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March 18, 2023 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 18 March 2023

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General Debate

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dubya

Not sure why he has chosen to use a pseudonym, when he already had a hooker name.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/from-politician-to-pimp-the-transformation-of-jami-lee-ross
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March 18, 2023 8:02am
mandk

I have it on good authority that those railway stations in Auckland are being renamed to honour the achievements of pre-colonial Maori railway engineers.
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March 18, 2023 8:03am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  You mean the ones that developed the world famous Maori Railway Engineers who built the Raurimu Spiral??
  
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  March 18, 2023 10:08am
  - mandk
    
    I don’t know the names of all those involved, but one was the rangatira Te Treni.
    
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    March 18, 2023 5:34pm
- I remember when
  
  I guess the real Maori achievement was getting here before the Europeans.
  Of course they had the advantage of distance but then they only had canoes.
  
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  March 18, 2023 10:14am
  - NothingLeft
    
    Polynesians got all the way from polynesia to south america and back 1000 years ago. As well as (austronesians) to Madagascar up to 12000 years ago.
    
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    March 18, 2023 11:39am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      There’s no denying it was a helluva accomplishment.
      
      But, what have they done since 1250?
      
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      March 18, 2023 1:24pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        Pretty much same as every Neolithic culture – warred with other tribes, raped, canabalized, pillaged and did everything they could to survive. A long way behind in neolithic tech though as they didn’t develop projectile weapons (spears, bows, slings, atlatls, boomerangs etc)
        
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        March 18, 2023 4:26pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      That’s an impossibly early age for the settlement of Madagascar..
      
      Perhaps 1,200 years ago by Austronesians from Indonesia.
      
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      March 18, 2023 4:48pm
- Widogast Corwin
  
  Think about overseas visitors who know that they need to get a train to “Mount Albert”. They are looking out the window of the train waiting to see the sign that says “Mount Albert”. Then they see “Maungawhau” 🙁 They will not have a clue.
  
  All the names were “gifted”. Absorb this:
  
  “We as mana whenua iwi have drawn on our intergenerational wisdom in gifting these names which give meaning and purpose to our lives moving forward while reminding us of who we are as people,” Makoare said.
  
  “Whatungarongaro te tangata toitū te whenua – as man disappears from sight the land remains.
  
  “This demonstrates the holistic values of te ao Māori and the utmost respect of Papatūānuku, the mother of the earth. People will come and go but the land will remain.”
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/britomart-to-be-renamed-as-seven-auckland-railway-stations-receive-new-names/5VG2VNAC75C4LEWOQJJZH3OX6E/
  
  There is NO earth mother. It makes me angry that we are being forced to make these changes based on mythology or religion. It is outrageous.
  
  Nobody will use these names. I guess locals know where “Mount Albert” station is. They know where to get off the train. Overseas visitors will be utterly bewildered.
  
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  March 18, 2023 11:07am
  - Widogast Corwin
    
    Just to clarify my comment – I have no issues with dual language names if there is a demand for such names from Maori speakers who travel on the trains. But renaming the stations with exclusively Maori names is just insane.
    
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    March 18, 2023 11:56am
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    Wido – Maungawhau is Mt Eden. Owairaka is Mt Albert.
    
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    March 18, 2023 12:34pm
    - Widogast Corwin
      
      Thanks for that correction. I don’t think that deducts from my argument 🙂
      
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      March 18, 2023 5:21pm
- Widogast Corwin
  
  No. See my comment below. The stations are being renamed to “give meaning and purpose to our lives moving forward while reminding us of who we are as people”.
  
  Well thanks a bunch. My life is already a challenge. If I visit Auckland I just want to know which station to get off the train. I’ll be using Uber.
  
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  March 18, 2023 11:10am
  - leoj
    
    Auckland is a shambles. Many suburbs are slums.
    A great place to stay away from.
    The city planners are, and have always been, idiots.
    
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    March 18, 2023 12:47pm
  - Brian McDonald
    
    Try a guide dog.
    
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    March 18, 2023 1:14pm
  - Dave
    
    Thank goodness!! My life, after 75 years of desolate meaninglessness, now has meaning and purpose going forward, though at my age, there’s a risk of going backward to second childhood.
    
    I can’t wait for my local station, Baldwin Avenue, which I use as often as twice a year, to be renamed Hoa Taekaha Ara, for even more purpose going forward.
    
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    March 18, 2023 1:38pm
- Bob
  
  These will be the engineers who built an all encompassing network that ran hourly services between Auck-Well; Picton -Invercargill; both with side networks that connected with North Cape, East Cape , Taranaki, Nelson, Westport etc.
  All dismantled by the neglect of the Colonialists who invaded the country of the peace loving tribes!
  
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  March 18, 2023 1:32pm
Chuck Bird

I wonder if National’s new climate change spokesperson will view this. Lomborg does not claim that climate change is not happening.

Bjorn Lomborg– The Cost of Climate Alarmism

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAVdi3Xm7f4
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March 18, 2023 8:05am
- slightlyrighty
  
  By crippling our economy to deal with climate change, we reduce our ability to deal with climate change.
  
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  March 18, 2023 8:18am
  - O C Smith
    
    Completely Right!!!!
    
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    March 18, 2023 10:58pm
- Simon
  
  National’s true political opposition those who dare question climate change fraud.
  
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  March 18, 2023 8:20am
- pdm
  
  Chuck – how about Maureen Pugh to take up Climate Change for National.
  
  Lets get some common sense on this subject from them instead of the Labour Lite line.
  
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  March 18, 2023 8:20am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    All fine unless Luxon wants her to voice his opinion.
    
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    March 18, 2023 8:40am
    - Colville
      
      All fine unless you want National to win the election.
      
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      March 18, 2023 9:21am
      - NK
        
        In the past I bought this line, that National had to win because it’s policies are much better for the country than Labour’s.
        
        But now, I don’t take this position. I couldn’t care less if National “wins”, or not. They’re essentially as bad as Labour, evidenced no better than Luxon’s speech last week? where he parroted Greta Thunberg and gave more welfare to the middle class. Oh, he’s going to cut consultant costs. Whoopee, he can do that anyway without channelling the “savings” into more welfare. So I don’t buy the argument any longer that National has to win the election because sweet FA will change with Labour lite.
        
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        March 18, 2023 10:30am
      - Warren Murray
        
        NK – couldn’t have said it better myself!
        
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        March 18, 2023 10:41am
      - Colville
        
        NK.
        I take the view that I will vote for a party who will keep the destructive Greens OUT of power.
        and that is ACT, ACT needs a junior partner and that has to be Labour Lite.
        
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        March 18, 2023 12:32pm
  - Mark Hanley
    
    The only way to stop the 5 WATERS, CLIMATE CHANGE, AND RMA GRAVY TRAINS is to do everything you can to support National and Act in the upcoming elections.
    
    Start donating and / or volunteering.
    
    Don’t buy into the media (nor the opposition party spin doctors infiltrating KB) BS undermining Luxon.
    
    And don’t waste your vote on a minor party.
    
    We also need to demand enduring change from a National ACT government to avoid enriching future Labour politicians at our expense. e.g., a derivation of the Swiss referendum system which allows NZ voters to vote on exceptions (any race based policy or law / policy not articulated and costed prior to the election) and therefore fill the role of an upper parliamentary chamber.
    
