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May 20, 2023 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 20 May 2023

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General Debate

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Mike

Eighty years ago: Parliament met in a secret session to debate whether the main fighting force, the 2nd NZ division, should remain in Europe after the end of the North African campaign, or be returned to fight in the Pacific. In possibly his greatest political feat, Peter Fraser persuaded colleagues and opponents to prefer the logic of remaining in Europe over the emotional pull of redeploying the troops nearer home.
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May 20, 2023 8:07am
- nathie
  
  Don’t disagree, however I’d be interested in your views that NZ couldn’t sustain the 3rd NZ Division in the Pacific war and after consultation with the allies was disbanded in 1944.
  
  So as a type of What If …. what if the 2nd Division did return home to fight in the Pacific war, would the US have included it in front line actions and for longer?
  
  How would have not raising a 3rd Division helped with the domestic efforts at home (eg with farming and industry)?
  
  Also would NZ have seen less opportunities for women to re-skill?
  
  (I don’t know so genuinely interested in people’s perspectives especially from those generations that were closer to those times)!
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:28am
  - Mike
    
    By mid 1943 it was already apparent that NZ could no longer maintain 2 frontline infantry divisions, along with its air and naval commitments, and still sustain a domestic economy and export food.
    Some have argued over the years that NZ should have prioritized the Pacific theatre, as the Australians did. NZ’s choice either showed undue deference to UK/US dictates, or was hard-headed realism, depending on one’s opinions.
    
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    May 20, 2023 12:51pm
  - Jigsaw
    
    As I understand it and talking to old soldiers years ago- the NZ Division was pretty well exhausted by the time they got to Trieste. An old soldier who was a veteran of Casino told me how he dreaded being transferred to the Pacific theatre after VE day. I think that some of the fighting up through Italy was a difficult as anywhere. I seriously doubt that we could have done much more in the war that we did. You do realize of course that conscription didn’t apply to all males don’t you?
    
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    May 20, 2023 5:23pm
    - Mike
      
      NZ was definitely very short of manpower from 1943. All resources were controlled: if not required for military service, men were directed to priority work. If exampt from conscription due to ‘essential work’ status, they had to remain in those jobs.
      
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      May 20, 2023 5:58pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Uptick Mike. See? You are very good at this History stuff.
  You work in NZ Archives, Thorndon right?
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:40am
  - Simon
    
    [Deleted – stop wasting our time. mod.]
    
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    May 20, 2023 1:39pm
blue collar

CIVIL DEFENSE WARNING ⚠️

Massive landslide in 5 months time when Nationsl and Act win the election .
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May 20, 2023 8:07am
- Ghost
  
  If they win it, it will be a very close race
  
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  May 20, 2023 9:32am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    If only we could get you to Party vote Act.//
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:42am
    - peterwn
      
      The key thing for ACT is to seek the party vote from those who would otherwise vote NZ First or very small parties. While ACT would love to attract some National supporters to vote ACT, this is second priority since this merely rearranges the centre-right vote, rather than bringing in more votes to the centre-right.
      
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      May 20, 2023 11:49am
      - AC
        
        The biggest threat to a change of government is votes to NZ First New Conservatives etc. If they don’t make 5% then votes wasted. Not impossible that these votes could add up to 8% which is a lot down the drain.
        
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        May 20, 2023 1:19pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      If only ACT stayed in their lane and left electorates for Nats
      
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      May 20, 2023 12:20pm
      - ISeeRed
        
        National’s entitlement. Perfectly expressed.
        
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        May 20, 2023 2:09pm
    - Paulus
      
      Remember that if voting Act in some National seats, in which Act candidates are seeking seats, may well split the votes and let Labour in.
      
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      May 20, 2023 1:28pm
      - peterwn
        
        This only becomes significant if a party obtains an ‘overhang’ ie wins more electorates than are proportional to its party vote. National and Labour are extremely unlikely to have an ‘overhang’. The Greens and ACT could perhaps have an ‘overhang’. The Maori Party could have an overhang which could make a difference.
        
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        May 20, 2023 2:14pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Exactly, that is not what the plan was when ACT were seat up, I see I was down voted, but that’s how stupid these people are, ACT will never win another electorate, why waste the vote
        
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        May 20, 2023 7:44pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    It shouldn’t be close, if it is it’s an indictment on the current opposition and their inability to seize an opportunity when it’s handed to them on a plate.
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:54am
    - Ghost
      
      Agree, but the way they are going I wouldn’t be surprised to see labour win another term. If someone would grow some balls and talk about the last few years then it would be a landslide, but I fear they’ve had them cut off
      
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      May 20, 2023 11:01am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Every time Luxon tries he is swamped by rotten media, they twist his words and lie, the arrogance of Hipkins to say Luxons well thought out, well pointed budget speech saying it was hot air, after hearing from the hot ears of blow hards, and Robertson saying Luxon is out of touch while smirking when the $5 description charge was a small matter apart from the 630 million cost
        
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        May 20, 2023 12:25pm
    - peterwn
      
      Assume it will be close. In 1975 National sensed that there was going to be a landslide for National, but Rob Muldoon and his MP’s stayed very tight lipped about this. If Chris Luxon and his MP’s feel similar vibes, they will stay tight lipped too.
      
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      May 20, 2023 11:52am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Yes, Luxon has said the feeling on the ground (when the media say his pm poll numbers are bad, even though they are not far behind Hipkins) is not saying this, people I hear including many Labour voters are saying they have got to go, people not happy about the separatist agenda, not happy about the health, education, policing and the general economy. Many labour voters will not vote
        
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        May 20, 2023 12:28pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      No, it’s a sign of how thick lefties are, and the vulgar media lies, all the swing voters have deserted Labour clearly, but you have to move the few % of undecided voters
      
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      May 20, 2023 12:22pm
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Dreams are still free under Labour blue collar. So dream on.
  
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  May 20, 2023 2:30pm
- Philview
  
  I purchased a copy of the ODT today and read an astonishly vitriolic editorial attacking Chris Luxon and Nicola Willis. This will be a sign of things to come as the media throw everything they have at the Opposition.
  
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  May 20, 2023 3:20pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    That’s the point, they can throw that bullshit, but level headed voters are now watching
    
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    May 20, 2023 7:46pm
peterwn

“LGNZ president Stuart Crosby said the [Gore Council] situation had reflected poorly on everyone involved, and it did a disservice to local democracy and local government generally. “
What the hell is Mr Crosby doing passing judgment on the Gore Mayor and Councillors, people his organisation is supposed to represent. He could have limited his comment to the likes of ‘expressing concern’ or the like. This is particularly as his organisation is there to support Mayors and Councillors, He notes the Council is accepting external support but with a comment like this the question arises as to whether LGNZ is the appropriate group to provide support.
The two issues facing the Council which LGNZ would normally be needed to provide support (yes, I am jumping ahead here) are:
1. The size of the CEO’s payout when he ceases the position in the very near future (IMO it should be zilch).
2. The appointment process for a new CEO. This is generally driven by the Mayor, who is going to need assistance here (which is quite normal) but cannot really trust his councillors for assistance. The Mayor should be quite justified in shunning LGNZ and seeking assistance from elsewhere.
Mr Crosby needs to publicly withdraw and apologise for his ill considered comment.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/southland-times/southland-top-stories/132075182/parry-wont-return-to-the-gore-district-council-until-the-end-of-may
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May 20, 2023 8:07am
- Loddenthinks
  
  “Parry, who had previously said his working relationship with Bell was ‘’irreparable’’ was not at the meeting, and no apology was entered for him.”
  
  So Parry has nailed his colours to the mast. He’s not prepared to even consider a way out of his broken working relationship with the duly-elected Mayor, which is both arrogant and unprofessional.
  
  By stating so clearly he’s washed his hands of the duly-elected (did I mention that?) Mayor, he’s effectively made his own position untenable, and must resign.
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:21am
  - peterwn
    
    From the same Stuff (Southland Times) article:
    “Parry is on compassionate leave in Wellington, where his mother-in-law is said to be gravely ill.”
    Emphasis mine. It would be inappropriate to comment further.
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:33am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Waiting for a payout decision? The will be an ‘exit’ provision.
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:51am
    - peterwn
      
      The ball is in the CEO’s (Parry’s) court. His options are:
      1. Resign/ retire gracefully. Depending on his contract he is probably due for a gratuity etc payout but there would be nothing out of the ordinary about this.
      2. Resign but claim constructive dismissal. If successful he could be awarded a significant payout.
      3. Face dismissal with the Council accepting possible financial consequences. Also the CEO could seek reinstatement from the Employment Tribunal.
      4. Negotiate an exit package. I think this would be the most likely option. It would be galling to give him an exit payout but this may be the most pragmatic solution.
      4. Hold in but continue to shun the Mayor. This would result in a continuing unstable council. The Mayor’s/ Council’s options would be dismissal or try and negotiate an exit package.
      5. Accept the authority of the Mayor and remain in the job. Even if the CEO takes this path it may not work out in the longer term.
      
      Hopefully since most councillors made themselves look stupid last Tuesday, they hopefully will work with the Mayor to try and work through this.
      A pressing issue at the moment is the Council’s Annual Plan is behind schedule and one of the objectives last Tuesday may have been to try to facilitate its progress by trying to hog tie the Mayor. Now this has failed, the Mayor, Council and acting CEO need to work together to get the proposed Annual Plan completed by the end of May for public consultation and adoption by the end of June ready for the start of the new financial year.
      
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      May 20, 2023 12:14pm
      - JJ56
        
        Since he’s made himself unemployable in any senior role by his behaviour, my pick is he’ll go for the biggest payout he can get.
        
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        May 20, 2023 6:00pm
Grumpy Silver Haired Female

Is there a term for reverse gaslighting, ie creating panic with predictions of bad weather, warning us to expect sea roughness due to the earthquake quake in the pacific last night? Everything in TV news is of great import -not! I am sick of news readers and reporters conveying trivia as if the sky is falling. (Refer chicken licken).
Oh, and clearly Ministers have no respect for our intelligence, evidenced by proven, regular, barefaced lying.
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May 20, 2023 8:09am
- Tom Hunter
  
  As long as you’re watching them they don’t care because your eyeballs are counted as part of the package sold to the advertisers.
  
  So your complaints have been brushed away and will continue to be so treated.
  
  There is only one solution: stop watching them. Kill them by depriving them of your viewing. Die MSM, Die!.
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:33am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  And the weather wanks.
  Auckland earlier this week gets a heavy rain warning and it did not even rain.
  If only they looked at windy.com and learnt how to read rain and wind direction. It is not hard. As a boatie it works fine for me. windy.com does not gaslight.
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:55am
- emmess
  
  Actually, GSHF
  I think you have come up with a good one.
  Reverse Gaslighting, I like that
  
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  May 20, 2023 11:25am
- NZer In Exile
  
  Or the crazy-making psy-op of good cop/bad cop?
  
  Nah, probably just kowtowing to the (silly) ideology du jour contagion in order to stay on the gravy train.
  
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  May 20, 2023 7:20pm
mandk

If Stats NZ know that only 74% of Maori have responded to the Census, they must know how many Maori there are.

Why then have they passed away squillions of dollars on trying to collect info, most of which could be obtained from admin data and one or two sample surveys?
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May 20, 2023 8:12am
- kowtow
  
  Shocked , shocked I tell ya that Stats NZ cold be so racist , so not partnershippery with te trity o by targetting the failure of this non participation of a basic duty of citizenship to fill out a cuppla forms .
  
