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US confidence and factories stable but Fed still making huge liquidity injections; China confirms reserve rate reduction; Singapore growth evaporates; Aussie fires wreck emissions commitments; UST 10yr yield at 1.88%; oil and gold up; NZ$1 = 66.9 USc; TW

US confidence and factories stable but Fed still making huge liquidity injections; China confirms reserve rate reduction; Singapore growth evaporates; Aussie fires wreck emissions commitments; UST 10yr yield at 1.88%; oil and gold up; NZ$1 = 66.9 USc; TW

Good morning, wherever you are. Here's our summary of key events over the holiday break that affect New Zealand, with news of low growth, liquidity issues, and climate disasters to start 2020.

But first in the US, the latest December consumer confidence survey dipped in December. Consumers’ assessment of current conditions improved slightly but their expectations declined, driven primarily by a softening in their short-term outlook regarding jobs and financial prospects. While the American economy hasn’t shown signs of further weakening, there is little to suggest that growth, and in particular consumer spending, will gain momentum in early 2020.

But one lesser-watched PMI report for December suggests that their factories expanded modestly, even though business confidence was subdued and inflation pressures are building.

In New York so far this week, the Fed has injected more than US$200 bln in short-term liquidity into their banking system. Most of it was overnight or 2 day funding, but US$36 bln was for longer periods (generally two weeks). That is a lot when you consider at the height of QE they were "only" buying US$80 bln in bonds - per month.

In China, the private Caixin PMI was virtually unchanged in December showing a modest expansion. Production and export orders are up, while the new order growth rate fell modestly.

And as earlier signaled by their Premier, China has cut its reserve ratio by -50 bps and that is expected to add another NZ$170 bln to banks lending capacity to shore up their economic headwinds. That means, the required reserve ratio is 12.5% for big banks and 10.5% for smaller ones.

Hong Kong rang in the new year with more large protests. It is hard to get a handle on the crowd numbers, but they were large, a sea of people at Causeway Bay. Police made hundreds of arrests. Beijing is requiring the Hong Kong Government to fire all teachers who were involved and replace them with Beijing-loyal people. So far only one of the protesters five demands have been met, with little indication any of their other demands will be. But equally the protesters are still committed to all five ("not one less").

Hong Kong has its problems, and so does Singapore. Their economy grew by +0.7% in 2019. But that was better than the +0.6% growth forecast by analysts, although it was far below the +3.1% expansion in 2018. It is also Singapore’s slowest economic growth since 2009. Also we should note that the New Zealand-Singapore Closer Economic Partnership was upgraded starting in 2020. (Details here from the New Zealand perspective.)

As we have reported previously China has infuriated Malaysia with its "nine dash line" territorial claims. Now China has infuriated Indonesia with a Chinese Navy/Coastguard incursion into Indonesian territorial waters trying to enforce the same "ridiculous" claim, one it has lost in law, but is trying to impose with might.

Meanwhile, Jakarta is suffering through heavy flooding. That part of Java is slowly sinking adding urgency to the relocation of their capital.

In Europe, the latest region-wide PMI shows that their manufacturing sector funk deepened in December. Interestingly, only one country is recording a healthy expansion - Greece. And only one other isn't contracting - France. Things are particularly tough in Germany, and the UK.

In Australia, December saw a steeper deterioration of their manufacturing conditions. The headline PMI was dragged down by survey-record falls in both new orders and output. It is now contracting at a faster rate of decline.

And in their housing market, December brought sharply higher prices that started in earnest in November. Over the past three months, that is the fastest rise in a decade. But this was before drought, fire and the partisan climate change debate started weighing on their economy. Tourism may be an early casualty. Coal mining may not be far behind.

And their bush fire emergencies are spreading with disaster zones declared in both NSW and Victoria. And Australia's bush fires are believed to have spewed as much as two-thirds of the nation's annual carbon dioxide emissions in just the past three months, with experts warning forests may take more than a century to absorb what's been released just so far this season.

