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April 12, 2021 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 12 April 2021

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Happychappy

Government putting more beneficiaries into greater debt with loans totaling almost $2 billion.
Figures released to One News under the Official Information Act show almost 560,000 people now owe $ 1.9 billion to the Ministry of Social Development its 50,000 more people than in 2018 when it was $1.5 billion worth of interest free loans, that were handed out for things like School Uniforms, the Dentist, Electricity and car repairs.
Each person owes almost $500 more than 3 years ago with the average loan being $3420.
Green Party spokesperson Ricardo Menendez March said the Crown have the ability to wipe the debt that beneficiaries havens this would have a reset to get people back on their feet with not having to lose $20, $30 or $40 of their weekly income.
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/government-putting-more-beneficiaries-into-greater-debt-loans-totalling-almost-2-billion
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April 12, 2021 8:00am
- RW Capitalist
  
  I posted last night
  WOW…TV1 news
  $2bill owed by beneficiaries to the govt.
  Not what I am concerned about as much as the stupidity of the media.
  Commenting on this, the “journalist” had a woman there, he described as “EARNING ” X dollars on the benefit.
  She EARNED ….NOTHING she was given it by the tax payer via the IRD.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:06am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    I said the exact same thing to my wife at the time.
    
    No, actually that’s not quite right. I shouted the exact same thing at the TV, with my wife blocking her ears.
    
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    April 12, 2021 6:09pm
- Flossie
  
  Maybe if they were given lessons in Sensible Spending or similar it might help? I mean if the choice is pay the power bill or get another tattoo…
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:10am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Yup, March bro’s recommendation will be accepted in May budget and the debt will be wiped off. After all 2B is pocket change for Robber(tson).
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:15am
- KevO'Brien
  
  It works both ways: Winz are frequently friendly in seeing that money urgently needed is made available. The rules seem to vary day by day and sometimes they make payments without recoveries being required.
  
  Other reasons for the “advances” is adjustment to benefits after they have been paid, the excess may be claimed back as a debt to Winz–perfectly reasonable.
  
  It is a valuable backstop for beneficiaries. I haven’t used it in recent years but my family have. The repayments are set to be agreeably affordable too. No interest is charged and for those on the lower incomes it fills in where a bank may not.
  
  Overall I believe it to be working well. When you consider the size of the Winz task they have to be rated as “good”.
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:36am
Brian McDonald

A super dad, and son:

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/sport/2021/04/cricket-rachin-ravindra-s-blackcaps-call-up-15-years-in-the-making.html
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April 12, 2021 8:02am
- Frank the tank
  
  Let’s see. Always tough the step up from NZ domestic cricket to International T1 nations. Let’s hope not another Jeet Reval or Tim McIntosh where technical deficiencies were cruelly exposed.
  
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  April 12, 2021 8:27am
  - Brian McDonald
    
    Of course let’s see. But on committment they win – a dad and his boy working toward greatness.
    
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    April 12, 2021 9:08am
- pdm
  
  A dad doing what dads always used to do before `woke’ came along.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:04am
JibberJabber

It’s almost as if this guy has been studying Jacinda,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0-WkpmTPrM
The language of lying — Noah Zandan
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April 12, 2021 8:05am
- Littletramp
  
  Does “convoluted phrasing” ring any bells?
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:10am
dcrane

Gloriavale getting unfair/uncivil cancel culture treatment? Or is there enough evidence in the public arena that these people should be shunned by business until changes are made? So difficult to tell, but in this political environment I have to wonder.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/124684504/moo-chews-ditches-gloriavale-factory-and-seeks-new-manufacturer
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April 12, 2021 8:06am
- David George
  
  Gloriavale operate under a tribal/communitarian/collectivist model, a lot like Rangatiratanga. They get hell from the media and the offenderatti generally; I wonder, if it was a Maori group operating in this way what the reaction would be. All wonderful, the way of the future, a model for us all to emulate etc.?
  I suspect Gloriavale would have (or will have) some serious grounds for claims of harassment on the basis of culture/religion worth pursuing.
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:33am
- Ehlana
  
  Gloriavale does not seem to have robust systems of governance; the leaders being a self-perpetuating group cannot really claim a mandate from their community.
  
  It also does not seem to have good systems for people choosing to leave (and remember by now, many of those will be people born into the community). The only choice is stay on the leaders terms or leave and lose all contact with your family.
  
  The system of collective provision could also be described as a company shop – instead of getting wages to spend as you choose, you are forced to accept what the company chooses to give you. Such places actually used to exist and charged excessive prices for inferior goods to a captive employee market. Parliaments eventually outlawed the practice.
  
  Gloriavale could choose better practices; if their community has real value, it would survive. In the meantime I can understand companies being sufficiently concerned to seek other suppliers.
  
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  April 12, 2021 2:05pm
Souvlaki

Was the latest border worker to be infected with Covid also unvaccinated?
Also…how is it ” new areas of interest” become available on Sunday afternoon…several days after the initial guard in the latest outbreak was infected. Why the delay? Has the guard been withholding information OR has the MOH been extremely tardy??
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April 12, 2021 8:06am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Don’t know…
  Don’t know
  Don’t know.
  
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/04/covid-19-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-unable-to-say-if-latest-border-related-case-is-vaccinated.html
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:16am
  - Greg Ettridge
    
    Unable to say!
    “lacking the skill, means, or opportunity to do something.”
    That definition really does sum up the great orator.
    This journo could will be beaten to death with an organic carrot for using these terms when describing the great one that walks among us, not.
    
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    April 12, 2021 10:21am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Cindy admits she doesn’t have a clue in Duncan G’s interview. Shame on her. But this will increase her vote percentage by another 5 points.
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:16am
- Happychappy
  
  This from a Prime Minister that obviously doesn’t have high standards or the vision to implement a safe plan on Vaccinations. You are the Prime Minister, leader of this Country and you don’t know who and how many front line border staff have been vaccinated, that’s your job not the job of the opposition to know more that you and all you can do is play games and continue to lie your way out of the problem.
  https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2021/04/covid-19-vaccine-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-defends-new-zealand-jab-rollout-after-another-border-worker-tests-positive.html
  When will the public wake up to this incompetence and forget about how nice our Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is and hold her to account for the many fuckups she has presided over.
  
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  April 12, 2021 11:00am
Maggie Pie

TRENDING….

Sounds like we may be only hours away from securing a massive FREE TRADE DEAL with Britain

(Although going by some of the comments, there’s a few Poms that sound none to happy about it)

https://twitter.com/TheSun/status/1381185341512687617
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April 12, 2021 8:15am
- Philview
  
  Remainers aren’t happy about it. I haven’t seen much in the NZ media about this.
  
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  April 12, 2021 8:20am
- Frank the tank
  
  Detail is always the killer here. My understanding is that it won’t be back to the 1970’s as much as you would think.
  
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  April 12, 2021 8:24am
- SB2
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Like this one?,
  
  Tweet
  See new Tweets
  Conversation
  
  The Sun
  @TheSun
  ·
  10h
  Britain close to securing huge free trade deal with New Zealand – bringing cheaper wine and meat
  
  Britain close to securing huge free trade deal with New Zealand – bringing cheaper wine and meat
  BRITAIN is within an ace of clinching a free trade deal that will bring cheaper wine and meat imports from New Zealand. Ministers have made “rapid progress” in talks aimed at driving down prices an…
  thesun.co.uk
  
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  April 12, 2021 8:30am
  - Happychappy
    
    Post the link steffi as your word is like Jacindas lies full of shit with no substance.
    
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    April 12, 2021 9:13am
    - Don Beckett
      
      He doesn’t know how to.
      
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      April 12, 2021 1:54pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    HUH??
    Come on SB! Wakey Wakey Hands Off Snakey 😀
    
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    April 12, 2021 9:55am
  - Greg Ettridge
    
    What is sent the other way, Why secure a trade deal around meat, when the Australian farmer best friend Jacinda, is screwing NZ farmers with her crazy climate plans.
    
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    April 12, 2021 10:26am
- Joe Banana
  
  Yes, they will be very fortunate. The Brits will be able to enjoy our products at a cheaper price than us.
  
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  April 12, 2021 8:30am
  - Nickc2
    
    Well, there goes all our prime meats. Only the left-overs will be available for local consumption (good for hangis, curry and chow mein though).
    
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    April 12, 2021 9:36am
  - fernglas
    
    They have for the last 30 years, so I don’t see why it should change now.
    
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    April 12, 2021 9:47am
- Bill Felt
  
  I think the Aussies will get there first!
  
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  April 12, 2021 8:34am
- Ruahine
  
  That is great news. I do so love those Mr Kipling cakes. Won’t be buying any of ‘their’ cars though. Stick with the Koreans. They are reliable.
  
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  April 12, 2021 8:36am
  - NoCash
    
    Nah, unless you’re talking about niche or very expensive supercars like McLaren, many UK car plants are either Japanese or German owned, so not crap anymore.
    
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    April 12, 2021 9:17am
- Tauhei Notts
  
  More English cars?
  My 74 year old mate used to have eight staff in his auto-electrical business. Then Jap cars came along and destroyed his repair business so that nowadays he is doing part time work, on his own, specialising in old English cars; a real craftsman.
  If New Zealand is to import more English junk cars, my mate might have to come out of retirement.
  
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  April 12, 2021 8:46am
  - Jack5
    
    I like Japanese cars – and Korean ones – too, Tauhei, but British cars have improved with the rest of those of the rest of the world auto industry.
    
    Toyota, Honda and Nissan have manufacturing plants in Britain, and LandRover and Jaguar are still made in Britain. BMW makes its he Mini hatchback, convertible, and Clubman ranges in Britain.
    
    Car manufacturers are so international now, hta you’re never sure which country makes which model. Giving different names for one model in various countries adds to the variation.
    
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    April 12, 2021 10:13am
    - Jack5
      
      Sorry about the typos – didn’t get back in time to edit the post.
      
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      April 12, 2021 10:39am
  - Swifty
    
    I can personally attest to that Tauhei Notts.
    
    I did my auto-electrical apprenticeship in Wellington in the mid to late 80s and did huge volumes of English starters, alternators, regulators and generators.
    
    The Jap gear though just went on and on and on.
    
    If of interest, I did my time alongside two old-school Pom tradesmen one of whom did his apprenticeship on Lancasters during the war. A complete craftsman. His work was perfection and he conducted himself with utter professionalism at all times.
    