    Any other SOLUTIONS out there?
    
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    March 18, 2023 8:42am
  - Nickc2
    
    Why not just ignore it?
    Treat it like it is, a series of unpredicted ‘natural weather events’. These have been happening throughout history and often with greater severity than we have witnessed in NZ.
    On the other hand, ‘slash’ is caused by mankind! Why not appoint a Minister of Slash? In NZ, man-made ‘slash’ has caused massive amounts of damage when added to ‘natural weather events’ such as flooding.
    
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    March 18, 2023 8:49am
- Matt Long
  
  Here’s far left The Guardian’s view of Bjorn Larson and Russell Brand. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/16/russell-brand-is-the-latest-to-platform-climate-conservative-bjrn-lomborgs-reckless-net-zero-cost-claims
  I had to find the link through duck duck go, Google apparently is keeping Bjorn Larson under cover. Shadow banning?
  
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  March 18, 2023 8:33am
  - Joely Doe
    
    Searching for Bjorn Lomborg may herald better results
    
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    March 18, 2023 9:18am
  - sirknz
    
    Shadow banning a dissenting opinion?
    
    Big tech surely has our best interests at heart and would never do such a thing…
    
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    March 18, 2023 9:32am
  - Cinematic
    
    Isn’t it of interest how these ‘debunking’ style articles always only nibble at the edge of what the alleged perpetrator has said? For example if $11k per year isn’t correct, then feel free to state what is, they almost never do.
    
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    March 18, 2023 9:49am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Lomborg, not Larson.
    
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    March 18, 2023 9:49am
    - Matt Long
      
      Ahh, that explains it, thanks Maggie. Late night with sick children if that’s any excuse.
      
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      March 18, 2023 10:03am
      - kowtow
        
        Don’t apologise . Possibly a Freudian slip.
        
        The climate scam is larceny, on a global scale.
        
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        March 18, 2023 10:06am
- Odakyu-sen
  
  It’s not the Climate Change, but the use of Climate Alarmism to coerce people into following inefficient and naive projects and policies.
  
  Why is the Climate Change narrative not debated but accepted like the tenants of a cult?
  
  How unscientific!
  
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  March 18, 2023 8:54am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    You mean like the covid narrative?
    
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    March 18, 2023 11:25am
- lastmanstanding
  
  IMHO my fellow peasants will wake up the climate change hoax when their cost of living keeps rising but the amount of NZ emissions doesnt decrease. They will realise that the Government big business and academics have been raiding their hip pockets on the basis of a giant scam. They will be very angry. They will throw out the current Government and vote for a Government that winds back on the scam.
  Yes we need to transition away from fossil fuels to some degree but we dont need to destroy our way of life in the process. Lets find alternatives that provide cheap reliable energy before shutting off fossil fuel. Its called having common sense a concept that is sadly a distant stranger to the Climate Change nutters.
  
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  March 18, 2023 9:40am
  - Nickc2
    
    I couldn’t agree more!
    
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    March 18, 2023 9:46am
  - kowtow
    
    ‘Yes we need to transition away from fossil fuels to some degree ‘
    
    No we don’t .
    
    Climate is driven by the sun .
    
    Don’t buy into what is essentially a marxist narrative .
    
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    March 18, 2023 3:55pm
- I remember when
  
  Perhaps instead of ‘climate change’, the government should be learning and teaching the general population about La Nina and El Nino.
  
  The consequences are much more immediate.
  
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  March 18, 2023 10:17am
  - gravedodger
    
    Toss in the real time effect of an under sea seismic event that moved an estimated (based on modelling perhaps) twenty one CUBIC KILOMETERS OF SEA BED and an incalculable quantity of water into the Atmosphere and even into the Stratosphere to await an opportunity to return to earth sometime, for advanced study.
    
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    March 18, 2023 12:40pm
- Rich Prick
  
  They’ve gone from an ice age, to searing heat to just change. 50 years of crying wolf, and we still buy it.
  
  https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-of-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions/
  
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  March 18, 2023 11:25am
artemisia

Woman hit by escooter wants them totally banned. Really? Is that a proportionate response?Accidents happen, that’s just life. Even death. People fall out of bed and bang their head so let’s ban beds. And cars. And bikes. And kerbs.

The Stuff writer has reported on ACC payouts for similar, but did not bother to add context. Like for example how does that number compare with other accident types, like accidents with avocados.

A suggestion to ACC – spend some of your large education budget to warn people to look both ways before stepping off a bus. Think of the savings.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/131520154/escooter-hits-woman-71-leaving-her-blacked-out-and-with-fractures
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March 18, 2023 8:08am
- I remember when
  
  Yes.
  The first thing I think of is getting hit by a scooter when I’m stepping off a bus.
  Always look up too, just in case.
  
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  March 18, 2023 10:20am
  - emmess
    
    Could have just as easily been a bike or jogger.
    Should they be banned too?
    
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    March 18, 2023 10:55am
    - Ghost
      
      Cyclist shouldn’t be on a footpath. Some jogging usually is aware of those around them
      
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      March 18, 2023 10:59am
    - Matt Long
      
      You are a jogger, you see a bus to stopped for passengers to disembark. You plow straight into said passengers?
      I was under the impression that joggers, cyclists and even e-scooter operators on the footpath were sentient beings.
      
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      March 18, 2023 12:06pm
      - emmess
        
        Exactly, E-Scooter riders hurt people not E-Scooters.
        
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        March 18, 2023 3:57pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  C’mon…what is a motorised vehicle doing on a footpath?
  
  No-one getting off a bus onto a footpath expects to be plowed into by some vehicle speeding along at 15km/hr or more.
  
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  March 18, 2023 10:21am
  - Ghost
    
    Less potholes on the footpath?
    
    But agree, someone shouldn’t have to look both ways getting off a bus onto a footpath. I remember back in primary school, to be allowed to ride our bike to school we had to pass a road test with a police officer, one of the first things was do not ride on the footpath.
    
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    March 18, 2023 10:28am
  - HeatherW
    
    E-scooters are permitted on footpaths, but not on cycle lanes.
    https://www.nzta.govt.nz/vehicles/vehicle-types/low-powered-vehicles/
    
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    March 18, 2023 11:48am
  - mawm
    
    Maggy – more like 30 km/h… and they are silent, so there is no warning. The footpath should be for pedestrians only.
    
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    March 18, 2023 3:30pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Maybe just ban ‘stupid people’
  
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  March 18, 2023 11:40am
- Pineapple Lumps
  
  Escooters are another example of introducing new technologies without any forethought for etiquette or rules. Add to the list synthetic cannabis and vape.
  
  Ripping past a bus at speeds capable of causing multiple fractures is dumb and irresponsible.
  
  Seeing them ripping down the road unhelmeted is equally dumb and irresponsible.
  
  AT in their war on cars was happy to unleash lime on the city with no regard for safety.
  
  So I do begrudge picking up the tab on ACC. What do the left keep saying about commercialising the profits and socialising the losses. Just another example in my opinion.
  
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  March 18, 2023 12:43pm
  - Colville
    
    What about old people riding on the four wheel scooters?
    Some of those fuckers are huge and fast!
    
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    March 18, 2023 2:06pm
    - Ghost
      
      Laughing. I saw a guy from the rest home going down the street on his mobility scooter, on the road, passing the cars and grinning.
      
