Australia: Election latest, tariff twist, Virgin travails
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Otago Daily Times
2 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Regional finalist a first-time entrant
Central Otago vineyard manager Damon Lovell is "over the moon" to be representing his region at the Young Viticulturist of the Year competition next week. The 25-year-old is one of five finalists from wine-making regions across New Zealand vying for the top title. The competition is being held at Greystone, in Waipara, North Canterbury. Shawn McAvinue reports. Winning the Otago regional heat of the Young Viticulturist of the Year competition was a surprise for Damon Lovell, as he only began working at the 24ha Carrick vineyard and winery about 10 months ago, after returning home from his OE. It was the first time he had entered the competition. To help judges decide a national winner, he needs to submit a report on past and future innovations in the winemaking industry and deliver a speech on how the industry has changed in Central Otago in the past 20 years and what it would look like in the next 20 years. As he has lived in Central Otago for less than a year, he is interviewing experienced industry insiders in the region. He said the competition was a great way to meet people and learn new skills. Grape varieties on Carrick were about two-thirds pinot noir and the rest were a mix of chardonnay, pinot gris, pinot blanc and riesling. Some old sauvignon blanc vines were recently pulled out. Sauvignon blanc vines in Marlborough could produce more than 15 tonnes per hectare compared to about nine tonnes per hectare in Central Otago. The sauvignon blanc vines in Carrick were producing fewer than four tonnes per hectare. "It's just not financially viable. We're putting more money into it than we were getting out," he said. A decision was pending on what variety of grape to plant in the area but it would likely be a premium pinot noir or chardonnay variety. Chardonnay was the romantic decision but pinot noir was probably a better business decision. "It's a little bit more enticing, but there's always room for a little bit of romance." He was a big fan of pinot blanc wine due to it being smooth and easy to drink, a refreshing wine for summer drinking. The variety was easy to grow, produced plenty of fruit and was not as disease-prone as some other varieties. He believed aromatic white wines, such as pinot blanc, were becoming popular again. "It looks like pinot blanc is on its way back, which I'd love to see." Premium wine sales in restaurants had dropped due to the pandemic and ongoing economic uncertainty but the market was improving. An Australian wine buyer recently told him a rising trend across the Tasman was more people drinking wine in restaurants any day of the week. "It looks like people are still into premiums, which is good." Mr Lovell was born and raised in Taupiri, near Huntly in Waikato. He wanted to be involved in the primary sector and enrolled to study a bachelor of viticulture and oenology at Lincoln University, despite never setting foot in a vineyard. "I thought I'd have a crack." During his studies, he got a summer internship working at Babich Wines in Marlborough. After graduating, he worked as a vineyard operator on the 47ha organic block at Babich for 18 months. He left Babich to go on his OE. His working holiday in the United Kingdom included being a cellar hand in Surrey for three months and a sommelier, or wine waiter, at a Michelin star restaurant in Kensington, London. He got the job despite having no experience in the hospitality industry. The experience opened his eyes to the "pointy end" of the wine industry. Some diners would spend £2000 ($NZ4530) on a bottle of wine. Highlights of his travels included visiting French regions Bordeaux, Champagne and Provence. The initial plan was to get a working holiday visa for France, but obtaining one was "real difficult" so he and his girlfriend changed their plan to work and live in the United Kingdom instead, which was an easier option to make happen. A dream to work in France remains alive. He was hopeful of taking part in an exchange programme between Central Otago and Burgundy from August next year. Before returning home from his OE, he began looking for work in vineyards in Central Otago. "I sent emails out to pretty much anyone that would listen." Carrick responded about a supervisor role opening up, he said. He had never worked in the South before, but he wanted to be near his girlfriend's family, who live in Dunedin. Another appeal of Central Otago was it being a great place to do outdoor activities, such as hunting and mountainbiking. "I love Otago and it's an honour to be managing Carrick. It's a real cool spot."
