- People saying their are more than 11 deaths are disinformation spreaders according to the government paid propagandist and corporate and main stream media pundits. “New Zealand’s prime minister says he expects there to be more deaths from a violent storm which killed eight people and cut off hundreds of communities. More than 4,500 people have yet to be contacted after Cyclone Gabrielle hit on Monday, causing significant flooding and landslides across the North Island. (BBC) believe the figure is now down to 3000 still absent”. “10,000 people are also estimated to be displaced”.
- Ten thousand yeah right?
- “Community fears are growing of multiple deaths in one of the areas hardest hit by Cyclone Gabrielle – with coastal residents of Napier’s Bay View claiming they saw several bodies washed away by raging flood waters. One person has been confirmed dead in Napier, with a body being found among driftwood in Bay View. Further north towards Wairoa, another person died in a landslip…. As search crews in Hawke’s Bay continue to try and get to people stranded by the floodwaters created by Cyclone Gabrielle, residents of Bay View and nearby Esk Valley – which had areas decimated and parts of it remaining underwater – spoke of their fears of more fatalities. One man said a relative had seen multiple bodies floating in water near Bay View. Another – who lives in a property on the Bay View shoreline – said other locals had told him they had seen the same thing”. The Navy was not dispatched along with search rescue until four days later. With these factors reviewed the primary issue seems to be the number of logs in the water caused by consecutive government’s endorsed slashing.
- The issue also seem to be casualties in areas which have not received help and where the majority of missing seem to cluster. The government response faced with this fact has being to role out the disinformation expert in blatant attempt at damage control which of course will only erode public trust in government and corporate media even further, Labour is apparently rebranding it self the party for working people in this elections. But it continued willingness to insult its own electorate pretty much assures mass voter rejection come October.
- Sadly as much of the issue now being exposed by floods in Auckland and the cyclone are simply failure of consecutive government not put profit ahead of people it doubtful the walk away from red pill for blue will achieve a lot in the long term as the core issue of too much influence by foreign corporation on those in power goes unanswered. WELL THAT WAS PREDICTABLE – DUCK & DIVE HERE WE COME.
- A scaled down version of the failed Ruataniwha dam was back on the cards in 2019 as property developers push for a land grab. “The Hawke’s Bay council asked ratepayers to put $250,000 toward looking into building another dam on the same river. The controversial proposed $330million Ruataniwha dam and irrigation scheme was canned last year after years of debate and some $20m expenditure by Hawke’s Bay Regional Council on consents and planning. The intellectual property associated with the scheme was sold to six businessmen in July last year for $100,000”. The company wants to look at two options: developing a full scale dam on the Makororo river (the river that the Ruataniwha dam would have been on), or developing a smaller dam that would provide no environmental benefit at times of low flow. Forest and Bird Lower North Island regional manager Tom Kay said the organization was “extremely concerned” about the proposal.
The court said a land-swap needed to free up conservation land for the scheme was not legal. The Supreme Court denied a 2017 appeal to allow private developers to swap land with the Department of Conservation (DoC) to build a controversial Hawke’s Bay dam after a two years of debate over the Ruataniwha dam project. In 2015 the Department of Conservation reclassified 22 hectares of land so it could be used for the project. The Ruataniwha Dam would help store water for irrigation and improve river flows for the Tukituki Catchment, its advocates say. But its opponents say the dam will flood a significant area of native forest, putting several threatened species at more risk and damage the Tukituki river’s water quality. Forest and Bird’s Megan Hubscher said the ruling could have opened up other parks to similar developments. “All the forest parks in New Zealand will be affected if this precedent goes ahead. Basically every piece of conservation land except national parks will become available to private interests. Conservation Minister Maggie Barry said the ruling would give DoC clarity about managing public land. The Court of Appeal originally said the land swap decision wasn’t legal, but the Ms Barry had challenged that interpretation. Ms Hubscher said “The Minister of Conservation, in our view, appears to be advocating for greater private access to publicly owned conservation.”
It should be interesting to see who the winners and loosers are and how this roles for those who have being eyeing the area up in a series of extensive next generation mapping which the government councils and developers have being unusually slow to crow about or socre credits from. The US Defence Contractor Australia Nearmap’s website says it captures high resolution aerial imagery across New Zealand multiple times a year to help with planning for natural disasters prevention and response, strategic planning and commercial development purposes. A New Zealand pilot, who declined to be named, said he was one of at least three people who have lodged complaints with police accusing the Australian company based in Hawkesbay of breaching lockdown rules. Only essential businesses where permitted to operate during lockdown. “I’ve done a bit of survey flying myself on the side and you can tell by the zig zag lines that they were carrying out survey work around Hamilton. What they were surveying I don’t know,” the pilot said. “But these guys have been all over the bloody country.”
BEN VIDGEN -- The Consulting 'Oartistic' Dsylexic Detective. 