The Daily Blog Open Mic – Thursday – 5th May 2016

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openmike

 

Announce protest actions, general chit chat or give your opinion on issues we haven’t covered for the day.

Moderation rules are more lenient for this section, but try and play nicely.

 

5 COMMENTS

  1. Why do posts sometimes show straight away while at other times they disappear for quite some time before showing?

    I find it very difficult to fit into a conversation with the delay in posting.

  2. Government’s out of touch policy of winding down Kiwirail Provincial freight services is really causing a major problem so fix the rail everywhere and use it you dumb Government! – All these following articles tell the story – Log Trucks are now increasing and wrecking our roads and peoples lives.

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/national/programmes/morningreport/audio/201799532/residents-want-action-on-logging-truck-accidents

    Residents want action on logging truck accidents – 5th May 2016.

    They want rail to take the logs.

    Residents of a winding Whangarei road where log trucks keep crashing are worried there will soon be a fatality.

    · Listen (duration 4′ :18″)

    · Download: Ogg  |  MP3

    And this was Northand last month also!!!

    http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/regional/302158/'arrogant-truck-drivers'-making-roads-unsafe

    ‘Arrogant truck drivers’ making roads unsafe

    11:07 am on 23 April 2016

    Logging trucks taking corners too fast are causing people to live in fear, a Whangarei woman says.

    There have been four forestry deaths this year.

    Photo: 123RF

    Three logging trucks have rolled on bends in Whangarei last week and police said speed and possibly fatigue were factors in the crashes.

    Kim Simpson, who lives above a blind bend on Patutahi Road, said at least three people had been run off the road by log trucks, including her husband on his quad bike, and the rural delivery contractor.

    She said the trucks swung out wide onto the wrong side of the road to take the bend at 40 kilometres per hour, when they should be doing no more than 20 to give oncoming traffic a change to dodge them.

    Mrs Simpson said the local postie drove into trees in a paddock and her husband was able to veer onto a narrow verge, but on the other side of the bend there was a steep drop – and a crash there would likely be fatal.

    She said there should be a speed limit of 20km per hour on the bend and the many others like it.

    Meanwhile, a resident of Portland near Whangarei said arrogant truck drivers were making Northland roads increasingly unsafe for other road-users.

    Debbie Pitman said the intersection of Portland Road with State Highway 1 had always been an accident black spot.

    But with growing numbers of log-trucks on already congested roads, she said the situation had become a nightmare.

    Mrs Pitman said she sat at the intersection for 10 minutes one morning this week, waiting for a chance to turn right.

    But a log truck pulled up on her left, blocking her view and she had to wait another 10 minutes, to get onto the highway.

    She said she tooted at the driver, and he responded with an obscene hand gesture.

    Mrs Pitman said there would be 100 more trucks on the highway come spring, when KiwiRail scrapped the freight train that takes logs to the chipmill at Portland.

    And in HB Councils want to take the Mothballed line and use it to!!!

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay-today/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503462&objectid=11631477

    HB Today.
    Council negotiating to set up rail link
    By jonathan dine

    12:00 PM Saturday Apr 30, 2016 Add a comment

    There is still life left in the Napier-Wairoa rail line discussion.

    Hawke’s Bay Regional Council is entering into contractual negotiations with KiwiRail to re-establish a rail link.

    The regional council has completed a feasibility study on a proposed log freight rail service.

    A statement released yesterday said following a public-excluded meeting on April 20, the regional council decided to enter negotiations with KiwiRail for the rail company to operate a log freight service between Wairoa and Napier on behalf of the regional council.

    Napier councillor and chairman of regional transport committee Alan Dick said that after years of constant lobbying it was “marvellous” to see it come to fruition.

    “There is still some fine-tuning to do so it’s not an absolute but I expect it will happen.”

    The rail connection was mothballed in December 2012 following major washouts on the line and the subsequent cost of repairs.

    Mr Dick said the rail line could be hauling logs as early as next year.

    “The harvests are sustainable at a high level for at least 20-30 years, so it’s a long-term project with major long-term implications.”

    Mr Dick said that taking trucks off the “difficult” State Highway 2 would save lives and reduce injuries. “Not to say this will put truckies out of business, in fact quite the contrary.”

    He said the rail was expected to carry half the export log harvest, the rest by road.

    The number of round trips they could make would also increase from one to about four.

    “There is also a big job for truckies to transport logs from the harvest site into the log hub in Wairoa.”

    Mr Dick said the track to Wairoa was in pretty good condition and council would foot the bill for yearly maintenance, expected to be in the vicinity of $400,000 to $500,000 a year.

    “Revenue will cover all costs in the initial years and looking forward it should generate pretty good profits,” he said.

    “With the rocket lab venture in Mahia there is considerable potential for tourist excursions, and these done by rail make that an even more attractive proposition.”

