Keeping National Honest on Climate Change

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Ignoring the science and the broader public mood, National continues to take its 'do-nothing, know-nothing' lead from powerful party members desperately clinging to deeply vested interests in a high emissions economy, writes Rod Oram in Newsroom.

Judith Collins' recent Facebook post about climate change is a classic of its kind.  She asserts climate change is not nearly as serious as “media and the political left” say it is; we and other nations are incapable of sufficiently cutting emissions anyway; and she blames everyone else for this mess while accepting no responsibility of her own, either political or personal.

Her post also reveals much about the state of the climate debate within the National Party. It has attracted some 1,100 comments so far. The strong majority of them urge her on, a sign to National there are votes to be had from holding out against action on the climate crisis.

One sign of National’s enthusiasm is its reluctance to distance itself from Collins’ comments.

Click here to read more. 

Fiji: Opposition Compliments FijiFirst Government

Tui Namosi  pn527

The government-owned Fiji Broadcasting Commission operates six radio stations, two in each of the three major languages, i-Taukei, Hindustani and English, and a free to air television service. The potential for media political bias is immense.

That's  not to say that the  Fiji Broadcasting Commission is slanting the news because its CEO Riyaz Sayed-Khaiyum is the brother of the Attorney-General and it four-member  board is government appointed. It's just that it could be. There are no independent checks on what it broadcasts — and appearances matter.

Fiji broadcasting has always been state-owned but the potential for bias, and suspicion of bias,  is greater today because of the nation's highly polarised political situatation.  I would certainly be more confident of its news if it had wider board membership.  Having said that, bias is more likely to be evident by not publishing news and less evident in the news published.  The two items to follow are certainly pro-government, but there's no reason to suspect their validity.

Let's Get Some Reality into Political Polls

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The hoo-ha about the latest Colmer-Brunton and Newshub polls shows either that media commentators need to take a course in STATS101 and brush up on what can —and what cannot— be deduced from a poll, or that they need to be taken to task for deliberately misleading the public to sell copy, please advertisers, and put their spokes into the political process in favour of National.

One might expect such shortcomings from Opposition leader Simon Bridges ("What this shows is a government that isn't doing anything, that doesn't know what it's doing..") and the likes of Mike Hosking ("They  [Labour] are a mess. lots of noise, not a lot of action...NZ decides they are not up to it")  but not from an informed, balanced (and it has to be said privately-owned!) media whose  misleading dramatic headlines read:

The Media in NZ Politics

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What's happening in NZ politics? Hardly had Labour's sex scandal blown over (a young party staffer apparently made unwanted sexual overtures to young female party members)  than Labour's coalition partner NZ First's  Clayton Mitchell was thrown out of a Tauranga night club for supposed drunken behaviour (He denies it; claiming political motivation) and Shane Jones was seen using a now-illegal-in-NZ assault rifle while holidaying in Thailand.  Three bad strikes against the Government parties. 

Fortunately, we have a clean party in National. Its staffers are no longer young, its MPs sip alcohol in moderation, and they only use guns for "grouse" shooting.

National's worst action/in-action last week was refusing the Speaker's request to remove  parliamentary footage  from its Facebook page. UPDATE. National to remove videos. While this resulted in National being allowed less parliamentary question time, thus allowing Government more  time to get on with the job of governing, the relief will probably be short lived. Even now, in-depth (up to their knees in bull) journalists are sniffing around for more trivial news to demean and distract.  And leave us less than well informed about the important issues facing the country.

-- ACW

Pacific Roundup, Palau, Marshall Is., Fiji, New Caledonia, Solomon Is., PNG

 Palau and Marshall Islands

The US is revisiting its compact of free association with Palau and Marshall Islands. The US will invest $1.6 million to investigate water quality on Enewetak Atoll for radioactivity.

Enewetak nuclear explosion.     pn524

 Nuclear testing by the US totaling more than 30 megatons of TNT took place during the cold war; in 1977–1980, a concrete dome (the Runit Dome) was built on Runit Island to deposit radioactive soil and debris. The Runit Dome is deteriorating and could be breached by a typhoon, though the sediments in the lagoon are even more radioactive than those which are contained. -- Wikipedia.

Fiji: Rift within SODELPA, Free Health Screening, and the Completion of Village profiling

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One thing that won't hurt FijiFirst at the next election is this major rift within SODELPA. How often has a political party been taken to court by its own members?

"A group led by the party’s Suva constituency president Watisoni Nata has taken Social Democratic Liberal Party president Ro Filipe Tuisawau, Anare Jale, Adi Litia Qionibaravi and Usaia Waqatairewa to court.

China Group Leases Solomon Islands Provincial Capital

Tulagi highlighted . pn521

Central  Province has agreed to lease on long term the whole island of Tulagi to Chinese firm China Sam Enterprise Group Ltd to be developed into a “Special Economic Zone”.
Premier Stanley Manetiva signed the agreement with Sam Group reps in Honiara last month.
The agreement also mentioned lease of islands surrounding Tulagi to the Chinese firm.
Sam Group prides itself as one of China’s top hi-tech investors.

The Bougainville Independence Predicament

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The referendum to take Bougainville a step closer to full independence finally looks set to start on 23 November, after the issuing of the writs late last month. Voters will have a fortnight to reach the polling places, which will close on 7 December. The Referendum Commission, chaired by former Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahearn, says the count will be completed no later than 20 December.
The referendum result will still not be the final deciding factor on whether Bougainville stays with Papua New Guinea or cuts loose. Rather, it will “inform” the required post-referendum consultations between the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and the PNG Government to determine Bougainville’s future. Click here to read the full article about the "predicament."

It Ain't Our Plastic

Ninety-Eight Percent  Plastics in Pacific Ocean 'from elsewhere'

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The World Wildlife Fund Pacific office says more than 98 per cent of plastic found in the Pacific Ocean did not come from Pacific islanders but from Asia and America.

WWF great sea reef programme manager Alfred Ralifo said plastics have become a global problem and the Pacific has not been spared.

“The plastic industry only started in the 1950s but since the beginning about 8.3 billion tonnes of plastic has been produced.

“In 2010 about 8 million tonnes of plastic were found in the ocean and about 291 billion pieces of plastic in the South Pacific Ocean,” he said. He said this global problem requires a global and coordinated effort.

-- By Epeli Lalagavesi in Fiji Live 8.10.19

The Firms Most Responsible for Carbon Emissions

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 New data show how fossil fuel companies have driven climate crisis despite industry knowing dangers

• Half a century of dither and denial – a climate crisis timeline
• Why we need political action to tackle the oil, coal and gas companies - video explainer

Why Do Some People Still Think Climate Change Isn't Real

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At its heart, climate change denial is a conflict between facts and values. People deny the climate crisis because, to them, it just feels wrong.

As I've argued elsewhere, acknowledging climate change involves accepting certain facts. But being concerned about climate change involves connecting these facts to values. It involves building bridges between the science of climate change and peoples' various causes, commitments and convictions.

Diwali comes early for New Zealand

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For some reason unknown to me Auckland, and New Zealand, is celebrating Diwali this weekend, while Fiji and the rest of the world will celebrate the festival from the 27th.  Check out this link about the festival.