Yes, the govt will invest in Police response teams but the emphasis will be on tactics (and dogs) rather than firearms

Police Minister Poto Williams – explaining her opposition to Armed Response Teams  a few weeks back – said she would not be backing down on her strong stance not to support the general arming of police because the Māori and Pacific Island communities she represents do not want it.

But whoa.  As MP for Christchurch East, isn’t she supposed to represent the people of that community of many ethnicities?

And as Minister of Police, isn’t she supposed to have some regard for the wellbeing of our police officers?

Well, yes.

And today (lest anyone might doubt it ) she said the Government is committed to keeping the country’s frontline police officers safe, so they in turn can keep New Zealanders safe.

How 93% of 767 submissions can amount to strong Kiwi support for govt’s emissions reduction proposals

Ministry of Transport officials have eschewed English when mentioning the title of a discussion document on climate-change emissions and how to reduce them.  Maybe this explains the strength of the public response, as measured by submissions.

On the ministry website we learn:

Summary of Submissions Hīkina te Kohupara

The Hīkina te Kohupara discussion document was open for public consultation until the end of June 2021.

But let’s get to the tsunami of submissions.

The Ministry received a total of 767 submissions on Hīkina te Kohupara.

Wow.  That’s 0.01% of the population,  if each submission represents the interests of just one citizen, although some submissions (fair to say) would have been made on behalf of many people.

Never mind.

Our Minister of Transport, Michael Wood, has demonstrated he is a dab hand at drilling into thin data and coming up with rich pickings.

Today he has issued a press statement in which he declares there is “strong support” on a range of potential policies to eliminate transport emissions.

The statement is headed Kiwis want emissions driven down.

It was one of three new ones posted on The Beehive website since Point of Order last brought readers up to date with what our ministers are doing.

One of the others deals with the Alert Level Four lockdown, which does the climate a huge favour by significantly reducing traffic flows and hence the emissions.

Curiously, there is no press statement from the PM to record her announcement of the lockdown.

Govt gives battery-swap scheme a funding charge and hopes it will spark greater switching to electric trucks

All sorts of things can excite our politicians while they are busy spending our money.

In this case, Energy and Resources Minister Megan Woods has advised us that a battery-swapping station for electric trucks is among exciting new low-emission transport projects to be given government co-funding.

She was referring to a scheme which she believes will result in many more electric trucks joining the few dozen on the road now.

She foresees battery-swapping stations for E trucks saving valuable time for truckies, who will be able to quickly install a fully charged battery to continue their journey, leaving the old battery for recharging later and at off-peak times when electricity is cheaper.

All up, 22 projects will receive $6.5m in round 10 of the Low Emission Vehicles Contestable Fund. Recipients will contribute an additional $12.8m.

Another announcement tells us of the appointment of the first Chair of the Consumer Advocacy Council, one of the myriads of new entities established on Jacinda Ardern’s watch.

Greenpeace is grumping at winter grazing decision which gives farmers more time to address environmental challenge

Our Beehive bulletin

Oh dear.  Greenpeace is grumping at the farming sector’s agreement to make immediate improvements to intensive winter grazing practices for the coming season with help from the Government.

The problem for Greenpeace is that – in return for the farming sector’s commitment – the Government has deferred the introduction of intensive winter grazing (IWG) practice regulations until May next year while these improvements are made.

Rules preventing the expansion of IWG will still apply but Greenpeace wants a much earlier halt to the farming practice whereby stock are confined to outdoor feeding areas planted with fodder crops.

The Government’s announcement of its decision on winter grazing was one of several decisions posted on the Beehive website since Point of Order’s previous Beehive report. The others are-