Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 29/04/2026The debate about heavier truck weights is interesting. Yes, Australia has heavier truck weights and yes, enabling them here would increase use of electric trucks. On the other hand, Australian roads are often long and flat, while our roads are typically either in a river or falling down a cliff. 040
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 28/04/2026Why do New Zealanders keep falling for political parties who promote racist rhetoric against whichever group of immigrants has had the most rapid population growth? 020
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 28/04/2026I was hoping that NZ First had a bump in their popularity due to announcing recent policies that directly address cost of living (clearly our gentailers and supermarkets are price gouging). Then I saw this graph and my heart sank - nope, they're up in the polls bc of the anti-Asian rhetoric. #nzpol 091
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 21/03/2026I keep seeing people advocate for EVs, e-bikes and solar panels, and other people in the comments saying 'gotcha! Those products still take fossil fuels to produce.' They're right of course but what is MORE relevant is that EVs use vastly less fossil fuels, as do solar panels and e-bikes. 250
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 16/03/2026For example, these three policies in the first Emissions Reduction plan which they also cancelled - Such as "introducing a social leasing scheme to make access to cleaner vehicles affordable for low income households." Or, notably, cancelling subsidies for free public transport for kids. 132
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 10/02/2026The new LNG terminal! Head bangs desk. Why is the govt so desperate not to try demand management, energy efficiency, helping big manufacturers to transition off gas or even (gasp) massively accelerating roll out of distributed renewables and battery storage system 040
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 10/12/2025Your back is up against the wall. All looks lost. Who is coming to save you? Film or series stills only (that is, no GIFs). #FilmSky 020
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 18/11/2025This graph from Robert McLachlan - perfect demonstration of how government intentions matter. Because it is clear this government plans to take no action on climate change, car importers have made no progress towards clean car standards. Now the government is cancelling them 010
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 12/11/2025Great list by @marcdaalder.bsky.social - these are just the harmful climate decisions the government has made in the last 6 weeks. If you zoom out to their whole term in government so far, the situation looks even worse. 031
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 06/11/2025The debate around capital gains tax is interesting in NZ. 66% of NZers own their home - but surprisingly few own 2 properties. It's hard to get exact figures - maybe 20%? Of those who own investment properties, most own only 1 - a very small group own 20+ properties. figure.nz/chart/ydWBSI... 051
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 26/08/2025 2) we don't fairly tax all road users to pay for their impact on the transport system. In particular, heavy trucks - they are subsidised to the tune of about ~$500 million per year. Here is a link to the actual submission: thefutureisrail.org/reports 000
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 26/08/2025Good submission from the Future is Rail on Te Waihanga: The National Infrastructure Plan - this is the reason we cannot have nice transport things. 1) We spend too much on roads, not enough on rail (or other modes). 110
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 28/07/2025Here is how the Climate Change Commission rated the government's transport policy in terms of stopping climate change. Why yes, it is a sea of red - because the govt are failing to introduce policies that will reduce transport emissions www.climatecommission.govt.nz/assets/Monit... 010
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 17/06/2025It's so depressing to see our health officials, against their best judgement and advice, being forced to privatise parts of the health system. The USA demonstrates how a largely privatised healthcare system delivers worse outcomes and costs far far more. www.rnz.co.nz/news/nationa... 130
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 15/01/2025The biggest contributors to climate change are the uber rich. The biggest victims are the poorest citizens of the world. 010
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 13/12/2024I feel so sorry for all the people around the country whose lives have been disrupted. Also mortgage rates dropping or not, I dont think the mood in Wellington will be lifting anytime soon. www.rnz.co.nz/news/busines... 040
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 12/12/2024Great article by @marcdaalder.bsky.social about the second Emissions Reduction Plan. Almost no ambition to reduce transport emissions (an 0.016% drop) and 1/3 of the expected emissions savings come from C&CS an unproven technology. #kikorangi newsroom.co.nz/2024/12/11/g... 3158
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 03/12/2024Great piece by @marcdaalder.bsky.social It's important not to lose sight of all the lives our COVID response saved, as well as the things that could have been done better. newsroom.co.nz/2024/12/03/h... 031
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 30/11/2024This is bleak but accurate. it’s difficult to get too excited about voting for the “one step forward” party, knowing the “two steps backwards” party is always just around the corner. It gets harder to accept, as the stakes get high thespinoff.co.nz/society/28-1... 010
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 25/09/2024This is an informative (and disturbing) read about charter schools. First, they will have no requirement to employ qualified teachers. Second, once you become a charter school you can't then revert to being a state school. Its just a vehicle for privatisation. aecnz.substack.com/p/charter-sc... 21912
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 23/09/2024Love First Dog on the Moon. Great cartoon on Boris Johnson and the wealthy commercial landlords who want to stop us working from home. www.theguardian.com/commentisfre... 030
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 19/09/2024Some real talk from Auckland Transport on carparks. "Last year, 50,000 more people came to live in Auckland. But our roads aren’t getting wider and they can’t get wider because we’d have to knock down all the houses”. www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/3504... 010
