with a fair tax system.

“While the Government claims this move supports its objective of reducing the number of people claiming the Jobseeker benefit, it fails, miserably, to address the reality for many workers. The assertion that work is the pathway out of poverty rings hollow when minimum wage is no guarantee of the ability to pay rent, feed a family, or pay for essential things like healthcare.

“Shockingly, half of children living in poverty live in households whose primary income comes from work.

“Further, rents are increasing significantly faster than minimum wage increases, with a massive 4.1 per cent increase in rent costs from November last year. The system is failing those it claims to support.

“Choosing to raise the minimum wage by less than inflation means more people will face mounting debt and will struggle to cover the basics, let alone afford the unexpected costs of medical care, childcare, or urgent repairs.

“The Government’s decision today does not reflect what New Zealanders deserve. It’s time for bold action that prioritises the well-being of workers and their families, not more pandering to the rich at the expense of the rest of us,” says Teanau Tuiono.

NOTES:

Kopinga Marae

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January 8, 2025

Source: New Zealand Governor General

Manawareka tch mauriora

It is such a great privilege for Richard and me to come to Kopinga.

Thank you so much for inviting us to be here today – and for taking us to see the rakau momori and for sharing your knowledge with us.

I appreciate what this beautiful, tranquil building has come to represent: your aroha and respect for your karapuna [ancestors], your commitment to your identity, culture, language, and heritage – and to the legacy of peace bequeathed to you.

I acknowledge the struggle to maintain a Moriori identity and commend you for your work to revive Te Re Moriori as a living language, and bring together here knowledge about your traditions and customs.

You have honoured your ancestors by holding fast to what matters. You have created a foundation for Moriori to build on for the future.

I wish you all the very best with your mission.

Me rongo

Community Lunch, Chatham Islands

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January 8, 2025

Source: New Zealand Governor General

Kioranga

Nau mai haere mai

Welcome everyone to today’s lunch. Thank you for coming. We are so pleased to return some of the wonderful hospitality we have received here.

I specifically acknowledge:

Her Worship Monique Croon
Ricki Hapi
Ward Kamo
Paul Eagle and

Toni Gregory-Hunt

I understand your police officers, Lucie and Will Joines are about to finish their time on the Chathams. On behalf of everyone here, I acknowledge their many years of service, and wish them all the very best for their next posting.

I know that three days in the Chathams barely scratches the surface, and you probably get fed up with people arriving from Wellington and telling you what’s what.

However, I hope you’ll indulge me as I share some general impressions.

We loved spending time with your children yesterday, and I can see how much their independent spirit, community spirit and can-do attitude is connected to growing up in an isolated and utterly unique landscape.

We’ve heard something of the history of these islands, during our visits to Whakamaharatanga and Kopinga marae, the Tommy Solomon statue, and when we saw the kopi trees with their rakau momori. We are looking forward to learning more about the Chathams’ history and geology at the Museum this afternoon.

All in all, this has been an unforgettable few days, and we will definitely be back!

We leave tomorrow morning, and I may have to drag Richard away. He spent some years on the Falkland Islands as a medical officer, and feels quite at home here, especially at the Health Centre – he knows what it is like to deal with every kind of medical emergency on remote islands.

I now have some understanding why Chatham Islanders feel compelled to return here from all points of the globe. There is nowhere else quite like this place.

As you know, Governors-General represent our nation’s Head of State, His Majesty King Charles III. And you probably know about his passion for the environment and the wellbeing of the planet.

Here on Rēkohu, I know I am speaking to the converted, because you have such a close relationship with the natural world. I know King Charles will be heartened to hear about your community efforts to conserve the land, eradicate pests and protect vulnerable species.

Working together for the wellbeing of the land, the sea, your precious wildlife – and your fellow Islanders – will deliver a sustainable future for yourselves, your children, and your children’s children.

It takes a great deal to create a community. A shared vision, a shared sense of purpose, a common history and a pride in the unique identify of your members and their contribution to your islands. I have thoroughly appreciated being met with your hearts and heads during my time here visiting this wonderful place, the Chatham Islands, Rekohu. It is a jewel in our crown.

I won’t hold up proceedings any further, except to wish you all the best for the holiday season.

I hope to get round and meet everyone here – and after my Government House Kaumatua, Joe Harawira has blessed the kai – please do help yourselves.

Matua Joe, I invite you now to bless the kai.

The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi 2024 Icon Awards Whakamana Hiranga

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January 8, 2025

Source: New Zealand Governor General

Kei aku nui kei, aku rahi ngā Māreikura, ngā Whatukura. Nau mai, piki mai, kake mai, i runga i te kaupapa o te ra. Tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou, tēnā koutou katoa.

I’d like to begin by specifically acknowledging: Tā Pita Sharples, 2024 Icon Award Whakamana Hiranga recipient, and Te Rangimarie Sharples; Chelsea Winstanley, Co-Chair of The Arts Foundation; Kent Gardner, Outgoing Co-Chair, and Hamish Edgar, Incoming Co-Chair; Jessica Palalagi, General Manager, The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi. And to all our very distinguished guests – tēnā koutou katoa.

