New Zealand now pro-whaling

[EuphoricMilk]

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA1003/S00102.htm

 

Cheers National!

 

New Zealand is now a pro-whaling country

Monday, 8 March 2010, 11:17 am

Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

 

New Zealand is now a pro-whaling country

 

Labour rejects the National-Act Government’s decision today to support the resumption of commercial whaling, Labour’s Foreign Affairs spokesman Chris Carter says.

 

At the International Whaling Commission meeting in Florida, New Zealand’s representatives endorsed a proposal which will allow some countries to legally resume commercial whaling.

 

 

“In a little over a year John Key has turned New Zealand from being a world leader in marine mammal conservation to being an active advocate for the resumption of commercial whaling,” Chris Carter said.

 

“Many Kiwis regard whales as iconic creatures and do not understand the need to kill them for scientific or any other purposes. The action we’ve seen against the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean this year reflects the strong feelings many New Zealanders share. They will be disgusted by Mr Key’s move.

 

“Mr Key’s kowtowing to pressure from a handful of whaling nations has put us completely at odds with many respected NGOs, and with our key international partner, Australia,” Mr Carter said.

 

“Without our support, the best Australia’s representatives could do today in Florida was to bring the IWC meeting to a stalemate. How disappointed must the Australian team have been with their Kiwi mates?

 

“Yet in spite of Mr Key’s refusal to support Australia’s position, the Rudd Government seems determined to stop whaling once and for all. The Australian Prime Minister has given Japan a clear choice; stop killing whales in the Southern Ocean or face the legal consequences. If Japan does not voluntarily end its whaling programme by November of this year then Australia will take a case to the International Court of Justice. New Zealand should be joining with Australia in this action.

 

“It is now clear that this National-Act Government simply doesn’t care about marine mammal conservation or other conservation issues,” Mr Carter has said.

 

“This is the same Government that is prepared to mine our national parks, as well as support the resumption of commercial whaling.

 

 

“Whales are critically endangered animals, and they depend on the resolve of fair minded countries and individuals to avoid extinction at a time of global climate change and increasing marine pollution. Today Mr Key placed New Zealand in the group of countries that are prepared to continue to hunt endangered species. Many New Zealanders will be shocked by this decision.

 

“The Labour Party remains committed to the conservation of the world’s endangered whale species and remains totally opposed to the resumption of commercial whaling.”

 

Same cunts who want to mine our national parks, promote nuclear power, privatise our prisons and schools, and kill our radio stations. Mean bro! Good work!

 

[perceptualChaos]

Personally I don't have a problem with controlled whaling of non-endangered species such as minke. Just because we think whales are cute doesn't mean other cultures shouldn't be allowed to eat them.

[phonetics]

and didn't John Key claim to only support 'pro-whaling' if the numbers of whales actually caught was dramatically reduced?

 

i.e. less whales would actually be killed compared to now?

 

i just find this article kinda biased...it's Labour sourced for a start

[Pakage]

yeah, really biased article imo.

 

i heard a good rant about it on the radio this morning.

[penco]

Personally I don't have a problem with controlled whaling of non-endangered species such as minke. Just because we think whales are cute doesn't mean other cultures shouldn't be allowed to eat them.

 

[Dapht1]

If they want to eat them they can fish them from nearer where they live innit

[Grind]

Not too clued up whaling but apparently the nuclear power thing is all good. One of the cleanest ways of producing energy, relatively cheap and doesn't actualy have anything to do with war/bombs etc.

 

Thing is, being "nuclear free" is obviously such a strong part of NZ's identity and values.

[a-tech]

New Zealand's Nuclear free policy/act does not make building land-based nuclear power plants illegal btw.

 

So if we had enough money/it was viable to build in a nuclear power plant in NZ, I'm pretty sure it would happen.

 

But we don't, so we won't.

[perceptualChaos]

Nuclear power is an efficient way to generate energy and the process itself is quite clean, but you get left with huge amounts of highly dangerous nuclear waste with a really long half-life which needs to be disposed of. Corporations being left in charge with doing this in an ethically responsible way does not entice good feelings for me. I can't imagine anyone wanting to live next to a nuclear power plant either...

[Dr Awesome]

I think many young educated people in NZ today are pro nuclear power, but until the baby boomers die off, suggesting such an idea would result in political suicide.

 

The other problem is that traditional nuclear power stations aren't suitable for NZ: we would need to look at smaller reactors. New generation designs can cope with this however.

 

I agree that the disposal of waste shouldn't be private sector: it'd need to be at least a partially government owned enterprise...

 

Alternatively Australia has plenty of desert - we could offload our waste there in exchange for token amounts of fresh water.