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      March 18, 2023 2:18pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Bad footpath infrastructure. Which is being exacerbated by new cycle lanes. Footpath, cycleway, bus stop. Cyclists flying along with their usual nose-in-the-air disdain for everyone else.
  
  The one at the hospital in Newtown is a shocker. Fortunately, help is close at hand.
  
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  March 18, 2023 1:29pm
  - mawm
    
    I absolutely agree. Who came up with the idea of putting bike lanes between parked cars and the place exiting passengers want to go?
    
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    March 18, 2023 3:33pm
- kowtow
  
  Motor vehicles should not be on foot paths .
  
  They pose a very serious danger to pedestrians.
  
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  March 18, 2023 3:58pm
  - Tommo
    
    They are not motor vehicles though
    
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    March 18, 2023 6:00pm
    - Sol Invictus
      
      Yes they are. They are just low-powered (electric) motor cycles
      
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      March 18, 2023 7:10pm
Simon

Is China now a threat to NZ? Russia / China alliance badly hurt the feelings of the neolib globalists.

Does NZ have to ‘rearm”? Has anyone from the boosted Wellington Clown Show set out NZ position now on China?
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March 18, 2023 8:18am
- sirknz
  
  They have banned Tik Tok off all government devices this week so the winds are shifting a little.
  
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  March 18, 2023 2:45pm
CJames

Rather than me telling I told you so on Lake Onslow, here is Energy Watch’s take on it from last year.
https://www.energywatch.org.nz/issues/EW85_7-2022.pdf
So the fundamental problems are still there, but they need to waste lots more money on it to let an incompetent Minister virtue signal.
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March 18, 2023 8:28am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Also looks like the Greens are not telling the full story, just cherry picking the good bits. Pumping water uphill is a waste. E=MC2 remember.
  
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  March 18, 2023 8:45am
  - CJames
    
    That is the wrong law Steve. It is the laws of kinematics that show the losses.
    
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    March 18, 2023 9:17am
    - NothingLeft
      
      kinematics = to do with motion, kinematic equations in simple non-differential form are things like 2a.d=v²-u², d=u.t+½a.t², v=u+a.t
      
      What you want is Gravitational potential energy = mass.gravity.height
      
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      March 18, 2023 10:06am
      - peterwn
        
        Potential energy is the possible energy of water in a lake if released to flow downhill. Kinetic energy is the energy of the released water just before it hits the turbine blades. This is then followed by mechanical energy, magnetic energy and finally electrical energy.
        
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        March 18, 2023 10:23am
      - CJames
        
        The losses are mainly friction in converting the head of water into the spinning of the runner- losses on the walls of the components guiding the water flow. These are greater than those of transformer and generator/motor magnetic fluxes, eddy currents and their leakage.
        I was of the understanding that friction is covered under the kinematics – at least it was when I went through
        
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        March 18, 2023 10:32am
      - Colville
        
        CJ.
        Yeah friction and turbidity in the pump.
        
        Anyone know what the losses would be expected?
        30%??
        
        Wouldnt the ideal be to have an “Onslow” beside a small nuke plant? Nuke runs 100% load 24Hrs, peak hours a day that power goes to he grid and off peak it goes to the pumps ??
        
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        March 18, 2023 12:39pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      There will be a loss of energy. Not economic, but it works.
      
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      March 18, 2023 11:41am
  - JohnRidd
    
    I think the law you want is fir kinetic energy.
    
    KE=1/2mv^2
    
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    March 18, 2023 9:48am
  - sirknz
    
    Energy out<Energy In.
    
    The equation you are referencing describes things going boom at speed and the faster they are moving, the bigger the boom. An average sized marshmallow (colour is irrelevant) travelling at 99% the speed of light will really ruin your day should it impact somewhere near you.
    
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    March 18, 2023 9:56am
    - Colville
      
      🙂
      
      You wouldnt notice it had massed thru you till your bits started leaking out.
      
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      March 18, 2023 12:40pm
  - edhunter
    
    If we accept as fact that NZ will never (at least in the next 50 yrs) go nuclear nor build any new fossil fuelled power stations and that wind and solar are unreliable, intermittent and an eyesore. Also that power storage (battery) on grand scale is not yet economically viable. That does leave many other options.
    Hydro has expensive initial cost but provides long term, low cost power. But I don’t think there are many if any viable sites in the North Island.
    So that leaves an option to build an Onslow which as you say may use more energy to fill the lake than it will generate, but that’s a false argument. The energy used is used in a time of surplus energy, a time when the wind is blowing, the sun shining and hydro turbines pumping, we’ve already agreed(maybe) that battery storage is not yet an option, why not store water that at the turn of a valve can be turned into power?
    
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    March 18, 2023 9:56am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      But I don’t think there are many if any viable sites in the North Island.
      
      Yes there are…and the Government is actively exploring Moawhanga Lake for pumped stored hydro.
      
      https://www.newsroom.co.nz/sustainable-future/govt-considering-north-island-pumped-hydro-scheme
      
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      March 18, 2023 10:31am
      - colinm
        
        The Moawhango pumped storage option was planned in the 1950s when they were planning the Tongariro power scheme. Economics at the time shelved it. Now back on the table. There was also plans for another power station in the Kaimanawas as well.
        
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        March 18, 2023 1:36pm
      - Dougal10
        
        The Wanganui river must have multiple places for hydro dams on it .
        
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        March 18, 2023 4:37pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        And if folks thought about it…. you could do pumped hydro on the western side of Lake Taupo (but I expect a few folk might object).
        
        and Lake Whakamaru (between Atiamuri and Mangakino) has also been suggested as a possible PSH candidate.
        
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        March 18, 2023 4:57pm
    - Brian McDonald
      
      edhunter does recirculation of the water back up stream play any part in “pump storage?”
      
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      March 18, 2023 11:25am
    - gravedodger
      
      Sorry to be a pedant but where in hell will a viable electricity “surplus” eventuate with the rapid expansion of the EV fleet, oh that’s right we will get Tiwari Pt back then spend gazillions converting it to the power we transmit around NZ , build the infrastructure to move the power to where we use it, cripes that’ll work what could go wrong.
      For gawds sake go and read what CJames wrote at 08 28 this morning on this post, Clearly Megs hasn’t, to many big words methinks.
      
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      March 18, 2023 12:50pm
- Swifty
  
  I think there’s another issue with Lake Onslow that that needs to be aired.
  
  Labour are totally incompetent when it comes to actual delivery. I rate their chances that it would be delivered without massive budget blowouts or that or that anything but a fraction of the claimed benefits will actually be realised at single digit percent.
  
  This is beyond them. The last five years of non-delivery has shown their claims of future delivery like Onslow to be meaningless.
  
  They might as well announce their plan for New Zealand to put people on the moon. I’d give them about the same chance.
  
  We’d be fools to believe them.
  
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  March 18, 2023 9:13am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Labour are stuck in the thinking stage.
    This will never fly.
    
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    March 18, 2023 11:44am
  - Swifty
    
    *As meaningless as we now know their KiwiBuild promises to have been.
    
    Or their Auckland Light Rail promises.
    
    Or their Auckland bridge bike lane promises.
    
    Or their Dunedin Hospital build promises.
    
    Or their education target promises, health target promises, crime reduction target promises – the list just goes on and on and on and on and on and on.
    
    Labour’s credibility is zilch. They are nothing but con artists.
    