As Governor-General, and patron of The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi, I’m delighted to welcome you all to Government House for this very special event – to celebrate our two newest Whakamana Hiranga Icons, and this year’s recipient of the Harriet Friedlander Residency.

I know that, in this instance, the word ‘icon’ is not used lightly – and that our two newest icons have truly earned that mantle: not only through their dedication to their respective crafts over so many years, but also the generosity with which they have shared their work with New Zealand, and with the world.

Tā Pita Sharples – your extraordinary career has straddled the worlds of academia, politics, Māori development, and the arts. The thread that connects these worlds has been your staunch commitment to representing, celebrating, and empowering te ao Māori.

I certainly remember your spearheading of kapa haka, the Hoani Waititi Marae, kohanga reo, and kura kaupapa in West Auckland during my formative years, and the early years of my children. To them, you will always be Matua Pita.

Tonight, we acknowledge in particular your artistic contributions – as a pioneer in the development of the kura kaupapa movement, the New Zealand School of Māori Weaponry, and the acclaimed Te Roopu Manutaki Māori cultural group – of which I was a member for a time.

As you yourself said, so perfectly: ‘If you don’t dream, you’re not alive.’ Thank you Tā Pita, for dreaming with such ambition, generosity, and brilliance – and for enriching our country in the process.

I know that Neil Finn is unable to be here this evening, but it will be a pleasure to have Jemaine Clement accept Neil’s award on his behalf.

Neil’s music is indelibly etched into the New Zealand consciousness – most notably, perhaps, through his contributions to Split Enz and Crowded House. I’m sure I was not alone, however, in feeling immense pride when Neil was chosen to join Fleetwood Mac.

Neil’s music has provided the soundtrack to New Zealand life for so many years – capturing something distinctively, joyfully, lovingly ‘us’. Neil understands the profound and mysterious power of music – and has dedicated his life to harnessing that power to remarkable effect.

I think few would argue with Ed O’Brien’s estimation of Neil as popular music’s ‘most prolific writer of great songs’. He and his brother Tim have left an indelible mark on our cultural landscape.

This evening, we also recognise this year’s recipient of the Harriet Friedlander Residency: Ayesha Green. Your paintings of extraordinary vision and boldness represent a remarkable talent – already mature in its concerns and ambitious in its scope.

I hope this residency will offer you the opportunity to further deepen and expand your artistic practice, and I will look forward to following your artistic journey with great pride and interest.

I wish finally to acknowledge the Arts Foundation, and its supporters, for all that you do to nurture the arts in Aotearoa. Through your commitment and generosity, you enable our creative practitioners to work at their craft, and to share their work with the world – and, through events such as this, you recognise those artists’ outstanding achievements.

We live in increasingly uncertain times, and it is through art that we receive the profound comfort of knowing we’re not alone; a reminder of the too-often-neglected truth of how much we share.

The whakataukī says: ‘Mā te pohewa mā te auaha hoki, ka whakapuaki ngā kura e huna ana. With imagination and creativity, a hidden jewel can be revealed.’

To Tā Pita, Neil, and Ayesha – my very warmest congratulations once again. Thank you for helping us to see ourselves more clearly as a nation, and for the hidden jewels you have revealed, and continue to reveal to us all through your wonderful work.

Kia ora huihui tātou katoa.

Drive-in movies bring summer fun to Rangiora

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January 8, 2025

Source: Environment Canterbury Regional Council

Date: 01 Jan 2025

Drive, walk or cycle into the south bank of the Ashley Rakahuri River in Rangiora for your choice of two movie screenings:

Saturday 18 January, 2pm — Minions: The Rise of Gru

The origin story of how the world’s greatest supervillain first met his iconic Minions, forged cinema’s most despicable crew and faced off against the most unstoppable criminal force ever assembled. This film has a PG rating with a warning note for violence.

Entry to the screening area will open at 1pm.

Buy tickets to Minions: The Rise of Gru

Saturday 18 January at 6pm — The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

A meek Hobbit from the Shire and eight companions set out on a journey to destroy the powerful One Ring and save Middle-earth from the Dark Lord Sauron.

This film has a PG rating with a warning note for battle violence and fantasy horror.

Entry to the screening area will open at 5pm.

Buy tickets to The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring

Drive-in movie details

Cyclists and pedestrians can enter the event space from the Break Bank carpark or via the Rakahuri Trail.
Tickets cost $20 per car, or $5 per pedestrian or cyclist. There will be no gate sales.
A range of food options will be available on site, and you are welcome to bring your own food. Please remember to take all rubbish with you when you leave.
For those in cars, movie audio will be available through either your car radio or an app on your smartphone, with details provided on-screen before the movie begins.
A reserved space with speakers will be set up at the front of the area for those who want to watch the movie on a picnic rug or camp chair.
The screen will be elevated to allow for good viewing for the whole area.
The movies will go ahead rain or shine, but if the event is cancelled for any reason, tickets will be refunded.
Please note this is an alcohol-free, smoke-free and pet-free event.