    A real gem.
    
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    April 12, 2021 10:26am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Recall the saying “Lucas, Prince of Darkness” vis-a-vis the electrical systems in British cars of the seventies and eighties.
    
    Before that it wasn’t so bad as there was damn all for the electrics to do so less failure prone. Though I did once have a 1968 MkII Mini Cooper (and I wish I still did but the rust took it away a long time ago -ex UK model and had been on salted roads) that used to suffer every time it rained until I fitted a distributor shield in the grille.
    
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    April 12, 2021 11:20am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Same in my old Triumph motorcycle.
      
      Had a laugh when you mentioned that.
      
      “Recall the saying “Lucas, Prince of Darkness” vis-a-vis the electrical systems in British cars of the seventies and eighties.”
      
      Not being very electrical minded , Lucas are absolute Shite, Apparently another company “Wassle?” have bought out Lucas and are even worse.
      
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      April 12, 2021 12:53pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      That dizzy was a problem. Every time it rained hard the harbour bridge got choked up with Minis
      
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      April 12, 2021 5:22pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    They may be shit, but they are British
    
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    April 12, 2021 5:19pm
- Southtop2
  
  so on one hand the PM will claim she is looking after the farmers if this deal gets through and on the other she is actively destroying their business.
  Good if the deal does go through however what added costs will be laid out in the name of climate?
  In the Top of the South there is now a term used ‘Jacinda Workers’. Since no RSE workers can come in (in fact no one is allowed) the local unemployable have been forced to pick fruit. Why hasn’t their been screams about lack of staff from this region – massive boxing day hail storm destroyed much of the crop (Damien O’C may have dodged one here). Back to the Jacinda workers – they arrive and pick one 20 carton bin in a day and receive (8x$20) $160/day – for those that do not know most pickers would pick 75-100 carton equivalents in a day. So they are effectively costing the orchardists $8/carton to pick. Get an 80% pack out and the costs are silly at $10/carton. … but that’s not the worst of it – the existing pickers are watching the young and the useless and think why should I work on contract when those sods get $800/week picking (5 Bins) what I pick in a day – upshot further lost productivity. If pushed thankfully the Jacinda workers often forget to turn up or back to the 70’s ACC.
  One final thought about the climate – when CO2 is helping plants produce why would we tax it?
  
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  April 12, 2021 12:55pm
- curry4me
  
  Maggie Pie: The more stuff we sell them, the less dependant we are on the PRC.
  
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  April 12, 2021 3:07pm
kevn

@Maggie… Cheaper ‘what products’ for NZ?
Cheaper A grade meat and wine for UK.
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April 12, 2021 8:25am
- Maggie Pie
  
  Gin, My Kipling’s Cakes, and my absolute fave – ‘Yorkshire Tea’
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:01am
  - Maxx
    
    My wife’s a nut for Yorkshire tea, and not the stuff in the supermarkets which is of a lower strength and made somewhere else.
    
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    April 12, 2021 10:50am
    - curry4me
      
      Max: I hope it includes McVitties Rich Tea bikkies. -;)
      
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      April 12, 2021 3:08pm
      - Loddenthinks
        
        Only if you spell McVities properly 🙂
        
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        April 12, 2021 6:40pm
- Gravelroad
  
  Meat????
  Bedda consult Mr James Shaw and that climate commission fanatic about that.
  We can’t just be producing more climate changing meat without a working group looking into it, for one thing.
  Do they realise that beef cattle are virtually no different at all to dairy cows?
  As for the wine, grape vines (grow like weeds) cover a lot of NZ’s best productive land…..
  And seeing as a high percentage of wine making here is in the hands of “foreign” corporations most of the profits go off shore anyway – to the owners.?
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:25am
  - Jimbob
    
    Meat is huge in North and South America, Germans eat large quantities of meat, like the French. Asia also eats large quantities of meat, so the green knuckle draggers can take a hike. I hope this clears things up. ?
    
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    April 12, 2021 10:06am
    - RockyJ
      
      Asians eat a lot of meat, just not any animals we grow
      
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      April 12, 2021 4:00pm
  - cha
    
    Meat?
    
    Doubt it.
    
    28 November 2017
    […]
    It found that a ‘no-deal’ outcome would lead to a collapse in trade, with a 90% drop in beef exports and 53% drop in lamb exports from the UK to the EU
    
    https://www.farminguk.com/news/british-meat-exports-to-eu-set-to-fall-by-90-in-hard-brexit-scenario-report-warns_48014.htm
    
    23 March 2021
    […]
    Exports of fish and meat from the UK to the EU saw a dramatic dip in January compared with the previous year, compounding the chaos following the end of the Brexit transition period.
    
    According to the Food and Drink Federation (FDF), among the hardest hit export foodstuffs were salmon, which saw a 98% dip from the year earlier; beef, which fell by 91.5%; and cheese which also declined 85.1%
    https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/brexit-uk-salmon-exports-to-eu-crash-98-134750686.html?
    
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    April 12, 2021 10:36am
- rockape
  
  Pre common market NZ lamb was for poor people. If you wanted decent lamb it was welsh. No chef would serve other than welsh lamb.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:31am
  - Swifty
    
    I’ve heard great things about Welsh lamb reared out on the coast (salt marsh lamb?).
    
    Never tried it myself, but have heard it is very good.
    
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    April 12, 2021 10:29am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      If you like your lamb chewy, fatty and tasteless, yes it’s very good.
      
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      April 12, 2021 6:45pm
  - WaveyDavey
    
    Post the EEC it was too.
    
    NZ lamb, frozen and shipped was always the cheapest in any supermarket, certainly up until I left in the early noughties.
    
    It was was what you bought for a bog-standard roast, stew, curries etc when you had other flavours.
    
    Real lamb for lamb’s sake was only ever British lamb. Preferably Welsh salt-marsh raised, the best in the world, if you could beat the Michelin-starred restaurants and the French to it.
    
    Same with Scottish seafood. Atlantic cold water shellfish knock spots off any other – to the point where langoustines are carefully and individually wrapped before being flown to London and continental Europe – to be served within 6 hours of leaving the sea.
    
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    April 12, 2021 10:42am
- Ed Snack
  
  I think a lot of the change will be to remove quotas. With the UK in the EU the NZ Meat Industry had quotas applying to all the meat being sent to Europe, the tariffs weren’t that high as I recall.
  
  France, Germany, and Belgium used to be the biggest markets for NZ meat, a lot of it in the specialist “butcher” trade that the continentals use more than the UK. There, it was more supermarket oriented and those UK supermarkets drive very hard bargains indeed – damn all profit for anyone.
  
  I guess the issue is that the Europeans are wealthier, and if they are prepared to spend significantly more on meat to get the best available, then NZ’ers will need to pay the same (minus shipping costs) to access the same quality. As a market, NZ is just way to small for the meat producers to focus on, and without exports there would be a temporary glut until the herd sizes reduced to match demand (driving up prices ultimately no doubt).
  
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  April 12, 2021 11:26am
  - chukar
    
    Look at the latest farming mags.
    Dairy down 13%
    Lamb kill a record low.
    NZ s much abused farmers can’t produce without adequate. returns and reasonable regulations.
    The new productivity commissioner has just waffled, mostly in Te Reo ,about a new start.
    I guess he used Te Reo so no one could understand what he was saying.
    There is no plan to support tradeable producers
    
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    April 12, 2021 5:41pm
[email protected]

Solar uptake in New Zealand has been slow. The up-front costs are high and the return is slow. There are no government financial incentives like many other countries.

Solar only produces during the day and without expensive batteries you still depend on the grid for energy during the night. Luckily New Zealand currently has excess energy available at night.

Many power companies pay nothing for excess solar energy exported to the grid, or if they do pay it is a minimal amount. Here is where legislation could help.

Power usage is highest during the day when solar panels work and energy companies are making very good profits on any energy being exported to the grid. If owners of solar installation were paid more for the energy they export there would be more incentive to invest in solar arrays.
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April 12, 2021 8:25am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Unfortunately domestic exports to the grid are very difficult for power planners and grid management is not as simple as it seems. Massive problems caused by this in South Australia.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:16am
  - [email protected]
    
    Interesting enough for me to do a bit of research on this disruptive technology.
    
    Although this article only discusses the USA, it is likely to be pertinent for any country. This article is very unbiased and provides good insight into why power companies do not like solar:
    
    https://theconversation.com/why-rooftop-solar-is-disruptive-to-utilities-and-the-grid-39032
    
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    April 12, 2021 11:16am
    - Southtop2
      
      its only disruptive if it works all of the time?
      
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      April 12, 2021 2:26pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Jo Nova has had a watching brief on this and is a good source. Search her archives under South Australia.
      https://joannenova.com.au/
      
      Here’s one instance:
      https://joannenova.com.au/2018/08/windpower-set-to-destroy-victorian-baseload-power-just-as-it-did-in-south-australia/
      
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      April 12, 2021 3:27pm
- peterwn
  
  “Many power companies pay nothing for excess solar energy exported to the grid, or if they do pay it is a minimal amount. Here is where legislation could help.”
  If power companies were forced to buy back solar power at retail rates, this would amount to a significant subsidy to such customers that would need to be borne by all other customers. At most an appropriate buy back rate would be 5% to 20% of the retail tariff. It needs to be remembered too that a solar customer would generally feed back energy at times when it is not particularly needed, so it has to be ‘stored’ in the system which in practical terms are the hydro station lakes.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:28am
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Lipo batteries are getting cheap, down to around $200/kWh and last for 10-20 years. Expected to halve in price again in next 5-10 years. Makes it possible to do 95%+ of your home electricity from solar cheaper than grid supply.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:45am
- Nickc2
  
  In certain Aust States, people with Solar Power production now have to pay the grid to take their excess power.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:47am
- Ed Snack
  
  But power produced at night from hydro anyway, is power NOT available the next day. In the low storage situation we are in, saving water for peak situations and to be on call to handle wind fluctuations, is essential.
  
  The surplus power at night theme is largely a myth unless we have a wet season and are spilling water over the dams at night. And we definitely are not doing that right now.
  
