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April 9, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 09 April 2021

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General Debate

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Happychappy

I wonder if it wasn’t for the Housing crisis and those that landlords that rent property saying they will increase rents,
whether this bill would have been pushed through so quickly.

https://www.mbie.govt.nz/about/news/deterring-and-detecting-serious-cartel-behaviour/
While there is those out there that do need clamping down on is this the start of over regulation.
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April 9, 2021 8:00am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Start?? We have been over regulated for the last 4+ years
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:20am
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    Make that 20 years. The leaky homes debacle made leaky homes instantly unsaleable. The idiotic Clarke Government response was to make Councils responsible for everything consequently drowning the industry in red tape.
    
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    April 9, 2021 10:17am
    - Jack5
      
      This bill raises interesting issues.
      
      Wouldn’t the State prefer banks to share towns too small to support more than one bank, and provide a service to the regions.
      
      Similarly with petrol stations under oil company banners.
      
      Another example is shipping to New Zealand. We are small, very remote and difficult to serve. Shipping looks to be a pretty natural cartel service.
      
      If the basis of a cartel is to screw consumers, it will break up naturally. This explanation is from Encylopedia Brittanica:
      
      Though a cartel tends to establish price stability as long as it lasts, it does not typically last long. The reasons are twofold. First, whereas each member of the cartel would like the other members to keep the agreement, each member is also motivated to break the agreement, usually by cutting its price a little below the cartel’s price or by selling a much higher output.
      
      Second, even in the unlikely case that the cartel members hold to their agreement, price-cutting by new entrants or by existing firms that are not part of the cartel will undermine the cartel.
      
      In the meantime, our NZ Government has a web site encouraging businesses to rat on each other:
      
      https://comcom.govt.nz/about-us/our-policies-and-guidelines/leniency-and-cooperation/cartel-leniency-and-immunity-policy
      
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      April 9, 2021 10:47am
Pongo

The new version of Ardern is emerging. The non deduction of interest and the extension of the brightline test was bold and now we have the ban on flights from India.
Perhaps we are seeing the end of cautiousness and the scary beginning of bold moves.
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April 9, 2021 8:07am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The only bold move is the ‘wedding’
  Nothing else matters, so there
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:18am
  - Unity
    
    People keep on referring to ‘the wedding’. Does anyone know if it is definitely going ahead and the date?
    
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    April 9, 2021 1:28pm
- Jules99
  
  Copying Trump, who banned flights from China, is an odd thing to do, unless it’s part of a bigger plan. I think she wants to lock the country down again, but if she does, then it’s her fault the border was leaky. Now she can blame Indians and appear to be doing something when it gets out into the community.
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:37am
  - Odakyu-sen
    
    If people wishing to travel to NZ have to show documentation that they are coronavirus-free, then how is it possible that so many people from India are testing positive just after they arrive?
    Did they pick up the virus on their way to NZ after getting tested in India?
    What other explanation could there be?
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:12am
    - sooty
      
      It certainly couldn’t be false documentation as cindy and chris told us so! So what is it?
      
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      April 9, 2021 9:55am
    - Jack5
      
      The other likely explanation is fake documents from India.
      
      From Stuff:
      
      On the numbers, the reason for the country-specific ban is clear: since February there have been almost 120 people from India arrive with Covid compared to 19 from the next highest country, the United States, 15 from the UK and then down to single digits from every other country.
      
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      April 9, 2021 10:01am
      - Jack5
        
        Stuff’s Luke Malpass says in his report in Stuff today:
        
        The step to temporarily ban Kiwi citizens from India travelling to New Zealand is probably the single biggest infringement on New Zealanders’ rights in the name of health since the lockdown.
        
        A notable proportion of the Indian incomers are brides coming to join Indians with NZ residency. These women won’t yet be “Kiwi citizens”.
        
        From a Stuff report by Jody O’Callaghan in Stuff on March 28:
        
        New arranged marriage brides and grooms are exempt from border closures, with more than 50 visas being issued since the pandemic hit.
        
        Culturally arranged marriage visas have been granted to 94 couples in the past two years, but Indian organisation leaders say many more unions being delayed by paperwork errors.
        
        The brides won’t be NZ citizens at this stage.
        
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        April 9, 2021 10:24am
    - kloyd0306
      
      Dodgy testing.
      Dodgy documentation.
      
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      April 9, 2021 10:06am
    - Nickc2
      
      In India as in China, you can buy anything you want. That includes certificates and diplomas etc. No doubt there are people selling fake vaccination certificates/passports at Mumbi Airport. They are not known to let a chance go by as they say in the classics.
      
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      April 9, 2021 11:35am
      - Ruahine
        
        Looks as if that applies to ‘brides’ as well.
        
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        April 9, 2021 3:19pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Faulty testing? the WHO reckons the PCR test are not for purpose as they can too easily give false positives.
      
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      April 9, 2021 11:44am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Remember there are liars here in NZ, so there must be liars elsewhere in the World. I am sure it is possible to download a certificate and make it look ‘official’ Anyone in NZ doing the checking?
      
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      April 9, 2021 3:23pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Aren’t the Chinese and Indians currently fighting over some border? Perhaps the Chinese have told her to show some solidarity?
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:21am
- kowtow
  
  Nothing bold.
  
  Just responding to circumstances. On the fly as it were.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:03am
- kevn
  
  @Pongo… Emboldened is more like it.
  “This is the way it’s going to be” you plebs.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:48am
- rouppe
  
  Remember when she was saying “we can’t deny New Zealanders coming home”?
  
  What happened to that? People have been screaming for high risk countries to be held back but its only now she’s done it.
  
  In other jurisdictions that was called populism, and racist, remember?
  
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  April 9, 2021 10:28am
  - NoCash
    
    She was a bit too definitive…
    
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    April 9, 2021 12:06pm
Justitia

In breaking news Wellington City Council has voted to decolonize itself: http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=135378. Ratepayers are hoping this declaration of independence from New Zealand by Council members will mean they will no longer have to put up its increasingly bizarre antics or indeed fund it. Things are finally looking up for the residents of this moribund metro.
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April 9, 2021 8:09am
- graham
  
  Justitia, was there a reference to “decolonisation” in the article originally? Because there doesn’t appear to be such a reference now, although several of the comments refer to it.
  
  Just wondering if the article has been altered …
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:40am
  - Justitia
    
    @ graham: it is being celebrated by its proponents, including Councillor (and former Deputy Mayor) Jill Day as an act of decolonisation.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:10am
    - graham
      
      Thanks Justitia.
      
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      April 9, 2021 10:20am
- Loddenthinks
  
  I see Jill Day continues her lies: “Our past has been that Māori have been legislatively excluded from decision-making, which they were actually promised the right to be a part of.”
  
  What legislation would that be, Day? If you can point me to a current piece of legislation that forbids, prevents or excludes maori from participating in the democratic process, I’ll gladly donate $1,000 to whichever charity you care to name.
  
  When you find none, you can apologise publicly for your calumnies.
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:06am
KevO'Brien

Is it 1939 all over again?

https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2021/04/07/washingtons-follies-are-dangerous-to-us-and-to-the-world/

When a nursing home quality president goes bear baiting shouldn’t we be concerned?
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April 9, 2021 8:10am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Poor Joe. Walls and guards do not work, unless it is around Capitol grounds
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:15am
  - Blackbob
    
    That’s why they left the walls up in Washington, not to keep people out but keep Joe from wandering!
    
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    April 9, 2021 8:44am
  - Inandout
    
    SO, now Joe is wanting to ‘fill the gaps in the border walls’. Silly old fart.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:12am
- SB2
  
  Is Paul Craig ( Joke )Roberts still alive?
  
  Or barely so ?
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:17am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    His mind is more alive than most. He’s actually awake not just cellphone alert.
    
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    April 9, 2021 11:47am
- EssenX
  
  I just stopped at this sentence: “A country without a media is lost to the follies of its government, and that is precisely the position of America today.”
  
  Replace America with New Zealand and it pretty much describes what we have here. No media and therefore Government incompetence runs unabated in everything from health, justice, housing, infrastructure, and no doubt more.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:25am
kevn

Where did that landlord/housing/new legislation comment go?
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April 9, 2021 8:10am
Tricati

So, Hamish Walker suggests limiting people returning from India due to high covid 19 infection, and identifying Woods trying to set up Managed Quarantine facility in Southland without community consultation, and he gets called a ‘Racist’ by Megan Woods.
Walker took some crap advice from Michelle Boag, that in the end cost him his job, and yet the tenant of his argument remains; that being people returning from India are a high risk.
Months later the government limits entry form India so does that make the current government racist – just saying.
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April 9, 2021 8:12am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Hamish Walker is now selling real estate in Queenstown and Wanaka, and is reportedly doing very well. He’s probably glad, in hindsight, to be out of a place where you get pilloried for telling what turns out to be the truth.
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:14am
  - MCos
    
    Except what he said, that 11,000 people from India, Pakistan & Korea were going to Dunedin, Invercargill & Queenstown for quarantine, didn’t turn out to be true.
    The rumour had been passed on to him by some local GP and presumably became ‘fact’ along the way.
    He then released a list of the current 18 infected people to prove his point about where they came from. (Supplied by Boag)
    To cut a long story short he’s now back selling houses.
    
    As it happens even to the untrained eye it’s seems clear Queenstown’s hotels are unsuitable for MIQ; jammed on top of each other as they are.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:11am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Yeah, yeah, but apart from those lies he was telling the truth.
      
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      April 9, 2021 9:24am
      - Jack5
        
        Here’s what Hamish Walker said, according to the report (from RNZ on Newshub):
        
        In a press release, Clutha-Southland MP Hamish Walker said up to 11,000 people arriving from overseas could be destined for quarantine in the south without any consultation with the community.
        
        “It’s absolutely disgraceful that the community hasn’t been consulted on this.
        
        “These people are possibly heading for Dunedin, Invercargill and Queenstown from India, Pakistan and Korea,” he said.
        
        Notice the “could be destined”, not the “were going to” as stated in MCos’s post.
        
        But Megan Woods did brand him as racist for this statement. Jacindarella’s restriction on Indians’ entry seems also to be racist by Woods’s standard.
        
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        April 9, 2021 11:02am
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Oh, perhaps he should have phrased his press release more carefully to make it clearer that the words ‘up to’, ‘could be’, and ‘possibly’ actually meant this was a load of hysterical nonsense.
        
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        April 9, 2021 11:19am
      - Jack5
        
        Milkym it’s context that counts. In by far the most cases those words don’t indicate a lie’s being told.
        
        However, if Walker had been savvy enough to release only countries of departure of the 18 infected arrivals and not other personal information, would he have been politically lynched?
        
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        April 9, 2021 12:58pm
Tony Stuart

I just caught up on this presser from National’s Finance and Infrastructure spokesman Andrew Bayly earlier in the week, after he and David Seymour skewered David Parker in the House on Tuesday:

After questioning in Parliament today it’s clear Revenue Minister David Parker has no idea how his interest deductibility policy will work, National’s Shadow Treasurer Andrew Bayly says.

“Minister Parker was asked some basic questions such as how many people will be affected by his new policy and how much revenue will be raised for this, but couldn’t answer.

“The Minister has clearly not done his due diligence with the policy.

“The Government dropped the new mortgage interest deductibility rules with no warning. This is clearly rushed policy and a result of the Government panicking because it’s realised none of its housing policies are making a difference.

“When asked whether a Mum and Dad who rent a home to their own kids while they’re at university will be able to deduct mortgage interest, Minister Parker didn’t know.

“When asked if an extension onto a property would be considered a ‘new build’ and therefore exempt from the rule, Minister Parker didn’t know.

“When asked if a farmer would be able to deduct interest from a mortgage on farmland with a rental property on it, Minister Parker didn’t know.

“These are not niche, unusual cases, these are situations that impact many New Zealanders, and they’ll be questioning whether they will now be targeted.

“But how are New Zealanders meant to know if they will be caught by this new policy if the Revenue Minister has no idea?

“Roughly 77 per cent of all landlords in New Zealand only own one rental property. The Government has now labelled these New Zealanders as speculators, and their tax bill will go up as a result.

“It’s wrong that Mum and Dad investors are now being demonised as speculators and having utilised a ‘tax loophole’, when the ability to deduct the interest costs has been a legitimate business expense for many decades.

“Labour continues to prove it can’t be trusted on tax.”

https://www.national.org.nz/parkers-interest-deductibility-policy-a-shambles

It’s pretty obvious that despite Labour having reportedly worked on its housing announcement for months, they’d done very little detail work, so they can hardly complain that it’s all blowing up in their faces. The “unintended consequences” are coming thick and fast.

It was also good to see Bayly and Seymour tag-teaming Parker. National and Act need to work together to expose useless Ministers and policies, and hopefully start to get some traction.
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April 9, 2021 8:12am
- Paulus
  
  Can see Bayley with a very good future with National.
  Luxon may not be the only contender.
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:19am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    I’m unsure yet about Bayly as a potential leader. But he would be a loyal, highly competent Deputy, in the Bill English mould.
    