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    March 18, 2023 1:23pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Some folks think the Lake Onslow project is dead in the water.
  
  https://businessdesk.co.nz/article/infrastructure/critics-say-onslow-is-essentially-dead-despite-ongoing-work
  
  (Alas paywalled)……. but the gist of the matter :
  
  critics said the idea of spending nearly $16b and taking almost 15 years to complete a project just to remove the last bit of thermal power generation from the electricity sector was a waste of money. It would be better spent on other decarbonisation projects.
  
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  March 18, 2023 9:54am
  - kowtow
    
    Never mind “decarbonisation”.
    
    It’d be better spent exploring for more oil and gas deposits.
    
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    March 18, 2023 10:08am
  - PeeJay
    
    Therein lies the real reason this still has legs. I’ve always thought that Onslow was a solution looking for a problem. When you strip all the noise away, it’s really just a virtue signalling project to be seen to be removing thermal from the grid. It fails on all other economic or energy security measures but wow, the ‘feelz’ are off the chart!
    
    Pump storage schemes can work as part of an integrated network – Cruachan in the UK for instance is still going strong and has a role to play, alongside nuclear and thermal, as a back up for peak demand and grid restart should it ever be required. It’s arguable that pump storage has had it’s day and there are other options though.
    
    But the cost of Onslow, the location, the Alpine fault risk, the poor efficiency (will struggle to hit 70% I understand) should mean that any robust business case process would opt for a cheaper, more reliable option.
    
    That this is still going, shows that it has nothing to do with economics or energy security and is all about the ‘feelz’.
    
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    March 18, 2023 10:29am
    - Ian Boag
      
      a cheaper, more reliable option.
      
      Good thought. Like what? Other than more thermal stations.
      
      We have pretty much run out of places to build any significant hydro dams. Using Lake Taupo as a “small scale Onslow” creates some fairly significant shoreline erosion issues.
      
      I’m not across the numbers for how much potential new geothermal power is around or what the arithmetic looks like.
      
      An “ordinary” nuke is a bit big for the NZ grid – they don’t get much smaller than 1000MW which would make it over 10% of the installed power. Not to mention there’s a track record of budgets and timeframes being busted in that field too. Look at France and the UK.
      
      The SMRs look like a good idea – but there are none in service right now and 2030 will not be far off when the first ones get going properly. We would probably want to see a track record before buying one or two so go-to-KW would likely be 10-15 years give or take.
      
      The last time we bought bleeding edge technology was the Motunui petrol plant for turning natural gas into gasoline. A Mobil invention and we bought the only one in the world. Eventually the petrol bit was turned off and it just became a (large) methanol plant.
      
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      December 18, 2022 1:38pm
      - Bridgenag
        
        Geothermal power is one of the “5 waters” and maybe will probably get some sort of traction when the iwi have it tied up.
        
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        March 18, 2023 5:17pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Yeah, the alpine fault risk is a thing. I wouldn’t want to be downstream of Onslow when the big one hits. Will make Esk Valley seem like piddle.
      
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      March 18, 2023 1:33pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Nice link. I found this bit interesting…
  “On a $4 billion investment that
  would be a rate of return of 0.375%”
  Cost is now expected to be more like $16bn (or more). Now, I’m no money man but I think that means the rate of return would be pretty crap.
  
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  March 18, 2023 11:14am
lifesgood

So are Real Estate agents just going to roll over and take this crap about learning how to welcome Maori into open homes? If they do they are gutless. This kind of rubbish needs to stop and it won’t stop until sensible people take a stand against it.
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March 18, 2023 8:30am
Matt Long

Three good candidates for National in Northland.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/nationals-northland-candidates-to-be-known-this-weekend/23PPENPQCJAVJBACSJKTPLGV2E/
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March 18, 2023 8:38am
- Tarquin North
  
  I thought Jason Smith had already been selected ?
  
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  March 18, 2023 8:45am
- nathie
  
  Might be better for National to “do an Epsom” and accommodate Matt King?
  
  After all at the end of the day Matt King, being ex-National, mostly aligns with them in terms of the policies that matter to everyday NZ’ers (eg economy, health, education, policing and crime etc).
  
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  March 18, 2023 11:40am
  - The Boss
    
    National will regret not accommodating Matt King. He (and maybe one or two more) may be exactly what is needed to form a government. Do they not understand MMP?
    
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    March 18, 2023 3:12pm
    - Matt Long
      
      They do, they play it to maximize their power and agenda.
      If they’re not accommodating King, you can draw your own conclusions.
      
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      March 18, 2023 8:39pm
Matt Long

Emily Henderson follows Todd Muller’s excellent example. https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/labour-and-whangarei-mp-emily-henderson-to-retire-at-2023-election/ZNOTGGI6JJDXBP3ZDWUDG6N44E/
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March 18, 2023 8:40am
- pdm
  
  Matt I have just read the Herald piece.
  
  No mention of helping victims of crime, only the vulnerable.
  
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  March 18, 2023 8:52am
  - Matt Long
    
    The only thing that can be said for her accidental career as a member of Parliament is that she would actually meet with constituents and was far more effective and than the Northland MP.
    I hope King and National don’t split the conservative vote and let Prime in again.
    
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    March 18, 2023 9:01am
    - Nickc2
      
      Prime is a waste of space and a lot of it!
      
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      March 18, 2023 9:06am
Matt Long

A big shout out to Todd Muller for doing the best thing for his party and the country yesterday, and best wishes for the future.
Hopefully a career well away from primary industry and weather gods.
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March 18, 2023 8:46am
- 3-coil
  
  but don’t forget, he’s still got time to throw his hat back into the ring again…just one last time! 😎
  
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  March 18, 2023 9:45am
- Gertie
  
  Yes thank the heavens he is out. Why does a short career with Fonterra give credibility to a politician? Fonterra has lost billions upon billions of farmer dosh. I know, I am a farmer.
  
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  March 18, 2023 10:33am
  - rangitoto
    
    Their management is incredibly inefficient. Worse than most government departments. That’s my experience as a service provider.
    
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    March 18, 2023 12:09pm
- Lexicon
  
  I felt a sense of relief when I learnt Muller was retiring at the end of this term. As my electorate MP, I would have held my nose and voted for him, but now I’m keen to see who will be a more palatable option for my vote.
  
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  March 18, 2023 2:23pm
pdm

Matt – Grant McCallum usually talks a lot of common sense as a regular panelist on `The Country’. A staunch National man and a farmer to boot.

Jason Smith was a popular Mayor as I recall but I know no more about him..

Felicity Foy I have never heard of but as she seems to tick a few diversity boxes she may well come through as the selected candidate.
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March 18, 2023 8:48am
- Matt Long
  
  I don’t think Grant would appreciate being called staunch Labour.
  I was wondering if National would go for diversity, I just can’t see it in Northland.
  
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  March 18, 2023 8:54am
  - pdm
    
    What a crass mistake I made – sincere apologies Grant McCallum.
    
    mod can you fix my error???? and change Labour to National please.
    
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    March 18, 2023 9:04am
  - Paulus
    
    What the hell has Diversity got to do with the selection – surely the best person for the job is paramount.
    When are we going to get over ourselves in this stupidity – getting worse sadly ?
    