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  April 12, 2021 11:29am
JibberJabber

https://www.deconstructingconventional.com/post/18-reason-i-won-t-be-getting-a-covid-vaccine

#1: VACCINE MAKERS ARE IMMUNE FROM LIABILITY
In fact, all major vaccine makers (save Moderna) have paid out tens of billions of dollars in damages for other products they brought to market when then knew those product would cause injuries and death–see Vioxx, Bextra, Celebrex, Thalidomide, and Opioids as a few examples.

If drug companies willfully choose to put harmful products in the market, when they can be sued, why would we trust any product where they have NO liability?

In case it hasn’t sunk in, let me reiterate…3 of the 4 covid vaccine makers have been sued for products they brought to market even though they knew injuries and deaths would result.

Johnson & Johnson has lost major lawsuits in 1995, 1996, 2001, 2010, 2011, 2016, 2019 (For what it’s worth, J&J’s vaccine also contains tissues from aborted fetal cells, perhaps a topic for another discussion)

Pfizer has the distinction of the biggest criminal payout in history. They have lost so many lawsuits it’s hard to count. You can check out their rap sheet here. Maybe that’s why they are demanding that countries where they don’t have liability protection put up collateral to cover vaccine-injury lawsuits.

Astra Zeneca has similarly lost so many lawsuits it’s hard to count. Here’s one. Here’s another…you get the point. And in case you missed it, the company had their covid vaccine suspended in at least 18 countries over concerns of blood clots, and they completely botched their meeting with the FDA with numbers from their study that didn’t match.

Oh, and apparently J&J (whose vaccine is approved for “Emergency Use” in the US) and Astrazenca (whose vaccine is not approved for “Emergency Use” in the US), had a little mix up in their ingredients…in 15 million doses. Oops.
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April 12, 2021 8:36am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Who want’s a vaccine which is not backed up by the suppliers/manufacturers. That is open skies for potential fraud and profiteering without care.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:19am
- krazykiwi
  
  In addition to VAERS, this adverse reaction tracking site is useful. It would be better if the subject’s age was reported. Many of the ‘fatal’ reports appear to relate to the elderly.
  
  7 2
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  April 12, 2021 9:34am
  - kowtow
    
    The fear mongering media and politicians are so funny.
    It’s not OK for the elderly to die with covid , but it’s very clearly ok for them to die from “vaccination”.
    
    8 1
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    April 12, 2021 9:55am
  - Max Sky
    
    I hear those Stats are Lodged voluntarily therefore not all adverse reactions or deaths are captured?
    
    4 0
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    April 12, 2021 11:47am
    - Pharmachick
      
      Correct. The US has what is known as “passive surveillance”. The more accurate systems are “Active surveillance” such as seen in France, Italy, Germany and Scandinavia… OH WAIT – did those countries HALT Astra? And, are the numbers coming out of Denmark and Germany significantly higher than the UK? Well bow me down with a feather then…
      
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      April 12, 2021 2:23pm
      - Pharmachick
        
        *US and UK have passive surveillance
        
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        April 12, 2021 2:26pm
      - Loddenthinks
        
        Thanks PC, I always enjoy reading your take on things. It’s uncanny how many times I think “Yes, well that all sounds plausible, but I’d like to hear from someone that actually knows something about this” and within an hour or so, you let us know what the situation really is.
        
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        April 12, 2021 6:56pm
- SB2
  
  This local link gives informed and factual information about adverse reactions to the Pfizer vaccine that appears minimal,
  
  https://www.nzdoctor.co.nz/article/undoctored/adverse-events-following-immunisation-covid-19-vaccines-safety-report-1-6-march
  
  Also Medsafe for more information,
  
  https://www.medsafe.govt.nz/COVID-19/safety-report-1.asp
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:28am
- oldfella
  
  Talking of vaccines, NZ’s preferred Pfizer jab may not be as effective as first thought.
  Israeli data shows South African variant able to ‘break through’ Pfizer vaccine
  The South African variant of the coronavirus is notably more adept at “breaking through” the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine than other variants are, Israeli scientists have found, in a first-of-its-kind real-world study.
  Israel has used the Pfizer vaccine almost exclusively to vaccinate millions of citizens, with a version by Moderna, based on similar innovative mRNA technology, used minimally.
  https://www.timesofisrael.com/real-world-israeli-data-shows-south-african-variant-better-at-bypassing-vaccine/
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:37am
  - virtualmark
    
    Or … you could read from the researcher at https://twitter.com/SternLab/status/1380922920734711811 and find that the headline on that Times of Israel article is a little misleading.
    
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    April 12, 2021 2:37pm
Belinda

This Paula/Pauline Hanna/polkinghorne case is weird, even the death notice is bizarre.
https://notices.nzherald.co.nz/obituaries/nzherald-nz/obituary.aspx?n=pauline-kay-hanna-polkinghorne&pid=198313304
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April 12, 2021 8:42am
- Maggie Pie
  
  It does sound a bit ‘bizarre’ now you mention it 🙁
  
  I see where her hubby has been told by his lawyer not to say anything.
  Although as he’s not yet been allowed back into the house, he did tell the Herald ….”he’s been able to buy a toothbrush”.
  
  13 2
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  April 12, 2021 9:48am
  - Greg Ettridge
    
    This will keep giving for a very long time, it is going to spread way beyond the tennis girls attention.
    
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    April 12, 2021 10:30am
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Don’t forget where you heard it first Greg 😀
      
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      April 12, 2021 11:27am
      - Belinda
        
        Keep us updated Maggie.
        
        6 2
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        April 12, 2021 11:37am
- SB2
  
  HANNA, Pauline Kay (Polkinghorne) On 5 April 2021. Grandie to Atlas and Isla. Children John, Ben and Taine and daughters-in-law Sherry and Bridget. Loved daughter of (late) Fay and Bill. Sister of Bruce and Tracey, sister-in- law of Shelley and Alec, aunt of Rosie, Jacob, Toby and Charlie. Loved daughter-in- law of Mary and (late) John Polkinghorne. Loved by all her extended family. A colleague of CMDHB. Eternal friend of Philip. A service for Pauline will be held at St Mary’s in Holy Trinity, 446 Parnell Rd, Parnell on Thursday 15 April at 10am.”
  
  Bizzare? In what way ?
  
  I think you both need to let this go and patiently wait for the Coroner’s report.
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:34am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    What you really mean is wait for your report
    
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    April 12, 2021 5:29pm
Maggie Pie

Another case for…… ‘Meng the Merciless’?

Settler Colonialism raises it’s ugly head in Devonport.

Hot Dog vendor at School Fair asks customer, “Are you from here?”

https://twitter.com/nzherald/status/1381107474388946944
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April 12, 2021 8:43am
- Libertarians are right
  
  Probably more just a case of seeing a young guy by himself around young children and being weary.
  
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  April 12, 2021 8:53am
  - pdm
    
    weary? or wary?
    
    4 2
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    April 12, 2021 9:06am
  - kowtow
    
    Yep , the cultural Marxists have done a good job of making people un necessarily wary , me I’m ‘weary’ of it all , as you say.
    
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    April 12, 2021 9:29am
  - Ed Snack
    
    Being “weary” ? Or maybe just tired of the situation…
    
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    April 12, 2021 11:31am
I remember when

Just noticed that India now shows as having 122 deaths per million for covid.
They are ahead of Egypt and Qatar (119) by three deaths per million and equal with the Maldives.
The only really scary Indian covid results are at MIQ in New Zealand.
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April 12, 2021 8:44am
SmokerGuy

TV3 are really banging the drums now for Collins to go. I think it is inevitable now, just a matter of when. Interesting that Willis isn’t mentioned, I would have thought she would be a front runner and has been performing well. Have to say I’m not at all convinced about Luxton….
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April 12, 2021 8:49am
- Bob
  
  Well SmokeGuy, neither am I convinced about this Luxton that you mention; a quick perusal of the potential National parry leaders does not highlight a Luxton in the running at all.
  Obviously factual accuracy and spelling are not requirements for employment as a blogger in the FRASER House basement.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:17am
- artemisia
  
  So the media are banging drums? Running scared? Want a soft leader?
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:18am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Take away their subsidy.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:20am
  - Yvette
    
    KevO’Brian, why take the subsidy away? Is this not what Labour is paying it for?
    Newshub a few minutes ago –
    
    • Judith Collins is a dead woman walking
    • Question of the Day: Who should be the National Party leader?
    • ‘I don’t see the point’: Political pundits dismiss National Party leadership talk
    • Does Luxon have what it takes to lead National?
    
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    April 12, 2021 9:38am
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Luxon is a newby and untested as an MP–far to soon for High Office, but OK for trouble making.
      
      Taking the subsidy away may show our concern at this biased, possibly corrupt “news” service.
      The Govt has no right to set up such an informal agency to silence Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.
      
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      April 12, 2021 3:33pm
- krazykiwi
  
  The media have just taken the 2020 Bridges script, find-and-replace ‘Bridges’ with ‘Collins’ and started again. If National fall for this again they will be more stupid than they already appear.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:21am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    It’s not a matter of National “falling” it’s a more serious matter of the govt disabling the Opposition which is an important part of out constitutional arrangements. It’s really in the nature of a soft coup.
    
    6 1
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    April 12, 2021 3:35pm
    - Loddenthinks
      
      “It’s a more serious matter of the govt disabling the Opposition.”
      
      It’s a more serious matter of the media disabling the Opposition. Fixed it for ya.
      
      2 0
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      April 12, 2021 7:44pm
- peterwn
  
  Labour/ Greens want to see Judith gone and there is much astroturfing in this direction from left wing sources. Media also wants to see Judith gone, for cheap news and to appease Labour with its corrupt handouts to media.
  Every time a new rumour along these lines emerges I yawn. A previous rumour a few weeks back came to nothing.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:34am
  - Unity
    
    If Labour and the Greens are wanting Judith gone then that is an excellent reason for keeping her on as they must be frightened of her.
    
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    April 12, 2021 12:39pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    I agree. I just wish National had the back room pack rats to carry out a vigorous rebuff. National don’t do that but against the uncivilised not much else is feasible.
    We lack constitutional methods of calling a failed govt to account between elections. MMP has done us a disservice.
    
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    April 12, 2021 3:39pm
- UrbanNeocolonialist
  
  Definitely the best people to decide who leads national are their implacable enemies in the legacy media.
  