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    April 9, 2021 8:49am
  - virtualmark
    
    New Zealand tends to have one of two types of PM.
    
    One is the forceful “I know what I’m doing, don’t mess with me” type. Muldoon, Clark. The swing voter votes for them out of respect & fear, but maybe not love.
    
    The other is the “charismatic every-(wo)man”. Lange, Key, Ardern. The swing voter votes for them because they like them.
    
    Do Bayly or Luxon fit in either of those types? I haven’t seen any evidence of it yet. Collins is kind of in the first camp, but not respected/feared enough to win the middle ground.
    
    I am not convinced that the next dominant National PM is even in Parliament yet.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:19am
    - GazzaW
      
      Let’s not discount Nicola Willis.
      
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      April 9, 2021 10:08am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      Sadly VM, I agree entirely with your comments. I don’t see that person either, but there is a third option – when the voters are just so sick of the lying, the incompetence, the lack of transparency, the hypocrisy, the lack of jobs, the lack of money in their pockets and the escalating price of everything.
      
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      April 9, 2021 11:25am
      - virtualmark
        
        When the disenchantment sets in *and* the opposition have proven themselves to be a credible alternative then the vote moves.
        
        But when the disenchantment sets in and the opposition are also seen to be muppets then the voters just don’t vote. The vote doesn’t move, it just doesn’t turn out.
        
        Given the latest polling even if a quarter of Labour’s 2020 vote decided to stay home Labour would perhaps still win an election. National need to give the voter a reason to go to the polling booth and to vote National when they get there. I don’t think that’s happening at the moment.
        
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        April 9, 2021 10:02pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Agree. Luxton may be a fantastic bean counter, but we don’t need a religious tree-hugging whale saver as the leader of the National Party/Govt.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:37am
    - Batman
      
      What do you have against religious people, trees, and whales? ?
      
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      April 9, 2021 9:49am
      - Nickc2
        
        You name it, I’ve got it.
        
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        April 9, 2021 10:02am
      - kloyd0306
        
        Commentating or moderating?
        Duplicitous is more likely.
        
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        April 9, 2021 10:15am
      - Jack5
        
        Hi ?Batman!
        
        I hope you don’t mind me asking if you are on Moderation duty today?
        
        Over the least week or so moderation queue delays have been up to four or five hours, and we don’t want any blame on you.
        
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        April 9, 2021 10:26am
      - Batman
        
        There no duty list, per se.
        
        But I have been away over Easter with life admin and not been around. Take what you like from that!
        
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        April 9, 2021 10:38am
    - Captain Mainwaring
      
      His name is LUXON.
      
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      April 9, 2021 9:56am
      - Jack5
        
        So much intrigue at the moment. National MPs positioning themselves for a shot at Collins, and even for a shot at anyone who might replace Collins.
        
        Have they learned nothing from the leadership-change fiasco on the eve of the election?
        
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        April 9, 2021 10:29am
  - Observer of Life
    
    Bayley is an arrogant prat. Have had dealings with him when the Nats were in government. I hope he doesn’t make it to Leader .. things won’t improve for NZ.
    
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    April 9, 2021 10:55am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Are you on the Labour PR Nat’s bashing team too?
      No on is jockeying against Judith Collins except those who wish to promote falsity.
      
      It does rankle with the voters but increased prices out of control worries much more. Ardern is going from hopeless to getting mired in her messy-gobblement. They don’t act as executives they emote. Even the Public Service cannot run the country by proxy.
      
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      April 9, 2021 12:01pm
      - Paulus
        
        Seems the media again are looking at their keyboards and saying in effect “what shit against National can I do today ? “.
        I’ll ask Tova as she must have something on the boil.
        
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        April 9, 2021 1:52pm
- Swifty
  
  “unintended consequences”
  
  No.
  
  “Perfectly foreseeable effects”
  
  Yes.
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:23am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Only perfectly foreseeable to the rest of us it seems, not Grant Robertson or Labour.
    
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    April 9, 2021 10:30am
- Cinematic
  
  ‘Very little detailed work’. Surely you jest! Detail is not something this rabble does or is even vaguely capable of doing.
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:24am
- peterwn
  
  They had the policy and announcement in mund for months but Robbo would not wanted to have announced it until students were settled in their accommodation for the current academic year. If it was announced late 2020 there would have been mayhem in the rental markets including a significant reduction of available student flats etc.
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:52am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Play school TV1 breakfast had 3 airhead kids rabbiting on about strike for climate change and the Govt not acting.
Not on of them gave an example of ‘climate change’
Totally brainwashed, sad
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April 9, 2021 8:12am
- Tony Stuart
  
  But Jacinda declared a Climate Emergency, just as they were demanding! Surely, things are on the improve, right?
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:17am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    The only emergency is ordering fine weather for the wedding day
    
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    April 9, 2021 8:24am
    - Nickc2
      
      Why the reluctance to have a Covid jab? Pregnancy perhaps?
      
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      April 9, 2021 9:42am
      - dave_c_
        
        I doubt it – perhaps she’s a ‘closet conspiracy theorist’, knows more about the endgame, being led by the nose. Argue or change the narrative, and it’d be ‘on ya horse’
        
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        April 9, 2021 10:53am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Maybe she knows that the vaccine is really just saline?
        
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        April 9, 2021 11:58am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Why does she need to get married?
      She out of time surely.
      
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      April 9, 2021 12:03pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        It’s Jaspinda, not Shirley
        
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        April 9, 2021 3:24pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  I hear one of them on the radio (RNZ – I was in an Uber). Cringeworthy. She said she was from Christchurch Ōtautahi. Her “demands”:
  
  Climate “education”
  
  “Free” public transport in Christchurch. (If public transport was “free” it would take very few cars off the road in Christchurch because parking is free, or cheap and plentiful and catching a bus is slow and horrible.)
  
  The Government “banning” the proposed Tarras airport in McKenzie country – which I doubt will happen in my lifetime.
  
  What gets me … How many of these school kid “strikers” get driven to school in SUVs? I would respect them if they:
  
  – all rode bikes or walked to school
  – Told their parents they would not travel in the family petrol car
  – Stopped flying on family vacations
  – vowed never to buy a petrol powered car.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:04am
  - redeye
    
    We have a ‘Climate Change Action Group’ in our neighborhood. They take up reams of space in our local and community news groups.
    So far they have printed posters and are in the process of developing a book.
    Like most of these groups they are dedicated to getting other people to make sacrifices for their cause.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:35am
    - kloyd0306
      
      ….and demanding money that goes where?
      
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      April 9, 2021 10:17am
  - Dougal10
    
    Tarras is not in the mckenzie country . I guess geography dosn’t get in the way of climate protests .
    
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    April 9, 2021 10:28am
    - Jack5
      
      Any two or three no-hopers can call themselves an action group or a protest organisation or some such and get access to our Woke media.
      
      It will help to have “free” or “save” or “against” or “fight” or “climate” or “rights” or “equality” in the group’s name.
      
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      April 9, 2021 11:13am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    I wouldn’t respect them if they did all of those things. They’re silly little boys and girls, without a clue as to how the world works, and in real terms they know practically nothing.
    
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    April 9, 2021 11:34am
    - Sacha
      
      That’s the difference between children and adults – they are not the same when it comes down to decision-making, and thinking about what’s best for others, or long-term thinking, or even about something personal, like what gender to be this week.
      
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      April 9, 2021 1:36pm
      - Loddenthinks
        
        Well with 76 choices and counting, it’s difficult to decide exactly which gender to choose…
        
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        April 9, 2021 6:26pm
- Inandout
  
  SO, and as soon as they escape the studio their mobiles will be re-glued to themselves and Mummy will turn the heat pumps off for the day. Pathetic fools.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:15am
- [email protected]
  
  I don’t particularly like what these students are saying and the words being used to say it (too many words that I don’t know the meaning of). I do like the fact that young people are actually doing something however. For too many years young people never got involved in anything.
  
  The Vietnam War was ended in part by young people demonstrating peacefully in large numbers.
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:27am
  - kowtow
    
    ‘The Vietnam War was ended in part by young people demonstrating peacefully in large numbers.’
    
    Was it though. The Vietnam war , from an American point of view was very much a Democrat affair.
    It was a Republican administration that decided it had to get US ground troops out of it , but would continue to support the South Viets with vital air suport and finance . Funnily enough , it was a Democrat controlled Congress that refused to support the Administration in supporting the Viets during the final push by the Commies , a push that became a rout that even surprised the Commies.
    
    Not a lot to do with youngsters and a lot to do with Democrat Party perfidy.
    
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    April 9, 2021 11:55am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      What an oddly partisan point of view. Which presidential candidate sabotaged peace talks for personal political advantage?
      
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      April 9, 2021 2:01pm
      - kowtow
        
        Yeah , and the N Vietnamese really always intended to stick to all the agreements in those “peace” talks, bwahahahahaa.
        
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        April 9, 2021 4:15pm
  - doublehappy
    
    cruzpro, I normally agree with your posts, but here I disagree with both your points. Point 1: In my opinion the kids are brainwashed in school by the teachers, who were brainwashed at university. You need to have researched, debated and come to your own opinion, before you have the right to protest. Point 2: Stopping the spread of communism in Vietnam was an admirable cause. I remember as a teenager discussing the war in my favourite coffee bar over many hours/days. Flower power was in full flight, but when asked if they would allow the communists to take over our country, I never did get a straight answer. It’s a good job I was too young, as I was very much in favour of repelling the spread of the Chinese influence. I also could never understand why the war was not taken to North Vietnam. Bombing Hanoi and the Chinese supply lines in the North seemed to me the way to win the war.
    
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    April 9, 2021 12:36pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      the war was not taken to North Vietnam
      
      Estimates for the number of North Vietnamese civilian deaths resulting from US bombing range from 30,000 to 182,000.
      Did you mean to say that the US did not take enough war to North Vietnam?
      
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      April 9, 2021 2:04pm
    - Bea Rossini
      
      And that is why doublehappy was given a medal for strategy in the American war in Vietnam.
      
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      April 9, 2021 11:10pm
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    The Vietnam war ended because the north prevailed.
    
    Did I miss something?
    
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    April 9, 2021 12:47pm
    - Jack5
      
      Yes. North Vietnam was backed by China.
      
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      April 9, 2021 1:41pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      It was a political war. The generals were constrained by the government, who did not wish it to be total war. If the US had gone in boots & all, it would have been over in 6 months.
      
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      April 9, 2021 2:18pm
      - Nickc2
        
        Yes, if General Westmoreland had been given the political backing required by a General-at-War, it would have all been over within the first year IMO.
        Many allied lives were unnecessarily lost through political interference where troops would capture the high ground, only to be directed by pollies to withdraw for various reasons and after a short period of time, retake the same high ground. This type of political interference was commonplace.
        
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        April 9, 2021 2:37pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Obviously 1.3 million dead just wasn’t enough.
        
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        April 9, 2021 2:52pm
    - Bluegrass
      
      Sure, the North prevailed.
      
      Ever wondered why?
      
      The war was actually won by the US and allies such as Australia during the 1968 Tet offensive near Saigon ( I was off the South Viet coast at that time) where the VC got slaughtered.
      
      Ho Chi Minh was about to sue for peace.
      
      The war was subsequently lost for US political reasons.
      
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      April 9, 2021 4:09pm
  - Nickc2
    
    Bollox! President Richard M. Nixon (Republican) assumed responsibility for the Vietnam War as he swore the oath of office on January 20, 1969. He knew that ending this war honorably was essential to his success in the presidency.
    President Johnson (Democrat) sent the first U.S. combat troops into battle in early 1965. He simultaneously authorized a massive bombing campaign, codenamed Operation Rolling Thunder, that would continue unabated for years.
    And then there was John Kerry! Well, he is currently Biden’s Climate Envoy but after he came back from Vietnam he was a prominent leader among protestors in the US. Says a lot about professional politicians IMO. Loyalty, zilch!
    
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    April 9, 2021 1:36pm
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Nixon conspired with the South Vietnamese to sabotage peace talks in 1968, and then massively expanded the war.
      
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      April 9, 2021 2:53pm
  - Jack5
    
    The Vietnam War was ended in part by young people demonstrating peacefully in large numbers.
    
    The war was doomed from the beginning., regardless of protests from the middle class elite students while working class young men fought and died.
    
    General Douglas MacArthur in April 1961, at meetings at President Kennedy’s request, warned the young President against getting into any land war in Asia.
    
    From notes recorded by Kennedy:
    
    “MacArthur believes it would be a mistake to fight in Laos,” and that “anyone wanting to commit ground troops to Asia should have his head examined.”
    
    MacArthur believed, Kennedy noted, that America’s defensive perimeter in Asia lay along a line from Japan to Formosa (Taiwan) to the Philippines.
    
    In an article in the American Conservative historian and author Rana Mitter is quoted pointing out that though in World War 2 the Japanese won battle after battle in China they were never able to match China’s numbers.
    
