P07026

Why are so many New Zealanders moving to Austrailia?

Sun, sand, money and sport, Australia is the place to be, but why are so many NewZealanders moving there? With the Ausralian dollar so high and the annual pay check so much higher, its not hard to see why so many New Zealanders are miagrating to Auzzie. A lot of New Zealanders see Ausralia as a golden ticket to a better carear and a more stable life, and wealth. Australia is widley known as the hottest non-tropical country in the world, with the average temperature in Adelade 32° in the summer and 16° in the winter. Australia is now known as the track cycling capital of the world, over the last few years australia has been producing the best track cyclists in both sprint and endurance events winning multipal world titles and a stack of commonwelth gold.

According to Australian Immigration at 30^th June 2010, an estimated 566,815 New Zealand citizens were present in Australia. According to government statistics “a net migration loss of one New Zealand resident every 33 minutes and 36 seconds”. With this imformation one can estimate that there are now 580 thousand New Zealanders who have miagrated to Australia. This number is startalling when New Zealand only has a population on 4.4 million.

New Zealand tax were cut on the 1^st October 2010. This has helped increase New Zealanders take home pay but the Nzier Authoritive analysis states that this will not be enough to stem the flow of kiwi’s miagrating to Australia, but, it is a step in the right direction. Nzier.org.nz provides some startaling figures for the pay differences between the 2 countries. The pay differences between forestry and mining: 117% above NZ, construction: 58% above NZ, retail trade: 45% above NZ, and there are lots more, along with this these jobs pay percentage are on a staedy increase, this is because of Australia’s high dollar. Australia’s dollar is now on the forefront of being one of the top dollars in the ‘western world’, now being at .76 to the New Zealand dollar, this is at a very high rate and only looks to be increasing in strenght, even surpassing the American dollar, which is at .81 to the NZ dollar.   

Ofcourse Austrlia is now a massive forefront for sport, and if there is one sport that is hugely successful, it has to be cycling. Cycling in Australia is becoming hugely popular aswell as very successful, Australia has been the nation to beat at track world cups and world champs for the past few years. Australia are producing the best junoir cyclists in the world, they have had junoir riders break the 3000m world individual persuit record, on more then one occasion. Australia has won a major percentage of gold medals at the world champs, they won 41% of all world titles at the junior worlds in 2010, and have won 42% of world titles at the world champs in 2011, numbers like these are extreme and have not been produced like this concistantly for a long time. Also to the extent of aAustralias cycling greatness they have had there greatest individual persuiter break the 4000m world record, a record which was said to be unbreakable because of the conditions of which it was set under.

America is the land of the free, Japan the land of the rising sun, and Austalia? Well Australia is the land of the worker, it is quickly becoming one of the biggest economic countries in the world, and is right at our doorstep. A kiwi moving to Australia means a better lifestyle, better job security and a higher percentage of pay, just ask Mike and Janeen Karsten who moved from Invercargill to Perth 3 years ago, “better wages across the ditch was to good to turn down”. Mike is now earning more the double his NZ wage, working as a commercial airline pilot. Australia for me is the pure perfection, it has sun, sand, and is leading the way for track cycling, aswell as offering a better job and better wages for parents.

                           

P09148

Helihunting tahr is unfair and cruel. Tahr are chased to exhaustion by helicopters and brutally shot by a tourist who is paying large sums of money. When tahr are hunted by helicopters they have no chance of escape and run kilometres over rough terrain only to be followed and shot by the roaring helicopter that can’t physically tire. This is not only totally unfair to the tahr but also to the common recreational hunter as well. Unfortunately this method of hunting is becoming increasingly popular as most tourists, who now have more rights to New Zealand’s mountains than we do, are too large and can’t physically climb mountains themselves.

