I’ve been taking notes since 2023. Here they are, grouped by depravity level (subjective, yes, I know) and sorted by date within each group. Please share this widely as the election draws near. The last 3 weeks of the campaign are crucial and when this information will make the most difference.

Where possible the minister responsible is noted although really they are all collectively responsible.

It’s a lot. As you get into it your eyes will glaze over a bit and you’ll start skimming. Try to sit with each item and really feel it.

High Depravity

Medium Depravity

Low Depravity

So there you have it. The last 3 years have been a trainwreck that was especially hard to watch - taking notes during it was my way of coping. I hope it makes a difference.

Once again, please share this with anyone capable of changing their minds. And/or bookmark this, you’ll need it later.

There will be SO much that I missed out. Education and health is a true mess at the moment but that’s not where my attention goes a lot of the time. Please add what you have in the comments, with a news link if possible.

  • Dave@lemmy.nzM
    4·
    10 days ago

    Great job collecting all this. Some of those Low Depavity ones may understate the damage.

    Cancelling Lake Onslow is bad, but strongly related is the billion dollar LPG storage facility that is their plan for dry years. Replacing renewable with fossil fuels, against the advice they sought.

    They didn’t just increase speed limits, they cancelled the who Road to Zero plan. Instead of “people shouldn’t die on the roads” we get “some people should die to allow faster transport of goods” and I’m barely paraphrasing. And this ignores that it doesn’t actually allow faster transport of goods, once you account for the delays caused by the fatal accidents.

    Then the rough sleeping one… it’s criminal not to have a home. Coming from the government that significantly cut Kaianga Ora’s funding to build state housing. And they want to selectively enforce it, so it’s ok if you’re white I guess?

    • Rimu@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      2·
      9 days ago

      Kinda depressing but also hopefully a good resource!

      I really think we have a good chance of a positive result in this coming election. One term governments are rare but so is this level of balls-up so anything could happen.

      Let’s get this done.

      • AWOL_muppet@lemmy.nz
        1·
        9 days ago

        I’ve been keeping tabs on those big hairy news fullas and getting excited but I’m completely aware of the echo chamber and most people’s ambience

  • MWT@mastodon.nz
    2·
    10 days ago

    @rimu Cancelling the Dunedin hospital was a pretty big one. To a lesser extent, messing with the plans of the Nelson hospital.

    I’ll look up links and such later - the PSA probably has an organised list somewhere of everything related to the public services.

  • ooo_shiny@lemmy.nz
    1·
    8 days ago

    The ones I’m most annoyed by are the pay equity cuts, the ferries, and the Lake Onslow battery. The general attitude towards environmental concerns also sucks, as does their attitude towards Maori.

    Stuns me that people actually think that all the parties are the same because actually no, not all parties do this sort of thing.

    Edit: forgot to mention completely f***ing up the health system.

  • absGeekNZ@lemmy.nzEnglish
    1·
    8 days ago

    Great list; the only one item I have an issue with is the lake Onslow battery.

    Should be under the heading “accidently did the right thing” or “did the right thing for the wrong reasons”.

    The project was stupidly expensive for relatively little gain. $16B is a lot of solar and wind generation.

    In NZ we already have a couple of massive hydro lakes; we just use them incorrectly. Currently we use the lakes as generation assets at base load; rather than generation that can throttle to fill in the variance in consumption.

    On average we are using ~60GWh of hydro per day; with the lowest day in the last 6 months @48GWh and the highest @100GWh. We could add 30GWh of base load (geothermal, solar) into the grid and reduce the drain on the lakes. Keeping them full year round. Using the hydro lakes to fill the variable 18-70GWh variability in demand.

    To achieve 30GWh/day we would need to add 1.25GW of generation to the grid; in 2024 we added 524MW; the highest yet; we could add the required generation in as little as 2.5 years. A decade or more before the first GWh came out of the hydro lake, at a significantly reduced price.

