New Zealanders expect more extreme weather, more often
We also expect more climate change leadership from the government but we’re doing less ourselves, according to a new poll.
Mōrena and welcome to The Bulletin for Tuesday, July 12, by Anna Rawhiti-Connell. Presented in partnership with Z Energy.
In today’s edition: doctors fear catastrophic system collapse; regulator knew about Wellington water fluoridation issues in 2016; whose breath are you breathing; but first, our concerns about extreme weather and climate change.
A month’s worth of rain may fall today (Image/Getty Images)
New poll reveals 91% of us expect more extreme weather
Sometimes I joke about doing a Bulletin about the weather. Readers have actually requested a weather section. Today we’re leading with the weather and not just because people are waking up to NIWA advising that a month’s worth of rain may fall in parts of the country today. Or even because Manawātu residents were sandbagging their properties yesterday. It’s because 91% of us say we expect more extreme flooding events to happen, more often. That’s according to a poll released yesterday from insurer IAG and Ipsos. Yesterday, the ODT’s Mike Houlahan reported on the possibility of needing to build the new Dunedin hospital two metres above street level to account for flood threats, including storm surge and sea level rise.
Only 34% of New Zealanders think government action on climate change is adequate
The IAG-Ipsos Climate Change poll has been running for the last five years and this year there is an additional report that compares our attitudes to climate change over that time. One of the biggest shifts is in the belief that the government should be most responsible for taking action on climate change. That’s lifted from 25% in 2018 to 48% in 2022. Responding to the poll, climate change minister James Shaw said the results underscored the urgent need for a comprehensive response to the phenomenon, with just 34% of New Zealanders deeming government action on the issue as adequate.
Proposal tabled for managed retreat in South Dunedin
The IAG-Ipsos poll found 53% of people thought homeowners should not have the right to live in places badly affected by climate change. In a report from Newsroom’s Matthew Scott on a climate change panel last week, it was noted that it’s only a matter of time before climate risk has a noticeable effect on property values. Last week, a proposal was tabled for managed retreat in South Dunedin which would see parts of the area replaced by wetlands and waterways. Looking at the map, the area includes St Kilda, home of the wonderful Marlow Park. An estimated 12,000 residents live in the area. It’s where my mum grew up.
The action gap
This is another poll that reveals a disparity in the high numbers of people that note climate change is an important issue to them (78%) and the number of people taking individual action to combat it. That number has actually fallen over the last two years in the IAG-Ipsos poll, dropping nine points to 50%. Research from EECA, the government’s energy efficiency agency, found something similar in April. I am keen to hear from readers about why this gap exists. It could be that we do expect more leadership, or that it often feels overwhelming or even hopeless and that individuals can’t do much anyway, but feel free to drop me a line thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz and let me know.
Is the government ignoring Health NZ already?
Requiring nurses to wait two years before gaining green cards in New Zealand should be reconsidered, the chair of Health NZ told Tova on Today FM last week, but it seems health minister Andrew Little might be ignoring this request, just days after Health NZ was established with a goal to improve Aotearoa's health outcomes.
Listen to Little's chat with Tova O'Brien on Today FM here. (Sponsored)
900 doctors surveyed, 93.5% say there is definitely a crisis in the health workforce
The survey by the New Zealand Women in Medicine Charitable Trust revealed that doctors across all aspects of patient care think the health workforce is at risk of a “catastrophic collapse”. The survey results came on the same day as news broke about a plan to double the number of nurse practitioners being rejected by the Ministry of Health. As RNZ’s Phil Pennington reports, all the schools of nursing submitted a proposal aimed at doubling the number of nurse practitioners being trained in May. The government continues to stress the need for mask wearing, while opposition leader Christopher Luxon has called for the traffic light system to be abandoned.
Regulator knew Wellington’s water wasn’t being fluoridated in 2016
As the Herald's Georgina Campbell reports, Regional Public Health (RPH) were aware that Wellington's water wasn't being fluoridated properly since 2016, but the regulator did not raise any concerns. As Campbell writes, an independent inquiry that was made public last week reveals the extent of the region's fluoride failure stretches back many years and across several organisations. Dr Bryan Betty has indicated that it will be the children of the region that will bear the cost, saying there could be an upswing in tooth decay. RPH no longer exists as it was replaced by Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand on July 1.
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Whose breath are we breathing?
This is some great and timely work from RNZ’s Farah Hancock that looks at exactly how much of other people’s breath we’re breathing in. Hancock spent time in different environments like buses, offices and schools with a portable carbon dioxide (CO2) monitor and shared the results with aerosol chemist Dr Joel Rindelaub. As Hancock explains: “CO2 levels can be used as an indicator of the risk of catching Covid-19; we breathe in air and release CO2 when we exhale. Covid-19 is spread via aerosol particles breathed, coughed or sneezed out by infected people. These can drift several metres and linger in the air for hours.” It’s part of a five-part series and today’s story looks at plans to introduce more fresh air into Auckland's bus fleet that were abandoned due to cost.
Click and collect
Brian Tamaki seemingly admits to organising all 100 anti-mandate protests.
Case to lower voting age to 16 heads to Supreme Court today.
Bernard Hickey outlines what he sees as the risk in the news of a pathway to citizenship for New Zealanders in Australia.
Let’s Get Wellington Moving to consult for the fourth time on plans to pedestrianise the Golden Mile.
Concern about disregard for maths education at University of Otago.
Got some feedback about The Bulletin, or anything in the news? Get in touch with me at thebulletin@thespinoff.co.nz
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Record number of women to represent New Zealand at Commonwealth Games
As Lockeroom’s Merryn Anderson reports, the New Zealand team for the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games are already record breakers. 53% of the team we’re sending to the Games are women. That’s the highest number of women athletes we’ve ever sent. 40% of the coaching and support staff are also women. Anderson’s piece is an incredibly thorough preview of the Games and I recommend it for an early heads up on who to watch out for, where our medal prospects might lie and the new sports debuting at the Games this year. The Games begin in 18 days with the opening ceremony beginning at 5am our time on July 29.
Leak reveals how Uber gained footholds all over the world
Yesterday, the Guardian launched The Uber files. The Uber files is a global investigation into 124,000 confidential documents from Uber that were leaked to the Guardian. The data reveals how Uber flouted the law, duped police, exploited violence against drivers and secretly lobbied governments across the world. Writing this morning about the investigation, Guardian columnist Rafael Behr says “The cost of innovation might be invisible to the consumer, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t there. And the job of democratic politicians is to be guardians of public interest, not the lubricants to private gain.”
