Oh baby! Girl born on Waiheke ferry during alert level 4 lockdown
An expectant mother was on board the 8pm sailing to Auckland city, but her baby did not want to wait and was born as the Fullers360 vessel motored towards the mainland. Fullers360 has been operating a reduced free of charge service to Waiheke throughout alert level 4 for essential service staff and as a lifeline service for emergencies for the Waiheke community. "We would like to congratulate the mother on her new arrival and extend our congratulations to her family," Fullers360 fleet operations manager Megan Watson said. She described the birth as "a heartwarming occasion in uncertain times". "I'm so proud of our crew who have shown commitment to keeping services to Waiheke going throughout level four and this exceptional event in challenging times will be another sailing to remember," she said. The birth is the second baby born onboard a sailing from Waiheke in the past six months. "Our people are trained to provide assistance and support in situations like this, and we are proud of how they responded and supported our passenger, and her midwife, during this time," said Watson. The essential service between Waiheke and Auckland has been running hourly with a passenger register in place to assist with contact tracing, and to monitor essential travel. The service will continue throughout alert level three with the same precautionary measures in place that have been in place at alert level four.
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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.
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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59.4% Yes, supporting people is important!
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26.1% No, individuals should take responsibility
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14.5% ... It is complicated
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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