Saturday, February 24, 2024

Dry weather triggers extra support

 

Tasman Apple Growers. Photo credit Wikipedia.


Dry weather triggers extra support for farmers and growers across the top of the South Island



23 FEBRUARY 2024

The coalition Government is providing support for farmers and growers as dry conditions worsen across the top of the South Island.


“Conditions on the ground across the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are now extremely dry and likely to get worse in the coming months,” Agriculture Minister Todd McClay said.


“Funding of up to $20,000 will be made available to the Top of the South Rural Support Trust to plan for events and support farmers and growers where needed.


“The top of the South Island is not in meteorological drought, but this step will ensure early support is available for farmers, growers, and rural communities.


The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) has been working collaboratively with central agencies, sector groups, regional bodies, and farmers and growers across the country to prepare for El Niño since its arrival last year. 


“Farmers and growers in the Marlborough, Tasman, and Nelson districts are experienced with dry summer months and prepare for this,” Rural Communities Minister Mark Patterson said.


“But this additional support is needed as forecasters predict the dry weather will linger into the autumn.


“The Top of the South Rural Support Trust; MPI; Federated Farmers; plus farmers and growers; representatives of the forestry and viticulture sectors; and, local councils, have been meeting regularly to discuss the situation.


“I know farmers and growers in other parts of the country are also experiencing dry conditions and we’re keeping a close eye on the situation in those regions,” Mr McClay said.
 

Pigeon Post News, Richmond.


Thursday, February 22, 2024

WATER MANAGEMENT BEING CLOSELY MONITORED ACROSS TASMAN


Golden Bay and Upper Motueka join list of rationed water management zones across Tasman 


22 February, 2024


Water Shortage Directions which begin on Monday 27 February will continue to affect several water management zones across the Tasman District. 


The Moutere Deep Groundwater, Upper Motueka catchment and the Waimea areas continue to be most affected by the measures put in place. However, the prolonged dry weather has also prompted rationing to be implemented in some areas of Golden Bay. 

Dry Weather Task Force Convenor Kim Drummond said although weather forecasts have predicted some rain to fall in the next week – indications are that these amounts are not expected to do enough to alter the current decline in river flow and groundwater levels. 

“The issues around water conservation and resource management will not have a quick resolution. Therefore, our ability to effectively manage water use while maintaining the health of the aquifers is something we want to address as best we can.”    

Stage 1 Rationing – or a 20% cut for authorised weekly usage - will commence for consent holders in the Tākaka Aquifer, Tākaka Marble Aquifer, Tākaka Surface Water, Stanley Brook, Tapawera, Tadmor and Glen Rae Water Management Zones. 

Stage 2 Rationing will continue for the Motupiko and Rainy Water Management Zones. 

The Waimea takes continue to be managed in the context of the Waimea Dam not being fully operational. This means the decisions taken through the dry weather task force apply differently to affiliated and non-affiliated permit holders, as per the Tasman Resource Management Plan. 

Waimea Unaffiliated B Permits will be subject to Stage 2 Rationing - or a 35% cut for the holders of consents who are in the Hope and Eastern Hills, Lower Confined Aquifer Water Management Zones. 

Waimea Unaffiliated A Permits are subject to Stage 3 Rationing which is a 50% cut from authorised weekly usage. 

Stage 1 rationing will apply to Waimea Affiliated B Permits for the same area. 

Waimea Affiliated A Permits will be subject to Stage 2 rationing.  This covers  the Waimea Delta, Golden Hills, Waimea Reservoir,  Upper Confined Aquifer , Waimea Upper Catchments, and Waimea West Water Management Zones. 

The Waimea rationing decisions are subject to Wairoa River Flow changes and can be lifted quickly if Wairoa River flow rises above the respective triggers.  

Other zones will remain at the same rationing stages that came into effect on Monday 19th February. 

Stage 4 Rationing which is a 65% cut for authorised weekly usage will continue in Moutere Eastern Groundwater, while Moutere Western Groundwater remains at Stage 1. 

Stage 2 Rationing will continue for the Motupiko and Rainy Water Management Zones. 

A Cease Take for all water takes (but excludes takes from storage) will continue for Dovedale, Powley Creek, Moutere Surface Water Management Zones. 

Kim has appealed to water users “to conserve where they can and to not to have the ‘use it or lose it’ approach to water use. We all have a part to play in wise water management.” 

The Dry Weather Task Force team will next review the situation on Tuesday 27 February.    

In the meantime, it is important that consent holders are familiar with their Resource Consent conditions.       