  Shocked. Where’s Kate Hannah and te rest of te media pardy to excoriate this “racism” of low expectations.
  
  ‘The 2018 census, which was considered an operational failure for which the head of Stats NZ lost their job, came in with a 97.4% population coverage. The 2023 census is only running at 86.5% so far. The is about 700,000 uncounted. “We are focusing effort on lifting responses from Māori and Pacific peoples, with the support of partnerships and collaborations,” they say.’
  
  source ; interest.co.nz
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:06am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Way back in time before they invented dirt, not filling in the Census could result in a prosecution, I think.
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:58am
    - Flossie
      
      And it was done on the actual night of – not weeks either side.
      
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      May 20, 2023 11:13am
    - Jim
      
      Was that in a time before positive discrimination and incentive gifts.
      
      The government has lost all morale credibility (and legal foundation) to even consider prosecuting anyone for not complying with the census.
      
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      May 20, 2023 4:46pm
    - Ghost
      
      End of June, strange I thought a week or so ago they gave a date in may
      
      https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/05/census-2023-time-running-out-as-final-notices-sent-for-new-zealanders.html
      
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      May 20, 2023 4:50pm
  - Piniwi
    
    But kowtow we/they already know 40,000 plus overstayers will be ducking for cover to avoid being counted for any reason. The give away incentives seem to be growing but only showing minimal results. Russell is proving to be another of Labour’s growing list of failures from their shallow talent puddle.
    
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    May 20, 2023 12:48pm
    - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
      
      Piniwi – According to red Claire, all mistakes by Labour have been wiped off by $5 prescription fees removal. Sheeple are dancing on the streets. Massive win for Labour in October elections. Wait for TV1 poll which will be due out on Monday to show Labour’s budget is a massive vote winner.
      
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      May 20, 2023 2:41pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        The one news poll was due in April, no sign, snd start of May no sign, they will not have had time for a poll on Monday after the budget. Luxon ruling out TPM has gained him support , so careful what you wish for Cullen
        
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        May 20, 2023 7:50pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  “Why then have they ~~passed~~ pissed away squillions of dollars trying to collect info….”
  
  Spelling mistake fixed 🙂
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:22am
  - mandk
    
    Thanks.
    That’s what I meant to say, but my autocorrect is a bit prudish.
    
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    May 20, 2023 11:20am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Lol, Hosking had Robertson on yesterday morning, he asked about the extra billions over and above the billion extra a week but no results, he also asked him about treasury failed predictions, he said but that’s all I have to go by, he said what are people to thi k about tgd extra billions, he said in general is a small amount, Hosking said what, it’s billions, Robertson went silent
    
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    May 20, 2023 7:55pm
- Paulus
  
  I have asked before a number of times since the previous Census who knows how many Maori there are in New Zealand.
  Some say it is 16% but prove it !
  Or is it like NCEA where results are moderated by ?
  
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  May 20, 2023 1:33pm
Chris R

I have every sympathy for the families who have relatives burned alive in the tragedy at Loafers Lodge in Wellington. This week the media have milked the event almost out of recognition. The announcement of six dead “but it could be more” ran thick and fast while breathy news “reporters” posed with gloomy faces and concern. Does the media ever self-evaluate and consider their social utility in churning out pointless, heartless drivel? It doesn’t seem so.
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May 20, 2023 8:18am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Two of the eleven residents not accounted for for several days have come forward, so nine people are still missing. The death toll of six is likely to be higher by the time Police and FENZ staff have completed their search.
  
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  May 20, 2023 9:34am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    There will be people who were not in the building, not at home.
    Staying elsewhere I mean. Has anyone thought along that path?
    
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    May 20, 2023 11:02am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      You don’t think those people would come forward knowing people are unaccounted for?
      
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      May 20, 2023 12:31pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        They should, but maybe like the Census thing – too lazy, and too dumb to know it is important.
        
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        May 20, 2023 1:17pm
    - Paulus
      
      I suspect that many of the people living there do not want to be identified – they probably do not, outside Winz, exist on any roles either such as Census.
      
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      May 20, 2023 1:39pm
    - rockape
      
      Many of them are probably overstayers so don’t want to come forward.
      
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      May 20, 2023 2:27pm
      - Brian McDonald
        
        The fire starter is likely to be mentally unfit to plead but will be made to anyway. Why the average Kber at the first news break couldn’t work out that Loafers is for those with drug addictions and mental health issues or just plain down and out, and not fitting in, is the same reason that most political pundits here predict with hope or lack of wit the political tides.
        It’s the most popular leaders that win the elections in NZ and they are generally popular because they are good talkers, seemingly empathetic and smart. The National leadership has wasted time in the same way Labour did not recognize that they didn’t have a leader that the public warmed to until they switched to Jacinda and once she resigned the question of who was next was soon answered and probably most were sceptical until he came into his own, quickly and confidently.
        But behind all of that is that lack of political instinct National leadership continues to display. There is a big problem with a leader who flip-flops and the public doesn’t like it. But the problem gets bigger when like trained seals the other MPs stand behind speaking about how good he is and people only need to get to know him. When in NZ has the public got to know a political leader other than by his or her own behaviour, what they say etc? So while the “loyals” trot out the same line Luxon rinses and repeats with another foot in his mouth.
        It will take someone smarter to beat Hipkins who Luxon continues to offer gifts without being able to think what is over the page. I guess that comes from a Corporate career when the boss whether an a hole or not is always right. But in politics, you’re judged on the predictive outcomes of what you say because it shows you can think around the corner, well into next week and even into August.
        Labour should have been knocked for 6 over many recent events but their key leadership has remained smooth and calm. That’s what people see and largely put away, particularly when the alternative is humpty dumpty ready to fall from his own words again.
        It seems inevitable but who knows, certainly not Luxon.
        
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        May 20, 2023 3:51pm
      - JJ56
        
        BM, I do wonder what would happen if he let his hair grow.
        
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        May 20, 2023 6:06pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        I think Hipkins should sport a mullet.
        
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        May 20, 2023 7:22pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Not sure why you were down voted Rocky, but you are probably pretty close to facts, what if of this building apparently a converted wharehouse without sprinklers was rushed by this dead beat government? They have over stepped before
        
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        May 20, 2023 8:02pm
      - Ghost
        
        Building became Loafers Lodge in 2006
        
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        May 20, 2023 8:08pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Thru know it’s higher, the Fenz FB page stated the numbers were 10 the morning after the fire, something changed, why I don’t know, I bet it turns out to be 10 or 11
    
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    May 20, 2023 7:57pm
- Mike
  
  If you, and many others, stopped watching or reading content which upsets you, news media organizations would have reasons to adjust their offerings.
  Your desire for ‘social utility’ from news media sounds a lot like a call for state control exercised by the people’s commissars.
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:01am
  - Chris R
    
    Quite the opposite. I refer to “social utility” on the basis that it is authentic reporting without interference from the state, vested interest groups and compulsive liars.
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:14am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    It only sounds like that to you, because that’s exactly what you want.
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:23am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      It is called ‘trolling’
      
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      May 20, 2023 11:08am
      - Mike
        
        Just sticking it to the commies, their Marxist jargon about ‘social utility’, and rejection of the free market.
        
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        May 20, 2023 1:01pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    “news media organizations would have reasons to adjust their offerings.”
    How would they know?
    
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    May 20, 2023 11:04am
  - Ra Henare
    
    I am out of Country and therefore not subject to NZ MSM drivel.
    Some items from NZ are printed by without the emotional drivel.
    https://www.channelnewsasia.com/international
    
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    May 20, 2023 12:22pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Gold medal gas-lighting there Mike.
    
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    May 20, 2023 7:23pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Media in NZ long ago stopped doing journalism. Everything is about clicks to prove to advertisers that they need to spend their money with them.
  Journalism sold it’s soul to the devil a long time ago.
  
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  May 20, 2023 11:00am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Media in NZ don’t know what Journalism is.
    Once upon a time they went out and hunted down news. Now they look at a screen and repeat from other sources.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fHfgU8oMSo
    
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    May 20, 2023 11:23am
- Piniwi
  
  When it was first reported on Aljazeera they put the death toll at 10 and there has never been any adjustment or correction of that number. But the MSM have certainly made a feast of this and has proven a handy distraction from co-governance or that current water contractors will continue to provide the water services with little ore no fanfare.
  
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  May 20, 2023 12:54pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Most humans are drawn to and focused on drama real or fake (evolutionary adaptation to aid survival of social disputes, devoting spare time to better understanding others behaviors and motivations was a winning strategy). Media inevitably pander to that, focusing on emotive aspects of every story rather than straight education on facts etc. Information focused political blog followers are, by the numbers, ‘weird’.
  
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  May 20, 2023 1:17pm
- Paulus
  
  Sadly it has been made political, but is really just a very sad tragedy
  
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  May 20, 2023 1:37pm
Captain Mainwaring

Here’s a good reason to avoid TV3 at 7.30pm on Wednesdays:
The insufferable lefty creep Paddy Gower is starting his own show.
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May 20, 2023 8:24am
- Stellaboxer
  
  Gagging already Captain, thanks for the heads-up.
  
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  May 20, 2023 8:26am
- Mike
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Thanks for that promotion.
  
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  May 20, 2023 8:28am
- Nukuleka
  
  I haven’t watched free to air TV in NZ for at least 10 years and my mental health is the better for it.
  
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  May 20, 2023 8:29am
  - Local Miller
    
    I haven’t watched broadcast TV for 37+ years.
    
    In all these years I’ve got my news from selected new papers and then the internet. Entertainment was videos (yes, good old VHS) then DVDs and now streaming services.
    
    Personally I think my life has been better for not having a TV running in the house. I’ve certainly had more time for life and a lot less stress.
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:51am
- Tomtoddy
  
  Is there anyone more over-rated, useless and ill-fitted for a job than Paddy?
  
  56 1
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  May 20, 2023 8:31am
  - Mike
    
    Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
    King Charles, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Joe Biden, Tony Abbott and Justin Trudeau have entered the chat.
    
    7 37
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    May 20, 2023 8:49am
    - 1920x1080p
      
      You forgot Jacinda Ardern. But then most people have as well.
      
      55 0
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      May 20, 2023 9:35am
      - kowtow
        
        Blasphemy
        
        8 0
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        May 20, 2023 11:20am
      - alwyn.a
        
        Who dat?
        
        5 0
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        May 20, 2023 2:00pm
    - Keith White
      
      Mike has entered the chat
      
      23 1
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      May 20, 2023 9:58am
    - Ghost
      
      You forgot yourself
      
      15 1
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      May 20, 2023 10:01am
      - Mike
        
        As I’m not a public figure, I sincerely doubt your ability to judge my suitability for any job.
        
        4 25
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        May 20, 2023 10:03am
      - Ghost
        
        Your posts here speak volumes of you
        
        20 3
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        May 20, 2023 10:12am
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Chris Hipkins, Grant Robertson, Megan Woods, Kiri Allan, Arena Williams, Kelvin Davis, Andrew Little, Carmel Sepuloni, David Parker, Nanaia Mahuta, David Clark, Peeni Henare, Poto Williams, Michael Wood, Jan Tinetti, Kieran McAnulty, Tamati Coffey, Willow-Jean Prime.
      There, a list of other people that are more over rated, useless and unsuitable for their current job than Gower.
      
