Flooding and logging -Homepaddock wonders if there’s one rule for forestry and another for the rest of us

Homepaddock reports – 

Friends who farm inland from Gisborne have lost power and their roads are impassable.

The damage is worse than it would otherwise have been because forestry slash has been washed down rivers.

A Tairāwhiti resident says her home would not have flooded if it wasn’t for a sea of logs that blocked a nearby river during heavy rain.

The region has been battered by heavy rain as cyclone Hale passed down the country, and was put in a state of emergency on Tuesday evening.

Linda Gough, who lives inland in Tolaga Bay next to the Mangatokerau River, says she was keeping an eye on the banks on Tuesday evening as the rain was pelting down.

At about 9.30pm it was high tide, and Gough said the river banks looked high, but not like they were going to breach. She felt at ease.

But then, logs started drifting downstream.

Media watchdogs were looking the other way while Crown pastoral land reform bill was nudged towards enactment

While political newshounds have been yapping and snapping at the rodents who reduced the grounds around Parliament to a wasteland, we should wonder which watchdogs – if any – are covering the myriad of other ratholes in and near Parliament Buildings.  

We ask because Ele Ludemann today has posted an item headed Standing up for farmers

 While media attention has been fixed on the occupation by protesters of the grounds of parliament, the government is pushing through the Crown Pastoral Land Reform Bill which will  trample over the property rights of pastoral leaseholders.

Point of Order visited Ludemann’s Homepaddock during a roundup of our favourite blogs after we found bare picking on The Beehive website.

There was just one new post:  

Government sends best wishes to NZ Winter Paralympians

 On behalf of the people of Aotearoa New Zealand, the Government wishes the New Zealand Paralympian team all the best for the upcoming Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games, Minister for Sport and Recreation Grant Robertson said.

Xmas thoughts on the redistribution of our wealth: tax collectors have the claws to grab it for politicians to play Santa

Thomas Sowell … he shares his thoughts on Santa and political handouts.

The Point of Order Trough Monitor has alerted us not to the latest bucket of government handouts (seasonally gift-wrapped) but to an observation from American economist Thomas Sowell which mentions both government grants and Santa Claus in a few pithy sentences.

We were tempted to draw Shane Jones’ attention to Sowell’s observation but – hey – it’s Christmas. And why pick on him for special mention?

All ministers have some say in the redistribution of the billions of dollars collected by the Inland Revenue Department.

And we note that Civil Defence Minister Peeni Henare yesterday confirmed an extra $50,000 to assist the Whakatāne community with immediate needs following the eruption of Whakaari White Island.

The contribution will be made to the Whakatāne District Council Mayoral Relief Fund and follows an earlier Government contribution of $50,000 to the fund.

Capital gains tax: hear what Peters (as PM) has to say about something NZ First opposes

Anticipating the release of the Tax Working Group’s report, Point of Order on Tuesday said the  question  of a capital gains tax being endorsed by the government is whether   the concept can be sold to  NZ  First.  Its leader,  Winston Peters,  in the past  has been  vocal in  his  opposition to a  broad-based  capital  gains tax.

Early yesterday, a few hours ahead of the report’s release, the NZ Herald echoed our thinking.

Whatever Sir Michael Cullen recommends in his final Tax Working Group report today may be off the table if Labour can’t get New Zealand First and Winston Peters’ support for it.

Peters has made it clear in the past he is not a fan of a capital gains tax.

Just before the 2017 election, he told TVNZ’s Q&A that a capital gains tax was “off the table.”

“The two factors are – it doesn’t work and the second thing is there is no fairness if you haven’t got capital losses as well.”