The UST 10yr yield is down -4 bps at 1.88%. Their 2-10 curve is a little less steep at +30 bps. Their 1-5 curve is much flatter at +11 bps. However, their 3m-10yr curve is unchanged at +38 bps. The Aussie Govt 10yr has given up Tuesday's big jump, now down -10 bps at 1.30%. The China Govt 10yr is virtually unchanged at 3.19%. And the NZ Govt 10 yr is also little-changed at 1.66%.

The gold is firmer again today, up +US$10 from Tuesday, now at US$1,525/oz.

US oil prices are little-changed at just under US$61/bbl but the Brent benchmark is now sharply lower at just over US$66/bbl.

The year-end spike higher of the Kiwi dollar is being reversed this morning. It is now at 66.9 USc and is nearly a -½c fall from Tuesday. On the cross rates we are also lower at 95.8 AUc. Against the euro we are holding at 58.9 euro cents. That puts our TWI-5 at 71.7. And the Chinese are letting their yuan gain in value against the greenback, now at a five month high.

Bitcoin is down -4.2% from where we left it Tuesday, now at US$6,935. The bitcoin rate is charted in the exchange rate set below.

The easiest place to stay up with event risk today is by following our Economic Calendar here ».

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99 Comments

"And their bush fire emergencies are spreading with disaster zones declared in both NSW and Victoria. And Australia's bush fires are believed to have spewed as much as two-thirds of the nation's annual carbon dioxide emissions in just the past three months, with experts warning forests may take more than a century to absorb what's been released just so far this season.".....Yes...I am sure the greenies are fuming....but its to late....anything that we might do to reduce carbon emissions will be more than off set by mother nature...it is what it is..

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... we should send Taxcinda over there... 'cos they sure as heck don't wanna hug from their own PM .... Sco Mo nearly got lynched yesterday . ...
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Was he wearing a Hawaian tee shirt or something ?

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That's a good point...sending her to Oz might improve the mood of both countries..

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EasyM. The mood of NZrs has soared since Jacinda earnestly explained that her ‘year of delivery’ solemn promise was not, in fact, a promise; instead, apparently, it was just her mindlessly parroting a line of spin dreamed up by her PR team early in 2019.

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Considered more significant and able abroad than at home - reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher.

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Yes memory can be hazy. Not many others are reminded such.

Thatcher won three 3 elections and was leader of conservative party for 15 years.

3 election wins shows much in country support.

Many people abroad from England were frosty to her, say the EU, say Argentina say IRA.

Thatcher got on fine with US president.

Policy wise complete opposite.
For example CND/globalist,
http://leftunity.org/how-mrs-thatcher-related-to-cnd/
Complete opposite.

Australian's would protest against her visits
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/uncovering-the-secret-thatcher-files-what-b…

Can't really find any points of similarity

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Let's see what PM says and looks like in regard to Soleimani being Trumped.

I think is good to see deterrents being applied, after all those years of Obarma door mat interpretation of foreign policy (witness the pallet loads of cash - that really worked not).

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Very much doubt Scott Morrison will be voted back in and it's not just because he decided to spend his recent holiday in Hawaii whilst large parts of Australia burned to the ground. BBC Australia fires: Angry residents berate PM Morrison in blaze-ravaged town. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50973232

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... with Sco Mo and Electric Bill Shorten , the Aussies had a choice between two fairly unpalatable candidates .... in the same vein that Americans had between Trumpy and Clinton in 2016 ...

Having said that , the Don does appearing to be getting his sh°t together ... well ... more so than a year ago ...

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And NZ gets the unpalatable choice between Soyman (or will he get the knife between the ribs shortly?) and Cindy in 2020.. sigh.

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... there are contenders to Soyman's throne ... but he won't be thrown unless the Gnats lose this years general election ....

He is gaining some traction in the polls , and ACT is too ... it's too close to call , I reckon .. exciting times ahead : wooo hoooo

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This time PM is running against her record.....

If she runs

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... if she organizes her wedding , she'll cruise in ... it'll be the Womans Weekly election ...
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Then she can step down , and offer the top job to Robbo ..he couldn't win the election himself .... but if Taxcinda gifts it to him , he can come in the back door ...