      15 1
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      May 20, 2023 12:35pm
  - Flossie
    
    How about John Campbell?
    
    26 2
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    May 20, 2023 9:09am
    - Sacha
      
      How ABOUT John Campbell?
      Is he still a ‘name’ on TV?
      
      5 0
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      May 20, 2023 1:04pm
      - Ghost
        
        Yeah, tv1
        
        4 0
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        May 20, 2023 1:08pm
  - Opie
    
    I’d rate him better at his job than ardern, Robertson and hipkins are at theirs…
    
    10 7
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    May 20, 2023 9:17am
  - Keith White
    
    TT: yes; the entire Labour, Green and Maori caucus population.
    
    13 1
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    May 20, 2023 9:58am
  - stewmar
    
    Is there anyone more over-rated, useless and ill-fitted for a job than Paddy?
    
    YES! Simon Dallow
    
    16 1
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    May 20, 2023 10:50am
- Bloody Dago
  
  It’s those wastie fake comedians bar MR at 7.00pm that set the tone for the entire TV3 entity.
  
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  May 20, 2023 8:48am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Is there a word for comedians who aren’t funny? Whatever it is, just about every so-called comedian in NZ is it.
    
    25 0
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    May 20, 2023 9:30am
    - mandk
      
      I believe the popular term is Guy Williams.
      
      33 0
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      May 20, 2023 9:54am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        That is the only category in which you could call Guy Williams popular.
        
        16 0
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        May 20, 2023 10:25am
      - pdm
        
        Guy Williams cannot be much good at anything because didn’t Golriz dump him – or wasit the other way round?
        
        9 0
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        May 20, 2023 11:34am
      - kowtow
        
        ha ha , my short one syllable word for unfunny, self described “comedians” didn’t get past the mod .
        
        8 1
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        May 20, 2023 12:09pm
    - Ghost
      
      Yeah. They’re called New Zealand comedians, hasn’t really been a decent on since billy T
      
      28 1
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      May 20, 2023 9:57am
      - Mike
        
        Perhaps you missed shows like Mr Gormsby or Wellington Paranormal.
        Generally, comedy is harder to make than drama. There seems to be a higher tolerance for watching crappy drama than unfunny comedy.
        
        11 11
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        May 20, 2023 10:07am
      - rouppe
        
        @Mike I watched one episode of wellington paranormal, and turned “what we did in the shadows” off after about 45 minutes, which was about 20 minutes too late.
        
        Neither were entertaining.
        
        14 1
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        May 20, 2023 10:19am
      - Sacha
        
        John Clark!!!!
        
        11 0
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        May 20, 2023 1:05pm
      - alwyn.a
        
        I’m not sure that Mike’s mention of Mr Gormsby and Sacha’s reference to John Clarke really encourage me to think that New Zealand comedy is in a healthy state.
        The last episode of Mr Gormsby ( and there were only 14 episodes ever made) was broadcast on 8 May 2006. That is 17 years ago.
        John Clarke moved to Australia 46 years ago, in 1977 and he died in 2017. As far as I know he never visited New Zealand after he crossed the ditch.
        
        9 0
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        May 20, 2023 2:11pm
      - JJ56
        
        There have been some low key ones like Brokenwood and Under the Vines, both with a light-weight vein of Kiwi humour, but nothing like Only Murders in The Building that I see has put another season in the can.
        
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        May 20, 2023 6:16pm
- Albie
  
  I’ll never forget the Molyneux and Southern interview. Poor Paddy, I don’t think he will ever be able to live that down!
  
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  May 20, 2023 8:57am
  - Mike
    
    Very few NZ interviewers are good at interviewing zealots. Kim Hill does it well, but most of our interviewers seldom have to exercise any critical skills, let alone challenge fundamental differences in views.
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:09am
    - Ra Henare
      
      but even Kim Hill is suspect. She pushes her own agenda and got öwned” by John Pilger for not doing her research
      
      https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/face-to-face-with-kim-hill-john-pilger-2003
      
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      May 20, 2023 5:59pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Molyneux and Southern were calm and rational. That’s why they were able to mop the floor with poor old Paddy. It was class act tag team operation. 😂
      
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      May 20, 2023 7:29pm
  - lifesgood
    
    But as I recall he was invited onto 7 Sharp or something similar where he mad a complete dick of himself trying to explain how that horrible Molyneux was mean to him. It was one of the most cringe worthy things I’ve ever seen. The bloke has the perfect face for radio. Why does he get so much air time?
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:23am
    - pdm
      
      TV does not become any more painful than 7Sharp but, I suffer it because mrspdm seems to like it.
      
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      May 20, 2023 11:37am
- snowy
  
  Is that the guy who got completely owned by Lauren Southern?
  
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  May 20, 2023 9:20am
- G152
  
  The face for the print media
  
  16 2
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  May 20, 2023 10:08am
- oldgolfer
  
  That’s the night I’m sewing my eyes up.
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:11am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Who is Paddy Gower? Sounds important.
  
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  May 20, 2023 11:24am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  He is right, he has issues, big issues !
  
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  May 20, 2023 12:32pm
Stellaboxer

Andy Rouke Bass player of the Smiths dies at 59. RIP and thanks for the music.
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May 20, 2023 8:25am
kowtow

As the Irish are 15 % of our pop and have been here since before the treaty , as well as being a marginalised and oppressed minority I think we need to redress this by opening all communications with the greeting ;

top o’ de mornin to ya

Extra money should be directed to broadcasting so all voice overs can be in a heavy Navvie’s accent , thereby giving the impression of inclusion .

And the Supreme Court could find a ruling in order to include Brehon Law into our constitutional and legal arrangements.

And when our Head of State and head of govt go abroad they can be gifted and wear a large , but crumpled green top hat and heavy brogues .Pint of Guinness for extra try hard points, but optional .
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May 20, 2023 8:26am
- Matt Long
  
  Are you suggesting that people who are at both least 1% Irish and 1% Maori or identify as such should become our new Super Royalty?
  Especially if they identify as they/them?
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:01am
  - kowtow
    
    Top o de mornin’ to ya , Matty , me boy .
    
    I’m suggesting that we need to turn ourselves inside out and upside down in order to create a united and cohesive society , partnership you see .
    
    I also tink dat childersh need to be tort in schools dat rainbows could be de source of instant wealth , if only dey can catch de Little Fella and His Pot O Gold . This can be included in many parts of de new curriculum . Economics , science , geography or social studies.
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:23am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Sounds much better than that other corrupted English.
      
      7 0
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      May 20, 2023 11:26am
      - kowtow
        
        Top o de mornin to ya Steve O , me boyo.
        ( Is dat ‘O’ part o yer name like ,Reilly , yer not a builder are ye )
        
        Anyway you raise a very important issue.
        
        De curriculum need fixin’ so all de wee ones start learnin’ Gaelic , and not that mashed up Pictish Bollox version . Proper Irish like.With Guinness.
        
        Begob.
        
        7 1
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        May 20, 2023 12:01pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Kowtow,
        
        No Irish, or none I know of. Mixed mongrel European.
        My Grandfather came from South Afrika before WW1.
        
        5 0
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        May 20, 2023 1:20pm
  - Tricati
    
    Hell, don’t tell Tipene O’Regan
    
    7 0
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    May 20, 2023 12:51pm
  - Paulus
    
    We were given a number of Irish decent in New Zealand recently in the media – 800,000 was the figure.
    How the hell does the media know that there are as many Irish as so called Maori here ?
    Not in the Census – In the Pubs on St Paddy’s Day I presume.
    
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    May 20, 2023 1:44pm
    - rockape
      
      I think a lot more of Scots descent than Irish. But then I live in the big island.
      
      5 0
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      May 20, 2023 2:34pm
    - Dougal10
      
      The 800k is probably the national party membership numbers as most I know are of irish religion .
      
      3 0
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      May 20, 2023 4:15pm
- Mike
  
  Sorry, our head of state has just sworn an oath to maintain the protestant reformed religion. Irish Catholics need not apply.
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:13am
artemisia

About household poverty. Do ‘we’ really know why any particular household is not able to meet its basic needs? That info would be seriously useful to identify households where some structured assistance would help change. Yes sometimes it will be just not enough money coming in, even when all eligible funding is being received. But not always.

National’s social investment policy was, and presume still is, designed to target not spray. Like the proposal to coach people from unemployment into work. And the already in place Young Parent Payment. Ultimate goal for them and their children to be self supporting through a structured programme of support, education, contracted responsibilities.

Not sure how that is working these days, or even if outcomes are in place and monitored. Seems to me some deep delving into the YPP and its outcomes would be good. If it is working well can it be gradually extended to other households it would actually help? If it is not working, then it needs to be changed or ditched so it is not a black hole for taxpayer money.
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May 20, 2023 8:27am
- Keith White
  
  (a) Couples having too many kids relative to the household income. Wear a condom, get tubes tied, or – !shock! – don’t impregnate or get impregnated and then we can get by with smaller houses and cheaper cars and less money on food, clothes, etc.
  (b) Govt paying couples to split up – because splitting up for fun and profit is easier in the short term than working together to build a lifetime partnership and rear children – means we may need up to twice as many houses.
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:02am
  - Ghost
    
    I saw a bit of Newshub the other night about the prescription costs, the reporter pretending to be upset about national wanting to reinstate them and national have now made this election an attack against woman being able to afford contraceptive
    
    14 2
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    May 20, 2023 10:12am
    - rouppe
      
      The are several pharmacies that have zero prescription costs.
      
      Hardly a challenge
      
      13 1
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      May 20, 2023 10:23am
      - Ghost
        
        Depends where you live
        
        8 0
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        May 20, 2023 10:33am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Apparently National are being secretly directed by the Russians. There will be a number of investigations into this over the next 5 years…….
      
      13 4
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      May 20, 2023 11:05am
      - kevn
        
        @Ghost… Live anywhere with ZOOM Pharmacy. I reside 6 hours from ZOOM. Medicine get couriered to me overnight. No extra costs.
        
        10 1
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        May 20, 2023 11:51am
      - Ghost
        
        I had a look at zoom, 3 days to deliver, it would be ok for people who have meds that are subsidised and put in a prescription a Week before. But for prescriptions you need that day, or unfounded it would be no use.
        
        4 3
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        May 20, 2023 12:10pm
      - JJ56
        
        Ghost, we’re really scrapping the barrel now.
        
        If you are targeting expenditure in Vote:Health do you expect people to pay a bit themselves, and use that to extend people’s lives in other ways.
        
        It was a dopey policy by labour designed for the headlines. If they had any sense of what’s good for the NZ they could have still got the headline and but improved our lot.
        
        But they are lazy and low rent.
        
        3 0
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        May 20, 2023 6:26pm
      - Ghost
        
        The policy should have been targeted at those on a community service or gold card. There are a few doctors that have come forward and said how much money it is costing the country with people who cannot afford their prescription and ending up in hospital for treatment. The solution that was needed was targeting them
        
        1 1
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        May 20, 2023 6:44pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      How pathetic is that, can’t woman get that for free at family planning?
      
      8 1
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      May 20, 2023 12:35pm
  - Paulus
    
    It was Helen Clark and her feminist cohorts who made great play at breaking down the family units.
    
    9 1
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    May 20, 2023 1:46pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Consider this.
    NZ does not produce enough citizens of its own.
    ie not enough births
    Like most of the world except Africa.
    
    So on my understanding of your point.
    
