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May 21, 2020 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 21 May 2020

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General Debate

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TWEEDSE

Well National, you have shot yourself in the foot. The one thing you had to offer the electorate was a choice between panic (labour) and stability. By giving air to the leadership stories and further by a leadership vote, you have lost the one thing the average New Zealander (who has no interest in politics) could recognise as worth voting for.

So you’ve now screwed your, and New Zealands chances, what ever you do. Who ever you choose.

You have panicked, thus displaying the same self interest as labour.

Way to go.
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May 21, 2020 8:00am
- Nukuleka
  
  Thanks Todd Muller, Nicki Kaye and Spuds Bolger. Also to some extent John Key with his unhelpful comments extolling the virtues of John Luxon. Where’s the discipline?
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:27am
  - Gravelroad
    
    I have never been a great admirer of Jim Bolger.
    Why do these old politicians feel the need to meddle all the time?
    Anyone being promoted and manipulated by him I would treat with suspicion.
    
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    May 21, 2020 8:36am
    - Souvlaki
      
      Yep. I regard Bolger as the Kim Philby of National.
      A “sleeper “labour plant.
      An endorsement from BOTH Peters and Bolger certainly makes one suspicious ….
      
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      May 21, 2020 9:54am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    John Luxon?
    
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    May 21, 2020 8:38am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Who is John Luxon? I thought his name was Christopher.
    
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    May 21, 2020 8:46am
    - fernglas
      
      John Luxon was part of the songwriting duo Luxon and McCarthy, and was one of the founding members of the Bottles.
      
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      May 21, 2020 9:58am
      - MH
        
        he co-wrote that song ” Luxon, you don’t have to turn on that red light ” referring of course to labour youth parties.
        
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        May 21, 2020 10:27am
    - Nukuleka
      
      Yep, my bad, as they say. Sorry, we all make mistakes. Christopher Luxon.
      
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      May 21, 2020 11:04am
- 453mm
  
  Yep. Who the fcuk is Todd Muller and why does he think he could win an election?
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:39am
  - chaos
    
    You should follow politics and you would know who he is and what experience he brings to the table, experience that is well needed right now to rebuild.
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:14am
    - MH
      
      if that table has no more than 10 he’s in trouble and being dealt to by single server crusher when she feels like it will be a “site’ for sore eyes
      
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      May 21, 2020 10:31am
    - Rachael Membery
      
      Which should be available whether leader of the party or not.
      
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      May 21, 2020 11:34am
  - Wired-one
    
    Hes extremely competent. If he wins please give him and Nikki a chance. They believe they can win the election and frankly that’s far better than Ardern getting a second term.
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:20am
    - niggly
      
      Elderly lady with some intelligence rang MagicTalk and had a chat to Peter Williams. Apparently caller had been dealing with Muller for some time over health matters and called Muller out for making things up and not making good on his promises.
      
      That does not seem like a good look …
      
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      May 21, 2020 9:46am
      - rockape
        
        Well National haven’t been in power for 3 years. Plus she wanted lots more for th poor, it as the other than trolling,the Government she wanted was a Labour one.
        
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        May 21, 2020 10:01am
      - igm
        
        Heard her also, and she came across as a Labour plant!
        
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        May 21, 2020 11:03am
      - Rachael Membery
        
        Sounds like a plant.
        
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        May 21, 2020 11:57am
      - niggly
        
        Nope sounded genuine and she was referring to 2014-2017 when National were in govt!
        
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        May 21, 2020 3:05pm
      - Michael NZ
        
        who is she?
        is she labour?
        i wouldn’t put anything past this COL.
        
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        May 21, 2020 5:45pm
    - Sacha
      
      And we will drift ever leftwards –
      
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      May 21, 2020 10:02am
    - TWEEDSE
      
      That may well be the case but unfortunately most voters don’t care. Such is the level of intelligence around voting. Another holiday gets votes, sense and logic don’t. Sad isn’t it.
      
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      May 21, 2020 10:10am
    - krazykiwi
      
      Nikki … because New Zealand needs more closet socialists wearing blue rosettes.
      
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      May 21, 2020 11:54am
  - niggly
    
    453mm – I’m also wondering whether Muller’s attempt to roll Bridges is due to a “panicked ego”.
    
    If National wins the election (with Simon as leader and becomes PM) …. or if National looses the election (and Simon honorably steps down as leader) …. it is possible that National’s next leader (either later or sooner as painted above) could be Christoper Luxon?
    
    So in light of this possibility, is this why Muller is pushing now, because he may never get a chance again?
    
    (BTW I’m not promoting Luxon as leader, just laying out a scenario)!
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:43am
    - Sacha
      
      My thoughts too –
      
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      May 21, 2020 10:02am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      I totally agree with this. Muller is very ambitious and is making his run now before Luxon gets established, otherwise he’s always going to play second fiddle.
      High risk strategy but it’s his only chance.
      On the plus side, Simon’s polling is so disastrous that a new, positive face selling National’s message could be the solution. ‘Anyone but Bridges’.
      
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      May 21, 2020 10:37am
      - Monique Watson
        
        I doubt it. National will lose elections until Ardern goes if National cycles through leaders.
        
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        May 21, 2020 11:27am
      - Albert_Ross
        
        Simon is polling badly not because he is Simon but because he is the leader of the National Party. Anybody in that position, even if they were Jesus Christ, David Attenborough and Richie McCaw rolled into one, would get a similarly hard ride from the media with similar results from the polls.
        
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        May 21, 2020 11:52am
- SmokerGuy
  
  There’s still 4 months to go, NZ will be hurting big time around the election. 4 months is enough time to come back and win with the right leader! This government has no idea what they are doing. Even the governments own advisory council is saying they aren’t handling it as well as AU:
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12333598
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:44am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    I agree. A lot can happen in four months. In less time than that Winston Churchill went from winning a war to losing an election.
    
    However there are two big differences here:
    
    1. Grant Robertson has a blank cheque to spend money on whatever he wants and naturally he is going to try to buy the election. There’s a good chance the pain can be postponed until after September for enough voters that Labour stays ahead.
    
    2. A Labour win would be bad for NZ but not necessarily bad for National. From a purely political standpoint, it could be good to make Labour spend three years dealing with the consequences of their actions. By then voters will have suffered so much they will hate Labour with a passion for several election cycles.
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:13am
    - SmokerGuy
      
      But the problem is during those 3 years we will endure a crippling amount of debt so by the time National comes back in the economy will be so damaged that it will take many, many years to recover. Meanwhile AU will fly ahead of us and take our skilled workers, you can see it is going to happen. We simply can’t afford another 3 years of this government and their plans to put us into 200 billion of debt.
      
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      May 21, 2020 9:28am
    - Colville
      
      Agreed.
      Robo has the power to kick the problems down the road for long enough that they wont be apparent in the run up to the election.
      There are enough lazy sheep out there that will just turn off when National complain that its bad for the country and we will get the government that we deserve.
      Personally I will be working hard on tax structure so next year when the hammer drops on higher incomes I am at least as prepared as possible.
      Its not as tho we havent been warned!
      
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      May 21, 2020 9:42am
      - Michael NZ
        
        60%+
        
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        May 21, 2020 5:48pm
    - DeepBlue
      
      Grant Robertson does have an open chequebook, but don’t the pre-election spending rules start soon?
      
      Now National have the extent of Labour fiscal envelope they should say what and how they can recover the economy for far less debt.
      
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      May 21, 2020 9:42am
      - kowtow
        
        The banksters aren’t going to be accepting cheques soon , high time taxpayers stopped this regime from writing out blank ones to all and sundry in the non productive sectors.
        
        But “she saved us” means this will go on for a long long time.
        
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        May 21, 2020 10:39am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    At the rate of job losses across the board, 4 months may be an exaggeration.
    “It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas and disguise.”
    
    “Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”
    
    If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.
    
    Kudos to her propaganda mentor, who she has emulated so well
    ― Joseph Goebbels
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:35am
  - rockape
    
    Labour can keep the corona virus scare and job subsidies to stop too many redundancies going till the votes are cast. Post election the economy will crash big time.
    
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    May 21, 2020 10:03am
    - Lizziep
      
      Who would want to win this election after the debacle of this col? It would be a poisoned chalice. National may get in but it would be a single term as they would try and get some debt paid off and this would not appeal to those who have supped from the col cup and enjoyed the payouts.
      
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      May 21, 2020 1:05pm
      - Nickc2
        
        What’s the alternative? Surely, we can’t let these bastards continue printing money?
        
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        May 21, 2020 1:57pm
- Paulus Gnome
  
  I have written to Erica Stanford, my MP, asking that she back Simon Bridges.
  
  United we stand, divided we fall.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:05am
- theoldbloke
  
  It occurs to me that if National were a business…
  .
  And the marketplace for their product was shrinking dramatically then the board of directors really need to take a cold hard look at its operation.
  
  That would include:
  Role of CEO
  Marketing
  Product offering
  PR/Brand perception.
  
  From my point of view “”Business National””
  With a 20-30%? drop in business then ALL of the above need to be scrutinised.
  
  The Board(Caucus) would be remiss if the they DID NOT consider the role that the CEO was playing in both leadership, marketing and Brand Perception.
  
  I have consulted with many businesses over decades and those that stubbornly keep doing the same old same old when faced with a changing marketplace do not survive.
  
  It would appear that “”Brand National”” is under severe threat. So carrying on with the same old same old is not really an option.
  
  If the Board(Caucus) decides that the current leadership/Brand Perception is unsustainable then of course they should consider a change of CEO.
  
  And at the same time they should reconsider their Product offering and marketing.
  
  I am reminded of the major change in the computer world in the 80s. When the then big Computer companies laughed off the emergence of the PC. They failed to adapt their thinking and ended up being a small note in history books. ICL, Wang, Data General.
  The one big Major that saw the writing on the wall quickly adapted IBM.
  
  So lets hope that Business National becomes an IBM not an ICL.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:52am
- Albert_Ross
  
  Hosking:
  
  a circus of a panicked, self-absorbed, spineless, self-interested former government that gave up at the first sign of trouble.
  
  Well put, Sir. Shame, shame, shame on them if they don’t firmly stamp this out and refocus on developing and promoting the competent, level headed, grown up approach that New Zealand needs, though I’m increasingly doubtful that we deserve it.
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:11am
  - kiwikidsnz
    
    “…a circus of a panicked, self-absorbed, spineless, self-interested …” No surprises there, National have always represented these types of NZ people
    
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    May 21, 2020 3:40pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  There are none so blind as those that will not see. The National Party leadership issue is to my mind a little bit like the cannabis referendum.
  
  Just as we know for sure that the “war on drugs” isn’t working, we can say with absolute certainty that – with Bridges as the leader – National cannot win enough seats to either govern alone (never been done under MMP) or with assistance from ACT, NC or others.
  
  Making a change seems a little scary, with consequences that we can’t accurately predict, but what we know for sure is that doing nothing is not going to improve the situation. National cannot win with bridges at the helm – end of.
  
  Bridges is honest, earnest, nakedly ambitious and smart – all good qualities to have, no doubt. But he’s also politically naive, tone-deaf, appears shouty and has an accent that takes all the heat off Jacinda’s word-mangling.
  
