Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 1h

One of the Govt's top priorities www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

After 5 months of the heralded ‘tipline’, just 204 road cones are confirmed gone

In Whanganui, information from the Government’s own Road Cone Tipline had actually led to more cones being put out than taken away. In Wellington, 110 complaints resulted in just two cones being remov...

www.stuff.co.nz

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Reposted by Russel Norman

How-Sen Chong @how-sen.com · 1h

The main reason city streets are dangerous for children isn’t because of crime.

It’s because of cars.

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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 1h

NZ's great leap backwards. newsroom.co.nz/2025/10/13/f...

Farmers off the hook on climate means rest of us pick up the slack

Comment: The Government's methane announcement is the policy equivalent of a steaming cowpat on cross-partisan climate consensus.

newsroom.co.nz

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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 13h

One of the symptoms of the 'resource curse' is that Govt becomes captured by one industry. In NZ that is dairy. Methane is the dominant GHG for NZ but it is now exempt from prices or regulations to cut it, which means all other sectors have to carry the weight of emissions reductions.

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Rosie Sea @dacrispylettuce.bsky.social · 14h

Methane bubbling up in #Antartica - I wish it weren’t so. NZ farmers just let themselves off the hook to ensure they pump out more methane #climatecrisis #greed #nzpol

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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 14h

Methane makes up 48% of NZ's climate pollution. The Govt's grossly irresponsible announcement today that they will never have a price on methane, combined with their policies to increase the dairy herd, means that they have zero intention of meeting NZ Paris obligations.

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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 14h

Remember the old rightwing argument that all we needed to do was put a price on climate emissions and let the market do its thing? Well the necessary step was for the Govt to put a price on emissions. The current far right NZ Govt just announced it will never put a price on emissions.

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henry cooke @henrycooke.bsky.social · 16h

Amelia Wade dives into the Family Boost policy, which was designed in a hurry using guesswork, and is now so complex one Kindergarten has hired a staffer explicitly to help parents navigate it:

www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/3608...

Families miss out on FamilyBoost after being caught by quarterly income rule

Parents hoping to claim childcare rebates have been rejected because their quarterly incomes are too high ‒ despite being told it was based on what their households earned yearly.

www.thepost.co.nz

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Nick Young @nickofnz.bsky.social · 21h

Mind blowing.

The Luxon Government has confirmed it will rewrite NZ’s once bipartisan climate change law to dilute methane reduction targets and PERMANENTLY exclude dairy from the Emissions Trading Scheme – a move Greenpeace says amounts to full-blown climate denial.
#nzpol

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Cate Macinnis-Ng @loraxcate.bsky.social · 18h

The government knows this is bad policy because they've announced it on a Sunday.
The continued priority of short-term profit over long-term solutions is utterly shameful. Farmers will not be better off when the next cyclone or flood comes. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Government lowers methane target, rules out methane taxes

The government is lowering its biogenic methane target for the next 25 years, a move opposed by the Greens and environmental activists.

www.rnz.co.nz

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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 16h

NZ has a climate science denying Govt: Government lowers methane target, rules out methane taxes www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa...

Government lowers methane target, rules out methane taxes

The government is lowering its biogenic methane target for the next 25 years, a move opposed by the Greens and environmental activists.

www.rnz.co.nz

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Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social · 5d

Greta--always a hero, and always eager to get the focus where it belongs
www.teenvogue.com/story/greta-...

Greta Thunberg On Her Detention: I'm "Not The Story" — It's Israel Violating International Humanitarian Law

“I could talk for a very, very long time about our mistreatment and abuses in our imprisonment. Trust me. But that is not the story.”

www.teenvogue.com

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Bill McKibben @billmckibben.bsky.social · 3d

America is in crisis.

So it's a small relief that the rest of the world is actually getting remarkable stuff done with energy. We just passed a huge milestone globally!

Now back to work on America.
billmckibben.substack.com/p/something-...

Something extraordinary just happened

But of course there's a but. Or two.

billmckibben.substack.com

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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 4d

Unsurprisingly, stopping bottom trawling is really good for life in the ocean. oceanographicmagazine.com/news/26-year...

26 years of video footage shows benefit of bottom-trawling bans - Oceanographic

The University of Gothenburg deployed machine learning to analyse 26 years of underwater footage and analyse seabed changes since trawling ban

oceanographicmagazine.com

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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 4d

Maybe he wants to get on the swing too!

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Meidas Charise Lee 💙🌊🌴🥥🫘 @chariselee.bsky.social · 5d

“No, not hero. We are doing the bare minimum”‼️

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Meidas Charise Lee 💙🌊🌴🥥🫘 @chariselee.bsky.social · 4d

They laugh it off, but they will remember‼️

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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 4d

This is the US Govt that the NZ Govt is desperate to get closer to.

Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 4d

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 5d

Agriculture Minister McClay: “the court decisions could result in more [pollution] discharges needing consents, more consent applications being declined, and consent conditions becoming more restrictive, reducing the ability to improve freshwater quality over time.” Make it make sense.

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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 11d

NZ often claims to have a world leading fishery management system. Critics like me beg to differ. This is what NZ's fishery management system has done to the orange roughy fishery.

The collapse in the orange roughy fishery managed by NZ.

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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 5d

August 2024. www.beehive.govt.nz/release/gove...

www.beehive.govt.nz

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Russel Norman @russelnorman.bsky.social · 5d

Agriculture Minister McClay: “the court decisions could result in more [pollution] discharges needing consents, more consent applications being declined, and consent conditions becoming more restrictive, reducing the ability to improve freshwater quality over time.” Make it make sense.

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Reposted by Russel Norman

Charlie Mitchell @comingupcharlie.bsky.social · 5d

Compare and contrast: A statement from an NZ First spokesman 6 months ago about the actions of a party member and supporter, and a statement today from that same party’s leader.

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Andrew Jull NZRN @andrewjull.bsky.social · 5d

The party of ‘free speech’ wants to limit speech. Just another normal day for ACT.

www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360...

ACT MP asks Parliament to limit use of ‘genocide’ when describing Gaza war

Despite being in a party committed to freedom of speech, Simon Court asked Parliament’s Speaker to consider restricting the use of the word ‘genocide’ to describe what’s happening in Gaza.

www.stuff.co.nz

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Keith Ng @keithng.bsky.social · 5d

Calling people attack dogs is not at attempt to deescalate and maintain civility, it's a attempt to escalate to distract from a failing economy. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

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