Scoop
4 hours ago
- Scoop
Warmongering Astrologers: Sky News And The War Cabinet
Twenty-four-hour news networks have demonstrated that surfeit kills discretion. The search for fillers, distractions and items that will titillate, enrage or simply sedate, is an ongoing process. Gone are the days when discerning choices were made about what constituted worthy news, an admittedly difficult problem that would always lead to priorities, rankings and judgments that might well be challenged. At the very least, news could be kept to specific time slots during the day, meaning that audiences could, at the very least, be given some form of rationing. Such an approach culminated in that most famous of occasions on April 18, 1933 when the BBC's news announcer declared with a minimum of fuss that 'There is no news.' This was followed by piano music playing out the rest of the segment. On the pretext of coming across as informed and enlightened, such networks have also bought into astrology masquerading as sound comment. The commentators are intended to lend an air of respectability to something that either has not happened, or something they have little idea about. Their credentials, however, are advertised like glitzy baubles, intended to arrest the intelligence of the viewing audience long enough to realise they have been had. Sky News Australia is one such cringing example. The premise of The War Cabinet, which aired on August 11, was clear: those attending it were simply dying for greater militarism and war preparedness on the part of the Australian government, while those preferring diplomacy would be treated like verminous denialists yearning for some sand to bury their heads in. The point was less a matter of news than prediction and speculation, an exercise of mass bloviation. To lend a war time flavour to proceedings, the event was staged in the Cabinet Room of Old Parliament House, which host Chris Uhlmann celebrated as the place Australia Prime Minister 'John Curtin and his ministers steered the nation through World War II.' Former ministers, defence leaders, and national security experts were gathered 'around the Cabinet table to answer a single question: is Australia ready for war?' The stale view from Alexander Downer, Australia's longest and, in many ways, most inconspicuous foreign minister, did little to rustle or stir. Liberal democracy, to be preserved in sacred glory, needed Australia to be linked to a 'strong global alliance led by the United States'. That such an alliance might itself be the catalyst for war, notably given expectations from Washington about what Australia would do in a conflict with China, was ignored with an almost studious ignorance. Instead, Downer saw quite the opposite. 'If this alliance holds, if it's properly cemented, if it is well-led by the Americans… and if we, as members of the alliance, are serious about making a practical contribution to defence through our spending and our equipment, then we will maintain a balance of power in the world.' His assessment of the current Albanese government was one of some dottiness. 'I think the government here in Australia has made a major mistake by playing, if you like, politics with this issue of the dangers of the region and losing the balance of power because they don't want to be seen as too close to President Trump.' Any press briefing from Defence Minister Richard Marles regarding the anti-China AUKUS pact would ease any anxiety on Downer's part. Under the Albanese government, sovereignty has been surrendered to Washington in a way so remarkable it could be regarded as treasonous. While the Royal Australian Navy may never see a single US nuclear powered submarine, let alone a jointly constructed one, US naval shipyards are rolling in the cash of the Australian taxpayer. Former Labor Defence Minister, Joel Fitzgibbon, lamented that Australia's strategic outlook in the Indo-Pacific was 'deteriorating rather markedly,' a formulation utterly vague and a mere parroting of just about every other hawkish analyst that sees deterioration everywhere. Thankfully, we had Strategic Forum CEO Ross Babbage to give some shape to it, which turned out to be that ragged motif of the Yellow Horde to the North readying to strike southwards. The Oriental Barbarians with a tinge of Communist Red were primary reasons for a worsening strategic environment, aided by their generous military expenditure. With almost a note of admiration, Babbage felt that China was readying for war by adjusting its economy and readying its people 'for tough times that may come'. The venal, ever noisy former Home Affairs Department Secretary Mike Pezzullo, who has an unhealthy appetite for warring matters, drew upon figures he could not possibly know, along with everybody else who have tried to read the inscrutable entrails of international relations. Chances of conflict in the Indo-Pacific by 2027, for instance, was a '10 to 20 per cent' likelihood. Sky News, living down to its subterranean standards, failed to mention that Pezzullo had misused his position as one of Canberra's most powerful bureaucrats to opine on ministerial appointments via hundreds of private text messages to Liberal Party powerbroker Scott Briggs. The Australian Public Service Commission found that Pezzullo had, among other things, used his 'duty, power, status or authority to seek to gain a benefit or advantage for himself' and 'failed to maintain confidentiality of sensitive government information' and 'failed to act apolitically in his employment'. His employment was subsequently terminated, and his Order of Australia stripped in September last year. Fine credentials for balanced commentary on the strategic outlook of a state. Other talking heads were keen to push spine tingling prospects of wicked regimes forming alliances and making mischief. Oleksandra Molloy, billed as an aviation expert, thought the 'emerging axis' between Russia, North Korea and Iran 'quite concerning'. Former naval officer and defence pundit Jennifer Parker urged the fattening of the defence budget to 'develop a degree of autonomy'. Retired Australian Army major general Mick Ryan was most unimpressed by the 'zero risk' mentality that seemed to pervade 'pretty much every bit of Australian society'. The Department of Defence needed to take greater risks in terms of procurement, innovation and reducing 'the amount of time it takes to develop capability'. His fantasy was positively Spartan in its military totalitarianism: an Australian state nurturing 'a spirit of innovation that connects military, industry and society'. The cry for conscription must be just around the corner. Chief war monger and think tanker Peter Jennings aired his all too familiar views on China, which have become pathological. 'It is utterly false for our government to say that somehow they have stabilised the relationship with China. Things may have improved on the trade front, but that is at the expense of ignoring the strategic developments which all of our colleagues around the table have spoken about, which is China is positioning for war.' And there you had it: an hour of furious fretting and wailing anxiety with all figures in furious agreement, with a resounding boo to diplomacy and a hurrah for astrology. Dr. Binoy Kampmark was a Commonwealth Scholar at Selwyn College, Cambridge. He currently lectures at RMIT University. Email: bkampmark@
