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Category Archives: New Zealand

New Zealand to enshrine protections for pill testing in world first – The Guardian

Posted: December 3, 2021 at 5:03 am

New Zealand has enshrined protections for drug checking in law, in what advocates say is a world first.

The countrys new law to protect pill testing where organisations chemically test illicit drugs to monitor for dangerous contaminants has been voted in by the government, and is expected to pass into law next week.

Were the first country to specifically make legislation to protect drug checking, said Wendy Allison, the managing director of drug-checking organisation KnowYourStuffNZ. While a number of countries, such as the Netherlands and Portugal have longstanding drug-checking services, many operate in a legal grey zone, she said whereas New Zealands laws would explicitly protect the practice.

There are a number of countries that have been doing it under various different formats for a lot of different years. In the US and in the UK They all operate in a legal grey area, that theyre not explicitly illegal. In the Netherlands it is supported, but its not legislated to protect the people who do it or the clients. Thats the difference here, is that we now have legislation that facilitates it.

New Zealand had temporarily allowed legal drug testing, but the new legislation makes it permanent, and allocates $800,000 of government funding to help carry it out.

This legislation is about keeping people safe, the New Zealand health minister, Andrew Little, said in a statement. The drug-checking services we have had running have detected and intercepted potentially deadly substances circulating in the community.

Little said that last summer, 40% of MDMA tested had turned out to be eutylone, a potentially dangerous synthetic cathinone also known as bath salts, and linked to deaths and hospitalisations. He said research by Victoria University for the Ministry of Health found 68% of festival-goers who used drug-checking services said they changed their behaviour once they saw the results.

Across the Tasman, calls for pill testing after drug-related festival deaths in New South Wales received a cool reception from politicians. Australian data released last year found nearly two-thirds of the Australian public were in favour of pill testing at music festivals, but the policy had been rebuffed by leaders including the former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and the Victorian Labor government.

Pill testing had been repeatedly called for in coronial inquiries, including this year in Victoria, in an inquest into deaths of four men and a boy who thought they were taking MDMA.

The conservative approach is, well, just dont take drugs then, but its plainly obvious that that is not stopping people from doing it, Allison said. What we do is provide more information that helps people assess the risks more accurately and in a lot of cases that is making people approach drugs more safely, whether that be not taking them at all, or taking less, or not taking them with other substances.

The funding announced for drug-checking services at festivals will save lives, the Green party drug reform spokesperson, Chle Swarbrick, said in a statement. However, its just a start.

The party is advocating for $3m in funding for drug testing services and premises around the country. Its ludicrous to pretend drug consumption only happens at music festivals and not also bars, clubs and weekend parties Everyone who needs these services should have access.

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How NFTs are changing the New Zealand art world – Stuff.co.nz

Posted: at 5:03 am

Non-fungible tokens are changing the way some artists work, but theres still confusion and debate about how and when the technology may start to significantly alter the professional art market.

NFTs are unique digital collectibles that run on blockchain technology, operating similar to Bitcoin, and work by digitally tying ownership to pieces of art, videos, music, memes and real estate.

Some unique NFTs are selling for millions of dollars in marketplaces online, similar to art. One NFT artwork by Beeple sold for $69 million (USD) at auction at Christies in March, which led to the artist gaining a following. This year French online art database Artprice said the global public auction market for fine art was undergoing a paradigm shift with NFTs.

In Aotearoa, some artists have started creating artworks and then selling them as an NFT.

Even former All Blacks star Dan Carter is getting in on the action by co-creating an NFT studio and marketplace called Glorious, which will deal in exclusive works of high-calibre art, according to Newsroom. Already the likes of Dick Frizzell, Lisa Reihana, Karl Maughan, Colin McCahon, Neil Finn, Six60 and the Rita Angus Estate have been linked to it.

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Auckland-based artist Gerry Parke started dabbling in the world of NFTs as a result of lockdown.

READ MORE:* Sale of Adrian Burr and Peter Tatham's art collection set to be NZ's highest-grossing auction* Dan Carter kicks off cryptocurrency art investing platform Glorious* The Detail: NFTs - What are they and why is this new technology taking the internet by storm?* Kiwi app generates over $7 million selling digital 3D sculptures using NFTs* Non-fungible tokens are useful, innovativeand frothy

And overseas, celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Kim Kardashian are involved in NFTs. Despite this, they are yet to significantly affect the burgeoning Kiwi art market, those in the arts sector say.