    The article, which quotes other historians, too, including Ezra Vogel, Richard Bernstein, Frank Dikotter, John Pomfret, and Jay Taylor, says:
    
    The new thinking on China by these historians is seminal: Mitter argues that it is time to view America’s war with Japan as a kind of mirror of the U.S. war in Europe—and thus acknowledge that China’s fight against Japan on the Chinese mainland made a U.S. victory in the vast reaches of the Pacific possible.
    
    “The Japanese believed that at some point the Chinese would surrender,” Mitter says, “but they never did. They just kept coming.” It was this, Japan’s struggle to overcome the terrible arithmetic of battle in China, that MacArthur told Kennedy the U.S. faced in Southeast Asia.
    
    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/macarthurs-last-stand-against-a-winless-war/
    
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    April 9, 2021 1:37pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Kiwimaths challenge:

You have an unknown number.
Determine 90% of that number.

Don’t show your working for full marks.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/04/coronavirus-government-doesn-t-know-how-many-border-works-there-are-but-still-insists-90-percent-have-got-covid-19-vaccine.html
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April 9, 2021 8:20am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The Govt is lying again?? Never
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:27am
- graham
  
  Ouch. I’m quite good at maths but that does my head in.
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:41am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Anything involving Labour and numbers will do anyone’s head in.
    They use a roving decimal point.
    The only difference between a billion and a trillion is 3 zeros – zeros have no value so there is no extra cost, AOC
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:46am
- Ed Snack
  
  It’s a trick question, right ?
  
  The answer is Red Admiral !
  
  9 0
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  April 9, 2021 10:36am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Infinity.
  
  4 1
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  April 9, 2021 12:06pm
  - Paulus Gnome
    
    Only if the answer is divided by 0
    
    0 being the collective IQ of the labour parody . ..
    
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    April 9, 2021 12:48pm
    - Paulus Gnome
      
      Haha, spell check gave me parody when everyone knows it is pardy . . .
      
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      April 9, 2021 12:51pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING….

NZ Indian Association Vice President Prakash Birander has been quoted as saying, “While New Zealand needed to remain a safe country…..on one side we are opening our border to Australia, but we are stopping Indians coming in”

Well cry me a Ganges! Thanks to this useless governments inability to take decisive action, the decision is hardly unexpected and looong overdue.

Just saying.
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April 9, 2021 8:22am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  We are going hard and early again //
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:28am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Front of the queue //
    
    15 1
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    April 9, 2021 11:38am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    World First //
    
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    April 9, 2021 11:44am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  So if we have somewhere in the region of 250,000-300,000 Kiwindians , has Team 5 Million become Team 4.7 Miliion?
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:31am
  - Swifty
    
    Hahahaha!
    
    Good point.
    
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    April 9, 2021 8:35am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Hard to gauge to be fair. We have an Indian owned dairy along from us that I stop into occasionally if we need something translated. Raj was saying his family (and there’s 14 0f them) definitely wont be getting the vaccine.
    
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    April 9, 2021 8:52am
  - kowtow
    
    There’s got to be a # in there somewhere……
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:08am
- kowtow
  
  The real issue ,and everyone’s dancing delicately around this , is that while officially all countries are equal , some countries are more equal than others .
  
  And they have very different cultures and cough cough ways of getting business done.
  
  Same with Mainland China.
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:39am
  - bruceavon
    
    Totally. I have a wealthy Indian client he said with regard the vaccine card, the Indians will have an industry producing them already. The telling fact is all the other countries who have to provide negative tests have gone down massively. India has gone up. This idea they are getting it at the airport after the test doesn’t stack up for me. The test are dodgy as.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:55am
    - kowtow
      
      The bus ?
      
      Is that what our “experts” believe ?
      
      Where’s “follow the science” when you really need it?
      
      Here we go down the rabbit hole…..
      
      ……and they’re running our world leading response to this ?
      
      Where’s she of the Pink Hair to educate us ?
      
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      April 9, 2021 10:35am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Our PCR testing may still be at 40 or more and India less.
      
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      April 9, 2021 12:07pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, Jacinda is on safe ground here because Indians don’t pass the magic BLM test, and are described as Asians. This of course is stupid as many Indians have European features, not Asian.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:18am
  - Batman
    
    India is part of, you know, the Asian continent. Which I understand is quite large.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:45am
- Flossie
  
  Just to be clear, we have stopped arrivals from India, not Indians. If you are Greek for example, and wish to travel to NZ from India then you cannot. It is not being racist.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:44am
- Bobba Fret
  
  I cant understand how someone like Praksh can complain when the facts are:
  “Since the start of February, there have been 117 cases of Covid-19 imported from India, 17 from the USA and 11 from the UK.”
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:27am
- Loddenthinks
  
  But hang on Maggie, what’s all this about “stopping Indians coming in”?
  
  We’ve been told for a year that these are all genuine Kiwis wanting to come home to the Motherland. Turns out that’s not the case at all, they’re actually Indians. Who knew?
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:45am
Yvette

Pike River
“Police have agreed to drill six extra bore holes and to send down scanners to try to retrieve exactly the evidence which some families are saying could be achieved by physically getting there,” Little said

Of course now, if Healey, Monk and Dunbar reject this plan of six boreholes, and insist on preparing a further assessment for submission to Little, are they saying the Police proposal would not produce evidence sufficient for any possible prosecution to be successful?

Little: checkmate.
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April 9, 2021 8:22am
- peterwn
  
  Has the Police been given extra budget but then told it cannot be used for catching burglars?
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:54am
  - GazzaW
    
    …….or reopening Trentham for another training wing?
    
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    April 9, 2021 10:16am
- virtualmark
  
  So why didn’t they do that in the beginning rather than waste tens of millions pushing their way down the drift for nothing?
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:20am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Stupidity. Any reasonable Counsel will be able to demolish a criminal case based on speculative mine “evidence”. “Beyond a reasonable doubt” is not achievable.
  
  The presence of the gas is the crime. Static electricity sneaks out of nowhere–those two are a fatal combination.
  Are Enid Blyton and Dr Seuss now advising the Police?
  
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  April 9, 2021 12:15pm
G152

The climate doesn’t change.
We have weather.
We have seasons.
The doom merchants have to say ‘Climate Change’ in their every utterance so the population dont notice theres been no change.
And, in spite of the ‘End of the World’ claims we’re still here
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April 9, 2021 8:22am
- JimBobJoe
  
  No actually Climate does change.
  
  The South West of America had a very different climate 15000 years ago… ditto the Sahara 5 to 8,000 years ago.
  
  Europes climate 50,000 years ago was very different to today.
  
  Climate changes – driven by deep planetary and Solar System factors and cycles
  
  The question is not is the Climate changing, But rather how quickly and how much of the change driven by man?
  
  Even the Climate scaremongers know its not just man hence the changes in name of the scary monster now called climate change – it used to be Anthropogenic Global Warming i.e man caused global warming. Then Global Warming and now just Climate Change.
  
  Why? Because the early claims where totally overblown and the science is not fully there to support the hypothesis that “Man done – its all his fault”
  
  Saying Climate doesn’t change is wrong and feeds the Climate Change is all mans fault proponents ”Çlimate Change Denier” meme
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:15am
  - Tall Man
    
    My annoyance is directed towards the foolish notion that “man” can slow/stop/reverse the change,
    
    Canute springs to mind.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:53am
    - Bluegrass
      
      Canute’s actions were to demonstrate the futility of seeking to control/influence Mother Nature…
      
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      April 9, 2021 4:26pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Climate Change is in the mind of the human abolitionists. The fewer of us the more for them.
    
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    April 9, 2021 12:17pm
    - Fisiani2
      
      Just watched the Green activists with megaphones at Civic Square in Wellington trying to whip up fear and hysteria and scare the little children. Some of whom had been brought to be terrified by their own parents. That is child abuse. Thankfully it rained on their parade and numbers were pitiful.
      
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      April 9, 2021 12:25pm
ecco

Stopping arrivals from upward trending world hot spots, namely India, yesterday is the best call Ardern has made in her COVID performance in my view. Finally putting her money where her mouth is. (Excuse the pun). I saw a scientific expert on tv last night saying this should have happened a long time ago. Also the graphs on Stuff today re covid trends in Miq just totally justify this move ( and justify why the US and uk should NOT be included in an arrival ban) The ban in arrivals from India should be extended if necessary. We haven’t spent billions of tax payer money closing our border to now ignore significant threats to bringing the virus in.

What I actually find interesting since the whole covid crisis has played out is the number and nature of recently arrived immigrants to NZ, that usually goes below the radar screen. The 200k temporary work visa people who refused to leave nz when covid struck and who are now more or less demanding full rights as if they have citizenship here already. Also the calibre of many recent immigrants, who are now nz residents, has been spotlighted. They appear to be low educated people who have little English and little skills outside of retail, low end jobs in petrol stations and Uber driving. It appears to me just looking around, going into a shop etc, that any form of proficiency in speaking English is not even a requirement now to get nz citizenship.

Whatever happened to nz trying to attract skilled migrants who can contribute immediately to the nz economy? It appears to me that recent successive governments have just been looking to get bums on seats to hold up gdp numbers, in order to get re elected. It’s interesting that covid has put some sunlight on actual immigration policies occurring in the last 10 years. We are seeing some of the unintended consequences of such policies this week.
The out of control Auckland housing market is another unintended consequence fuelled by poorly managed immigration policy.

I’m not anti immigration, I am of ethnic origin myself. Our family came here in the late 1800s. I’m just concerned that immigration polIcy is well thought out to reach the intended goals for nz, not just to increase population numbers in the quickest possible way.
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April 9, 2021 8:24am
- Tall Man
  
  You ask where the quality migrants are heading …….. I assume that was rhetorical but if not, Canada, USA, Australia and Scandinavia.
  
  Think about where you’d want to take your family to provide a new life filled with opportunities …….
  
  Watch while ardern builds a third world shithole….
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:04am
  - ecco
    
    I guess the aussies view some NZers heading over there like this. At least they have measures in place so NZers can’t just go on all their benefits like long standing australians are entitled to.
    I’m not anti immigration I was just posing the question what are the criteria for getting NZ residency now vs 10-20 years ago.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:36am
  - ecco
    
    At least we have that option to jump the ditch to oz! That’s if we have saved up enough money to make our own way in retirement. Unlike the case as is NZ.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:38am
  - MCos
    
    I saw an orchidist on TV the other day standing amongst apples rotting on the ground because cheap labour from third world countries wasn’t available to pick the fruit. Labour from anywhere wasn’t available because it’s a shit job.
    A strawberry farm near me has gone under, I believe, for the same reason.
    So while we may like to think we’re attracting quality immigrants I get the impression the big majority are comprised of low paid labourers here on work permits to prop up the agrarian sector or foreign students propping up the education system.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:52am
    - Batman
      
      There is a difference between immigrants moving here and those here on work visas and skilled labour schemes.
      
      But this just highlights what we’ve known for years, we have a labour shortage once we get below 5% unemployment.
      
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      April 9, 2021 9:55am
      - MCos
        
        Also Labour intensive work has little appeal in societies such as ours.
        If the supply of cheap labour dries up there are problems for industries that can’t move off shore to exploit some other countries labour force.
        
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        April 9, 2021 10:38am
      - Jack5
        
        New Zealand’s productivity performance is poor.
        
        Labour-intensive industries such as horticulture aren’t helping.
        
        An answer lies in automation, as demonstrated in
        T&G Global’s Hawke’s Bay orchards using robots developed by Abundant Robotics of California, which is owned by the same German firm as T&G Global.
        
        https://yellrobot.com/apple-picking-robot-new-zealand-abundant-robotics/
        
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        April 9, 2021 2:15pm
  - cmm
    
    NZ is an easy back door into Oz.
    
    16 0
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    April 9, 2021 10:14am
- EssenX
  
  A good decision albeit late and inconsistent. Why don’t we have a simple red, yellow, green system by country yet? Are there other countries that should also be grouped with India? Are there some countries, such as the Pacific Islands, that should be at the opposite end of the spectrum? This could then be used to triage different risk profiles into appropriate MIQ facilities.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:33am
  - MCos
    
    At present people coming here from Oz are placed in different and less stringent facilities than those coming from hot spots because they are pretty much guaranteed to be bug free.
    Some of these places will be decommissioned after next week.
    
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    April 9, 2021 10:44am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Yep,
    
    This is what some of our leading epidemiologists have been recommending for months.
    
    We wouldn’t have needed lockdowns and the 14 breakdowns in Border quarantine would not have occurred if NZ had been using a simple system of restricting entry to folks when levels of infection rose to high levels in their countries.
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/ninetonoon/audio/2018790877/expert-analysis-govt-temporarily-shuts-border-to-india
    (around the 4min mark)
    
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    April 9, 2021 11:18am
- rangitoto
  
  Cindy is getting more and more like Trump.
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:37am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Aging like Pelosi?
    
    11 2
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    April 9, 2021 12:26pm
- Jules99
  
  I know a nurse who asked foreign-born colleagues working in an Auckland hospital how they qualified to practice when their English was so bad. They said they bought the assignments off the internet.
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:57am
  - Tall Man
    
    Not just nursing either.
    