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    March 18, 2023 10:27am
- Sparrow
  
  As a resident of the Kaipara I don’t recall Jason Smith being popular many regarded him as a glory hunter. To choose a white farmer that’s so so exciting but to be fair that’s very representative of Northland. To choose a young Maori women would be a massive change for the party but hey look what happened in the Hamilton selection. Certainly could take on Prime and might attract wavering voters like myself. The big unknown is what impact Matt King will have. He seems to be very popular on the street whether that turns into votes at the election who knows ?
  
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  March 18, 2023 10:19am
oldpark

The track record of Chris “laughing boy” Hipkins ,
Check out this lot .”Ruling by Fooling”.
Hipkins a master of the art with gullible fools to practice on .The most recent piece of trickery .
Making out cunningly castigating Nash one of his Ministers as a naughty man for breaching Parliamentary Ethics yet doing a Jacinda Ardern punishment on Nash .Keeping him in the same position after threatening him about his so called unacceptable behaviour just a few days before.
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March 18, 2023 8:49am
- gravedodger
  
  Don’t forget the final final final warnings oldpark, First from Parker as AG, then perhaps Jax, and finally Chipy, how many?
  They would be searing for the big ego.
  
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  March 18, 2023 1:17pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    But with no impact on his salary.
    
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    March 18, 2023 1:35pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Media dividing Trump and DeSantis. Part of this item is pre 2022.
DeSantis did not say anything about running in 2024.

https://dfctoday.com/desantis-slams-the-media-and-tells-the-truth-about-his-beef-with-trump/
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March 18, 2023 8:57am
- Nickc2
  
  Trump for POTUS in 2024 with DeSantis as VPOTUS. DeSantis for POTUS 2028 with Nikki Haley as VPOTUS.
  
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  March 18, 2023 9:51am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    In the future, I would like to see Candace Owens as say VP one day
    
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    March 18, 2023 5:46pm
Bridgenag

“Would you take off your mask for $100,000?”
My tweet on this topic went viral with 32M views in 6 days. It was covered by the UK Daily Mail, NY Post, Inside Edition, etc. It was even covered in an article in Croatia! Here’s the backstory.

https://open.substack.com/pub/stevekirsch/p/would-you-take-off-your-mask-for?
r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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March 18, 2023 9:19am
surfing

Unelected commissioner in action…
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/kiri-gillespie-future-of-tauranga-racecourse-plagued-by-dearth-of-details/QGJ3W6WJJFBSJHO7CKS5G4XMLM/
“commission chairwoman Anne Tolley told the Bay of Plenty Times, when asked about the lack of detail, that in her view the absence of concept images for the $126m option would not affect people’s preferences. ”

In other words, they presented two options, a 300 million dollar that had concept images and details, and a $126 million dollar option that had no details.

Tolley claims having no detail for the 126 million dollar option didn’t affect peoples decisions. She is clearly incompetent. So, council now get 300 million dollar new offices.
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March 18, 2023 9:22am
- Paulus
  
  The Tauranga unelected Mahuta Commissioners have been dreadful after all spending what we have with no consequences as they will be gone by then.
  Tauranga CDB is a building wreck, and Council spend on themselves with new super offices, and Council have to haves, Maori Museum and Library, and of course cycles ways.
  Roads are a wreck as they are continually torn up with some many years to come yet for their visions.
  
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  March 18, 2023 10:33am
Yvette

Online hate towards Muslims ‘increasing’ since mosque attacks
… “When you compare it to other countries, the hate is just as bad, if not more. Per capita, we have more hate than any other country in the digital space.” – Abdur Razzaq, Chairperson of The Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand
https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/03/12/online-hate-towards-muslims-increasing-since-mosque-attacks/

However Newshub reports –
Religious and cultural understanding has been at the heart of a $550 million budget allocated since [the Mosques massacres] to try and prevent such hateful actions again.
But a report from the Federation of Islamic Associations (FIANZ) has found $525 million of it (95 percent) has gone to work done by the Government and consultants. Just five percent has gone to community-led projects.
On top of that, the review of hate speech laws has been watered down and lumped on the Law Commission to consider.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/03/christchurch-terror-attack-federation-of-islamic-associations-of-nz-disappointed-at-government-for-not-fulfilling-promises.html

So, if “we have more hate than any other country in the digital space”, what Government work was $525 million spent on, and what portion was payed to consultants – presumably for work Government Departments were incapable of doing

____________________
(And as “Hipkins hints Ardern could continue Christchurch Call work” will she be a public servant or a consultant who will need to in turn contract computer-savy sub-consultants?)
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March 18, 2023 9:25am
- Paulus
  
  Trying to find a job for Ardern as nobody else will touch her – she is a Liability.
  Anywhere where we can pay her a huge sum and allow her to travel (First Class, of course) the world preaching about Muslims in New Zealand.
  
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  March 18, 2023 10:36am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    UN usually pick up the dregs
    
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    March 18, 2023 11:54am
- artemisia
  
  Always thought the name ‘Christchurch Call’ was a weird choice in the circs.
  
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  March 18, 2023 12:47pm
- Sir Henry Morgan
  
  Over half a billion dollars spent in several years on ‘promoting religious and cultural understanding’? How is that even possible?
  
  Also, I am so tired of whiny Muslim leaders lecturing the rest of society on tolerance. It is not like Muslim societies are famously tolerant.
  
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  March 18, 2023 7:48pm
- Alan Wilkinson
  
  Has anyone found a Muslim Government we shouldn’t hate?
  
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  March 19, 2023 10:58am
Swifty

I bet Labour MPs don’t run their personal finances in such a profligate way:

https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/300832662/govt-debt-spending-more-than-it-earns-may-put-countrys-credit-rating-at-risk

Spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, spend, hey Dad the landlord is coming up the path – quick kids, everyone out the back door!
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March 18, 2023 9:36am
Close Hen Counters

Guy compromises people and police in west Auckland by using a gun and ends up shot himself – god knows how much time taken up in operating theatre and ICU trying to save him while many other New Zealanders can’t get surgery. Queue huge money draining inquiry into why this lovely young man, trying to reform himself, maybe special person gets his life ended so cruelly by the nasty establishment
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March 18, 2023 9:38am
- PeeJay
  
  I found the coverage a bit odd yesterday. Might have been because it was an evolving story but to begin with, it almost sounded like this perp was the victim – almost like the media wanted to do a narrative story like ‘poor guy minding his own business shot by cops’ story but as the facts emerged, it started to be less narrative driven and more about the facts.
  
  Reporting today is still a bit confused like the media can’t really decide why side of the fence to come down on.
  
  I just thought it was very black and white – guy robs store, shoots at police, ends up being shot.
  
  Good to see that the firearms legislation is working so well eh???!!
  
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  March 18, 2023 10:41am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/chris-trotter-julian-batchelor-is-a-fascist-well-thats-when-one-reads-between-the-lines/

Julian Batchelor is a Fascist according to Chris Trotter.
https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/Julian-Batchelor-is-a-fascist-Chris-Trotter.pdf

The Orewa meeting is today at 3pm. I will be there.
Orewa Community Center
40-46 Orewa square.
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March 18, 2023 9:45am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  The explicit purpose of Batchelor’s roadshow is to build a mass political movement of
  Pakeha New Zealanders
  This is not true. There are many races in the movement, some even Maori.
  
