Maybe council rates bills needs to be itemized to show what proportion of the rates they charge is going on capital spending (ie local infrastructure) vs. operational spending (council expenses, community and arts funding, etc).

My hunch is that people are much less likely to carp about "wasteful" operational spending if they see what a tiny proportion it is of total council spending. Or where it isn't, maybe they have every right to carp about that.

#PolicyNZ

I couple of weeks ago we got a leaflet in our letterbox arguing for limiting eligibility to vote to citizens, on the assumption this would limit it to the people affected by government decisions. I decided to respond as an open letter, to add my thoughts to the public conversation on election rules, and who potentially benefits from changing them;

https://strypey.dreamwidth.org/8279.html

#elections #NZPolitics #ElectionsNZ #PolicyNZ #ElectionRules

I would suggest a ban on selling alcohol in glass. But I think a ban on glass stubbies would do it. Put beers, RTDs and other stuff that currently comes in stubbies in either aluminum cans, or plastic bottles.

So you can still have wine and spirits in glass. There's a whole lot less of them, and they're a small fraction of the smashed glass pollution problem. They're almost never the ones I find smashed on streets, in green belts, or at festival sites.

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#PolicyNZ

NZ needs to set a NetZero-style goal for when all software the NZ government depends on to fulfill its statutory functions is published as Free Code.

If the rationale for this isn't self-evident, see the Public Money Public Code campaign by @fsfe;

https://fsfe.org/activities/publiccode/publiccode.en.html

In the rest of this thread, I'll go through some specific steps to move us towards that goal;

(1/?)

#PolicyNZ

NZ needs to set a NetZero-style goal for when all software the NZ government depends on to fulfill its statutory functions is published as Free Code.

If the rationale for this isn't self-evident, see the Public Money Public Code campaign by @fsfe;

https://fsfe.org/activities/publiccode/publiccode.en.html

In the rest of this thread, I'll go through some specific steps to move us towards that goal;

(1/?)

#PolicyNZ

@Iveyline
> the focus needs to be on a more sustainable model for the economy that enables future generations to have a good quality of life

100% agree, but that's a principle, not a *policy*. Have a look through the posts with the #PolicyNZ tag to get a sense of the distinction I'm making here.

@strypey In my view we have to stop focusing on endless growth as the basis of the economy. It is like a giant Ponzi scheme because we are beginning to exhaust the resources that drive growth and are mortgaging the future in a way we can't repay. In my view, the focus needs to be on a more sustainable model for the economy that enables future generations to have a good quality of life i thoroughly recommend checking out Earth Overshoot Day. It tells us endless growth will endanger our future both within NZ and globally. #PolicyNZ

Finally, a reminder that the #PolicyNZ tag is there for anyone to use. To describe specific policies you'd like a future government to enact. In as much detail as you can. Let's do everything we can to make positive future visions and policy detail the focus on political debate in 2026.

We got this.

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I hope one day my grandchildren will tell a similar story about fossil fuel products. That governments around the world passed laws against carrying advertising for them. Then slowly expanded that ban to apply to businesses that totally depend on them. Like transport services that burn fossil fuels, or service stations that make most of their money selling them.

(2/3)

#PolicyNZ #ClimateChange #FossilFuels

One simple change to copyright law that would make a huge difference is making exclusive licenses unenforceable. Here's an example.

After decades of consolidation, an oligopoly of 3 corporations control licensing for the majority of the world's recorded music (Universal, Sony and Warner). If an artist wants their music distributed by one of them, they have to sign over 100% control of their music licensing rights.

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#PolicyNZ #copyright #CopyrightReform

The Climate Denier's Playbook episode also talks about the stupidity of the electric Hummer. One policy that could be applied to all vehicles is to reduce the maximum width. Or at the very least, exclude vehicles above a given width/ weight from any kind of subsidy or support offered to encourage transition to electric vehicles.

#PolicyNZ

A 2023 episode of The Climate Denier's Playbook podcast;

https://art19.com/shows/the-climate-deniers-playbook/episodes/4d999c65-5904-47eb-a2d7-6ec1173118dd

...got me thinking about how to craft policy to disincentivise the purchase of light trucks (SUVs, utes, etc) for use as oversized cars.*Without* stinging businesses that actually need heavier vehicles for their work.

Can we not just exempt light trucks purchased by businesses (including farms), for work use, from policy aimed at discouraging truck purchases?

#podcasts #Art19 #TheClimateDeniersPlaybook #PolicyNZ

@tootbrute
> South Korea recently passed a law that any outdoor car parks that have more than 80 spaces need to install solar panels

Wow. Instead of getting heated cars that use more fuel cooling their interior to a comfortable temp, you get a sustainable supply of electricity. That's so sensible!

Can any NZ political party that takes renewable energy transition seriously please adopt something like this as policy?

#PolicyNZ

"If we want independent, lawful, merits-based appointments according to statutory criteria, then we should give the job to a permanent independent appointments panel. We already use such a process for appointing the Government Statistician (with criminal penalties for any Minister who attempts to interfere in it) ... Ministers cannot be trusted not to behave corruptly; we can fix that problem simply by taking the job off them."

@norightturnnz, 2025

https://norightturn.blogspot.com/2025/12/unlawful-appointments.html

#PolicyNZ

We're supposed to be living in a democracy in Aotearoa. If the vast majority of submissions on a bill are opposed, and the government passes it anyway, and then two of 3 coalition partners distance themselves from it, there's an obvious thing the Opposition must do. They must promise to repeal it in their first 100 days. Unless there's a very, *very* good reason not to.

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#NZPolitics #PolicyNZ

People are being pushed into psychosis and in some cases even dying because of generative models. Given that, I think there may be a case for a moratorium on making them available to the general public.

(1/?)

#PolicyNZ #TechRegulation

This has gone beyond ridiculous. It's time to allow beneficiaries to select the social service agency we want to manage our case. Fully funded, independently of WINZ, and with the same access to MSD systems they have.

Or, as I've said before, wipe the steaming remains of WINZ from the face of the earth, hand over benefits payments to IRD ("reverse taxation"), and move work brokers etc back to an employment service with no responsibility for benefit payments.

#PolicyNZ #SocialWelfare #WINZ #IRD

A platform that respond to keywords with "AI" slop and advertising is not a search engine; a neutral tool for sifting through an index of web pages. Which is what Goggle Search offered to build its initial reputation and userbase (myself included), before pivoting to helping fill the web with ad bait.

It's misleading to market misinformation and promotion engines like 2025 Goggle Search as "search engines". They should be regulated as the marketing businesses they are.

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#PolicyNZ

According to @pluralistic, copyright offices around the world have published clarifications that media created by generative models is not subject to copyright law. Not text, not images, not audio or video, and not code.

So every generative model that outputs media ought to add a public domain notice (eg CC0) to anything it produces. Either visibly within the media, or in metadata.

#PolicyNZ #copyright #PublicDomain #CreativeCommons #CC0