Coal Action Murihiku Visible in Gore!

Thirty years ago there was an awareness and interest in the extensive lignite deposits in the Mataura Valley and the possibility of mining it. Artist Wallace Keown, well known for his atmospheric landscapes and thought provoking abstract paintings, was so incensed at the possibility of losing the wonderful farmland to opencast lignite mines that he created a painting as a visual representation of his concerns. Wallace explained to those who attended the opening of his exhibition that, at the time he painted the picture, movie theatres promoted their movies with colorful posters at their main entrance. He had the idea of showing how the Mataura Valley had changed through human intervention with overlaid poster images as if representing past, present and future movies.  The mining never eventuated, because even in those days it was recognized that lignite was a poor alternative to other energy sources, Wallace put the painting aside and it was forgotten.

Thirty years later Wallace had a retrospective exhibition in Gore's ArtSouth Gallery and the mining painting re-emerged as he sorted through his older works. The renewed interest in the lignite and the extensive plans of Solid Energy made the work very relevant again so he included it in his exhibition. The painting caught the eye of John Purey-Cust, a retired forester and Coal Action Murihiku member, who saw the painting's potential to support the campaign against the lignite mining and he promptly bought it.

Wallace's painting now appears in three large poster that will provide daily reminders of what Solid Energy is planning to do and what we stand to lose to anyone passing through the centre of Gore. While it is wonderful to have the use of Wallace's painting it is also sad that we still need to, thirty years later. It is also depressing that ten years after the painting was completed the New Zealand Government attended the Earth Summit in Rio and committed to reducing our climate emissions, however, in the twenty years since our emissions have actually increased and mining the lignite will considerably add to our worsening position.

 Alan up a ladder

 Alan, John and Zella

 Alan and Chris with local media 

 The final result, read and think!

Solid Energy's lignite briquette factory nearing completion, as seen on our journey back to Invercargill.

Head in Sand over WWF Report!

The World Wild Fund's report on New Zealand's environmental record since the 1992 "Earth Summit" in Rio paints a bleak picture. There has been little to no progress made in all the areas covered and a general deterioration has occurred instead.

I have written a summary of the report and included my own perspectives:

GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS

The New Zealand Government committed to "Stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system". Since 1992 our emissions have steadily increased across the three key areas of agriculture, industry and transport.

For a country of low population and numerous possibilities for renewable energy, the government has a bizarre fixation with fossil fuels. The worst of all of these is lignite and Solid Energy's plans to utilize the lignite in Southland to produce urea and diesel will potentially increase our emissions by around 20%. Too much of our industry is powered by coal, with many businesses finding it a cheaper energy source than electricity and Fonterra's largest dairy factory in Edendale even uses lignite.

Agriculture produces our highest emissions of greenhouse gases and the rapid increase in intensification, especially in dairying, has not helped. Continually delaying the inclusion of farming in the ETS has not provided a strong incentive for the industry to make useful changes or invest heavily in research.

The Rio commitment to "Implement transport strategies for sustainable development...so as to improve the affordability, efficiency and convenience of transportation..." seems to have been forgotten with the government's $12 billion commitment to building motorways rather than properly supporting the growing demand for public transport and improving our rail systems. Transport emissions have steadily increased since 1992 and encouraging the use of cars and trucks will not reverse this.

WATER QUALITY

The decline in the quality of our water has received more attention as the effects are more obvious. The intensification of farming and increasing levels of irrigation to support it has revealed stresses on what many thought was an abundant resource. Southland has recognized the water crisis more than many provinces, with the Southland Times identifying water quality as the most important issue during the 2011 election. Around 80% of Southland rivers are significantly polluted, an internationally regarded wetland is about to flip, water resources are fully committed in some areas for irrigation and water shortages are now common during Summer months. Environment Southland are struggling to use the Governments new water rules which have no sense of urgency to deal with the enormity of the problem.

EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABILITY

New Zealand also agreed to "Reorient education towards sustainable development, increase public awareness and promote training". One of the first initiatives when the National Party became government was to wipe funding for Enviroschools a hugely successful programme that was being widely supported by many schools. Although some funding has been restored in the latest budget, this is obviously not a high priority.

Sustainability is also an important part of our New Zealand Curriculum but the introduction of National Standards, and the heavy focus on literacy and numeracy,  has seen a decline in the teaching of science and technology where sustainability would be naturally taught. With the sacking of all science and education for sustainability advisors, the professional support for the teaching of sustainability has been effectively removed.

The new strategy for Tertiary Education has no environmental priorities and the government has abandoned the existing programme of action for sustainability.

