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September 21, 2020 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 21 September 2020

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General Debate

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Dave Mann

Is it just me or have others here experienced difficulties loading Kiwiblog?

I keep getting ‘site can’t be reached’ messages after failing to open the main page and individual posts. It’s taking four or five attempts to open at the moment.

Is this just me, just everyday difficulty with site mechanics, or is it a sign of something more sinister?

[Mod – it’s causing issues for the moderators too, so please bear with us.]
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December 21, 2019 9:19am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Same here.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:46am
- Swifty
  
  Me too.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:52am
- wimpston peeeders
  
  yup same here for the last 5 days its been very intermitent
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:08am
- [email protected]
  
  Would not load at all for a long time. Is this an ISP malfunction or a Denial Of Service attack by an organization that does not like KB’ers?
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:11am
  - Dave Mann
    
    Yes, I was wondering if it is a DDoS attack too. Every time it happens I check my phone by trying another site and other sites load perfectly while KB continues to stall. Hmm….
    
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    September 21, 2020 11:10am
    - Dave Mann
      
      Just some info to help the site administrator(s)…. now my initial comment at 9.19am is the FIRST comment that shows up on the page and ALL PREVIOUS comments seem to have been deleted.
      
      Not being paranoid, but I think it’s an attack. KB is new Zealand’s premier political discussion blog and if someone wanted to stifle open discussion and free speech, killing KB (or at least slowing it down) would be a good place to start.
      
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      September 21, 2020 11:26am
      - Nickc2
        
        I’m fairly sure I can see Andrew Little’s fingerprints all over the problems we are having. It’s slowing down free speech that’s for sure (sarc).
        
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        September 21, 2020 11:56am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        Twyford is helping DIF. . .
        
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        September 21, 2020 2:01pm
  - Unity
    
    Me too. But I have got in this time. It seems to be intermittent though.
    
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    September 21, 2020 1:08pm
- KiWombat
  
  Yep – same here
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:54am
- Local Miller
  
  Me to
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:34am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Got KB faster by going to “The Standard” site then redirecting to KB
  Wonder why that was?
  
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  September 21, 2020 1:25pm
  - Harriet
    
    I had difficulty yesterday, in aussie.
    But I know fuck all about technology.
    
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    September 21, 2020 5:14pm
    - Jack5
      
      Notice the date on the first post in this thread – December 2019!
      
      Some Woke hacker’s monkeying around with Kiwiblog.
      
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      September 22, 2020 9:30am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  I reckon Jaspinda is trying to shut down Kiwiblog for telling the truth far too often; and exposing her constant, continuous lying
  
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  September 21, 2020 5:43pm
2ic

I’ve made posts in the last couple of months challenging the Government’s narrative that people are pouring into New Zealand due our handling of Covid-19. Actual statistics from customs show we are losing thousands every month, and it’s good to see this finally being reported in the media:

“Covid 19 coronavirus: Net migrant departures of 111,000 puts economic recovery at risk”
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12366343

September shows no sign of the rate slowing, with a net loss of over 3,000 so far. You can follow the numbers here:

https://www.customs.govt.nz/covid-19/more-information/passenger-statistics/

Just to recap, here are our net passenger statistics since March (negative number means net loss):

Mar: -63,078
April: -25,511
May: -4,534
Jun: -5,702
Jul: -9,158
Aug: -3,047
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September 21, 2020 8:00am
- wimpston peeeders
  
  im suprised cindy and robo havent slapped a hefty departure tax at the border.
  
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  September 21, 2020 8:12am
  - Deagle
    
    Don’t give them ideas!
    
    *Also sorry for the accidental report.*
    
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    September 21, 2020 8:19am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Many New Zealanders have returned. I have met a few who returned from Australia, including adult children of a friend. They all returned reluctantly because they had lost their jobs, often in hospitality. They returned as a last resort.
  
  When the smoke clears in 6, 12 or 18 months I predict a large scale exodus from New Zealand. Predictably, the economic damage in Australia is about half that of New Zealand in terms of the growth hit. Australia will recover faster as they are not as dependent on tourism. And the government is signaling large tax cuts.
  
  This smug message of New Zealand doing so well would be laughable if it were not a precursor of an economic disaster.
  
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  September 21, 2020 8:19am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    Saw a news item on sky news australia
    unemployment is …..DOWN to 6.8%
    While ours is rising.
    
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    September 21, 2020 9:18am
  - Isobar
    
    I dont see that happening to any large extent. Australia has made it clear – NZ’ers are encouraged not to come, you still pay full taxes but have no access to support or healthcare and the path to residency is difficult and expensive.
    
    So many NZ’ers were already coming home from Australia even before COVID hit. Its not like it used to be. Australia is more and more turning into a working holiday type destination for kiwis, rather than a permanent move.
    
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    September 21, 2020 9:20am
    - Simon
      
      “Australia has made it clear – NZ’ers are encouraged not to come,”
      
      Just seen it with Otago Medical school. If you have the brains but are white or asian dont apply. ( Head out to Australian medical school. )
      
      Just a small snap shot.
      
      NZ chicken shit economy, too much government, too much tax and too expensive. The productive New Zealander isnt welcome in NZ either.
      
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      September 21, 2020 9:47am
      - IC5000
        
        > Just seen it with Otago Medical school. If you have the brains but are white or asian dont apply. ( Head out to Australian medical school. )
        
        Lol, like you can just apply for med school in Oz like that. Obviously posted by someone who has no knowledge whatsoever of the process. NZers are mostly a small fish in a big pond here. The competition here is more intense because there is a lot more talent.
        
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        September 21, 2020 11:31am
    - Flossie
      
      Isobar – what you say is mostly true. Except that part about no access to healthcare. You are wrong. It’s easy to get your medicare card and for me it was actually free visits to doctors surgery – although some of the prescriptions can cost a fair bit. While I lived and worked (and paid tax) there I also received a hip replacement – not one cent cost to me. I am forever grateful to the taxpayers of Australia for that
      
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      September 21, 2020 11:22am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      “Australia has made it clear – NZ’ers are encouraged not to come..”
      
      Can you cite any evidence for that statement? The conditions that apply to New Zealanders resident in Australia have not changed in 19 years. In that time hundreds of thousands have moved there. Why on earth would that suddenly change?
      
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      September 21, 2020 12:22pm
- Isobar
  
  Surely those leaving though are those such as backpackers etc that are on working visas as they come up for expiration. There are still a lot of backpackers and holiday makers still here.
  
  Returning people are limited to the quantity of places available at managed isolation, whereas there is no such restriction on numbers that can leave (asides from ability to get a flight)
  
  There are a lot more people wanting to get back to NZ, but due to limited places at MIQ facilities they have to wait.
  
  Also with the way that data is trending it will soon be heading to net gain territory.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:01am
  - RJ
    
    Yeah, that’s what it shows, but people like to twist data to fit their agendas
    
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    September 21, 2020 9:56am
- RJ
  
  Well since people can’t really travel those stats are showing the visitors that were and still are here leaving the country
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:54am
- WaynelSexton
  
  The boomers relying on over priced property to retire on might be in for a shock. Less people equals less demand. Then we are looking at close to 10% unemployment for the next decade as well.
  So tell me who’s going to buy the boomers houses?
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:58am
  - Jack5
    
    Less people? Where?
    
    New Zealand has had the fastest growing population among developed countries, and this has caused our GDP per capita to fall relative to other countries. We are now far behind Australia in comparative wealth, and behind even Britain.
    
    With the recession-depression that will follow Wuhan flu internationally, coming back here will be scores of thousands of NZ-born who have been living abroad, and scores of thousands of Asians who took NZ dual citizenship for “bolt-hole” insurance.
    
    Our unemployment, welfare, and health systems will suddenly look golden. More for NZ taxpayers to support.
    
    Meanwhile, National’s election policy includes “introducing a fast-track technology skills visa”.
    
    Given the effect of the student-visa rorts, you have to wonder about this.
    
    Tens of thousands of young Indians who came to New Zealand to study IT at private colleges (often owned in Asia) or polytechnics have instead been selling electricity supply door to door, driving taxis, making and delivering pizza, or selling appliances at Harvey Norman and Noel Leeming.
    
    Could National’s fast-track technical skills visa just provide another immigration rort for those who, in effect, are selling NZ citizenship?
    
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    September 21, 2020 11:16am
    - IC5000
      
      Some good things in the policy but a lot of it’s a joke.
      
      A better idea would have been an accelerated associate degree in technology completed in 18-24 months with a guaranteed 6 month internship at the end and project focused coursework with the private sector embedded within it for which the student would pay no fees and have their living costs paid for..
      
      Instead we get mass immigration from the sub continent.
      
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      September 21, 2020 11:37am
      - Jack5
        
        We have always had immigration in NZ, but the belief that you merely have to increase population to increase wealth of citizens is untrue and a trap.
        
        Bigger population means bigger GDP as in India, which is third in the world by size of GDP. However, the wealth or Indians is revealed more by GDP per capita. In this, India is 156th in the world.
        
        If population grows faster than the economy, you slide in GDP per capita compared with other countries.
        
        I’m concerned that even ACT may have been taken in by the mirage that “just increase NZ’s population to 10 million or more and the economy will blossom.”
        
        If Seymour is talking about horticultural and other seasonal temporary workers such as backpackers and fruit pickers from Vanuatu, that’s a reasonable policy. However, Seymour doesn’t make it clear that’s what he’s talking about.
        
        https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/122827376/act-immigration-critical-to-build-economy-create-jobs-for-kiwis
        
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        September 21, 2020 12:00pm
      - IC5000
        
        Immigration is an easy fix to increase GDP in the short term because the long term consequences are not going to be paid by the govnt of the da in terms of increased infrastructure, health and housing problem.
        
        The argument isn’t even whether immigration is good or bad but the type of immigration itself. Few of us would object to highly trained doctors being given PR but if you’re talking about migrants who are taking entry level jobs that younger kiwis need to gain experience and saving because businesses want cheaper, easily exploitable resources then it’s clearly different.
        
        No major party is willing to engage in an honest conversation with the electorate putting the pros and cons because they are bereft of ideas and lack the courage and capacity to come up with anything different.
        