Its because nobody has really had a good go at it here, said Charles Ninow, head of art at Webbs auction house, adding the company was following international NFT developments. Its going to get much bigger.

Ninow said NFTs would be extremely important in the future. With the increasing popularity of Web3 or Web 3.0 the idea of a decentralised version of the internet based on public blockchains NFTs would communicate social status in the same way customised online avatars did for things like computer and video games.

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Charles Ninow, head of art at Webbs, says NFTs will be extremely important in the future.

The biggest hurdle to overcome for their wider significance was NFTs being seen as valuable, Ninow said. This could not easily happen, in the same way it was impossible to predict when the next great New Zealand novel or film would be released. It will happen. People are ready. But its got to be compelling.

In their genesis, most NFTs were worth very little money, but had since gained value as others were developed, Ninow said. Theyve become this micro-economy that somewhat mimics the art market.

NFTs done well offered some sort of commentary on the world and structures people lived in and with, he said. In the same way paintings were worth more than the sum of their physical materials, NFTs were a natural fit for carrying artistic ideas.

They were also a digital expression of status and wealth, in the same way a Lamborghini or Rolex was physically.

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Ben Plumbly from Art+Object says theres no current re-sale market for NFTs in New Zealand.

Art+Object art director Ben Plumbly said for traditional auction houses, NFTs represented the great unknown. As it stood, there was no resale market in Aotearoa for NFTs through traditional channels. There was already little-to-no secondary market for digital, video and photographic artworks, he said.

Value of any art was inextricable with rarity, Plumbly said, which was the obstacle for NFTs to overcome. There were also major hurdles in the digital arena around the ability of NFT marketplaces and studios to satisfy queries around rarity, duplicity and authorship, he said.

With NFTs, there has been some international concern about theft, with some artists works being put up for sale in marketplaces as minted (or official) without them knowing. Theres also been worry about the massive environmental impact of NFTs via the process of mining. And some people have described NFTs as pyramid or ponzi schemes.

Plumbly said the New Zealand art market was hermetic. New Zealanders were infatuated with New Zealand-ness, which is why it may have stalled with taking up NFTs behind the likes of renowned offshore art businesses Christies and Sothebys.

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I care because you do, by Gerry Parke, was for sale physically and as an NFT on the OpenSea marketplace.

Gerry Parke is an Auckland-based visual artist who said NFTs represented a new artistic frontier for artists. While he was no expert, he started dabbling in the medium during lockdown.

With an exhibition at Aucklands Whitespace Contemporary Art, Parke made one-off NFT versions of paintings for-sale physically, so buyers could get the NFT and artwork together. Some other visual artists were destroying physical artworks they made into NFTs, so the asset only existed in the latter form.

Digital artists had historically found it hard to be taken seriously, he said. NFTs were opening up a new market and audience for all artists trying to find ways to capitalise on the momentum, he said. There are so many models.

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Who is New Zealands new opposition leader Christopher Luxon? – The Guardian

Posted: at 5:03 am

New Zealand has a new leader for its opposition, and the party hopes a new challenger to the enduring popularity of Labours Jacinda Ardern. The National party is pinning its hopes on Christopher Luxon, a former airline boss and a teetotaller, country music fan, waterskier, relative political unknown and somewhat unusually for New Zealand politics an evangelical Christian.

Luxon is the latest in a string of National leaders and will be tasked with uniting a party long plagued by poor polling, minor scandals and political infighting.

In their new leader, the party will hope to recapture the glory days of its long reign under the hugely popular John Key. Prime minister for eight years, Key was known for his affable, jocular and pragmatic persona. In his first appearance as leader, Luxon sought to channel a similar everyman image asked to introduce himself to New Zealanders, he said he was a family man with a fondness for DIY. I love waterskiing and I love country music and thats not cool to say and I apologise to New Zealand for saying it. But I do like it.

Luxon had the former prime ministers backing for the leadership role, and like Key, emerged from a high-profile role in the private sector he was CEO of Air New Zealand between 2012 and 2019 rather than devoting his professional life to gradually coming up through the political ranks. Those years at the helm of the national airline have given him a degree of name recognition, and despite being a newcomer to New Zealand politics the MP consistently registers in preferred prime minister polling.