  9 1
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  April 12, 2021 10:10am
- Jimbob
  
  The nut jobs running the National party all need the sack. They live in a cocoon of naivety and the next leader elected should tell them to f… off. Who takes Collins place, needs to be told by his/her caucus they are there for the long term. Act now National.
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:16am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    You need a new plumb bob.
    
    4 1
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    April 12, 2021 3:40pm
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Luxton is waste of time. I will tell you now.
  
  9 5
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  April 12, 2021 10:19am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Ardern, Robertson….etc , etc. etc are a waste of time.
    Where’s the houses?
    Where is the cost of living going too?
    
    8 1
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    April 12, 2021 3:42pm
- oldfella
  
  Smoker: LUXON.
  
  11 2
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  April 12, 2021 10:40am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    Try smoking an old trout.
    
    3 1
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    April 12, 2021 3:43pm
- Wired-one
  
  The media want the headlines and drama, I’m frankly over their biased bullshit. Luxon would be stupid going for it now. National should stick with Collins and build some solidarity. Constantly changing your leaders is desperate and never the answer. Look at what happened to Labour whilst in opposition.
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:41am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  His name is LUXON ffs.
  
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  April 12, 2021 11:38am
- SmokerGuy
  
  Apologies for my spelling, I blame the invention of spelling auto correct for my rapid decline in this area!! Anyone who thinks a leadership change is not coming has their head in the sand. It’s tough on Collins, I don’t think she has done anything particularly wrong but once the narrative sets in then it is almost impossible to stay in the role. To pretend otherwise is naive to the extreme
  
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  April 12, 2021 12:54pm
  - Paulus
    
    Other women do not like Collins – as she is not super, like their idol Cindy.
    She has a educated brain unlike most of the female voters and they cannot stand it !
    
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    April 12, 2021 1:43pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Educated brains are helpful in matters of State. See what the Chinese told Biden recently–he was not up to scratch either, so should shut up.
      
      The alternative is to hire a bunch of high school kids.
      
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      April 12, 2021 3:56pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Start with the high school kids who when on strike for climate change. ‘Our planet is dying’. Who filled their heads with that shit?
        
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        April 12, 2021 5:36pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    To borrow as Robbo has done, to accede to union demands and put the cost of living permanently at risk “is naive in the extreme”.
    
    Judith Collins would eat Grant R. alive for breakfast. Crusher has been an effective Minister previously. Name one Labour Minister who has 1/10 of her ability? Do they have any former Law Society Presidents or Masters of Taxation. Do they use Treasury for advice or prefer Mimby?
    
    They are a disgrace to the Office they hold and should all resign forthwith before further damage is done and the people seek their just desserts.
    
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    April 12, 2021 3:52pm
- The Boss
  
  Luxon, please!
  
  5 0
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  April 12, 2021 2:00pm
Albert_Ross

So is it or is it not ok to let strange (in the sense, unknown to you) men wander around unchallenged in an environment where there are lots of children running freely about?

Edit: mods: this is meant as a comment to Maggie Pie’s link to the “are you from here” news item
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April 12, 2021 8:53am
- Ehlana
  
  If that was the genuine concern, the school should inform stallholders to alert a responsible staff member to deal with it.
  
  If the fair was open to the public he had as much right to be there as anyone else. We shouldn’t treat all young adult males as criminals – half the students at the school will presumably be young adult males themselves in a decade or so!
  
  Refusing to sell food seems a strange way to raise money for the school. And asking whether he is local is very likely to be misinterpreted as racist.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:32am
  - sabre
    
    I attended this fair and find the story very hard to believe with many different races of people there and methinks this person has acted in a manner as to cause the problem
    
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    April 12, 2021 11:24am
RoboRob

So another staff covid case in MIQ. No one able to confirm if this one was vaccinated. Clearly a major story. Coverage in TV3 breakfast, ~zero. Todays poll of the day, who will replace Judith as National leader.

What a coincidence that leadership challanges arrive just when another Covid stuff up appears. Are TV3 a PR firm for Labour?
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April 12, 2021 8:54am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Definitely.
  We need Ardern’s lot out Now before the cause further pukerooisation.
  MMP is no excuse for inability to perform. We are going to have to hold them to account.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:22am
- softail 1450
  
  RoboRob ,Don’t watch that clown it’ll raise your blood pressure every time.
  Sadly Campbells circus is also crap that is slowly morphing into Te Karere 2.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:31am
  - RoboRob
    
    Thats my problem, I can’t stand Campbell. So Garner is the better of two evils.
    
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    April 12, 2021 1:40pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Isn’t it time for Nats to make capital out this?
  
  Everytime there’s a major (as opposed to the daily) stuff-up by Labour, the Media run with a take-over/coup story .
  
  Why not use it to your own advantage?
  
  Pump it out on every tweet and each media release
  
  Which balls-up are Labour’s spin-dollies trying to cover up today?
  
  53 3
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  April 12, 2021 9:47am
  - RoboRob
    
    Great suggestion. Perhaps they could also use it when Labour have a good news story. Pump out a Greens leadship challange story to take the coverage off Labour
    
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    April 12, 2021 9:52am
  - SB2
    
    MW, Yawwwn. Ho hum.
    
    1 25
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    April 12, 2021 10:45am
  - KevO'Brien
    
    You’re correct Maggy but the public media presentation is being denied. National are sending out a weekly newsletter but I fear we are in the doldrums. Something like that occurred in the mid 20th c. And Labour failed badly then. They got rejected for 14 years.
    
    Cinders may have brought a smile to every careless thinking person in NZ, its always fun in a sandpit or before a hearth fire but my gt gmother was burnt to death by one. Managing as PM implies a duty of care not just enjoying the warmth. If we have become too cosy or soft to fight back, the storms of the international economy may shake us into awakening. I am fairly certain this apology for govt has already set a wage/price spiral loose. The free spending govt, the demands of unions and prices at the supermarket all suggest that. It took Muldoon several years to tame the previous Labour one.
    I expect the impending economic tsunami will dislodge this present administration. They will scream foul and “all is under control” but may find borrowing denied and the people angry at the lack of performance. We may find we have an import problem too.
    
    I’m sure National have an able team ready to take over but we don’t do coups in NZ (yet).
    
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    April 12, 2021 10:57am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    From your comment, I was expecting Radio NZ (state-owned media!) would have a story about the national party leadership. Imagine my disappointment to find their top politics stories are about:
    – National calling for unvaccinated border workers to be removed
    – what the government is spending on contractors
    – the India travel suspension.
    No reporting about national’s leadership in the other 20-odd stories on the politics page either.
    So I thought, perhaps Stuff is being more faithful at undermining the national party on behalf of the government? The top politics story on the home page atm is ‘Covid-19 vaccine rollout: We’re making it up on the fly’, with two further stories on the home page criticising the government. and again, no coverage of national’s leadership in the politics section.
    It was clear that I need to cast my net much wider to find the media coup story. not a great Newshub/TV3 fan myself, but here we do find Duncan Gardner blathering on about Judith Collins being a ‘dead woman walking’. And, here we do find two further items on the national party leadership; another opinion piece criticising Collins, and a report that ‘Political pundits dismiss National Party leadership change talk’.
    Are there some other media sources I should be following to ensure that I keep up to date with spurious stories abut the national party leadership?
    
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    April 12, 2021 12:10pm
    - RoboRob
      
      Thanks for proving my point Mike. Clearly TV3 running a smoke screen for their favourate team.
      
      8 2
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      April 12, 2021 1:42pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        Can you explain why TV3/Newshub is doing such a poor job of covering up for the government’s mistakes?
        
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        April 12, 2021 2:15pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Are there some other media sources I should be following to ensure that I keep up to date with spurious stories abut the national party leadership?
      
      Stick with KB
      
      Look further up this thread and you’ll find at least 14 other comments on this matter…
      
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      April 12, 2021 1:48pm
      - mikenmildagain
        
        It’s funny though. Everyday on Kiwiblog commenters will be whining that the NZ media is either covering up for the government, spuriously attacking the national party, or both. But when I check out your allegation today, it turns out to have little or no substance.
        Never mind, I’m sure you will find a better example some other day.
        
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        April 12, 2021 2:14pm
- Flossie
  
  Sorry – accidentally clicked report
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:19am
- Inandout
  
  Robo, why doesn’t Judith just say ‘get a real story you idiots’? I would applaud her if she was a little more brash Aussie-like, but clearly she is not.
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:55am
  - RoboRob
    
    Don’t ask me. I like Judith but she has been far too tame on this stuff. I assume it is a mixture of lying low and trying to stay onside with the large portion of NZ that worships the government for its ‘wonderfull’ handling of covid.
    
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    April 12, 2021 1:43pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Judith thinks that being kind will keep her National leader. She has been watching Jaspinda and her sycophants, and thinks being nice will work for her.
      HTFU Collins, or it is curtains
      
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      April 12, 2021 5:43pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    People are funny. If Judith let loose as she could she would be instantly mired by an offensive media rebuttal all concentrating on her offence of not being sweet. Cinders just smiles until she get ash from the fireplace on her. She doesn’t do govt, just hope, wellness and background planning for a communist like takeover of our banking system and land. Maori are being temporarily promoted too but that will come a cropper when some of the tribes are bothered by others getting preference. She is stirring up both Pakeha and tribal resentment–a rare achievement. Remember utu was with sharp stone adzes.
    
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    April 12, 2021 4:06pm
  - [email protected]
    
    When your adversary is screwing up big time do you really want to tell them to get it together or point out their failings so they can improve?
    
    JC appears to be willing to let Labour dig their hole a bit deeper.
    
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    April 12, 2021 5:19pm
I remember when

The NZ Slot Car Association 8 hour Enduro was held on Sunday, 13th March in Porirua.
Results are on their Facebook page.
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April 12, 2021 8:57am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Whoop de doo.
  
  6 7
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  April 12, 2021 11:40am
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Unnecessary, Cap’n.
    