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Sadly I think this is the exact sort of thing that the current Govt would do. I can even see them try to explain it away as extended maternity leave for bubs number two.

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... well , it wasn't so long ago that the Jolly Kid did this . .. he could've won a 4'th election. . But chose to suddenly cut & run ... leaving Wild Bill in charge of the Weird Wendy House in Wellington ...

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That will be fine by Robbo. Used to comimg in the back door.

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What is it that the angry residents want the PM to do?
Possibly in the future they may be able to do something but for now what can he do.?
Frowns and hugs may win an election but it won't put out a fire.

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Easymoney- Sending Taxinda to Aus will improve the IQ of both Nations !

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A carbon tax will sort all those problems out, we already know the answers, carbon tax and solar panels. It is only humans that can cause climate change and only humans that can fix it. Time to stop stealing childhoods and get on with saving the planet.

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... if I save the planet can I deposit it into a term account at the ANZ ?

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haha ha ha...ha.. sit down boomer

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OK , doomer !

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Your jokes are getting worse Gummy...dementia kicking in?

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How will a carbon tax sort all the problems out.

1. How will it sort out the historical problems of bush fires in bush fire prone areas.

2. How would it address the massive build up of fire fuel over the past 20 years.

3. What relevance does it have to the current fires burning and the control of them, if at all.

Asking for a friend...

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"It is only humans that can cause climate change ..."
How do you explain the Ice Ages then? And the subsequent retreats of the ice sheets?

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In New York so far this week, the Fed has injected more than US$200 bln in short-term liquidity into their banking system. Most of it was overnight or 2 day funding, but US$36 bln was for longer periods (generally two weeks). That is a lot when you consider at the height of QE they were "only" buying US$80 bln in bonds - per month.

Not even close. Including reverse repo drains, settled net injections were plus $66.36 billion while expired previous net injections totalled minus $66.78 billion.

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Hi Audaxes, So the party will continue in 2020..........More free Money thrown (As just have to print) ...Negative Interest if not near Zero Interest......

Stock market and house prices up another 20% or 30% .........Rock Star Economy :)

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AJ posted a link to Hussman Funds on this subject : " One Tier and Rubble Down Below " ( 28/12/19 ) ... well worth a read on a lazy summer's day . . Enjoy !

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Negative Interest if not near Zero Interest......
Hmmmm.....

Wealth effect or wealth illusion? The other therapeutic effect of lower-for-longer interest rates is the wealth effect. By driving up the value of future cash flows with lower rates of interest, all manner of assets – stock, bonds, and houses – increase in value and, thereby, can stimulate our marginal propensity to consume. More simply put, the imperative was to make rich people richer so as to encourage their consumption. It is not so hard to imagine negative side effects.

There are the obvious distributional effects between those who have assets and those who do not. Returning house prices in California to their 2005 levels may be good for those who own them, but what of those who don’t?

There are also harder-to-observe distributional consequences that flow from the impact of lower-for-longer interest rates on the value of our liabilities. This is most easily observed in pension funds.

Consider two pension funds, one with a positive funding ratio and one with a negative funding ratio. When we create a wealth effect on the asset side of their balance sheets we also drive up the value of their liabilities. Lower long-term interest rates increase the value of all future cash flows – both positive and negative. Other things being equal, each pension fund will end up approximately where they started, only more so.

The same is true for households but is much more ominous, given the inequality of wealth with which we began the experiment. Consider two households: one with savings and one without savings. Consider also not just their legally-defined liabilities, like mortgages and auto-loans, but also their future consumption expenditures, their liability to feed and clothe themselves in the future.

When the Fed engineered its experiment to promote the wealth effect, the family with savings experienced an increase in the present value of their assets and also an increase in the present value of their liabilities. Because our financial assets are traded in markets and because we receive mutual fund and retirement account statements, we promptly saw the change in the value of our assets. We are much slower to appreciate the change in the present value of our liabilities, particularly the value of our future consumption expenditures.
But just because we don’t trade our future consumption expenditures on the stock exchange does not mean that the conventions of finance do not apply. The family with savings likely ends up where they started, once we consider the necessity of revaluing their liabilities. They may more readily perceive a wealth effect but, ultimately, there is only a wealth illusion.