His political inexperience, however, could be his biggest challenge: Luxon has been in parliament for just one year. In that time, hes kept a relatively low profile and as a result, has little experience dealing with heated controversy, or a variety of substantive policy work, or being a spokesperson for the party.

Hes very green, says political commentator and former national government staffer Ben Thomas.

We just dont really know much about him or who he is, said Dr Lara Greaves, associate director of the Public Policy Institute.

Thomas said that while Luxon was often heralded as the next Key, it wasnt yet clear whether he would have the keen political instincts that made his predecessor so popular.

Luxon hasnt had the time to demonstrate the talents that Key clearly signalled to the public in the four years before he became leader theres no indication either way as to whether Luxon is or is not a supremely talented, natural politician, he said. We just dont know.

Supporters will also be hoping, however, that that inexperience could also work in his favour. As a candidate, Luxon brings none of the baggage or history of losses that a number of others on Nationals frontbench would come carrying. After farewelling so many leaders in the last four years, the party desperately needs a fresh, solid face one not associated with the chaos, infighting and toxic interpersonal politics that have plagued its caucus.

Luxon is an evangelical Christian, a relatively rare entity among New Zealand premiers, and his faith has been enough of a curiosity or potential electability obstacle that he devoted a chunk of his maiden speech to addressing it.

It seems it has become acceptable to stereotype those who have a Christian faith in public life as being extreme, so I will say a little about my Christian faith. It has anchored me, given my life purpose and shaped my values, he said.

My faith is personal to me. It is not in itself a political agenda.

Asked again about it in his first press conference as leader, Luxon said: To be honest, my faith has been often misrepresented and portrayed very negatively. What I can tell you is that my faith is actually something that has grounded me. Its given me context and put me into [the] context [of] something bigger than myself but I want to be very clear, we have separation between politics and faith.

Christian leaders are by no means unheard of in New Zealand politics, but over the past two decades its elected prime ministers have not been overtly religious. Both Helen Clark and John Key were openly agnostic. Ardern, while raised Mormon, left the church as a young adult, after disagreeing with the churchs stance on LGBTQ issues.

Religious New Zealanders are a steadily shrinking portion of the population in the last census, its largest faith affiliation was no religion at all, accounting for 48.5% of the population. That portion is much higher than Australia, the US and UK, and has risen steadily. Christians of various denominations made up about 38% of the population.

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Who is New Zealands new opposition leader Christopher Luxon? - The Guardian

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10 ways New Zealand employers can turn the ‘great resignation’ into a ‘great recruitment’ – The Conversation AU

Posted: at 5:03 am

Internationally, and especially within the US, there has been a lot of talk about the so-called great resignation the trend seeing large numbers of workers leaving their jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic, having reevaluated their priorities or simply because there are more opportunities than ever before.

While there isnt enough firm data to confirm this is happening in New Zealand yet, there is little doubt a chronic skills shortage has given workers more bargaining power. Perhaps not surprisingly, research shows more and more workers are at least thinking about either changing or quitting their jobs since last year.

But this phenomenon defined as turnover intentions could also fuel what were calling the great recruitment. After all, as physics teaches us, for every action there is a reaction.

Calling it the great recruitment is obviously related to the sheer volume of recruitment activity that logically follows a great resignation. But it is also a reference to the related importance of a positive great recruitment experience for potential employees.

Classic supply and demand principles tell us that if more workers are seeking greener employment pastures, there will be more ready-to-hire talent in the marketplace. For that reason alone, we urge organisations not to consider the great resignation a negative trend in the job market.

Of course, to be successful the great recruitment must be supported by businesses that prioritise the recruitment process, from candidate care to the vetting and hiring team, to the use of technology and protecting the organisations reputation and brand.

Read more: In a lockdown, where does work end and parenting begin? Welcome to the brave new world of zigzag working

However, there are many practices that not only undermine but entirely defeat the positive potential of a great recruitment, including:

ghosting, where candidates apply for a role but get no response or experience a sudden silence part way through the process

posting vague or corny job descriptions customer services expert anyone? that do nothing to excite or provide context for potential applicants

relying too heavily on quasi-scientific personality profile tests and asking questions that are at best tokenistic, at worst discriminatory.