    In 2014, the council allocated $5.46 million to potentially underwrite a freight service.

    The council will also be negotiating with customers who could benefit from a rail service through to Napier and the port.

    “The council has taken into consideration the large quantities of timber coming from forest-harvesting in the Wairoa District over the next two decades,” council chairman Fenton Wilson said.

    – Hawkes Bay Today

    By jonathan dine

    May 3, 2016

    http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/2289904-135/councillors-say-roading-maintenance-not-good

    gisborneherald.co.nz

    Councillors say roading maintenance not good enough
    Published: May 2, 2016 11:18AM

    Question over whether level of service is diminishing.

    THE past year has been a huge learning curve for the Tairawhiti Roads joint venture, but the community is being asked for a bit more time to get into full gear.

    “Just give us a little longer,” Dave Hadfield, general manager of year-old Tairawhiti Roads, asked of councillors complaining about the quality of service.

    “We’re nearly there but there is still a lot to learn.”

    A joint venture between Gisborne District Council and the New Zealand Transport Agency, Tairawhiti Roads was launched a year ago to manage highways and local roads throughout the region. It oversees:

    • The northern (East Coast) roading region, which has since last October been maintained by Australia-based Services South East (SSE), which won the five-year $59.3m contract at the expense of former contractor Fulton Hogan, which had a base and staff in Gisborne.

    • The western region, maintained under a $70.8m contract won by the only applicant, Downer, which has come under fire for moves like removing resident roadmen from vulnerable inland areas.

    At the time the contracts were awarded, district councillors — especially those from rural wards — expressed reservations about whether the maintenance services would be up to scratch.

    Plenty of complaints
    At an infrastructure meeting last week councillors Pat Seymour (Tawhiti-Uawa ward) and Bill Burdett (Matakaoa-Waiapu) said they believed they were not up to scratch and they had plenty of complaints to prove it.

    Potholes not being fixed and metal not being applied to roads or graded were just a couple of the problems faced by road users in rural areas, they said.

    “If a problem occurs, we seem to be relying on a councillor sending in a disaster photo rather the issue having been seen and dealt with by workers who are constantly on our roads, as they used to be,” Mrs Seymour said.

    “It has been six months since those contracts came into being and the time for learning should have been and gone,” Mr Burdett said.

    “It should now be time for doing the job and doing it properly.”

    Duing the recent series of more than 20 community consultation meetings, roads had come up time and time again and it was “really disappointing” to find people’s concerns were not being addressed, Mrs Seymour said.

    “It seems like we spend an awful lot of time on processing information when we might be better just to send a truck up there and get it done.”

    Their complaints were echoed by fellow rural councillors Graeme Thomson (Waipaoa) and Roger Haisman (Taruheru-Patutahi), who said serious rockfalls were not cleared for days.

    “There is a woman in my ward who, even though she is a bit older, is having to clear rocks off the road herself, something she has never had to do before,” Mr Haisman said.

    “There need to be eyes on the road all the time to deal with issues as they should be dealt with.”

    Problems that in earlier years had been restricted to the winter months had been emerging right throughout this last summer, Mr Thomson said.

    “This is coming from across the district so we have to query whether our level of service is diminishing.”

  3. If NZ wont use safe voter checking during our General Elections and most other countries including our trading partners including is seen here to have embraced our new verifiable systems then we should protect their interests here in NZ by using the VVPAT verifiable Voting Paper Audit trail systems too?
    Otherwise we are again seen as lacking in our security of our systems as government are right now pouring $125 million into our Cyber crime system but nothing to protect corrupt Political elections????

    Chronology of events leading to the use of VVPAT Verifiable Voting Paper Audit trail.

    http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/efeatures.aspx?relid=104462

    v In All Party Meeting held on 4th October 2010, there was a broad consensus among Political Parties about the continued use of Electronic Voting Machines and several Political Parties suggested that the possibility of incorporating a “Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail” should be explored.

    v The Election Commission referred the matter to the Expert Committee to examine the possibility of a paper trail and also directed the manufacturers i.e. Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore (BEL) and Electronics Corporation of India Limited, Hyderabad (ECIL) to develop a prototype of VVPAT system.

    v On the recommendation of Technical Experts Committee, a field trail was conducted in Thiruvananthapuram, Delhi, Jaisalmer, Cherapunjee and Leh in the month of July 2011 in the presence and participation of all stakeholders including general voters, national and state political parties, civil society organizations and media.

    v After incorporation of the changes recommended after the first field trial , a second field trial of prototype VVPAT system was held in Delhi, Thiruvananthapuram, Leh, Jaisalmer and Cherapunjee in July-August, 2012. The Technical Expert Committee approved the final design of the VVPAT units in its meeting held on 19th February, 2013.