But what happened to the family without savings? There were no assets to go up in the value, so there is no wealth effect – real or perceived. But the value of their future consumption expenditures did go up in value. The present value of their current and expected standard of living went up but without a corresponding and offsetting increase in assets, because they don’t have any. There was no wealth effect, not even a wealth illusion, just a cruel hoax. Link

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Like David wrote above. Aussie PMI in record contraction while December bought the sharpest rise in house prices for a decade. I think I know where this ends.

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Australia is finally divesting it's economy from coal mining and moving more money into the environmentally friendly real estate sector. It's time to do the right thing regardless of consequences.

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it's a no-brainer

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Most coal mining is owned, controlled by foreign investors/companies. They have great power in Oz, as do most large corporates.

What's the context you use in describing real estate as being environmentally friendly. When the last time you were there to see the planning/development/finance/banking action. Again much foreign horsepower behind property and property dev.

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There's never been a banking crisis due to too much lending to small manufacturing firms. Riskier borrowers are those using the newly created bank credit to purchase assets, financial or property. Ban bank credit to non-GDP transactions & forget all other regulations. No crisis Link

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https://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=1…
Sam Clench: Jacinda Ardern showed Scott Morrison how to lead during a national crisis

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Frazz. Her role in CHCH was largely confined to empathic speeches and gestures, at which some consider her to be competent. There is very limited equivalence between the wide scale Aussie catastrophe requiring complex management and the single short timeline CHCH event. Her failing gun confiscation policy hastily rammed through in response to CHCH has exposed her strategic and tactical management weaknesses.

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Nope..50,000 guns off the street is good enough for me..also she acted quickly..with full support (bar 1 nut job). Thats called leadership which I dont see happening in Ozi right now.

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OK. 30% success ‘good enough’. For what is unclear but it certainly could not be described as having come even close to achieving its objectives. Great as a political PR window dressing exercise and helping to obscure the chronic vetting process failures of police, though.

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Apparently there are 1500 000 guns in NZ . ... excluding the mosque attack in Chch , just 116 deaths in 15 years ... 8 per year ... two thirds killed by a .22 or a shot gun ... both still freely available ...

... most gun attacks are by men ... one third being family related incidents , another third being gang or criminal activity ...

Of the 104 shooters involved in killing someone 2004 to 2019 , only 12 were legally entitled to own a gun ..

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And then there is the who knew when what.

The man accused of the March 15 terror attack was supplied 2300 rounds of ammunition by using a police mail order form that also revealed to police he had an AR-15, a parliamentary select committee has been told.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12286323

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Frazz, many folk that handed in guns for compensation $, immediately purchased new compliant weapons.
Re armed with new and better kit.

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And generally more than the number handed in.
So 50,000 "off the street" won't be a net reduction. (Actually it's the firearms "on the street" that are the problem and that weren't handed in ie gang owned as opposed to 50,000 in secured safes). As a result of the poor way the media/police/pollies portrayed what was prohibited, there'll be a lot of prohibited firearms still owned by people that think it was only MSSA's that were banned.

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" The Homicide Report " has some fascinating statistics . . guns are only involved in 12 % of our nation's murders , excluding the mosque attacks .. .

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There are a lot of people still holding guns and why wouldn't you when the NZ Police have no gun register and therefore have NO IDEA who owns what with the exception of Pistols. People are going to be handing in a lot of old shit, getting paid for it and then buying new guns. Its a waste of time trying to get the guns, did anyone think of banning or highly restricting certain calibers of ammunition instead ? Guns are pretty useless without any ammo. Thinking about the even bigger picture, we may need gun owners to one day to protect the country, before you laugh there is a reason why every male in Israel has to do 3 years compulsory military service and even the women do 2 years !

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Just been for a 2km swim Welly Harbor..glorious..I see the NRA have bee busy while I have been away?