 

Also the initial outlay costs of setting up a nuclear power plant is quite expensive compared with other methods, I think we do have bits of uranium in the Southern Alps, but we would probably have to import both the know-how and the materials from overseas. The whole thing would cost billions of dollars, which nobody in NZ is likely to want to fund. We'd have to get a world bank grant or similar.

 

If they want to eat them they can fish them from nearer where they live innit

 

They already have.

[Known One]

Fusion power should be available within a few decades (sooner for highly developed nations)... Much rather that than Nuclear power any day.

[Dr Awesome]

Fusion power should be available within a few decades (sooner for highly developed nations)... Much rather that than Nuclear power any day.

 

Never likely to be practical in NZ though...

[Pakage]

you get left with huge amounts of highly dangerous nuclear waste

I saw on discovery that only 2% (or something close to that figure) of the plutonium/uranium used for nuclear power plants actually gets converted to energy. These guys are trying to develop a power plant that can assimilate the 98% depleted uranium thats left over.

 

That would be sweet because theres literally fuckloads of it already sitting around ready to be used.

 

not sure how close they are to doing it. cant remember.

[Dr Awesome]

you get left with huge amounts of highly dangerous nuclear waste

I saw on discovery that only 2% (or something close to that figure) of the plutonium/uranium used for nuclear power plants actually gets converted to energy. These guys are trying to develop a power plant that can assimilate the 98% depleted uranium thats left over.

 

That would be sweet because theres literally fuckloads of it already sitting around ready to be used.

 

not sure how close they are to doing it. cant remember.

 

Quite a few companies are looking into re-enriching the waste. Some of the small reactor designs that use pallets of fuel are highly efficient - you end up with almost non-reactive hunks of lead.

[Nato]

you get left with huge amounts of highly dangerous nuclear waste

I saw on discovery that only 2% (or something close to that figure) of the plutonium/uranium used for nuclear power plants actually gets converted to energy. These guys are trying to develop a power plant that can assimilate the 98% depleted uranium thats left over.

 

That would be sweet because theres literally fuckloads of it already sitting around ready to be used.

 

not sure how close they are to doing it. cant remember.

 

Quite a few companies are looking into re-enriching the waste. Some of the small reactor designs that use pallets of fuel are highly efficient - you end up with almost non-reactive hunks of lead.

Sweet, and we can just sell the lead to China and then buy it back as children's toys

[Dr Awesome]

you get left with huge amounts of highly dangerous nuclear waste

I saw on discovery that only 2% (or something close to that figure) of the plutonium/uranium used for nuclear power plants actually gets converted to energy. These guys are trying to develop a power plant that can assimilate the 98% depleted uranium thats left over.

 

That would be sweet because theres literally fuckloads of it already sitting around ready to be used.

 

not sure how close they are to doing it. cant remember.

 

Quite a few companies are looking into re-enriching the waste. Some of the small reactor designs that use pallets of fuel are highly efficient - you end up with almost non-reactive hunks of lead.

Sweet, and we can just sell the lead to China and then buy it back as children's toys

 

Better still just melt it down and use it for water pipes.

[Hakomi]

They use the depleted uranium for loads of different applications both civillian and millitary.

 

The millitary usage is brutal, look up depleted uranium shells/weapons they are freaking nasty.

 

Oh and about the whales, I already said this somewhere else.

 

These are the two most commonly hunted species of whale.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_minke_whale

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_minke_whale

 

Firstly I could possibly be fine with some whaling as long as it was carefully monitored.

 

The Antarctic Minke has an estimated population of over 500,000 while the common Minke is estimated around 100,000. If they only fished a small amount then im sure these populations would be able to replenish their numbers significatly enough to handle whaling.

 

BUT...... Because humans are greedy and conniving they will most likely kill many more than their quotas. Also its more than likely they would kill species still on the endangered list such as the North Pasific Right Whale, which has been fished to the brink of extinction. Its numbers are estimated to be about 50. Funnily enough their main territory extends directly out from the coast of Japan.

 

So yeah im still unsure about the whole thing really. But realistically they will hunt whales either way so if its monitored and restricted im sure it will be better for the whales.

[Dr Awesome]

Bro... it's Mink SPACE e not Minke.

[Dapht1]

 

If they want to eat them they can fish them from nearer where they live innit

 

They already have.

 

Exactly, that should be the end of it imo. Ie only vessals from a certain country can fish around that country. Its already well established that worldwide fish stocks are going to run out in the next few decades.

 

I likes the sound of the no heavy oil driven vessels near Antarctica bit too..

 

1) Due to a new U.N. Law that will go into effect in June 2011, it will be illegal for Japan to operate it's whaling ships in the Southern Ocean where they claim to be whaling for "research".

