The Government's Environment Aotearoa 2019 report gives a largely bleak stocktake of our natural heritage.
Problems range from polluted waterways in farming areas and our myriad under-threat species, to our dismally high per-capita emissions and the emerging hand of climate change.
Secretary for the Environment Vicky Robertson says if we want to protect the things we value, we need to focus our attention on the choices we make from here.
She says the economy has been built on our environment, our population continues to grow and climate change is increasing the pressure.
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Meanwhile the Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre needs funds after losing Northpower as major sponsor
Robert Webb, from the Whangārei Native Bird Recovery Centre, says Northpower - which had been the centre's major sponsor for the past 12 years - told him earlier this month it had withdrawn its $14,000 annual funding.
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Capital Gains Tax might be dead, but will its ghost haunt the Labour Party?
There's a division of opinion on that point amongst the party faithful.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the Government would not implement a capital gains tax because she couldn't get agreement from New Zealand First and she did not have a mandate from New Zealanders.
This is despite the fact Labour had been campaigning for the tax for almost a decade.
Former Labour Party president Mike Williams doesn't think the wider Labour Party base will be too worried.
He says only some elements will be annoyed, such as the unions and extreme left of the Labour Party.
But not all agree.
One Labour Party activist, who did not want to be named, said he was "very, very disappointed" by Ardern's decision.
He said it wasn't just the outcome, but the fact that Labour seemed to never even try to shift the public's position on the tax.
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Meanwhile OneRoof property commentator Ashley Church has written some analysis on how he thinks the backdown will impact the property market.
He says the decision is a victory for common sense over ideology, and means an end to any attempt to introduce a capital gains tax for the foreseeable future.
Despite that, now the idea is scrapped, Church doesn't believe there'll be a "bounce back" in the property market.
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That's the Front Page for today, Thursday, April 18, making sure you're across the biggest news of the day. For more on these stories, check out the New Zealand Herald, or tune in to Newstalk ZB.
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