  100,000 at the Auckland Domain? Trotter points out the biggest Political demonstration in NZ was Election eve, 1938. 70,000 Demonstrators.
  NZ population then was about 1,6 million (someone may want to correct this)
  
  Come to the Orewa meeting Chris Trotter. You might learn something other that what the lying NZ Media are feeding you!
  
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  March 18, 2023 10:04am
Swifty

What a fine fellow.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/father-of-kaoss-price-has-forgiven-police-for-fatal-shooting-but-blames-himself/CDXGZMFSIRFOBD24GWMPCO2HN4/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100007900095745&mibextid=LQQJ4d
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March 18, 2023 9:48am
- kowtow
  
  ‘Judge Gregory Hikaka was satisfied Price’s remorse and insight were genuine and said his abstinence from alcohol and drugs and that he was working full-time signalled his commitment to a better life.’
  
  FFS.
  
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  March 18, 2023 10:19am
Maggy Wassilieff

The NZ Public Service seems to be a big joke to some Labour troughers.

https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2303/S00154/labours-ruth-dyson-breaches-public-service-act.htm

Dyson’s arrogance on full display in this video clip.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/03/public-service-commissioner-says-former-labour-minister-ruth-dyson-s-tweets-were-political.html
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March 18, 2023 10:00am
- nathie
  
  Dyson’s bottled up anger is quite a (scary) sight!
  
  Bet she was thinking “How dare they question me like that! Don’t they know who I am! I am “Labour”, through and through! I am one of Helen’s chosen ones! Darn those MSM kiddie reporters of today! Where is their respect??!!”
  
  On another note, the MSM could have a bit of fun if they (did their usual trick) of asking each Labour MP they come across on whether they have read the Cabinet Manual.
  
  I think we already know what the outcome to that will be! 😉
  
  But it would be great to know who actually are the “nerdy swots” that have! 🙂
  
  Can’t be more than one or two surely? Anyone want to speculate who they might be?
  
  (I might be wrong David Parker seems to be the only one that comes to mind? Surely there would be someone else, if so who)?
  
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  March 18, 2023 11:51am
  - Swifty
    
    Willie Jackson won’t have actually read it, but he may have looked at the pictures!
    
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    March 18, 2023 12:07pm
    - Colville
      
      I had magazines like that when I was a lad…
      
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      March 18, 2023 2:14pm
I remember when

Chris Hipkins has really put Stuart Nash in his place (it’s at the bottom of cabinet listings).
He’s on his final warning.
That means he only has –
his final, final warning
and
his final, final, final warning to go.

Incidentally, does it send a message to those Labour parliamentarians not in cabinet ,

you’re not up to it.
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March 18, 2023 10:08am
- kevn
  
  @I rem.. Like dealing with children, “now, I’m going to count to 10…”
  
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  March 18, 2023 12:47pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Seems there’s quite a stoush developing about whether or not Tainui-Waikato has standing in the Auckland region.

https://www.teaomaori.news/new-mural-glen-innes-creates-controversy
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March 18, 2023 10:10am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  To be fair, that one has been contested for hundreds of years.
  
  But, the only date that matters is 6 Feb 1840, right? At that point, pass-the-parcel stopped.
  
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  March 18, 2023 1:39pm
BeaB

Best line of the week was Mark Michell saying being punished by Hipkins was like ‘being mauled by a mouse’.
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March 18, 2023 10:16am
Jack5

Radio NZ says ex-National MP Jami-Lee Ross is running an escort agency in Auckland:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/486182/from-politician-to-pimp-the-transformation-of-jami-lee-ross
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March 18, 2023 10:37am
- emmess
  
  From politician to pimp?
  Same industry right? He’s just the paymaster now.
  
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  March 18, 2023 11:01am
  - NothingLeft
    
    Given his efforts to entrap Bridges you’d have to be pretty nervous about having any dealings with him. He’s got form in screwing people.
    
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    March 18, 2023 1:02pm
Maggie Pie

Very rarely does my partner reply to Twitter links from ‘The Horrid’.
Mainly because they always remove them before they show up.

Interestingly, the response he posted yesterday is still there…..

https://twitter.com/nzherald/status/1636612489394651136
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March 18, 2023 10:52am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

A bit of fun that starts about 7 minutes in.
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-model-3-modified-hilarious-new-video/
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March 18, 2023 10:58am
Maggie Pie

Nashie let slip to a mate yesterday, the REAL reason he’s pissed off with being demoted to #20 in Cabinet, is he’ll now how to stand behind Megan in the lineup for Bellamy’s smorgasbord.
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March 18, 2023 11:20am
Swifty

For those on LinkedIn:

[Mod – please don’t link to someone’s profile, you can have a discussion without that].

Check out the current role and the career history.

Is this really the best use of the taxes from NZ families?

If organisations need specialist advice on a matter, don’t you buy in that advice on an hourly or daily basis, short and sharp, rather than set up whole teams to provide that advice as a constant activity?

I still haven’t got my head around needing permanent DEI staff as opposed to, at most, bringing in some help from time to time – establishing initial strategies and plans, periodic reviews on progress etc.

Permanent DEI staff for me just reeks of political commissars constantly watching over everyone else’s shoulders. What else will they do all day, all week, all month and all year upon year?

With their background they’re not going to be much use designing more efficient milking systems, inventing new modular homes, coming up with more efficient ways of filleting and storing fish at sea, improving maintenance schedules on heavy diesel engines etc.

They just seem like a great dead weight, lowering productivity, sucking up vast sums (in this case taxpayer money) and doing fuck all. If you need DEI objectives and targets, assign accountability directly to your managers and staff and let them go for it. You don’t need new permanent teams of dedicated DEI staff to accomplish this, just as most forms don’t have permanent in-house legal, project management or specialist accountancy teams – they buy in those skills when necessary.
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March 18, 2023 11:24am
- Swifty
  
  Our Mod has removed my link to a public LinkedIn profile of a career NZ civil servant. I stress it was a public, not private, profile.
  
  I make no comment about that removal.
  
  Sufficient to say that the person linked has had a career of 20 odd years entirely concerned with DEI and by the looks of it all but two of it on the public purse.
  
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  March 18, 2023 12:00pm
  - Swifty
    
    Oh sorry, one more salient point.
    
    That person is now performing their DEI work at the Reserve Bank. The very public institution in the news recently, and subject of a DPF post yesterday, for their egregious failures of late and failures which will have massive lasting and damaging effects on the financial health of NZ families.
    
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    March 18, 2023 12:06pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Not all of us recognise cultural acronyms
  
  Presumably DEI stands for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion.
  
  (I read your posts at first thinking you were talking about a Department of Economics and Income (or something…..)
  
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  March 18, 2023 2:22pm
  - Swifty
    
    Sorry Maggy, yes it does.
    
    It’s all the rage now.
    
    It seems to have taken over our institutions and organisations like some sort of vampire squid. Some sort of parasite. Extracting great volumes of taxpayer, ratepayer and shareholder funds and shifting organisational focus from the vital mission.
    
    In my humble opinion, we move away from meritocracy at our peril.
    