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        September 21, 2020 1:00pm
    - artemisia
      
      “Could National’s fast-track technical skills visa just provide another immigration rort for those who, in effect, are selling NZ citizenship?”
      
      Short answer yes. New hires will be supported into jobs and visas here that will supply New Zealand experience to supplement home country degrees and perhaps experience there as well. It will all look great on paper. We have seen it all many times as Jack5 says.
      
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      September 21, 2020 1:03pm
    - artemisia
      
      Have noticed over the last few years that several small electrical firms we’ve worked with have new owners hiring workers (who appear to be) from their home country. We have had 2 or 3 approaches from laid off locals looking for temporary work to tide them over.
      
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      September 21, 2020 1:20pm
  - RightNow
    
    Hmm, so are the media wrong about record house prices?
    I’ve been keeping an eye open to grab a bargain maybe through a mortgagee sale but it seems the opposite is happening. Prices are higher than ever.
    
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    September 21, 2020 11:41am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Bros – these could be people on work visas and lost their jobs, visitors who planned for a 3 month holiday, instead rushing back to their home country etc. People love Cindy. Full stop.
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:08am
  - Nickc2
    
    Tedious!
    
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    September 21, 2020 12:05pm
PhilBest

This is a comprehensive statement of the Covid-19 issue where it stands today. These doctors are to be commended for their integrity in issuing and signing on to this statement.

https://docs4opendebate.be/en/open-letter/

They are absolutely correct. In February there was still uncertainty and the motivation was “precaution”. But for politicians and so-called official “experts” to still be feeding, playing up, and sustaining hysteria based on those early uncertainties, when we now know Covid-19 to be comparable to a bad flu season, really requires people to be held criminally accountable for the damage they are doing. It is no longer possible to excuse them on the grounds of mere incompetence or extreme risk aversion. The damage is multiple times worse than the alleged “problem” being mitigated.

These doctors are right to call for investigations into how and why “official expert” institutions can be so intransigent over evidence and objective science for so long, and get away with it. Plus, the role of the media and Big Tech in breaching their own alleged ethics standards, failing to do due diligence, and enabling and perpetuating criminally destructive policy advice.
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September 21, 2020 8:00am
- PhilBest
  
  On Hydroxychloroquine in particular, they state that criminal actions are already in process against the “medical researchers” who “proved Hydroxychloroquine is unsafe” by administering known toxic doses to Covid-19 patients. As these doctors point out, there is a cut and shut criminal case against these people, because they literally published all the evidence against themselves, that supports such a prosecution.
  
  I have been tearing my hair out for years, over the unwillingness of nice appeasing “centre right” politicians to do due diligence on the grounds that progressive leftists anywhere, including scientists and doctors, WILL do evil things for their “noble cause”. They are the epitome of “good men doing nothing”, hence evil ends up triumphing.
  
  Things are so bad in numerous areas of policy and professions, that what progressive leftists are getting away with, would have landed them in jail in a just and fair world. That progressive leftists claim to be fighting FOR a fair and just world, is just a matter of their whole system of ethics being based on utopian intentions rather than “doing right” versus “doing wrong” and acknowledging facts and reality versus sticking to the narrative.
  
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  September 21, 2020 8:08am
  - Critical Thinker
    
    Key points from the Open Letter signed by 399 medical doctors & 1360 medically trained health professionals:
    
    – The WHO originally predicted a pandemic that would claim 3.4% victims, in other words millions of deaths, and a highly contagious virus for which no treatment or vaccine was available.
    Gradually the objective facts showed a completely different reality.
    The course of covid-19 followed the course of a normal wave of infection similar to a flu season.
    
    – The use of the non-specific PCR test, which produces many false positives, showed an exponential picture. This test was rushed through with an emergency procedure and was never seriously self-tested. The creator expressly warned that this test was intended for research and not for diagnostics.
    
    – There is no link between the imposed lockdown and the course of the infection. Lockdown has not led to a lower mortality rate.
    
    – Overly hygienic measures have a detrimental effect on our immunity. Only people with a weak or faulty immune system should be protected by extensive hygiene or social distancing.
    
    – Up to 60% SARS-Cov-2 reactivity with CD4 T cells in a non-infected population, suggesting cross-reactivity with other cold (corona) viruses.
    Most people therefore already have a congenital or cross-immunity because they were already in contact with variants of the same virus.
    
    – Most people who test positive (PCR) have no complaints. Their immune system is strong enough. Strengthening natural immunity is a much more logical approach.
    
    – Social isolation and economic damage led to an increase in depression, anxiety, suicides, intra-family violence and child abuse.
    
    – Mortality turned out to be many times lower than expected and close to that of a normal seasonal flu (0.2%).
    
    – The vast majority of deceased patients were 80 years of age or older. The majority (70%) of the deceased, younger than 70 years, had an underlying disorder, such as cardiovascular suffering, diabetes mellitus, chronic lung disease or obesity.
    
    – There is an affordable, safe and efficient therapy available for those who do show severe symptoms of disease in the form of HCQ (hydroxychloroquine), zinc and AZT (azithromycin). Rapidly applied this therapy leads to recovery and often prevents hospitalisation. Hardly anyone has to die now.
    
    – Contact tracing and epidemiological studies show that healthy people (or positively tested asymptomatic carriers) are virtually unable to transmit the virus.
    
    – Oral masks in healthy individuals are ineffective against the spread of viral infections.
    
    – We deplore the role of the WHO in this, which has called for the “infodemic” to be silenced by an unprecedented media censorship.
    
    – Covid-19 is not a cold virus, but a well treatable condition with a mortality rate comparable to the seasonal flu. In other words, there is no longer an insurmountable obstacle to public health.
    We therefore demand an immediate end to all measures.
    
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    September 21, 2020 9:36am
    - IC5000
      
      > Covid-19 is not a cold virus, but a well treatable condition with a mortality rate comparable to the seasonal flu. In other words, there is no longer an insurmountable obstacle to public health.
      
      Right.
      
      It results in multi organ damage that long term effects on health afterwards with people being unable to work or even climb stairs.
      
      Why do you have to lie to people about the consequences of covid?
      
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      September 21, 2020 4:55pm
- Unity
  
  Wow!! I really do now feel vindicated. I’ve tried to ‘do all the right things’ and not to be complacent but my enquiring mind has really questioned this matter most of the way through. Thanks very much PhilBest.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:03am
Tony Stuart

Congratulations to Brendon Hartley; now a two-time 24 Hours of Le Mans winner. That’s an awesome achievement!
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September 21, 2020 8:03am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  And nothing at all about it on the ZB sports news. But Hosking reported on it.
  
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  September 21, 2020 8:14am
  - igm
    
    Don’t you know, motorsport is on the radar of Greens/Labour, being a non-woke sport.
    
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    September 21, 2020 8:22am
    - Nickc2
      
      I believe Julie-Anne Genter is a fan of Formula 1 or was it the Tour de France?
      
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      September 21, 2020 12:12pm
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Hosking is a petrolhead, and has interviewed Hartley a number of times.
    
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    September 21, 2020 8:30am
    - pdm
      
      Hosking had Hartley on last Thursday morning – about 15 minutes from 8.07 to 8. 25 including ads of course.
      
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      September 21, 2020 9:36am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      To be fair, there were only two cars fast enough to win this event (the Toyotas) and Hartley was in one of them. The other one had more problems during the race than Hartley’s did.
      His main achievement was having a good enough track record to secure a drive in the Toyota.
      
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      September 21, 2020 9:40am
  - PhilBest
    
    Coincidentally I noticed over the weekend, that there is heaps of great video of Aussie saloon car racing back into the 70’s and 60’s on YouTube, but absolutely nothing of the glory days of Leo Leonard and the Chrysler Charger in NZ in the 1970’s. Why? TV was one of the things in which the “Fortress NZ” economy was behind the rest of the world
    
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    September 21, 2020 8:46am
Sigmund Freud

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Unless the country can pull itself out of it’s current death spiral we will face economic, social and political armageddon.

Judith can’t help. All she will do is promise to screw us over more efficiently than Jacinda.
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September 21, 2020 8:03am
- old skool reactionary
  
  Armageddon has already arrived. Obviously you didn’t get the memo.
  
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  September 21, 2020 4:08pm
Pete George

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Richard Harman at Politik: Surging into National’s space

National’s campaign launch yesterday was overshadowed by its Finance spokesperson Paul Goldsmith having to admit before the broadcast that the figures on which he had based the affordability of his $4 billion tax cut were wrong.

The error yesterday centred on what is supposed to be the heart of its campaign; $4 billion in tax cuts to boost the post-Covod recovery.

National’s tax cuts were to be financed by stopping contributions to NZ Super Fund, but the party had used figures from the May Budget to support their affordability and failed to recognise that Robertson had reduced the estimated contributions to the fund in the PREFU published last Wednesday.

The error might have been avoided had National taken up the long-standing Opposition “perk” of having a Treasury official embedded in the Leader’s office. But the former Leader, Simon Bridges, refused to accept a Treasury official being part of his team.

Ultimately it was an error which while massively embarrassing is unlikely to impact National in any structural sense. The party has never looked like winning the election, so all that it may do is knock a few more points off its ultimate share of the vote.

https://www.politik.co.nz/2020/09/21/surging-into-nationals-space/

Looks like Labour have played National at their own can’t do the numbers game.
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September 21, 2020 8:04am
- alloytoo
  
  Pete you’ve just illustrated the primary difference between National & Labour.
  
  Accountability and integrity.
  
  None of which is present in the current government.
  
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  September 21, 2020 8:30am
- KevO'Brien
  
  So it was a trick to keep the Opposition in the dark. Robbo doesn’t use Treasury anyway, they are too counterfactual for him. ~~Nimby~~ MBIE are preferred.
  Where’s Robbo going to get his money from? Surely Judith and Team can access the same supply chain–at least they won’t waste it.
  
  Authorisation of expenditure by Parliament has become a joke. With the global sums appropriated as Vote Items there is no sovereign power being exercised on behalf of taxpayers. No wonder Kiwis are leaving in droves again. Does Jones with his 3Bn money jar have the sovereignty to disburse that as pseudo election bribes? THis govt has fallen apart even before they got communism bedded in.
  Another 3 years will be fatal for NZ.
  