    Another issue we have seen is that due to market size there is more specialisation in some occupations overseas whereas here many cover a wider spectrum so the imported worker still requires broad spectrum training.
    
    At least they are usually willing workers and prepared to upskill if required. They seem to have a good attitude and are grateful for the opportunity they have been given. Too many here really like the couch.
    
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    April 9, 2021 2:48pm
emmess

Fresh Prez of D.C.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgc7VBI-nS4
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April 9, 2021 8:24am
RW Capitalist

Famous People Born Today

1 Billie Holiday. Listed In: Musicians. …
2 Jackie Chan. Listed In: Film & Theater Personalities. …
3 Russell Crowe. Listed In: Film & Theater Personalities. …
4 Francis Ford Coppola. Listed In: Film & Theater Personalities. …
5 Kaitlan Collins. Listed In: Media Personalities. …
6 James Garner. …
7 William Wordsworth. …
8 Jerry Brown.
AND

ME
All presents that can be parked out front are gratefully accepted.
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April 9, 2021 8:27am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Happy Birthday. Listed in : Kiwiblog
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:55am
- Observer of Life
  
  Happy Birthday RWC … hope you’re doing well.
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:09am
Ehlana

From this morning’s Politik: “The Ministry of Social Development (MSD) is unable to provide [information about payments to specific motels requested by Louise Upston] as it would take substantial effort and require the Ministry to divert personnel from their core duties.”

Are we supposed to believe MSD has no accounting department? Or that they don’t use computers yet?

Answering a question about payments to a specific creditor is a core duty of accounts personnel. Any accountant in the private sector who tried to run that line would soon be replaced. And possibly reported to their professional body as completely lacking in basic competence.
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April 9, 2021 8:29am
- Cinematic
  
  Correct. Having some background in the area I’d say it’s roughly a 10 minute exercise. 20 minutes if you want to hide a few columns and produce a pretty PDF.
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:39am
  - Tall Man
    
    Especially if you have a coffee break in the middle of the search.
    
    20 3
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    April 9, 2021 8:54am
    - sooty
      
      Or need to take your socks off for the big numbers!
      
      14 0
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      April 9, 2021 10:03am
      - Paulus Gnome
        
        They didn’t ask Grant to do the calcs . . .
        
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        April 9, 2021 1:02pm
- Tony Stuart
  
  Has Minister Carmel Sepuloni’s office instructed to MSD to deliberately flout the Official Information Act? So much for Ardern’s claim that she would lead “the most open and transparent government Bew Zealand has ever seen”. Heads should roll.
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:43am
  - Tall Man
    
    “Heads should roll”…….
    
    They are Tony, they’re rolling about the floor laughing at all the gullible fools that continue to support them.
    
    30 3
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    April 9, 2021 8:53am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Has Minister Carmel Sepuloni’s office instructed to MSD to deliberately flout the Official Information Act?
    
    This seems unlikely to anyone who knows anything about these processes. Have you forgotten how much trouble ministers have got into in the past for ‘gaming’ OIA requests, etc?
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:43am
    - Manu-Rau
      
      Only National Ministers. Everyone else gets a free pass from the State Services Commissioner, the Ombudsman and the media.
      
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      April 9, 2021 12:52pm
- graham
  
  Well said Ehlana.
  
  The MSD has bunch of Budget “fact sheets” here, various PDFs and spreadsheets around Covid-19 support, an extremely detailed spreadsheet about the exact numbers on the Housing Register … they have TONS of data around all sorts of areas on their website for the public to access, so presumably FAR more data that isn’t published on their website. Under one page entitled “MSD Insights”, they proudly proclaim that “Insights from our research, evaluation, data and statistics help us make better decisions about the services we provide for New Zealanders.”
  
  Yet they can’t tell us how much money they’ve paid to specific motels? It would “divert personnel from their core duties”? What, so there’s nobody with a “core duty” to approve the payment to each motel, who knows how knock up a spreadsheet?
  
  How on earth can they be allowed to get away with spouting this sort of garbage?
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:17am
  - Batman
    
    If they minister wanted them to do it, they would.
    
    It’ll also probably come out in the wash through the Treasury Budget docs, which might well be the underlying reason here.
    
    13 6
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    April 9, 2021 9:38am
    - Tall Man
      
      “which might well be the underlying reason here”
      
      Bollocks.
      
      The underlying reason is that the whole stinking mess has bad optics so must be ignored at all costs.
      
      17 3
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      April 9, 2021 9:49am
      - kloyd0306
        
        “moderator” Batman … “commentator” Batman
        [ Mod: Broken record. Knock it off. All of us comment …. ]
        
        13 4
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        December 9, 2020 10:29am
      - Batman
        
        Ahhh Lloyd, your crusade against people having opinions needs to stop.
        
        You clearly don’t want to listen to the explanation I’ve given you multiple times. At what point do other moderators decide you’re actually just being an antagonist troll?
        
        Either that, or volunteer as a moderator, we’re all quite friendly I promise!
        
        7 12
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        April 9, 2021 10:33am
      - Batman
        
        You might like conspiracy but the law of cockup vs conspiracy says otherwise.
        
        That, and I have been involved in MSD budget and stats previously so maybe I know just a little more than you might do, wee man.
        
        5 24
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        April 9, 2021 9:56am
      - Tall Man
        
        Batman I don’t care if you wrote the budget single handedly, the optics are the “underlying reason” for many of the actions of this government so that is not a conspiracy theory.
        
        The response would have been simple to provide had there been any inclination which there was not so we are left with the obvious, they didn’t want to…. Why … poor optics.
        
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        April 9, 2021 2:54pm
    - Paulus
      
      But remember that Ministers have totally ignored any Treasury figures they do not like.
      
      7 1
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      April 9, 2021 2:07pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  If the Politik reporter doesn’t believe that, he should complain to the ombudsman. Anyone should, if they don’t accept the response to their information request.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:46am
  - Batman
    
    Harman is somewhat unreliable anyway. He’s good on gossip but not hard fact checking and sense.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:58am
Ruahine

A primer on debt from Pete Credlin. An interesting graph on debt half way through clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIGkwZdTVvE
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April 9, 2021 8:33am
Ehlana

A poll for Friday morning:

Some members of the Auckland DHB decided to show leadership by getting themselves vaccinated months ahead of schedule and after half the DHB staff had been invited to vaccinate. They asked no media to cover the event, did not minute it or publicise it at all.

Now that you know about their leadership:

(1) Are you more likely or less likely to get the Covid-19 vaccination than you were before?

(2) Has your opinion of their leadership performance increased, decreased or stayed the same?
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April 9, 2021 8:38am
- Tony Stuart
  
  1) No change
  2) Decreased
  
  18 1
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  April 9, 2021 8:41am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Hey,
  those folks need to travel for some sunshine this winter..
  
  Pity about the Doctors they employ…they’ve got the Stay at Home Warning
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018790774/auckland-hospital-doctors-told-not-to-fly-to-australia#:~:text=Doctors%20at%20Auckland%20Hospital%20have,bubble%20opens%20later%20this%20month.
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:45am
- cas
  
  You should have heard Lisa Owen on Checkpoint get stuck into Pat Snedden, Chair of the DHB, on this. She was like a dog with a bone. While I have mostly given up on National Radio, apart from Jim Mora on Sundays and occasionally Kim Hill, I do like to listen to Checkpoint as Lisa is a very good interviewer.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:14am
  - Paulus
    
    No she is not – she was very rude and has taken lessons from Tova on how to interrupt her interviewees.
    
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    April 9, 2021 2:09pm
Steve Todd

Matt Gaetz, Part II — how he and his ilk operate. Devastating stuff.

See https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rolltodisbelieve/2021/04/07/matt-gaetz-the-principles-of-power-in-broken-systems/?
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April 9, 2021 8:41am
- Ehlana
  
  Steve, this is a US Congressman I’ve never heard of before. Why is he important to us here in NZ?
  
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  April 9, 2021 8:58am
  - Steve Todd
    
    Ehlana: Because (1) many of us Kiwibloggers are very interested in US politics, and follow it closely; and (2) because Gaetz’s behaviour is symptomatic of what is wrong with the Republican Party.
    
    The right-wing Evangelical Christian faction of that once venerable party is going to end up destroying it.
    
    This is a separate thread on General Debate. As Maggy said yesterday, in another context, if you are not interested in this subject, or it bores you, skip over it.
    
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    April 9, 2021 9:22am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      And in somewhat-related news, Alabama’s secretary of state angrily denounced stories of an extra-marital affair, before being confronted with taped conversations evidencing that affair, and then deciding to withdraw his candidacy for the US senate.
      
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      April 9, 2021 9:32am
      - UrbanNeocolonialist
        
        Increased opportunities to root young women is a strong if not dominant motivating factor for many men getting into politics (or any high profile or powerful position). This should surprise no one, politics is an ugly game and there would need to be some pretty major benefit to balance out the pain.
        
        But it is always entertaining to see hypocrisy laid bare.
        
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        April 9, 2021 10:09am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      An update on Gaetz-gate: he’s sunk.
      https://edition.cnn.com/2021/04/08/politics/greenberg-gaetz/index.html
      
      5 3
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      April 9, 2021 11:30am
      - KevO'Brien
        
        CNN? Haven’t they been trashed by the BBC?
        
        7 5
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        April 9, 2021 12:32pm
The Housekeeper

A bit like the Aussie nurse in MIQ who refused to be tested without medical information she’d requested regarding the tests. You would think that information would be readily available and a request should be unnecessary. But no, she was made out to be the baddie when the govt either wouldn’t or couldn’t provide her with that information. So is the whole MIQ thing more about control than science?
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April 9, 2021 8:48am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Same in NZ. Nobody will tell me what strains the vaccine is for, or how it will affect natural antibodies for other strains.
  I think the vaccine is saline, and this is all about control
  
  11 4
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  April 9, 2021 9:41am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Add to that. I guess the info is not being released because setting targets is always a fuckup with this Govt
    
    11 2
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    April 9, 2021 9:59am
  - Happy1
    
    Steve, I think most people have figured out that you are an anti vaccicer but you don’t come out as one. Instead you demand answers that won’t be known for several years. Most people will get the jab knowing that it benefits others as well as themselves. I don’t think acting for the common good is your thing.
    
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    April 9, 2021 10:39am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      I just suspect we are being lied to, given the history of the current Govt. Everyone gets a turn – 4 health ministers since this shit started
      
      7 2
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      April 9, 2021 11:46am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Btw, not anti vaxer. I have had my share of vaccines including flu each year. Did all the polio etc stuff. Coming from the sticks as a kid I had German and English measles, mumps, chickenpox and whatever else was going. No vaccines in the 50s, or if there were we did not run to the doctor every time someone sniffed
      
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      April 9, 2021 1:48pm
    - Sacha
      
      Yes, and ‘most people’ won’t have any after effects of the vaccination either.
      But I wouldn’t want to be one of the few who do – if you see what I mean?
      
      1 0
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      April 9, 2021 1:57pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Recently I had general anesthetic for prostate biopsy. Medication was changed and I had an anaphylactic attack. BP 50/21, shaking when I woke up, incoherant for a while. Two units of blood administered. Treated immediately with ephindrine?
        Took a week to come right.
        Now the lying Govt want me to take a basically untested vaccine? The can get fucked – I could have died if the Anesthetist was not on the ball.
        
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        April 9, 2021 3:35pm
- cmm
  
  Them’s the rules.
  
  All the information on the MIQ procedure was available before she made the choice to go into MIQ.
  
  There are two paths available:
  1) Shorter path with tests
  2) Longer path with no tests.
  
  She chose the longer path (no tests) but still wants the shorter time.
  
  Sorry, that was not an option. You can’t have your cake and eat it.
  
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  April 9, 2021 10:11am
  - The Housekeeper
    
    But why was the medical information she requested not available? Fair enough though, if you want to come to NZ just take what’s handed out or fuck off.
    
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    April 9, 2021 2:30pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  I do get the impression with that particular woman, no matter how much info. she was given, she would always say it was not enough, or did not address what she asked.
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:49am
- KevO'Brien
  
  I doubt the vaccine meets the Nuremberg Code.
  Where’s our protection against being experiemented on?
  
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  April 9, 2021 12:34pm
cas

I would like to ban politicians from saying “We are looking into ….”and ” we are considering or this is under consideration.” Then they might have to answer questions.
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April 9, 2021 8:48am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  And “We will make an announcement”
  
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  April 9, 2021 10:00am
Tomtoddy

Muriel Newman has been doing some useful research on the ‘Maorisation’ of New Zealand. It is deeply disturbing. Legislation is now in the House that radially changes our constitutional arrangements. The assault on language continues. We remove Christian prayer in the public space but replace it with karikia. Democratic processes are being removed by Parliament. Colonisation is blamed for any and every failing and underperformance removing personal responsibility. And much more.

To oppose is to be labelled racist or hater.

I have had enough. The country I love is becoming an unwelcome, unattractive cesspit of PC, elitist, totalitarianism.

