With the current state of our electricity system, this position should be a baseline all parties should be able to agree to. Last thing we want is more large industrial loads being used by gentailers to keep profits up.

Dr. Cassandra Mudgway@legallyfeminist.bsky.social · 22h ago

"Labour...said the party would release an AI policy...wanted regulations ensuring that data centre operators “be legally required to underwrite new renewable electricity generation so they do not add scarcity or push up power and resource costs for households” #nzpol thespinoff.co.nz/politics/05-...

Thead…

Nicola Gaston@nicgaston.bsky.social · 3d ago

Children: as problems in schools to be controlled; financial benefits to the state, but also burdens that must therefore be incentivised, for parents to have them; not in need of decent nutrition but still to be shamed for their bodies; & oh btw the Children’s Commissioner is sacked. FFS #nzpol

andrewdicksonnz.substack.com/...

Luxon's Wearing Daddy's Pants

The Prime Minister goes to Rotorua, tells drowning businesses to swim harder, and confesses

andrewdicksonnz.substack.com

This is a remarkably extreme statistic. Bordeaux, France has recorded more days >40°C in 2026 than in the entire 105 year period combined dating back to 1920 when records began. This summer has been so far above extreme it’s difficult to put into words. Chart: @WxNB_

"Exxon and ExxonMobil Corp…, accurately predicted when human-caused global warming would first be detected, and reasonably estimated the "carbon budget" for holding warming below 2°C." They knew and hid it. Now the NZ govt legislates to protect them from litigation. pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36634..

Assessing ExxonMobil's global warming projections - PubMed

Climate projections by the fossil fuel industry have never been assessed. On the basis of company records, we quantitatively evaluated all available global warming projections documented by-and in many cases modeled by-Exxon and ExxonMobil Corp scientists between 1977 and 2003. We find that most of …

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

TOP is DOGE

Dr. Cassandra Mudgway@legallyfeminist.bsky.social · 5d ago

TOPs policies about automation and cutting admin at MSD (and elsewhere) is just "let's do AI everywhere". They don't have a clue about risk, about bias, about error rates, about the balck box, about how getting it wrong can lead to people experiencing homelessness, starvation, or death #nzpol

Part 2 from @nicgaston.bsky.social on science funding “Brutality toward the science is not commercialisation at all. It is liquidation: selling the orchard and calling it a harvest.” newsroom.co.nz/2026/07/31/g...

Govt science reform uproots the tree it needs to bear fruit

From Auckland University - Comment: Defunding basic research risks starving NZ's deep-tech startups before they begin, writes Dr Nicola Gaston.

newsroom.co.nz

minimalzen.bsky.social@minimalzen.bsky.social · 7d ago

@nicgaston.bsky.social on the NZ government's impoverished understanding of how science works newsroom.co.nz/2026/07/30/lux...

Nice work from IIASA. Tool to do regional climate and risk/impact projections, pulling together data from existing models. iiasa.ac.at/news/jul-2026/fro...

At this point if Luxon doesn’t sack Peters, you have the pretty clear read on where Luxon’s views too. Beyond the pale this Peters is allowed to continue as foreign minister. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic...

Winston Peters ‘inviting a sacking’ with attack on Chinese-born MP, Helen Clark says

Former Prime Minister Helen Clark says Winston Peters' comments about a Chinese-born Green MP appears to be "inviting a sacking".

rnz.co.nz

Labour's Rachel Brooking promises to repeal RMA reform provisions that force councils to foot the bill for environmental rules on private land.

Labour vows to keep billions in conservation costs off councils if elected

newsroom.co.nz

@nicgaston.bsky.social on the NZ government's impoverished understanding of how science works newsroom.co.nz/2026/07/30/lux...

Luxon wants to ‘brutally commercialise’ science, but cuts threaten its foundation

Comment from Auckland University: Decades of research funding cannot be replaced by funding the commercialisation of that science

newsroom.co.nz

Labour's Chris Hipkins ruling out tax reform. Solutions to so many of New Zealand's deep seated problems hinge on a fairer tax system. www.rnz.co.nz/national/progra...

Labour leader Chris Hipkins speaks to Corin Dann

With three months to go until the election, there's been a flurry of policy announcements from parties across the political spectrum. Labour's leader Chris Hipkins spoke to Corin Dann.

rnz.co.nz

the current NZ govt is so anti-science that they've changed eligibility for the Prime Minister's Science Prizes to rule out awards to people doing basic science eg from 2026 the MacDiarmid is for work with "potential to generate econ, health, social, or env benefits for New Zealand" #nzpol

“if it dissipates before it finds an ignition source, you're all good”. Thread…

There have been an increasing number of papers recently that suggest the uncertainties in the emissions>concentration>forcing>warming processes/feedbacks may not be aligning in our favour e.g. agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.c...