  ☑️☑️Restorative, able and honest☑️☑️
  
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  September 21, 2020 8:46am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    Spin as you wish KOB. It was a KO from Robber. Goldie’s own goal.
    
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    September 21, 2020 10:10am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Robertson will be proved to be one of the least capable Finance Minsters. He may be a good neo-communist but has no understanding of NZ’s place in the hard global monetary world of the balance of payments and domestic prices.
      
      Has he no control over Little who has announced extra goodies for workers? That was what broke the back of the 1972 Labour Government. It was all give, but where was it to come from? We struggled to get food imports.
      NZ is not as isolated as many believe. Demand here, generated through local spending, is reflected in our account with the outside world. The USA economy affects us too. It was once possible to track NZ’s by looking at the USA with an 18 month lag.
      
      Some of the early Labour Ministers well understood those basics. Without that understanding the amateurs will flounder. Be very careful not to set a wage/price upwards spiral in motion.
      
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      September 21, 2020 11:55am
  - LTA1955
    
    Just watched 2 episodes of The Barrier on Netflix – to say the least some of the controlling government talkspeakbullshit is eerily similar to what we are hearing from this bunch of Marxist idiots.
    Control of the narrative and fear of everything, disarm the locals, ration everything, setup the neighbourhood snitches, give some of the population more than another ie L1 & L2.
    Promises lots and deliver nothing then blame it on anything ( Handy that Whuflu came along!)
    
    Next we will have a visit from Maduro and the CCP to congratulate Jackass on her subjugation of the sheeple. Buncha Charlie Uniform November Tango’s the whole damn lot of
    
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    September 21, 2020 3:46pm
    - Nickc2
      
      I wish I could give you more upticks.
      
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      September 21, 2020 8:07pm
- Philview
  
  The media have pretty much ignored the most significant political story over the weekend which is Labour’s Workplace Policy announcement. Labour are going to legislate for fair pay agreements. This implies that small businesses will no longer have a say in what they pay their staff. BusinessNZ have said in a report that the NZ Government will be in breach of International Law. Interesting how the NZ media are currently shouting from the rooftops that the UK’s Internal Market Bill will breach International Law. Where is the consistency from our media?
  
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  September 21, 2020 8:48am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    This government obviously wants the death of small businesses: ‘fair pay’, more sick leave and new holidays will make hiring and even keeping staff at current hours impossible. This government kept supermarkets open during lockdown while small shops were forced to close. Landlords are marked as evil instead of providing our most basic need: shelter. They are hit with new costs and virtually unable to give notice to bad tenants.
    
    The idea of communities built by people owning small businesses, exchanging goods and services and all taking an interest doesn’t appeal to Labour.
    
    Now why would that be?
    
    And the daft sheeple want more big, controlling government and destruction of small businesses.
    
    I walk around my pleasant community that greatly benefits from multiple small businesses and see Cindy smirking from every fence!
    
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    September 21, 2020 9:30am
    - mark15
      
      Do you live in gang central Napier too?
      
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      September 21, 2020 1:56pm
- Isobar
  
  National has scored a massive own goal here. It is the one thing that should be a point of difference between them and Labour – banking on credibility on running the economy.
  
  Now this has happened, the government will eagerly point out this over and over again and also run the line about the lack of talent and not being the party of Key and English.
  
  The only good news, is that Key and English come out looking great, legacy’s intact. But National under Collins not so much.
  
  When your whole pitch to the electorate is about how you can run the economy better, a simple mistake like this is inexcusable. Heads should roll.
  
  Make no mistake – some undecided voters have now made their decision on the basis of what has happened yesterday. And it will be either to ACT or Labour.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:27am
  - septic skeptic
    
    National has certainly lost a large number of capable MPs in recent years. Maybe they are now basking in the shadow of yesterday’s triumph.
    
    2 15
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    September 21, 2020 10:04am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    It will be Labour bro. They know voting ACT is going to help National. I repeat my prediction. National on election night – 25%
    
    1 11
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    September 21, 2020 10:11am
  - rockape
    
    So should the PMs head have rolled for the stuff up that was kiwibuild?
    
    12 0
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    September 21, 2020 11:31am
- RJ
  
  Yeah, national just gave labour something they will throw back at them throughout the campaign.
  
  5 7
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  September 21, 2020 9:58am
- alwyn
  
  Are we allowed to suggest that this also illustrates that Robertson hasn’t the faintest idea what is going on?
  For him to prattle on in May in the Budget about how much he was going to put into the Cullen Fund and then, about 3 months later have to admit that he was out by about $4 billion surely illustrates that he was telling porkies at Budget time?
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:07am
- MCos
  
  I think Judith Collins compounded the bad look by waving away four billion dollars as inconsequential.
  How tone deaf is that?
  Imagine how many charter schools, prisons, two lane bridges, you could build with that sort of money.
  
  7 17
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  September 21, 2020 10:13am
- Bullion
  
  Robertson didn’t reduce payments, there is a formula for Govt contributions as part of the law.
  
  Its also irresponsible for National to stop contributions to the Super Fund, they’ve done it once before and the Super Fund is over $26billion less because of it. Goldsmith is also keen to raise the eligibility of super, its a bit of a self fulfilling prophecy when you plan to cut the mechanism used to make superannuation affordable.
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:43am
- tf78
  
  I think Robertson set a trap and unfortunately they fell into it. The numbers were double checked by outside companies/people so no fault there. The usual story of data in, data out. Embarrassing all the same.
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:39am
Yvette

Newshub reveals the $11.7 million of taxpayer money netted by the controversial Green School wasn’t the first time they’d tried to dip into the public purse.
The difference is that their first attempt – for far less funding [about $1 million] from the Provincial Growth Fund (PGF) – didn’t pass muster and the school was refused. [1]

What isn’t clearly reported is whether Green’s James Shaw new this when threatened to with-hold his signing off multiple projects – blackmail his colleagues – into approving funding that had already been refused or considered inappropriate.

What is clear though, is that the school in applying a second time for even more funding would know that it application had not been accepted first time.

Now Cabinet claims the funding must proceed as it was a decision “made in good faith”.
What absolute fucking bullshit.
• The school was asking for something already refused.
• There is questions over the qualification of the school.
• Such funding is against Green Party policy.
• The school claims to be requesting loans rather than a grant.
• Shaw was either wrong for not knowing of the earlier application, or wrong for supporting what had already been rejected, and certainly wrong for blackmailing Cabinet collectivity.
• And all those others bowing to Shaw’s blackmail are guilty surely of collective cowardice and waste in squandering $11.7 to get the other work through.
Shaw is surely not the only one who should resign.

Shane Jones declared on Newshub Nation he was determined to kill off his Government sibling.
“I’m going to do everything in my power to ensure the Greens do not survive,” he said.
Didn’t Jones sign off on the funding too?

[1] https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/09/green-school-previously-turned-down-for-provincial-growth-fund-cash.html
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September 21, 2020 8:07am
- Catgurl13
  
  I think it’s about not upsetting Greens voters by going ahead with the funding.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:01am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Careful…you are in danger of lending credence to the PGF, which should NOT exist in the first place.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:39am
fernglas

It doesn’t appear to have occurred to the MoH that the latest transmission of Covid-19 is more likely to have occurred in isolation, with the recipient mingling with someone infected, than that it was an extraordinary incubation period or caught from someone on the flight home. Or is it just that they don’t want to admit the possibility of yet another cock up in the isolation process?
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September 21, 2020 8:08am
- DeepBlue
  
  Prof. Baker said the same last night and it was the most likely source. The govn should listen to their advisor.
  
  23 1
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  September 21, 2020 8:30am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Prof. Baker needs to be careful what he says, as if he doesn’t tow the party line, he will no longer be one of their preferred “expert” advisors.
    
    7 1
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    September 21, 2020 10:10am
Surely Knott

Mystery: Covid man has been in quarantine for 14 days. At the end of the quarantine period he now has Covid.
Where did it come from? 1. Quarantine (you have no proof you damn right wing conspiracy theorist). 2. He got it before the quarantine period and then had 2 negative tests and it’s only now testing positive well after 14 days incubation period. Scientists are saying this is extremely rare (yeah we’re looking into this) 3. He touched frozen goods. (yeah that’s also completely implausible but hey it worked as a distraction last time).
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September 21, 2020 8:08am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Another case of Immaculate Infection?
  
  46 1
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  September 21, 2020 8:13am
- Simon
  
  A so called pandemic which only kills the very elderly or badly sick or if you are normal its hard to work out if you have it or not.
  
  Wuhun flu is bullshit. Its over except for the political class who have fucked NZ’s economy over a bad flu season and will need to keep it going.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:23am
  - tf78
    
    Think back to it’s origin and compare their lockdown procedure.
    
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    September 21, 2020 11:52am
- Catgurl13
  
  Either this guy had it and was missed out during correct testing times or he had close contact with another infected person in quarantine?
  
  10 1
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  September 21, 2020 9:35am
  - sam green
    
    There is the “long tail” of the curve. Epidemiologists know it. You all don’t.
    
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    September 21, 2020 11:28pm
greenfinger

What will it take for Labour to commence work on a second harbour bridge Immediately? God forbid, a collapse of the first? Another massive fail on their watch. And to suggest a second bridge will only be used for rail only?? Dumb and Dumber on full display!!
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September 21, 2020 8:09am
- doggone7
  
  Why? It’s not important. In 20 years the population of Auckland has only increased by about half a million.
  
  Why plan for another harbour crossing over years? Why plan and work for public transport like trains and buses? Wait for someone to say, “What will it take for Labour to commence work on a second harbour bridge immediately?”
  
  And have Mike Hosking the leader of the orchestra for years, rubbishing public transport.
  
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  September 21, 2020 8:34am
  - KiWombat
    
    Since the harbour bridge was built the population of Auckland has TREBLED.
    
    The improved access to the north shore has also led to the demise of the Takapuna and Albany dairy farms, which have now made way for industrial and housing developments. I’m sure that many readers can recall when Albany was a coffee stop on SH1 as we headed for points north, and the dozens of chickens that casually meandered around that part of SH1.
    
    Sam story applies to our water catchments – Auckland Council has some serious questions to answer about its failure to provide for the future – the future is here NOW !
    
