Queues snaked around several blocks at liquor stores in west Auckland as thirsty Kiwis gear up for the second weekend in lockdown.
One West Auckland man, who tried to buy alcohol from West Liquor in both Glen Eden and Kelston, said a lot of people in the queues were not keeping a safe 2-metre distance. He told he didn't feel comfortable lining up. "There's no way that it's safe for everyone," he said. In both stores he tried to visit, he said the queue stretched around the block. Footage posted on Instagram shows hundreds of people queueing for West Liquor in Massey. "Line for alcohol all the way around the store! West Liquor Westgate, Auckland. Alert 4 Lockdown this weekend, or party time?," the caption reads. Another video shot this afternoon shows a queue spanning multiple blocks, with hundreds of people lining up to purchase alcohol from West Liquor on Railside Ave, in Henderson.
"I think the trust should be online sellers like the rest of the country," Amie, who lives in west Auckland. "This is making a mockery of the lockdown and what we are ultimately trying to achieve. People from all over are travelling to get top shelf from the Trusts." The Trusts were granted essential service status, meaning they can stay open through alert level 4. Trusts stores are operating on a one-in-one-out policy. On its website, it says only locals should travel to Trusts stores to purchase alcohol. "We are here to serve our West Auckland community – do not travel outside your local area to shop. We will report people who are travelling from outside West Auckland to shop with us to the Police," the Trusts website says. However, multiple west Aucklanders believe people from outside the area are travelling west for liquor. The decision to allow Trusts liquor stores to continue to operate during the lockdown in west Auckland has been highly contested by other local businesses which sell alcohol but have been forced to shut through this period. New Zealanders across the country can purchase alcohol online and have it delivered to their door.
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Poll: Should the government levy industries that contribute to financial hardship?
As reported in the Post, there’s a $30 million funding gap in financial mentoring. This has led to services closing and mentors stepping in unpaid just to keep helping people in need 🪙💰🪙
One proposed solution? Small levies on industries that profit from financial hardship — like banks, casinos, and similar companies.
So we want to hear what you think:
Should the government ask these industries to contribute?
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59.8% Yes, supporting people is important!
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25.8% No, individuals should take responsibility
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14.4% ... It is complicated
Even Australians get it - so why not Kiwis???
“Ten years ago, if a heatwave as intense as last week’s record-breaker had hit the east coast, Australia’s power supply may well have buckled. But this time, the system largely operated as we needed, despite some outages.
On Australia’s main grid last quarter, renewables and energy storage contributed more than 50% of supplied electricity for the first time, while wholesale power prices were more than 40% lower than a year earlier.
[…] shifting demand from gas and coal for power and petrol for cars is likely to deliver significantly lower energy bills for households.
Last quarter, wind generation was up almost 30%, grid solar 15% and grid-scale batteries almost tripled their output. Gas generation fell 27% to its lowest level for a quarter century, while coal fell 4.6% to its lowest quarterly level ever.
Gas has long been the most expensive way to produce power. Gas peaking plants tend to fire up only when supply struggles to meet demand and power prices soar. Less demand for gas has flowed through to lower wholesale prices.”
Full article: www.theguardian.com...
If even Australians see the benefit of solar - then why is NZ actively boycotting solar uptake? The increased line rental for electricity was done to make solar less competitive and prevent cost per kWh to rise even more than it did - and electricity costs are expected to rise even more. Especially as National favours gas - which is the most expensive form of generating electricity. Which in turn will accelerate Climate Change, as if New Zealand didn’t have enough problems with droughts, floods, slips, etc. already.
A Neighbourly Riddle! Don’t Overthink It… Or Do?😜
Do you think you know the answer? Simply 'Like' this post if you know the answer and the big reveal will be posted in the comments at 2pm on the day!
If you multiply this number by any other number, the answer will always be the same. What number is this?
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