  I was astonished at how easily and swiftly Bridges was anointed, and never gave him even a starter’s chance in the 2020 election. His card was marked for me when he was Energy and Resources Minister and got taken apart by John Campbell in 2013. This was a short time after John Key had given a masterclass in dismantling the lefty luvvy Campbell, and their respective skills couldn’t be more in contrast.
  
  The train-wreck is here if you want a reminder https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=eD2JKoKGrjA&feature=emb_logo
  
  Sure, it was earlier in his career, but nothing I’ve seen or heard from Bridges since then has changed my mind. Time to go.
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:40am
mikenmildagain

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Happy World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development!
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May 21, 2020 8:01am
- Random T Person
  
  And a happy day it is, too, Mike, top of the morning to you.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:35am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    The Irish can say it so well…….sometimes.
    “May the road rise up to meet you. May the wind always be at your back. May the sun shine warm upon your face, and rains fall soft upon your fields. And until we meet again, May God hold you in the palm of His hand.”
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:38am
    - kowtow
      
      Priest passing Paddy on de road one mornin.
      
      Pr. How are ye paddy ?
      
      Paddy . Oh to be shure Oi’m not feelin’ meself dis mornin.
      
      Pr. I’m glad to hear dat . Dat was a nasty habit you were forming.
      
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      May 21, 2020 10:35am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        More poor irish jokes
        Patrick and Michael were walking down the lane.
        They come across a sign ..”Tree fellers wanted”.
        Patrick turned to Michael and said ” well I’ll be…If Murphy had ben wid us, we’d a got that job.”
        
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        May 21, 2020 11:09am
    - Ed Snack
      
      After a long session as a student one evening, I had the road rise up to meet me. Friends had to pick me up and help me get going again….
      
      And I’m only part Irish !
      
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      May 21, 2020 12:26pm
      - RW Capitalist
        
        You don’t have a drinking problem.
        You Drink
        You get drunk
        you fall down
        NO problem
        
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        May 21, 2020 3:28pm
Yvette

Although Labour has “rocketed” to 56.5 % support in the recent Newshub-Reid-Research poll, and New Zealand First “eased” to 2.7%, will it reveal a more realistic prospective to consider –

• Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern “actively considering” a new special public holiday
• NZ First won’t support extra public holiday – Winston Peters

– and see who prevails?

The symbolism of celebrating the end of the Covid-19 lockdown alongside the Māori New Year is simply incredible.

And to make it even better, with Matariki starting on Monday July 13, it would create a long weekend.
The Prime Minister isn’t ruling out the extra day, and surely she can see that this should happen when the star of Matariki reappears in the dawn sky – a new beginning.
Jeremy Corbett and The Project have been pumping the idea of a ‘GOOT’ (Get Out Of Town) day.
It is a brilliant concept. – Patrick Gower, Newshub opinion piece

Winston versus the media may be interesting too?
If Winston is correct does it reveal the utter incompetence of media (along with Jacinda) to understand economics?
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May 21, 2020 8:04am
- Sofia
  
  An extra public holiday to fleece the public further in favour of failing tourism is surely bullshit: one day of mediocre trade to replace weeks of nothing.
  A vague hope New Zealanders will prop up the industry before the Government has to, although they would of course also use what is New Zealanders’ income (tax)
  
  And if it becomes a backdoor way to initiate celebrating pagan Matariki, it won’t be a one-off holiday, will it?
  
  What the issue may in fact be, is the opportunity Winston has been looking for to drive the wedge between New Zealand First and Labour again, to determine his king-maker position, since National changing leader may also negate Bridges’ refusal to negotiate with him post-Election.
  
  Opposing Matariki – St Jacinda Day also shows Winston’s fuller understanding of the economy and what priorities are needed for the nation’s post-covid-19 recovery (and his own)
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:35am
  - Nickc2
    
    I think Winston has realised that his mob will be irrelevant come the next election because Labour’s hopes of retaining the treasury benches if they can’t do it alone will reside with the resurgence of the Maori Party. This will be payback for all the preferential financing and special privilege’s afforded them during the CoL’s term of office.
    I’m picking the Maori Party will win at least three seats in their own right. With the influx of additional Maori List MP’s, National will be in for a very rough ride.
    Ya aint seen fuffin yet bro!
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:20am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    I had never even heard of “Matariki”.
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:42am
    - kowtow
      
      Get used to it , lots more bro stuff to come yet.
      
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      May 21, 2020 10:36am
      - Simon Gotlieb
        
        Really? You must be one of the 20 people in New Zealand either too ignorant, or racist to know about that. What a piss-poor attitude.
        
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        May 21, 2020 12:27pm
      - sooty
        
        It’s a bit like this a a te a rower, the luuvies are going on about.
        
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        May 21, 2020 1:18pm
      - Jack5
        
        Gotlieb’s back. Gotlieb hasn’t apologised for his outrageous post of a couple of days ago when he accused other posters of lying when they said halaal butcheries traded on through the lockdown.
        
        Gotlieb was provided with proof from the Government Covid-19 web site that halaal butcheries were allowed to trade, and eye-witness accounts from other posters of halaal butchers trading, but Gotlieb hasn’t admitted it was he who was telling an untruth.
        
        Shameful really.
        
        We’ve had entertaining and intelligent trolls on Kiwiblog before, such as Kea. However, none, that I recall, who blatantly lied.
        
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        May 21, 2020 3:12pm
  - Rachael Membery
    
    However, if it was Wynston Peters’ day that would be different.
    
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    May 21, 2020 12:01pm
  - sam green
    
    Easter is a pretty pagan Festival hijacked by the Christians.
    
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    May 21, 2020 1:38pm
- Tarquin North
  
  What a wonderful idea! We could call it seven sisters or Subaru logo day.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:37am
- Simon
  
  Four day working week. Its bull shit designed to grab head lines.
  
  Public holiday to celebrate Cindy’s stunning victory over the Black Death is on the cards for sure.
  
  Clown show government. Seen this overseas in banana republics. Government gimmicks to mask wide spread failure.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:52am
  - MCos
    
    I’m sure there are some work places that could arrange a four day week by adding hours to others days.
    
    Everyone knows these are tough times for the tourism sector and if some people who might otherwise have buggered off to Oz for the weekend had the chance to spend three days away from home in NZ it might help out.
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:19am
    - Simon
      
      “Everyone knows these are tough times for the tourism sector”
      
      Tough times.
      
      Comrade tourism is finished. That’s why they only gave it $400 million.
      
      Tourism was 5 – 6 % of GDP it got $400 million. Club rugby & netball got $265 million.
      
      Tourism is over. Cindy is bull shitting you.
      
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      May 21, 2020 10:26am
      - MH
        
        the expectation is that all north islanders are heading to Queenstown via Rotorua and then Cindy will impose another lock fall down.
        
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        May 21, 2020 10:42am
      - MCos
        
        Domestic tourism isn’t finished.
        Tourism is the commercial organization and operation of holidays and visits to places of interest.
        
        International tourism is suspended as long as our borders are closed and just as importantly people want to come here.
        Prior to our current situation most visitors by far came from Australia. If we let them in tomorrow they would still have to be quarantined for a fortnight when they returned.
        Not much of an incentive.
        I don’t even know if there’s planes flying from anywhere else much. I don’t know which other countries have quarantines, but anyone faced with difficulties returning home ain’t going to bother with a holiday, I’d have thought.
        On the other hand domestic tourists are likely to be able to get more economical holidays out of all this for the next wee while.
        
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        May 21, 2020 12:19pm
      - Michael NZ
        
        International surely!
        
        Local could be, but will they try to fleece us as if we are International Tourists??
        
        If so, they’ll go to the wall by next Summer..
        
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        May 21, 2020 5:54pm
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    I worked four day weeks for years, went well until the payroll noticed I was being paid for five . . .
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:28am
    - Surely Knott
      
      So if we are doing work for the government under the proposed 4 day work scheme, are they proposing we just bill them for 100 hours but only work 80?
      
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      May 21, 2020 11:11am
    - Simon Gotlieb
      
      So, what’s the problem with working four days a week? If my employment contract says I’m contracted for 40 hours work every week, give or take (we all usually end up putting in a bit more than that) what’s the issue here if I do it in two days, three, four or five?
      
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      May 21, 2020 12:29pm
      - Ed Snack
        
        Well, it will depend on the job in general. If you are required to interface with others, 4 am isn’t always a great time to just touch base.
        
        Plus performance might matter, and people are raely at there best after 36 hours straight. Though I do know a guy who used to work in the oil well logging space and he reckoned that a couple of times they did 96 hours non-stop. The hallucinations started after around 60 hours he reckoned.
        
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        May 21, 2020 2:26pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  does it reveal the utter incompetence of media (along with Jacinda) to understand economics?
  
  That’s going to become blindingly obvious in the not too distant future:
  
  Australia handling Covid consequences better than NZ: PM’s Business Advisory Council
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12333598
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:55am
- rockape
  
  A far better way of aiding tourism was the system Imsaw in Germany in the late 70 when Imlived there. Everyone had two weeks sick leave @nd if they didn’t use it by the end of the year they could use it as holiday at a health spa government sponsored. That could certainly boost Queenstown and Rotorua tourism. It also discouraged the Monday sickie which suited their companies.
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:08am
cmm

Ok, fuck you Herald and your deliberate attempts to cause confusion and alarm.

Headline: “Covid 19 coronavirus: Sweden becomes country with highest coronavirus death rate per capita”

First paragraph:“Sweden has now overtaken the UK, Italy and Belgium to have the highest coronavirus per capita death rate in the world, throwing its decision to avoid a strict lockdown into further doubt.”

It is only when you read down to the fourth paragraph that you actually get this put in context:
“However, Sweden has only had the highest death rate over the past week, with Belgium, Spain, Italy, the UK and France, still ahead over the entire course of the pandemic.”

A single week’s stats are inconsequential when determining policy. What matters is the long haul, yet Herald has clearly presented this in a way that most people will take away that Sweden is doing worse than everyone else, which is blatantly untrue.

Most people do not read the full article. They will read the headline and the first paragraph or two, then draw conclusions.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=12333592

Everyone has a role in society – where they add value and make the world a better place.
The journalist’s role is to gather and disseminate information clearly and accurately to help people keep informed.

Activism and click baiting has no place in journalism.

We even give media special rights and freedoms to allow them to do this job. When they fail to do this job, they are breaking their deal with society.

Media who do this are scum. And the sooner they go out of business the better!
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May 21, 2020 8:06am
- Mike22240
  
  Even the standard agrees with you. The whole point of the media is that they do the legwork to tell stories and we can trust them to give us the facts. Then we can draw our own conclusions. Opinion pieces have a place as well but not in the article you linked. No wonder they are bleeding money!
  
  https://thestandard.org.nz/this-is-exactly-why-the-msm-should-be-scrutinised-as-much-as-the-government/
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:14am
  - sooty
    
    The wee kiddies wont like the Standard of all places calling journalists friggen useless!
    
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    May 21, 2020 8:42am
- Scott
  
  CMM – couldn’t agree more. The media have their line and that is what they are going with. Basically the young women of the New Zealand media got very frightened and demanded that we be locked down. And any country that wasn’t locked down threatens the narrative. I mean, we have put thousands out of work and destroyed the wealth of the generation, it has to be justified right?
  