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is it safe to swim in the harbor? last I heard there was a raw sewage dump

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.. an average of 80 litres per second of raw sewage went in there 24/7 last year !

No wonder frazz is full of sh°t ....

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Your a wanker Gummy..gloves off old man...bet you struggle to get up in the morning.

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Not what his wife says.

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She mentioned it at the RSA

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C’mon frazz, in attempting a diversion from the core proposition of yet another serious coalition policy failure you are capable of a more sophisticated response than spouting a tediously simplistic NRA connection trope.

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If the hat fits

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Better than a semi auto - once again Henry your dreaming

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Not all semi autos were banned Frazz.

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Australian fires.
This Must Listen to, for any folk looking to make comment on what happens in Australia.

Must listen call from 50 year firefighting veteran

https://www.2gb.com/podcast/must-listen-call-from-50-year-firefighting-…

It's the fuel load.
These fires have been building for 20 years.

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Fuel load..yes..too much wood from the trees?

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Close, the tree litter has been left.
Green councils have locked up areas and stopped hazard reduction.
Listen to the firery

It was all preventable.

Tree Litter (the fuel load) that is 15 years old burns 17x hotter, 17 times hotter, more intense, than litter that is 4 years old.

This is not climate change. If global temperature was 2 degree lower than now, no effect.

The fire is so intense the soil burns to the mineral layer. When rain comes it is washed away.

Hazard reduction and slow/cold burns as the aborigines did works. Let's the animals move.

Land is called bush fire prone for a reason.
The gum tree litter, with their oils just explode

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Nothing to do with the drought Henry?
It was all preventable...you need to go over and explain that too them in person ...see how long you head stayed on.

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Listen to the fire fighter.
Learn what hazard reduction means.

People are emotional because their community councils and politicians have set them up.

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Climate might be a factor as well..you seem to have blinkers on the point?
In fact, conditions were so extreme that a new category — Catastrophic, or Code Red in Victoria — was added to the country’s Fire Danger Rating, a measure of how difficult fires will be to control, based on wind speed, humidity, temperature and vegetation dryness. There has been a clear increase in extreme fire weather and the length of the fire season, particularly in the southern and eastern parts of the country, due in large part to human-caused warming.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/11/23/australia-bush-fires-…

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There was no Air-conditioning and the entire population was subject to the full force of the extreme conditions.. The death rate was a direct result of substandard living conditions.. Data does not lie.. Stats have context and conditions that must be acknowledged Average temp is climbing.. Traditional European farming practices have failed on this continent.. dribbling about localised warming cooling periods means nothing when globalised sea and air temperatures are all increasing now! It's not just about super heating but also the timing variation of cooling and rain cycles..Drowned or Frozen crops in the US has destroyed the farming sector

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But is it AGW and even if it is nearly 80% of C02 emissions are coming from coal fired generators in China and India, of which we have no control over.

Farmers are highly adaptable and we change, we change in the good years and pay in the bad, when the good years come back, slowly our burnt finger goes warbling back to the fire.

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Thank you Frazz, i'm glad not everyone has fallen for the oil industry denial spin.
Anthropogenic climate change is real.
I don't understand how people fight against living in a cleaner healthier environment, free of smelly cars and plastic in waterways.
The development needed to get us there will be a great source of growth and opportunity, for those who don't lag behind.

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MW : hello ... I think you'll find the vast majority of people do want a cleaner environment ... and we as a nation are trending in that direction ....

... what people are kicking back against is the emotional extremism... the " extinction rebellion " behaviour ... the screaming and shaming ...

We need science , rational thinking ... little steps , lots and lots of little steps towards a big goal ... it is a gulf too wide for us to take in one giant leap of faith ..

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Frazz. The fire fighter specifically stated nothing to do with climate change.

You will of heard of the reasons and factors the fire fighter listed.

Why do you want to include it, include climate change, and then not discuss the reasons the fire fighter listed?

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Frazz, what bit, it plays for almost 2 hours.

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Frazz, here is a guy preping his house/section for tomorrow.

See how the house and house are within the bush and amongst the gum trees. Trees drop leaves on the roof, the roof is under tree branches.