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    April 12, 2021 12:17pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Our illustrative and approximate Covid-19 vaccination plan(s)

When Bishop asked Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins for the data underlying the chart, so that the Opposition and media can better hold the Government’s rollout to account against its own aspirational targets, he said there were no numbers behind it. Instead, he said that Mythical Plan Chart B “is intended to be illustrative and approximate”.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/300274653/covid19-vaccine-rollout-were-making-it-up-on-the-fly
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April 12, 2021 8:59am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Mythical Plan Chart B “is intended to be illustrative and approximate”.
  Like all Labour policy since the beginning of time.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:10am
- sooty
  
  Translated. They don’t have a bloody clue!
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:10am
- rangitoto
  
  So Hipkins is peddling a completely bogus chart!
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:15am
- adamsmith1922
  
  My latest thoughts on MOH https://adamsmith.wordpress.com/2021/04/12/almost-unbelievable-but-then-it-is-the-moh-round-4-even-more-la-la-land-stupidity-is-revealed-bloomfield-would-have-hoped-latest-cases-were-vaccinated/
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:45am
- KevO'Brien
  
  WHO doubts itself and its advice re COVID tests.
  https://www.globalresearch.ca/nucleic-acid-testing-technologies-use-polymerase-chain-reaction-pcr-detection-sars-cov-2/5739959
  
  Have we been doing things wrong? Are our tests fit for purpose and are we seeing false positives on visitors who are actually free of the virus?
  
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  April 12, 2021 12:12pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    No, yes and I don’t know.
    
    3 8
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    April 12, 2021 12:32pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      Were you expected to?
      
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      April 12, 2021 4:07pm
- adamsmith1922
  
  My thoughts https://adamsmith.wordpress.com/2021/04/12/unbelievable-but-then-it-is-the-moh-round-5-even-more-la-la-land-crap-is-revealed-nobody-would-believe-this-in-a-novel-but-hipkins-said-it/
  
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  April 12, 2021 4:10pm
RW Capitalist

AM Show
running a poll, who should lead National.
There must be yet another govt. screw up coming, if they need to distract with this irrelevancy.
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April 12, 2021 9:08am
- Bob
  
  Poor Polling results over the weekend for Labour and Adern??
  
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  April 12, 2021 1:03pm
Maggie Pie

GRAPHIC CONTENT: This is truly chilling.
It’s what our Police are liable to face at any time.

Imagine being a Cop in the US, earning less than 60k a year, and never knowing whether you’ll still be alive by the end of your shift.
As a Detective friend of my partner said….” And just like here, don’t expect any support from the pointy-heads sitting around Bullshit Castle”

https://twitter.com/Breaking911/status/1381324374913978375
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April 12, 2021 9:26am
- SB2
  
  Well we can thank our ( including cops )lucky stars we live here.
  
  Also, a chilling tale about the tyranny of lax gun controls USA.
  
  Of course, this would never happen under Trump?
  
  Yeah right.
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:49am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Try telling that to Constable Matthew Hunt’s grieving family.
    
    And it was over your way I see. Or had you forgotten?
    
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    April 12, 2021 1:42pm
  - Inandout
    
    SB2, Trump is not President so TDS can be put to bed. Joe knows that the vast number of US citizens are responsible and every road vehicle, knife, bat etc has the potential to kill, but he has to pander to the extreme left who would love to disarm the entire population. Then the only ones with guns would be those directed by the Federal govt. Not going to happen and he knows it. Chicago on a normal weekend has about 50 deaths, most caused by handguns, unregistered of course.
    
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    April 12, 2021 2:57pm
    - Batman
      
      A couple of points, if Trump is put to bed why do you guys keep bringing him up? He’s chip wrapper these days…
      
      As for gun control, it’s not exactly extreme left to try and get a handle on unregistered gun DIY kits and some additional checks, plus red flag notices. It’s boy who cried wolf stuff to say otherwise.
      
      Re Chicago, it is apparently (I haven’t checked myself) 30 minutes or so from Indiana which has some of the most lax gun laws in the USA. So it’s not exactly hard to figure out what the issue is. It’s almost as if some basic federal standards like background checks, stand down periods, and restrictions on idiotic things like pistol shoulder braces, would benefit everyone overall.
      
      No other first world country has gun violence like the USA.
      
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      April 12, 2021 3:40pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        No other first World Country has a population anywhere near that of the US.
        But don’t worry about context or perspective Batman.
        How many times do I have to say it? 400+ million guns. Trillions of rounds purchase EVERY year. I saw 4 long isles (about 30 meters) cleaned out of amo in Bass Pro, Anchorage, Alaska. All because America’s best gun salesman (Obama) made a dumbarse comment
        If guns where the problem, America would know it.
        How about some numbers per capita, instead of per Country?
        
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        April 12, 2021 5:53pm
    - [email protected]
      
      Wow, if true that equates to 92 gun deaths a day in New Zealand (Chicago population 2.7M).
      
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      April 12, 2021 5:25pm
I remember when

Article in The Bush Telegraph about concerns caused by there now being no banks in Pahiatua.
Mention that some are being directed to Palmerston North for service, a journey of over an hour each way.
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April 12, 2021 9:32am
- kowtow
  
  There’s a big story out there around how banks are shafting their “customers” with closures , the ending of cheques , digitalisation ( which marginalises the elderly) and an all round general reduction in services , to their benefit , not to the customer and that’s fine but they lie and say the customer is # 1 , when in fact return to shareholder is .
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:48am
- cas
  
  Try living on the East Coast where there is very limited or no internet or even cellphone coverage and a drive to the nearest bank and back will take all day.
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:00am
- Scott
  
  I remember when – not sure where you are getting your times? I would have thought that Paihiatua to Palmerston North was less than an hour? According to Google Maps it is 39 minutes.
  
  5 1
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  April 12, 2021 10:56am
  - I remember when
    
    Pongaroa, for one, is in the Pahiatua district and just to add to the time, the road either is or is about to have a 80 kph limit imposed.
    
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    April 12, 2021 2:54pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  Even slower on horseback…
  
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  April 12, 2021 12:20pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Or a bicycle
    
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    April 12, 2021 5:54pm
    - Mike
      
      How did they cope in the pioneer days?
      
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      April 12, 2021 6:14pm
- Inandout
  
  Irw, then perhaps with these massive savings they can now instruct the credit card companies to cease charging fees to traders so the up to 2.5% isn’t passed on.
  
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  April 12, 2021 3:01pm
I remember when

The good old days:
When we only had to stay in lockdown and isolation until we found a vaccine to treat covid-19.
Now we have a growing number of vaccines and there are roll out problems everywhere and scare tactics with regards to variants.
Where is the sunshine, birds twittering in the trees and carefree bountiful world travel.
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April 12, 2021 9:43am
- kowtow
  
  ‘Scare tactics ‘ is what govts’ across the west have engaged in from the outset .
  This has been very well covered by the UK Daily Telegraph , so strange that our bought and paid for Media Pardy have not picked up that major story.
  
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  April 12, 2021 9:52am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    They picked it up, but it does not fit the narrative, so unpublished
    
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    April 12, 2021 5:59pm
- pdm
  
  Call me simple if you like but can someone tell me why GP practices are not handling the Covid vaccination roll outs.
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:02am
  - Bob
    
    The STATE does everything soooo much better; can’t let private enterprise screwup the Rollout. Best leave that to the gubnment, they have a lot more practice and experience. Look at the past three years of success stories…..
    
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    April 12, 2021 1:06pm
  - Ehlana
    
    Especially since GP’s are the people most likely to know who among their patients is most vulnerable (due to age, underlying conditions, etc.) And most people can probably get to their GP quite easily – after all, that is part of why they chose a particular clinic.
    
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    April 12, 2021 2:22pm
- rangitoto
  
  Looks like the UK is nearly there thanks to BoJo:
  
  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9458487/More-HALF-Englands-population-areas-virtually-no-new-Covid-cases.html
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:18am
- SB2
  
  I would imagine rolling out vaccines for the world’s 7,000 billion would be a rather complex task and logistics nightmere.
  
  Be patient by mid-year you will likely have had yours
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:52am
  - Yvette
    
    SB2 – “by mid-year you will likely have had yours”
    But by every other measure of Government performance in actual delivery – you won’t.
    Name one policy that Ardern’s Government has fully delivered.
    
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    April 12, 2021 1:21pm
    - alex Masterley
      
      Yvette, that is a question I dont think anyone in this country can answer.
      
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      April 12, 2021 2:30pm
  - rangitoto
    
    Keep imagining SB2.
    
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    April 12, 2021 1:30pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I’m unaware that we are producing vaccines for cockroaches…
    or perhaps there is some other animal on Earth with a population of 7 trillion individuals.
    
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    April 12, 2021 3:27pm
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    SB2, even by the fluid ‘targets’ or rates the government has shared, there is no way that it is “likely” people will have been vaccinated by the “mid-year”.
    Like Prof. Des Gorman pointed out, the rate at which it is required to even get the FIRST shot to the population of NZ, means we are far far below making in this calendar year.
    It is patently obvious by simply considering population and days in a year.
    You have a calculator on your PC.
    Do the math.
    We are still going to be vaccinating for years at this current rate, and people will need seasonal boosters before other parts of the population have had a second shot.
    Do the math, and then consider how far short it will all be ‘by mid-year’.
    You might be trying to be reassuring at best, or patronising at worst, but you are coming across as a naïve thickie.
    
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    April 12, 2021 3:51pm
    - adamsmith1922
      
      My thoughts https://adamsmith.wordpress.com/2021/04/12/unbelievable-but-then-it-is-the-moh-round-5-even-more-la-la-land-crap-is-revealed-nobody-would-believe-this-in-a-novel-but-hipkins-said-it/
      
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      April 12, 2021 4:13pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    “rather complex task and logistics nightmare.’
    20 fold for the team of 5 million here coz everything is a total fuckup
    
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    April 12, 2021 6:01pm
- Phronesis
  
  The real question around vaccination in NZ is “what’s the point?” Unless you have a risk of exposure then why vaccinate? So far the govt has not indicated that it will open the borders. They should, but they won’t. Even the Oz bubble is entirely contingent on there being no real risk of transmission. Unless you plan to travel overseas or work at the border then it would make sense to wait until there is a risk and vaccinate against that risk when necessary (it may well be a different strain to what the vaccines were developed against).
  
  Of course this all assumes that the Govt is actually able to run an effective border quarantine which is entirely debatable. But thats just another reason to open the border ASAP.
  
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  April 12, 2021 11:11am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I resist because I just had a general anesthetic reaction and anaphylactic attack. ‘What is the point’ is correct.
    I will not let the commie Govt force me
    
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    April 12, 2021 6:05pm
Fuzzysnuggleduck

How is it that the same idealist can be certain a cow farting in NZ will kill off polar bears in the Artic would not anticipate that financial impacts placed on landlords translate to impacts upon renters?
That is to say, certain about cause and effect from a cow squeezing out a fart yet could not foresee nor would they accept what happens from squeezing landlords.