    Ok rant over…

    • Rimu@piefed.socialOPEnglish
      1·
      8 days ago

      Admittedly I lack the technical knowledge necessary to redesign NZ’s electricity grid or even make intelligent suggestions.

      But what I do know is we are staring down the barrel of climate change fucking everything up and ruining everything good we ever built. Everything is on the line (just not all at once, in inevitable slow motion over decades). So I’m an extremist on this issue - we should be going balls to the wall decarbonising everything all the time, building Lake Onslow, AND $16B of solar and wind, not either/or. And a lot more besides. Some of it will turn out to be a mistake but we must try everything. And so should every other country, but developed ones with lots of money and capability especially. I am unabashadly foaming at the mouth on this. Even so it only got into the ‘low depravity’ section, heh.

      Compared to what I fantasise about, Lake Onslow is the compromise position.

      • absGeekNZ@lemmy.nzEnglish
        1·
        8 days ago

        I understand the climate emergency also.

        But I am a pragmatist at heart; I know we have a set amount of resources to throw at a problem. I would rather we focus on where the biggest gains would be had.

        If I had $16B to throw at the energy system:

        • 1 add 3GW of solar; primarily in Northland and Nelson. ~$6B for panels and infrastructure; 10 year install pipeline.
        • 2 add 1GW of off shore win in Taranaki. ~$2B for turbines and infrastructure; 5 year install pipeline.
        • 3 add another Cook Strait cable. ~$1B for the upgrade.
        • 4 add 5GWh of battery storage in 50 x 100MWh sites around NZ. ~$5B for batteries and infrastructure.
        • 5 bring back the clean car discount ~$1B over 10 years
        • 6 subsidize homes switching from gas to electric heat. ~$0.5B over 10 years
        • 7 keep $0.5B as contingency.

        $16B is a big sum; we could do a lot more with it than one project that will have no gains for over a decade.

        A well planned solar project can bring on ~150MW in 9 months; then with rolling crews another 150MW every 6 months after that.

        • Rimu@piefed.socialOPEnglish
          1·
          8 days ago

          Yes I can see how those would be better value for money.

          The amount of resources there are to throw at a problem depends on political will. In 2009 when bankers needed money suddenly there was unlimited resources to throw at that. When Bush wanted to start his multi-decade wars -> unlimited. When Trump wanted to start his forever war -> unlimited. And so on.

            • Rimu@piefed.socialOPEnglish
              1·
              8 days ago

              There is no shortage of people. Basically everyone living in a hot country either wants to GTFO now or will in coming decades. We can have as many people as we want (chances are we’ll get waaay more than we want).

              Politically, that idea is impossible, yes, I know :)

              We can bring in the best and brightest from all over the world in a controlled way now and build build build or we can sit on our hands and deal with millions of desperate refugees all at once, later. We both know which it’ll be.

              • absGeekNZ@lemmy.nzEnglish
                1·
                8 days ago

                Political vision is an expensive investment. Most parties cannot afford to be too visionary; it means that they have to admit they have been wrong for 40 years.

                Lets say that Labour; came out tomorrow and said that neo-lib economics is a bit shit really; what they are saying is that “actually we have been wrong since the early 80’s; but believe us now, we are totally trustworthy”.

                New ideas require new voices; I’m an opportunity supporter, because they are bringing new voices into the mix. They are saying “hey, lets listen to the experts, and actually implement their ideas”

                Look at the infrastructure policy; it is not much different than the infrastructure commission recommendations. The work had already been done, they are the ones with the confidence (and naivety) to say, lets just do that!

                • Rimu@piefed.socialOPEnglish
                  2·
                  8 days ago

                  Oh yes, absolutely. I worked at parliament for 5 years so I understand the political dynamics. Basically if you stick your head out too high it gets blown off. That’s arguably a feature, not a bug.

                  I know I’m just dreaming.

                  TOP is the most interesting part of this election, for sure.