Watering of lawns or decorative gardens is not permitted for any water user situated in water management zones where rationing is in effect. 

These restrictions do not apply to users of Council-managed reticulated water supplies, which are subject to alternative restrictions.      

For more information, go to Current water restrictions | Tasman District Council.


TASMAN DISTRICT COUNCIL COMMUNICATIONS.


PIGEON POST NEWS, RICHMOND.

MetService Weekend Weather News Release

MetService.


Warming winds ahead of weekend rain band

Covering period of Thursday 22 - Monday 26 February


22/02/2024

Continuing settled weather will cap off the working week, then MetService is forecasting rain to move swiftly northwards up the country for the last weekend of meteorological summer.


A couple of crisp mornings this week remind us that autumn is just around the corner. Temperatures are on an increasing trend due to a northerly wind flow as the high pressure over the country starts shifting eastwards. This high pressure keeps our weather dry, aside from brief showers here and there for parts of the North Island, until a front arrives on Friday night down south.


As this front moves northwards on Saturday, it will bring a burst of rain to the West Coast (heavier and more persistent in the ranges) while warm northwesterlies blow across the Southern Alps into Canterbury and Otago. Heavy Rain Watches have been issued for much of the West Coast, as well as a Strong Wind Watch for the Canterbury High Country.


These warm dry winds in Canterbury on Saturday will pump temperatures into the high twenties.


MetService meteorologist Dan Corrigan recommends, “Make sure to follow the latest advice from Fire and Emergency NZ and check it’s alright before you light a fire at checkitsalright.nz. There will likely be a light sprinkling of rain in Canterbury on Saturday evening, but it won’t be enough to alleviate the dry conditions there.”


Saturday will also be a warm one for the North Island, then rain arrives overnight as conditions clear up further south. While temperatures return to normal down south, North Islanders will be tossing aside their blankets with warm overnight temperatures not dipping below the high teens.


The wet weather then continues northwards on Sunday, bringing welcome rain to many areas that have had a very dry month so far.


Corrigan explains, “Monday is also likely to bring more rain to the upper North Island, but it is still some time away so the finer details of where, when, and how much are yet to be locked in. Keep an eye on metservice.com or our mobile app to stay up with the latest updates.” 


MetSercice


Pigeon Post News, Richmond.

Wednesday, February 21, 2024

More information about the Christchurch Terrorist attacker

 

Al Noor Mosque after the terror attacks, with flowers placed along the top of the fence. Photo credit Wikipedia.


Christchurch terrorist discussed attacks online a year before carrying them out, new research reveals



Introduction


As the fifth anniversary of the March 15 Christchurch terror attacks nears, it seems we are still only beginning to understand the terrorist’s motives and intentions, and how they were revealed in the years before the atrocity.

In research made public today, Chris Wilson and co-authors from the University of Auckland show how they identified the terrorist’s distinctive online posting, and how his activity in extreme far-right forums was part of his overall radicalisation.

Trawling through thousands of anonymous posts and threads, the researchers matched distinctive rhetorical, grammatical and geographical signatures to identify the terrorist. It is clear from these posts that his beliefs were reinforced and enabled in these forums, and that his plans took shape there too.

This is important, because the royal commission of inquiry into the terror attacks placed limited emphasis on the shooter’s behaviour on the message boards 4chan and 8chan, preferring to accept evidence that he was radicalised via other online sources such as YouTube.

The evidence amassed by the authors paints a different picture. “What we found overturns a great deal of what we thought we knew about him,” they write. “It also raises serious questions, not only about why this posting was not detected before the attack, but also why it has not been discovered in the five years since the March 15 attacks.”

Learning from this will not only add to our knowledge about how and where online radicalisation occurs, but it can also show “how government agencies can work together with specialist extremism researchers to prevent it happening again”.

Finlay Macdonald

New Zealand Editor, The Conversation.


Caution advised before reading further

In March and August 2018, up to a year before he attacked two Christchurch mosques, Brenton Tarrant posted publicly online that he planned to do so. Until now, these statements have not been identified.

In fact, for four years before his attack, Tarrant had been posting anonymously but publicly on the online message board 4chan about the need to attack people of colour in locations of “significance”, including places of worship.

In its final report in 2020, the royal commission of inquiry into the terror attacks wrote:

"The individual claimed that he was not a frequent commenter on extreme right-wing sites and that YouTube was, for him, a far more significant source of information and inspiration. Although he did frequent extreme right-wing discussion boards such as those on 4chan and 8chan, the evidence we have seen is indicative of more substantial use of YouTube and is therefore consistent with what he told us."