We also see recruitment processes stumble at the last hurdle by engaging in Game of Thrones-style salary negotiations, where candidates feel like theyre challenging a noble family. This is particularly disadvantages women and ethnic minorities.

How then to ensure your organisation is capturing the talent potential released by the great resignation and maximising the employment potential of the great recruitment? Here are our top 10 tips:

Choose your words carefully: write inspiring, authentic job advertisements. If your recruitment team cant do it, get someone who can.

Be realistic: create reasonable candidate specifications wanting extreme levels of skill, attitude and experience is likely put off good candidates.

Canvas others: when designing employee value propositions, get input from recruiters and current employees.

Remember glass houses: recognise there is no such thing as perfect behaviour when using behavioural-based interview questions, especially given the organisation itself may be questionable in some of its conduct.

Consider the context: give due consideration to reference check results if a candidates last boss says he or she was disconnected in the end, perhaps its because they were already in a high state of turnover intention.

Go back to the future: be open to hiring past employees. Initiatives such as alumni programmes can be used to connect with and recruit former employees.

Know your team: be open to conversations about the attributes and attitudes of the person a successful candidate will be reporting to, and the team they will be working with.

Be technology wise: use automated recruitment technology (such as SnapHire, JobAdder or QJumpers) to enhance not replace an integrated people-oriented recruitment experience.

Provide clear pay ranges: if an applicant knows what the pay is from the outset, it saves everyone valuable time and energy.

Be gracious: formally thank all candidates for applying this can help ensure you retain them as future applicants and/or customers.

Read more: The great resignation is a trend that began before the pandemic and bosses need to get used to it

With more talent in the market, those in recruitment will need to sharpen their games. Given much recruitment activity is outsourced and many recruiters will be booming in the current climate, organisational clients should have great expectations of recruitment professionals, too.

Employees face enough challenges in their working lives without having to endure a recruitment experience that is anything less than great.

Finally, the great recruitment must also account for future talent. Before we know it, the Roblox generation will be hitting the workforce, already adept at digital creation and collaboration, and expecting similar things from recruiters.

If we get it right, the great recruitment is a chance for employers to recast the great resignation as an opportunity for everyone to do better now and into the future.

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10 ways New Zealand employers can turn the 'great resignation' into a 'great recruitment' - The Conversation AU

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90 pct of Kiwis getting first COVID-19 vaccine proves New Zealand isn’t a ‘divided nation’ – Grant Robertson – Newshub

Posted: at 5:03 am

Robertson says just a handful of regions are beneath the 90 percent first dose threshold.

"Of the eligible population, we now have 93 percent with a first dose and 87 percent with full vaccination," he said.

"Of the remaining five DHBs still to reach 90 percent first dose, the Lakes DHB has just 785 more vaccinations to go and the West Coast DHB 284 to reach the target."

He says getting more than 90 percent of Kiwis to agree on anything is a "highly unusual achievement", and gives the lie to the insinuation that vaccine mandates have divided New Zealand.

"When we have over 90 percent of New Zealanders with their first dose, I'm simply not gonna accept that we're a divided nation," he said.

"There are people who hold different views about vaccination - people are entitled to hold those different views - but I think as a country we have come together amazingly over the last few months to see those vaccination rates rise.

"We have set up a framework that is designed to keep New Zealanders safe, and I believe we'll do that."

Another 92 new COVID-19 cases were reported in New Zealand on Friday - the lowest daily total in more than a month. Of these, 80 were in Auckland; two in Waikato; five in the Bay of Plenty; two in Taranaki; and one each in Lakes, Northland and Nelson.

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India vs New Zealand 2021: Tim Southee says Wankhede will be `another challenge` in 2nd Test – Zee News

Posted: at 5:03 am

The manner in which the New Zealand lower order, especially the last wicket pair of Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel, batted and helped the team draw the first Test against India at Kanpur gives the impression that the momentum is with the visitors but senior pacer Tim Southee said that is not the case and the Wankhede Test will be a new challenge.