Note he says there is nothing he can do regarding council or neighbours property.

https://youtu.be/AQolOksq5t0

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The Greens have prevented homeowners from cutting tree branches away from roofs or gutters... and put a stop to control burns .... a historic way to prevent XS leaf and bark litter build up ...

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Facepalm..you guys win..its just a cycle carry on ..have a beer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fDrCEDBm-U

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Many a true word.
All the features, hazards and dangers noted by the 2R's desert, deadly animals, bush fire, solitude.

They all pre date climate change.

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The Government is sending 22 more firefighters to Australia to help fight the country's out of control bushfires. _Henry and GBH you should sign up!

New Zealand has been sending firefighters to Australia since late October, with 157 having already been deployed.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealand would do all it could to assist.
"The devastation caused by these fires is taking a substantial toll on our Australian neighbours and we will continue to do what we can to assist as they deal with this extremely dynamic, dangerous and ongoing situation," Ardern said.

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Memo must be in holiday post (or, and with the other hand), as this Auckland MP is revving up her supporters/virtual signaling.

Via twitter:

Deborah Russell MP
BeeFaerie
I can smell the climate change on Australia’s breath from here.

2,155km from Sydney to Auckland, and our air tastes smoky. This is extraordinary.

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You do not like the truth, do you?

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Listen to the fire fighter.

What's the truth you think people don't like?

The fire fighter was very critical of political types having stopped time tested systems. Systems that beat fires.

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The fire fighter is not a scientist. He knows about fuel loads and hazard reduction yes, but he doesn't know about climate change.
Climate change is real, are we ready to take millions of refugees from Australia?

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Listen to both fore fighters speak.

I would bring the ozzies over for a discount holiday (not white island), and take the contract to clear 40m to 50m area around every house in Australia.

I would fast track immigration for people from Hong Kong,
Australian's already have residency here the moment they step off the plane, but the vetting probably needs a refresh given what happened in March.

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And they will come here sooner or later as reality hits. We need to make it much harder for them to settle here, especially as they keep electing climate flat-earthers, reject refugees, and treat NZ emigrants poorly. And we need space for the coming Pacific Islander climate refugees.

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Seriously! Congrats for falling for misleading BS! The greens don't have that much power, they have never been in govt.
The fuel load hasn't been dealt with, because funding has been cut to fire services.

“It’s simply conspiracy stuff. It’s an obvious attempt to deflect the conversation away from climate change.”

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2019/nov/12/is-there-really-…

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We are talking the same things.

Here is Greg Mullins talking, see at 16:00 he says the data does not connect climate change to drought and drought to fire..

https://youtu.be/_qvftV4ySvU
Good context and good to accompany the radio fire fighter.
https://www.2gb.com/podcast/must-listen-call-from-50-year-firefighting-v...
.
The Guardian suggests homes have a 40 m to 50 m clear fire brake zone.
Look at the gong video of the house within the bush and gum trees.

True technically greens not in power. Thing is we have labour MPs parroting greeniness, see the twitter about climate change on Australia's breath.

Both fire fighters make the point, Mullins emotionally, that politicians from all sides have failed the community, failed the people they represent and that most management and response systems have been run down.

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Yes, I've seen the same thing here in NZ. Sparks from a fire 2 km away set a stand of gums alight. The litter just goes poof. Mind you, gorse is much the same. A friend set a stand alight with a spark from his tractor.

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My book of the week, Game of Mates. How Australia really works.
https://gameofmates.com/

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Excellent.
And for further reference

https://www.pierpont.com.au/
The archive

Trevor Sykes - first class!
Any of his books, all of them

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In all the time I have turned to this site, I don't think I've seen comment stream more ridiculous than this one.
I very much look forward to a Labour Green govt after the election, if Natl represent just half the sentiment expressed here, then we are in serious trouble if they are elected this year. And to Henry Tull and the other deniers, climate change IS what is fanning the flames in Australia, forests would need to have been clear felled to prevent the distance they are traveling from treetop to treetop.
Just stop it, stop it now, WE ARE affecting climate. WE have to stop, if it is not too late and if WWlll doesn't get in the way first.