Given the importance of online environments in radicalising lone actor terrorists, we questioned this and set out to investigate whether right-wing websites were important in Tarrant’s radicalisation.

What we found overturns a great deal of what we thought we knew about him. It also raises serious questions, not only about why this posting was not detected before the attack, but also why it has not been discovered in the five years since the March 15 attacks.


Beyond the manifesto

Having the opportunity to see Tarrant interact candidly with his online community, we see that much of what he stated in his manifesto was propaganda.

When he wrote in his manifesto that he was driven to violence by the lack of a political solution – a realisation that came to him in 2017 – we now know he had been calling for attacks against civilians at least as early as 2015.

Where he claimed he was not driven by antisemitism, we found hatred and conspiratorial distrust of Jews were central to his entire worldview.

Although he claimed in his manifesto that he carried out his attack to preserve diversity and respect for all cultures, the violent racism and Islamophobia in his posting sets him apart, even in the darkest corners of 4chan.

We will be publishing more about Tarrant’s online history, including what radicalised him and what lessons can be learned. Here we introduce some of our initial findings.

Among other revelations, we show that there were numerous opportunities for the public and New Zealand and Australian security services to observe him making very threatening statements online.

We’ve chosen to repeat only a small number of Tarrant’s statements, given their highly offensive nature. However, we still advise caution before reading further.


How we found the posts

Because 4chan posts are anonymous, we used a combination of indicators to identify Tarrant. 4chan’s “politically incorrect” board – referred to as /pol/ – provides the time, date and location of each post, allowing us to match this against Tarrant’s travel to numerous countries over five years.

Tarrant also frequently provided personal information in his posts, and he used the same distinctive language. In some cases, he repeated points we know he made elsewhere. He openly and proudly stated his Australian identity, even as he called for violence.

He also often made specific grammatical errors which make his posting stand out. He uses this style in online writing samples as early as 2011, in his 2019 manifesto, and in a great deal of online posting in between. In combination, these indicators identify Tarrant.

Our team of four researchers reviewed thousands of anonymous posts and hundreds of threads on /pol/. We used the platform’s search function for particular words, phrases and images. As a team we carefully evaluated all posts which included several of the above indicators.

We maintained a very high evidence threshold for including posts in our analysis. We excluded some important statements that were almost certainly written by him, but for which only one or two of the above indicators were present.


What we found

By 2015, Tarrant was calling for mass violence against people of colour. Inspired by Dylann Roof’s massacre of nine Black worshippers in a church in Charleston, South Carolina, Tarrant excitedly claimed “violence is the last resort of a cornered animal”, and “it was always going to come to this”.

It was here Tarrant made clear that white nationalist extremists should target innocent victims in locations of “significance”, such as places of worship.

When other posters claimed Roof should have targeted a “ghetto”, Tarrant became frustrated. He explained that attacking unarmed people in a church is a “very simple tactic” necessary to provoke people of colour into retaliating. He used a highly racist phrase common on the /pol/ board to refer to this strategy.

For at least four years, then, Tarrant contemplated and planned on killing people in a location of emotional importance such as a school or place of worship.

In fact, he glorified a wide range of violence, including school and public shootings, the perpetrators of which were driven by psychological or other motives rather than white nationalist ideology.

He advocated for and praised the sadistic and brutal killing of innocent civilians. The key for Tarrant was that this violence was perpetrated by white men. For him, any white violence might trigger the race war and segregation he desired.

As he travelled the world between 2014 and 2018, Tarrant became increasingly focused on Muslims. His hatred persisted after arriving in New Zealand. Sometimes it spiralled into unhinged tirades.

In one thread, he claimed he would form and fund an armed band of 4chan users to conduct ethnic cleansing in the Balkans. Some of his posting is unusually violent even within the extremism of /pol/. With hindsight at least, it suggests potential opportunities for detection, most obviously by Australian authorities.

For example, in that same thread, he identified himself as Australian four times, and brazenly wrote there was nothing the Australian government could do to stop him.

At the moment of this violent fantasy, he emailed a gun club in Dunedin stating his plans to move to New Zealand. In the same week, he made donations to international far-right leaders.


Operational Security?

The royal commission into the Christchurch terror attacks concluded Tarrant made only “limited lapses” in operational security during his time in New Zealand between late 2017 and March 2019.

This is not the case. He posted regularly on /pol/, which is freely and publicly accessible. His posting was visible to numerous others whose identities he could not possibly know.