Interconnectedness between Government policy and high fuel prices, challenges to energy supply or housing supply, crime rates, social outcomes – consequences – are far from taken for granted by activists and apologists.
Yet sea level changes a century from now are already measurable and the mechanism for that change is beyond debate?
Personally I suspect the government is more the agent of change to be concerned about, rather than the cow.
And the cow at least has some positive contribution to make.
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April 12, 2021 9:53am
- Master Mariner
  
  Could’nt agree more.
  “Idealist can be certain a cow farting in NZ will kill off polar bears in the Artic would not anticipate that financial impacts placed on landlords translate to impacts upon renters?”
  
  Labour spin: Its the “butterfly effect”. See we follow the science.
  
  You need to get with (Re)programme FSD.
  
  Science is settled.
  
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  April 12, 2021 12:43pm
kiwikidsnz

https://www.interest.co.nz/opinion/109895/will-labour-stand-behind-revolutionary-proposals-contained-he-puapua-%E2%80%93-20-year-plan

Chris Trotter has been revealing a few of these assaults on NZ’s democracy recently
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April 12, 2021 9:57am
cas

I see Jack Tame has said on twitter that the PM has agreed to 2 Q and A interviews this year. Only 2!!!!!!!! Perhaps after she got a bit of stick on Saturday’s one she might pull it back to 1. As one of the comments on his twitter page said More Q than A.
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April 12, 2021 10:09am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  She may as well not have been there. Diverted every answer to waffle waffle waffle – nothing to do with the original question.
  Best let Tame interview himself, he is good at that
  
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  April 12, 2021 6:08pm
Maggie Pie

WARNING: STRONG LANGUAGE

Interest Free Loans of $2billion given to Bennies.

Dairy Farmer far from happy with Ricardo’s suggestion to just wipe them off……

https://twitter.com/bartjevandeven/status/1381130552292470785
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April 12, 2021 10:13am
- KevO'Brien
  
  Ricardo is being a bit too generous.
  Many of the loans are not so, but post-facto benefit adjustments. Winz are reasonable in their payment arrangements so their is little problem. They will extend a payment if necessary and make a further grant or loan if considered needed. They are not profligate with taxpayer’s money but the system recognises that those on income support may have insurmountable hardship arising if they cannot get their teeth fixed or a new tyre to get to work. Some of the advances, particularly for health may be treated as a grant. There is a scale for this.
  Net Taxpayers deserve respect too.
  
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  April 12, 2021 4:23pm
rangitoto

Global warming hits Derbyshire in mid April

https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2021/04/11/19/41622240-9459537-image-a-4_1618166786431.jpg
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April 12, 2021 10:25am
Don Beckett

You will recall the McCloskey case in St. Louis , Missouri – thw husband & wife lawyer who presented firearms to protect their home from a BLM mob. You can’t make this up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9tVfnPHbcQ&t=715s
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April 12, 2021 10:33am
- Apropos of the Wet Snow
  
  Can’t defend yourself against the mob, cos its racist. Can’t call the cops to defend you, cos policing Black criminals is racist. Best to just rely on option one then. When the cops in the US will eventually refuse to police crimes against White people, then the latter will require assistance given by the 2nd Amendment.
  
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  April 12, 2021 11:10am
- mikenmildagain
  
  I can’t work out whether these folk ‘presented firearms to protect their home from a BLM mob’, or charged outside to wave their guns at peaceful protestors.
  
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  April 12, 2021 12:19pm
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    Definitely the former.
    They entered a private gated community, trespassed as a mob, and I have seen (as no doubt you have seen) that bricks and rocks through windows were also part of the ‘peaceful’ BLM protests, as well as harassment of members of the public and occasionally obtaining a few TVs or electronics by & by.
    
    anyone should have a right to protest in a public space, and wave banners and such, but the moment it becomes obstruction or trespass or real potential for loss of property or harm – then good on those that draw a line in the sand.
    
    Kind of like the ‘rooftop’ Korean shop owners during the Rodney King riots – who disagreed that smashing windows and carrying away stuff from their stores was part of getting a civil rights message across.
    
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    April 12, 2021 4:04pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      That is the bricks off pallets of bricks dropped in ‘just the right places?’
      
      3 0
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      April 12, 2021 6:18pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    You will never work that out Mike. You are incapable of taking off your blinkers
    
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    April 12, 2021 6:17pm
Jack5

Stuff plugs Muslims’ Ramadan today.

It doesn’t do the same for Christian festivals, and sometimes doesn’t even respect them.

The State media conglomerate – State TV, State radio, and subsidised print media – hold Islam above Christianity.

At the same time they push women’s rights, promote sleep-in dating competitions, and sympathise with LGBT+. All of these are anathema to Muslims.

Your taxes enable this media nihilism.
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April 12, 2021 10:37am
- Mike
  
  And don’t forget all that te reo that upsets you so much, Jack…
  
  4 23
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  April 12, 2021 1:07pm
  - Yabster
    
    why do you have two log ins Milky?
    
    8 2
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    April 12, 2021 2:50pm
    - Mike
      
      Use my Patreon login for the mobile.
      
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      April 12, 2021 6:16pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      He is not cheating the system, he just abuses it with his Patreon Account, and I suspect a VPN.
      There are at least 3, not 2
      
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      April 12, 2021 6:21pm
- SB2
  
  Jack5, I can assure you the Concert Program broadcast a Good Friday Service and I believe another one for Easter Sunday.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/church-service/audio/2018789511/2021-easter-church-service
  
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  April 12, 2021 1:13pm
- Paulus
  
  Ramadan starts Tuesday – no sex or food during daylight hours I believe.
  
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  April 12, 2021 1:50pm
  - RalphT
    
    Bit like my life every month of the year, not just one. Well, one of the two anyway.
    
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    April 12, 2021 3:35pm
  - UrbanNeocolonialist
    
    [deleted by Mod – lucky not to get a ban]
    
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    April 12, 2021 8:58pm
Wired-one

Can we please get the real Judith back. Be yourself, call out Labours bullshit, stop trying to soften your image, because it’s never going to be softer than Arderns. Be you, be honest, be blunt and do what your party chose you to do. Rip their damn heads off!
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April 12, 2021 10:46am
- MCos
  
  Simon Bridges tried that approach and Andrew Little with John Key.
  The public doesn’t like that sort of attack politics used against popular PMs in NZ & it tends to backfire.
  
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  April 12, 2021 3:36pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  She won’t listen, and that is why it is curtains. Prove me wrong Judith
  
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  April 12, 2021 6:28pm
Homas

“Why do women put up with the gender health gap?”
…asks the ever dim-witted Andrea Vance in Stuff today.

I’m guessing the three-plus extra years that the average male can expect to spend being dead doesn’t count as a “health” issue?
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April 12, 2021 10:51am
fredonas

After educating the nation with her pearls of wisdom on viruses and tsunamis, The pink-haired chubbette and mainstream media darling is now a women’s plumbing expert. Is there anything she can’t do? https://www.stuff.co.nz/science/300272181/mps-cervical-cancer-diagnosis-a-wakeup-call
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April 12, 2021 11:01am
Master Mariner

I think Mike is missing the critical link here.

NZ Government is “Subsidising” not only ANZ but a handful of other Airlines. Why?

They finally realised NZ would be buggered if not doing so and cover it up as ” Bringing NZ’ers Home”. The real issue is NO airlines are prepared to fly here at a loss. Thats the reality without a subsidy. So now we are not only paying for goods and essential Cargoes but paying airlines to deliver.

How long do you keep on “paying ” airlines to deliver “essential ” good and services to NZinc?

A lot of cargo would normally come by Cargo ship is now being flown?
How expensive is that, Read PPE, Medicines and the like etc etc.

I cant see the money taps turned off for a while and thats why I keep mentioning supply lines remaining open in previous posts. How long can NZinc afford this?

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/video/mikes-minute-governments-socialist-ideology-threatens-air-new-zealands-success/
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April 12, 2021 11:08am
- kowtow
  
  ‘How long can NZinc afford this?’
  
  One of the key questions around this whole Wuflu scare .
  It’s all well and good to shut the world down/out to ‘save the health system’ or to ‘eliminate the virus’ , but at some point it has to be paid for .
  
  And no one is prepared to broach the issue. In fact quite the opposite ; spend spend spend . But that’s not the real world.
  
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  April 12, 2021 1:20pm
- sabre
  
  Notice how as more government money pumped into Air NZ the more Te reo air nz starts using, I for one will be flying Qantas or Jetstar
  
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  April 12, 2021 1:28pm
  - KevO'Brien
    
    We are really going to have to charge Maori for the use of our loan words. It has got a bit excessive.
    Why do they have to appropriate our culture?
    
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    April 12, 2021 4:28pm
Liberty

Unlike Bigboy.con
This poor chap didn’t have friends in high places
Or mow lawns
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/300273380/philippine-embassy-lodges-complaint-over-deporting-man-who-wrongly-claimed-food-vouchers
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April 12, 2021 11:13am
- The Housekeeper
  
  The gummint just can’t get anything right Liberty. We let all the violent, lazy, drunken, drug addled scumbags stay to “support” their families but come down like a ton of bricks on a working family who lied for food vouchers in extenuating circumstances. Bad timing for the family, in the old days they would have been shipped to Australia for stealing bread.
  
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  April 12, 2021 12:00pm
JimBobJoe

So….

Is Her Majestys Loyal Opposition asking every question time or at least once a week: How many vaccines have had to be destroyed as they have not been used within the designated expiry date?

Or variants of that question to highlight vaccines send to vaccination centres that dont get used and therefore go to waste due to storage temperature maintenance issues?
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April 12, 2021 11:39am
Maggie Pie

A RUMOR….

One of the girls at tennis reckons MagicTalk have hired Bomber Bradbury (?)
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April 12, 2021 11:56am
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, Bradbury was on Plunkett’s show every Friday so maybe they can swap roles if he has his own show. The trouble with Bomber is his huge ego.
  
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  April 12, 2021 12:01pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    First they replace Plunky with that skin-crawling woke leftie Danni Watson, now we hear Bomber gets his own show!
    
    Is the Board of Media Works completely insane?
    