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    September 21, 2020 9:35am
    - doggone7
      
      I know about driving out of town to Albany.
      
      The future is here now? The future was there years ago when the gormless were afraid to plan.
      
      Could there have been a rapid rail system? Should there have been? The Johnny come lately like Hosking want all the trappings of the big cities but expect the ease of moving around like they’re in a little village and can come come and go as easy as that. The thing that stuffs them up is that they see the place as only needed to be peopled by themselves and their mates. God knows where all the trappings of the real world are going to come from, you know the real workers, the punters.
      
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      September 21, 2020 10:02am
- Tony Stuart
  
  No, Phil Twyford and Julie Anne Genter on full display, although when it comes to roads, is there a difference to the movie title?
  
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  September 21, 2020 8:46am
- Catgurl13
  
  It might take the complete collapse of the bridge into the harbour this week to finally convince Labour voters to look at voting another party. Even rest home residents could come up with an idea to fix the bridge faster than Labour this week,even those with dementia!!
  
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  September 21, 2020 8:57am
  - peterwn
    
    It cannot be fixed with sellotape and no 8 wire or even by welding on a few bits of metal. NZTA has 9 structural engineers on the job who are looking at two things:
    a. a temporary fix to allow light vehicles to use the inner 4 lanes. This is not a trivial task and it may be impractical.
    b. design of replacement member. This has to be properly designed and a means of carrying out the work proposed. The design needs to be ‘peer reviewed’ ie other people check the design. Again this is not trivial and could take up to a week. They would also reviewing what suitable raw steel stock is available locally and ensuring the design is within the capability of local fabricators. These factors may influence the design. In the worst scenario, steel stock may need to be imported or the fabrication done off shore. This is why NZTA is hedging its bets with ‘several weeks’.
    
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    September 21, 2020 11:45am
    - Catgurl13
      
      Translation…..NZ is not equipped to deal with replacing one prong being dented in the bridge. We need time for all the households in NZders to melt down any metal they have at home in their ovens,so we can super glue it all together in the end to make said replacement prong…..
      
      4 2
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      September 21, 2020 1:24pm
- Simon
  
  Auckland is broken. Has been for a while.
  
  “Let’s keep moving” Cant make this shit up.
  
  16 2
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  September 21, 2020 8:59am
  - KiWombat
    
    You would have to START moving first !
    
    7 1
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    September 21, 2020 9:37am
- Isobar
  
  I guess the question will be – who would be willing to pay more tax to fund it immediately? It could start tomorrow if it was funded.
  
  Would those affected be willing to fund a second crossing?
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:29am
  - Paulus
    
    Bring back the toll on the bridge – will be rebuilt or a new crossing in double quick time.
    
    3 0
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    September 21, 2020 1:15pm
- MCos
  
  If the last National administration had initiated planning we might just have had something up and running by now.
  If something was up and running by now there’s no guarantee that four lanes being out of action on the existing bridge wouldn’t still have resulted in big problems.
  An interim measure would have been to complete to connection between SH1 & SH18
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:28am
- tf78
  
  greenfinger, if Len Brown hadn’t started off on his bs campaign for the CRL we could of had a harbour tunnel completed by now with a lot less city disruption.
  
  Notice today how handy buses are they go anywhere at anytime – totally reliable.
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:54am
  - MCos
    
    The City Rail Link was started four years ago.
    If planning for a second harbour crossing had commenced at that time it wouldn’t even be halfway complete.
    Furthermore traffic disruption would be causing all sorts of problems about now.
    
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    September 21, 2020 5:44pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  Labour will put Phil Twyford in charge of the second harbour crossing.
  
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  September 21, 2020 1:25pm
  - tf78
    
    Bobba he would use a submarine with his brains.
    
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    September 21, 2020 5:08pm
wimpston peeeders

Great wee covid border breach!!!

ive had a mate go thru chch govt isolation and 2 through auckland, 1 was a stickler for the rules but the other 2 both ended up in other rooms at various parts of their stay to piss up, smoke weed and do other drugs.
I have no doubt this will be how the latest cluster started, the dude wouldve went to share curry or some drugs on one of his final days of his stay and caught it then.
well I sure as hell hope so because if not and he caught it on the plane then welcome to lockdown No3 and level 3.99998 with compulsory masks and victorian style policing
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September 21, 2020 8:09am
- DeepBlue
  
  I hope he admits it.
  
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  September 21, 2020 8:34am
  - Catgurl13
    
    Don’t hold your breath waiting……
    
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    September 21, 2020 9:38am
NoCash

Is Labour’s gloating of National’s 4 billion hole an own goal or not, exposing themselves to the super contribution suspension. Fortunately for Labour, the MSM lackeys have been glossing over that aspect… sad…
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September 21, 2020 8:10am
greenfinger

National made a $4bn budget blunder. Labour cost NZ $40bn in their coronavirus border blunder? Which is more serious? Hmmmm, let me think about that for 2 seconds. Apparently, the dimwit journos at Stuff and NZ Herald still can’t figure it out.
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September 21, 2020 8:23am
- RW Capitalist
  
  My guess
  Nationals was a paperwork error that was found and corrected.
  Labours was real money lost….OUR MONEY.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:36am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    It’s actually better than that.
    National seem to have missed a change Robertson had made without telling anyone.
    Basically, Robertson has suspended payments to the Super Scheme to the tune of $4B.
    You know, the National policy that the Left have been attacking hard.
    This change was in the Prefu but National kept the assumption that these payments were still being made from the budget.
    It’s a pretty simple mistake to make given the utter lack of transparency from this Government.
    
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    September 21, 2020 9:55am
    - Tony Stuart
      
      So Robertson decreased investment into the Cullen Fund without telling anyone, but he constantly berates National if they suggest a temporary cessation of contributions.
      
      That sounds awfully close to hypocrisy…
      
      27 2
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      September 21, 2020 11:12am
      - RW Capitalist
        
        That sounds awfully close to dishonest…
        Fixed it
        
        4 2
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        September 21, 2020 2:08pm
    - Bullion
      
      Robertson didn’t make the change.
      
      Payments into the Super Fund is based on a formula:
      https://www.treasury.govt.nz/sites/default/files/2018-02/nzsf-model-guide-dec14.pdf
      
      The Treasury is responsible, as defined in the Act, for calculating the amount of the annual capital contribution each financial year. The primary purpose of the NZS Fund model is to perform this calculation.
      
      That many National MPs continue this false narrative of Robertson being sneaky means that they either don’t know the mechanisms for Super contributions (and didn’t check against the update in the prefu) or intentionally lying to save face/drum up support.
      
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      September 21, 2020 2:51pm
- Classic Liberal
  
  At least National didn’t actually spend the money, just made a calculation error and then found it.
  
  Labour certainly has spend their covid overreaction fund, the COF!!
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:38am
Tony Stuart

Labour’s jihad on small businesses continues with a doubling of sick leave, the likelihood of an additional public holiday, and the minimum wage increased to $20. But Andrew Little says it’s no big deal:

Little told The Weekend Collective that the Covid-19 lockdown proved that this was necessary, as many people had already exhausted their sick leave.

He acknowledges that half of the workforce is entitled to more than five days already.

“In countries we compare ourselves to – Australia, the UK, and others – they have better sick leave provisions than we have to, so we thought it was time to set a new minimum standard.”

Covid-19 has also changed people’s attitudes towards sick leave, Little says, with people becoming more conscious of the fact that they need to stay home when they are unwell.

Little rejects that this is another sign of Labour not being supportive of small businesses, saying that this change “is not a huge burden on business”.

“The ability for the New Zealand economy to recover quite quickly has surpassed all expectations.”

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/the-weekend-collective/politics-central/andrew-little-increased-sick-leave-is-not-a-huge-burden-on-business/

Apart from the fact that the second outbreak of Covid has taken all the momentum out of the initial recovery from the first lockdown, especially in Auckland, Little’s patronising attitude towards the owner of small and medium businesses disgusts me.

Apart from being the boss of the EPMU, has Andrew Little ever started or run a small or medium business? Has he ever put his own money on the line to keep a business afloat? Has he ever had sleepless nights wondering if the staff will get paid this week, or had to make the decisions as to which creditors will get paid because there’s simply not enough money in the bank? Has he ever had a mental health event because of the pressure of all of the above, and more?

I’m guessing the answer to all those questions is no. Andrew Little and Labour regard small and medium businesses as the enemy, because they’re run by rich pricks who are bleeding workers dry.

Of course, that’s far from the truth. But since when has the truth ever mattered to Andrew Little and the Labour Party?
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September 21, 2020 8:42am
- Swifty
  
  I was going to post on this today.
  
  From Labour’s pledge card “Labour’s plan for working Kiwis”:
  
  Double sick leave
  Implement Fair Pay Agreements and improve wages
  Lift minimum wage to $20 in 2021
  Extend Living Wage to public sector contractors
  
  It is naked voter bribery. Vote for us and we will change the law so that other New Zealanders, (at their cost) are forced to give you more benefits.
  
  Far from being the vehicle to take care of a few things we can’t do as individuals, government has now become our overlords. Dictating to us even in the realm of voluntary commercial agreements the terms of which both parties are free to accept or decline.
  
  Honestly, this speaks to the baseness and venality to which our governance has descended. Political parties bribing their way to power.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:08am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Commie!
    
    5 2
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    September 21, 2020 9:34am
    - Swifty
      
      Sorry Kev, I’ve missed your point?
      
      4 1
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      September 21, 2020 9:55am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      It does seem mixed up. It does relate to comments about Labour’s attitude to small employers.
      