  What Sweden didn’t do well is to protect the retirement homes. The elderly in retirement homes are easy prey for the virus. If you look at New York where Andrew Coumo sent virus patients back to the retirement homes, the numbers of death have been devastating. It’s a huge percentage of the total number of New York deaths are elderly in retirement homes.
  
  One thing we have done well in New Zealand is to protect the retirement homes. I visited an elderly lady from our church yesterday. I had to give my details to the staff, sanitise my hands, put on a mask and then visit the person. I sat in a prescribed chair at least 2 m from the person and wasn’t allowed to touch them. Now this seems over the top but given that most of the deaths in New Zealand came from one retirement home, it probably makes sense.
  
  But here is the thing. Maybe a reasonable response to the virus would have been to protect the retirement homes, quarantine the elderly and the infirm and the sick, and the rest can go on with their normal business, with the exception of some social distancing?
  
  Instead we have gone on a wartime footing with total state control of our movements, when the threat of the virus was not an existential one. It may be the biggest mistake that our government and others have ever made.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:19am
  - cmm
    
    As I posted a few days back, selectively overprotecting frail people from CV19 is like only looking for red cars when you cross the road. You save them from CV19 and many are going to get nobbled by the next flu season anyway.
    
    We cannot keep old frail people alive for a long time, so we need to be careful that we do not sacrifice their quality of life just to give them a few months more life.
    
    Consider the person you visited. I am sure she enjoyed the visit, but perhaps the visit would have been much more enjoyable if you’d been allowed to sit closer to her, give her a hug or a friendly pat.
    
    Where individual people want to set the threshold between quality and quantity should be their choice. It should not be imposed on them.
    
    I am not at all saying we should be going full Coumo and deliberately stuffing infected people in with healthy people. We can have some protocols, but let’s not get too draconian.
    
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    May 21, 2020 8:43am
  - Southern Bear
    
    “But here is the thing. Maybe a reasonable response to the virus would have been to protect the retirement homes, quarantine the elderly and the infirm and the sick, and the rest can go on with their normal business, with the exception of some social distancing?”
    
    — Yes, Scott. That seems to be the prevailing conclusion of macro economic thinkers (NZ’s expat Stephen Jennings as example). In hindsight it might be the right call. But to be fair it would have been hard to make that call early on without the passage of time, albeit only a few weeks, to gain some evidence.
    
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    May 21, 2020 8:48am
    - GT Build
      
      So something similar to Australia
      
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      May 21, 2020 9:14am
    - Michael NZ
      
      we could have asked Taiwan?
      
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      May 21, 2020 5:58pm
- EuropeanCanon
  
  Exactly. This virus is a nasty flu, but it is no more than that. It is not even a particularly bad year for flu despite the alarmist media.
  
  https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/apr/28/covid-19-turning-out-to-be-huge-hoax-perpetrated-b/
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:21am
- mandk
  
  And yet journalists wonder why members of the public have only slightly more trust in the profession than they have in loan sharks and drug dealers.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:21am
  - Lizziep
    
    They are worse as they cause panic for the pretty much the whole population mandk, loan sharks and drug dealers deal with sections of the population.
    
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    May 21, 2020 8:56am
- KevO'Brien
  
  With $50,000,000 to uphold them for the election they won’t go easily. Yes, taxpayers, they’ve ripped you off, to provide for their continuance.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:41am
Left Right and Centre

Radio ad: give us money for some African people because they are too poor to social distance properly.

Sounds good – maybe that will slow down the babython if they stay two frickin metres apart at all times?
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May 21, 2020 8:12am
- kowtow
  
  Not to mention the corruption and lavish lifestyles of their rulers ,who couldn’t be arsed to spend all that aid they get on their minions.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:33am
  - Nickc2
    
    Don’t forget the so called agencies that cream off large sums of money before it even gets to where and for the purpose it was given.
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:41am
- stewmar
  
  “Radio ad: give us money for some African people because they are too poor to social distance properly.“
  
  Can you please tell me how giving money will help the poor with social distancing???????
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:35am
- cmm
  
  It would be somewhat fine if you were giving the money to the people.
  
  Unfortunately the ticket gets clipped along the way:
  * Charity collectors get ??? (I guess up to 20%)
  * Charity CEOs get ??? (including flying in the pointy end of the plane to conferences in exotic destinations).
  * Aid supply/logistics companies make a killing (one of my ex landlords did logistics for aid NGOs in Africa – he drove a Rolls Royce on week ends).
  * Warlords impose a “tax” before relief trucks can go through (typically 33%).
  
  So for your $2 to feed a starving child in Africa, other five people need to each chip in their $2 to get it through.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:02am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    A friend of mine used to know someone that worked for a charity that will remain nameless……..exactly that…….the charity worker used to fly first class everywhere and stay in luxury accommodation. All thanks to those lovely donations!
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:36am
- emmess
  
  Was that for real? I can’t tell satire apart from reality these days
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:19am
Durden

“knock him out and eat him” ?

Matt King Northland MP interview on Magic Talk. If only King would post the whole unedited video, the country can make up their own mind.

https://www.magic.co.nz/home/news/2020/05/national-party-mp-matt-king-was-threatened-with-violence-at-a-iw.html?fbclid=IwAR3Cw0o9urn11sOrkSK2qYuIX8_6C6xq9Gmoe2TQZrJ0xmniHPiK70vgBko

Post the video Mr King.
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May 21, 2020 8:12am
- kowtow
  
  When an MP is threatened for trying to use the Queen’s Highway and it is not a screaming headline and lead item on every media outlet in the country , you know we’re in deep shit , in so many ways.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:35am
- Martin Williams
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Probably too good for King, tbf.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:58am
cmm

Let’s get UK’s death rates in context:

CV19: 384/M
Asian flu of 1957: 635/M , 1.5 times CV19
Hong Kong flu 1968: 1538/M, 4 times CV19
Spanish flu 1918: 4762/M, 12 times CV19

While the Spanish Flu did make a massive impact on the historical record, the others don’t.
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May 21, 2020 8:15am
- kowtow
  
  These things seem to happen roughly every 20 to 25 years.
  
  What’s the response going to be next time , seeing as how the debt from this one won’t nearly have been paid off.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:37am
  - david
    
    But, but, but, this is a 1 in 100 year event. The gumming keeps on telling us so. It must be true. Otherwise it would be terribly inconvenient if there was another pandemic next year, or a 1 in 100 year drought or a 1 in 100 year storm or a 1 in 100 year earthquake or a combination of the above all of which are definite possibilities.
    
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    May 21, 2020 12:15pm
- chaos
  
  What about man flu
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:17am
  - Komata
    
    Chaos@0917
    
    Too late: His masters in the CCP have already ‘dishumanised’ ‘ him…
    
    (Thought you’d like to know)
    
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    May 21, 2020 2:38pm
G152

How did they manage to print all those different sized and different graphic street stickers we see everywhere ?
And were did the stock come from??
There are thousands of them in Hamilton, and who’s counting in somewhere like Auckland…
Some-ones made a killing
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May 21, 2020 8:18am
- sooty
  
  Same people as make roadcones!
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:52am
- Ruawai
  
  Surely it will just encourage people to stand on the dots when they have had a few drinks and get hit by cars, more dangerous than CV19!
  
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  May 21, 2020 2:31pm
Maggie Pie

My partner has always been a bit of a contrarian.
He reckons Simon is the one who has engineered this entire spill – to get Jacinda out of the Covid-19 limelight. And it’s worked!
As he says, for the last week all we’ve heard about is National’s leadership challenge, front page of all the MSM and dominating Talkback 24/7.
Simon will emerge from the Caucus on Friday, claiming he has the unconditional backing of the majority of members and remains head-honcho going into the election.
My partner can hardly wait to see the look Tova’s face when she realises she’s been played like an old fish, and Simon’s managed to shove one right up her and the rest of those left-wing media darlings. LOL!!
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May 21, 2020 8:21am
- Justitia
  
  Sorry Maggie Pie, but Bridges is well past his use-by date. The phone is off the hook for much of the country. For the sake of the National Party and for the sake of the country he should stand down, graciously. It will be a catastrophe for New Zealand if Labour have another three years. Bridges carries too much baggage. New leadership will give National a chance to reconnect with the electorate. National must act before it is too late.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:26am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    What will Tova do for a job if Simon isn’t leader any more?
    
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    May 21, 2020 8:47am
    - sooty
      
      True and honest reporting, Maggie Pie!
      
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      May 21, 2020 8:53am
      - Cod Weyne
        
        Don’t hold your breath
        
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        May 21, 2020 9:10am
    - Lee C
      
      I watched her excitement as she was presenting the latest Labour surge on tv and thought:
      
      ‘Well someone’s getting laid tonight…”
      
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      May 21, 2020 9:18am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Will she make him wear his gun?
        
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        May 21, 2020 9:33am
  - projectman
    
    Just what is the “too much baggage” you claim? Do tell.
    
    It would be helpful to inform our opinions about Muller/Kaye as replacements for Bridges/Bennett.
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:06am
    - Justitia
      
      @ projectman: while Bridges’ tenacity and inquisitorial skills equip him to be an effective senior Minister, his poor sense of political timing and tendency to gauche remarks are serious weaknesses in a leader. “Baggage”: his handling of the leaking of his expenses made him look foolish, the whole JLR saga was a poor example of “man-management”, the donations scandal has still to play out and could do further damage as well as providing material for attack-ads, his fawning interview on China State TV where he praised the CCP and Xi Xinping made him look pathetic and provides damning soundbites for any adversary…I see from the many downticks my previous post attracted my viewpoint is not popular. My point is I want National to win but they will need much more effective leadership to do so and cannot simply sit around waiting for the implosion of the economy to do the job for them.
      
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      May 21, 2020 10:18am
- Jules99
  
  Interesting perspective – If Simon wins on Friday it will cement his position and make him look much stronger going in to the election. Just what we need for a collapsing economy.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:32am
- KevO'Brien
  
  I like it. It matches the labour underground deceit quality. That’s the only way to fight these bullies.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:44am
- SmokerGuy
  
  Hmmmm does he also think man didn’t land on the moon?
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:47am
- madamezucchininz
  
  …..funny you should post this….as the exact same conversation was had in our house last night…..
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:59am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Great minds…… 😀
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:20am
- Rachael Membery
  
  And so Simon should. Funny how the media are now promoting Todd as having a possible Jacinda effect unless the media are going to drool over him slavishly how is he supposed to achieve that?
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:00am
  - niggly
    
    Exactly! If Todd and Nikki think they can pull off a “Jacinda effect”, then wouldn’t they be promoting Nikki as leader and Todd as deputy?
    
    After all it is the leader that gets 99% of MSM’s attention.
    
    I cannot see a “Jacinda effect” with Todd being leader – it will be the opposite (pale, stale, male and other such leftie/MSM narratives)! Nikki will barely get a look in,
    
    I guess Todd’s ego is such that he wants to be leader and nothing else is good enough!
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:21am
    - oldfella
      
      What’s with this ‘pale, stale, male’ racist, anti-man cr*p? It’s irrelevant.
      Muller’s short speech recently in the house was outstanding. Clear, concise, no notes, coming across as a smart guy.
      https://ondemand.parliament.nz/parliament-tv-on-demand/?itemId=212269
      
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      May 21, 2020 10:56am
      - niggly
        
        Sure I agree, I just mean that’s how the influential media and lefties will paint him – but sure so what, Muller should ignore that!
        