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    April 12, 2021 1:09pm
  - SB2
    
    “The trouble with Bomber is his huge ego” Like most other shock jocks like Mike Hosking etc
    
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    April 12, 2021 1:17pm
graham

Bless them …

Our Aussie cousins have had to set up an “Is it true?” page to answer all the fake news surrounding Covid-19. Including this gem:

“Can COVID-19 vaccines connect me to the internet?”

(Spoiler alert: The answer is “no”)

https://www.health.gov.au/initiatives-and-programs/covid-19-vaccines/is-it-true/is-it-true-can-covid-19-vaccines-connect-me-to-the-internet
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April 12, 2021 12:10pm
Fuzzysnuggleduck

Only 57 posts by 12.25, and a post of mine in moderation since 9.53.
Yet 3 posts approved 10.30 to 11.56.

Is there something amiss today around the queue or mod visibility?
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April 12, 2021 12:27pm
UrbanNeocolonialist

Greek Immigrant Who Lived Off Welfare Dies In England

“ONE of England’s most notorious welfare cheats has died at the age of 99, WWN can report.

Hailed as hero among the welfare cheating classes of Britain, it is believe the Greek born welfare king has made millions out of his schemes and funded his lavish lifestyle which included castles, yachts and cars, all on the taxpayer’s dime”
https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2021/04/09/greek-immigrant-who-lived-off-welfare-dies-in-england/
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April 12, 2021 12:35pm
- Ehlana
  
  And in other headlines from the same site: “I actually want to be eaten”: Local cow hits back at vegans.
  
  Reminds of the Restaurant at the End of the Universe, where the cows assure concerned diners that they will kill themselves humanely…
  
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  April 12, 2021 2:59pm
Maggie Pie

And what about ‘MOO CHEWS’ – have you stopped buying them yet?
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April 12, 2021 12:37pm
- Mike
  
  Are you encouraging cancel culture?
  
  4 9
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  April 12, 2021 1:12pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Not really….just thinking more about people like ‘Hopeful Christian’ and his ilk.
    
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    April 12, 2021 1:33pm
skyblue

I always thought math was never a strongpoint for Maori unless it is free stuff from my wallet.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300275051/mori-party-referred-to-police-over-328000-in-undeclared-donations
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April 12, 2021 1:56pm
- septic skeptic
  
  Odd. I have heard recently that the pre-colonial Maori society was steeped in science, technology and mathematics.
  
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  April 12, 2021 3:19pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Agricultural Calamity declared in France

Too much Global Cooling

https://www.connexionfrance.com/French-news/France-declares-calamite-agricole-after-record-cold-What-is-it-We-explain-as-cold-continues
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April 12, 2021 1:59pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/300275051/mori-party-referred-to-police-over-328000-in-undeclared-donations
Oh dear.
15 1
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April 12, 2021 2:00pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  That’s the trouble with following rules invented by Colonists.
  
  Don’t they know Māori don’t discuss Koha amounts?
  
  20 2
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  April 12, 2021 2:06pm
  - Surely Knott
    
    They should have held an auction instead. Have we found out who Goff’s book bidder is yet.
    
    9 2
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    April 12, 2021 2:37pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      Originally thort to be an anonymous phone-bidder from Chynaa that forked out 150k!!
      Although according to Goof later, it was in fact a NZ resident Chinaman, who just happened to be in Beijing at the time of the fund-raising dinner.
      Said he had no idea who the guy was.
      
      Next thing he’ll be saying they all look the same to him anyway 🙁
      
      12 1
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      April 12, 2021 4:01pm
  - rangitoto
    
    If mathematics is racist then imagine how bad accounting must be.
    
    13 0
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    April 12, 2021 3:36pm
    - KevO'Brien
      
      That came from the Italians.
      
      9 1
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      April 12, 2021 4:30pm
- rockape
  
  What is important will be the accounting for how the money was spent. If candidates spent more than they are allowed to, about 29000 then those candidates could be in strife.
  
  8 1
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  April 12, 2021 2:41pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    Oh please! Nobody is ever going to get hit with more than a wet bus ticket for breaching election law in NZ.
    
    6 0
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    April 12, 2021 6:34pm
- Nickc2
  
  Who was in charge of the checkbook and accounts? Will we be told? Of course effin not. Will they be prosecuted? Doubt it! What do the Maori Party and NZ1st have in common? No, don’t answer that, it may ruffle some feathers out there.
  AND THEY WANT SELF GOVERNANCE? Gimme a break FFS.
  
  8 1
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  April 12, 2021 3:02pm
- greybeard
  
  Swifty: please refer to my post on this topic in GD 9th April. Cheers.
  
  6 2
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  April 12, 2021 3:07pm
  - Swifty
    
    Thanks greybeard but, again, I refer you to my answer.
    
    I’ve no time whatsoever for the Maori Party race-hustlers but I prefer to wait for the results of an investigation before I make judgement on this matter.
    
    And, again, I can point you to media coverage of legions of thieving pakeha but still believe most pakeha are fundamentally honest.
    
    7 0
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    April 12, 2021 3:40pm
    - greybeard
      
      This epithet “pakeha” really pisses me off.
      If you are not a “maori”, are you therefore a “pakeha” ?
      If you are Asian, Inuit, Australian aborigine, South American native, Mongolian, African of many persuasions, are you therefore “pakeha” ?
      Because you are not “maori” ?
      Of course not.
      Maori were never aware of these other races until Europeans came on the scene and Maori were able to travel the world and be made aware.
      No. Maori refer only to we white people as “pakeha”, in a descriminatory and offensive way.
      I will never consider myself a “pakeha”.
      And I will never acknowledge anywhere known as “Aotearoa”.
      
      What a lot of crap.
      
      15 3
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      April 12, 2021 4:40pm
      - Southtop2
        
        Greybeard agree with all of that apart from acknowledging Aotearoa ………………. that was the original name for the North Island and you can have it 🙂
        
        4 0
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        April 12, 2021 4:54pm
      - Swifty
        
        Fair points greybeard – I use pakeha in the usage I grew up with; that pakeha refers to whiteys, because that was pretty much solely how it was used and because there weren’t that many ‘others’ around.
        
        I’ll be more specific in future.
        
        4 0
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        April 12, 2021 5:46pm
  - Swifty
    
    I note too that National have been issued a ‘please explain’ for some of their donations too.
    
    On another note, of greater interest to me is the issue of the $50,000 donation from the Urban Maori Authority’s (which John Tamihere’s mate Willie Jackson is tied up with) donation to Te Paati.
    
    I would hope they’re not gifting taxpayer’s money to their political mates – especially if this doesn’t help meet their social service provider objectives.
    
    I also note that the Paati wallahs are crying ‘inexperience’ in the handling of donations – which seems a pitiful excuse seeing John Tamihere, a Labour MP and Cabinet Minister in the past, was their co-leader during the election campaign.
    
    7 0
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    April 12, 2021 4:34pm
fishbowl

Can anyone confirm this – Canterbury DHB has a little over 2000 Covid doses to use before tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon otherwise they will expire ? AND no plan to use them all ?
18 0
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April 12, 2021 2:14pm
- Nickc2
  
  Another astounding Labour Govt success story?
  
  10 1
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  April 12, 2021 2:54pm
Maggie Pie

Poor old subbies hit again ?
My partner was saying there’s going to be about a $70million shortfall following the liquidation of the ‘International Apartments’ developer.

Sounds like unsecured creditors get to take it up Wazoo once again.

Even rumored one of Trumpys top exec’s paid over 15mill for a place in there. Just saying.
8 2
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April 12, 2021 2:19pm
- mikenmildagain
  
  If it’s one of Trump’s executives, he or she would be very experienced with non-payment of contractors.
  
  4 11
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  April 12, 2021 2:32pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    That deserves a report Mike, unless you have proof, or a link.
    Fuck knows how you get away with this slanderous shit
    
    7 3
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    April 12, 2021 6:36pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Anti Trump is permitted here.
      
      Point out ardern’s habits … not so much 🙂
      
      1 1
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      April 12, 2021 7:32pm
    - Mike
      
      Really? Next you will be claiming he’s never failed at business, been ordered to close fraudulent operations, or paid off hookers…
      
      2 1
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      April 12, 2021 7:44pm
    - Batman
      
      Steve, you should know by now not to ask for examples of Trump being a shady crook who stiffs contractors… Or any sort of dodgy behaviour by him.
      
      “Donald Trump’s Business Plan Left a Trail of Unpaid Bills – WSJ” https://www.wsj.com/amp/articles/donald-trumps-business-plan-left-a-trail-of-unpaid-bills-1465504454
      
      “Trump still owes money to contractors who built Taj Mahal casino” https://amp.northjersey.com/amp/4547037002
      
      “Donald Trump Got a Tax Break For Stiffing Contractors – Fortune” https://fortune.com/2016/10/08/donald-trump-taxes-contractors/amp/
      
      Business Plan:
      1: borrow money for project
      2: engage contractors
      3: spend part of the money on paying off other loans from previous projects
      4: declare chapter 11 bankruptcy
      5: stiff contractors who built the project.
      6: rinse and repeat
      
      2 0
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      April 13, 2021 12:13am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Paywalled. The 3rd link refers to a hit job by Killary
        
        0 0
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        April 13, 2021 2:39pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Looks like the 90-95% of vaccinated Border workers has now become 80%….

It comes amid revelations that 20 per cent of border staff have yet to get the jab protecting them against coronavirus.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-grand-millennium-worker-with-virus-wasnt-vaccinated-7-new-cases-in-managed-isolation/WLIA254X3YPDTWNSLBZ3S2Y34U/

and looks like Jacinda Ardern’s declaration that all unvaccinated MIQ workers would be working elsewhere from Today isn’t going to happen.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/covid-19-coronavirus-frontline-border-workers-to-be-vaccinated-by-monday-or-moved/LPSBXONGQXBKBSCEMKELZL6O3A/
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April 12, 2021 2:25pm
- Ehlana
  
  Could that be Maggy, because there is some sort of law that says you can’t unilaterally change someone’s employment? I believe you have to consult with them first. Perhaps someone in the union movement could advise Jacinda on this.
  
  13 0
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  April 12, 2021 3:26pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Well, it could very well be…
    
    or it could be that the Week’s/month’s duty roster has already been sent out…and there is no cover available,
    
    or it could be that no-one knows exactly who has and who hasn’t been vaccinated.
    