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      September 21, 2020 7:32pm
oldpark

Yes Paul Goldsmith got his figures wrong . A bit like the time Silly Little Boy Grant Robertson did with the purported Twelve Billion Dollar Hole deficit professionally pointed out by Stephen Joyce back in the day .
The arse licking reef fish Labour/ Green Party supporting sycophantic Mainstream Media virtually crucified Stephen Joyce for telling the truth .
This time it is Paul Goldsmith is under total Mainstream Media assault . Yes worth $1.00 Stuff is leading the charge again . Yet they Daily attack National and all they stand for . As if Stuff has all the answers. Figure this one. They were offered $1.00 for the whole caboodle newspaper . Some say that that was over the top offer .
Maybe to help them out now and in the future .
Why don’t they highlight the comments from Silly Little Boy Grant Robertson on NZs massive deficit 12.20% . Flap jaw Robertson said it could have been worse, it was . Also he and Ardern were the architects of NZs financial pain and future disaster
if allowed to continue.
Also another Highlight. About the one that got away at NZs Border with the lack of Checking incoming Passengers by Labours’ inept inane she will be right attitude . That type of unforgivable mismanagement allowed another upsurge of the Coronavirus disease to take control and allowed Control Freak Ardern to once more reactivate the “Fear Factor” into NZs causing another so called Lockdown . Even extending it to NZs South Island who had not had a Coronavirus patient in at least Five Months.
Stuff do something useful just for once. Tell NZs about Arderns Running Mate Coronavirus “Fear Factor”. To get onto the Treasury Benches again who needs Policies. After all with the Coronavirus “Fear Factor” why bother with any future well being for NZs and their
Families and how and where their future income and food on the Table will be coming from .
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September 21, 2020 8:42am
- RW Capitalist
  
  The difference….
  National rectified their mistake immediately
  Labour, refused to admit the mistake, put it into the budget, only to find…it was really closer to $20bill
  
  22 1
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  September 21, 2020 9:35am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Not only did Labour deny there was a Fiscal Hole, but they called in favours with a whole lot of journalists and economists to support Robertson’s opinion.
    
    Guess what; there WAS a hole, and Steven Joyce was vindicated.
    
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    September 21, 2020 9:40am
- tf78
  
  old park – CHINA.
  
  0 1
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  September 21, 2020 5:15pm
G152

The government who promised 100,000 houses, no homeless families and a billion trees is criticizing the opposition for sloppy claims…
REALLY ?????????
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September 21, 2020 8:44am
Swifty

Would anyone hazard a guess as to the proportion of NZ ballet dancers who are gay?
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September 21, 2020 8:48am
- softail 1450
  
  Swifty ,it always amazed me that most of the males were yet the females weren’t ,must be the tights…
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:33am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Whatever their sex life, they can lift a 55kg woman while dancing :).
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:43am
- Albert_Ross
  
  So – what, exactly?
  
  4 1
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  September 21, 2020 9:45am
  - Swifty
    
    I’m just being a bit naughty Albert – this is a follow on from yesterday’s Otago Medical School KB post and their racial discrimination policies.
    
    I’ve rubbed shoulders with the dance community on several occasions during work with ATEED and the Council. My guess is that a good half of the ballet male dancers are gay. Could easily be more. But the point is that I would be certain that they are very much disproportionate compared to the general population.
    
    According to their own website today the Royal New Zealand Ballet “….has been directly crown-funded since 1998.”
    
    Therefore do they too have an obligation under the Human Rights and Bill of Rights legislation to have their dancers numbers reflective of the sexual orientation of the NZ population?
    
    If so, are we soon to expect mass layoffs of gay ballet dancers to make way for their straight counterparts or, even worse, gay dancers disavowing their gayness and going back into the closet so that their employment is maintained?
    
    🙂
    
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    September 21, 2020 10:28am
    - Flossie
      
      Ummm? There are lots of heterosexual ballet dancers missing out? (Of being in a ballet school I hasten to add!)
      
      3 0
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      September 21, 2020 11:33am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      Given that ballet companies were traditionally where patron’s kept their stable of courtesans, I wouldn’t be too concerned.
      
      Much like its hard not to smile when you see middle aged white women pretending that yoga isn’t a mystic sex cult (or being shocked when they discover it is!)
      
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      September 21, 2020 12:47pm
      - mark15
        
        ehhhhhhhh???
        
        3 0
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        September 21, 2020 2:37pm
- DeepBlue
  
  Why?
  
  3 0
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  September 21, 2020 9:49am
- BAM
  
  Do you want to hook up with a male ballet dancer?
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:03am
  - Swifty
    
    FFS.
    
    3 0
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    September 21, 2020 11:26am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Tu Tu….so maybe 4?
  
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  September 21, 2020 2:10pm
Swifty

In several years of looking I have never come across any studies which conclusively demonstrate that company staff or company board diversity causes company profits to rise – either internationally or here in NZ.

But here is Ziena Jalil, a diversity and inclusion advocate here in NZ, saying:

“Research shows that diverse teams are more creative, innovative, resilient and empathetic. They are more productive and profitable.”

https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300110787/why-ticking-the-diversity-boxes-keeps-missing-the-mark

Can anyone here point me to a single study which shows the causal link between diversity and profitability?
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September 21, 2020 8:52am
- Inandout
  
  Swifty, well Goodyear have learnt diversity hurts stocks.
  
  9 1
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  September 21, 2020 9:23am
- alloytoo
  
  They can’t.
  
  The quest for excellence will yield diversity, not the other way around.
  
  11 1
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  September 21, 2020 9:24am
- softail 1450
  
  Swifty ,I can point to one, our 120 useless pieces of shit MPs that couldn’t be more diverse, that have ruined our Country over the last 40 years.
  Some have been in there for that entire duration,arseholes every one of them.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:46am
- Random T Person
  
  Never mind that, consider this.
  When you go to the doctor, will you really only accept help from someone who looks just like you? Same colour, same age, same religious background, etc? Of course not! I’ve had female doctors, young doctors, old doctors, white doctors, brown doctors. Some were better than others, but it was never colour-coded.
  Why then, do we expect that Maori or Indians or PIs or whatever, want their treatment from a professional who looks just like them?
  It’s utterly ridiculous.
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:06am
I remember when

Went for a short drive yesterday.
It was a learning experience: a surprising number of Electoral Candidates don’t have heads. A sort of headless chickens heading to slaughter?
What happened to the simple moustache, glasses, beard or extra large ears that used to suffice?
The red placards seemed to be immune to the malady.
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September 21, 2020 9:03am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Not completely – saw a red Te Tai Tokerau hoarding up north here yesterday with headless Saint of Disasters and complete Mr Missing in Action.
  Ironic points were the predominate demographic of the suburb it was located in and the fact that MMIA was still there at all!!
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:12am
gorse

Can David Farrar at least give us his opinion as to why there have been no polls published over the last month or so? We are only a few weeks out from polling day now, and silence. Last election they were being published on a weekly basis by now.
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September 21, 2020 9:13am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Its easier to lie about Ardern’s ascendancy to the royal mantle when the facts lie buried under neglect or reluctance to report them.
  
  I am expecting a rout of the COL like there was in 1975. The 1972 Labour Kirk grovelment showed they could not manage so the women turned on them. Rising prices were not popular.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:43am
- pdm
  
  I took part in a poll (Colmar Brunton I think) specific to the Tukituki electorate at least 3 weeks ago and have never seen any result.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:45am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Thanks gorse, I’d love DPF to comment on this. It’s very strange and frankly quite disturbing.
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:00am
  - rockape
    
    2017 election polling from 1 july to election in Sep there were 18 polls. So far for this election 1 july to now there have been 4 total.
    
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    September 21, 2020 11:11am
- arkhad
  
  They are guns for hire. Someone has to commission/ fund the pollsters. Typically the big public polls are funded by media and seems they are a bit cash poor.
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:54am
lastmanstanding

I drove over the AK Harbour Bridge last evening. Not a sole working on a repair. This is further sign of what I call Defiant Incompetence from The Ardern Government and its Agencies.

Defiant in that it is more of the hatred and vendetta against AK motorists and Incompetent as it shows no signs of trying to fix the problem.

A competent Government would have had the Army Engineers on site over the weekend making temporary repairs to the damage so light vehicles could use the centre span while a new piece was fabricated and bolted in place.

Go look at the chaos on the Norther Motorway and see why The Ardern Government lacks the capacity capability and will to govern.
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September 21, 2020 9:21am
- Catgurl13
  
  Adern wouldn’t know how to make a start on making a cup of tea or turning on the vacuum cleaner without needing. Help,or someone doing it for her…..how on Earth is she ever going to fix a bridge?
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:29am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Canoe One will fix it. Or at least we can all feel good for now calling them by their proper name (I’ve translated it to help English speakers).
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:47am
- KevO'Brien
  
  You’re expecting action from these people? All they can do is play at student cafe politics arguing.
  
  The COL don’t have a clue about practical action, commissioning or supervision. Get Twyford on the job it might be fixed next century. Meanwhile bring back the stocks and other punishments for incompetent members of HM Executive Council of NZ.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:48am
- DeepBlue
  
  A perspective from yesterday – the issue is not just replacing like for like. Engineers need to evaluate how the existing 70 year old steel has changed after such a long time in active use – a new steel beam built to the original standard could be too stiff for the structural integrity. Hence all the work is happening with computer modelling and will need peer reviewing.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:54am
- hullkiwi
  
  lastman, you are right about the govt and in particular NZTA. In my professional capacity, I’ve been dealing closely with NZTA for the past 2 years. I can honestly say, there is no strategic leadership in the organisation at all. This can be evidenced by the rotating nature of the Authority’s board etc.
  
  As for the bridge and the farce we are witnessing, a body that knew what it was doing, would have:
  1. Identified the problem;
  2. Determined who would provide the solution;
  3. Ordered what was required
  
  Within 24 hours of the incident.
  
  Equally the solution would not be several weeks away.
  
  What concerned me, was hearing language like,
  “We have to design what repairs are required”.
  
  Bullsh*t
  
  They will have the original blueprint designs for the bridge, which hopefully by now be digitally stored. So identifying requirements for the strut and any impact on adjoining should have been available to NZTA engineers on Friday. If not, the question begs, how the hell have they been maintaining the bridge, since they took control of maintaining the bridge when the Bridge Authority was disestablished?
  
  As for a new bridge, it is a case of understanding the traffic requirements, demands of the Auckland region, which is something NZTA and AT are not doing. This is evident by empty buses on Auckland’s network, or vacuous debates about LRT etc, or even talk of only rail for a second crossing.
  
  Strategic leadership in all of this is nil!
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:32am
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    Beca has a full detailed structural computer model of the bridge. A serviceable patch repair (splint the affected beams and joints) should only take a day or two. And then plan to do a permanent repair at some point over coming months with a focus on minimizing disruption.
    