What to do? There are many thoughtful and considered opinions on this blog everyday and many share these concerns. Do we capitulate, accept there is nothing we can do, hope it will all go away? Do we fight back? How?
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April 9, 2021 8:55am
- Flossie
  
  Just one example of pandering is the smear test not being taken up by Maori women. All women in NZ have been targeted to get tested. Additionally we have had a the Smear Your Mea campaign obviously directed at wahine. If a double dose of advertising has not prompted Maori women to look after their health it is nobody else’s fault. None of us likes to be tested – it’s definitely not fun, but test we should.
  And I’m a Maori woman.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:16am
  - Tall Man
    
    Don’t forget to check your prostate ….. Oh wait … Hang on.
    
    We don’t do that for fun either but I suppose few care about men’s health anyway.
    
    19 2
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    April 9, 2021 9:47am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  How will the creation of a creole English-Te Reo language be of benefit to New Zealand? It will degrade the ability of New Zealanders to communicate with people overseas, and will make it harder for visitors to this country to understand what people are saying or writing about.
  
  Not a good idea in this “Age of International Communication.”
  
  Surely the effects of colonization would diminish over the generations, being strongest in the latter half of the 19th Century but then gradually fading throughout the 20th Century, hastened by the mass movement of Maori away from their tribal regions to the major urban centers for work.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:30am
- mikenmildagain
  
  Legislation is now in the House that radially changes our constitutional arrangements
  
  No, there is not.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:35am
  - Batman
    
    Remember that dreams are quite literally free, Mike. This is what happens when the market hasn’t settled on a equilibrium price, you get weird shit like this.
    
    3 10
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    April 9, 2021 9:51am
    - mikenmildagain
      
      Did you like the other dream in that comment, though?
      
      There are many thoughtful and considered opinions on this blog everyday
      
      2 12
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      April 9, 2021 10:08am
      - Batman
        
        That is actually true, however. At least when discussion gets into niche matters that some actually have experience with.
        
        It’s the topics in which multiple armchair experts pontificate on which lead to stupid stuff. But that’s free speech for ya I suppose!
        
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        April 9, 2021 10:21am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    Water Services Bill:
    
    “The Bill’s application of ‘Te Mana o te Wai’ is apartheid in nature and is very corruptible in that it secures enormous power for self-appointed Maori leaders over other New Zealanders in matters pertaining to this basic necessity. It also suggests that cultural/religious beliefs outweigh any scientific imperatives…
    
    “The Bill even forces Regional Councils to ‘investigate’ divesting their governance authority to ‘tangata whenua’ by joint management and/or a transfer of powers or similar!!! ”
    
    This is massive power being given to the Maori Aristocracy without any democratic oversight. Please advise how this doesn’t change our constitutional arrangements?
    
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    April 9, 2021 10:15am
    - Batman
      
      Water regulations aren’t part of our unwritten constitutional arrangements.
      
      True story.
      
      4 17
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      April 9, 2021 10:18am
      - Libertarians are right
        
        But power over fundamental infrastructure being given to unelected, unaccountable tribal elites is an affront to democratic principles which are part of our unwritten constitutional arrangements. It also creates potential BORA issues which again are definitely part of our unwritten constitution.
        
        20 2
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        April 9, 2021 10:45am
      - Albert_Ross
        
        If they’re not written, how can you be definitive about what’s not in them?
        
        0 5
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        April 9, 2021 11:35am
      - Batman
        
        Is this a trick question?
        
        On the basis that it’s not, here is a link:
        
        “Constitution – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand” https://teara.govt.nz/en/constitution
        
        It’s a series of written documents and conventions. But not a single written doc like the USA et al.
        
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        April 9, 2021 11:53am
      - Libertarians are right
        
        It’s also probably quite important to note that at least a couple of Labour’s Maori caucus are members of the Aristocracy (including Mahuta who’s pushing these changes through).
        
        So basically, the person who’s family has the most to gain is the one that’s in charge of the changes. That is really bad for democracy.
        
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        April 9, 2021 12:40pm
  - Yabster
    
    maybe not the constitutional – we may have to wait for that but there is a “Water services” bill thats current- any comment on that Milky/Woke Bats or will you be denying that also?
    
    Any comment Milky/woke Bats re your thoughts on Vision 2040 – do you agree with it? Do you agree it existed before the 2020 election but kept under wraps and would still be so except for that pesky OIA?
    
    “The Bill’s application of ‘Te Mana o te Wai’ is apartheid in nature and is very corruptible in that it secures enormous power for self-appointed Maori leaders over other New Zealanders in matters pertaining to this basic necessity. It also suggests that cultural/religious beliefs outweigh any scientific imperatives…
    
    “The Bill even forces Regional Councils to ‘investigate’ divesting their governance authority to ‘tangata whenua’ by joint management and/or a transfer of powers or similar!!!
    
    13 1
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    April 9, 2021 10:23am
  - kloyd0306
    
    WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
    Milky/Batman lovefest on display.
    Fraser House is working in pairs!
    Actually in threes as Batman has dual roles as both commentator AND moderator.
    Dodgy? Absolutely.
    
    23 5
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    April 9, 2021 10:37am
    - RichardX
      
      kloyd0306
      WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
      Milky/Batman lovefest on display.
      Fraser House is working in pairs!
      Actually in threes as Batman has dual roles as both commentator AND moderator.
      Dodgy? Absolutely.
      
      .APRIL 9, 2021 10:37AM
      
      Wilful ignorance is not an attractive look.
      
      As has been explained several times in the past, all mods are commenters.
      
      You just don’t know who they are so you can’t whine like a little child about their comments.
      
      5 7
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      April 9, 2021 12:28pm
- lastmanstanding
  
  Tomtoddy
  
  What we do is call it out for what it is and that is racisim. And keep calling out. Keep saying you want to live in a NEW ZEALAND where all are treated the same regardless of colour or creed.
  You want to live in a NEW ZEALAND where the law applies to all regardless of colour or creed.
  
  if enough of us push back we can make a difference.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:38am
- Tall Man
  
  “Do we fight back” …. Of course but remember that means your fight may well be directed against your own family if they are part of the poorly educated left wing stupidity.
  
  As a country we have allowed our education system to produce thought free idiots and we have allowed the media to control the narrative to such an extent that truth is no longer sought by many.
  
  The left are consumed by jealousy leading to hatred of those who won’t conform yet they need us to provide a semblance of sanity and effort to generate what little GDP we actually have. Look carefully at the left today and see if you can actually see any that produce anything.
  
  The battle will take time but it is one that will be won with education as the primary weapon. Educate yourself then pay that education forward. It will take time but the worm will turn, we just have to hope that the destruction visited upon us is not irreversible. I don’t think it is but you have to keep trying.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:45am
- Clyde
  
  Good questions Tomtoddy. NZ is divided into a number of distinct groups that “think” or believe differently.
  
  I have no doubts that there is a significant number of thinking NZ’ers that are more than pissed off at what you call “maoriisation”. And rightly so. They are angry and would like to “do something”. These people in my view are not anti-maori, they are very much anti the woke crowd emnating from local and national government, universities, the education system and the myriad of maori departments, quangos and generally trough grazing organisations.
  
  Then there are the recent converts to maori thinking. These are all of the inhabitants of these converted local bodies, universities and the like. Too stupid to do anything other than what they are told to think and too scared to stand up to obvious BS.
  
  Then the huge pile in the middle that don’t want to do anything or say anything about anything. For whatever reason – apathy, ignorance, or other priorities. Until they have a maori gang move in next door, until their kids are being sold drugs by those gangs, they will continue doing nothing, saying nothing. And this is the sector that would need to be motivated to ensure a change.
  
  Don Brash tried it and nearly succeeded. I’m not sure whether it will take a very talented person to offer leadership to this middle sector. Some would argue that Princess Jacinda managed this by invoking fear and then a series of carefully crafted simple statements like hard and early, team of 5 million, best in the world etc.
  
  It will be interesting to see how many solutions that arise.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:46am
  - Batman
    
    A position that there’s one true point of view and everyone else is either dumb,ignorant, scared, or has other priorities, is hardly a way to get people to agree with you.
    
    4 19
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    April 9, 2021 10:10am
    - Yabster
      
      spoken by the woke lefty who thinks he’s always “right”…
      
      12 3
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      April 9, 2021 10:25am
      - Batman
        
        I’m a really bad lefty, I voted ACT haha
        
        5 8
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        April 9, 2021 10:41am
    - Ed Snack
      
      So you DO know that Batman. Pity you haven’t quite self actualised the thought…
      
      9 3
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      April 9, 2021 10:47am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  There are two basic approaches to dealing with injustice – working through the politicial system or using civil disobedience.
  
  Working through the politicial system would mean getting the National party to accept the principle that race should not be taken into account in any laws, regulations, or other decisions made by government. That is not impossible but would be difficult as National is pretty far gone now.
  
  Civil disobedience can be carried out in different ways. You need to be creative. One thing that would be interesting to try is for everyone who wants a race neutral society to just start identifying as Maori, choosing that whenever they fill out a form, and switching to the Maori roll. Essentially attempting to overload the systems that drive racism with nonsense so they no longer function.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:55am
  - Tomtoddy
    
    Useful comment, NK, thank you. I had thought my questions may have drawn more response. Maybe I am the one out of step or perhaps most think it is just too hard??
    
    I like the idea of the civil disobedience because the political channels are blocked.
    
    5 2
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    April 9, 2021 2:14pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Nigel, that is what my brother was promoting 20 years ago, that everyone should go on the Maori roll, and that would eliminate any discrimination.
      That is probably the only way to get rid of it, because its getting worse by the month.
      
      7 2
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      April 9, 2021 2:27pm
  - Wayne Mapp
    
    Nigel,
    
    I appreciate that this is the view of ACT (your party) but National has a different view.
    
    National does give some recognition of the Treaty in legislation, including RMA, local government, education, etc.
    
    Not as much as Labour would, but not zero as is the case with ACT, who voted against just about every treaty settlement while I was in parliament. I think they may have moved on from that in more recent years.
    
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    April 9, 2021 2:45pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  ~75% of NZers are opposed to renaming NZ to Aotearoa, but in the minds of Woke media/civil service: fuck those deplorable hoi polloi, what do they think this is a democracy or something?
  
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  April 9, 2021 10:14am
- Unity
  
  You can start by insisting the Government acknowledges our founding document, Queen Victoria’s Royal Charter/Letters Patent which annexed us from NSW (who we were under when the Treaty was signed) on 16 November 1840 and gave us our first Constitution, Legal and Justice system, our first Governor, flag etc on 6 May 1841. These iconic documents are hidden away in the Archives where one must request permission to see them. They should be on display instead of the Treaty or the Declaration of Independence the latter of which was a total failure only gaining 50 signatures and the natives just keep on warring amongst themselves.
  
  It is totally incorrect and costing us billions to acknowledge the Treaty as our founding document. It was not and founded nothing. It only brought the natives under the same laws as the rest of us. So much of our history is being suppressed and/or re-written.
  
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  April 9, 2021 1:42pm
Maggie Pie

‘Bloomberg Wealth’ reports…..

HOW THE OTHER HALF LIVE

https://twitter.com/MatthewBrockett/status/1379547409416474627

LOL!!
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April 9, 2021 9:01am
- Ed Snack
  
  That Bloomberg report does at least identify the primary driver of house prices – “ultra-loose monetary policy”.
  
  What we are seeing is a classic asset price bubble and it is indeed driven by over loose monetary policy. That policy is intended to be expansionary and to keep the economy moving through the Covid lockdowns and the like. But of course what it primarily does is go straight into the “safest” and most lucrative investment still available – real estate.
  
  Stop just printing money and house prices will at least stabilise, getting them back down may be a politically impossible act unless it happens in a crash – and we’d all suffer if that happens.
  
  This has been my point for some time, although one way to ameliorate house prices is to increase supply significantly, what won’t stop is the huge surge of investment in residential real estate – primarily for capital gains and for security. This started after the 2008/9 financial crisis with QE and other schemes. These significantly increased the money supply, at least for a start to compensate for the reduced velocity of circulation. This worked in that there was no major recession, but those actions had and continued to have unwanted side effects, primarily asset price bubbles as the extra money has to go somewhere.
  
  As these programs to increase the money supply have not been unwound or scaled back, the bubbles have just got bigger and bigger. NZ is no outlier although our property increases have been on the high side, and we can’t back out alone because if we stopped the economy would suffer and with higher interest rates the NZ$ would jump and inflict further pain.
  
  There’s no easy solution, but a plan to return to more standard monetary settings is needed with a known timeline to at least start to unwind this mess. Can’t see it happening easily though.
  
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  April 9, 2021 10:59am
Maggy Wassilieff

Looks like there might be a chaotic start to the working week next Monday at MIQ

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/440111/covid-19-authorities-unable-to-say-how-many-border-workers-unvaccinated
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April 9, 2021 9:03am
- SB2
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  10,000 plus Vaccinated so far so we are told. Does it really matter?
  
  BTW, are you thankful that Cindy got the Pfizer vaccine and not the AstonZeneca?
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:25am
  - graham
    
    And right on cue, SB2 starts with his stalking of Maggy for the day.
    