Otago Daily Times
14 hours ago
- Otago Daily Times
Protesters leave coal bucket above Denniston Plateau
By Kate Green of RNZ Two protesters who spent three weeks in a giant coal bucket high above native bush of the Denniston Plateau have now descended. Climate protesters shut down Dunedin bank Rach Andrews and Tāmati Taptiklis from Climate Liberation Aotearoa abseiled in via an aerial ropeway, normally used to carry coal away from the mine in giant metal buckets, on July 27 this year in protest at Bathurst Resources application submitted under the Fast Track Approvals Bill to further mine the Denniston Plateau. Speaking to RNZ from their temporary home in one of the buckets earlier today, Andrews said it had been a worthy cause. "The Denniston Plateau is a beautiful, unique landscape, 40 million years old, and there's just gorgeous lifeforms there that have adapted and evolved to really thrive in these harsh conditions. "I want that to be a wild place that my grandchildren and their children get to experience." The other part of it, she said, was the emissions. "We can't afford to burn the fossil fuels that are already above the ground - to extract more and more and more is to put humanity on a suicide path. "I don't want to be a person that stood by and let that happen." Costing $27k a day: Bathurst Resources Their actions have caused major disruption to Bathurst Resources. The company previously told RNZ it was having to transport coal by trucks while the cableway was occupied. In a statement today, Bathurst Resources CEO Richard Tacon told RNZ the cost of trucking coal out of the mine was $27,000 a day - "to ensure we can continue the employment of 400 people over this period". Determent measures were justified, he said. "This is not a holiday rental they booked and now the neighbours have gotten noisy. This is a coal conveyance system that is not designed to transport or house people." He had previously acknowledged the right to protest, but said climbing into coal buckets was dangerous. "The organisers have no idea of the inherent risks associated with this equipment. Yet, they have assisted to get these people into this position and have now abandoned them to the elements and those risks. "We cannot go out to where they are. The organisers have not allowed communications with the trespassers by us or the police. "The police only have contact via backroom people who are safely located on solid ground." On August 5, Andrews and Taptiklis reported three shotgun shots were fired into the air near their bucket. Taptiklis told RNZ at the time he could see a person about 250 metres away in a Bathurst Resources uniform, walking away and lowering a long, thin object. RNZ put these claims to Tacon, who rejected them. "No firearms were let off at any time." When Andrews spoke to RNZ from her spot above the trees today, a siren could be heard in the background. "We experienced that when we were here at Easter as well. The siren has been going for two weeks, 24-7. It's just kind of background noise for us now. "Of course it's uncomfortable, but it's nothing in comparison to what people are already facing due to the climate crisis." They had brought in everything they needed: food, a solar panel system to charge their devices, a water collection device and a toilet system consisting of bags and buckets. "Tāmati and I are old friends, we know each other pretty well," Andrews said. "We probably know each other a little bit better now. We're still great friends." When asked whether it was worth it, Andrews said "it does feel like a success". "Bathurst have been majorly disrupted by this action. Thousands of people have signed a petition to save the Denniston Plateau. "There were hundreds of people on the street on the 8th of August all around New Zealand at ANZ banks to ask them to withdraw their banking services from Bathurst resources." In April, Andrews was among nine people arrested and charged with trespassing in a similar protest. Seven of them, including Andrews, had pleaded not guilty. Andrews told RNZ today she didn't take those consequences lightly. "I'm expecting to descend the rope and walk out to the Ngakawau carpark and be arrested by the police." Adam Currie, 350 Aotearoa campaigner, said there had been a number of instances of intimidation and threats towards the protesters and their affiliates online, and from members of the community. A group of local students on a field trip to the conservation estate - the proposed site for the new mine - on August 14 returned to find the vans they had arrived in had been set on fire, destroying them along with the students' possessions. Tacon said they had no idea who had burnt the vans, or why. "The attempt to connect Bathurst to this is typical of the tactics employed by this group." On Sunday, Green MP Steve Abel posted a video on Facebook saying: "huge respect" to the protesters. "Those two activists are doing fantastic work. It's not acceptable that they're being intimidated." Bathurst Resources has been approached for further comment. Minister calls protesters malingerers Resources minister Shane Jones told reporters at Parliament today he thought the protesters were "malingerers". "I'm disappointed they won't leave that business alone, they're costing the firm a lot of money and I'm disappointed they don't consider the rights of the workers." Speaking before the protesters began their descent, Jones urged them to come down. "They're not going to change the planet or it's current trajectory, so just call it a day." Anything that shrunk the cost of energy and increased energy security should be making New Zealanders happy, he believed.