BIODIVERSITY: LAND

Current rates of species extinction is said to be at a level of 1,000 to 10,000 times greater than they would naturally be because of human interventions and the loss of biodiversity is a global crisis. New Zealand used 10 indicator species to assess our own biodiversity status and seven of these were already threatened. At this point 6 of the seven threatened species are in a worse position than they were, with an average 42%  decline in numbers.

The government has cut funding to our border security which threatens not only our indigenous species from exotic invasion but our agriculture industries as well.

The loss of habitat through agricultural intensification is a major issue for our aquatic species with a lowering of water quality and increased irrigation. Native freshwater fish such as trout and eel are declining in numbers and many are verging on extinction.

The severe cuts to DoCs budget and their staffing has compromised their ability to manage and protect our large conservation estate and rather than focus on protecting our native species the government has introduced commercial imperatives that are beginning to dominate management.

BIODIVERSITY: MARINE

New Zealand controls a marine environment 20 times larger than its land mass and while there have been a number of marine reserves created they are only a small fraction of the total (around 7%) and have limited ability in reversing the decline of marine species. Maui dolphins are bordering on extinction, sea lion populations are declining, Southern Right Whales are struggling to maintain numbers and two thirds of our seabird species are threatened with extinction. The main threats to all of these are because of modern fishing practices that have high levels of bycatch and poorly managed fishing quotas. It has been recognized that our fishing industry needs greater monitoring and that there are abuses of our territorial waters by overseas fishing boats. The fact that only half of our coastal patrol ships are in use because of navy staffing cuts is a major concern.

Of the 119 fish stocks that are monitored 37 are below target levels and the proportion of over-exploitation of stocks more than doubled between 2006 and 2010.


Environment Minister, Amy Adams, claims the report gives a misleading picture but offers little in the way of rebuttal. Most of the information has been widely known and reported and I would have thought  that the odd chat with the Government's knowledgeable Environment Commissioner, Dr Jan Wright, would have ensured the Minister was better informed.

It is obvious that this National Government has no interest in protecting biodiversity, reducing carbon emissions or even advancing our clean green image (I have heard that they are promoting the idea of just removing the first two words of our brand "Clean Green New Zealand" and think just "New Zealand" is enough). Their sole focus is ensuring immediate corporate profits and balancing the budget with no thought to the longer term sustainability of our economy. Our environmental protections are seemingly the first to be sacrificed if there is a financial squeeze and yet as Russel Norman continues to remind us, "No Environment, No Economy". We are close to losing much of our environment and biodiversity and the impacts on our economy will be enormous.

For National to put their collective fingers in their ears and hum loudly as each damning environmental report is released just doesn't cut it any more!.

National Kneecaps Quality Public Education

New Zealand's education system is ranked amongst the top five in the world and this is remarkable considering our multicultural society, high levels of child poverty and limited funding (we spend less on education as a percentage of GDP than most OECD countries). All the countries ranked around New Zealand also pay their teachers considerably higher salaries.

New Zealand class sizes are also amongst the largest in the world with the OECD average at 21 students per teacher at primary level.

So what enables our education system to overcome some real barriers and perform so well?

1) A creative and holistic approach to teaching and learning.
Since Clarence Beeby New Zealand has developed an approach to teaching that is related to the needs of children and not primarily focussed on standardized assessments. The current New Zealand curriculum supports schools in shaping a school curriculum that meets the needs of their children and the wider school community. The curriculum also recognizes that Values and Key Competencies are as important as the learning areas.

2) A broad curriculum.
New Zealand teachers are taught to integrate the curriculum and recognise the interconnections between the different learning areas..

3) An Inquiry Approach to teaching.
This approach is an essential part of teaching practice in New Zealand and is a teaching and learning cycle that focusses on evidence based strategies that are assessed and modified, through self and peer review, to suit the needs of learners.

4) Great teachers.
Most Teacher training involves a high level of practicum where pedagogy is regarded as highly as curriculum knowledge. New Zealand teachers are very well regarded internationally for their innovative and independent approach to teaching.

5) A culture of collegiality.
"It takes a village to raise a child" is a truism. Schools that operate as a community where parents and teachers support  each other in meeting the needs of children and great ideas are shared is a common culture in New Zealand Schools.

The New Zealand Institute uses internationally recognized data and indicators to produce a report card on New Zealand's social, economic and environmental performance. Education gets one of the higher marks.