    In your old age you will be happy to have foreigners tend to your needs and run everthing?
    
    Migration migration migration
    
    And if you think less population will ….
    ….. we can get by with smaller houses and cheaper cars and less money on food, clothes, etc.
    
    Then I have a number of bridges and swamp land to sell you.
    
    3 1
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    May 20, 2023 6:04pm
- Ian Boag
  
  PaulL did a good job exploring the world of targetted assistance and the issue of high effective marginal tax rates as incomes rise.
  
  The only solution is a UBI and we won’t be doing that anytime soon.
  
  We will keep doing what we do because there really isn’t any alternative ….
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:10am
  - Grumpy Silver Haired Female
    
    For those of us who don’t think in acronyms UBI is universal basic income. Plain language strengthens communication.
    
    12 1
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    May 20, 2023 10:45am
    - Sacha
      
      I’m glad you mentioned that: I come across this problem quite often, and am reminded that at some point in my education I learnt that for the sake of clarity and understanding you would write in its context, eg: Universal Basic Income and then, in brackets (UBI). After that, you could use the abbreviation, in capitals, without brackets, for the rest of the article.
      
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      May 20, 2023 1:17pm
  - Ehlana
    
    Isn’t the whole idea of “high effective marginal tax rates” wrong to start with? We provide income support when people don’t have income; surely it only makes sense that as that as they begin to earn their own income they would no longer get the income support.
    
    Or put it this way, why should they continue to get money from the taxpayer when another person earning the same would not?
    
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    May 20, 2023 1:10pm
- kowtow
  
  Didn’t the uncompleted census ask about tobacco smokers .
  
  Nuffing about Weed or meff .
  
  Funny dat .
  
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  May 20, 2023 12:04pm
Tomtoddy

Our media is not covering the release of the Durham Report in the USA because it shows Hilary Clinton as an evil conniving witch, the USA media as working hand in glove with her and her administration and all the constant howling about Trump and Russian interference as deception, lies and a false narrative.

There have been hundreds of articles disparaging Trump written locally but you will not see any retraction or correction of the record. Like their USA counterparts our media are donkey deep in partisan politics determined to betray the good, the conservative, the truth and to foster evil.
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May 20, 2023 8:30am
- Nickc2
  
  Te MSM is a captive of the left. Leftist Govt propaganda is their sole reason for existence.
  
  37 2
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  May 20, 2023 8:39am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Soon the MSM will have no money.
    
    12 1
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    May 20, 2023 11:31am
- Mike
  
  Please check your talking points. When you refer to ‘her administration’, you might be unaware that Hilary Clinton was not elected president.
  
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  May 20, 2023 8:44am
  - Tomtoddy
    
    Gee thanks Mike. I just got caught up in all that media hype that had her beating Trump. Seriously, it would have been better to describe them as her team, or over-paid sycophants, or scoundrels retained to turn her evil plotting into something the MSM would use positively, or corrupted spindoctors, or….
    
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    May 20, 2023 9:42am
    - Mike
      
      Still wrong, I’m afraid. Unless you are suggesting that ‘her team’ was miraculously appointed by the Trump administration (whose figurehead promised to lock her up) to investigate election interference.
      
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      May 20, 2023 10:17am
  - rouppe
    
    If you live in a rental, do you still refer to it as “my house”? If you own your house, and someone lives there that doesn’t have their name on the title, do they refer to it as “my house”? For example any children you might have that invite friends over.
    
    Do you sit them down and correct then that it isn’t “their” house?
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:28am
    - pdm
      
      rouppe – my in laws did.
      
      It was a State house and they kept the house and grounds immaculately within the confines of their income.
      
      They could have bought it in the late 50’s/early 60’s but father in law apparently said no one should owe anyone that amount of money.
      
      Probably about 3,000 pounds in those days. maybe even less.
      
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      May 20, 2023 11:42am
      - Sacha
        
        I gave my grandson his grandfathers’ career file. His grandfather was a public servant who did rather well in his career, but at the time of our marriage he was rather low in the salary scale.
        On one of the ‘annual reviews’ we saw that he had done well and moved up a grade, and accordingly received a salary increase of 50 pounds, which took his annual salary up to 720 pounds. It seemed like a fortune at the time –
        
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        May 20, 2023 1:30pm
    - rockape
      
      I used to smile about that. When I was in the sailing school yacht charter business I used to be amazed at how many of my charterers would refer to “their “ yacht when we were socialising in the pub.
      
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      May 20, 2023 2:39pm
- Inandout
  
  Tom, most people I speak with are aware of the report because they don’t get their news from local MSM. Local is dying.
  
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  May 20, 2023 9:09am
- sirknz
  
  It seems like the only people who weren’t involved in the Trump/Russia collusion were Trump and Russia…
  
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  May 20, 2023 9:12am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I laughed, you laughed, Siri laughed, and Alexa laughed.
    
    11 1
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    May 20, 2023 11:40am
- Lee C
  
  It’s not just the MSM, Tom.
  
  Our own esteemed host here on KB falls into this TDS category.
  
  The ‘left’ do this on purpose, while the best defense one might mount in the other case is it’s unconscious incompetence.
  
  IMO.
  
  get vaxxed.
  
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  May 20, 2023 9:22am
oldpark

Just been checking some of the fine print in Hipkins/Robertson Budget .
Some very small points yet very scary on where Hipkins Cartel is taking New Zealand .
Police Budget gets shafted by 6% or 162 Million Dollars.Seems NZs Law and Order not an issue.
Womens affairs get an increase of 13% interesting .
The biggest handout and winners in Hipkins/Robertson running scared mentality,was increase to Maori to the tune of 800,000,000 Million Dollars .
One of the many losers was the Education section of Primary and Secondary Schools.
That seems to be the type of how to run/not run a country by Hipkins Cabal .
Of course check out the same wee mans’ track record when Ardern/Hipkins ran the cutter .
Seems she cut and run knowing the game was up
although her legacy is still being carried out by has beens or never wases.
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May 20, 2023 8:34am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Another big winner is science in Wellington, with the creation of three new entities – mostly a recombination of existing agencies, although the Malaghan has allowed its good name to be sullied by being dragged in.
  
  A cynic might say that the salaries they pay won’t be high enough for scientists to live in Auckland, and they will create another nest of Labour-Left public-teat sucking academics in the capital. So there is that.
  
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  May 20, 2023 9:42am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    So they bought the media and they bought the ‘science’. This isn’t a political party, it’s organised crime funded by the taxpayer.
    
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    May 20, 2023 11:10am
- Sacha
  
  Serious question: does any of the 800 million ever get paid back? If so, at what rate/interest?
  It seems to me that there is never any accounting – more likely, what ever the venture was, fails, and no recompense to the national budget is ever reported. Or when the 800 is used up, more is given.
  
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  May 20, 2023 1:37pm
Southern Raider

On 7 Days they promoted the new Labour candidate for Nth Shore

Masters from Harvard and Columbia. Only job has been owning a Mr Whippy franchise

The hope for NZ is a long line of talent and experience
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May 20, 2023 8:37am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Masters in what?
  
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  May 20, 2023 9:32am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Only job has been owning a Mr Whippy franchise
    
    I think not…..
    
    He been working at the UN
    
    also has worked for Helen Clark
    
    George holds degrees in law, history, diplomacy and international relations (First Class Honours), and a Master’s degree in international economic policy and management.
    
    https://cpl.hks.harvard.edu/people/george-hampton
    
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    May 20, 2023 11:35am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Funny you say that, Robertson, Ardern and Hipkins all worked in Clarks office, and all will end up in the UN trough
      
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      May 20, 2023 12:40pm
    - Sacha
      
      There are some people who never stop studying – they know nothing about the non-academic world yet presume to manage how we live –
      George with all his learning sounds like someone who might be useful in, um. . . . Ukraine?
      
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      May 20, 2023 1:41pm
    - rouppe
      
      How long does one have to be in the education system to accumulate that many degrees?
      
      Also, who paid for them? That would have cost a fortune from Harvard.
      
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      May 20, 2023 2:27pm
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        He hasn’t got a degree from the Kennedy School at Harvard. He is just a candidate for 2023.
        
        5 0
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        May 20, 2023 3:18pm
      - Burtland
        
        all these people going to Harvard will be paid by someone else – ie the Government or in Ngai Tahu’s case Iwi.
        
        2 0
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        May 20, 2023 5:10pm
    - Burtland
      
      George is a senior UN leader and energy and climate activist, committed to leveraging globalization for social justice …
      
      … he has no qualifications in energy and climate that I can see
      
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      May 20, 2023 5:07pm
Ruahine

It would seem that the biggest winner in this years ‘Budget’ is the Chemist Warehouse.
30 1
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May 20, 2023 8:48am
- Flossie
  
  How do you figure that out? No reason to seek out Chemist Warehouse once all pharmacies are not charging prescription fees.
  
  15 1
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  May 20, 2023 9:40am
  - Paulus
    
    My local Chemist Warehouse works directly on line with my Doctor’s practice so cannot see any change.
    
    6 0
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    May 20, 2023 1:53pm
    - rouppe
      
      Any chemist, including Zoom, works directly with doctors practices.
      
      Mine used to be sent to Life Pharmacy, which charged co-payment. Then I tried Zoom, and which didn’t but had delivery fees. Finally Chemist Warehouse, no co-payment, and local.
      
      For Arena Williams who complained about how her father was on multiple regular meds, and what it cost, Zoom offers “FREE prescriptions with FREE daily sachet packing and FREE delivery to your door” and if you are on 4+ regular meds.
      
      [Mod – no need for that]
      
      7 0
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      May 20, 2023 2:35pm
  - rangitoto
    
    It goes direct to their profit.
    
    5 0
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    May 20, 2023 3:59pm
- kowtow
  
  I thought it was Maori dancing lessons .
  
  26 3
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  May 20, 2023 10:12am
  - oldpark
    
    HhHaHa Kowtow on the button .
    
    13 1
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    May 20, 2023 11:22am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    I’m surprised that Morris Dancing didn’t get any funding. Most disappointing….
    
    8 0
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    May 20, 2023 3:19pm
- Paulus
  
  Since Warehouse Chemist started they have never charged for a prescription in New Zealand.
  There is another new one spreading widely similarly endowed.
  The smaller Chemist or what are left may benefit.
  
  6 0
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  May 20, 2023 1:51pm
  - Ghost
    
    Subsidized or non funded as well?
    
    4 0
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    May 20, 2023 1:57pm
  - JJ56
    
    Paulus, Warehouse have been paying the prescription charge out of their pocket so now the Government is paying it the consumer is no better off, but Warehouse banks it clear profit.
    
    The other Pharmacists who have been charging it now don’t get it from the consumer and instead get it from the Government. So no better off, but the consumer do benefit including all those like me that don’t think about the charge.
    
    Labour is a government for big business and the rich Middle classes.
    
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    May 20, 2023 6:42pm
O C Smith

The Hon Dr Megan Woods is Minister of Energy & Resources her title may be impressive but her knowledge in respect to her portfolios is appalling.
Yesterday on One News she stated “… 16% less energy and who doesn’t want to pay 16% less off their power bill”. I’m surprised that she seems oblivious to the fact if domestic power use is reduced by a particular percentage that the bill will not reduced by that percentage as there are usually daily charges levied.
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May 20, 2023 8:55am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Megan Woods knows nothing about Energy. Her abject ineptitude and idiocy is high on the list of reasons NZ Refining closed Marsden Point as a refinery.
  Woods was also the idiot that years ago wanted to build battery farms in Northland to power Auckland households. Back then, she was laughed at (as she should have been). Meridian are building a farm now. 105ha gives enough power to service 60,000 homes. For 2 hours! So, Auckland would need 9 times that, and 12 times that for 24 hours. So a just miserable 11,000ha. And that’s just the houses. No businesses. Or electric cars….
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:54am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Knows nothing about energy – bit like Hunter Biden and Burisma?
    