A tahr is a Himalayan mountain goat that got introduced into New Zealand in 1904. They are the ultimate animal to hunt as the terrain they live in is steep and rugged. This means it is extremely hard work to walk up close enough to have a shot at them, which makes the joy so much more when you finally shoot one. Helicopter hunters won’t be able to experience this extent of joy as the tahr they shoot has no escape after being inhumanly chased to exhaustion. A recreational hunter rightly quotes, “It’s not sport, it is certainly not hunting, it’s just killing”. This quote clearly states why helihunting is unfair and should be banned.

When tahr are hunted by helicopters they are either chased to exhaustion and shot from the helicopter or herded into an awaiting hunter’s arms who has been dropped off into a good shooting position earlier. Associate Conservation Minister, Kate Wilkinson said, “I don’t like aggressive herding of distressed animals. I don’t like that recreational hunters can spend hours or days stalking an animal and helicopters can swoop in on top of them. That isn’t fair play”. When helicopter guides are chasing animals towards the client they sometimes even use shotguns to ‘sting’ the tahr in order to frighten them. In 2007 there was at least 500 bull tahr taken this inhumane way.

It seems in New Zealand rich tourists are getting more rights than recreational ground hunters. This is because since helihunting tourists are bringing huge sums of money into New Zealand, D.O.C (Department of Conservation) are about to legitimise helihunting on non private land. Mr Dunn a recreational hunter said, “Those that go into the Southern Alps to hunt, tramp or climb deserve better, D.O.C is a department that has totally lost its way. It is meant to look after the interests of New Zealanders first and foremost not rich tourists who now have more rights in our mountains than we do!” The reason D.O.C is allowing this is because of the money coming into New Zealand from this practice. A guide can make up to $6500 US just from one bull tahr. Even so this shouldn’t be a reason to be able to kill a tahr in this brutal way.

By banning helicopter hunting it will be a fairer environment for tahr and recreational hunters. Tahr will have at least a chance of getting away from a ground hunter, and recreational hunters won’t have a helicopter scare away an animal they have stalked for hours. This is why helicopter hunting tahr in New Zealand should be stopped.

P07116

Raising the drinking age is not fair. Imagine this you turn 18 and you live a very social life you want to go out with your mates to the bars and clubs but the age to do so has just been put up to 20 years of age. At 18 you don’t want to still be going to party’s with people 4 years your junior. The drinking age should not be raised to 20.

Raising the drinking age will not stop the drinking teenagers are always able to find people to buy them alcohol or can illegally buy it. Fake identification cards are away minors are able to purchase alcohol this can lead to fraud charges. Pubs are supervised locations for people to consume alcohol this should not be taken away from the under 20 year olds for a minority taking advantage of this law.

On the other hand, 18 New Zealanders have died because of binge drinking since July 2007 this is a small number of deaths considering all the teenagers that drink. “It’s not the fact that we drink that is the problem the problem is how we drink, that is the excessive amounts being drunk”. The drinking age is not the problem there is going to be problems whether the age is 20 18 or 51.

Only a few people are abusing the drinking age. Why change it when were talking about a minority. Sir Geffory from the palmer from the law commotion has said most new Zealanders drink in a low risk manor.

Why put the drinking age above all the other ages to do things. “If im old enough to go to war I should be old enough to drink.” The drinking age is fine as it is but some things could be changed like raising the age of purchasing alcohol in off licence premises. Teenagers should be shown the effects of binge drinking not putting up the age to purchase alcohol

P09136

The End of the World as we know it!

The world we live in today is predicted by some to becoming to a horrific end.  May 31^st to be exact.  What is the truth of this statement? The end of the world has been predicted before and we survived.  The bible is said to be the source of this doomsday prediction and yet the bible states that no-one will know when the apocalypse will occur.  For those who have been “sucked” into the apocalypse theory, it is simply because they are seeing more natural disasters with the technology available today.