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    March 18, 2023 2:44pm
ClanMcleod

UK MP Andrew Bridgen is the only politician in the UK with a spine and a conscience. He gives a speech using UK government data proving that the vaccines do far more harm than good. Almost every MP walked out of parliament before he gave his speech. Cowards, every last one of them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JvSHD_n3Lyg&t=242s

At least the UK have him and Christopher Chope to speak out. In NZ, every single politician is a disgrace. Not one of them will speak out. It is a very sad state of affairs.
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March 18, 2023 11:35am
- mawm
  
  He was presenting the governments own figures to essentially an empty debating chamber. That highlights the shame of the British politicians. Well at least one has some integrity and the disastrous results of the vaccines have now been read into the record. Are there any NZ politicians who are able to look at the figures, demand ours and open their minds to changing their ill-formed opinions? Seymour?
  
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  March 18, 2023 3:46pm
ClanMcleod

The Dutch farmer’s protest saw the creation of a new political party to fight the insane “green” policies being rammed through by Mark Rutte. Another WEF shill. The party just had a stunning victory in recent elections. It looks like the tide is turning in that country.

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20230316-farmer-protest-party-wins-monster-dutch-vote-victory
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March 18, 2023 11:37am
- Widogast Corwin
  
  How is it sane to shut down farms because of climate change? People in the Netherlands are not going to change their diets. They will just need to import food that used to be produced in The Netherlands.
  
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  March 18, 2023 11:51am
  - Matt Long
    
    The Netherlands is a large food exportor, it’s the countries that struggle to feed their citizens that will suffer most from the climate cult.
    
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    March 18, 2023 12:20pm
    - Widogast Corwin
      
      In 50 years kids will be taught this in school – governments shut down farms to try to change the climate. It will be like kids today being taught about the Salem witch trials.
      
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      March 18, 2023 5:25pm
  - mawm
    
    WC – they are being made to shut down their farms to reduce the Nitrogen impact of farming. This is a directive from the EU. It seems as if the Dutch are not keen on being slowly starved to death.
    
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    March 18, 2023 3:50pm
Captain Mainwaring

$tuff must be really in the financial doo-doos. Every time I change screens on their site I now get the big orange banner pleading for money.
Used to happen only a couple of times a week.
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March 18, 2023 11:40am
- sirknz
  
  Install ublock in your browser and you can add the pop up to the filter. I haven’t seen the pop up since the first time it popped up.
  
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  March 18, 2023 3:13pm
Swifty

Not a bad article from Tame, I’ve seen many much worse:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/jack-tame-labours-co-governance-does-a-disservice-to-maori/ABIBJMQWWVEF7JHP75RA6DTJJY/

But he makes some great errors nonetheless.

There were no treaty ‘partners’, there were signatories. Signatories to a very small set of clauses and which have been ‘reimagined’, reinterpreted, to now claim things beyond even the wildest dreams of the signatories.

Not long ago I saw an interview between Willie Jackson and Tame and where Jackson challenged Tame to say what one particular Treaty article was concerned with. Tame answered “Equity!” to murmurs of approval from Jackson.

I challenge any New Zealander to mount a case for that being true, based purely on the wording of that particular article.

They won’t be able to. It would be like arguing the treaty says that Maori, alone, deserve breakfast in bed every morning and while everyone else must make their own. Such an argument would be an invention. Made up. Untrue. A fabrication.

It appals me that our leadership and members of our public institutions think it fit to deceive us in this way but probably more so that a huge proportion of New Zealanders are too ignorant or cowardly to notice and/or loudly object.
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March 18, 2023 11:54am
Ghost

Bloody hell

Government considered giving up to $5k to each Kiwi during the pandemic – was it a good idea?
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March 18, 2023 12:05pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Paywalled.
  Starts by saying $5K to each person to stimulate the economy.
  So the Govt gives us ‘our’ money’ to spend?
  Brilliant thinking by Labour again.
  Anything you can show us of the content Ghost?
  
  12 1
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  March 18, 2023 12:11pm
  - Ghost
    
    Nope, I’m on my phone, I’ll paste in the article when home in am hour
    
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    March 18, 2023 12:13pm
- Ghost
  
  The Government pondered handing over thousands of dollars of cash – up to $5000 – to each New Zealander in a bid to stimulate the economy in pandemic-ravaged 2020 and 2021, alongside slashing the GST rate for as little as two weeks to encourage stimulatory shopping sprees.
  
  The Government also toyed with loading up millions of Prezzy Card-style vouchers and sending them to households to stimulate the economy. This idea was killed partly because it simply wasn’t possible to import millions of plastic cards from manufacturers in China in time.
  
  The reason for these fairly drastic steps was the Government was trying to stave off a recession in the months after the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020.
  The Reserve Bank had slashed the Official Cash Rate to 0.25 per cent and said it would print up to $100 billion to hold interest rates low and stimulate the economy, but officials at both Treasury and the bank were worried that the bank needed help from the Government.
  
  The policy advice matters, because there is still a furious debate over whether the Government got the balance between monetary support from the Reserve Bank and fiscal support from the Government right. Critics, like the Green Party, argue that had the Government spent more money stimulating the economy during the pandemic, the Reserve Bank could have eased up on its money printing and interest rate cuts.
  
  That is significant because the Reserve Bank’s pursuit of an ultra-stimulatory monetary policy during the pandemic contributed to the massive instability in the housing market, where prices rocketed up for nearly two years, before coming crashing down.
  
  The Greens argued during 2021 that using cash transfers to people would allow for better targeting of stimulus, giving the worse-off a bigger boost than the best-off.
  They argued this was a better idea than relying on the Reserve Bank to stimulate the economy with ultra-low interest rates and money printing, which primarily benefited homeowners who enjoyed eye-watering capital gains.
  Papers released following previous Official Information Act requests showed the Government was repeatedly warned economic stimulus that relied on tools like money printing would have distributional consequences, benefiting the rich and hurting the poor.
  
  The papers the Herald is now publishing, also released under the Official Information Act, show Treasury officials considered fiscal spending options that were targeted towards people on low incomes, including one-off cash payments costing $10b and permanent increases to main benefits.
  For whatever reason, the Government decided not to run with these options.
  
  Instead, the pandemic economic response relied on more than $50b of money printing from the Reserve Bank, and fiscal support in the form of wage subsidies, infrastructure investment and job creation schemes.
  These papers raise the question: did the Government get the balance of economic initiatives right? Could New Zealand have avoided the pandemic boom and inflation bust?
  
  Finance Minister Grant Robertson told the Herald the Government had considered a “wide range of options” in response to the significant uncertainty created by the pandemic.
  
  “The Wage Subsidy Scheme and later the Resurgent Support Payment were among a number of policies developed and implemented to help save jobs and livelihoods,” he said.
  
  Robertson said questions over whether more fiscal support from the Government would have allowed the Reserve Bank to dial back the fiscal support were “purely hypothetical”.
  
  “Fiscal policy and monetary policy worked together in a highly uncertain environment to save lives and support the economy, and [this] has meant that New Zealand’s response to the pandemic has been among the best in the world,” Robertson said.
  
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  March 18, 2023 12:59pm
  - Swifty
    
    “….has meant that New Zealand’s response to the pandemic has been among the best in the world….”
    
    Says nobody but Robertson and his henchmen.
    
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    March 18, 2023 1:12pm
- Bridgenag
  
  Our tenant made up a business she was in and got $7,000
  
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  March 18, 2023 1:16pm
Tom Hunter

I saw a comment on yesterday’s GD saying that Credit Suisse was not Woke and hence its problems can’t be blamed on that set of beliefs causing its management to take their eyes off the ball. I accepted that claim because I don’t know much about them and because of the reputation of the sober Swiss, especially in banking.