    8 2
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    May 20, 2023 11:51am
Bridgenag

Friday Funnies: “Feel Free to Insult Me”
Government overreach

https://open.substack.com/pub/criticallythinking/p/confusion-vs-clarity?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=emailhttps://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/friday-funnies-feel-free-to-insult?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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May 20, 2023 9:02am
Southern Raider

Labour MP tries to grandstand that her dad needs to choose between prescriptions and winter heating.

Collins points out a well paid MP could help her father out and that she was also factually incorrect.

Herald attacks Collins
57 1
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May 20, 2023 9:03am
- Ghost
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  Why should an adult child be paying for their fathers prescriptions? National mps need to learn to shut their mouths instead of giving the media food to attack them with.
  
  6 44
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  May 20, 2023 9:25am
  - Matt Long
    
    It would be the respectful and ethical thing to do if you were well off to help your family members.
    
    46 1
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    May 20, 2023 9:31am
    - Swifty
      
      According to the left ‘Maori are all about whanau’ as opposed to whitey who is all about selfish individualism, apparently.
      
      Well, that’s been their propaganda for the last few decades.
      
      I guess it doesn’t extend to helping your whanau with their medical bills though, even if you’re on an MP’s salary.
      
      Silly me.
      
      49 1
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      May 20, 2023 9:36am
      - Nickc2
        
        The beauty of the latest Budget is that an incoming Govt doesn’t have to honour any of it.
        BYE BYE $825,000,000.00 for Maori Initiatives!
        
        29 2
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        May 20, 2023 9:53am
      - Ghost
        
        What makes you think national will axe it? national are standing candidates in the Māori seats.
        
        14 2
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        May 20, 2023 9:58am
      - Nickc2
        
        Ghost @9:58AM
        There’s less than one micro nanosecond between what a Politician promises and what a Politician actually delivers.
        The Financial Black Hole left behind by the current Govt will be sufficient excuse to reprioritise finances.
        
        14 2
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        May 20, 2023 10:17am
      - Nickc2
        
        Ghost @9:58AM
        There’s less than one micro nanosecond between what a Politician promises and what a Politician actually delivers.
        The Financial Black Hole left behind by the current Govt will be sufficient excuse to reprioritise finances.
        
        7 1
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        May 20, 2023 10:17am
      - Piniwi
        
        That is why a tribe is now called IWI. The nearest translation is I Want It. Works well too as we see almost $1 billion hacked off the budget cake for the natives. Not forget the ANNUAL bill for marification and the stone age language is almost now $1 billion.
        
        7 0
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        May 20, 2023 2:19pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    It’s common within many cultures for well-off people to support less well-off family members.
    
    26 0
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    May 20, 2023 9:33am
    - Ghost
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      Most people in this country do not pay their elderly parents medical bills, grocery, rent, or anything else. It was a stupid comment by Judith that gave an opening for the media to attack her.
      
      But it’s good to know people here are financially looking after their elderly parents.
      
      2 33
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      May 20, 2023 9:37am
      - rockape
        
        There in lies one of NZs. Problems. However I am an exception and certainly subsidise my wife’s parents living costs. I am happy to do so. They looked after her for her first 18 years, now we are returning the favour to give them a good quality of life.
        
        32 1
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        May 20, 2023 10:09am
      - Local Miller
        
        While my own parents were well off and didn’t need help from any one, my mother-in-law (divorced) struggled financially and although she was back in South Africa, her children and their spouses all contributed to her accomodation and medical costs.
        It’s not such an unusual situation. I recon since our parents supported us for ~20+ years, the least us children could do was reciprocate when help was needed.
        
        22 0
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        May 20, 2023 11:11am
      - Ghost
        
        We have a rest home at the end of our street, nurse asked us one day if we’d take our dog in to visit with the residents, many of who rarely see their families. I’ve sat in my gp’s listening to elderly patients asking to put their visit on their account because they can’t afford it that week, a few weeks ago one person was told their account was up to $200. My gp has “rep samples” of some meds he will give to some of his patients that he knows can’t afford it. People here are very detached to the reality of what is going on in New Zealand. We are going to see a lot of mortgage sales from people who can’t even afford to pay for their own homes let alone look after their parents.
        
        7 12
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        May 20, 2023 11:22am
    - Ghost
      
      Btw for anyone that didn’t see her Twitter post, she actually did pay for her fathers medications
      
      https://twitter.com/arenaa/status/1659275200440016896
      
      6 8
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      May 20, 2023 10:08am
      - JJ56
        
        Bit of a home goal there. No evidence that she picked up the tab, but evidence she told porkies about the aggregate amount he faced. Didn’t acknowledge the high use cut off designed precisely to avoid this kind of issue.
        
        4 0
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        May 20, 2023 6:50pm
      - Ghost
        
        Her screenshot of the transaction
        
        https://twitter.com/arenaa/status/1659275200440016896/photo/2
        
        0 0
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        May 20, 2023 6:55pm
      - Ghost
        
        The cut off only exists for subsidised prescription, if it is not subsidised you keep paying
        
        1 0
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        May 20, 2023 7:02pm
      - JJ56
        
        She makes no claim she paid despite that being a point of criticism on thread, and this policy makes no difference to unsubsidised medicines.
        
        2 0
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        May 20, 2023 7:18pm
    - MCōs
      
      One of the first things I was told about Thailand when I first went there, by a Thai, was if someone in the family came into some money the whanau would borrow it off them.
      From my experience it’s true.
      My wife said to never lend money to a Thai.
      https://youtu.be/bL9KEaike8U
      
      13 1
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      May 20, 2023 10:20am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Our Thai friend showed me this before she left Bangkok for Anchorage Alaska.
        We had previously sent her money when she had no job. She left her job but got sacked at the next. I encouraged her to go back to the tourist cooking school and she did.
        Sounds like it is not a done thing in Thailand – to leave a job then ask to come back.
        
        8 0
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        May 20, 2023 12:17pm
      - Sacha
        
        You don’t have to look far in New Zealand to find some who will try and take from their old people.
        In a small country town that I lived in, with one petrol station, it was very common for oldies to buy $10 worth of petrol at a time. The reason was that the kids would take the car and go visit their friends out of town, but never put any petrol back in the tank. So there was just enough for the weekly shopping trip and a top-up for next week. And if you turned the key, it showed empty!
        
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        May 20, 2023 1:55pm
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Don’t be bloody daft Ghost. I helped my parents when they needed it. The issue here is that the current Government have caused the issue with the grandparent. Yet the Labour MP, who clearly suffers from cognitive dissonance, was not the one excoriated by the Herald. And that ladies and gentlemen, is exactly why the printed Herald is only good as dunny paper.
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:42am
    - Ghost
      
      The daft person is the national mp who makes a comment too stupid to realise that the media will use that as an attack point. Or the national mp that will make a comment of rolling back the fee having to have her leader correct it the next day after the media have already attacked it.
      
      Good on you for helping your parents, most can’t and don’t which is why pensioners are going without food to heat their homes in winter, which is why pensioners don’t pick up their medicines. Kiwibloggers live in their own reality, which is far removed from the reality a lot of people in this country live in
      
      3 21
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      May 20, 2023 10:48am
      - Keith White
        
        Ghost sez “Kiwibloggers live in their own reality”
        
        And you’re the noble exception?
        
        12 3
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        May 20, 2023 11:36am
      - Ghost
        
        Nope, no where near it
        
        3 12
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        May 20, 2023 11:43am
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        ” Kiwibloggers live in their own reality, which is far removed from the reality”. And you yours Ghost. You seem to think that today is the only time things were tough. … [Deleted. mod.] The difference is, some people make good decisions and get ahead from a crap starting point. Others do not. That is what personal responsibility is about. I helped my mum and dad because, yes, I could, but through graft that would make you bleed through the pores of your skin. And thrift. People should try thrift from time to time, they might find that they make something of themselves rather than be whining bitches.
        
        8 0
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        May 20, 2023 3:25pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  But level headed voters will be watching, they will agree with Collins, and see the vulgarity of the media yet again
  
  9 1
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  May 20, 2023 12:43pm
Lee C

Seymour had my vote.

Now he’s lost it.

p.s. Get vaxxed.
17 4
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May 20, 2023 9:18am
- Mike
  
  Out of interest, which of the parties with no chance of electing an MP will you be voting for?
  
  10 26
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  May 20, 2023 9:21am
  - Lee C
    
    I don’t know yet, Mike.
    
    I’m one of those strange people who look at policies and decide based on my own instincts.
    
    14 3
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    May 20, 2023 10:00am
    - Mike
      
      Well, political parties with any chance of electing MPs are, in declining order of likely strength:
      National
      Labour
      ACT
      Greens
      Māori
      NZ First
      TOP
      I would suggest that only these have any chance at this stage, and that only the first four are reasonably assured of electing any MPs.
      
      Then there is the assorted gaggle of:
      Legalize Cannabis
      DemocracyNZ
      FreedomsNZ
      HeartlandNZ
      New Conservative
      New Nation
      ONE
      Outdoors & Freedom
      Vision NZ
      Between all these, there are about 80,000 potential votes (based on last time). Even if this gaggle of assorted cranks could unify, they would fall well short of the 5% threshold.
      
      Good luck choosing.
      
      11 9
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      May 20, 2023 10:31am
      - Matt Long
        
        TOP!?
        
        5 4
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        May 20, 2023 10:52am
      - David George
        
        A NZF, New Conservative and Democracy NZ alliance would pass the 5% threshold, especially once the support of the “wasted vote” sector is factored in. Good thing too – a genuine conservative/democratic option.
        
        6 3
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        May 20, 2023 11:03am
      - Burtland
        
        last election the cranks – those with no representation – got more votes than the Greens
        
        those that didnt vote, but enrolled, came 3rd after Labour and National.
        
        MMP is stuffed
        
        2 1
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        May 20, 2023 5:47pm
      - Mike
        
        Burtland
        It’s just unfortunate for the cranks that they have no unifying principles, policies or personalities.
        
        0 0
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        May 20, 2023 6:03pm
  - Matt Long
    
    There are groups attempting to address this, Tamaki’s Freedom NZ trying to build an alliance of parties and voters united https://votersunited.nz/ and The Voters Collective are attempting to put together voting blocks to support the party most likely to get in.
    https://m.facebook.com/groups/1388068471926293/?paipv=0&eav=AfYCX65qGQ9a2oTg_yPt6iQ0eMfPY5ItC9wFnvXRXglarF5ojnsWiVtqyx6MzBjioug
    
    5 2
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    May 20, 2023 10:44am
    - Mike
      
      More chance of Likud and Hamas forming a coalition than that bunch of ill-assorted crooks getting together.
      
      4 4
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      May 20, 2023 1:08pm
- hmmokrightitis
  
  Same. Responding to questions by adhom attacks and concluding with “no one cares about you” sums up his arrogance.
  
  For the first election in a long time I’ll be two ticks blue whilst holding my nose. ACT, you’ve lost me, and a few others I suspect.
  