        And give it back (and not acquiesce) …. hopefully….?
        
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        May 21, 2020 11:41am
      - Albert_Ross
        
        You’re still not getting it. It doesn’t matter how good Muller, Kaye, Luxon or anybody else is.
        
        Whoever the National leader is, even if she combines the best qualities of Jesus Christ, David Attenborough and Richie McCaw behind a lovely face and great hair, they will be savagely attacked in social media and relentlessly misrepresented in the mainstream media. This is completely unrelated to their actual qualities.
        
        This being the case, National would do better to demonstrate the calm, level-headed, unflustered approach that a grown-up, responsible party would take than to let themselves be panicked into action that will do them no good.
        
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        May 21, 2020 12:03pm
      - Jack5
        
        Oldfella, in the speech your link to, Muller is very good on Twyford and Wily-Willie Jackson.
        
        I hope, if the coup fails, Bridges finds a slot in his Cabinet next year for Muller.
        
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        May 21, 2020 1:33pm
- Lee C
  
  “He reckons Simon is the one who has engineered this entire spill – to get Jacinda out of the Covid-19 limelight. And it’s worked!
  
  … yup I am forced to agree with your partner Maggie The penny is starting to drop in my house too…
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:16am
- Bobba Fret
  
  I hope your partner is correct Maggie. I also hope Simon wins by a massive majority. I genuinely think the left are worried about Simon as although he is not spectacularly popular like Jacinda, they know he is far more intelligent and has a far better team behind him. Hopefully he would destroy her in the debates due to his far better understanding of economics and the economy.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:42am
  - Nickc2
    
    What debates? Cindy will inform our TV channels that there is no need for them as she is so far ahead in the poles and public opinion they would be a waste of time. She will also send an e-mail to all members of her Party to ignore all requests for interview and comment as there is no need.
    Isn’t that how things are done in the NZ Government?
    
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    May 21, 2020 11:41am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    Better understanding of, well, anything.
    
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    May 21, 2020 12:21pm
  - oldfella
    
    I’m a long time Nats supporter, and I’m sure Simon is a really nice guy and great in debates (he was apparently a terrific prosecutor), but…
    He’s never going to get the public to see all those excellent traits as he’s been fatally wounded. He simply does not come across well in front of a camera, and that’s how the public decide whether or not they like their politicians. It’s how they’ve decided they like Cindy.
    I suspect the Colmar Brunton poll tonight will further demonstrate that Simon needs to step aside, and that despite the risks, the Nats need to go with the Muller/Kaye option tomorrow. Hard times need hard decisions.
    
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    May 21, 2020 1:02pm
- Nigel Kearney
  
  I doubt he engineered the whole thing, but he may have leaked the fact that Muller was doing the numbers in order to try to force Muller to act before he was ready.
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:13am
cmm

Four day work week???

Clearly productividy doesn’t mean the same thing as productivity.

From a completely uninformed perspective, the 4 day work week is an excellent way to share out scarce jobs between many people, so long as people are just interchangeable lumps of meat that you can shuffle about on a spread sheet.

Magically, 4 jobs turn into 5 jobs and up to 20% joblessness disappears.

That might work for unskilled jobs and I can see why it might appeal to a chip wrapper who suddenly found herself leading a cundry.

But the real problem is that it does not generate more value, especially from highly skilled people. Who is going to substitute for them? Productivity goes down, so there is less value in society for us all to share.

Is my next cardiologist appointment going to be with a person who’s special knowledge is knowing the best temperature for frying jam wraps?
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May 21, 2020 8:26am
- Left Right and Centre
  
  The govt thinks 30 hours is a fulltime job.
  They really are morons.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:32am
  - Tricati
    
    30 Hours a week for this mob would be generous given their work ethic in opposition and the subsequent working groups.
    
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    May 21, 2020 8:57am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    And other folks despise groups of people who think nothing of regularly working 60-80 hour weeks.
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:06am
    - Dougal10
      
      It used to be that if you worked an 80 hour week in an average job you could earn more than the PM now it is less than 1/3 of PM pay . Something is seriously out of wack.
      
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      May 21, 2020 9:47am
    - kevn
      
      @Maggy… I did 7 days a week for years before treating myself to an employee, then later, employees.
      This CoL wouldn’t know sh*t from clay.
      
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      May 21, 2020 10:16am
- RightNow
  
  As a contractor, four day work weeks and extra public holidays will mean I have to increase prices to avoid a decrease in income.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:32am
  - Southern Bear
    
    Right you are. Another unintended consequence of a poorly thought out sounding/announcement from the PM. Really working hard to turn NZ into a country of unproductive dependents.
    
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    May 21, 2020 8:41am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    But you’re evidently classed as “rich” in the minds of the communista. Your right to work is governed by their plans. Go to the beach if your bothered. If you can’t afford it, get a food grant. Welcome to May-Year 2020.
    
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    May 21, 2020 8:49am
    - sooty
      
      cmm. This government thinks a 30hr week is normal!
      Isn’t that what all public servants work?
      
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      May 21, 2020 8:56am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Attend dear boy, attend. Work is a totally different concept to a public servant in many cases
        
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        May 21, 2020 9:36am
  - cmm
    
    Dude, you must learn to spin it properly:
    
    “avoid a decrease in income.” -> “cover expenses”
    
    Paying yourself is just an expense.
    
    Far too often I get that crap about “oh you consultants earn $x per hour, we wage slaves only earn $y”.
    
    Yeah, but the consultant’s hours stop when he’s on holiday or sneaks a long lunch or took a day off to fly to Auckland to go on a course (paid for himself) or spend 5 hours setting up a new laptop (paid for himself)”.
    
    I then ask them why they don’t become contractors: “Naah, I don’t want the risk and all the paperwork”, ok, if there’s risk and paperwork someone has to pay for that, $/hr must go up.
    
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    May 21, 2020 8:54am
    - Raphael
      
      Yeah, I remember when a mate was looking at starting his own business (which he has since done and is very successful at).
      He was looking originally at setting his hourly rate at what his hourly salary was at the time, I reminded him that his hourly rate has to cover equipment (he’s a videographer v. expensive equipment), annual leave, sick leave, public holidays, admin time etc. not just the hours working on the project.
      
      He took my advice and it’s worked out great for him.
      
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      May 21, 2020 8:58am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      and you haven’t even mentioned the cost of Professional Indemnity Insurance.
      
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      May 21, 2020 9:11am
- sooty
  
  Is Comrade Cindy and [del. mod.] going to pay for everybody to have a four say week on the taxpayers dime then?
  Or is everybody only get four days money and have trouble paying the rent and food?
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:37am
  - cmm
    
    Hint: Last time she said “It’s on me” your wallet got lighter.
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:06am
- JerJer
  
  So……we work less, get paid less, still have the same outgoings…..but get taxed more.
  
  But…we have more public holidays and the opportunity to spend whatever we have travelling around paying tourist prices to support broke businesses because there are no real tourists. Who came up with this great idea….
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:49am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Who came up with this great idea….
    
    *People who are completely disconnected with ordinary working NZ families.
    
    *People who have no idea about the lives of unemployed folk.
    
    *Folks who have lived a privileged life and only associate with folks of identical background.
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:15am
- jaysper
  
  As much as I detest Malibu Cindy and her malevolent bunch of communists, I think you will find she is referring to 4 x 10 hour days which has been implemented by some high profile companies in NZ already.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:05am
  - JerJer
    
    Well…..that makes it an even dumber idea. People that work 8 hours per day struggle to get home and spend time with their children and families after work. Working 10 hours means no time with families for 4 our of 7 days per week.
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:45am
    - Michael NZ
      
      share a thought for many shift workers doing 5x 12 hr regularly….
      
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      May 21, 2020 6:06pm
  - niggly
    
    Could you picture Ms Ardern working a 10 hour day?
    
    How many hours was John Key working? 14-15 hours a day?
    
    Notice how people that work long, long hours start looking tired pretty quickly (tired around the eyes etc). But Ms Ardern always looks fresh as a daisy!
    
    So comrades do as I say not as I do!
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:52am
    - sooty
      
      John key didn’t get paid a brass razoo for his trouble as well.
      What is it we pay the chip wrapper again?
      
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      May 21, 2020 1:35pm
  - Albert_Ross
    
    Yes, it has worked successfully for some employers and employees. So what? No Government or Minister, let alone this Government or Jacinda, can conclude from the experience of some that it’s right for everybody.
    
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    May 21, 2020 12:06pm
  - Scooter
    
    So at the end of 4, 10 hour days people are to going to hop on a flight or drive for hours to go on a 3 day mini break? More like they’ll be catching up on chores, sleep and shopping over the 3 days. She has no clue.
    
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    May 21, 2020 4:21pm
    - Batman
      
      That’s why the nine day fortnight is the better option. And extra 45 mins over the two weeks then a three day weekend.
      
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      May 21, 2020 4:25pm
- graham
  
  Jacinda also seems to be under the delusion that she is so much more brilliant than everybody else, cos NOBODY else can have these BRILLIANT ideas that I have, so I will kindly share my ideas with them.
  
  Meanwhile, in the real world, my daughter has been reduced to working three days a week until things pick up.
  
  Hey, look at that – a SME business worked out how to do what’s best for them without being told by someone who has ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA about the realities or practicalities of that particular business. Who woulda thunk …
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:12am
- Bobba Fret
  
  So a government employee earning $100k a year goes to $80k a year and only works 4 days a week?
  Yeah right.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:44am
I remember when

Stuffed News:
Reporter; “It was awful?”
Parrot: “It was awful!”
Reporter: ” Never seen anything like it?”
Parrot: “Never seen anything like it!”
Reporter: “Worst thing you have ever seen?”
Parrot: “Worst thing you have ever seen!”
Reporter: “Wont be able to sleep properly for weeks?”
Parrot: “Wont be able to sleep properly for weeks!”
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May 21, 2020 8:28am
- 453mm
  
  These are not the droids you’re looking for.
  Move along.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:45am
Raphael

Why do all our Glorious Leaders “solutions” for restoring the economy seem to involve working less?

First extra public holidays and now then 4 day work week.

One would think she had zero understanding of anything
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May 21, 2020 8:28am
- Southern Bear
  
  The objective is a nation state of unproductive dependents. Dependent on the state for everything.
  
  “…reality, however utopian, is something from which people feel the need of taking pretty frequent holidays….”
  ― Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:44am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  She does.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:50am
- igm
  
  Have you ever met a leeching lefty that enjoys work?
  
  18 1
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  May 21, 2020 8:57am
- Tricati
  
  PTPM is the answer
  
  14 1
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  May 21, 2020 8:58am
- cmm
  
  That’s because for some people, especially the people in Che berets that she knows, working LESS would actually be a damn good thing for the country.
  
  They can’t bugger things up if they all joined Dr David Clark for a perpetual cycling holiday.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:08am
- david
  
  It reminds me a bit of Trump really. Prone to thinking out loud, self absorbed, extremely narcissistic.
  Trouble is that the thinking-out-loud bit exposes an intellect that is about as shallow as a car park puddle and unable to take any thought beyond its first step in the way of a rational analysis of consequences.
  