    v The Government of India, vide their notification, dated 14th august 2013, has amended the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, enabling the Commission to use VVPAT with electronic voting machines..

    v For the first time Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) with Electronic Voting Machines was used for the Noksen Assembly seat in Tuensang district of Nagaland in September, 2013.

    v In a ruling in October 2013, the Supreme Court (SC), in the case of Subramanian Swamy vs Election Commission of India (ECI), has held that VVPAT (Vote Verifiable Paper Audit Trial) is “indispensable for free and fair elections” and thus, directed the ECI to equip Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) with VVPAT systems to “ensure accuracy of the VVPAT system”.

    v The Supreme Court directed the Election Commission to introduce a paper trail in EVMs, in a phased manner, for the next general elections in 2014, saying it will ensure free and fair polls. The apex court also directed the Centre to provide financial assistance for introducing Vote Verifier Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) system.

    v In pursuance of the Supreme Court order, the Election Commission ordered VVPAT systems to be used in the New Delhi assembly for the upcoming assembly elections. The pilot project was launched across 186 polling stations that will cater to 1,18,596 registered voters.

    v The Election Commission also instructed the Mizoram election department to use Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail System (VVPAT) system in 10 Assembly constituencies during recently held elections to the 40-member state legislature. VVPAT was also introduced in one constituency each in Delhi (as mentioned above), Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan.

    The Commission will need about 14 lakh VVPAT machines to introduce the system in all 543 Lok Sabha constituencies during forthcoming Lok Sabha elections . However, the Commission is apprehensive that so many machines can be produced and testing them in such a short duration of time. The Commission feels that covering all Parliamentary constituencies may not be possible before 2019 General Elections. The Commission has stated that approximately 1500 crore Rupees would be required for procuring VVPAT and installing it at all polling booths across the country .

    ——————————————————————————–

    Safe Voting technology NZ has legislated against our right to have used during our General Elections.

    https://www.google.co.nz/?gws_rd=ssl#q=voter+verified+paper+audit+trail+vvpat+system

    Voter-verified paper audit trail – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter-verified_paper_audit_trail

    Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) or verified paper record (VPR) is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballotless voting system. A VVPAT is …

    ‎History – ‎Application – ‎Challenges and concerns with VVPAT – ‎Legal questions

    vvpat – electronic vote and Democracy

    http://www.electronic-vote.org/TERMINI/vvpat_en.php

    VVPAT is the acronym of “Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail” and VVBP is the … that shows the elector his/her vote as it is being entered into the electoral system.

    Voter Verified Paper Record Legislation | Verified Voting

    http://www.verifiedvoting.org › Resources

    The most important aspect of a voting system, with respect to accuracy, … paper ballot, or at least a voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT), for every vote cast.

    Vvpat: Latest News, Photos, Videos on Vvpat – NDTV.COM

    http://www.ndtv.com › Topic

    The voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) system will be used for the first time in … Mizoram polls: Voter Paper Audit Trail system performance not satisfactory.

    Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail; Training Video – YouTube

    ▶ 5:09

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6qTWxhva5w

    Nov 22, 2013 – Uploaded by tme

    This video is for election managers particularly polling personnel. This explains setting up of VVPAT, its …

    What Is a Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT)? – Voting Machines …

    votingmachines.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=000291

    Apr 23, 2008 – 21, 2006 regarding Diebold’s AccuVote TSX electronic voting system which includes a printer module for voter verifiable paper audit trails.

    [PDF]Comparing the Auditability of Optical Scan, Voter Verified Paper Audit …

    chil.rice.edu/research/pdf/GogginBGRM_08.pdf

    by SN Goggin – ‎Cited by 13 – ‎Related articles

    (VVPAT) modules or optical scan ballot systems, we examined the usability of an audit or recount on these … implementation of a Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail.

    [PDF]An Examination of the Auditability of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail …

    http://www.accurate-voting.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/…/evt07-goggin.pdf\

    by SN Goggin – ‎Cited by 18 – ‎Related articles

    known as the VVPAT, or Voter Verified Paper Audit. Trail. These add-on devices are intended to provide a … implementation of VVPAT systems to accompany.

    What is Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) ? – Political Corner

    http://www.elections.in/political…/what-is-vvpat-voter-verified-paper-audit-trai...

    Sep 22, 2014 – Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) is a method of providing feedback to voters. It’s completely an independent verification system.

    Instant Feedback To Voters Through VVPAT – PIB English Features

    http://www.pib.nic.in/newsite/efeatures.aspx?relid=104462

    Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballot less voting system. VVPAT is intended as an independent …

    ——————————————————————————–

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  4. Rail worked well in NZ once, it can do so again. A government with some commonsense would be nice for a change….
    Cleangreen perhaps you could run, you seem to know your stuff.

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