Hard News: The Politics of Absence
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hamishm, in reply to
Possibly the information will be unavailable to the mortal man (P.Simon 1975). If the "thankyou sir, may I have another" trade deal is anything to go by
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merc,
I remember the electricity supply deal, iron sands are in my purview due to the surf that rolls over them (Muriwai sand mining).
We are not well served, or depending on your accent, well served by those in power.
From memory we make very little from the aluminium deal, or from Govt's P.O.V. we generate the right amount of privatised profit from the publicised debt. -
merc,
Take or pay
At present, the Bluff aluminium smelter contract to buy power is at a fixed price from state-owned Meridian under a take-or-pay agreement for about 543 megawatts of power.
The deal means the smelter pays for the power whether it is used or not and Meridian is obliged to provide the power. The final 10per cent of the power for the smelter is bought on the spot or wholesale market, and that volatile market has been an issue for industrial power buyers for many years.
The smelter has a new power contract from 2013, for 18 years, for 572MW. The price in the new contract is adjusted to reflect factors including the price of aluminium and the inflation rate. The amount the smelter pays for power rises or falls according to the rise and fall of aluminium prices.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/5803274/Optimism-Bluff-smelter-to-stay-open -
Steve Barnes, in reply to
Hopefully that means we get to renegotiate the ludicrously low price the smelter pays for 15% of our total power generation output –
Here is the Act Manapouri-Te Anau Development Act 1963
Reading it now, may be some time…ETA
The Company may with the written consent of the Minister transfer its rights and obligations under this agreement in whole;
so it would seem that the transfer of rights is up to the Minister.
There is a lot more that should concern us in this Act like the tax and duty exemptions.
Plus,,, the name Bechtel Pacific Corporation Limited sends shivers up my spine.Other applicable Act;
Invercargill City Aluminium Smelter Water Supply Act 1971 No 1 -
merc,
Thick plot,
However, the greenhouse agreements the Government is negotiating, or has put in place, with companies such as New Zealand Refining, are only valid until 2012.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10115663
I did a goog search on...who negotiated the Comalco smelter contract...what I got was a whole can of worms, including Muldoon.
http://www.google.co.nz/search?rlz=1C1_____enNZ394NZ394&gcx=w&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=who+negotiated+the+comalco+aluminium+smelter+contract%3F
oh dear, history here,
http://multinationalmonitor.org/hyper/issues/1992/06/mm0692_07.html -
Smelting moments, get a fix...
...what I got was a whole can of worms, including Muldoon.
Read Pete Lusk and Ron Currie's classic Comalco comic
"Power Junky" here - some facts have changed over
time, but the song remains the same... -
merc,
What I did read was that a simple clause covering "unforeseen circumstances" like oil shocks would have saved a lot of time and tension in 1977.
http://books.google.co.nz/books?id=05zYQgYOqucC&pg=PA76&lpg=PA76&dq=who+negotiated+the+comalco+aluminium+smelter+contract?&source=bl&ots=FCgxcGHs40&sig=FKlYI8QTKm2rXsxWkxDzz2uxvUU&hl=en&ei=TcicTtfKGo_MmAWNsLiFCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&ved=0CFoQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q&f=falseFrom the horses mouth, this whole saga is a damn good reason why we don't want to sell off our assets, ever. To be fair Muldoon tried to jack up the price paid for power, but I suggest that was to be for his own popularity because you may note in the other article, Comalco does not pay much tax, at all.
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other foreign ownership issues...
I see May Wang and Jack Chen who were negotiating to buy the Crafar Dairy Farms for Natural Dairy (NZ) Holdings has been charged with corruption, bribery and money-laundering in Hong Kong. She is also apparently bankrupt and owes $22million. So we may have a dodged a bullet there... -
merc,
It's reveletory reading Mr Templeton's book, All Honourable Men, even just a scan read, it's all there, nothing has changed, we dodge bullets, they load more.
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pumping irony...
A proper 'reasons not to elect' image for National at last...
(another tip o the hat to Jody Lloyd) -
Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
Who did that Ian? Very good.
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Oleaginous Key logo...
Who did that?
Oily Key image is by the multi-talented Jody Lloyd (aka Trillion) - he also did the "Oil clot NZ 100% Pure" image that Sacha posted here 5 days ago, the Dom/Post used it also (I hope he got a credit for it)...
Though I'm sure he'd be very happy for you to reproduce and paste up or pass on, I've done similar poster runs for him in the past just to get ideas out there... -
From Red Alert
A good read from Ann Salmond, anthropologist and author weighing into the debate on inequality in the NZ Herald yesterday.
The international rating agencies have done all New Zealanders a favour. The double downgrade of the country’s credit rating makes it clear that the policies and philosophies promoted by successive governments are not working.
A good read indeed.
Full article here -
Joe Wylie, in reply to
Who did that Ian?
Thanks for that Ian (& Sofie), nice to know.