Global Warming Has Accelerated Significantly

During the last decade, the rate at which Earth warmed increased substantially After removing the influence of known natural variability factors, the increase of the warming rate is statistically...

agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

"Deer in the headlights: sleepwalking our way to a native forest catastrophe". But ACT want hunters to manage deer on conservation land and have "Herds of National Significance" 🙄 newzealandecology.org/nzje/3639

"Herds of Special Interest" Cracked me up. What are they smoking?

Paul Le Comte 🇳🇿🇨🇦📷@paullecomtephoto.nz · 2w ago

Day one 'no access without permit' on public conservation land Mark my words FUCK OFF you hideous wankers

Libertarian party want special interest group to enclose more of the commons. They would have no incentive in protecting our precious conservation land. Yeah, nah

Nick Young@nickofnz.bsky.social · 2w ago

Real fox and henhouse vibes with this. The important point is managing the impact on conservation land, not making more fun for hunters. Hunters in charge are more likely to just increase numbers of pest species right?

Libertarian party believes wolves should be in charge of our sheep. No surprise there. www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic... for more details.

Simon Wilson "FONTERRA, ALONG WITH Federated Farmers, Dairy NZ, Beef and Lamb and others, have set the gold standard for predatory delay." simonwilsonhopetown.substack....

Housing, Fonterra, cement: the crisis of predatory delay

The tactic that holds back the progress we know we need.

simonwilsonhopetown.substack.com

Thanks to @henrycooke.bsky.social & @graemeedgeler.bsky.social for highlighting this-no NZ govt should be able to unilaterally change voting. Removing registration rights established since 1948 impacts 230,000+ people & undermines the legitimacy of election results www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361...

Thread

Robert McLachlan@robertmclachlan.bsky.social · 2w ago

My comments for @smcnz.bsky.social on the CCC's new which I'm worried will vanish from the media like all the earlier ones: This is a devastatingly hard-hitting report from the Climate Change Commission documenting failures and shortcomings in almost all areas of our climate change response. [1/7]

"Our results suggest much stronger positive methane-climate feedbacks in the pan-Arctic and highlight the urgency of reducing anthropogenic CH4 emissions…" www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas...

Observation-constrained sensitivities of Arctic methane emissions to warming | PNAS

The sensitivity of pan-Arctic (60 to 90°N) natural methane emissions to climate warming lacks direct observational constraints. Long-term atmospher...

pnas.org

This government has become the poster child for bad governance, rushing through low quality legislation bypassing the time-tested legislative process. newsroom.co.nz/2026/04/16/gov...

Govt sets new record for bills skipping select committees

No government since at least 1987 has passed 30 or more laws without a select committee vet – until the coalition last month, Marc Daalder reports.

newsroom.co.nz

Rail roading increasingly chaotic law changes through parliament just before the election in NZ is not an advertisement for a 4 year term- Rather it shows that we need to ensure we have stronger institutional checks and balances on the use of urgency, political donations and lobbying in NZ

Paul Henry wrecks himself on Q&A and doesn't even realise it tinangata.com/2026/07/19/was-...

Was That Q+A or MasterChef?

In the homestretch of the coldest of political winters, we gathered. There was a defiance about this Mataariki – more than ever, folks were determined to come together, celebrate, farewell an…

tinangata.com

And somehow the myth National are the best managers of the economy survives…

Musical Chairs@musicalchairs.bsky.social · 2w ago

There are about 15,000 jobs advertised today and... - 174,000 people officially unemployed - Another 144,000 people who want more hours - A further 80,000 potential jobseekers (underestimate) This is a failure of laissez-faire economic management on an absolutely tragic scale.

National Party has gone full nanny state. Campaigned in 2023 on localism and now injecting themselves deeply in every crevice of local decision-making and hampering local councils with financial constraints and obligations and excluding public from having a say www.beehive.govt.nz/release/b...

Big changes to RMA reform from both SC and the Govt itself: - Minister can over-rule limits for 'publicly beneficial' projects, not just infra - Existing iwi agreements torn up - Water allocation markets gone - Reg relief remains Labour is now firmly opposed. www.thepost.co.nz/politics/361...

Government to tear up existing iwi agreements, give itself more power to overrule councils

Chris Bishop announces sweeping changes to his RMA reform including new powers for ministers to overrule councils.

thepost.co.nz