    Please SB2, just stop.
    
    [Replying to comments is not stalking. we are watching all parties here, however – Mod]
    
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    April 9, 2021 10:26am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Dear Mod,
      
      Check back on SB2’s behaviour for the last 4 years..
      
      How would you like it if a known abuser/harasser /stalker walked past your daughter’s/mother’s/ grandmother’s window each day and left a nasty note?
      
      Each time I make a comment on Kiwiblog, I run the risk of having some part of my life smeared or discover that I have been implicated in some relationship with folks or groups I know nothing of.
      
      I reported this harassment a couple of years ago to DPF.
      
      I’ve learnt to live with it… but don’t pretend that there isn’t something going on to try and break me down.
      
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      April 9, 2021 11:35am
    - graham
      
      Agree in principle, Mod. However SB2 has a long history of harassing Maggy W. as most people on this site are aware, and singling her out for attention. I believe the majority of his replies to Maggy ARE in fact an indication of his stalking tendencies. And I am heartily sick of it.
      
      [Fair enough, we’ll continue keeping an eye on it – Mod]
      
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      April 9, 2021 11:41am
      - Captain Mainwaring
        
        Mod, a better idea than ‘continuing to keep an eye on it’ would be to kick the creep into touch. Forever.
        
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        April 9, 2021 12:29pm
      - sooty
        
        I agree, continuing to watch it, means turning a blind eye. DO SOMETHING!
        
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        April 9, 2021 3:58pm
      - Nostradamus
        
        The Kiwiblog moderators might like to consider this exchange from 1.5 years ago:
        
        Maggy Wassilieff
        
        He’s been stalking me for a couple of years. I alerted DPF to this yonks ago, especially after he accused me of being Alt-Right. I can no longer be bothered notifying anyone.
        
        [Mod – it is being monitored Maggy, and stephieboy(s) has been warned to back off]
        
        SB2 hasn’t changed his behaviour since then.
        
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        April 9, 2021 5:08pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Hahahahaha, Nostradamus.
        
        I think the monitors stopped monitoring…. besides who wants to be checking slimy posts from Mikenmildagain at 11pm?
        
        https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2021/04/general_debate_08_april_2021.html#comment-2919868
        
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        April 9, 2021 5:34pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Oh dear me.
        There is a moderation process on Kiwiblog. Many former contributors left when that was introduced, and there is much less personal abuse now.
        How long should someone keep complaining about what was allowed under the old regime?
        SB2 is a moron – best ignored. He just gets excessive attention because he goes against the general tenor of Kiwiblog commenters. Equally stupid or abusive comments do not get the same reaction, so long as the commenter is on the ‘right’ side.
        Trust in the moderation and/or ignoring trolling are the remedies.
        
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        April 9, 2021 6:18pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      I think you will find that the lies about me..and calling me hysterical over my Covid-19 posts back in Feb- March 2020 occurred since moderation.
      
      You will also notice that I do not have to wait for moderation… and so it’s open slather for a stalker to post personal abuse or slimy innuendoes after my posts.
      
      The point is mikenmildagain, you’ve been a party to this personal abuse from very early on.
      
      I can’t figure out why I’ve become the subject for this personal shit.. but I accept that this blog provides a platform for you and your fellow trolls to smear me.
      
      Just don’t pretend that it isn’t happening.
      
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      April 9, 2021 8:51pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        You have three rational choices: Put up with what you consider to be abuse; ignore it, or complain to DPF.
        There is a further, irrational, choice: keep doing what you are doing. But I should point out that calling people trolls and labelling their comments as abuse does not make it so, except in your mind.
        
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        April 9, 2021 9:33pm
  - Yabster
    
    do so research before you post crap sb2 – you will post crap anyway but at least you will get an education that’s clearly lacking.
    
    The four pre-purchase agreements secured to date are:
    
    750,000 courses from Pfizer/BioNTech;
    5 million courses from Janssen;
    3.8 million courses from the University of Oxford/AstraZeneca; and
    5.36 million courses from Novavax.
    
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    April 9, 2021 10:40am
  - nathie
    
    SB2 – ten points to you for (again) calling our PM by the name of “Cindy”.
    
    (But hat tip – best not to call her Cindy in front of her adoring fans – just saying)!
    
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    April 9, 2021 11:23am
  - SB2
    
    Well given the Aussie experience I think we will ahve to carefully think about Asta Zeneca that has upturned their rollout
    
    ,,https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-08/australia-new-coronavirus-vaccine-rollout-plan-what-we-know/100057354
    
    And more importantly,
    
    Covid-19 vaccine: Government has purchased enough for every New Zealander
    
    The government has purchased enough of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for every New Zealander, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern say
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/437907/covid-19-vaccine-government-has-purchased-enough-for-every-new-zealander
    
    What’ going on there?
    
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    April 9, 2021 11:25am
    - nathie
      
      SB2 – someone was saying here yesterday (I think) that the MoH has only approved the Pfizer vaccine for release in NZ.
      
      Note the “only” part – the others including AZ have yet to receive approval.
      
      So you, as a front liner worker, have nothing to fear!
      
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      April 9, 2021 11:44am
  - Frank the tank
    
    Got yours yet Champ? – I vaguely remember you dribbling on how you were part of the health service in (little) Aotearoa at some point.
    
    Like the majority of people with a brain I don’t give a fuck what vaccine I get so as long as we get it soon so when the rest of the world start moving we can as well. I’d happily take the Sputnik or the junk the Chinese are using so we can get on with life.
    
    Fuck this Wuflu inspired hellhole we are living in at the moment.
    
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    April 9, 2021 12:15pm
    - sooty
      
      So what happens to the vaccine not needed or used, we know already that some is going to the islands. How close to expiry date will it be?
      Do they just dump the rest at the use by date?
      
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      April 9, 2021 4:02pm
- cmm
  
  I wonder if they even know how many they are paying and how many are showing up for work.
  
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  April 9, 2021 10:04am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

More riddles from Joe. This man’s illness is dangerous, not just for Americans but for the World.
https://rumble.com/vfhkrj-biden-no-amendment-to-the-constitution-is-absolute.html?
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April 9, 2021 9:04am
- Inandout
  
  SO, this man swept into power with humungous numbers, surpassing even Obama. Believe it my children, believe it.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:24am
  - Batman
    
    How weird that four years of political chaos and a decade of GOP legislative gridlock, with a pandemic which killed hundreds of thousands as well, led people to come out and vote for a change in approach.
    
    It’ll be a very short political history book, once the antics of Trump are removed and placed in its own volume of how to get ejected after one term.
    
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    April 9, 2021 10:16am
    - dcrane
      
      Pretty complicated picture, though. If we believe the data given us (and I think it was a mess, so not that much), something like 11 million people came out to vote for Trump for the first time in 2020. More blacks, Hispanics than before as well. MSM narratives are just stories.
      
      Btw funny how that “GOP legislative gridlock” continues apace on issues that matter to ordinary ppl, with Dems in charge of everything.
      
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      April 9, 2021 10:54am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    He could not fill a school classroom, yet Trump had 11000 on the water and a vehicle parade 96 miles long ffs. That is Auckland to Hamilton full of vehicles. There is another water parade coming up in Florida – it will be yuge.
    Trump lost his power as POTUS, but he has not lost his power of leadership. Slowly getting rid of RINOs. Murkoski from Alaska is next
    
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    April 9, 2021 1:53pm
- SB2
  
  Utter rot!
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:25am
- mikenmildagain
  
  What did you imagine was incorrect about that statement?
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:37am
  - Batman
    
    They’re confusing legislative process with emotional screaming on Fox about how the Marxist left are coming to make your children gay and disarmed.
    
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    April 9, 2021 10:13am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Biden – Gun violence is an epidemic.
    400 million guns and trillions of rounds of amo.
    Guns are not the problem, mental health, slack background checks and fucked up people are the problem
    
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    April 9, 2021 11:53am
- Fletch
  
  He has also pretty much ruined Trump’s work in the Middle East, supporting the Palestinians and Iran.
  
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  April 9, 2021 10:00am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    I can’t believe you really believe that, Fletch.
    
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    April 9, 2021 11:14am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    It is TDS. The left hate Trump so much they just do the exact opposite of what Trump did
    
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    April 9, 2021 11:55am
  - Wayne Mapp
    
    “Supporting Iran” apparently means going back to the nuclear deal.
    
    How exactly did Trump do any good vis a vis Iran? Reneging on the nuclear deal does not mean doing good
    
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    April 9, 2021 2:27pm
- 0A
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgC8dFmhyJQ
  
  3 2
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  April 9, 2021 12:18pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Well done, that is going on Facebook. Prob get another 30 days jail, fuck them
    
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    April 9, 2021 1:55pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

https://babylonbee.com/news/facebook-apologizes-for-getting-533-million-users-personal-data-stolen-before-they-could-sell-it?
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April 9, 2021 9:07am
Maggie Pie

Twitter trending….. #kindjacindaPM

“Racist bitch”

Is the worm turning?
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April 9, 2021 9:28am
SB2

Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
Nope , Sad Sack! ,

https://www.mycomicshop.com/search?minyr=1968&maxyr=1968&TID=197571
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April 9, 2021 9:33am
Fletch

Looks like Facebook is down as of writing.
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April 9, 2021 9:34am
- nathie
  
  Jacinda will be devastated – there goes her means to put out “propaganda”!
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:28am
WaveyDavey

These are the current Newshub headlines;

– Hipkins defends Govt’s controversial India travel ban
– Govt extends loan to Air NZ by $600m
– Minister accuses Mental Health Foundation of not telling the truth
– Garner Supports India travel ban
– Kiwis in India left devastated
– Hipkins defends still having unvaccinated border workers on frontline
– Terminally ill woman and WINZ families asked to vacate after Govt housing changes
– Govt doesn’t know how many border workers there are but still insists 90 percent have got vaccine

Now cast your mind back 4 or 5 years and imagine what would be happening if these were the headlines in National years
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April 9, 2021 9:36am
- greybeard
  
  “– Govt doesn’t know how many border workers there are but still insists 90 percent have got vaccine”
  I love that one.
  Is that from Monty Python?
  
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  April 9, 2021 10:46am
oldfella

Maybe Brexit was a smart move after all. 😉
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has predicted that Brexit Britain will grow faster than the Eurozone as well as the United States by next year, despite having one of the steepest contractions of any major Western nation during the Chinese coronavirus crisis.
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/04/08/imf-brexit-britain-to-outgrow-eurozone-and-bidens-america-by-2022/
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April 9, 2021 10:03am
dcrane

As if elite credibilty on covid wasn’t in enough of a shambles. USA NIH was funding bat coronavirus research in Wuhan and allowed the program to avoid scrutiny of a body specifically designed to evaluate risks of accidental harm. The WHO is trying to sweep this all under the rug.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbKll37uA5U
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April 9, 2021 10:05am
- SB2
  
  dcrane, speculative at best. Here’s the heading to the video,
  
  “Saagar Enjeti: Lab-Leak Hypothesis Could Reveal EPIC Screwup Of US, Fauci AND China
  
  Note “Could” Reveal….”
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:06am
  - dcrane
    
    So you only read titles? Watch the video. Enjeti and Ball are two of the better reporters out there.
    
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    April 9, 2021 11:53am
WaveyDavey

Hipkins on the vaccine roll-out on March 10

“Hipkins said two million New Zealanders would be able to get their first vaccination in the next three to four months under the government’s rollout plan.”

Let’s be generous and say 4 whole months, although originally, before recalibration, it was actually BY June

That’s 17,000 a day, every day or 120,000 a week

St Ashley’s “hope” you ask? 35,000 a week – a quarter of the government’s target. And actually nearer a fifth if you were to hold them to their word.
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April 9, 2021 10:06am
- SB2
  
  This is more precisely what he stated on the said date,
  
  COVID-19 vaccine roll-out plan
  
  Targeted roll-out over next 3-4 months will start to reach 2 million Kiwis in most at risk groups
  
  Plan prioritises people most at risk of harm if they get the virus and those who live and work in places where they are most likely to pick up COVID-19
  
  Those in South Auckland who’re over 65 or who have underlying health issues to start being vaccinated from the end of March
  
  Minimising risk of future outbreaks central to Government plan and prioritisation…”
  
  https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/covid-19-vaccine-roll-out-plan
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:03am
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Nope. Nope. Nope.
    
    “ Hipkins said two million New Zealanders would be able to get their first vaccination in the next three to four months under the government’s rollout plan.”
    
    4m 20s into the video he says that MIQ workers, frontline staff (400,000) and a further 1.7m will have been vaccinated and that they would be vaccinating the rest of the population from July.
    
    His words, his targets. You can lie and deflect, or just be downright ignorant, but you don’t get to rewrite history to further your BS
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/438064/covid-19-vaccine-2m-new-zealanders-will-get-first-dose-within-four-months
    
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    April 9, 2021 12:27pm
    - Ruawai
      
      I think you will find those vaccination targets were aspirational!!
      