Chasing a target of 284, New Zealand held on to 165/9, surviving around 10 overs with Ravindra and Patel holding the fort and keeping the Indian bowlers at bay. So, does he think momentum is on their side after the draw, Southee was asked during a virtual press conference here on Thursday.

No, I dont think so. We can gain a lot out of our efforts in Kanpur. As a side, we know the last weeks happened, and we know we should take up the next challenge. The last Test was exciting with all three results possible towards the end of day five. It was great for Test cricket and also for the belief in our side to be able to hang on over there. But it`s going to be a new challenge over the coming five days, he said.

With Mumbai experiencing a spell of rain on Wednesday (December 1) and overnight, and more predicted for Friday (December 3), it is believed that the conditions may favour the New Zealand pacers. But Southee said as the pitch was under covers, it is not clear how it will behave.

I guess, the wicket has been under covers for a while now. We have to see how that shapes up tomorrow. Hopefully, Gary (Sneed, New Zealand coach) and Kane (Williamson, NZ skipper) have a look at the wicket later this afternoon. Its a different challenge but we also have to factor in how the wicket would behave for the next five-six days. We have to adapt to it, Southee said.

New Zealand had beaten India in their lone Test at the Wankhede way back in 1988 and Southee said it was good to know the history and that New Zealand had won, otherwise, that was long back and may not have a bearing on the match starting Friday.

Though the New Zealand middle order did not contribute much to the Kanpur Test, Southee said they were not worried. I dont think so. It can be tough in this part of the world to start. There are periods for both sides, its tough. Its not easy to start in these conditions. Taylor is experienced. A lot of guys havent played in these conditions. All are quality players and have shown that they can perform here, he said.

Southee praised youngsters Rachin Ravindra and Ajaz Patel for their courageous batting in the Kanpur Test and said bowlers too had their separate preparation for facing the Indian spinners. Yeah, I think it was a great effort from Rachin to show on his debut. It was great to see him be so calm. He wasnt fazed by the situation or the pressure of the game. Ajaz too, at the start of his international career. That steady head helped. He has played a lot of cricket at the domestic level. It shows you the courage and the belief within the group, he added.

(with IANS inputs)

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Was New Zealand too slow to deploy police and soldiers to the Solomon Islands? – Stuff.co.nz

Posted: at 5:03 am

New Zealands decision to send soldiers and troops to the Solomon Islands to help quell riots shows the country is prepared to follow through on commitments to the region, albeit slowly.

Roughly 15 New Zealand Defence Force personnel were due to travel to the Solomon Islands on Thursday, with a further 50 military and police staff expected to follow at the weekend, according to a statement released by the government late on Wednesday.

The move came 24 hours after the Solomon Islands officially requested help in its capital Honiara, and follows commitments already made by Australia, Fiji and Papua New Guinea to send military or police to support the government.

READ MORE:* Solomon Islands unrest: Defence Force, police to deploy for weeks-long mission* Solomon Islands requests support from NZ - troops assembling at Linton * Three bodies found in burned building as Solomon Islands violence recedes

Anna Powles, senior lecturer at the Centre for Defence and Security at Massey University said New Zealand needs to support the Solomon Islands if it wants to be a good regional partner.

New Zealand has a legacy in the Solomon Islands of supporting peace and security and has been successful at doing that, Powles said.

The country, located around 2000 kilometres north-east of Australia, was rocked by protesters who razed buildings including a hut in the parliamentary grounds and police station, looted stores and caused significant damage to stores and houses.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare last week blamed foreign interference over his governments decision to switch alliances from Taiwan to Beijing for the tensions. But critics also blame the unrest on complaints of a lack of government services and accountability, corruption and foreign workers taking local jobs.

Solomon Islander Transform Aqorau said in a post on the Devpolicy Blog that there was widespread frustration with the national government, the attitude of the Prime Minister and ministers to provincial governments and provincial politicians, and the sense of alienation and disenfranchisement.

Gary Ramage/AP

Locals photograph Australian soldiers and Australian Federal Police as they patrol the streets in Honiara, Solomon Islands, on Sunday.

This is not the first time such tensions have boiled over. New Zealand soldiers were stationed in the Solomon Islands for over a decade as part of a regional assistance mission known as RAMSI. This mission was jointly led by New Zealand and Australia and our soldiers were there until 2017.