All that is great about our quality public education system is being attacked and dismantled by this government and, despite public and professional protests, mainstream media have largely ignored the reality and in many cases have colluded with the government to denigrate our teachers and our schools.

It is the goodwill and professionalism displayed by our teachers that has allowed quality teaching to continue through a barrage of attacks, but the cracks are beginning to show and after the latest budget we will see even more indicators of decline.

I have attempted to list the hits endured so far and I am open to including any I have missed.

• $25 million cut from Ministry of Education budget.
• Flawed National Standards introduced without a trial or evidence base.
• Curriculum narrowed by focus on literacy and numeracy and advisors sacked from other learning areas like science, technology and art.
• Funding for Technology teachers at intermediate schools cut.
• Class sizes increased to 1:27, 6 more than OECD average.
• $35 million given to private schools.
• Charter Schools introduced despite limited evidence of success elsewhere and based on an agreement with a political party that only achieved 1% of the vote.
• Operations grants not increased to keep up with inflation restricting the ability for schools to pay school support staff.
• Schools punished for not embracing National Standards by having professional development denied.
• Schools and teachers are blamed for underachievement while factors like poverty are ignored.
• The new Education Ministry head (appointed by the National Government from England) refuses to collaborate with the education union NZEI on professional matters. 
• Residential schools for children with behavioural needs are being closed.
• Health Camps are being closed.
• Schools that question government policies are threatened with having their boards sacked and be replaced by commissioners.
• Expectation that schools should only provide healthy food wiped.
• Funding for fruit in low decile schools cut.
• Performance pay for teachers to be introduced despite models used in other countries have caused a decline in collegiality and have not improved student achievement.
• PPPs (private, public partnerships) introduced to build schools despite Treasury advising there was little value in this approach. 
• Teaching qualifications will be a post graduate qualification yet students in a fourth year of study will not receive government support and students will have to cover all costs themselves. 

English's Little Budget of Horrors

When it comes to government spending and "balancing the budget", four overweight elephants (or hungry monster plants) remain in the room while Bill English attempts to fund their huge appetites by cutting the support to children, families, students and even taxing paperboys.

At around $11 billion, the largest elephant by far consists of the RoNS (Roads of National Significance) where even the Government's last commissioned report revealed that the cost/benefit ratio for some motorways is as low as 0.4 (40c return for every $1 invested). When questioned by Julie Anne Genter regarding the dire economic projections and funding shortfalls the Minister of Transport, Gerry Brownlee, came up with some concerning answers. He claimed that he wasn't interested in the facts, was no expert on oil prices, the motorways will be built simply because people wanted them and that "they will cost what they will cost".

The second biggest elephant that the National Government continues to feed is superannuation, at 4% of GDP it costs around $8 billion to fund annually and has been projected to double by 2050, therefore costing hundreds of millions extra every year. The government has ignored calls for a raising of the retirement age by the Retirement Commissioner, Diana Crossan.

The third elephant is the tax cuts to the wealthy and the government refuses to back away from them despite costing the country around $2 billion in lost revenue so far. The cuts were never fiscally neutral as the predicted returns from the raised GST never eventuated. The National Government continues with the cuts despite the fact that our upper income earners are taxed at a much lower rate than in Australia. They won't even consider a capital gains tax when around 40% of incomes in the top bracket come from largely untaxed capital gains.

The fourth elephant is the subsidizing of greenhouse gases that costs the government around half a billion dollars a year because they continue to weaken the Emissions Trading Scheme and refuse to include some of our largest emitters.

To offset the huge leakage of government funds to these fiscal elephants and, in an attempt to offset increased borrowing and "balance the books", millions are being cut from essential government services. In his latest budget Bill English tries to make the untenable appear responsible by increasing class sizes, raising "user pays"charges for basic services, cutting student allowances, raising costs for accessing early childhood education and even taxing children who have after school jobs.

This is a miserly, mean little budget that continues to reward the rich and supports their growing affluence by sucking what little is left out of the poor and vulnerable.

There is another way!

Merrill Lynch, Leopards, Spots and Mr Key.

New Zealanders elected John Key because he was amiable and successful. If a man is rich and personally successful then it seems logical that if he transferred his skills to governing the country then New Zealand will prosper as well. Sadly New Zealand hasn't thrived under John Key because he has continued to do what he does best.

As Merrill Lynch's global head of foreign exchange he successfully gambled and traded foreign currency, earning himself around $3 million dollars a year. According to Wikipedia he was also given the name "the smiling assassin" for maintaining a cheerful disposition while sacking dozens of staff during a recession.