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 16/09/2024Looks like the government is considering repealing or reducing the Climate Related Disclosure regime. This would be a real step backwards, given how many of our key markets are using similar regimes. see this nice image from a Chapman Tripp report for Aotearoa Circle. 031
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 16/09/2024It's hard to tell from this article if he wants to get rid of CRD entirely, or just remove the personal liability for directors. Removing Climate Related Disclosures would put us out of step with many other countries, which are currently adopting them. www.theaotearoacircle.nz/reports-reso... 020
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 14/09/2024EV market share slowly creeping back up after the govts policy bonfire in December. With more vehicles coming on the market all the time from BYD and others prices will keep coming down. Still only 2.4% of the fleet though. 030
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 13/09/2024While the country argues about whether New Zealanders support cycleways, Ōtautahi just quietly building cycle lanes and growing numbers of people on bikes. 2286
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 02/09/2024in fact the majority of New Zealanders support cycleways as a quick Google will demonstrate: www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/un... 0122
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 02/09/2024Simeon Brown says New Zealanders are 'sick and tired' of cycleways. But Waka Kotahi has been doing annual surveys of attitudes to walking and cycling since 2018. 61% of New Zealanders support investment into cycling infrastructure. www.nzta.govt.nz/resources/un... 67032
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 27/08/2024It is 👏 not 👏 normal 👏 for property prices to constantly increase faster than inflation. This is a collective fantasy of the NZ property owning class and it is why our house prices are 7 times our incomes. We will never fix this without a capital gains (or land) tax. www.1news.co.nz/2024/08/27/2... 23311
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 27/08/2024this (little strip of plants at the front of the image) is a rain garden. They cost some money to maintain but can also save money by a) avoiding expensive under ground piped infrastructure and b) reducing flooding damage 110
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 23/08/2024This is very sad to see. More of this type of thing to come through the Fast-Track Bill. 020
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 21/08/2024anyway I'm sure that $20 million for professional development will get those 35,000 primary school teachers all sorted and prepared in 5 months to teach a new curriculum. especially in classes like this 010
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 08/08/2024Your regular reminder that the Government has cancelled the two most effective policies we had to reduce emissions - The GIDI and the clean car discount. Walking and cycling projects also getting cancelled www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/wellingto... 072
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 16/07/2024The transport section includes basically one new policy (electric chargers) and one existing (completing PT projects that are already underway in Akld and Wgtn). It predicts transport emissions may rise by up to 3 Mtonnes by 2030. They could have called it the Emissions Increasing Plan. 141
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 04/07/2024Does Simeon Brown truly believe that most Aucklanders voted for a change of government because they wanted higher speed limits outside schools? Like making smoking great again, I don't think that was a key campaign message for National. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-... 1111
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 27/06/2024The NZIER also found Aotearoa is not on track to meet our climate commitments and the liability to purchase offsets could equate to $18 to $23 billion, ie 4.5 to 5.9% of GDP. They recommend NZ starts recognizing this liability in their budgets. 020
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 27/06/2024It seems fitting that on the same day NZIER published this insight paper, showing that only 1% of our Budget spend supports emissions reduction, the government released their final GPS for land transport. This dedicates most funding to 17 enormous motorways . www.nzier.org.nz/publications... 120
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 25/06/2024There's all kinds of issues you could raise with NZ First's reality detached views on COVID. But also, isn't it a little rich for Winston Peters to be talking about use by dates for NZ politicians? www.rnz.co.nz/news/politic... 051
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 31/05/2024Gordon Campbell. 'The unemployed, and single-parent beneficiary households received nothing from Budget 2024, while their landlords received a $2.9 billion package of relief.' $180 million cut from EECA too. werewolf.co.nz/2024/05/gord... 0187
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 20/04/2024This is a really useful piece by Dame Anne Salmond. She makes a really good point, that the Fast-Track Bill is not yet law but Ministers are behaving as if it will certainly pass. This undermines the democratic process. newsroom.co.nz/2024/04/20/a... 03416
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 19/04/2024Professor Margaret Stanley lays out the dismal state of our natural environment. 94% of reptiles, 90% of seabirds, 74% of land birds, 76% of freshwater fish and 46% of plants currently threatened or at risk. #FastTrack #waronnature #nzpol www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2024/04/17/h... 03626
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 17/04/2024"Mining more coal will help pay for climate journey" is the title of this article about a Shane Jones interview. Does anybody else feel like we're trapped in an increasingly bizarre nightmare. Or is that just a me thing? 020
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 09/04/2024A good rebuttal from the CTU to the Prime Minister's view that unions don't care about workers. An $5 a week tax cut probably doesn't mean much compared to fair pay agreements for most cleaners or others in low paid roles with terrible conditions. www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/unions-sl... 0133
Froggie24 @froggie24.bsky.social · 04/04/2024Aside from the point it's making about public transport patronage, this graph from Greater Auckland just highlights how much the last 3 years have sucked. 041