New Zealands defence and foreign policy focus remains on the Pacific region. Last month, Foreign Affairs Minister Nanaia Mahuta in a speech reframed the countrys policy towards the Pacific to focus on resilience from a previous reset. At the time, she re-emphasised the region was a priority and that the country would be working to respond to the needs of the countries as they saw them.

Powles said the countrys focus and this came through in Mahutas speech has seemingly been on Polynesia. New Zealands going into the Solomon Islands, which is in Melanesia, is an opportunity to demonstrate the countrys commitment to the whole region.

Australia needs to know that it can rely on New Zealand to step up in the region as well, she said.

New Zealand and Australia have been charting very different foreign policy paths in recent years with Australia increasingly taking a stronger stance on the actions of China and aligning itself with the US. Most recently, this has seen Australia sign up to the AUKUS security partnership with both the US and the UK. This move led to questions about New Zealands role as an ally of Australia and what that looks like in future.

The decision to wait for a formal request for help from the Solomon Islands has led to the deployment coming days after other partners in the region sent personnel.

Robert Ayson, Professor of Strategic Studies at Victoria University, said he can accept that the country might be slow to respond to issues further afield such as in the South China Sea but that the country needs to take a leadership role in the Pacific.

If this is an area that is important to us, then our actions need to reflect that, said Ayson. Furthermore such missions are in the countrys national interest as common missions and commitments in the South Pacific, including on security matters are a big part of the glue that keeps the New Zealand-Australia alliance relationship together.

The Solomon Islands has significant development issues. According to the Asia Development Bank, around 13 per cent of the population suffers from undernourishment.

Josie Pagani, director of the Council for International Development, said the decision to send in defence personnel and police is being welcomed by the aid sector who have local partners that in some cases have been targeted.

Security is the number one priority, she said. When you're doing a project, you can't do anything if you don't have secure streets and cant protect people.

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Virat Kohli returns as India take on New Zealand in second test – The Tribune

Posted: at 5:03 am

Mumbai, december 2

India will hope the return of regular captain Virat Kohli would prove to be the difference for the hosts against New Zealand when the worlds two top-ranked Test sides clash in the second and final match at the Wankhede Stadium from Friday.

Debutant Rachin Ravindra and No. 11 batter Ajaz Patel combined in a last-wicket stand for New Zealand during the last session in Kanpur to see out the final 52 balls to deny India victory and leave the series evenly poised.

While Kohlis return after a rest will be a welcome boost for the second-ranked Test sides batting, it will also leave them with a selection headache.

Seeking best combo deal

Kohli indicated that they may field an extra pacer to exploit the likely change in conditions if persistent rainfall continues.

Mumbai is witnessing heavy unseasonal rain which has caused a sharp drop in temperature. The overcast conditions would bring seam and swing bowlers into the equation due to underlying moisture content.

There is a weather change and we have to keep that into account and pick the combination accordingly, Kohli said, hinting that the three-spinner strategy could be revised for this game.

It could pave the way for Mohammed Sirajs inclusion in the playing 11.

At the end of the day, you cannot assume weather conditions will remain like this over the five days. So, we need to see what bowling combination should be picked that can tackle in different conditions. If we reach a common understanding and if everyone agrees, we go in with that combination, Kohli said.

Also, calls have grown to drop either Ajinkya Rahane, who led India in Kanpur, or Cheteshwar Pujara both of whom have been short of runs and allow the in-form Shreyas Iyer to retain his place. The captain, however, didnt give any definitive answer about Rahanes place in the side. Agencies

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New Zealand city becomes one of first in world to introduce a climate tax for residents – The Independent

Posted: at 5:03 am

One of New Zealands largest cities, Auckland, has proposed a climate tax for its residents in what is likely the worlds first such tariff. The proceeds will go into the citys fund to support efforts to reduce emissions and generally make the city greener.

Auckland mayor Phil Goff announced the plan on Wednesday, and said that homeowners will be taxed on average a little over one New Zealand dollar per week to contribute towards an eventual billion-dollar climate fund set up to overhaul the citys infrastructure, including decarbonisation of the transport system and adding more trees.

The new fund aims to decarbonise the ferry fleet, which accounts for 21 per cent of Aucklands emissions from public transport, add more buses and routes for pedestrians and cyclists, besides adding trees and green covers in the city.