Two threads in March and August of 2018 in particular show his hatred of and plans to attack the Muslim community. As such, they presented opportunities for his detection.

In these threads, Tarrant and other users posted angrily about the spread of immigrants in New Zealand, and particularly the presence of mosques in small towns. Very soon, a group of anonymous posters, including Tarrant, discussed violence against the buildings (and the communities that gather in them).

When another user posted an image of a box of matches in reference to the mosques, Tarrant wrote “Soon”.

Revealing he was in Dunedin, Tarrant expressed his anger at the presence of mosques in that city, and in Christchurch and Ashburton to the north, using highly abusive language. When other users called on him to act, he wrote: “I have a plan to stop it. Just hold on.”

Far from maintaining tight operational security as he planned his attack, Tarrant openly (albeit anonymously) discussed violence against mosques in the South Island while in New Zealand.


Preventing it happening again

The 4chan community was crucial in Tarrant’s radicalisation (and the examples given here are just a portion of what we have found).

Given what we know about the importance of online environments in the radicalisation of other white nationalist terrorists, it is disturbing this aspect of Tarrant’s path to March 15 has not been investigated more thoroughly.

After all, his final words before the attack were released on the imageboard 8chan, but also intended for 4chan: “It’s been a long ride […] you are all top blokes and the best bunch of cobbers a man could ask for”.

It is hard to imagine a clearer signpost that the real nature of his radicalisation could be found on those forums.

Five years later, it seems we are only beginning to understand why he committed the atrocity, what might have been done to stop it, and how government agencies can work together with specialist extremism researchers to prevent it happening again.

More information about our study will be released at heiaglobal.com. Our research was approved by the University of Auckland Human Participant Ethics Committee. A paper based on this study has been submitted for peer review and publication.


Authors: Chris Wilson, Ethan Renner, Jack Smylie, Michal Dziwulski. 

THE CONVERSATION


Pigeon Post News, Richmond.

Tuesday, February 20, 2024

New Tenancy Changes May Ease Supply Issues of Rentals

Nelson New Rental properties being built.


New government, new rules: what it means for landlords



February 2024

The recent coalition deal between National, NZ First, and ACT has ushered in a range of changes, aimed at addressing concerns in the rental market. The focus revolves around four key areas for investors, including mortgage interest deductibility, no-cause evictions, reduced notice periods and the introduction of a pet bond.

Sue Harrison from the New Zealand Property Investors Federation has expressed support for the changes, saying she believes they’ll help ease supply issues, and stem the flow of properties leaving the rental marketplace. Restoring mortgage interest deductibility in particular is a relief, she says, citing this as the “single biggest thing” that would help owners of rental properties and incentivise landlords to keep rental properties, in light of high mortgage rates. 

Under the new coalition government, mortgage interest deductibility will be raised to 60% this tax year, 80% in 2024/25, and then restored to 100% in 2025/26 - reversing Labour’s plans to remove the scheme completely by 2025. 

Rental rates have increased rapidly over the past few years, with some saying this is partly a result of the removal of interest deductibility, with landlords passing costs on - so potentially the reversal could help stabilise prices, and have a positive flow-on effect for renters, too.

Another change the new government has introduced is repealing the amendment that requires landlords to give a reason when they issue a tenant with a 90-day eviction notice.

This has drawn attention for potentially creating an imbalance of power, where tenants might be reluctant to voice concerns, make requests, or negotiate rental terms. However National MP Chris Bishop has maintained that reintroducing no-cause evictions is "pro-tenant", arguing it would make landlords more likely to take a risk on renting to people if they knew they could easily be removed if they felt it wasn’t working out.

One more policy change involves reducing the notice periods for both tenants and landlords.

Under the former Labour government, tenants needed to give four weeks' notice, while landlords required three months for eviction. The new coalition deal reduces these periods to 21 days for tenants, and 42 days for landlords if they intend to move into the property or sell it - allowing a little more flexibility on both sides.

In terms of new legislation, the coalition government is set to introduce a “pet bond”, allowing tenants and landlords to agree on a larger bond sum (over and above the usual four weeks’ worth), to accommodate pets in rental properties and help protect against related damages. This policy, originally proposed by ACT, aims to expand the availability of pet-friendly rental options, fostering a more negotiable approach towards having pets, as opposed to the usual “no go”.

If you have any queries or concerns about the new legislation, please feel free to contact our professional property management team. We make it our business to stay in the know.

Property Management Insider Barfoot & Thomson


Pigeon Post News, Richmond. 

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