    We are presented yet again by NZ’s incompetence in infrastructure building and servicing. Primarily result of regulation driven health and safety insanity that is doubling or tripling the time and cost of doing things (which extracts a cost on society far far higher than the minor and infrequent issues they were designed to fix).
    
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    September 21, 2020 11:53am
    - Scooter
      
      In Genoa Italy they rebuilt the Morandi Bridge in 1 year and was opened in August so construction continued through the Covid lockdown.
      
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      September 21, 2020 7:19pm
- Fletch
  
  Goff would rather spend money on trains. It’s the same with cities run by liberals everywhere, particularly in America.
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:08am
- MCos
  
  “I drove over the AK Harbour Bridge last evening. Not a sole working on a repair.
  Blah blah blah”
  
  Nothing can be do on site until there are structure components fabricated to temporarily reinforce the and then later replace the existing damaged members. Apparently the one you can see all twisted and bent has sheered off at the lower fixing. It can’t be repaired and must be replaced.
  The temporary fix will require blocking off oven more lane(s) to get a crane and trucks in. So nothing will happen on site until something is ready to put in place.
  BTW
  The bridge was built in the fifties. Back in those days different steel section sizes were used than are probably available these days.
  
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  September 21, 2020 6:01pm
Tauhei Notts

Okay, so it is sexist; but here goes.
One thing I have noticed about the Belorussian protests is that the protesters are much better looking than those in our country’s protest industry.
Those women shown being arrested seem to have taken much better care of their personal appearance than the average protester here.
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September 21, 2020 9:24am
- YesMinister
  
  It is sexist, but here goes. I have noticed that men being arrested in other countries are much hotter than men here. Maybe they are taking better care of themselves? Just an observation, which I saw with my eyes.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:45am
- Classic Liberal
  
  Youngish slim women dressed in white bearing flowers? Would look good anywhere.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:52am
- Chris Walden
  
  As a side issue, I visited Belarus, Ukraine & Russia a few times in the mid 2000’s. All the women I saw were immaculately groomed. Everything from clothing to makeup was flawless. I don’t know the reason for this so don’t ask 🙂
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:53am
  - Don Beckett
    
    I know the reason. Don’t ask. 😉
    
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    September 21, 2020 5:15pm
- Joely Doe
  
  Only problem is, they all turn into old, Russian women as they age!
  Old Angry Russian
  
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  September 21, 2020 2:00pm
Rusty

Why are not all Aucklanders following contact tracing rules?
The amount of times I have seen people walk into supermarkets and other shops and not scan the app or write there contact details down is alarming!

Just because I cant be bothered doing it doesn’t mean others shouldn’t!!

And which person in this country has influenced me by not following social distance rules themselves?

Answer: Our beloved PM.
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September 21, 2020 9:24am
- Catgurl13
  
  Because most of us have a working memory and we can remember what we do quite easily. If there is ever a Covid visitor to any shop or public place,it’s always announced on the news anyway……only 65year olds need to make a list of where they need to go each day….
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:44am
  - Flossie
    
    What’s with the ageist comment at the end ?
    You wouldn’t make that comment with any racial connotations.
    
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    September 21, 2020 11:38am
    - Catgurl13
      
      Because it’s true that memory deteriorates with age. No matter what race you are. It’s not ageist at all,it’s a fact.
      
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      September 21, 2020 12:06pm
- softail 1450
  
  Rusty ,come on She’s allowed to do that ,she’s a world leader…
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:49am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Answer: Our ~~beloved~~ irritating out of order PM.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:51am
  - sooty
    
    What and use their covid infected pen that everyone uses? Not bloody likely!
    
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    September 21, 2020 10:08am
    - sooty
      
      Our PM is immune to Covid,
      She’s got a labour membership card!
      
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      September 21, 2020 10:11am
- mandk
  
  There is no legal requirement for people to use the contact tracing app or write down their contact details when they visit a business premises, but i guess the businesses can refuse to serve whomsoever they please.
  
  The government’s radio ads were previously falsely telling people they must scan or write down their details. I complained to the Advertising Standards Authority about this. I didn’t get a reply from the ASA, but the wording of the ads was changed to remove the idea that there was some kind of compulsion.
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:04am
  - Catgurl13
    
    The Covid scanny thing is no good anyway as there can be infected people walking around who are asymptomatic. They can visit many places before realising they are in fact sick with Covid. It’s a complete nonsense and only helps you remember where you have been in case you are a Kardashian with so many engagements daily,you can’t remember what you have been doing.
    
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    September 21, 2020 12:12pm
    - Flossie
      
      Unless of course you are “old” – i.e. over 65 – in which case you’d better write it down.
      
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      September 21, 2020 12:56pm
      - Catgurl13
        
        Hope you got your pen and paper then lol
        
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        September 21, 2020 1:35pm
- hullkiwi
  
  ….but, but, but she was only going to do a selfie with the owner of the phone. All the other 20 people in photo just crowded in. Honest….?
  
  As an aside, you should have seen the Puhoi pub, or Orewa at the weekend. Social distancing, rules for hospitality, what the hell are those concepts?
  
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  September 21, 2020 12:19pm
Happychappy

I wonder how much more money Labour will have to give the media to keep them viable and satisfied that there need to cut staff is no longer a threat going foward after this election. I might be wrong in my thoughts on this but I really can’t imagine that it is the poor that support the media by buying the news in paper print or online so why don’t those that support the middle and right in politics just stop funding them by refusing to read there one eyed crap and see how long they will be able to support there staff.
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September 21, 2020 9:27am
- softail 1450
  
  Happy ,my Ma gets the Herald delivered ,a pile of utter left leaning shit which I find unreadable,it must be assembled by a group of pansy beta soy boys and rabid feminist dykes.
  
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  September 21, 2020 9:54am
  - sam green
    
    Bigotry at its finest ladies and gentlemen.
    
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    September 21, 2020 11:47pm
    - tom hunter
      
      Still allowed to comment here, eh?:
      
      [DPF] is now scuttling like the cockroach he is because he knows he is culpable in allowing racist and hateful ideologies to “foment”. He is now moderating like a madman but the race hate is still there, seething below the surface. Very few of the commentators have the insight to maybe just do a little soul searching instead of playing victims (poor old me I’m a white man). His fawning over Jacinda Ardern is transparent at the very least
      
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      September 22, 2020 6:48am
      - sam green
        
        You keep pasting it ?????
        
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        September 22, 2020 8:17am
I remember when

Andrew Hoggard after Fonterra’s profit and $7.19 payout.
“A of people have been pretty despondent about the last couple of years over what has gone wrong, so there is good positive momentum going forward. It will lift a lot of people’s spirits.”
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September 21, 2020 9:28am
RW Capitalist

News on the AMShow
Small business nz, make 7 requests to govt. one of which was access to foreign labour.
Begs a couple of question.
1 What were the other 6?
2 Were the other 6 National/Act policy, so you didn’t mention them?
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September 21, 2020 9:29am
Albert_Ross

Catching up on yesterday’s discussion about the legal challenge to Otago university’s admissions policy for medicine school.

Can anybody advise please as to what law exactly is alleged to have been broken here? That is, what exactly does it say, in which New Zealand law, about discrimination on grounds of race? Thanks
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September 21, 2020 9:49am
- mikenmildagain
  
  The human rights act contains prohibited grounds for discrimination in, among other things, employment and access to education. Race or ethnicity is a prohibited ground for discrimination. There are exceptions under the act, but I’m not sure about this particular case.
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:14am
  - Classic Liberal
    
    But the hrc declined to take an opportunity earlier case. Too un – PC for them.
    
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    September 21, 2020 11:53am
Maggie Pie

MORENA!!

Does anyone know when ENGLISH Language Week starts?
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September 21, 2020 9:53am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  你好!
  
  There is no English Language week.
  
  Take a guess what language week it is this week?
  https://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/var/tki-nzc/storage/images/media/images/mn-images/nzsl-alphabet-poster/1244613-1-eng-NZ/NZSL-alphabet-poster.png
  
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  September 21, 2020 2:29pm
  - sam green
    
    Every week is English language week.
    
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    September 21, 2020 11:48pm
I remember when

So between May, Budget Economic and Fiscal Update and September, PREFU, Treasury revised the Super Contributions down by 22.7%, 4.3 million, and it is only News when Paul Goldsmith uses the wrong figures.
Let’s be honest nobody was analysing the Government’s actions in any depth.
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September 21, 2020 9:53am
- greybeard
  
  I have just analyzed your comment and picked up that you said “4.3 million” instead of “4.3 billion”.
  That makes me better than Goldsmith !
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:21am
Suze Wainwright

Interesting conversation with a group of Cindy lovers yesterday afternoon. It was the first time they had encountered THAT selfie… (which on its own was something I found hard to believe).

The level of shock with the photo was palpable. Surely there must be some mistake! It has to be a stock photo from years ago! There’s no way Jacinda would have allowed that! I bet the National Party’s behind it!

I confirmed for them that it was from Massey University last week and said hey, it’s all good – Siouxie Wiles had tweeted multiple times her undying support for Jacinda, before her tweets mysteriously disappeared…

I think it’s fair to say there was raised concern over perceived abilities. I’d made the assumption there would be forgiveness and aroha all around because, you know, Jacinda… but no, there was definite anger. One middle-aged male professional who has proudly supported Cindy since her enthronement, acknowledged that the selfie definitely crossed the line into self satisfaction and arrogance.

I guess the point is that political support can always be fickle – what will happen to a personality that thrives on popularity and being ‘liked’ when love and aroha starts leaking away into a second term?
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September 21, 2020 9:54am
- Inandout
  
  Suze, I suspect they will still obey the mask rule when ordered to. I think Fraser House has already admitted Jacinda can’t help it when fans flock to her side for selfies, so the photo is genuine and from last Thursday.
  
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  September 21, 2020 10:51am
  - Ehlana
    
    Jacinda can’t help it? I was going to say, she can’t organise social distancing at a gathering of her supporters (who presumably support that too).
    
    Then I realised this is the government that can’t organise a rugby game in New Zealand. So I’ll amend my statement to…
    Jacinda can’t help it? She can’t organise.
    
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    September 21, 2020 1:39pm
- ex-golfer
  
  They’ll be reunited with their love for Cindy when they discover that she has blamed the people around her being too hard to control – despite the fact it was someone elses phone she had grabbed to take the selfie with.
  