Key's past employer, Merrill Lynch, did not come out of the financial crisis well, they were heavily involved in the mortgage based collateralised debt obligation (CDO) market and bought First Franklin Financial Corp, one of the largest subprime lenders in the US. When the value of CDOs collapsed, Merrill Lynch resorted to all manner of dodgy dealings to remain afloat; shifting funds, avoiding tax and dishonestly representing their financial position to investors. The company was sued for fraud by Rabobank, was fined $100 million for publishing misleading research and in 2007 had a suit brought against it for disregarding the civil rights of employees. To top it all Merrill Lynch received a $45 billion bailout from the US government and promptly spent $3.4 billion in bonuses to their top 14 executives, even though the company had lost $15 billion in the previous quarter.

While there is no way John Key can be held responsible for the behaviour and management of his past employer, it still represents the business culture that he came from (and was obviously comfortable with) and there are so many parallels with the management style of his old firm and the way he has approached the governance of the country. We have seen a huge growth in the salaries of CEOs, a cutting of the taxes to the wealthy, over 3,000 jobs cut from the public sector (providing some credence to alleged nickname) and a constant stream of misleading information to support government initiatives from National Standards through to the funding of motorways.

Banks, understandably, have also done well under Key and the government's main banker, Westpac New Zealand, is the highest performing section of Westpac and it returns billions of dividends to the Australian mothership and also provides the local CEO with an annual salary of over $5 million. Key's past wheeling and dealing and gambling in foreign currencies has enabled a high comfort level with gambling in general and making cosy back room deals.

There is even a parallel with the sale of State Assets and the Government bailout of Merrill Lynch. Both involve using public funds to rectify poor financial management and the main sacrifice coming from those who deserved a better return from their taxes. In both cases much of the funds will end up supporting the salaries and lifestyles of those who created the crisis in the first place.

I think an adaption of the famous Shortland Street quote is appropriate here, "You're not in Merrill Lynch now, Mr Key!"

Power Companies and the Holy Grail

Early last year, around the time of the Christchurch earthquake, there was a knock on our door. I discovered on our front step a very friendly man holding a clip board. He was promoting a new energy company and he was very persuasive.

This company, he promised, charged less than any other company and would ensure a meter reading every month. We were with Meridian at the time and we were frustrated by the fact that meter readings had become reduced to only once or twice a year and after a series of estimates we would find some bills of less than $100, then others close to $900. I got into the habit of paying a bit extra on our Winter bills so that a later blowout could be managed.

The salesman explained that the company he represented, Just Energy, was able to keep prices low because advertising and sponsorship expenditure were kept to a minimum. After a little research to confirm they were legit, I signed on the dotted line. We had an initial glitch when our final account from Meridan was an over-estimate ($200 worth) and involved many phone calls to sort out liability and a refund, but eventually we enjoyed our regular readings and consistent billing.

A couple of months ago a letter arrived:

"Just Energy electricity prices will increase from 1 April 2012... Costs are being increased by Transpower...also price hikes by line companies..."

The next bill saw a 25% increase.

Despite having one less person in the house and installing solar water heating our bill was back up to previous levels.

A quick visit to Consumer's "Powerswitch" site saw that returning to Meridian would save us $701 a year and they now had the third highest customer service rating. We have made the switch back but, if the asset sales go ahead, who knows what will happen.

Finding the perfect power company is like searching for the Holy Grail and I am in danger of wearing out my coconut shells as I gallop hopelessly about in ever decreasing circles.

Yellow Pages & Accessibility

Dear Sir

I never expected the arrival of this year's telephone book to be such a 
devastating experience.

I have smuggly watched friends and contemporaries resort to visual aids 
and increasing levels of magnification while I have managed to maintain 
the vision of my youth. You can imagine the shock and consternation I 
experienced on opening the telephone book and attempted to read the 
contents.

I had barely recovered from this first blow to my youth when I received 
a second after expressing my concern to someone younger than myself.

 "What's a telephone book?" they replied.

One seemingly innocuous incident has seen me rapidly shunted into the 
world of the aged and technologically dated.

Yellow Pages Group Ltd, I will never forgive you!

Yours sincerely
Dave Kennedy
(membership of Grey Power pending)

I discovered my letter to the Southland Times did not get there due to an email failure. I 
commented on the stress that the arrival of the new telephone book caused me on 
Facebook in a similar light hearted way, but it is actually a huge issue. For the many 
elderly and others who suffer vision impairments, having excessively small print is 
discriminatory and it is not acceptable for Yellow Pages to put financial imperatives

ahead of providing a proper service.