I'd probably have been more inclined to have passed that "Oil clot NZ 100% Pure" image on if I'd known who did it.
Because I've found that's what people want to know. -
DexterX, in reply to
philosophies promoted by successive governments are not working.
They are working - just not for most of us.
Successive governments includes Labour Governments.
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Sacha, in reply to
I'd probably have been more inclined to have passed that "Oil clot NZ 100% Pure" image on if I'd known who did it.
Same. Would have felt less cautious. Love crediting good people.
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Rena, the throat slashing gesture and the credit downgrade have painted First Citizen and some of the senior members of the inner sanctum as petty incompetents, hateful and disingenuous. Such that some of the much love the people have for First Citizen has waned.
I’m just wondering whether First Citizen John Key the Firsts hosting on Radio Live now has the flavour of work experience, so that if he, supernatural creator and overseer of the universe of your choice forbid, losses the election he will have somewhere to go that keeps him out of the house for extended periods.
What was shaping up as a no contest will be interesting if Labour can resist the urge to press the self destruct button, I have to concede they do not appear as a govt in waiting.
The recent spate of Frist Citizen faux pas appear to be addressing the balance of political stupidity, a realm that was Labour’s own till now.
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Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
The recent spate of Frist Citizen faux
This is why I have no time for these bullies. Once again, their foot is firmly planted up Auckland's arse. Bunch of tossers :( Can we have Richard Branson instead please?
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Sacha, in reply to
This is why I have no time for these bullies
And here's what this government's yesterday's men are saying no to for Auckland. Let's agree to laugh in their faces if they have the gall to use words like "ambitious" again. And remind them of the word "downgrade" too. Even in their own narrow terms, they are abject failures.
Brown relates that when he meets up with the council's Youth Advisory Panel they ask him, "Why should I stay in Auckland?"
'It's critical that we provide them with a sense they can get all their career options here, so they don't have to travel to Australia or America.
"The Government and the country share a concern that we are leaking our best talent overseas.
"So we need to be developing an economy in Auckland that ticks all the boxes for this generation coming through. So when they come out with their top class degrees they are genuinely enthused about staying in Auckland because they see it's a world class city - it gives them great opportunities for their careers."
As the Mayor says in the article you linked to:
having set up the Super City to speak with one voice, the Government needed to listen with both ears
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Kumara Republic, in reply to
This is why I have no time for these bullies. Once again, their foot is firmly planted up Auckland’s arse. Bunch of tossers :( Can we have Richard Branson instead please?
So far they're now at loggerheads with not just Auckland, but also Wellington and Christchurch. Even the Granny is sceptical of the attempts to usurp transport policy out of Auckland's hands.
The whole thing is a reflection of the impending urban-vs-suburban collision course.
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Submissions on the 30 year Auckland Plan have been extended a little to 4pm on Monday 31 October.
People from *anywhere* can have a say (this is the correct link for the broken one in the news article).
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Sacha, in reply to
Even the Granny is sceptical of the attempts to usurp transport policy out of Auckland's hands.
Sigh. The paper still does not grasp that the central loop doubles the capacity of the region's entire rail network (otherwise bottlenecked shortly, preventing any more frequent services or adding of an airport line). It's not just about the cbd.
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Sofie Bribiesca, in reply to
Good one Sacha. Thanks for those links. I will definitely have my say now that other things are out of the way. I urge other peeps too. We can never surrender! :)
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There is a default view that you need people "top class degrees" to stay put and save us all. NZ is losing a skilled workforce across a wide range of levels to Australia and other places - it is not just the young that are leaving - it is across the age cohorts that it is happening – that I can see.
The layered nature of an economy takes many people with many varied skills.
The problem is one of governance, and I can’t see that the Party Political system consisting of two just right of centre parties like Labour and National have done much good.
There are answers – but you won’t get them from central or local government.
I thought the year ending 31 March 2011 was the wrost it has been and that things would get better - it is in my view getting worse.
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Whilst pondering the great question, who to vote for, I had a vision of Joyce, in drag doing, Fauxy Lady - I'm sold.
It went a bit like this:
Fauxy
FauxyYou know we hate sweet little allegators
Fauxy
You know you're a throat slash gesticulator
FauxyWe wanna take your home
Oil won't do you no harm, no
Its got to be mining, all mines
Ooh, fauxy babyIou credit down grade on the scene
Fauxy
We smile when we make you wanna scream
Fauxy
Ah, party vote now
make up my mind
Epsom Voting Act is not a waste of time
Second term will be mine, all mine
Fauxy baby
Here we comeWe wanna take a big loan,
The deficit won’t do you no harm, no
Assets Sales and Mines, BabyHere we come
We're gonna get ya
FauxybabyYou look so good
Yeah, Fauxy
Yeah, vote us some
Fauxy
Yeah, get it, Fauxy
You make us feel like
Feel like sayin' Fauxy
Fauxy
Fauxy baby
Fauxy baby
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