Ashley Rakahuri Regional Park

Find out more about the recreational spaces in Ashley Rakahuri Regional Park, including an exercise trail and areas for fishing, swimming, gamebird hunting, walking, cycling and picnicking.

Stay up to date with regional parks events

Environment Canterbury © 2025
Retrieved: 11:50am, Wed 08 Jan 2025
ecan.govt.nz/get-involved/news-and-events/2025/drive-in-movies-bring-summer-fun-to-rangiora/

Capturing bugs helps students understand water quality

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January 8, 2025

Source: Environment Canterbury Regional Council

The bug bags provide a short-term habitat for macroinvertebrates, bugs, worms, and snails that may have otherwise drifted past.

Dr Issie Barrett from the Waterways Centre and Matt Stanford, Enviroschools Selwyn facilitator, worked with Glentunnel, Hororata, Greendale, Springston, and Leeston Enviroschools to take a baseline water quality assessment at each site using the types of macroinvertebrates they found.

“There are lots of different types of bugs that can live in the river and what we want to see is lots of diversity, because that’s going to be the healthiest river,” said Issie.

She explained that certain bugs were indicators of water quality – for instance, stoneflies are intolerant to pollution, so high numbers of stoneflies indicated better water quality. On the flip side, high numbers of invertebrates like snails and worms would suggest that the waterway might be polluted.

The big question at sites where we don’t currently find the sensitive species is, “are they just drifting past because there is nowhere suitable for them to live?” This is what deploying the bags may tell us.

Ākonga/students report mixed results

In a joint meeting, each school shared the type of bugs that had ended up in their bags and compared that with baseline sampling. The bags deployed near Whitecliffs and Glentunnel were located furthest up the awa and had lots of sensitive species like green stoneflies, dobsonflies and single gill mayflies, which indicated a higher water quality.

Over the years the students in these areas have led restoration efforts along the awa with riparian planting and are proud of their connection to this waterway.

Further downstream, students discovered some pollution-tolerant species like snails, flatworms, segmented worms, and blood worms in their bags.

Issie said that seeing species like worms isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “A fully functioning ecosystem will include both sensitive species and the more tolerant types.”

Spring flood hinders success

Flooding of the Waikirikiri awa in October meant some of the bug bags were swept down the river.

“None of the students’ hard work will go to waste,” said Issie. “Bags that were washed away will likely end up in Te Waihora/Lake Ellesmere and become habitats for invertebrates and small fish.”

“The flood that we had ended up testing the design limits of our bug bags and revealed some deficiencies that the students have already thought of ways to rectify,” explained Matt.

Despite the flood, ākonga still found the creation and launch, as well as the identification of macroinvertebrates, to be an exciting and beneficial activity.

Leeston school said that some of their children didn’t even know there were bugs in the river, so it was an interesting learning experience for them.

“This project wasn’t about having all the answers,” said Matt. “We wanted to foster the children’s curiosity and get them to ask the ‘why’ question. When young people are connected to their local environment, they act instinctively in ways to protect it. I’m sure we will see some cool action from them aimed at improved water quality along the Waikirirkiri awa.”

From our Chair: A year of partnerships, plans and pivoting

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January 8, 2025

Source: Environment Canterbury Regional Council

In recent months, staff have completed a major programme of work to help restore the region’s resilience to flooding after the 2021 flood event.

The project focused on more than 400 repair jobs across Central and South Canterbury. This included:

rebuilding more than 5km of stopbanks
undertaking erosion and scour protection
planting more than 60,000 native and exotic trees.

In many cases, we were able to replant existing trees that had washed out but were still alive after the flood.

This mahi wouldn’t be possible without the support of our communities – hundreds of landowners and dozens of contractors – who tirelessly worked alongside us for the past three years.

The total cost of flood recovery work came down to $22.6 million and we thank the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) for helping co-fund about $8.3 million of this through a one-off emergency fund.

Kānoa funding

We were also successful in gaining some funding in the Government’s budget from ‘Kānoa – Regional Development and Commercial Services’ for tranche 1 of flood resilience projects.

The projects in Waitaha that will benefit are the Rangitata Flood and Resilience Works – Stage 2, Regional Structure Upgrade and Adaptation Programme – and Waitarakao/Washdyke/Seadown Works.

Kānoa is co-funding up to 60 per cent of these projects through the Regional Infrastructure Fund (RIF). Environment Canterbury is funding the rest through rate collection. 

District-wide rate for the Waikirikiri/Selwyn River

Finally, as part of the LTP, we implemented the district-wide rate for the Waikirikiri/Selwyn River. This is a dedicated separate rate charged to Selwyn district ratepayers for flood protection work including the clearing out of channels and flow paths, weed control, and berm strengthening.

This is in addition to the six dedicated river and drainage rating districts that exist on the periphery of this work area. We are committed to working with the local community and Selwyn District Council to understand key pressure points and improve flood resilience of the whole catchment.