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  May 20, 2023 9:42am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  So who’s got it? The Greens?
  
  6 3
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  May 20, 2023 10:04am
Tony Stuart

Labour MP Arena Williams has received a correction from Twitter following her tweet yesterday praising her government for removing the part-charge on prescriptions. That’s rather unfortunate; we should be able to rely on MP’s to tell the truth.

https://twitter.com/arenaa/status/1659097873919668224

The fact remains ; no person, couple or family is currently paying more than $100 per annum in prescription part-charges. You pay $5 per item, to a maximum of 20 items, after which each item is free. That the medicines may only be partly subsidised is an entirely different matter, and there may be charges, but they are for the medicines themselves, not a fee for dispensing them.

Ms Williams has been described as one of Labour’s more able MP’s from the massive 2020 intake. I hope she has learned from this that sometimes the truth is of far more importance than blowing smoke up the Finance Minister’s jacksie.
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May 20, 2023 9:22am
- Swifty
  
  Yep, it’s the routineness of the lies which really gets me.
  
  The lies just flow out of them.
  
  32 0
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  May 20, 2023 9:27am
  - mawm
    
    Are they lies or are they incompetence?
    
    19 1
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    May 20, 2023 9:59am
    - Keith White
      
      They’re competent at the vocal act of lying – i.e. the lies flow freely and continuously – so I’d diagnose them as lying incompetents.
      
      17 1
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      May 20, 2023 10:05am
    - Grumpy Silver Haired Female
      
      Incompetence generally. No understanding of data/statistics and no awareness that context is vital in stating data. See post earlier from O C Smith re Megan Woods: on One News she stated “… 16% less energy and who doesn’t want to pay 16% less off their power bill”.
      Apart from the appalling grammar she equated total bill reduction with power charge reduction, forgetting fixed line charges etc that pad out the total.
      
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      May 20, 2023 10:57am
      - kowtow
        
        They are incompetent .
        
        But the bottom line is far left ideology , that ‘s what they’re driven by , comrade.
        
        12 0
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        May 20, 2023 11:35am
- Swifty
  
  Will we see a retraction from her?
  
  An apology from spreading misinformation to New Zealanders?
  
  26 1
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  May 20, 2023 9:28am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    Not yet. If anything, she’s doubled down on her original comment.
    
    25 1
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    May 20, 2023 9:37am
    - BeaB
      
      And The Herald like a good little poodle runs the story as a hit job on Judith Collins and National. No mention of Arena Williams not telling the truth. No suggestion that dragging in her father was shameless. Typical selective and partisan reporting. Disinformation as we are sadly accustomed to with this government and their tame media.
      No mention that the $5 charge so obsessing everyone in the media means there is no discussion at all of the perilous state of our economy, the brutal reality that all the ‘free’ stuff is being paid for with even more borrowed money and that we have little to show for all the billions Labour has squandered.
      
      13 1
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      May 20, 2023 1:00pm
      - Ghost
        
        A seasoned national mp should have known how the media would take her comment, national mp’s need to think before they engage
        
        4 5
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        May 20, 2023 1:04pm
      - JJ56
        
        Ghost having just had a run down through your comments here I’d say good advice for you to contemplate.
        
        3 1
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        May 20, 2023 6:54pm
- Ghost
  
  Yeah unless the items aren’t subsidised, then you keep paying
  
  5 7
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  May 20, 2023 9:34am
  - Hollyfield
    
    I think the whole subsidy system needs a huge overhaul. I take a medication to address a minor inconvenience. Not a life-threatening condition, or even a quality of life condition – just a minor inconvenience. When my doctor first prescribed it she applied for a subsidy which was granted. The medication was therefore free. This medication often cures the problem within a few months, but it didn’t for me so my doctor reapplied for the subsidy after a year which was declined. She gave me a prescription and said get as many pills as you can because you won’t be able to get any more after this. When I questioned her to clarify this, she explained I would have to pay. When I got that prescription filled I asked the chemist how much it would cost in future – and was told $20 for 3 months supply. I can certainly afford that – so why is Pharmac subsidising a minor medication for people who can afford to pay for it themselves? Community Service Card holders fine, but for most people what a waste of Pharmac’s budget. Similarly, my boss some years ago was prescribed a daily aspirin to reduce her risk of a heart attack. It was a small risk, but nonetheless she was prescribed the aspirin and she gloated about how it was free. She was earning over $100,000 at the time, and her husband was a partner in a law firm. In my view Pharmac should not have been subsiding her aspirin – she could have afforded to buy it herself. How much is being wasted with all these low-cost medications for people who can afford to pay for them. They may be small amounts, but they will all add up.
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:54am
    - Ghost
      
      I agree, it should be free for community service and gold cards.
      
      10 1
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      May 20, 2023 10:59am
- Matt Long
  
  Sounds like another job for the Disinformation Project.
  Incidentally the Free Speech Union is putting up a tender for the Government combatting disinformation funds, to take over the work from the Leftist Propaganda Disinformation Project.
  They’re asking for support to get their tender together. Information here I hope
  https://www.fsu.nz/r?
  Or here, https://www.fsu.nz/r?u=27Ax0UmWOX2J8J_QwK9Z6q6NnLaLaKhW7Qnq1Nd6TuFh3_6lmBRGLrs5zhBzzLy69gXRdjboc4n5At_OEDoCOA&e=c2add9d8a59580c6774e7b9121595f5c&utm_source=freespeech&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=230520_dpmc_bid_roderick&n=5
  https://www.fsu.nz/r?u=27Ax0UmWOX2J8J_QwK9Z6q6NnLaLaKhW7Qnq1Nd6TuFh3_6lmBRGLrs5zhBzzLy69gXRdjboc4n5At_OEDoCOA&e=c2add9d8a59580c6774e7b9121595f5c&utm_source=freespeech&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=230520_dpmc_bid_roderick&n=5
  
  11 1
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  May 20, 2023 9:46am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  https://www.govt.nz/browse/health/gps-and-prescriptions/prescription-charges/
  20 items covers the whole family, but it is still $100 that some do not have.
  
  4 0
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  May 20, 2023 12:28pm
  - Ghost
    
    And that $5 is only for subsidised medicine
    
    4 0
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    May 20, 2023 12:33pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Yes. I always had
      to pay for Linctus Gee, needed a prescription as of late, now unavailable. Got some sort of opioid in it. Fuck. I have been taking that for a cough since I was a kid.
      
      6 0
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      May 20, 2023 1:24pm
      - Ghost
        
        My gp used to give me a cough syrup, discontinued now, that was bloody $50 a bottle
        
        4 1
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        May 20, 2023 1:32pm
      - Observer of Life
        
        Steve O: Any thoughts on a good replacement? I’ve used it for years too. Bloody good stuff. Bloody annoying it’s no longer available.
        
        4 0
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        May 20, 2023 4:44pm
      - JJ56
        
        A decent Islay Single Malt is about the same price and surely more effective.
        
        3 0
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        May 20, 2023 6:57pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Observer,
        I don’t know of a replacement. Can’t stand the sickly syrup stuff.. Now it is just honey and warm water.
        Bloody druggies extract the opioid somehow.
        
        0 0
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        May 21, 2023 11:33am
      - Ghost
        
        manuka honey or cod liver oil
        
        0 0
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        May 21, 2023 11:37am
  - Burtland
    
    about 3% dont collect their medicine
    
    https://lindsaymitchell.blogspot.com/
    
    2 0
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    May 20, 2023 5:58pm
sirknz

Any guesses as to what the internal polling for Labour is showing?

I’m guessing that it isn’t looking good given this opinion piece that can be best described as a PIJF hit piece:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/132087748/budget-2023-grant-robertsons-budget-has-one-marker-who-matters-adrian-orr

The title on the front page is currently “Why this year’s Budget could become a colossal blunder” but ‘Labour’ is mentioned 8 times, ‘National’ 18 times in a mostly negative light. The usual low information shill accounts are out in force gushing over how wonderful things are currently.
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May 20, 2023 9:25am
- Tony Stuart
  
  Seven words from Treasury in the Budget will be the undoing of this government:
  
  Interest rates will be higher for longer.
  
  Those word should create discomfort with every Kiwi who has a mortgage, every Kiwi who has a credit card, and every Kiwi, including business owners, who have borrowed money from the banks or other lending institutions.
  
  When people start defaulting on their debts, or businesses start laying off staff because they can no longer afford to employ them or even stay open (look at the example of H&J Smith in Invercargill), shit is going to get real, And the finger of blame can be pointed at the current government, particularly Grant Robertson. I suspect Robertson knows what is coming; the bounce has gone out of him lately, and he looks and sounds like a man who is not enjoying his work.
  
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  December 20, 2022 9:43am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    Tony, “the bounce has gone out of him”, lol.
    
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    May 20, 2023 10:37am
  - Matt Long
    
    Higher interest rates probably aren’t going to make a huge difference while employment holds up, and I think that is the gamble Labour are making, they’ll stoke the economy and keep inflation and interest rates high in a bid to stave off the inevitable correction until after the election.
    Wait till all the spending announcements come out in the electioneering period.
    
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    May 20, 2023 11:01am
    - mogg
      
      With falling house prices and higher interest rates on mortgages, it’s turning into a disaster for the fat man. As Maggie Pie said yesterday $5 off your prescription and $600 on your mortgage, does he think middle NZ are completely stupid.
      
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      May 20, 2023 12:25pm
  - Diogenes
    
    Can I make a small suggestion on one way to avoid paying high interest charges on your Visa card. My wife and I have a joint account. Many years ago, when I was earning a wage, we deposited a certain sum of money into our Visa account (enough to cover a bit more than what would be a normal month’s expenditure), so the account is always in credit. We have resisted the temptation to draw that down, and just leave it there.
    
    We don’t always remember to clear the Visa debt at the beginning of the following month, but the backstop means that even if we are a week late paying it off, we are in no danger of incurring interest charges on the overdue balance. It’s worked very well for us, and saved embarrassment on a number of occasions.
    
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    May 20, 2023 11:05am
    - mogg
      
      Get the banking app on your phone or laptop, when the Visa is getting high just do a quick transfer.
      
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      May 20, 2023 12:13pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Here’s another suggestion. Don’t use credit cards.
      
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      May 20, 2023 7:36pm
  - kowtow
    
    What I find astounding is the lack of commentary , generally , on the fact that this huge growth in debt will create a drag on future “investment” as more and more funds are redirected at paying off all the loans and at higher interest rates .
    
    Our te media pardy spend more time and ink on the US debt ceiling / default danger than they do talking about our dire straits as we head towards becoming Ao geo tina.
    
    Instead it’s “Dour Robbo , sensible spender ”
    Lies.
    
    Funny ,dat.
    
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    May 20, 2023 11:42am
lastmanstanding

IMHO if the toxic trio Labour/Greens/MP are elected in October they will enact the greatest transfer of wealth this country had ever seen. Most of the BabyBoomers like me will snuff it over the next 25 years. They have accumulated much wealth through their hard work and ( Government caused) inflation. Instead of a CGT or Wealth Tax they will reintroduce Death Duties and Gift Duties. There will be an exemption along the lines of the Greens Wealth Tax of $1M per person. This will protect most Maori and many Green/Labour supporters. A modest house even in Auckland and some savings would see the Death Duty exempt. The Duties will be graduated like Income Tax but unlike Income Tax it will apply to all the Estate when the next bracket is reached. So it would be a in effect a flat rate Duty.
Forget Trusts and Companies. A Deemed Benefical Ownership provision will take care of this. And the Gift Duty will be retrospective for say 3 years to catch the clever Rich Pricks who may anticipate and try and gift their assets to their children.
The legisation will be passed in the dead of night with no prior warning. Like the Lange Government no prior annoucement will be made. And if a Nat/ACT Government seeks to repeal the legislation in the future they will face demands to compensate families of those already impacted. In addition they will welcome the extra income to piss up against the wall.
You have been warned.
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May 20, 2023 9:27am
- wairarapapaul
  
  Let’s hope they aren’t reading this.
  