  Its ALWAYS someones else’s fault remember.
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:43am
- mark15
  
  gratitude is the shortest-lived emotion.
  
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  September 21, 2020 2:45pm
RW Capitalist

My tax solution….uncosted, as we are talking the philosophy of change here, not maintaining the failing status quo.
1. reduce business tax to 20%
2. reduce all income tax brackets and have fewer brackets
3. Do away with FBT to encourage real negotiation between worker and employer (police bullying)
4. remove all laws around hours of trade and hours of work negotiation between employee and employer (police bullying)
5. Private option for ACC
6. removal of Resource management act
7. Universal building permits ie design of houses, same house permitted anywhere in the country, subject to land and foundation constraints (not a permit for each house, just a “pattern approval”, if you like)
8. councils only permitted to spend money on basic amenities ie roading, water,storm water, sewage, waste disposal etc unless they hold a referendum.
9. de fund conservation by 50% (temporarily)
10. limit and means test welfare, except pensions.
11. Forgive all taxes till 1/3/21
12. Line by line accounting and justification of all govt. departments to reduce overall cost by 20%
13. Privatize or partial privatize
Education…tax incentive for private and open charter schools again
Health…..streamline delivery, less DHB’s and force more accountability into them
Welfare…….Reduce the building lease bill, streamline process and less staff, vet all claims more closely and force people to take all jobs offered.
Conservation….contract wilding pine removal and similar programs to the private sector, on a basis of the contractor pays a peppercorn license fee to remove all pines in an area by certain date, the wood products removed are for him to sell and recover costs and make profit.
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September 21, 2020 10:00am
- Flossie
  
  I’d disagree with forcing people to take jobs they don’t want, although I fully understand why anyone might think that’s a good idea. A person who doesn’t want to be there will be a liability in so many ways the employer is better to be short staffed.
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:43am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    How many people can you name, that would not quit their job if they won $10mill on lotto.
    Very few people love their job so much they would keep it.
    People work to live, not live to work.
    
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    September 21, 2020 12:43pm
Southtop2

Who decided to put NZ’s largest city on the narrowest piece of land?
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September 21, 2020 10:00am
- DeepBlue
  
  Probably the same guy who started the Imahatoa issue.
  
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  September 21, 2020 12:11pm
[email protected]

John Anthony’s article in Stuff today is saying that companies that benefitted from taking the wage subsidy should have a special wage subsidy tax applied.

These companies were shut down by an over-reactive government and by accepting the wage subsidy agreed to retain their employees. All of the subsidy was used to “subsidize” wages since the amount of the subsidy was less than the minimum wage. None of these companies pocketed a single cent. No rebuttal of the article allowed.
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September 21, 2020 10:04am
- Ruahine
  
  Does not name any companies. Labour Party propaganda really.
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:10am
- Local Miller
  
  This sort of article drives me crazy. My son received this subsidy, because the not for profit organisation he works for relies 100% on close contact training, so did only a small amount of on line work. The company didn’t receive a cent. The “journalists” are being dishonest (lying) when they say “companies benefited” as the only benefit they received was not having their staff apply for the dole or leave and have to find work elsewhere.
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:55am
  - RW Capitalist
    
    The companies had Hobson’s choice
    Don’t take the subsidy and see their business die quickly or take it and watch their business die slowly in the hope there would be some life left to recover with.
    
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    September 21, 2020 2:15pm
Maggie Pie

And i see the first ‘Leaders Debate’ is on TVOne tomorrow night.
I wonder if some little creep might have leaked the questions to Jacinda?
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September 21, 2020 10:09am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  For the first time in my life I won’t be watching.
  Having a rabid lefty moderator cutting the ground from under Judith and giving Cindy free rein will be more than my blood pressure will stand.
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:12am
  - Paulus
    
    I am told that Shortland Street will have our TV priority in our house. tomorrow (and every 7pm).
    
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    September 21, 2020 1:26pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  Will Campbell do a Cathy Crowley?
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mUGF0UIhQxw
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Nu6VZ9DeVc
  NOTE:
  She was wrong Obama only mentioned terror once, in relation to 911, NOT Benghazi.
  She lied in support of Obama.
  Be ready Judith
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:16am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Maggie – some “little creep” may more likely have leaked the correct set to Saint of Disasters and an “alternative” set to JC
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:25am
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    Lol! See that somewhere between about 11:40 & 12:00 our faithfully little down ticker been thru the thread.
    Don’t worry CW – you’ll probably get picked on the next troll thru 🙂
    
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    September 21, 2020 12:18pm
- Chris Walden
  
  I will not be watching either.
  
  I value my TV & my mobile devices. I want to keep it that way.
  
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  September 21, 2020 11:54am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  John Campbell a creep? How dare you! Oh wait, even St Helen called him a creep
  
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  September 21, 2020 5:47pm
softail 1450

There’s no doubt about old Phil Goof hes a very smart man,I just heard him say “it looks like it is a load bearing beam” FFS what other reason would it be there for ? did Phil think they might have put it there for the bridge builders to open there beer bottles on or keep their lunches cool,what a fricking idiot and he’s running our City.
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September 21, 2020 11:11am
- Local Miller
  
  While his statement is inane, there are some cross members that are structural but not actually load bearing. Although as far as I can see from photos all of the members running between the road and the main arch are load bearing.
  
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  September 21, 2020 12:02pm
Fletch

Very good article on National Review about the Supreme Court nomination.

Twenty-nine times in American history there has been an open Supreme Court vacancy in a presidential election year, or in a lame-duck session before the next presidential inauguration. (This counts vacancies created by new seats on the Court, but not vacancies for which there was a nomination already pending when the year began, such as happened in 1835–36 and 1987–88.) The president made a nomination in all twenty-nine cases. George Washington did it three times. John Adams did it. Thomas Jefferson did it. Abraham Lincoln did it. Ulysses S. Grant did it. Franklin D. Roosevelt did it. Dwight Eisenhower did it. Barack Obama, of course, did it. Twenty-two of the 44 men to hold the office faced this situation, and all twenty-two made the decision to send up a nomination, whether or not they had the votes in the Senate.

https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/08/history-is-on-the-side-of-republicans-filling-a-supreme-court-vacancy-in-2020/

It’s not up to the Democrat party, or RBG’s last deathbed wishes. The Democrat party doesn’t run America.

“That’s their job. There’s nothing in the Constitution that says the President stops being President in his last year. Eight is not a good number for a collegial body that sometimes disagrees” – Ruth Bader Ginsberg, 2016
10 1
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September 21, 2020 11:12am
- All_on_Red
  
  ‘RBG’s last deathbed wishes’
  
  Well supposedly her wishes. It was reported as being said by RBGs Granddaughter- who is an activist.
  Notably RBGs previous comments all contradict her having such an attitude.
  
  9 3
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  September 21, 2020 12:09pm
Inandout

The fact that this bashed Maori child case hasn’t produced anyone to blame because of the cone of silence is interesting. That means if a group refuse to admit responsibility for any crime, and there is no evidence, then they are sweet. There is nothing the cops can do about it, absolutely nothing.
15 1
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September 21, 2020 11:48am
- Tall Man
  
  Charge them all.
  
  4 3
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  September 21, 2020 4:54pm
  - Tall Man
    
    Why the downticks? Do you two support child abuse?
    
    “How dare you” …….
    
    3 2
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    September 21, 2020 7:00pm
Fletch

The Herald will give Premium access to school students, just in time for the election.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?objectid=12366535

Got to propagandize them… ?
12 2
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September 21, 2020 11:50am
- alloytoo
  
  hmmm, this smacks of desperation to get “Circulation” up perhaps for a buyer?
  
  5 0
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  September 21, 2020 1:06pm
Sir Cullen's Sidekick

There are omnious signs for National. When I point this out, the Kiwi Bloggers hate me. But I am the messiah of truth. TV1 poll of Northland. Though Matt King is leading in electorate vote, in party vote Labour is leading and Northland is a blue seat. In Auckland central, Labour is way up in the front on both electorate and party vote. When National comes up with a decent tax policy, Golliwog Goldie scored his own goal. Absolute omnishambles. Not much hope now. Cut your losses aunty Judith and see whether you can win your own seat now.
12 11
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September 21, 2020 11:55am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  2017 election Akl Central Greebour got 52% party vote to 38% for Nats/act. Currently Greebour 68 to 27% Nats/Act. ~14% right=>left shift
  
  4 0
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  September 21, 2020 12:56pm
- RJ
  
  Nationals campaign is very weird at the moment. At present if they keep going like this I can’t see them winning. Labour are out there, pushing their message. At all three towns that had a farmers market on the weekend near me labour had a stand at each. National, damn haven’t seen or heard anything from them locally. Act had their bus here in the weekend, god only knows where Megan is because so far in this election she is invisible here. If national do not realise how to campaign really soon this election is lost.
  
  8 0
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  September 21, 2020 1:00pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  Over on the Standard they do not like negative news either especially against Jacinda the chosen one.
  Incognito and Iprent banning people (including Wayne – is that Wayne Mapp??) regarding Jacindas selfie breaking all the level 2 rules. That was their open mike yesterday anyhow.
  
  16 1
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  September 21, 2020 1:11pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  SCS – your losing your edge. That poll’s EIGHT weeks old! Released by “James” Tame 8/8/20! Already commented earlier today that amusing things happening in the North re hoarding “modification”. To be precise, the hoarding quoted was on the border between Otangarei/Tiki so you’d need to be a pretty ballsy rightie wh… bo. to get into modification activities in the middle of the night in that area. Attitudes are changing.
  
  3 1
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  September 21, 2020 1:45pm
artemisia

Social housing waiting list now published for July 2020. 19,438. Up nearly 1000 in the month.

The government’s reason – we made sure people know help is available so increases are expected – is looking let us say thin. To be polite.
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September 21, 2020 12:14pm
rockape

Judge me by my actions says Jacinda. Housing waiting lists up to 20000. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300112537/election-2020-public-housing-wait-list-nears-20000-applicants
18 1
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September 21, 2020 12:56pm
F E Smith

“Our cautious approach saves lives and helps the economy, she said.”