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  May 21, 2020 1:16pm
igm

A breath of honest and fresh air, untainted by the left . . . John Banks and Cameron Slater on air yesterday . . . a pleasure to behold!
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May 21, 2020 8:31am
- Martin Williams
  
  Both corrupt, unfortunately.
  
  6 29
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  May 21, 2020 9:08am
  - All_on_Red
    
    That’s defamatory
    
    19 2
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    May 21, 2020 9:27am
    - igm
      
      All: I am running this past a lawyer at the moment.
      
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      May 21, 2020 9:52am
      - Martin Williams
        
        Settle down, princess. Labour politicians who have never set foot in a courtroom are called corrupt every day of the week on this blog.
        
        Auckland courtrooms were like a second home for John Banks. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire!
        
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        May 21, 2020 10:49am
  - Swifty
    
    Martin, do you support race-based funding?
    
    16 1
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    May 21, 2020 9:33am
    - Brian Marshall
      
      No swifty, the correct way to frame the question in a particular directionlike our ‘journalists’ do.
      The question for Martin should be “Will you condemn the blatant racist and discriminatory funding based solely on ancestry that the current government is doing?”
      
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      May 21, 2020 10:51am
    - Martin Williams
      
      White settlers and governors funded themselves pretty when they stole all that Maori land.
      
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      May 21, 2020 11:17am
      - kevn
        
        @marty… Was that after maori stole and re-stole it from each other ? Along with the slaughtering/enslaving and eating.
        
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        May 21, 2020 11:54am
      - Jack5
        
        Stole it, Williams? Some Maori land was sold to whites two or three times over. Admittedly there was a promise with initial Maori ownership. That was vague concept for them, and like other primitive peoples they didn’t have a cadastral system to track and transfer ownership.
        
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        May 21, 2020 8:30pm
  - igm
    
    The only corruption I can see is you.
    Banks was set up by left-wing media scum and a criminal; Slater has opinions that don’t appeal to the filthy left.
    Neither are corrupt.
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:50am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      To be fair, Banks was set up, and is completely innocent.
      
      Slater, well he got desperate to keep his site afloat and started doing hits for cash.
      
      I supported his campaign against suppression.
      
      I thought Hagars muckraking and spying was despicable. and Whaleoil was worth supporting, and I did so.
      
      But I never understood why Slater had the hots to take down a burger king franchise, or whatever it was.
      
      Turns out he was being paid to. Gotta wonder who else he has sold out to. The fact that Winston’s lawyer seems to be paying the bills for him probably tells you everything you need to know.
      
      While I can understand, I was and am disappointed in him. I will no longer support his business.
      
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      May 21, 2020 11:13am
cas

I haven’t heard Jacinda and the Greens going on about the evils of plastic lately. Could it be because of ll the plastic gloves and PPE that are NEEDED in this pandemic? We probably could have used our plastic supermarket bags on the feet of the nurses when they ran out of the PPE.
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May 21, 2020 8:31am
- coge
  
  Everything is bagged up in supermarkets these days.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:47am
Happychappy

Well I don’t normally make statements like this concerning National but if Bridges is dumped as Leader of the National Party I will except the change but the moment any National MP try’s to construct a deal with Winston Peters or NZ First they will never get my vote again, and this is what many National MP’s want. Peter’s is the scourge of NZ Politics and a leach on the public tit , he will never change in person or his ways so hopefully many more people like me will say enough is enough and cut him loose.
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May 21, 2020 8:33am
- projectman
  
  Totally agree.
  
  As for Peters saying that, with Simon Bridges no longer leader, National might consider working with him again. Does Peters think National voters are going to forget that he had a massive dump in National’s nest during the coalition negotiations? The hell we are, he has totally destroyed any trust National voters might have had in him – just as he destroyed the trust right-leaning NZ First voters had in him.
  
  Trust in them – the one thing politicians cannot be without.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:15am
  - Sacha
    
    I am watching the situation with interest. If Muller & Co assume control I will be very tempted to go the whole hog with Act.
    
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    May 21, 2020 10:23am
    - Hapuku
      
      Go for it. A vote for ACT is a vote for National anyway. National have to reclaim the centre ground and they’re not doing that at the moment.
      
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      May 21, 2020 11:19am
  - Raphael
    
    Peters is used to dealing with voters who tend to forget what they did yesterday.
    
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    May 21, 2020 10:41am
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Including himself! Good thing Jan was there to remember where the carwas parked . . .
      
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      May 21, 2020 1:25pm
- The Boss
  
  Happychappy: Support your comments 110%. I hope you are wrong about “and this is what many National MP’s want”
  
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  May 21, 2020 1:06pm
Tricati

Fletcher’s are to lay off 1000 staff in NZ, along with Air NZ shedding 3500, with more likely, and the PM’s Business Advisory Group stating Australia is handling the Covid consequences better than NZ.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12333598
There are daily news items of smaller businesses laying off staff in order to survive, and redundant people finding it hard to make ends meet.
The real outcomes of the government’s actions are starting to hit home, and no amount of spin about 4-day weeks, in conjunction with an extra stat day off, is going to hide the abject hardship many are about to feel.
Regardless who gets to lead National, its time they really took the gloves off and got stuck into not only the Covid failures, but the poor performance leading up to Covid, as there are numerous examples to use.
National should be pushing their infrastructures successes like Fibre introduction against Kiwibuild, and be asking who do you think has the track record on getting things done.
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May 21, 2020 8:34am
- alex Masterley
  
  Without that Fibre, which Labour pushed back against, this country would have been even more stuffed than it will be as despite the governments best efforts it enabled commerce of sorts to continue through the lock-down.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:56am
- DeepBlue
  
  26 May is D-Day for redundancies
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:50am
- Jules99
  
  Maybe DPF should start up a job losses ticker as well. I think we have only started.
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:18am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    1,000 jobs a day so far. Gonna be a great winter.
    
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    May 21, 2020 11:15am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Sky tower…another 700 jobs after already losing 200.
  These are across multiple sectors of the economy.
  So, not only is it disastrous on level of the numbers losing their jobs, it is worse that many sectors will fall so low that recovery becomes a decades long process for that sector.
  Not only the size, but the breadth of the economy is impacted.
  Our only actual hope is to go back to mid 1800’s and base our economy around farming, then build from there with the scraps left over from the rest of the sectors.
  
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  May 21, 2020 11:56am
sooty

So who are these seceret polls been quoted in the msm?
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May 21, 2020 8:38am
- Tall Man
  
  Internal press office polling …. in their own offices.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:57am
  - sooty
    
    On their keyboards.
    
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    May 21, 2020 11:24am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Water cooler polling?
    
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    May 21, 2020 11:57am
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    In their pockets more the like!
    
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    May 21, 2020 1:26pm
Durden

Extra public holidays (rightfully shot down by (NZ First ) and then she comes up the next day with “four day week” now ? Jacinda and her government are a joke. Arrogant enough to treat all public as fools to be distracted and arrogant enough to think their decisions do not have to defended (per leaked advice to ministers)

Now they have been called out by her own appointed Business Advisory Council led by Fraser Whineray who say that Australia is doing it better. And even that council is about to be disbanded leading to elections. (Rob Fyfe does not count because he behaves like a well paid whore)

The Business Advisory Council “recommended members’ capabilities – and that of many other business leaders – would be of most value to NZ’s future in a properly mandated Business Recovery Taskforce and a Reform Commission “each chaired by a senior business person with great mana.” The Government had instead floated an Infrastructure group and a proposed entity comprising academics, unions, officials, NGOs and business.”

But that is what you get when you advice is tainted by numpty nobodies, people with no real “skin in the game” i.e. politician, academics, unions, officials, NGOs.

Compare that with the high powered the Australian Commission —
“chaired by Neville Power, a former CEO of Fortescue Metals and currently chair of Perth Airport, and supported by an executive board of directors comprising Greg Combet, Jane Halton, Paul Little, Catherine Tanna and David Thodey. Top officials such as Phil Gaetjens (Prime Minister and Cabinet) and Mike Pezzullo (Home Affairs) are also members.”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12333598

Somebody asked yesterday, what do you say to the infantile Jacindaphile Facebook friends and WhatsApp friends who keep forwarding you inane stuff.

I simply point them to Australia’s much better response to the Covid crisis. Led by a older white conservative man, leading a conservative central government, within a federal system littered by leftist premiers, they have (and have to) make sound decisions based on arguable facts rather than feelings.

And would you rather suck up to China rather than your Five Eyes family of brothers to come to your aid and support ?

It frustrates me that this precious time, and rich and fertile ground for logical attack, is being squandered by National.
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May 21, 2020 8:49am
- KevO'Brien
  
  When there is a $50M steam roller on the road you keep to the underpass.The screams of the people dying from loss of work are beginning to arise.
  National is very much alive.
  
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  May 21, 2020 8:58am
- Inandout
  
  The BAC members:
  https://www.pmbac.co.nz/about-the-business-advisory-council
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:16am
- SmokerGuy
  
  There’s more than enough time until the election for National to pull a win out of the fire. I just don’t think Bridges is the one capable of doing that.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:34am
  - Tall Man
    
    Whoever leads the National party next week will be subjected to a non stop vilification from the press, the media, social media and all left wing blogs.
    
    That is the labour party playbook providing power at all cost and their supporters are so stupid they cannot see that ultimately they pay the price.
    
    Sure, a few more taxes will be a pain in the arse to work through but I will and pop out the other side intact whereas the twits that support this liar will once again sink a little lower into the mud.
    
    The last “9 years of neglect” have seen many many middle and working class people proper and increase their family’s wealth but only through hard work. Never had we so many clients actually increasing real wealth using excess income as real costs fell and real income grew.
    
    Even the beneficiaries were better off although the house wreckers, drug takers and family abusers didn’t do so well. I wonder why……..
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:55am
  - niggly
    
    SmokerGuy – Apparently Parliamentary maintenance staff have been sending Simon Bridges the bill to fix Jacinda’s chair everytime she smashes back into her seat at Question Time!
    
    They are sick of this happening (they have better things to do each week) so they ask if Mr Nice Todd Muller is available for the leadership, as he will be kind to her!
    
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    May 21, 2020 12:02pm
- Tall Man
  
  “Led by a older white conservative man”
  
  I don’t believe that is the key to the difference.
  
  ardern’s “go to” is to lie until she gets someone to tell her what the “popular” decision would be. She then goes that way but never actually bothers to implement that decision fully aware that the press will never point that out.
  
  20% pay cut, not really
  
  100,000 house, never costed and never seriously implemented
  
  Light Rail, never costed and never implemented
  
  Child poverdee, to hard and too “racist” to tackle so just stick to sound bites
  
  Extra Holiday, worth 2% of votes, no plan never to go forward
  
  4 day week, no idea just a glib sound bite and another 2% of the votes.
  
  If that’s what NZ wants, that’s what they’ll vote for but it certainly proves that NZQA has dome sterling work dumbing NZ down to third world education levels.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:48am
Maggie Pie

And my partner has some advice for the new Police Commissioner 😀

“If it hurts you more than it hurts them,
you’re probably holding the Taser wrong”
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May 21, 2020 8:52am
greenfinger

4 day work week? That’s hardly original. She should have gone for zero day work week. Some of us are already on that at the moment. It called Unemployed, my Princess. Have you heard of that concept?
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May 21, 2020 9:01am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  I believe that has been retitled as “unwaged worker”.
  
