The Daily Blog Open Mic – Wednesday 28th February 2018

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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.

EDITORS NOTE: – By the way, here’s a list of shit that will get your comment dumped. Sexist language, homophobic language, racist language, anti-muslim hate, transphobic language, Chemtrails, 9/11 truthers, climate deniers, anti-fluoride fanatics, anti-vaxxer lunatics and ANYONE that links to fucking infowar.  

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5 COMMENTS

  1. https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-28-02-2018/

    28 February 2018 at 8:54 am

    Here is where the Labour coalition Government are going wrong using Shane Jones as a hinge pin for the regions;, as he is fucking it all up now tter we sent to Jones and the other Labour coalition Ministers.
    and causing the Labour/NZ First coalition very serious problems read this below;

    Public COMMUNITY letter;
    27th February 2018.
    Hon’ Shane Jones, Minister for Regional Development & other Ministers.
    Dear Ministers,
    ————————————————————————————————————
    Dear Minister Shane Jones; please read the Gisborne newspaper report today about your statements about rail while you was in Gisborne last Friday firstly please, (see below); – you now see that there was bad blood left in Gisborne after your offhand statement was made wrongly; Re: Mixed Signals — “Minister yet to receive strong case for Wairoa to Gisborne rail line”, February 24 story.

    That statement was patently untrue that we had not previously sent your Party NZF any “strong case for Wairoa to Gisborne rail line”.
    Our associated groups from HB and Gisborne have both seriously committed along with the HBRC a case for bidding on taking the line over in March 2013 with a rail operations group who formed a company called Gisborne Rail Ltd.

    NZFirst MP Denis O’Rourke placed this item on the Question period to Gerry Brownlee as Minister of transport and MP Brownlee offered to accept the case if the offer was so worthwhile.

    You can ask Winston Peters about all the times he has been to Gisborne (three since 2014) attending our rail conferences and he as NZF leader supported the rail line to Gisborne so you need to school up on the past activities Mr Jones please.

    The Gisborne herald had the large coverage of the rail Forum we held in November 2016 where Winston Peters along with Maori Party Co-leader Marama Fox and Labour spokesperson on transport Sue Moroney all spoke solidly in support for return of rail to Gisborne so ask Winston about the 1hour speech he gave in support for rail also then at the “Tairawhiti Rail Forum” that day please.

    http://gisborneherald.co.nz/localnews/2535803-135/three-parties-say-fix-rail

    Gillian Ward has been deeply involved with this community for many years and is very well respected, so you need to take her words seriously and come to Gisborne and meet with the real folks of this region, (not just those anti-rail lobbyists you were “captured by” several remarked here, as we all will show you deep passion for returning rail to this the most isolated community in NZ of its size sir.

    We now challenge you to come back to meet with our associated groups who want to show you our strong case for restoring the Wairoa to Gisborne rail line.

    Consider this as an official request for you to arrange to come and attend our conference to show our side of the story of rail here in Tairawhiti.

    We await your acceptance.

    Founding members of the Gisborne Rail Action Group since 2009.
    Warmest regards,

    —————————————————————————–

    Article referred to is here that featured in the Gisborne Herald yesterday 27/2/2018.

    http://gisborneherald.co.nz/opinion/3251978-135/shafted-by-eastland-group-lobbyists

    February 27, 2018
    gisborneherald.co.nz
    COLUMN – Shafted by Eastland Group lobbyists
    by Gillian Ward Published: February 27, 2018 2:14PM
    Gillian Ward is Chairwoman of the Gisborne Rail Action Group
    Re: Mixed Signals — Minister yet to receive strong case for Wairoa to Gisborne rail line, February 24 story.
    The Minister actually has received a strong business case for reinstating the rail line between Wairoa and Gisborne. In response to his request in November, a proposal was delivered to him two weeks ago. So, it is very disappointing that in the national launch of the Provincial Growth Fund on Friday neither restoration, nor a feasibility study, was announced for the Wairoa-Gisborne railway line.
    Rather than being let down because of the lack of a “strong case”, the Gisborne residents who have marched and signed a petition requesting that the government restore the rail line, and businesses who need rail to move their fresh produce to Napier’s export container port, have been shafted by a small handful of Gisborne business leaders.
    These few people who should be representing the best interests of the region are instead conflicted. They are focused solely on the expansion plans of Eastland Port, and planning for large profits, and they have the ear of the politicians.
    Rail freight of containers of fresh chilled produce destined for export from Napier’s container port will provide flexibility, be competitive, and offer security of freight transport with an additional land transport option for our isolated region. Huge container ships and multiple container cranes handle enormous stacks of containers at Napier Port’s deep-water port.
    Eastland Port on the other hand has a totally different situation, being located in a silty river mouth, which is carefully dredged to attain the depth required for log ships, while minimising disturbance of sensitive marine habitats. There is much less capacity to handle containers.
    Hon Shane Jones is aware of this conflict of interest, and although he has stated that, “There’s political will to back rail”, he would prefer that the community sort out our priorities, rather than the government imposing decisions.
    Mayor Foon has stated that Gisborne needs all the transport modes — roads, rail, coastal shipping and air transport. The residents and business community have indicated, with a march of 2000 people led by Mayor Foon along Grey Street to the Railway Station in April 2012, a petition of 10,480 signatures presented by Mayor Foon to Hon Anne Tolley at Parliament in May 2012, fundraising $11,000 for BERL Economics to review KiwiRail’s May 2012 analysis of the economics of the railway line, public meetings, letters to the Gisborne Herald editor, articles in The Gisborne Herald, presentations to the District Council, as well as business case analyses of the commercial viability of the line, that reopening the railway line would be well-supported by the community and businesses.
    It is a small city characteristic that influential leaders can be conflicted, wearing more than one “hat”, and the aspirations of the Gisborne community to restore our other land transport option have been well and truly undermined by a few people determined to scuttle these aspirations.
    Gisborne had to campaign hard to be included in the Government’s national rail-building effort in the late 1920s. It was a hard-won battle and a challenging line to complete, but the rail line was opened in 1942 amid jubilation from the Gisborne community.
    Now that we have the line, it is a gift from an earlier generation. The cost to repair the storm damage is minimal compared to the value of the asset. Imagine the cost to build a railway line through the Wharerata hills now!
    Please Minister Jones, hear the voice of the Gisborne community and filter out the noise from the Eastland Group lobbyists!

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