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  May 20, 2023 9:52am
- Hard Cheese
  
  More than likely, all done in the name of “fairness”. There’s an easy way around it though. Sell up and leave the country, make sure you’re not a NZ tax resident. Who would want to live in a Marxist third world banana republic run by Labour, Greens and the Maori party anyway? Not me.
  
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  May 20, 2023 11:41am
- mogg
  
  If Labour get back in with borrow and spend Robbo at the helm, NZ’s sovereign credit rating will be downgraded, meaning higher interest rates on our skyrocketing national debt.
  
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  May 20, 2023 12:08pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I think that is where Labour wants to take us.
    
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    May 20, 2023 12:46pm
- Paulus
  
  Death Duty and Gifts Tax already currently exist – they are currently set at zero, so do not have to be passed into law – only enacted with figures.
  
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  May 20, 2023 1:59pm
- blue collar
  
  They won’t get in , not a chance in hell .
  Even with the media in their back pocket , tax dollars to throw around , 30% numb-nut clueless voters the vast majority of New Zealanders have had a guts full of the labour rabble .
  Every race , every strata of society …. Labour are done . Big time .
  Not saying it won’t happen last man , but won’t be for the next 9-12 years until the academic commies get back in .
  
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  May 20, 2023 3:35pm
Ghost

Not sure why you would hire someone with a coffee cart to do part of your wedding, I guess get you get what you pay for

A bride who took her wedding caterer to the Disputes Tribunal said she received platters two hours late, was left with just one scantily-clad waitress serving 100 people and “countless excuses”.

Article
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May 20, 2023 10:19am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/its-all-about-ceding-sovereignty/

“I have memorised the Treaty. It doesn’t take long to learn.
Now, when I have to, I can simply speak out the Treaty. It’s powerful.
Keep the discussion firmly on Maori ceding sovereignty and you’ll win every time.
Don’t back down. You won’t need to. It’s the truth”
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May 20, 2023 10:31am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  “If you want to locate the epicenter of racism and apartheid in New Zealand, just go to the Beehive.”
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:32am
  - Keith White
    
    Yes, our very own wretched hive of scum and villainy – and in our own galaxy.
    
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    May 20, 2023 11:38am
- Mike
  
  Hi Steve. I sincerely hope you read some of the latest scholarship on the treaty and the meaning(s) of sovereignty. Perhaps the taster in this review will pique your interest:
  https://thespinoff.co.nz/books/12-12-2022/do-the-english-and-maori-texts-of-the-treaty-of-waitangi-actually-reconcile
  
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  May 20, 2023 10:38am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    They are still not using the Littlewood version. The Treaty translation from Maori was done by a crook named James Freeman.
    The Treaty version written out by Freeman included “forestry and fisheries” That is NOT in the original version in Maori, and not in the Littlewood translation.
    Now someone in Archives needs to find that version, but someone who is responsible and who would not destroy it.
    
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    May 20, 2023 1:32pm
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Sorry, I meant to include this:
      
      https://vimeo.com/827087934/f8ea40791e
      
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      May 20, 2023 1:34pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        5 min in then 13
        
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        May 20, 2023 1:35pm
      - blue collar
        
        Love ya work steveo !
        FYI , we hassle all the Māoris at work, good naturedly , about the special treatment they are getting and the unanimous response is “ that’s nothing to do with us , we ain’t victims n we never see a cent anyway ….. those clowns don’t represent us “
        They are embarrassed by the apartheid crap , they see themselves as kiwis first , Māori second ….. they say we were in a place where skin colour didn’t matter , and now in 6 years it’s highlighted and a major deal again .
        They just want to be seen as ordinary folk , working hard for their families , no handouts , no special privelges ,
        Just like everyone else .
        So …. The majority of Māori vote isn’t going to labour or the Māori party , I’ll bet my house on it.
        The average joe Māori is sick of copping shit for the elites n activist doings .
        
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        May 20, 2023 3:45pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        blue collar,
        
        I too worked with 3 Maori guys. It was a few years ago but the same Company I spent 50 years at until early this year.
        Man, these were great guys! A lot of fun. They too admitted they have never seen any money from the Govt payouts.
        Many years ago my Family owned a snooker saloon. We would occasionally cash cheques from the Maori guys. Late 60s. The money these guys got from whatever was Maori Affairs then, was pathetic. That was their yearly payout – 15 to 20 lousy cents!
        
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        May 21, 2023 11:51am
Ghost

Hmm, he’s interesting

A Stanford professor who has researched unidentified aerial phenomena for the US government says he believes extraterrestrial intelligence has not only visited earth but “it’s been here a long time and it’s still here”.
Dr Garry Nolan also claimed that whistleblowers who have worked on “reverse-engineering downed craft” had recently given classified testimony to Congress, creating a “hornet’s nest in Washington”.

Dr Nolan, a Professor of Pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine who has published more than 300 research articles and holds 40 US patents, made the bombshell comments during a talk at the Salt iConnections conference in New York on Thursday titled “The Pentagon, Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Crashed UFOs”.

Article

Dr. Garry Nolan drops bombshell admissions at the recent Salt Conference on May 16th/18th NYC!!
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May 20, 2023 10:40am
Maggie Pie

Just back home from a quik shopping-spree at Westfield Mall 😀
God there’s a lot of weirdos that hang about the Food Court in there.

TBH…I still don’t even know whether KiwiBank’s New Zealander of the Year is actually a man or a woman? And they’re not the only one in the world that’s got people guessing either….

https://twitter.com/charliedaniel06/status/1604493854933147650
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May 20, 2023 10:41am
- Keith White
  
  I guess Kiwibank doesn’t employ a biologist, so they won’t know either.
  
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  May 20, 2023 11:39am
- Ghost
  
  I was googling to see what Brittney is, born a female, I always thought she was trans.
  
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  May 20, 2023 11:55am
Gravelroad

Three/five/multiple Waters – status of?
Disclaimer:
I have not studied the budget and know only what the msm has been paid to tell me.
But- was there anything mentioned in there about more millions/billions needed for Three Waters?
It all seems to have gone quiet.
Has the Labour Party just anonymously got on with it, or is it parked until they win the election?
I expect all the people so far employed to harass us over three waters are still on the pay roll – raking in big salaries even if they are doing nothing.
That’s the way we do thing in NZ these days,
Paying money for nothing.
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May 20, 2023 11:01am
Ghost

Nurse put on leave because young black man tries to steal bike she had paid to use…….

A white Manhattan hospital worker and accused of taking a Citi Bike from a young black man is said to have ‘paid’ for the two-wheeler, her lawyer claims.

Lawyer Justin Marino, who is representing the six-months-pregnant Bellevue Hospital employee in the now-viral video of the incident, claims she was wheeling the bike away from the dock when the group pushed it back in and started filming.

The female hospital employee — donning blue scrubs emblazoned with ‘NYC Health + Hospitals — could be seen screaming for help and accusing a black man of assault, even tearing up as a crowd gathered around them.

Article
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May 20, 2023 11:01am
- Inandout
  
  Ghost, little wonder people are fleeing NY in greater numbers.
  
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  May 20, 2023 11:37am
Hollyfield

I had a laugh at this quote in an article about the Susssexes apparently “demanding” photo and video footage of their recent car chase in New York.

https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/entertainment/2023/05/photo-agency-backgrid-rejects-prince-harry-meghan-s-request-to-turn-over-car-chase-images.html

The photo agency told the BBC it had received a letter that read: “We hereby demand that Backgrid immediately provide us with copies of all photos, videos and/or films taken last night by the freelance photographers after the couple left their event and over the next several hours.”

Backgrid told CNN its lawyers had written in response: “In America, as I’m sure you know, [the] property belongs to the owner of it: Third parties cannot just demand it be given to them, as perhaps Kings can do.

“Perhaps you should sit down with your client and advise them that his English rules of royal prerogative to demand that the citizenry hand over their property to the Crown were rejected by this country long ago.

“We stand by our founding fathers.”
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May 20, 2023 11:13am
- peterwn
  
  Best one since the threatened lawsuit against ‘Private Eye’ (Arkell v. Pressdram) where the response was:
  “We note that Mr Arkell’s attitude to damages will be governed by the nature of our reply and would therefore be grateful if you would inform us what his attitude to damages would be, were he to learn that the nature of our reply is as follows: fuck off.”
  
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  May 20, 2023 12:22pm
Chuck Bird

Did anyone hear on Newshub Nation Robertson’s claim that tens of thousands would have died from covid if it was not for how Labour handled the lookdowns?
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May 20, 2023 11:38am
- Keith White
  
  He also said the vaccine is(was) 100% effective. He lies like a carpet.
  
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  May 20, 2023 11:40am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    I replayed it on three on demand and could not hear the 100% claim. I you sure?
    
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    May 20, 2023 5:44pm
- Ghost
  
  How many are now dying and not getting timely treatment because of how labour handled it
  
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  May 20, 2023 12:18pm
  - kevn
    
    @Ghost… Plus of course the deaths and severe adverse reactions to the jab.
    Deny deny deny, why why why?
    
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    May 20, 2023 1:10pm
  - Keith White
    
    I am seeing some of them face to face in my own community, when they need an advocate to help them negotiate the labyrinth to health care.
    
    I no longer have a practising certificate due to running afoul of TPTB because I have an entirely old-fashioned adherence to the principles of patients’ informed consent and bodily autonomy, but hey I still try to be can be a mini-Minotaur-clone in the ethnic-biased medical maze.
    
    But really — the best I can advise them is to just identify as Maori.
    
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    May 20, 2023 1:32pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Ghost – it seems to me that only NZ and Canada are still in the total denial phase. The total narrative compliance from the media is a feature. The 100% narrative agreement by all politicians in all parties is astonishing. Then the public lies by Seymour. Public lies by Robertson. Public lies by Ardern, Hipkins, Baker, Wiles, Hendy. Every last one of them has been recorded telling lies publicly and there has been no negative outcome.
    
    I actually think that was a mistake by Seymour. Going onto Reality Check Radio. He was clearly smug enough to think he could debate the ‘conspiracy theorists’ with ease. He was wrong. The one thing the ‘conspiracy theorists’ have on their side is the truth. That’s hard to swat away as Seymour is now finding out.
    He made a comment that excess deaths were covid deaths, not vaccine deaths. It’s provably a lie.
    
    Anyway, I posted this on the other early thread this morning, but more appropriate here.
    
    Re the refusal to even acknowledge the mistakes made here in NZ.
    
    …..highlighting the malicious, childish intransigence of the authorities in NZ to even acknowledge the harm that has undoubtedly been done by vaccines, the Australians are attempting to move forward.
    
    They have implemented a vaccine injury compensation scheme.
    