  Wouldn’t want to offend anybody comrade!
  
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  May 21, 2020 12:07pm
I remember when

Always look on the Bright Side:
Newshub Reid June 2019 Labour 50.8 National 37.4
Colmar B June 2019 Labour 42 National 44
Colmar B November 2019 Labour 39 National 46
Add serious firm collapses and major job loses to the equation and Nationals hopes suddenly look a little less daunting.
Never in New Zealand history has one party had daily control of the media for nearly two months.
For National the danger is that the Party lose too many of their experienced MPs.
On the Labour party side the danger is that they win the Election handsomely and then fail to get control of the economy.
Winning may not be a good result in the long term.
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May 21, 2020 9:04am
bruceavon

Michelle Boag on National Radio talks about the negative feedback around Bridges in the electorate. which is exactly what I get out at work and in public etc. people just don’t like him. Looks like he will go for sure.
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May 21, 2020 9:05am
- niggly
  
  Then we don’t you have a conversation with these people and talk about how the MSM more often than not, frames Simon in a bad way (and more often that not frames Jacinda in a good way)?
  
  It’s a perception thing, and who controls the narrative and with (as research shows) 90% or so of the MSM leans left, well isn’t it surprising that Simon is painted negatively? Which suggests whenever/whomever is the next National leader, the same will happen to them?
  
  Look at the extraordinary lack of critique being applied to the Prime Minister! Ask your friends “why is that” and see if they can answer that – I bet they can’t (whereas I know you can)! 🙂
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:29am
  - bruceavon
    
    No. It isn’t just the media. I fight Bridges corner when I believe in what he says, don’t worry about that. But what he says is sometimes right but the way he does it is wrong. I will give you one example from recently. Bridges attacked Bloomfield in the ERC about the legality of the lock down. Bloody good question. But Bloomfield is extremely popular and people were saying “why is he attacking Bloomfield. he just a civil servant doing his job!?” And they were right. He needed to have a go at the government. That just made him unpopular. And with 90% of people supporting the lock down what political value did that have. It just annoyed people. Many such misjudgements have put people off. Leader of the oppositions job is to criticise the government but if you complain about everything and don’t pick your fights it back fires. That’s what’s happened here. I don’t know who managed his PR and media, but they have done a shocking job.
    
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    May 21, 2020 11:06am
    - niggly
      
      Actually I fully agree with your reply (and thanks for doing so in an engaging way)!
      
      But rather than diss the leader, there should be advisors, are they missing in action, are they not briefing the leadership in public perception matters? I’m sure they are working hard but yes one too many slips suggest some extra resources need to be put into place, pronto!
      
      (I feel if Muller becomes leader, he will be “too nice” (like Bill English was) in the election debates with JA, we need some “mongrel”, a crown prosecutor no less, to hold her lies to account! Look at the way JA slumps back on her chair in QT – she gets rattled under pressure) – Simon’s the man for that!!!
      
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      May 21, 2020 11:45am
      - niggly
        
        And nice Niki Kay as Deputy attack dog – oh c’mon, that’s not her style or place! She’s more effective as a Minister!
        
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        May 21, 2020 11:51am
      - Tall Man
        
        Ok Bruce, good reasoning but did you actually see Simon tackling Bloomfield or are you basing your opinion on the reporting.
        
        I saw some of it and some from his previous appearance and at the time I thought Bloomfield came across as a smug little bastard safe in the knowledge that ardern has given him an ultimate free pass.
        
        While he thought he was showing his contempt for the committee he was actually giving the whole of NZ the finger.
        
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        May 21, 2020 2:32pm
- Tall Man
  
  So finally the only politician that ardern and labour are terrified of gets removed by the press.
  
  Did it not occur to you that this campaign started the day after he humiliated ardern in the house exposes her inability to count?
  
  Talk to anyone who has met him and you get a different opinion but I guess Sir Cullen is right and the bulk of NZ are sheeple.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:41am
  - projectman
    
    What better distraction could there be for the media to foment destabilisation of National when they know the full weight of the economic devastation is going to smack them in the face before too long.
    
    It has long been known that Simon Bridges could out-debate Ardern in parliament so getting rid of him could only be seen as a good thing for Labour.
    
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    May 21, 2020 9:55am
    - RW Capitalist
      
      National caucus come back with 100% support for him.
      That will raise the heckles of the MSM.
      Wasn’t it Katie Bradford who said “Whatever we do….”
      Time give them a moment like that.
      
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      May 21, 2020 12:05pm
  - WaveyDavey
    
    “Optics”
    
    Young, vivacious and female v. male, pale* and stale
    
    *not brown enough – bit of a whitey to that PoV
    
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    May 21, 2020 10:09am
  - bruceavon
    
    No ones “terrified” of Bridges. Your dreaming. National Radio have a segment on Monday’s with a left and a right commentator. The left guy said most in the left would be happier if Simon remained there. Ardern easily has his measure in the house. I doubt she’s worried about debating him before the election. Last time she had to debate Bill English, as good and informed politician as we have ever had in National.
    
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    May 21, 2020 10:53am
    - lifesgood
      
      It is very clear bruceavon that you have never watched Simon in the house. Poor old Jacinda is totally outclassed by him. In response she starts screeching and pouting and always without fail, flumps down into her seat like a rebellious teenager…if there was a door she would slam it. He rattles her and good job too.
      
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      May 21, 2020 11:37am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Arderne doesn’t debate in the house: she prevaricates, defers, mouths but denies proper responses.
        No wonder the budget is so peculiar, Treasury could not get a straight reply from her to their questions.
        4 week days? Only in Niutirani.
        
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        May 21, 2020 1:28pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Obviously you watch a different question time to the one I occasionally see.
      
      I have seldom seen mallard fail to intervene when ardern loses the plot. She fails to answer questions because she can’t remember the briefing notes when the questions wander off her prepared script.
      
      He embarrassed her on day 1 and without mallard’s awkward intervention she would be embarrassed daily.
      
      Now if you think flinging an irrelevant slogan across the floor supported by raucous cheering is winning the debate then that would explain your current thoughts.
      
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      May 21, 2020 2:38pm
      - KevO'Brien
        
        Yes, Ardern’s is without words when the script is lost.
        
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        May 21, 2020 5:32pm
- Dougal10
  
  I’ve got lefty mates who want to vote national but want a strong leader with a spine .
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:59am
  - Lee C
    
    LoL.
    
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    May 21, 2020 10:45am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    I just had a late seventies National supporting lady tell me that Bridges needs to get rid of his blue suits.
    Can’t say I disagree.
    
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    May 21, 2020 11:06am
    - Tall Man
      
      I mean blue is just so 70’s 😉
      
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      May 21, 2020 2:45pm
  - Tall Man
    
    And they support ardern?
    
    I think you’re taking the piss.
    
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    May 21, 2020 2:44pm
- Sacha
  
  You get what you see with Simon Bridges. I see a capable hard-working man – unlike Jacinda Ardern, who appears, to put it kindly, flaky.
  I do not have to love him – he has a wife and family who do that – but I do expect him to do the job that would result in New Zealand being successful with a productive population and opportunity for everyone to succeed according to their ability and ambition.
  I want an even-handed leader. I want a government that gets out of the way.
  Someone who won’t bend in the wind. I don’t want a damp blue-greenie or someone who will give way to the demands of every international agency –
  And, if someone came along who vowed to remove every mention of Maori separation in New Zealand legislation, well then . . . . . . .
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:53am
  - niggly
    
    Bonus is, imagine Simon against Jacinda in the election debates, he has had 3 years of practice in QT to rattle her, he’s knows her weaknesses and she knows she can’t talk about the economy without notes – she’s stuffed (and don’t the attacks on Bridges by the left and media show that)!
    
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    May 21, 2020 11:56am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    To be fair to Simon, he certainly came across as one of the hardest working MPs during the lockdown (along with Seymour obviously). You can dislike him but he really was trying to do his job.
    
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    May 21, 2020 12:03pm
- lifesgood
  
  It’s no use saying “I just don’t like him” You’ve got to give reasons. Otherwise you are being pathetic. I can think of dozens of reasons why I don’t like Jacinda and if anyone asks me why I don’t like her I give them those reasons.
  
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  May 21, 2020 11:03am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Boag, just like Bolger, can always be relied on to either bag National, or to damn them with faint praise.
  
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  May 21, 2020 12:10pm
Left Right and Centre

Now turning to other fake news . . .
When I rang to book a table at Olive Cafe they said they were full as – no can do.
So I just said my mates Jacinda and Clarke are going to be so disappointed. Nek minute . . . !!
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May 21, 2020 9:06am
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121570742/coronavirus-govt-buying-2000-pigs-a-week-as-industry-struggles-with-surplus

“Approximately 62 per cent of all pork consumed in New Zealand is imported from as far afield as China, Poland, Estonia, Denmark and Spain.”

Instead of the taxpayer coming to the NZ producers’ rescue, why not just stop buying pork from all over the world?
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May 21, 2020 9:15am
- projectman
  
  Also, instead of it going to foodbanks (“The scheme is part of a Budget allocation of $14.9 million aimed at redirecting food that would otherwise go to waste”) why not to the supermarkets that were allowed to open so that all taxpayers could benefit.
  
  This should never have gone to waste anyway if the government hadn’t been so stupid not to allow independent butchers to stay open as an essential industry.
  
  Yet another welfare payment.
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:01am
- cmm
  
  I notice they deliberately choose the “foreign” sounding countries.
  
  Our biggest provider is Canada, then Spain, USA and Australia.
  
  Those purchases from abroad are likely locked in and we cannot just cancel the order overnight to take up a few local pigs and then turn it back on again.
  
  The main reason we buy from Canada, Spain and USA is because they are “cheap”. They are cheap due to massive subsidies in most of these countries. Of course the pork from these countires is not really any cheaper but just appears to be cheaper because their taxpayers are subsidising the pork.
  
  So next time you tuck into a plate of bacon, say thanks to the faceless Canadians/Spaniards/USAians what bought it for you.
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:02am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Shoppers choose with their pockets
    
    Our white, richer betters might be more “ethical” but while they’re certainly vocal they are the minority
    
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    May 21, 2020 10:11am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      They are the same people who would never ever buy a caged egg when polled, but there still seem to be lots of them for sale in the posher supermarkets!
      
      Remarkable!
      
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      May 21, 2020 12:14pm
    - Rachael Membery
      
      May we long be a country of pork eaters.
      
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      May 21, 2020 12:43pm
- Dougal10
  
  But your friendly supermarket needs to buy pork cheaper than nz can produce it so they can give it to you cheaper.
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:04am
  - kevn
    
    @Dougal… I was told that some factory farmed Asian pigs are fed human sh*t as food. Would you be surprised?
    Makes for cheap meat in NZ. Especially at the Xmas ham time.
    I always buy free-farmed NZ pork myself.
    
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    May 21, 2020 10:21am
    - cmm
      
      “Would you be surprised?”
      
      No. Human excrement is backed with nutrients. From a purely biological point of view it makes perfect sense. Poultry is probably worse.
      