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      April 9, 2021 1:20pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Pointing out facts to stupid boy? How dare you
      
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      April 9, 2021 1:58pm
    - Swifty
      
      Excellent, Wavey.
      
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      April 9, 2021 2:16pm
    - Wayne Mapp
      
      I agree entirely on that.
      
      Going by Hipkin’s promise I expect to get my vaccination no later than 30 June, which is 88 days away. It will require nearly 24,000 vaccinations every day starting from tomorrow.
      
      But given there have been no announcements about how this will actually be done, I am convinced it won’t happen.
      
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      April 9, 2021 2:35pm
      - 70andstilllearning
        
        So who do we believe Wayne if anybody? Assuming your profile similar to mine then based on this:
        
        https://covid19.govt.nz/health-and-wellbeing/covid-19-vaccines/getting-a-covid-19-vaccine/find-out-when-you-can-get-a-vaccine/
        
        You’re in Group 3 — you can get a vaccine from May
        You will be able to get vaccinated at a range of places, including community clinics, pharmacies, doctors and pop-up centres.
        
        Have they actually started Group 2 yet? May is only 21 days away.
        
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        April 9, 2021 2:52pm
      - WaveyDavey
        
        I’m apparently due to get mine “from” May
        
        Nice and specific, or at least specific enough to tell me I won’t get it before May. Nothing about when I will actually get it of course – that would imply “targets” and we can’t have that.
        
        Just a reminder that the UK vaccinated 20% of its population within 2 months of their start date. NZ hasn’t even reached 2%
        
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        April 9, 2021 3:05pm
      - Wayne Mapp
        
        There are 1.7 million in group 3 and 400,000 in group 2. All due to be vaccinated by 30 June. We are nearly halfway through April with no plan being announced. As I said above, 24,000 vaccinations per day are required for all of group 2 and 3 to be vaccinated. Each day that goes by without that number being achieved means the average daily number of vaccinations required has to go up.
        
        Based on progress so far, there is zero chance of all of Group 2 and 3 being vaccinated by 30 June, even with the first jab.
        
        Australia is going to miles ahead of us within the next 2 months, not just double the NZ rate, but probably 10 times better. I reckon the govt will be lucky to have even vaccinated all of group 2.
        
        They are going to have to put a serious action oriented task group together if they want to do what they say. Business as usual within the govt departments won’t do it.
        
        People are slowly getting disillusioned with the govt. Last year covid was a success story for the govt. This year, unless they get their skates on, the vaccination programme will go down as a failure.
        
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        April 9, 2021 6:41pm
  - WaveyDavey
    
    In fact your own link says the following:
    
    “Our sequencing plan provides certainty to the over 2 million Kiwis who can expect to start being vaccinated during the initial stages of our roll-out over the next 3-4 months.
    
    So 2 million, according to that quote, can expect to have had their first dose by the end of June
    
    You are so unbelievably tribal that even when the evidence is put in front of you, in the minister’s own words you are willing to lie and obfuscate for your own political ends
    
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    April 9, 2021 12:31pm
    - Batman
      
      There’s been a lot of that going around over the last couple of years.
      
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      April 9, 2021 1:15pm
      - WaveyDavey
        
        True enough.
        
        But it’s interesting that Hipkins didn’t disabuse anybody of the belief that that’s what he meant in the month since he said it.
        
        Now of course we have the spinners with their “ah well he didn’t say that exactly…”
        
        At the very least Hipkins was happy to take advantage of any misunderstanding that there may have been.
        
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        April 9, 2021 1:39pm
Gravelroad

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124785868/christchurch-cafe-cancels-booking-by-controversial-campaigner-billy-te-kahika

Am a bit late to the game today so apologies if this has already been a topic – saw it first thing this a.m on $tuff but now seems to have been transferred.
I guess this cafe owner has the right not to serve customers, but –
Is this just a case of “I don’t like Mr Billy TK and his politics and neither do my friends, so he’s banned”?
I didn’t realise there was so much coin to be made out of running a cafe that proprietors could afford to do that.
And another thing- which group of people I or visiting ChCh will be next to be denied through the door because of their politics or race maybe?
Bet it won’t be………….?
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April 9, 2021 10:39am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  They have a moral right not to serve him, but legally they can’t discriminate against customers based on political opinion so they may be acting unlawfully.
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:10am
  - nathie
    
    Not that I support Billy TK … but it would likely contravene the NZ Bill of Rights Act (particularly sections 15-19, or some of them).
    
    https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1990/0109/latest/DLM224792.html
    
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    April 9, 2021 11:35am
    - Paulus
      
      Who is Billy TK please ?
      
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      April 9, 2021 2:20pm
- SB2
  
  I guess even the loopy of mind should have their say. Maybe Cathedral square would be a better forum. for Billy.
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:10am
- Ehlana
  
  There’s a difference between booking a table for a meal and wanting to hold a meeting there. I would have thought he has the same right as the rest of us to drop in for lunch, but is there a right to book private space for a political meeting? That seems less likely.
  
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  April 9, 2021 12:45pm
Maggie Pie

Ricardo’s going to need to get his lazy arse out of bed if he’s hoping to lead the ‘SchoolKidZ4ClimateChange’ protest down Queen Street at lunchtime.

https://twitter.com/RMarchNZ/status/1380126936672833538

LOL!!
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April 9, 2021 11:07am
- SB2
  
  BTW MP is their an unspoken colour bar amongst your gals at Remuera Rackets ?
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:14am
  - nathie
    
    SB2 – “have you stopped beating your wife lately”?
    
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    April 9, 2021 11:38am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    And another thing SB…..have you ever been clinically diagnosed as a ‘Special Needs’ person?
    
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    April 9, 2021 12:16pm
    - sooty
      
      Wonder who paid for his trip and accommodation in Ak!
      
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      April 9, 2021 4:08pm
- Libertarians are right
  
  I love how he’s thankful in that tweet for Mojo doing all the work for him.
  
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  April 9, 2021 12:34pm
Odakyu-sen

As you know, the probability of death by coronavirus in a normal person under the age of 50 is very low.
Ref: https://toyokeizai.net/sp/visual/tko/covid19/en.html See chart “Tested Positive by Age” (right side, 3rd down).

Looking at the 40s age group (and these people ALL tested positive for the virus). Of the 67,001 cases (positives) in the 40s segment, only 66 died. We do not know what co-mobidities these 66 presented with. This group would include those aged up to 49 years. Smoking is common in Japan, so a 49-year-old male smoker could have been puffing away for about 30 years. Not good for the lungs. The upper-40s subgroup (ages 47-49) would also include a higher proportion of people with hypertension, diabetes or pre-diabetes, and people on immune-suppressing chemotherapy for cancer.

Note the 20s segment. Of the 102,315 cases (ALL tested positive for the virus) only 3 cases resulted in death and 0 cases resulted in “serious” illness. What does that tell you?
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April 9, 2021 11:07am
- SB2
  
  I see Japan is struggling Covid 19 with fresh outbreaks,
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/439890/japan-s-race-to-address-record-covid-19-infections-amid-new-resistant-variant-fears
  
  Can’t see the Olympics going ahead now.
  
  Thoughts?
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:18am
  - Odakyu-sen
    
    No.
    There is talk in Japan of holding the Olympics but not permitting tourists to come into the country. Japanese businesses are very disappointed with this idea.
    I think the Japanese government will be forced to postpone the summer games until July 2022.
    
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    April 9, 2021 12:07pm
- Fuzzysnuggleduck
  
  That is a brilliant site, thanks. Confirms what had been apparent for a year now, around the implications of Covid in general.
  Published analysis on the WHO website had revised down the initially supposed mortality rate to more in a 0.5%-1% range even late last year. The initial 3.5% death rate that was used for modelling (and fear-porn) is long since able to be discarded.
  
  Japanese suplly a very good dashboard for Covid stats, rates, numbers, trends and such.
  They have had >9,000 deaths so far. Nearly half a million Tested Positive.
  
  Many good presentations of data on that linked site, thanks.
  Hover the mouse over the ‘tested positive by age’ graph on the site and it breaks down data further.
  e.g.
  >100,000 people tested positive in the 20s group and 3 deaths. = 80 years old, you gonna die of somefink.
  
  Death rate for 80 is 14%. It is serious for vulnerable groups but very very low risk young and/or healthy people.
  The disclaimer on these stats would be local factors, like health care and for instance, Japanese do smoke (like you note), but aren’t fatties like us.
  The risk profile for Pacifica, or New Yorkers, or the people in Milan based on average age, or {ahem} body mass has already been noted by others.
  
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  April 9, 2021 12:36pm
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    Some parts lost (formatting issue, lines lost after the ‘e.g.’?) from my post here:
    
    […it breaks down data further. e.g.]
    over 100,000 people tested positive in the 20s group and only 3 deaths. Less than 0.003%.
    70,000 in 30s, 18 deaths. 0.025%
    67,000 in 40’s 66 deaths. 0.098%
    61,000 in 50’s 195 deaths. 0.31%
    Long ago it was noted that Covid death rates are very similar to death rates based on purely age grouping.
    
    [By the time you are >80 years old, you gonna die of somefink…..]
    
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    April 9, 2021 12:47pm
Black Propaganda

Westpac NZ Divestment

Guys and girls did you notice or not notice Westpac running up the flag, the possibility of divesting its NZ operation. Bet yah, Grunter has been talking with them on the possibility of purchasing Westpac NZ and folding it into Kiwibank but why?

-The peasants have been calling for Kiwibank to be the Government’s banker rather than Westpac but Kiwibank is not capable.

-Good for political optics.

But why would Westpac sell?

-Well, NZ’s economy is not looking good for banking go forward.

-Grunter wants it and has billions of printed money and Cullen paid a fortune to Toll for Kiwirail. Westpac smells excess profit to be made.

Of course, as part of the agreement to sell, Westpac will have to give up banking in NZ for say 10-years. Which would be just about the right amount of time before reentering at the bottom of the economic cycle.

Chef Economist for Westpac, Dominic Stephens, was recently seconded to Tresuary.
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April 9, 2021 11:19am
- Master Mariner
  
  Probably like the oil and gas.
  
  political instability on the horizon. Not too mention possibility of some serious defaults in Housing and banks forced to cover losses?
  
  My 2 bobs.
  
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  April 9, 2021 2:06pm
Tony Stuart

Newstalk ZB tweets:

Newstalk ZB
@NewstalkZB
PM: Frontline border workers must be vaccinated by Monday or else

https://bit.ly/2PHWI8o

https://twitter.com/NewstalkZB/status/1380233986077818880

“Or else” what Prime Minister?
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April 9, 2021 11:30am
- 70andstilllearning
  
  Hard to say Tony – Frown? Wave hands about? Say ” I don’t accept that”? Any of those really draconian options. Or kiwiclassic might have the answer.
  
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  April 9, 2021 12:03pm
- graham
  
  Well, as per Maggy’s comment earlier, as:
  
  (a) the Ministry of Health doesn’t know how many frontline border workers they actually have; but
  (b) still insists 90 percent has had at least one dose
  
  I don’t see this as being a problem for them. If they ask, just say “yeah, I’ve had both doses, no worries.”
  
  Chances are, they can’t even look your name up to check if you’re telling porkies. Or their stats show they have 16,382 workers of which 23,801 have been vaccinated at least five times …
  
  https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2021/04/general_debate_09_april_2021.html#comment-2919939
  
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  April 9, 2021 12:38pm
- 70andstilllearning
  
  On further reflection to above Tony I think your serious question deserves a serious reply.
  
  In my view, early next week a new s 70 will issued by St Ash to address the “Or else”. My logic for this is as follows.
  A few weeks ago a personal mouth slip by the PM was addressed in a similar manner after her attack on the KFC worker. Ultimate outcome was no apology, no comment required as position vindicated ( in her mind at least ) and MSM have now forgotten all about it.
  
  So today’s heat of the moment mouth slip will be no different. Once a show pony learns a trick that makes points then you don’t change the trick until it no longer gets those points.
  
  FWIIW the s 70 v1 will probably be unenforceable due to issues raised by Graham et al above but will be seen by those that matter to her as being “strong” and “on to it”.
  
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  April 9, 2021 3:26pm
Maggy Wassilieff

No more lions at Wellington Zoo…. for a time
http://wellington.scoop.co.nz/?p=135375

I had a spell as a Teacher at Wellington Zoo…and when I first started, I believed Zoos did conservation work.

But alas, it is spin.
Zoo animals in NZ are never returned to the wild… Now Zoos are just maintaining an inbred stock of large mammals confined to unnatural quarters.
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April 9, 2021 11:51am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Nice disguise. You are talking about the Labour Party. Well done!
  The Labour of yesteryear is no way the Labour of 2020/2021
  
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  April 9, 2021 3:48pm
- chuk
  
  Interesting comment Maggy. I have thought the same thing for many years now. The last time I went to a zoo was over 35 years ago; it was supposedly a progressive zoo (Jersey, Channel Islands) but really was just depressing. Never again.
  
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  April 9, 2021 11:44pm
Maggie Pie

Might be an idea to check the T&C’s on your ‘SC Ultra Care’.

