Lemmy NZ

This report was publicly released today. It was commissioned from Fieldforce4 by the Wellington City Council into Wellington Water, although the other local councils weren't directly involved. The report's been kept in secret for a month, but is being released after Local Government Minister Simeon Brown requested it.

It's important to note that its findings are disputed by Wellington Water which claims it's riddled with errors.

There's also some media commentary out from RNZ and from The Post (possibly paywalled for some).

The minimum wage will increase by 2 percent, from $22.70 to $23.15, from 1 April.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment recommended in its review that the wage be increased by 4 percent to $23.60, ...

ACT's campaign promises for a three-year freeze on the minimum wage, reversing new sick leave entitlements, and the scrapping of the 2 January public holiday did not make it into the party's coalition agreement with National.

Nelson man Norman Flounders, 79, has vowed to continue a four-year-long court scrap over a fine he got from Auckland Transport for driving in a bus lane.

The dispute has been through a hearing before two Justices of the Peace, the District Court and the High Court, and now looks set to go higher, with Flounders vowing never to pay the $300 fine and appeal to the Appeal Court.

The dispute arose from two instances, on 16 July and 20 July in 2020, when Flounders knowingly drove through a bus lane on Khyber Pass Road in Newmarket.

At the heart of the case is clause 2.3(4) of the Road User Rule, which sets out what is commonly referred to as the 50-metre rule. It provides an exception to the general rule (that you cannot drive in a special vehicle lane) if the driver drives in the lane to cross it to make a turn or leave the roadway, provided the driver uses the lane for the minimum length necessary to make the manoeuvre, for no more than a maximum of 50 metres, and gives way to vehicles entitled to use the lane.

Auckland Transport staff responded to Flounders dispute with a sketch map that showed the distance between the sign showing the start of the bus lane and the end of the bus lane was 77 metres.

Flounders argued that the bus lane was not continuous because it was bisected by a pedestrian crossing that was 17.5m wide. He said this meant there was actually two distinct bus lanes, and he calculated one to measure 9m and the other to measure 40m.

Both judges ruled that there was only one bus lane, not two, and that regardless of the actual length of the bus lane, Flounders used the bus lane for more than "the minimum length necessary to complete the manoeuvre".

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Just a few minutes until Rocket Lab's first launch of 2024!

An Electron + Curie rocket will be launching out of Launch Complex 1B, Māhia Peninsula. The payload is four satellites to monitor near-Earth objects.

Launch window opens at 2024-01-31 06:34 UTC, 2024-01-31 19:34 NZDT.

Launch webcast

Launch thread with more info has been posted over at !spaceflight@sh.itjust.works:

RocketLab "Four Of A Kind" Launch Thread!

I hope this is appropriate to post here. Please let me know if otherwise.

Would any spaceflight/rocket enthusiasts be interested in setting up a Rocket Lab community?

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Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

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National campaigned on a proposal to adjust the existing tax thresholds, but as part of coalition negotiations with ACT last year, it agreed to consider whether the "concepts" of ACT's tax policy could be incorporated "subject to no earner being worse off than they would be under National's plan".

In simple terms, ACT would immediately axe the lowest tax threshold of 10.5 percent, meaning the government would collect more revenue from all income earners.

Some of that extra revenue would then be returned to low-and-middle income earners through a targeted tax credit to ensure they were not worse off.

The money left over would allow the government to reduce the higher tax rates at the top of the income scale - dropping the 33 percent rate to 30, and the 39 percent rate to 33

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

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Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

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Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

Anyone can make the thread, first in first served. If you are here on a day and there’s no daily thread, feel free to create it!

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https://www.landcareresearch.co.nz/tools-and-resources/identification/what-is-this-bug/monarch-caterpillar/

It's that time of year again, when the kids (and myself) get overly invested in the lifecycle of these grubs. Last year we managed maybe a 10% success rate (from egg to butterfly) hopefully we'll do better this time round.

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Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

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Being the country kid I am, I've only just thought about parking for [edit] tonight's Foo Fighters concert in Christchurch. Of course, nothing available at the venue itself now. Yeah, only myself to blame there...

So, next best option for parking? I assume the nearby Tower Junction shopping centre are wise to people parking there and police the crap out of it?

Help me People of Christchurch, you're my only hope!

About 7 years ago I installed a bunch of Mitre10 / Bunnings smoke detectors which seem to work well, hardly false alarms, 9v batteries last ~2-3 years I've now found out they are ionization alarms and they are no longer recommended. Also, Fire NZ recommends fire alarms with 10 years batteries built in. I checked both Bunnings & Mitre10 and most of them get crappy reviews.

On Reddit I saw that Cavius is recommended a lot, but they also get bad reviews on Noel Leeming that they stop working after <5 years. However, they have a 10 year warranty, so I guess in such cases I would get a new one? They cost ~$50 at NL, and I know not to always trust their pricing, is there a better/cheaper shop to buy them?

Or should I buy a different brand? I also see good reviews about Nest Protect. A lot more expensive, but I like that I can connect them to Home Assistant. However, I can't seem to find them available in NZ. Some other post suggested these from Aliexpress A bit reluctant to get smoke detectors from Ali though.

I know 220v connected ones are better, but as we'll be selling the place most likely within <10 years, not worth the extra $$.

Aotearoa Daily Kōrero 23/1/2024

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Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

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http://soilbugs.massey.ac.nz/pseudoscorpions.php

Pictured here crawling along my shorts. Apparently they'll attach themselves to flys and other flying insects to grab a ride off to other places.

On the way up to Mt Liverpool

Welcome to today’s daily kōrero!

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