    14 1
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    April 12, 2021 3:35pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      I have not, and will not
      
      4 1
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      April 12, 2021 6:40pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    The essential part of the jobs in MIQ is to protect the general public from Covid. This requires the workers to be vaccinated, end of story. If they won’t then they should be redeployed or sacked. Otherwise it’s like having a firefighter who refuses to go near a fire.
    
    13 1
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    April 12, 2021 3:45pm
    - MCos
      
      Not quite the same.
      The security guards seem to have no problem performing their assigned duties.
      
      0 0
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      April 12, 2021 6:15pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      You could paraphrase that into Jaspindaspeak, and say take this medicine or you are fired, FIRED!!
      
      7 1
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      April 12, 2021 6:39pm
    - Tall Man
      
      Can you please explain how being vaccinated protects anyone if there is no conclusive evidence that a vaccination stops you from infecting others with covid?
      
      Does the term “border worker” not now include all those that work in the quarantine facilities from the chef through to the cleaner? Is that not many thousands of people and is there not a changing of those personnel on an almost daily basis. How long does it take before the vaccine “kicks” in?
      
      There are so many variables in the whole scenario that my advice is if you are concerned about your health and possible infection from covid, stay the fuck home and let the rest of us get on with living FFS!
      
      8 2
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      April 12, 2021 6:44pm
      - septic skeptic
        
        As I understand in the best evidence so far is that once you have full two-dose immunity that will prevent you transmitting the virus in virtually all cases. One can only hope that is correct, because if there is no reduction in transmission then innoculating the border force will be counter productive. We will have a host of young “bullet proof” security guards and others fraternising with the arrivals.
        
        0 0
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        April 12, 2021 8:47pm
- septic skeptic
  
  Here is a potential maths exam question.
  
  If all of the border workers were vaccinated in February, and 90% of them were vaccinated last week, and 80% were vaccinated this week – what is the probability that there will be a challenge for the leadership of the National party? ( bonus marks will be awarded if your answer is written in red crayon)
  
  8 0
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  April 12, 2021 7:31pm
Maggie Pie

And have you noticed there’s very few white people in advertisements anymore?
23 2
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April 12, 2021 2:38pm
- SB2
  
  No ,
  
  https://lumodigital.nz/our-sites/
  
  More here,
  
  https://www.exploremarlborough.co.nz/tours/self-guided-bike-wine-tour/
  
  An abundance of pales faces for you to delight in.
  
  0 24
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  April 12, 2021 3:05pm
Nickc2

Is this the Royal Australian Navy’s answer to the Royal New Zealand Navy’s Maori Concert Party? Just asking. This is the ceremony for acceptance into service of HMAS SUPPLY II.
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2021/04/what-happened-to-smashing-a-champagne-bottle.html
5 1
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April 12, 2021 2:45pm
lilman

So a family member is struggling with depression.
Has for 2 years now and after a long spell of wellness has fallen into the hole again.
Went to local hospital 3 times for help, no beds,no appointments available for 3 weeks,has self harmed,has twice been found wandering aimlessly on beach cliffs.

YOU LYING BASTARDS,THANKS FOR THE REDUCED FUNDING.
How can this person survive ,let alone recover without ANY help.
If this ends badly,as it may,then it will be because of LACK of Any help.

We are so worried,really worried,am leaving now to go to local Psychiatrist and beg her to see this person,who has only family who are just as lost.

I never ever thought I would be BEGGING out side a Doctors office to even get to see the help,let alone talk to her.

This wont be good reading ,but were desperate.
And it seems failing.
19 1
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April 12, 2021 3:07pm
Inandout

The real WH stats, very interesting.
https://81m.org/
3 3
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April 12, 2021 3:22pm
- Batman
  
  Lololol “we’ve decided to ensure that bots and spam behaviour is explicitly counted even after it is removed by the platform, thus making MAGA YouTube warriors feel vindicated in their downticking efforts”
  
  Hilarious and also hilariously pathetic.
  
  3 12
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  April 12, 2021 3:30pm
  - Inandout
    
    Bat, If the truth is known Joe and Karmala are as popular as the plague. He has killed more jobs and spread more C19 illegals into the US than any other President. The man is a complete fool.
    
    10 3
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    April 12, 2021 4:55pm
  - mikenmildagain
    
    Sad!
    
    2 9
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    April 12, 2021 6:58pm
graham

And the madness continues …

Call to stop using ‘mum’ and ‘dad’ in Victorian schools

Schools and sporting groups in Victoria will be told to avoid terms like “mum”, “dad”, “boyfriend” and “girlfriend” as part of a push to curb the dropout and suicide rates of LGBTQI young people.

The Herald Sun reports that the material suggests avoiding “gendered terms” such as husband and girlfriend instead of the non-gendered partner, and mum and dad rather than parent.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/support-for-lgbtqi-kids-call-to-stop-using-mum-and-dad-in-victorian-schools/A65EEEV7QB4NICBL2BQSZH23YU/

Now, I see that the North Western Melbourne Primary Health Network has issued a statement saying that the campaign is not about mandating the use of pronouns or terms like mum and dad, but is focused on bullying and discrimination. Okay, if that’s the primary focus, fair enough. But it seems that what the Herald Sun has reported is quite correct. One of the campaign webpages has this to say on the topic of ‘inclusive language’:

Inclusive language

Inclusive language is a powerful tool to show support for LGBTIQ people. It’s all about preventing the assumptions people make about someone’s sex, sexuality or gender identity. With inclusive language, people are not left feeling unseen, isolated or disrespected.

Here are some examples of adjusting language to be more inclusive:

– Person first – use the name someone introduces themselves as
– Avoid gendered terms like ‘husband’ and ‘girlfriend’ (use words like ‘partner’ instead)
– Avoid gendered terms such as ‘mum and dad’ (use ‘parents or guardians’)
– Take notice of the pronouns people use for themselves (he, she, they)
– If you’re unsure of the pronoun, stick with the person’s name or politely ask which pronoun they use (not which one they prefer, as sexuality and gender identity are not choices)

So it may not be the primary focus of the campaign, but it’s there. Oh, and the Victorian Government has a detailed inclusive language guide on its website too.

To be clear, if the campaign is primarily about putting a stop to bullying and discrimination, then I’m all for it. Bullying of ANYBODY is wrong, and should not be tolerated. But I’m not so keen on altering the way I speak, just to avoid possibly offending some delicate little flower. I don’t have a partner, I am proudly married to my WIFE; and I don’t take very kindly to anyone trying to tell me otherwise.
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April 12, 2021 3:34pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Lost: one gender, hardly used. Anyone finding it please return it to its owner.
  
  7 1
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  April 12, 2021 6:22pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/124813803/prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-signs-condolence-book-for-prince-philip
Communist hypocrite.
12 3
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April 12, 2021 4:11pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING….

Prince Harry has been spotted arriving at Heathrow – sans Meghan.

Speculation as to what he’ll wear to the funeral since grandma stripped him of military honors.
10 5
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April 12, 2021 4:17pm
- MrTips
  
  Immigration: “Anything to declare?”
  GingaBoi: “wot?”
  Immigration (peering closely): “Ginger hair, a hand me down robe……you must be a Weasley!!?”
  
  7 1
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  April 12, 2021 4:41pm
- Mike
  
  He will wear his uniform, of course.
  
  5 0
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  April 12, 2021 6:21pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Hopefully he will wear underpants, to cover up what Megan has in her purse.
  ‘Here are your nuts honey, for when you get home’
  
  8 2
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  April 12, 2021 6:44pm
Bobba Fret

Had to laugh at this. One rule for thee……….
https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/124810379/healthcare-workers-unmasked-train-journey-made-passenger-uncomfortable
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April 12, 2021 4:46pm
Jack5

An Otago-Southland sea shanty, the Wellerman, which has been a hit on Youtube, has now been recorded by the Vienna Boys’ Choir (link below).

The song’s about the supply ship of the Wellerman company in Sydney which brought supplies to the company’s shore bases on New Zealand’s far southern coast.

Several versions of the song are now on You Tube, one having been viewed 20 million times.

The Weller brothers, of Sydney, set up whaling stations from Akaroa to Stewart Island in 19th century.

Ngai Tahu tribal leader, Edward Ellison, of Dunedin, is the great-great-grandson of the youngest Weller brother, Edward (see second link).

Vienna Boys’ Choir version:

https://youtu.be/_QZcLb_hBU8

The whaling background of the song:

https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/wellerman-sea-shanty-global-hit
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April 12, 2021 5:04pm
- Jack5
  
  The popularity of this NZ folk song on Youtube is astonishing, and new views and remakes are being added.
  
  I don’t know the technique of making and remaking on Youtube. Some duplication may be entailed, but these figures tonight are for view numbers for various versions:
  
  Nathan Evans, Wellerman lyrics – 17.8 million.
  The Longest Johns – 20 million
  The Kiffness – 12 million
  The Wellermen Collab – 8.5 million
  The Wellermen – 5.2 million
  Wellermen – best duets from TikTok 1 million
  Alina Gingertail – 1.9 million
  Wellerman sea shanty dance – 590,000
  
  The Vienna Boys’ Choir lags with just 34,000 views since their version was posted two weeks ago. An all-piano version recorded at a market hall in Berlin has logged 35,000 views.
  
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  April 12, 2021 10:03pm
Maggie Pie

OMG – they are now reporting the unvaccinated positive MIQ worker travelled on 3 buses out of the city, along Dominion Road, towards Mt Roskill.

Now it’s either my upbringing or my training, but I really have genuine concerns for the wellbeing of ‘SB2’.
15 3
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April 12, 2021 5:48pm
- JimBobJoe
  
  SB2s wellbeing has been a major topuc of discussion on this blog for a long time before covid showed up Maggie….
  
  9 2
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  April 12, 2021 6:10pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  No reply and you will not get one.
  Excellent troll
  
  8 3
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  April 12, 2021 6:45pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Who will be administering your Covid-19 Jab?

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/440330/unregulated-covid-19-vaccinators-a-stop-gap-for-underinvestment-in-nurses-union
9 1
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April 12, 2021 7:51pm
Pheobe

This is worth a read.
https://voicesforfreedom.co.nz/guest-blog-an-open-letter-to-dr-bloomfield-from-nz-psychiatrist/
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April 12, 2021 8:45pm

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