According to Magic’s Peter Williams, you aren’t covered for any adverse reaction to the Covid vaccinations.
They expect ACC to provide the appropriate care.
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April 9, 2021 11:56am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  ACC- fully covered until you make a claim
  
  16 2
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  April 9, 2021 12:01pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Scary isn’t it Steve, having to rely on the likes of ACC.
    Apparently, what SC term ‘experimental vaccines’ are specifically excluded.
    
    13 1
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    April 9, 2021 12:23pm
- KevO'Brien
  
  Is it medical misadventure with a vaccine not fully tested?
  
  Who is going to accept liability?
  
  10 2
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  April 9, 2021 1:13pm
  - H. Upmann
    
    Kev – Every Covid vaccine patient will be a human lab rat.
    Any vaccine I have ever taken has had YEARS of testing before being used on humans.
    Liability acceptance? That is where the years are going to be spent, sorting that out, not in science and testing. Why have the manufacturers been given immunity?
    
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    April 9, 2021 1:30pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Nobody, they have ‘recused’ themselves
    
    7 2
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    April 9, 2021 2:02pm
Monique Watson

Some people are arseholes for saying there is no suggestion that other people are vaccine dodgers or anti vaxxers when there was so evidence such an individual was.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-addresses-media-at-opening-of-telehealth-service-in-auckland/MIBMWJS3XSWFDN6W7YAMOPZTP4/
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April 9, 2021 12:17pm
Nickc2

Oh dear, what’s daddy going to do to get himself and his idiot son out of this?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9445105/What-Hunter-Biden-left-tell-memoir-revealed.html
Oh, that’s right, the Dems are in charge now so crime only applies to Republicans.
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April 9, 2021 12:54pm
- SB2
  
  A different and more balanced review of his book is here,
  
  Excerpt ,
  
  “..Recent events offer Hunter Biden some measure of personal vindication and schadenfreude. A report by the National Intelligence Council (NIC) assessed that he and his father were targeted by Russia as part of campaign to swing the election in favor of Trump.
  
  According to the NIC, Moscow used “proxies linked to Russian intelligence” –including “some close to former President Trump and his administration” – “to push influence narratives including misleading or unsubstantiated allegations against President Biden”. Rudy Giuliani looks like a Kremlin dupe.
  
  But it doesn’t end there. In December 2019, the Florida congressman Matt Gaetz belittled Hunter Biden for his substance abuse. It was a no-holds-barred takedown, unleavened by Gaetz’s own history of drinking and driving..”
  
  https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/04/beautiful-things-review-hunter-biden-donald-trump-addiction-ukraine
  
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  April 9, 2021 2:41pm
  - Libertarians are right
    
    Like with the DNC “hack”, does it really matter how the info got out there? It’s still authentic and a far bigger story than the boogeyman of “Russian Interference”. Russia does what Russia does, that really isn’t a story. The US does the same all over the world.
    
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    April 9, 2021 3:08pm
Maggie Pie

“I’m an expert on racism – because I’m black”

This is sooo worth a watch! Calling out a true racist and demanding proof of his outlandish claims.

https://twitter.com/addicted2newz/status/1379797221785341962
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April 9, 2021 1:00pm
- Paulus Gnome
  
  One of your better links MP
  
  Well argued. ‘I’m an expert . . . ‘ So Willie Jackson, Tamahere, Hone, scribble face . . . .
  
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  April 9, 2021 1:24pm
Bullion

I’m so glad we didn’t go down the ‘learn to live it’ route for a disease we didn’t know the long term impacts

New findings, published in the Lancet Psychiatry journal, analyzed health records of more than 230,000 COVID-19 patients, mostly from the United States, and found 34% had been diagnosed with neurological or psychiatric illnesses within six months.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-brain/a-third-of-covid-survivors-suffer-neurological-or-mental-disorders-study-idUSKBN2BT2ZI
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April 9, 2021 1:18pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh Grief!
What are the good folks of Gizzy to do about getting a Covid-19 vaccination?

One of the members of our DHB and a District Councillor has been expressing her doubts about the safety and legitimacy of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine.

http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/local-news/20210409/rebuke-for-vaccine-post/
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April 9, 2021 1:56pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Why would anyone get a vaccine. Covid 19 has cured influenza, pneumonia, emphysema, brain tumors, bronchitis, lung cancer, cystic fibrosis, asthma.
What did I leave out?
13 4
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April 9, 2021 2:07pm
- greybeard
  
  Old age and car crashes.
  
  8 0
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  April 9, 2021 2:28pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

NZ is not in good shape atm.
I see that Cindy has today announced that the Wuhan Flu has claimed further NZ businesses.
Our bra manufacturer has gone bust.
The specialist in submersibles has gone under.
A dog kennel has had to call in the retrievers.
The suppliers of paper for origami enthusiasts has folded.
The Heinz factory has been canned as they couldn’t ketchup with orders.
A tarmac laying company has reached the end of the road.
The manufacturer of food blenders has gone into liquidation.
Your local bread company has run out of dough.
The clock manufacturer has had to wind down.
The shoe shop has had to put his foot down and given his staff the boot.
Your local computer repair shop had virus issues.
The Undertaker lost the plot.
The tyre shop business went flat.
The fencing contractor got posted out of town.
And the launderette has been taken to the cleaners!
I didn’t mention anything to the washing machine as she puts a different spin on everything.
Certainly not to the fridge as he is acting cold and distant.
In the end the iron calmed me down as she said everything will be fine, no situation is too pressing.
The vacuum cleaner was very unsympathetic… told me to just suck it up, but the fan was more optimistic and hoped it would all soon blow over!
The toilet looked a bit flushed when I asked its opinion and didn’t say anything but the door knob told me to get a grip.
The front door said I was unhinged and so the curtains told me to pull myself together…….”
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April 9, 2021 2:17pm
- SB2
  
  Can’t be nearly as bad as the mess Trump left.
  
  https://www.businessinsider.com.au/top-historian-trump-legacy-will-always-be-covid-19-deaths-2020-12?r=US&IR=T
  
  Highest world death toll through his incompetence!
  
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  April 9, 2021 2:22pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

The truth about New Zealand’s socialist Prime Minister.
In the very near future we’re going to hear Ardern start crowing about how her government’s ‘strong, decisive measures’ have staved off a biological disaster, with 10s of thousands of lives ‘saved’.
This is, of course, a completely baseless claim, having no more truth than saying weeks of house arrest saved us all from an asteroid strike. Nevertheless, our sycophantic media will once again provide air cover for the lies, presenting correlation as causation. Sadly millions of unthinking New Zealanders will simply accept this at face value.
The truth reads something more like this.
☛ If you are now unemployed, Covid-19 isn’t the cause. You are unemployed because of the Ardern government’s response to Covid-19.
☛ If you are stressed, traumatized or suffering increased family violence, Covid-19 isn’t the cause. You are experiencing this because of the Ardern government’s response to Covid-19. (and please seek help.. don’t wait for a government service)
☛ If you have been forced to close your business, Covid-19 isn’t the cause. You’ve been forced to close your business because of the Ardern government’s response to Covid-19.
☛ If your health is suffering because hospitals have cancelled your outpatient appointments or your scheduled operation, Covid-19 isn’t the cause. Your health is suffering because of the Ardern government’s response to Covid-19.
☛ If you are suffering emotionally due be being separated from loved ones, Covid-19 isn’t the cause. You are suffering because of the Ardern government’s response to Covid-19.
You get the idea. Please, please, please don’t buy the line that all this hardship and pain was necessary ‘because of Covid-19’. That is a unmitigated lie. Spread this message far and wide, because the lies from this government are gathering pace, and for the most part, the media are not holding them to account.
What the left don’t get is that Jacinda Ardern is living rent free in their heads – they are brainwashed
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April 9, 2021 2:19pm
- SB2
  
  Speaking of the brainwashed,
  
  https://www.mcall.com/opinion/readers-react/mc-opi-let-strisofsky-trump-supporters-brainwashing-20201204-auw47ngbdfehvdbaaoyanyirga-story.html
  
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  April 9, 2021 2:26pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Beautifully summed up SteveO. And you are sooo right of course….
  During 2020 the only thing that got more washed than peoples hands, were their brains.
  
  13 2
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  April 9, 2021 2:44pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I did not write this. Copied from my FB memories folder
    
    6 3
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    April 9, 2021 2:53pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

American Patriot, Dan Crenshaw – Navy Seal. 5 tours, lost his eye on the 3rd and went back for 2 more tours. This man don’t need kevlar undies – he has balls of steel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaCFgSPNWuw
8 3
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April 9, 2021 2:37pm
- SB2
  
  Dan Henshaw appears to have the real Mojo when he told Trump protestors to stop the Bullshit,
  
  https://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/Dan-Crenshaw-Donald-Trump-protest-stop-bullshit-15851060.php
  
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  April 9, 2021 3:08pm
graham

It was never a question of “if”, merely a question of “who would be silly enough to pull out the RACIST card and wave it in Jacinda’s face”.

Cue Golriz Ghahraman.

https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2021/04/09/golriz-ghahraman-insinuates-jacinda-is-racist-cue-eye-rolling-now/

Green MP Golriz Ghahraman is questioning if “race” is a factor in the Government’s decision to ban travellers from India entering New Zealand for two weeks.

…Golriz is insinuating that Jacinda is racist for closing down travel from India.

Do Golriz and Ricardo have the same adviser? Both seem to cry “RACIST!” at the least provocation.

There is so much I could say, but actually Martyn Bradbury sums it up nicely.

Some people are so accustomed to seeing only racism that they scream racist when they see their own shadow.
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April 9, 2021 3:16pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Jaspinda, buy votes. This is how you do it. Overstayers in NZ, just give them a handout – talk to immigration about residency as well.
https://uniteamericafirst.com/new-york-will-offer-one-time-payments-of-up-to-15600-to-illegal-aliens-who-lost-work-during-pandemic/?
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April 9, 2021 4:19pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/124774950/trustees-clock-up-fees-of-109k-each-a-year-as-trust-goes-broke
This is a lesson in simple arithmetic !
Maori + Money = Corruption
Money = Maori + Corruption
Corruption = Maori + Money
7 4
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April 9, 2021 4:37pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Is this unique to Maori?
  
  3 7
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  April 9, 2021 4:53pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Stop telling facts, it is just not on to tell facts
  
  6 4
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  April 9, 2021 4:57pm
- Swifty
  
  greybeard, you just can’t say this mate.
  
  To blanket label a whole group of people on the actions of a few is not only classic racism, it is also plain wrong.
  
  I absolutely concede there has been a worrisome amount of people in governance and leadership positions in Maori organisations found with their hand in the till recently but you cannot and must not fall into the trap of thinking this is indicative of all Maori. It is not.
  
  Besides, there are plenty of thieving pakehas in NZ, we read about them all the time; does that make all pakeha thieves?
  
  Of course not.
  
  Please give this post from me your consideration.
  
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  April 9, 2021 6:18pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Before you go back to whatever you socialists do at my expense.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWg3ZwJ4KeA
2 3
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April 9, 2021 4:51pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  You have 9 minutes, but you are at the door? No time clock checkout? Cleaners coming in to clean your shit like bins and kitchen? Vacumn your office floor?
  You lazy socialist bastards
  
  3 3
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  April 9, 2021 4:55pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    What’s wrong now Steve?
    
    2 5
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    April 9, 2021 6:20pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING….

I see where Tamati’s feeling the love.
Saying he’s hoping to get pregnant again
Will he beat the boss to it I wonder?
7 4
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April 9, 2021 5:30pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  He wasn’t feeling the love on election night – takes some doing to be ousted by a nut-job in an election where all you had to do was pose with a picture of St Jacinda the Good to get voted in.
  
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  April 9, 2021 6:28pm
Maggie Pie

“Shit! Here’s Chris. Everyone look busy”
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April 9, 2021 7:02pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Well this is encouraging news..

Our Government suddenly realises that to solve my Kiwimaths problem they need to determine X (The total number of border workers)

of course:

“This is a conversation we should have been having a year ago, and it should have lasted 30 seconds,” Prof Gorman said.

“The border is so important – this is a requirement, there are no exceptions.”

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/04/coronavirus-government-to-make-testing-register-mandatory-after-admitting-it-doesn-t-know-how-many-border-workers-are-being-swabbed.html
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April 9, 2021 7:18pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Our Dear Leader has no clue what the warmongers have been doing on her watch.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/exclusive-nz-companies-exporting-military-equipment-countries-accused-human-rights-violations
5 2
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April 9, 2021 7:29pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  I would guess that MFAT has been routinely approving these sorts of exports for many years. I doubt any ministers have even been aware of the process. But maybe we will see a chart showing that none of these permission have been granted under National governments…
  Good to know that the government is going to review this.
  
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  April 9, 2021 9:37pm
Tauhei Notts

Cactus Kate’s Asian Invasion blog has a piece on it today that is totally brilliant.
No man could ever write that well. An intelligent woman can. Somebody out there with better IT skills than me; get the link.
It is possibly one of her very best contributions.
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April 9, 2021 11:14pm

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