Over the last 30 years TV’s have become an everyday part of life for many countries across the world.  Worldwide news is broadcasts throughout the world with natural disasters often being the main feature.  With channels dedicated to news alone these natural disasters are becoming more apparent to everyday people.  Unlike many years ago, use of the internet has become widespread and has a wide range of resources at its disposal such as You Tube that shows all kinds of natural disasters such as the Christchurch and Japan Quakes, Hurricanes and Tornados. They clearly give access to the human factor of disasters.  It is technologies like these that were not around years ago, that bring the reality of worldwide disasters to people in their homes. As a result people believe that natural disasters are occurring more often leading to the theory that the end of the world is close.

Harold Egbert Camping, an 89yr old religious broadcaster from USA claims the world will end in 2011.  He has said that he unlocked the secret code of the bible, telling him that the world will begin to end on May 21^st 2011 at Christmas Island.  Christmas Island still exists today.  Camping believes the bible has given him the secret code but in Matthew 24:36 it states, “but about that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son but only the father”. Camping therefore places himself in the role of God.  Critics believe that Camping is an old and confused man.  He uses the bible to defend his predictions but the bible itself states that only God, not Camping can determine the truth.

On 6^th September of 1994 a similar prediction was made by the same man, Harold Camping.  Many people believed him and said there would be a massive, “world wide earthquake”, with horrible “destruction and death”.  September 6^th of 1994 passed and everyone was left untouched, in a world unscarred.

As we begin to relise that the world is not going to end anytime soon we must take note that everyday could be our last. Therefore you must treat everyday as the end. Live life to the fullest!!! The end of the world as we know it! No

P07020

The existence of the Fiordland moose is a hugely controversial topic; many believe that the moose died off after the 10 were released in April 1910. I believe that the moose are out there even though since 1975 no moose has been seen or shot. Some sign and trail cam photos are showing up since the 1980’s, and that tells us that they’re still out there.

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In 1910 at Supper Cove, at Dusky sound, 10 young Canadian moose were released into the New Zealand bush. They were supposed to be the grandest of the big game animals ever to be introduced, even though an earlier attempt at releasing the big game animal at Hokitika was a complete failure. Many of the seen moose were shot, the earliest known was in 1929 by E.J. Herrick in Seaforth valley, this ranges to the latest known with photographic evidence was in 1952 at Herrick creek, with 3 others being shot in the area. The last confirmed photos were also taken that year again at Herrick Creek. One speculated photo emerge in 1995 of a clearly definable shape of the body of an animal. It has never been confirmed as a moose although its body mass, colouration and stance does not fit with what is known about red deer. It instead fits in with everything known about Canadian Moose.

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The Fiordland area has been searched dozens of times for the extraordinary creature. One man, Ken Tustin, has spent the best part of his life in search of any trace of a Moose. Early in 2000 he and his wife Marg unearthed samples of fresh Moose hair which were taken to Ag Research for DNA testing, which revealed that the hair did indeed belong to the elusive Fiordland Moose. Tustin has also logged in 5000 days of trail cam usage capturing images of around 2000 red dear and the single, probably female, Moose taken in 1995.

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Frauds still continue to try to gain the $100,000 Bounty for proof of the Moose, carcasses and photos are the only acceptance. In 1971 a Te Anau shooter claimed to have downed a Bull Moose and told Southland Times he had seen a Cow with a Calf. This lead to an official 70 day investigation in the area that turned out dry. This was a huge blow to the Moose suporters, but Ken Tustin has stayed in there. Between 1975 and1980 Red Deer kulling was governments and the scarce food, a problem that the red deer population had been creating, became more readily available to the Moose. During this period the sign of Moose drastically increased, turning over hundreds of prints and cast antlers. “Millions of deer in New Zealand don’t make a sound and it’s hard to find them, what makes you think finding a smaller group of quieter animals will be easy” says Tustin.

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We know the Moose is still out there, they’re hiding in small groups somewhere in Fiordland. The $100,000 bounty remains untouched, but if anyone deserves it it is definatly Ken Tustin, the man who gave up everything to find the elusive Fiordland Moose.