      Handy hint: The fattest crayfish come from near sewerage pipes.
      
      The only reason the meat is cheap is because those farmers are getting massive agricultural subsidies and need to dump their meat somewhere.
      
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      May 21, 2020 11:36am
    - Dougal10
      
      Thats why muslims don’t eat pig isn’t it as they used to clean up waste around the villages.
      
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      May 21, 2020 9:52pm
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  Who cares? If other countries want to subsidise their farmers, why shouldn’t we take shameless advantage?
  
  Cheap food is good for us peasants, and will be increasingly important as the job cuts bite.
  
  I prefer the St Louis Swift ribs myself, but the finnish pork chops were yum too!
  
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  May 21, 2020 12:12pm
Sofia

Jacinda is still to explain properly her decision that professed followers of Christ and servants of Allah are to be less trusted than bar clientele drinking alcohol in various volumes and possibly using other drugs (or social lubricants) that may effect observance of social distancing far more than the stuff and amount you may partake of in any church communion.

And how much have more reserved denominations being penalised perhaps just so Jacinda may surreptitiously stick it up Brian Tamaki and wife Hannah, leader of a opposition political party?
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May 21, 2020 9:23am
- MCos
  
  From what I read in the papers the Tamakis have a foot in both camps.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:50am
MrTips

A little birdy tells me Jacinda and Ashley are in for a wee shock soon.

The genie is nowhere near back in the bottle and the ides of June are coming.
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May 21, 2020 9:35am
- Yvette
  
  Reputedly during the production of Lord of the Rings some foreign film entity observed that the Maori are the Mexicans of New Zealand (intended in the best sense of a group fulfilling a valid status in society: innovative, contentious workers of a certain level).
  
  In the terms of cover-19, Maori are the equivalent of the Italian, Spanish and French elderly in health comorbidities (half Italians over 60 had up to here other medical complaints), and extended family structure, but alas lacking a similar life expectancy – in other words they should be totally devastated, if not decimated (from one in ten), should covid-19 really strike them.
  
  Which at the present rate of Maori covid-19 cases being about 8% of the total case while their share of population is 16.5%, hasn’t happened, despite Government funding indicating the fears that research suggested Maori could be twice as susceptible to infection through to death than any other portion of New Zealanders. (European cover cases are about 70.5% while their population share is 70% – almost spot on)
  
  So, simple – Maori and Pacific people have missed it – totally spoiled a bad record: look at the general low social statistics lauded by people such as Kelvin Davis, “Māori are more likely to be overweight, depressed, homeless, incarcerated and uneducated according to these disturbing statistics produced under National’s watch.” [1]
  Missing – “… and dying of cover-19”
  
  Missed without, so far, any rational explanation – other than sheer good luck.
  
  [1] https://www.labour.org.nz/no_mana_for_m_ori
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:28am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    Because almost all of our cases were directly related to overseas travel. The community transmission here was very low (for a number of obvious reasons) so because they didn’t go overseas or hug someone that did, they didn’t get it.
    
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    May 21, 2020 11:59am
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    Not quite. They actually observed that ALL New Zealanders were like mexicans with cellphones.
    
    Happy to do the shit work that American film crews didnt want to do, and do it for peanuts.
    
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    May 21, 2020 12:16pm
- cmm
  
  Did you see which way the birdy flew?
  
  Our geography makes our outcome relative to others a bit of a dice roll. For example:
  
  Spanish flu: We had approx 9000/M deaths – twice as bad as UK.
  Asian flu 1957: We had approx half the death rate of UK.
  Hong Kong flu 1968: Mainly dodged that one, much better than UK.
  
  Rule #1: Wait until after the season for sneezin’ before being smug about your virus statistics.
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:34am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  https://www.reverbnation.com/theidesofjune/song/26101528-judgement-day
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:36am
  - cmm
    
    Anyways trust Maggy to dig up something esoteric!
    
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    May 21, 2020 11:46am
    - cmm
      
      Anyways -> Always…. arrgh!
      
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      May 21, 2020 11:49am
MCos

I’ve worked in offices with 8hr days, 9hr days, 10 hr days.
Didn’t matter much how long the people were there, they always worked about six hours.
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May 21, 2020 9:44am
- cmm
  
  Yup, overtime leads to undertime.
  
  Some years ago I worked for a company that had a culture of pulling all-nighters before software released. I refused to play the game.
  
  On one such occasion I went home at about 5:30 pm, but went back at about 9pm for 15 minutes, taking them some pizza. Most of them were zonked out, sitting on the floor and drinking energy drinks – unproductive.
  
  I got up at 6am, baked a huge pile of muffins and when back to work at about 7:30. Not much useful stuff had happened, but the pile of empty energy drinks was much bigger. They demolished the muffins, then between 9 and 10 am most of them drifted home “for a quick shower”, but few came back and those that did had a brief spurt of usefulness then got drowsy and went home.
  
  I was fresh. Managed to fix a couple of issues and we shipped the software later that day.
  
  I came in the next day to help with a few support/installation issues. Most of the “all nighters” were still knackered: turned up late, did nothing except drink coffee and drool on their desks, then go home at about 2pm.
  
  You can’t cheat Mumma Nature. She will win. You will lose.
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:22am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Look up “modafinil” …..
    
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    May 21, 2020 1:15pm
    - Jack5
      
      Didn’t all sides in World War 2 use benzedrine, cocaine, amphetamines to keep air crew and other warriors alert and awake?
      
      https://allthatsinteresting.com/amphetamine-use-world-war-2
      
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      May 21, 2020 3:16pm
      - Batman
        
        They did. I believe the Germans were more prone to dishing out the mandatory amphetamines though
        
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        May 21, 2020 3:32pm
I remember when

Gisborne Hospital Results Level 4:
All except urgent care cases were put on hold.
The hospital worked at less than 40% of usual capacity.
Figures under OIA show 581 patients waiting for surgery on March 25, day Level 4 activated.
By May 5 that number had grown to 673.
Meanwhile 101 surgeries due to be performed during Level 4 were postponed.
The DHB were already struggling to treat patients before Covid-19.
Thank you Gisborne Herald doing what small paper are best at – local news.
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May 21, 2020 10:01am
Bobba Fret

I think Labour are genuinely worried that there will be a swing back to National over the next 4 months before the election as more unemployment (I bet they are pissed at Fletcher’s decision yesterday to announce the 1,000….hoped it would be after September) happens.
With no TV coverage or media, Simon was doing as well as any other potential National leader could have done while the government enjoyed 1pm daily political party broadcasts dressed as Covid-19 briefings.
$50m given to the media was probably a payment to go after Simon to cause unrest in National. Tova is basically on the government payroll.
I hope people wake up and vote for the adults to take control in September else NZ is really going to be in the s#@t.
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May 21, 2020 10:01am
- chaos
  
  Simon did have press coverage. And he had lots of tv coverage with his select committee being on tv each day.
  
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  May 21, 2020 1:01pm
  - Sacha
    
    How many people watched the Committee broadcasts?
    I only know one other, and I didn’t watch every day.
    
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    May 21, 2020 3:20pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    The first couple of weeks’ hearings were barely covered by the media.
    
    It wasn’t until 22 April when Dr Kate Baddock told the Committee about the “debacle” over Flu vaccines that the media began to take interest in what was being brought to light at the hearings.
    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/health-sector-critical-govts-covid-response
    
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    May 21, 2020 4:05pm
WaveyDavey

Question for the day:

When the best and brightest of NZ’s young people wake up to the fact that the rest of the world is open for travel – Both for leisure and career opportunities – while NZ pursues its ultimately pointless isolationism…

Will they (a) head overseas to enjoy the best time of their lives or (b) stay locked away in NZ working in a stunted economy earning lower salaries and missing out?
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May 21, 2020 10:07am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  It was a no-brainer for my youngest when her job closed up in Melbourne.
  
  An uncertain future in Australia was preferable to a very limited future in NZ.
  
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  May 21, 2020 10:41am
Fletch

I heard the end of Hosking on the wireless today and he was saying that he went to a cafe with his Jacinda-loving daughter, who had downloaded the new tracing app to be able to sign in at the cafe. It didn’t work for her, or anyone else in the place and they had to go back to the old pen and paper.
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May 21, 2020 10:45am
- RW Capitalist
  
  “It didn’t work for her, or anyone else in the place”
  Neither does Jacinda ( work for us)
  just herself.
  
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  May 21, 2020 11:18am
- mandk
  
  Given the recent record of government departments having personal data hacked, I think anyone signing up to use the tracing app is way too trusting.
  
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  May 21, 2020 11:59am
  - Rachael Membery
    
    Will they be able to use it to vote? Still to come no doubt.
    
    #Kiwivote.
    
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    May 21, 2020 2:11pm
Fletch

I notice that Nancy Pelosi has made the news again in the U.S by calling Donald Trump “morbidly obese”. What happened to the liberal idea of “body positivity” and celebrating fat models like Tess Holiday on the cover of Cosmopolitan and the like? I thought it was now unwritten liberal dogma that it was forbidden to criticize anyone for their body size or shape? At least that’s what they tell us.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/star-columnists/2018/08/30/cosmopolitan-cover-model-inspires-women-exposes-critics-hypocrisy.html

Just imagine if Trump had taken aim at some fat female and called her out on her weight. There’d be screaming in the media about it for days. If it weren’t for double standards, liberals would have no standards at all….
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May 21, 2020 10:50am
- Unity
  
  They really must be running out of things to denigrate Trump with if they have now latched onto his weight.
  
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  May 21, 2020 12:07pm
- rangitoto
  
  Excessive botox has rotted Pelosi’s brain.
  
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  May 21, 2020 12:57pm
- david
  
  Yeah but his response was to refer to her mental health issues in the kindest of ways. Tish ka boom
  
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  May 21, 2020 1:38pm
- virtualmark
  
  Um, you mean if President Trump were to maybe behave like this … https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/16/us/politics/trump-women-insults.html
  
  You need to decide whether you like a politician to tell like it is – which is presumably why you like Trump.
  
  Or you need to decide if you’re going to be (faux) outraged – which you’d probably describe as being a snowflake.
  
  So. HTFU or snowflake.
  
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  May 21, 2020 2:42pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    The Trumpistas have no problem with attacking people for behaving precisely the same way as their orange overlord. It’s all pure projection.
    
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    May 21, 2020 3:24pm
    - Batman
      
      “greatest political scandal of our time”
      
      For instance ?
      
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      May 21, 2020 3:31pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        If only anyone could explain exactly what ‘Obamagate’ is supposed to be…
        
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        May 21, 2020 5:52pm
    - Ed Snack
      
      Nah, more like the daily “point out the hypocrisy” post.
      
      Like, we have the WaPo calling Stacey Abrams a runway supermodel. Though Jaunita Brodderick nailed in asking was she modelling as a 747 or a Airbus 380.
      
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      May 21, 2020 4:41pm
Libertarians are right

Stuff has an article saying Paula isn’t worried.
At the end it says Colmar Brunton is coming out tonight but “Colmar Brunton polls have been more kind to the National Party than Newshub/Reid Research ones in recent years.”

Didn’t David prove a while ago that Colmar Brunton tends to actually pick the election with startling accuracy every time in recent years?