The proposed fund will be partially funded by the proceeds of this tax, called the Climate Action Targeted Rate, which will raise around $574m over 10 years, with another $471m coming from central government co-funding and other sources, according to details shared by Mr Goff.

The tax rate for a person with a median-value home worth NZ $1.18m (606,520) would be around NZ $1.10 (57p) a week.

The Climate Action Targeted Rate adds weight, meaning and mana to our Climate Emergency declaration and will guarantee direct and ring-fenced funding to cut our emissions up until 2032, including a more than half-billion-dollar boost to deliver new and frequent bus services across the region, Mr Goff said.

While nobody relishes the idea of paying more rates, weve heard clearly from Aucklanders that they want us to do more on climate change and to improve our public transport system. We must be able to say to future generations that we used every tool in the toolbox to tackle the climate crisis, the mayor added.

The rate is a prominent part of the mayoral proposal that will be voted on next year. Mr Goff said the main motives of the climate rate especially the ones related to public transportation will also help residents in other ways, like cheaper travels.

This would mean 170,000 more Aucklanders 10 per cent of the population not previously well served by public transport would live within 500 metres of a frequent bus route, he said. Encouraging a shift to public transport is the most effective way of reducing transport emissions, which make up more than 40 per cent of our citys emissions profile.

Mr Goff added that the citys emissions are not remotely tracking in line with our target to reduce emissions by 50 per cent by 2030, and so these measures cannot be delayed.

Long after Covid-19 ceases to be a major threat to us, there will be the ongoing crisis caused by climate change. We cant afford to put off any longer the action needed to avoid a climate disaster, he added.

While taxes related to climate change are in place in many countries and mostly exist in the form of carbon tax levied on corporates on the basis of their greenhouse gas emissions, Auckland authorities believe this kind of taxing policy is one of the first in the world, and definitely a first for the country.

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IND vs NZ: ‘It’s so lopsided it’s not funny’: New Zealand great slams team set-up, says ‘stop hiding in the grass’ – Hindustan Times

Posted: at 5:03 am

Former New Zealand cricketer Ian Smith, while analysing the side's bowling performance in the ongoing Test match against India, has spoken in extremely harsh criticism of their set-up back home, saying that they need to get over their over-reliance on pace.

The comment comes after the Black Caps' spin department failed to make a considerable impact in the 1st Test in Kanpur, while the pace battery continued to impress. Of all 17 wickets that India lost 2 innings, only 3 of them were bagged by the spin department. To make things worse, only one spinner in Ajaz Patel was successful as Rachin Ravindra and Will Somerville remained wicketless.

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While speaking on the show Mornings with Ian Smith on SENZ, Smith lashed out on the Kiwis by asking them to stop hiding in the grass and develop spin bowling.

Surviving today is temporarily sealing the cracks. We have to get more revolutions on the ball and stop hiding in the grass. It's so lopsided in their favor it's not funny. Just as it is for the quicks when we host teams here. Unfortunately, though for us, that is now coming to our detriment in the subcontinent, and we'll always do so unless we learn to play it better, Ian Smith said on Mornings with Ian Smith on SENZ.

He added that the Kane Williamson-led side have pacer Time Southee and Kyle Jamieson to thank for.

It's a hell of a compliment to Tim Southee and Kyle Jamieson that we're actually still playing this Test match. Our three spinners bowled 102 overs. For India, 10 out of the 11(at the time of writing) scalps they've got so far are to spin.

Cricketer-turned-broadcaster Smith further pointed out NZ's World Test Championship final victory only reflected their true potential as the side took the field with an all-pace attack.

The greatest of the tweakers, Shane Warne, marveled at our success in winning the World Test Championship final but without having [or] using a spinner. He did say it was somewhat disappointing and a poor reflection. He's a tad bias to spin, we know that, but we need to shift ours a little bit more in that direction, Ian Smith said.

We have to learn to bowl it better, and when we do, we'll learn how to play it better. It might be time to invest in some full-time overseas coaching or maybe discover a Devon Conway type who can turn it square," added Smith.

Originally posted here:

IND vs NZ: 'It's so lopsided it's not funny': New Zealand great slams team set-up, says 'stop hiding in the grass' - Hindustan Times

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