Can someone with some experience in this tell me whether Ardern saying this at the 1pm briefing today would count as electioneering? Sure seems like it.
19 2
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September 21, 2020 1:10pm
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  We went hard and we went early. We have an economic resurgence plan.
  
  5 2
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  September 21, 2020 1:49pm
- fernglas
  
  Have you ever heard a politician say or do anything that wasn’t electioneering?
  
  6 1
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  September 21, 2020 1:49pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  In that both statements are demonstrably false, it certainly seems like electioneering.
  
  8 1
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  September 21, 2020 2:07pm
kwkiwigirl

Ardern deciding to move Auckland down half a notch. What’s that going to do? The damage is already done. Probably getting too close to election for her to risk pissing people off further with OTT, unneccessary measures. Nothing to do with anything health related. Pure electioneering.

Not to mention the ridiculous measures imposed on the rest of NZ who were covid free for the last 4 months. The mind boggles at how many jobs have been lost because of this. Ardern’s sincerely hoping this all won’t show up till after the election.
13 2
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September 21, 2020 1:27pm
- RJ
  
  We might of been COVID free but some idiot decided to allow Aucklanders to travel outside of Auckland which put the rest of New Zealand at risk. The idiot should of left New Zealand open and just kept Auckland under lockdown until they reached level 2 on their own
  
  5 2
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  September 21, 2020 2:43pm
kwkiwigirl

I see Foran from Air NZ has gone out on a limb and said basically that the elimination strategy is pie in the sky stuff. The government approach has just about decimated Air NZ, until the government re nationalises it, and will no doubt put their own lacky in there to run it.

Must be an absolute nightmare for Foran, coming back to do that job.
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September 21, 2020 1:30pm
I remember when

Looked impressive too as it made a couple of low level circles of the airport.
A gulfstream style private jet.
Wondered if was picking up Cindie’s copies of recent selfie photos or dropping off Billy Te Kahika’s latest updates of his conspiracy theories.
4 2
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September 21, 2020 1:37pm
Catgurl13

It’s evident from today’s media election erring broadcast that Cindy is hanging out for vaccine so we can return to normal levels. Umm it’s going to take about 2 years to get any vaccine and does that mean they will dictate we have to have it?….that tells me they will.
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September 21, 2020 1:58pm
Tony Stuart

Here’s one for Sir Cullen; on just nowMagic Talk Sean Plunket has just offered up this gem:

Jacinda Ardern could get caught having sexual intercourse with a goat right now, and the populus would say “Isn’t she kind to animals”!
19 1
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September 21, 2020 2:02pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Or shoot someone in broad daylight on 5th Avenue?
  
  1 10
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  September 21, 2020 2:03pm
- RW Capitalist
  
  A goat called New Zealand?
  Hasn’t she already done that?
  
  5 2
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  September 21, 2020 2:35pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  The goat must be hard up
  
  4 1
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  September 21, 2020 3:26pm
Maggie Pie

😛
4 2
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September 21, 2020 2:03pm
RW Capitalist

From
https://www.businessnz.org.nz/news-and-media/media-releases/2020/business,-covid,-and-the-2020-election

Over the short- to medium-term and during Covid recovery –

Tax – 91% don’t want higher personal tax; 88% don’t want higher corporate tax
Economic well-being – 86% say economic well-being should take priority over cultural, environmental or social well-being during Covid recovery
Building infrastructure – 80% think this is a useful mechanism to help the economy recover from economic shock; 70% says central and local government should borrow to directly fund infrastructure development
RMA – 80% say recent fast-track changes to the Resource Management Act show the Act needs a full overhaul
Regulatory burden – 79% say more should be done to reduce regulations on business as part of ongoing Covid recovery; 65% say Government processes for developing regulatory change aren’t satisfactory
90-day trials – 73% say reintroducing 90-day job trials would benefit their business
Post-Covid planning – 65% say the Government doesn’t have a coordinated plan for raising NZ’s economic performance
No joy from Labour on these topics.
Why would any SME vote Labour?
5 2
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September 21, 2020 2:33pm
- Tall Man
  
  Hugz?
  
  6 2
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  September 21, 2020 4:39pm
rockape

Looks like we are in for another pandemic. News from my DHB is a new swine flue epidemic is alive and well in China. Named G4 it is a geneticdescendant from the H1N1 pandemic in 2009.
I hope Jacinda has a plan?
7 1
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September 21, 2020 2:46pm
70andstilllearning

Whoa! harking back to earlier in the day. David has been really busy today which may explain the connectivity issues but with so many new monikers and positive comments turning up on site in the last little while, maybe attempted domestic DoS’s activity isn’t a conspiracy theory idea.
Oh silly me – the lefties would never try something like that – they don’t do dirty!
6 3
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September 21, 2020 3:05pm
- Tall Man
  
  You’re right, connection was a bitch today.
  
  1 1
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  September 21, 2020 7:27pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Wow,
Jacinda admits she made a mistake

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2020/09/jacinda-ardern-apologises-for-breaking-social-distancing-rules.html

Gee, Siouxsie didn’t have to invent a load of excuses after all.
15 1
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September 21, 2020 3:27pm
- Swifty
  
  But only after trying and failing with a list of diversions, deflections and downright mis-leading excuses first.
  
  Oh, it’s an old photo. Oh, you can’t control crowds. Oh, it was only brief and then they dispersed.
  
  13 2
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  September 21, 2020 4:43pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  That was NOT an apology, just a diversion. An apology is when you say “I’m SORRY, I screwed up”
  
  12 3
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  September 21, 2020 5:55pm
- [email protected]
  
  She realizes that a number of her worshippers were unhappy and decided to placate them .
  
  1 0
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  September 21, 2020 9:39pm
Inandout

Plunkett is certain Labour will bolt in, according to his ‘impeccable’ sources. Then he goes on about NZ workers getting paid for doing nothing but lying on the couch begging for the dole. Sean, these are the same people who Labour relies on for votes-if they can be bothered.
10 2
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September 21, 2020 3:46pm
- Harriet
  
  And that’s the thing – expectation.
  
  They expect money and they expect Jacinda to win.
  
  They’ll stay on the couch – and all will be good! 😎
  
  5 2
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  September 21, 2020 5:20pm
- Tall Man
  
  As Maggie says “Shorn” ……….
  
  Backed ToP once …. Nuff said.
  
  3 1
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  September 21, 2020 7:25pm
Harriet

We serve pork here not sheep.

So get that nappy off your face crybaby. 😎
3 2
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September 21, 2020 5:16pm
- Tall Man
  
  Went hunting a pork meal in Phuket a few years ago. In Thai it’s Mu and I got laughs but “No” every where.
  
  I finally got exasperated after quite a few stops but the lovely young lady said “mai mi mu ….. musalim”….. Silly me.
  
  1 1
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  September 21, 2020 7:20pm
Maggie Pie

My partner left the city about 3:30 to escape the rush.
We’ve just been enjoying a Pinot on the upstairs deck as the sun slowly sinks in the West.
Couldn’t help but think about all those poor buggers heading back to the Shore tonite on the buses.
😀
7 2
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September 21, 2020 5:29pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Better hope there’s no super spreader on the buses.
  
  8 2
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  September 21, 2020 5:34pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Herd of Immunity?
    
    6 1
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    September 21, 2020 5:42pm
  - Tall Man
    
    However Maggy, after 9 am the workers are gone and only a few pensioners are taking their freebies and they’re the only ones really at risk.
    
    2 1
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    September 21, 2020 7:07pm
- Tall Man
  
  Gris, Noir …… ?
  
  2 1
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  September 21, 2020 7:13pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Noir….. ‘Ata Rangi’ from Martinborough
    
    Yours?
    
    0 0
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    September 21, 2020 10:28pm
Fletch

Govt to give Rainbow’s End $500,000

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/122834655/500000-for-rainbows-end-from-govt-fund-to-save-tourism-businesses
5 1
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September 21, 2020 5:47pm
- RJ
  
  Corrected for you
  
  “ Taxpayers to give Rainbow’s End $500,000”
  
  4 0
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  September 21, 2020 7:21pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Is it Maori owned?
  
  2 1
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  September 21, 2020 7:35pm
  - RJ
    
    No, but what is interesting is what the annual report says about rainbows end which makes one wonder just why it has had a tax payer bail out
    
    https://www.paperturn-view.com/rangatira/ar2020?pid=OTg98474&p=51&v=2
    
    2 0
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    September 21, 2020 7:57pm
    - Tall Man
      
      “Rainbow” …….
      
      0 0
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      September 21, 2020 9:11pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    No.
    
    It’s owned by Rangatira Investments.
    https://rangatira.co.nz/about?src=nav
    
    (Part of the old McKenzie Empire)
    
    3 0
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    September 21, 2020 8:11pm
Tall Man

It’s my birthday today and the kids bought me a Jameson’s IPA barrel whiskey. It’s really smooth.

https://www.whiskyandmore.co.nz/products/jameson-caskmates-ipa-700ml

Not affiliated with W & M or Jameson but I am enjoying the drop 🙂
5 2
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September 21, 2020 7:11pm
- Jack5
  
  Remembered from my old drinking days. Up there with SunTory for smoothness.
  
  Jamesons founded in Dublin by Scotsmen who became Irish freemasons. A legendary heritage.
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jameson_Irish_Whiskey
  
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  September 21, 2020 8:47pm
Jack5

Behrouz Boochani, writing from Christchurch in the New York Times, puts the boot into Australia.

Boochani was given asylum in New Zealand after he came into the country on a temporary visa, and he is now supported by taxpayers – as a research fellow at Canterbury University.

Boochani writes of Australia’s “history of white supremacy and settler colonialism.”

He tells of meeting in New Zealand other border crashers who had been detained by Australia.

“The White Australia policy, which officially ended in 1973, continued under another guise,” Boochani says in the article. He talks of Australia’s “history that is full of trauma and violence.”

The Leftist literary mob who brought Boochani to Christchurch don’t give a rat’s arse about New Zealand’s economic and cultural ties to Australia.

And Jacinderella in her crazed ambition to be world Leftist leader, doesn’t care about them either.

Kiwis’ visa-free entry days to Australia must soon be numbered.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/20/opinion/australia-white-supremacy-refugees.html
6 0
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September 21, 2020 7:39pm

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