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.. OK Greta ... I'm so ashamed ... we stole your childhood ... it's around here someplace , we'll find it , and have it couriered back to you ... in an EV van , of course . .

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Not funny anymore, because too bad, the girl is right

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Totally agree some of the comments here are unbelievable conspiracy crap....and joking about it? Probably think kicking a great white shark on Orewa beach is a laugh too. Fuckers

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I think you will find the reason you, not it, is being joked about, is because if you say ridiculous things, you open yourself up to being ridiculed.

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... yes ... there's some OTT hysteria promulgated by the " Gretas " around here ...

And , as I've said before , they're setting themselves back , leaving themselves open to derision ....

... bring some cool , hard science into the debate , and I'm all ears ... dish up a petition of 33000 names - 2000 of which were Mickey Mouse - and you've lost me ....

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Agree will bring in the cool hard science into debate...as long as you do and lay of the stereotype you cling too daily.

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.. I am appalled as you are that some dopes kicked that shark on Orewa beach ... cruelty to animals is disgusting ... even those we consider pests , or dangerous ...

I hope the culprits are found , and dealt with by the police ....

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A former NSW fire and rescue commissioner, Greg Mullins, has written this week that the hotter and drier conditions, and the higher fire danger ratings, were preventing agencies from carrying out prescribed burning.

He said: “Blaming ‘greenies’ for stopping these important measures is a familiar, populist, but basically untrue claim.”

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Greg Mullins comments:
Greg is taking treatment for PTSD he has seen some terrible things.

Agrees a lot is preventable.
Only thing you can do is modify is the fuel load.
50% to 60% of fires are deliberately lit.

He says stopping (back burning) legislation has been bought in, but not by greens, as greens never in power.

Legislation was brought in because people were burning national parks and people were grazing national parks.

Emphasises the drought as intense, and connects the intense fires to the drought, the drought he implies being climate change.

At about 16:00 he contradicts himself and says there is insufficient evidence to connect the drought conditions with climate change.

Talks about lower levels of winter rains, making fire season start earlier now.

All the while saying fuel load is the only thing people can influence.

He is very upset by the treatment he has received from Commonwealth Government, very critical of the coordination of resources. And access to fire fighting planes.

https://youtu.be/_qvftV4ySvU
Good context and good to accompany the radio fire fighter.
https://www.2gb.com/podcast/must-listen-call-from-50-year-firefighting-…
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50% to 60% of fires are deliberately lit
More bullshit Henry

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Frazz, the 50 to 60% number is Greg Mullins words. Listen to his men women and children comment.

Listen to the conversation on Nugget news.

Listen to both fire fighters.

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Have to agree with Pocket Aces - this thread is crap. Worse, one of the crap-dealers has long been suspected by some of us, as a site-related click-increaser. I look forward to David Chaston formally denying that Interest.co indulge in such actions.

Further, it may be time for commenters to be made to divulge their real names, from which we can (usually) ascertain their agendas and backers. The Limits to Growth were always going to put the screws on a consumer society, round about now. It was always going to be the case that vested interests would shout loudly as the ship started to founder. Given that the current system is doomed to collapse, the only valid discussion in town is how to adapt least-painfully. The media - if it is to remain valid - has to step up and relegate the cynical nonsense so prevalent up-thread, to the trash-bin.

The rest of us have to move on past the condescending, self-serving Tull/GBH type nonsense. Interest.co has a ways to go too, despite being one of the best in NZ. Perhaps the most interesting take-away from the above, is the need sor such stridency. Holiday need for clicks aside, it reeks of a certain desperation.

For those who genuinely are undecided as to where the human experiment has led itself, the best advice is to consider the source - if it isn't on behalf of some form of income, it's more likely to resemble the truth.

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... it is sad , I agree , terribly sad that not everyone agrees with your views ... infanticide , for instance , I am so against that ... passionately against that ...

Nevertheless , this thread has multiple topics , and some robust debates .. . mostly good natured , some tongue in cheek ...

... all and all , it's been fun , a blast !

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