Are they downplaying Colmar Brunton because they’re expecting something?
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May 21, 2020 11:09am
RW Capitalist

On the AM Show
A guy from Dannevirke, selling his product.
An automated self entry to hospitals, to make entry “contactless” ie no receptionists, leaving the hospital free to reassign the current staff……to where?
Their “skills” are not transferable within the hospital environment.
They will be laid off. more unemployment.
But I do ask, why didn’t they consider this 2 years ago?
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May 21, 2020 11:16am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9F_EmCqll0
WHO excludes Taiwan from WHA, again. Teddy does
As the CCP asks.
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May 21, 2020 11:27am
curry4me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e30HtILEK48
NYT defends Biden. They claim ‘Believe all Women’ is
a right wing trap.
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May 21, 2020 11:28am
- oldfella
  
  Good article about this on Spiked Online.
  https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/05/21/the-metoo-movement-is-gaslighting-us-all/
  Don’t you love the way the left just shuffle their values around depending on which way the wind is blowing, in their world at least.
  
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  May 21, 2020 11:50am
- Inandout
  
  curry, this is Biden up to September 19. It appears his wife Jill still practices elder abuse.
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADDrSvNyqEY
  
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  May 21, 2020 12:08pm
- cmm
  
  I like the bit where Biden now says he has not watched a single one of the Tara Reade interviews and won’t be.
  
  And last week he said they were all lies.
  
  So which was it boyo? How can you say something was all lies when you haven’t even watched it?
  
  Since over 50% of US voters believe her, he should be making it a bloody priority to understand what she said.
  
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  May 21, 2020 12:10pm
  - Fletch
    
    Joe Biden: what did he know and when did he forget it….
    
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    May 21, 2020 12:23pm
- Ed Snack
  
  Well, I think the slogan really is “Believe all women who accuse Republicans…”
  
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  May 21, 2020 4:44pm
adaman

Poll time KBloggers

who do want as national leader. vote away below

https://linkto.run/p/720FX6LS

second question – If Simon Bridges is replaced as National leader, who will you party vote in the election?

https://linkto.run/p/KL85FGZT
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May 21, 2020 11:41am
- curry4me
  
  adaman: Thanks for the two good polls. I don’t understand why there were downticks.
  
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  May 21, 2020 9:24pm
oldfella

For a bit of light relief… here are some things to consider before your next video meeting. Bet you never thought of how easy it is to give offence, even if none is intended.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/05/michigan-state-professor-warns-of-unconscious-bias-in-virtual-meetings/
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May 21, 2020 11:46am
Maggie Pie

There’s no doubt my partners mum is a very astute observer when it comes to the matter of politics.
She txts:
‘If Jamie Lee Ross hadn’t let the little head rule the big head – it could have been him making the challenge tomorrow’
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May 21, 2020 12:15pm
- chaos
  
  I don’t think he had any chance for a few reasons. Even before it came out what he was doing he had the creepy feeling. Also because of his connection to the creep Slater.
  
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  May 21, 2020 12:56pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Yes i think you’re right there chaos.
    I even recall someone saying he had funny toes 🙁
    
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    May 21, 2020 1:58pm
rererangihirihiri

China lied. People died.

I’ve got a lazy note that says it’s not the first time and by a long shot it won’t be the last time.
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May 21, 2020 12:16pm
- surfing
  
  Yes, China did lie and authorities allowed Wuhan residents spread the virus to all 4 corners of the globe….
  
  However, maybe China were trying to avoid a ‘panic’ situation too…. underestimating the virus and thinking they could contain the situation? I can see how that might happen.
  
  Although, China should just ‘fess up, they clearly made some terrible mistakes resulting in far more fatalities than should have been. We do have the benefit of hindsight now too.
  
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  May 21, 2020 1:25pm
- oldfella
  
  Yep, as they say in Hong Kong (all the time) ‘Don’t trust China. China is asshole’.
  
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  May 21, 2020 5:15pm
I remember when

Let’s imagine that McDonalds and KFC were in a fight to be the most profitable business of the year.
Then in early/mid March it was announced that they winner of a quiz got 2 months free advertising, for up to an hour a day, alongside the most awaited news of the day.
Would that have any affect on the result of the “most profitable business of the year” contest?
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May 21, 2020 1:15pm
surfing

I wonder how failed coup organisers are treated afterwards… are they ‘traitors’ to the cause and receive paraiah status because others take it as a personal attack on the party and people?

Or, is that just part of politics and everyone understands that ?
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May 21, 2020 1:20pm
- chaos
  
  It’s like you’ve never seen a leadership challenge before. New to politics?
  
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  May 21, 2020 1:56pm
- Libertarians are right
  
  Depends on party partially. Robertson is currently finance minister and, arguably, Jacinda’s puppeteer.
  
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  May 21, 2020 2:18pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

I just heard a vicious rumour on Facebook.
Obama was spotted at a Subaru Dealership trying to buy a Legacy
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May 21, 2020 2:23pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Oh lookie here. Two downtickers who think Obama is president forever!!
  
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  May 21, 2020 3:56pm
Fletch

Way to go California. The state released prisoners early on account of the coronavirus, and six of the seven sex offenders they released have already been arrested again.

https://www.redstate.com/alexparker/2020/05/19/california-sex-criminals-six-of-seven-early-release-re-arrest/
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May 21, 2020 2:30pm
Peter Lane

“In doing so, he ensured a bloodless transfer of power and maintained the party unity he had worked so hard to build. The party unified behind Ardern, ran the campaign of a lifetime, and the rest is history.”

Andrew Little’s former campaign manager discusses his stepping down as leader and conveniently rewrites history.

“Ran the campaign of a lifetime”.

Delusional.
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May 21, 2020 3:06pm
Maggie Pie

BANKSIE!!
702 AM on your tranny ‘MagicTalk from 4 o’clock 😛

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SruVR2fBQWE
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May 21, 2020 3:22pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Only gonna listen if he get ‘Hone’ phoning in with the faux bro accent…
  
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  May 21, 2020 3:27pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Did you hear that guy phone in last night with the faux gay accent to abuse the sh*t out of Banksie?
    What a HOOT!!!
    
    7 1
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    May 21, 2020 4:07pm
New Zealand Last

Is there any reason why Nikki Kaye won’t just go for it? I mean, given that the the NZ public votes based on the lowest common denominator, I think people do generally prefer blondes over brunettes. If National thinks Kiwis will go for a bald guy over Jacinda then fuck National being in government if they can’t even figure this out. Whoever is advising Nikki and telling her she should bide her time, well, she’s a fucking idiot for listening to them because being Todd’s number 2 decreases her value and damages her reputation.
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May 21, 2020 3:32pm
- chaos
  
  A lot of people don’t vote with their pecker so won’t care that a man with the immense experience of Todd is bald.
  
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  May 21, 2020 5:11pm
Tony Stuart

Tova O’Brien has already started the assassination of Todd Muller:

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/05/mps-expenses-appear-to-show-todd-muller-has-been-campaigning-for-months-to-roll-simon-bridges.html

O’Brien seems not to understand that Muller is National’s agriculture spokesman, a role that requires him to visit rural areas right around the country. Many of these areas require multiple flights, or a combination of air and road transport to get to. Some of them will be places you can’t get in and out of in a day, so you stay overnight.

It’s all a bit similar to the attack she led against Simon Bridges in 2018, claiming his expenses were excessive. They were high, yes. But a large part of that was that Crown cars were charged out to the Opposition at twice the rate Government Ministers paid! But if you only tell half the story, you can make anything look like something it isn’t.

It’s a salutary message to the National Party though. Whatever decision the caucus makes tomorrow, the media will continue to tell half-truths and outright lies in an effort to bring the leadership down.
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May 21, 2020 4:03pm
- Inandout
  
  TS, Tova has been around the traps as they say, and now with a $50 million windfall her salary is safe until October.
  
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  May 21, 2020 4:05pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    October? Take anything she says with a 40 tonne container of salt.
    Total mind controlling shit – sucking someone …….
    
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    May 21, 2020 4:44pm
    - Inandout
      
      SO, I meant after the election the MSM will be surplus to requirements.
      
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      May 21, 2020 4:47pm
  - Michael NZ
    
    been around the traps!
    i don’t believe it.
    
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    May 21, 2020 6:45pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Looks like it across the MSM
  
  Damien Grant on Stuff tells us that Todd Muller:
  is uninteresting
  lacks charm
  lacks zing
  is a wooden performer in front of the camera
  is dull.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/300017656/todd-muller-the-uninteresting-middle-manager-lacking-charm-and-zing
  
  Gee, I reckon I’ve got the message.
  
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  May 21, 2020 4:16pm
- Rachael Membery
  
  Labour did nothing in Opposition so they should have had no expenses at all.
  
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  May 21, 2020 6:32pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Fake news? Diversions?
Fauci.
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer, Donald Trump. Ok he did not say that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5wAE3E6YIg&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR2dn1K8MbUS1-gGe2MTU_-KnVGJwss_tZoxTbTJEMNzy_qEZidv4wiCEBo
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May 21, 2020 4:41pm
rangitoto

92% of left wing activists are males living with their parents.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4200272/92-Berlin-left-wing-activists-live-parents.html
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May 21, 2020 4:49pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Nasty Smell in your suburb?

Surprise, surprise…
it’s Living Earth to blame
https://www.stuff.co.nz/the-press/news/121584009/decadelong-quest-to-pinpoint-pong-plaguing-christchurch-suburb-is-finally-over

Yet again… For years they & the Wellington City Council tried to hide the fact that their waste recycling is SHIT!.
https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/AK0712/S00069.htm
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May 21, 2020 5:05pm
Fisiani

Simon Bridges is a decent person but sometimes that is just not enough. These are unusual times and I cannot see him changing public opinion in just over 100 days. Muller speaks with gravitas and no one doubts his ability. The National list MP’s could all be lost if the polls are correct. I would go all in on a change of leadership.
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May 21, 2020 5:14pm
- chaos
  
  I think if he sticks with politics bridges is a future leader, not a current one. A bit like Bill English, it just wasn’t his time the first time around.
  
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  May 21, 2020 5:26pm
  - Michael NZ
    
    english was a manager not a leader.
    a no2 not a no1.
    
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    May 21, 2020 6:46pm
chaos

Hmm, so the prime ministers boyfriend is living off her “fame”. Why the hell Australia would have him in an advert is bizarre.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/news/article.cfm?c_id=1501119&objectid=12333743
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May 21, 2020 5:36pm
chaos

Released 4 times, recalled for further offending……..

* Robin Pitney was 15 when he killed a young South Canterbury boy. Now he’s set to be released from prison.

Pitney, an inmate at Rolleston Prison, appeared before the Parole Board via-audio visual link on May 8.

Pitney was 15 when he fatally stabbed Leif Wulff, 11, at Timaru’s Caroline Bay in 1991.*

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/121589934/childkiller-paroled-after-years-behind-bars
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May 21, 2020 5:52pm
- Rachael Membery
  
  Be able to vote then.
  
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  May 21, 2020 6:25pm
chaos

Hmm one news said the prime minister wasn’t avail either to comment on the numbers today but her deputy was, Grant Robertson. When did he become deputy? Has anyone told kelvin?
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May 21, 2020 6:09pm
- Rachael Membery
  
  Why would they?
  
  6 0
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  May 21, 2020 7:01pm

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