 

2) In order to operate those ships after 2011, Japan will have to use alternative oils (the new law bans ships using heavy oil in Antarctica waters). This will cost too much for them to make a profit from their whale quotas. Thus, they are looking for an alternative way to kill whales.

 

3) THE ANSWER THEY CAME UP WITH - They (Japan) are going to ask the IWC (International Whaling Commission) for a COMMERCIAL whaling program in their coastal waters at the June 2010 IWC meeting. This will give them the green light to kill whales without calling it "research" and it will be the first time since whaling has been banned that the IWC will authorize a commercial whaling program - SO WE MUST STOP IT BEFORE IT STARTS.

 

More here:

 

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=info&ref=mf&gid=291599004314

 

Re Nuclear Power Stations.

 

Wouldnt have thought that NZ would even consider them? They take a while to get up and running theres an issue in the UK with them leaving it too late (to keep up with projected energy demands) and with old stations coming to the end of their life cycle the problem is compounded. The latest toted solution is offshore wind farms. NZ prob wouldnt even have power crises if they shut down that Aluminum Smelter near Bluff, they use some ridiculous % of NZs total power.. Green solutions for the win I reckon, dont think we need Nuclear Power here, Uranium will get very expensive in future and with no large resource how could we keep up?

[Medium]

 

Alternatively Australia has plenty of desert - we could offload our waste there in exchange for token amounts of fresh water.

 

[thr339z]

"hey I know!" .."whats that?" .."lets vote for national!!" "why?" "cause john key is great and cool and young and honest and hip , and wants change like obama!!".."yeah he is rad and young and cool and hip!, he does want change like obama, john key/national are rad!" >"but wait..didnt and dont national have a long history of fucking over everyone and everything so that their pockets get fatter, and everyone else suffers" .."nah john key is rad and cool and hip,,he wants change like obama".."yeah but dont you remember that in EVERY single occasion that national have had their evil tendrils on the helm that unemployment has dramatically risen and quality of life for the average new zealander has gone down and the level of purges to our crown jewels is a signifigent factor in fucking over the populace , that took three terms of a centre left government to fix" "yeah but john key is young rad cool and hip and wants change like obama"...

HA!.....

 

like lambs to the slaughter

[Dapht1]

Centrist right even worse than centrist left.. I voted Green but they leave a lot to be desired.. **Sticks to scene politics**

[zzzp]

"hey I know!" .."whats that?" .."lets vote for national!!" "why?" "cause john key is great and cool and young and honest and hip , and wants change like obama!!".."yeah he is rad and young and cool and hip!, he does want change like obama, john key/national are rad!" >"but wait..didnt and dont national have a long history of fucking over everyone and everything so that their pockets get fatter, and everyone else suffers" .."nah john key is rad and cool and hip,,he wants change like obama".."yeah but dont you remember that in EVERY single occasion that national have had their evil tendrils on the helm that unemployment has dramatically risen and quality of life for the average new zealander has gone down and the level of purges to our crown jewels is a signifigent factor in fucking over the populace , that took three terms of a centre left government to fix" "yeah but john key is young rad cool and hip and wants change like obama"...

HA!.....

 

like lambs to the slaughter

 

 

labour can suck it. in 3 terms they did fuck all for new zealand. fuck all of anything worthwhile. all politicians need to grow some oysters, sadly itll never happen. need to take the best of whats available. watch backbenchers on tvnz 6 or what ever to see the state of the politicians running our country. its hilariously sad. phill goff is a muppet.

[thr339z]

Centrist right even worse than centrist left.. I voted Green but they leave a lot to be desired.. **Sticks to scene politics**

agreed....

needs more Direct action and insurrections in the streets, Barricades at intersection of pitt st/krd and another set intersection of queen st/krd . with a collectivised free republic in the middle

 

labour can suck it. in 3 terms they did fuck all for new zealand. fuck all of anything worthwhile. all politicians need to grow some oysters, sadly itll never happen. need to take the best of whats available. watch backbenchers on tvnz 6 or what ever to see the state of the politicians running our country. its hilariously sad. phill goff is a muppet.

 

well they did more than any right wing fucks would do....

maybe find a position and look at the sate of the nation and detour from all parliamentary politics all together and shift a little more left and inact your disdain towards a positive outcome rather than the flip flop i hate everything apathetic type o way o things

 

I mean we can either lay down and be fucked by either side of the argument or arm your self with knowledge and rise up collectively...

[Medium]

i personally cant be fucked with politics its so corrupt and messed up anyway and we cant do shit to change it and its inevitable slippery slide so why bother. id rather sit in my comfy chair watching shit hit the fan while sipping a G n T, smoking a fine cuban cigar and not giving a fuck