Unfortunately…:

The head of global markets at Credit Suisse is a mentally ill “gender fluid” man who sometimes believes he wakes up as a woman.

It’s entirely possible that he’s autistic enough to be a brilliant senior banker as well as suffering from this delusion.

But I wouldn’t bet on it. Once you believe one impossible thing …
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March 18, 2023 12:21pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Seven before breakfast?
  
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  March 18, 2023 1:51pm
Maggie Pie

A bestie from tennis was taking a few girls from St Cuth’s to the Zoo this morning for her Twins 13th birthday party.
Sounds like she’s having trouble finding somewhere close to leave her Q8.

She just txt to say…..”Got no idea whats happening at Western Springs but theres old shitters parked everywhere”

🙁
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March 18, 2023 12:21pm
- kevn
  
  @Maggie… Prob had trouble finding a large enough parking space for the Q8. They are a big girl.
  
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  March 18, 2023 3:00pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    YIP. Pisses off a few of the other girls at tennis taking up 2 parks.
    
    Prue called a few moments ago to say they were finally back home safe & sound.
    Said if she’d known the Pasifika Festival was on she would have taken the kids to the movies in Newmarket instead.
    
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    March 18, 2023 3:32pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Taking up two parks means they are useless at tennis too?//
      
      5 2
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      March 18, 2023 5:53pm
Swifty

An excellent example of the benefits to consumers from fierce competition in a market:

https://i.stuff.co.nz/business/131460742/homegrown-coffee-franchises-facing-ridiculous-competition-for-caffeine-dollar

Increased offerings, increased consumer choice, high standards, great coffee, sharp pricing, poor operators vanish, good operators thrive.

Now just imagine if we had that in our education sector.

But nope, Labour says no.
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March 18, 2023 12:21pm
amospicton

Our resident Kane Williamson denier has been noticeably silent of late. How say you sir?
8 0
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March 18, 2023 1:17pm
- Colville
  
  Moi? 😁
  
  4 0
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  March 18, 2023 2:15pm
  - Colville
    
    I am hopeful that they will get Nichols to the ton then give everything the long handle… declare at 600 up with 45 minutes to play..!
    
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    March 18, 2023 2:55pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Your wish is the God of Cricket’s command.
      
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      March 18, 2023 6:24pm
Maggie Pie

Honestly, you couldn’t make this sh*t up!

PORNHUB has just been sold to Canadian private equity company…

‘ETHICAL CAPITAL PARTNERS’

Oh the irony 😛
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March 18, 2023 1:38pm
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

Notice a pattern?

Bob Jones tweets…..

https://twitter.com/Robert_Jones/status/1636709751068278789
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March 18, 2023 3:46pm
- Ghost
  
  Bastards
  
  7 0
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  March 18, 2023 3:47pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    Possibly but certainly bitches.
    
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    March 19, 2023 10:45am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Pattern? Nope.//
  
  4 1
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  March 18, 2023 5:57pm
MCōs

Didn’t someone here want to drop Kane Williamson not so long ago?
For example a couple of months ago?
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March 18, 2023 4:13pm
- Mike
  
  The critic known as greybeatd has gone quiet on the subject.
  
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  March 18, 2023 6:07pm
Swifty

I’m not in favour of the death penalty and don’t believe I ever will be but every now and again a crime comes along that is so callous, so destructive, so negatively life-affecting that I have certain images briefly flash across my mind:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/tinder-swindler-scam-man-allegedly-involved-in-conning-women-out-of-more-than-1m-has-left-new-zealand/AL7FXPTPMFB2NEKTJ6LQ2ZE32M/

Then I pull myself together and think about 20-30 years in the slammer as a fitting punishment and as lesson to others.
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March 18, 2023 5:38pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I thought it was a bit rich that the conman used a real estate agent’s photo as part of his con, which The Herald promptly repeatedly used. What was the editor thinking!
  
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  March 18, 2023 6:28pm
Ghost

Robbing children now. Shit. This madness has to stop.

Two pupils at a rural Auckland school were robbed by an armed trio on Thursday afternoon while waiting to be picked up by their families.

The two men who committed the robbery and their female getaway driver remain at large as of Saturday afternoon.

Police say two men approached the pupils of ACG Strathallan on Clevedon Rd in the rural Auckland village south of the city, demanding they hand over their money and mobile phones.

NZ Herald
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March 18, 2023 6:18pm
Maggie Pie

The spirit feels quite uplifted…..

Over the past few weeks I’ve been waiting for the right opportunity to make a meaningful donation to the Cyclone-Gabrielle-Relief-Appeal.

Today it finally presented itself.

Just went online and purchased TEN of the $15 Powerball Tickets in tonites ‘must win’ Lotto draw.

Our thorts and prayers are with all those affected. Wish me luck 😀
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March 18, 2023 6:41pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Sorry, your tickets may get a bonus.
  I have the winning one.
  
  4 1
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  March 18, 2023 6:52pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Well, came back from the Stop Co-Governance meeting in Orewa.
What a hoot! except for the professional Maori activists. The Police were there, and media cameras, so I wait for the NZ media news on this.
Basically the activists tried to drown out Julian Batchelor’s speech. Quite a few Police there but as they are “WOKE” they did not do anything.
So now, I and many others are going to put in a complaint to the Police. I know it will go nowhere, can’t even send it atm.

Here it is:
“Just came back from a meeting at the Orewa Community Center.
Stop Co-Governance by Julian Batchelor.
I went there to listen, unfortunately it was a bit hard, but OK.
Public Meeting, Public place – but there were Maori activists there. Fine, it is public.
Trouble is the activists tried to drown out the presentation from Julian Batchelor. Ok, the activists sang a few Maori songs including the NZ National Anthem.
All good. But then the noise started, the overriding of the speech I came to hear.
The Police arrived, good.

But the Police did nothing. This was disruption of free speech, and the Police did nothing. Could be trespassed, but oh no – Public place. The Police did nothing.
Then the activists started at the side door. Yelling, singing, and one particular person venting her spleen by swearing “F” and “C” The Police did nothing. The side doors were closed and the curtains pulled. Another activist pulled back the curtains and pulled the door locks. Is that not breaking and entering, even from the inside?
So my complaint is – why did the police do nothing? Stopping harassment of people at a Public Meeting?

All of this activism is fine, but today Julian Batchelor had his “free speech” interfered with.”
Wonder if the Police Complaints are not accepting anything on the complaints template?
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March 18, 2023 6:51pm
- Inandout
  
  SO, if someone had yelled ‘there are only two sexes, male and female’ the cops would have acted immediately.
  
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  March 18, 2023 8:07pm
  - Alan Wilkinson
    
    There are three: male, female and don’t know.
    
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    March 19, 2023 11:00am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

From Taxpayer’s Union on FB.
‘You don’t pay taxes, they take taxes’
So true, and you can’t stop the thieving bastards.
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March 18, 2023 7:16pm
Alan Wilkinson

Two stories in the Herald this morning. Wayne Brown taking a long overdue blow torch to the road cone extortion industry and AT’s $145M annual wastage on it.

Police Association Chris Cahill blatantly lying that the police firearms licence charge is justified because a dog licence is $180. It isn’t. Up here it is around $50 and that has to pay for dog control, tags and pound as well as administration.
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March 19, 2023 10:52am

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