    COVID-19 vaccine claims scheme
    You may be able to get financial support if you’ve experienced harm because of a COVID-19 vaccine or its administration.
    
    https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/covid-19-vaccine-claims-scheme
    
    The list of injuries acknowledged is comprehensive.
    
    Which conditions are eligible
    If you had AstraZeneca Vaxzeria, the following clinical conditions are accepted under the scheme:
    
    Anaphylactic reaction
    Capillary leak syndrome
    Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis (CVST) without Thrombocytopenia
    Guillain Barre Syndrome (GBS)
    Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome
    Thrombocytopenia, including immune Thrombocytopenia
    Transverse Myelitis.
    If you’ve had Pfizer/Biontech Comirnaty, Moderna Spikevax or Novavax Nuvaxovid, the following clinical conditions are accepted under the scheme:
    
    Anaphylactic reaction
    Erythema Multiforme (Major)
    Myocarditis
    Pericarditis.
    Which injuries are eligible
    The following clinically diagnosed injuries are also accepted under the scheme, regardless of which TGA approved vaccine you’ve had:
    
    a shoulder injury you got when you received a COVID-19 vaccine
    other moderate to significant physical injuries that caused permanent impairment, or the need for an extended period of medical treatment.
    
    Further to that, there is a class action lawsuit being taken against the Australian Government on behalf of 5oo complainants.
    
    As reports of vaccine injuries gain traction globally, an Australian doctor is leading a new class-action lawsuit against the federal government and key medical figures.
    
    Queensland Dr. Melissa McCann has filed the lawsuit in the Federal Court of Australia on behalf of 500 complainants.
    
    The action targets the federal government, Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brendan Murphy, and John Skerritt, the public face of the Therapeutic Goods Administration—the country’s drug regulatory body.
    
    “The action will argue that the Therapeutic Goods Administration [TGA] did not fulfil their duty to properly regulate the COVID-19 vaccines, resulting in considerable harm and damage to Australians,” Natalie Strijland from NR Barbi Solicitor said in a statement.
    
    https://www.theepochtimes.com/class-action-launched-against-australian-government-over-vaccine-injuries_5241015.html
    
    In NZ, total silence. Actually worse, deliberate suppression of information to cover up this disaster.
    We currently do not live in a functioning democracy.
    
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    May 20, 2023 1:42pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Chuck – they all lied from the beginning, they are still lying now. Seymour lied last week when he said nobody had died from the vaccine. He also lied when he said excess mortality was due to covid and not the vaccine.
  It seems we haven’t got any honest politicians in Wellington. Not one. That’s tragic, but it explains why the country is going down the toilet rapidly.
  
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  May 20, 2023 1:21pm
  - Keith White
    
    Yes. Not one solitary NZ politician is reading the evidence and drawing the conclusions that literally billions of the global population have already decided upon.
    
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    May 20, 2023 1:33pm
Ghost

Damn, what a brother, what a hero

Owen Burns assumed his little sister was goofing off with her friends in the backyard when he heard her screaming, something he found annoying.

But when the 13-year-old looked out his bedroom window moments later, he saw a stranger holding a hand over his 8-year-old sister’s mouth as he tried to drag her into the nearby woods.

Owen turned to his bed and grabbed his slingshot and any ad hoc ammunition he could find: a marble and a rock, as it turned out.

From his bedroom, he loaded the marble first, pulled back the slingshot’s yellow, plastic tubing, aimed out his open window at the stranger some 60m away and let go.

The shot hit him – right between the eyes. Then Owen loaded the rock and fired again – another hit, this time to the chest.

Article
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May 20, 2023 12:19pm
Maggie Pie

HOLY MOTHER

Last time you’ll ever hear me complain about the size of our Rates-Bill…..

Imagine paying nearly $5mill a year!!

https://twitter.com/DailyLoud/status/1659657834630357007
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May 20, 2023 12:20pm
- Ghost
  
  But Maggie, what about climate change and the oceans rising……. Guess another celeb who knows their beach side house is safe
  
  https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-05-19/beyonce-jay-z-malibu-mansion-200-million-record
  
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  May 20, 2023 12:24pm
Bridgenag

Covid vaccine injury class action update, Australia

https://open.substack.com/pub/rebekahbarnett/p/covid-vaccine-injury-class-action?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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May 20, 2023 1:12pm
- Keith White
  
  BN: I have carefully looked into doing that (taking legal action) here the lawyer I consulted advised me that the ACC legislation (as well as what we know about how the High Court gave Ardern legal cover) in her/my view means whoever donates to the cause, we’d be taking their money under false pretenses.
  
  We’d just lose bigly, after enriching lawyers all over.
  
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  May 20, 2023 1:35pm
  - Keith White
    
    Mod: can I just say eff the downticker for this specific post? If that’s not allowed, so be it.
    
    [Mod agrees with you]
    
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    May 20, 2023 6:33pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  Acknowledgment from most governments, NZ? Tumbleweed. They are a despicable group of overpaid people in the Beehive.
  
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  May 20, 2023 1:44pm
- Bridgenag
  
  Just off the phone from a NZ “expert” in viruses. Depressing. Thought he might look at the EU summit. Muttered things about the fact he was an expert and who were these conspiracy theorists…… DEPRESSING
  
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  May 20, 2023 1:52pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Bridgenag – there are many spineless shills in NZ who won’t rock the boat. They are beyond redemption. There is a mountain of evidence, more than enough, that demands that these jabs are stopped and a proper investigation held. Instead NZ keeps telling people to get jabbed.
    The latest TV ad with Jude Dobson is particularly nauseating. She must be pretty desperate for money.
    
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    May 20, 2023 2:09pm
All_on_Red

And BOOM, there it is
https://redstate.com/mike_miller/2023/05/19/new-poll-desantis-is-only-gop-presidential-candidate-who-leads-biden-in-crucial-swing-states-n748646

Bye Donald, its been fun. You’ll always be a legend.
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May 20, 2023 1:46pm
- Inandout
  
  AoR, poll after poll would strike a trend.
  
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  May 20, 2023 2:06pm
- Mike
  
  As if any of the GOP candidates will cope any better against the barrage of lies and insults than their craven counterparts did in 2016.
  Get back when Ron Meatball fires a shot that has the MAGA faithful abandoning their orange messiah.
  LOL.
  
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  May 20, 2023 3:22pm
  - Inandout
    
    Mike, on a recent ‘Chaser’ the question taken from the Washington Post was how many lies Trump told in 4 years as President. The answer was around 36,000 and even Brad found that figure hard to believe. To even quote Wapo on a ‘factual’ show was a bit dangerous as they are an offshoot of the Dems/FBI/CIA. This programme of course was before the Durham Report.
    
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    May 20, 2023 3:54pm
    - Mike
      
      I saw a report that Ron Meatball plans to run to the ‘right’ of Trump on the vital issues of guns, abortion, CRT and trans rights. Good luck to him appealing to the craziest part of the base.
      
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      May 20, 2023 5:27pm
mandk

Excess deaths in NZ not attributable to Covid now running at about 1,000 per quarter.

There were 224 deaths in NZ attributed to Covid in the first quarter of this year. https://github.com/minhealthnz/nz-covid-data/blob/main/cases/weekly-deaths.csv

However, the total number of deaths in the quarter was 1,229 (16%) above the average for the same quarter in the five years before Covid arrived. https://infoshare.stats.govt.nz/ViewTable.aspx?pxID=e8d9a107-1055-4cd3-b89d-28cd01aa37d3

Never mind, get vaxxed anyway. They say it’s safe and effective.
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May 20, 2023 2:06pm
ClanMcleod

Here’s a great blog post regarding the claim by some, that “mistakes were made” and “hindsight” is being used by people speaking out currently.

This is provably untrue. There were plenty speaking out from the earliest days. Sure, some members of the public can be excused for not seeing this at the time, but after 3 years? There is zero excuse for not understanding how this was a scam from the beginning.

Professor Martin Neil: A Critique of Covid Narrative, Lack of Academic Freedom and Where Did the Flu Go?

Martin Neil, Professor of Computer Science and Statistics at Queen Mary University of London, says academic freedom is at zero. Disagreeing with mainstream can mean a career suicide.

This is why so many people who should have spoken up have been so reticent. Threats to careers and livelihoods. Despicable actions by a tyrannical government.

Martin Neil was suffering from a strange virus back in December 2019. His then 20-year-old son also had it, and quite badly. A little while later, when he heard the rumours of a virus in China, he was alarmed and worried. “My original belief was that this was both novel and deadly and a real threat,” he says.

However, as a scientist, as a mathematician, his second reaction was to look at the numbers and try to understand how serious the disease truly was.

Because that’s how real science works, not the bullshit spun by the “single source of truth”. Not the lies from the “experts” like Baker, Wiles, Bloomfield et al. They told us to “trust the science”. They lied. Every last one of them.

One of the world’s most renowned epidemiologists, John P.A. Ioannidis, a professor of medicine at Stanford University, was one of the first to try to cool the panic by calculating infection fatality rates in the early stages of the pandemic. Ioannidis wrote in March 2020 that World Health Organization’s (WHO) mortality figure of 3.4% of those infected was unduly scary, as well as meaningless and misleading. The trick was that the WHO came up with this figure on the basis of patients who had been tested for SARS-CoV-2. However, at the time, those tested were those with more severe kind of symptoms and those more likely to be at risk, i.e. those significantly more likely to develop a severe disease.
However, Ioannidis looked at the outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise ship that received a lot of press coverage at the time and drew some preliminary conclusions. On board the ship, 1% of those infected died, but many of the passengers were elderly, hence once again a high-risk group. On this basis, Ioannidis calculated that in the United States, given the age structure of the population, the mortality rate could turn out to be 0.125% of those infected.

Here’s a link to the whole piece. Very much worth taking time to read.

https://freedomresearch.substack.com/p/professor-martin-neil-a-critique
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May 20, 2023 2:21pm
- Keith White
  
  Never forgive.
  Never forget.
  We told them.
  They ignored us.
  They threatened us.
  They doxxed us.
  They isolated us.
  They imprisoned us.
  They made us unemployable.
  
  Revenge will be served cold.
  
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  May 20, 2023 6:32pm
ClanMcleod

Not that you need many more reasons not to vote for the Greens, here’s another one to add to the multitude.

Marama Davidson speaking re the release of the Green’s list.

“With more Māori Green MPs, we can push the Crown to uphold its promise to guarantee tino rangatiratanga of tangata whenua over their whenua, kainga and taonga katoa,” she said in a statement.

I only speak and read English. I can’t vote for someone so rude as to presume I would understand the gibberish she was talking. I’m not racist. She is.
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May 20, 2023 2:33pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Here’s a question for you Clan 😀
  
  With Golriz dropping to #7 on the list and the Wetbak at #8…..
  how likely is it both of them would get back in on the current polling?
  
  6 3
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  May 20, 2023 2:45pm
  - Mike
    
    Not sure you are asking him the right question. Perhaps – “how likely is it that a combination of Matt King, Hannah Tamaki, Sue Grey, Gaurav Sharma, Billy TK Jr and Jami-Lee Ross could agree on a list, let alone a leader?”
    
    2 9
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    May 20, 2023 3:30pm
    - mandk
      
      What makes you think there is any non-zero probability that all those people will ever need to come together to agree and list or a leader?
      
      4 4
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      May 20, 2023 3:51pm
      - Mike
        
        Several commenters here have declared they can’t vote for any of the parties that currently have any prospect of electing MPs. Unless you detect a possibility of a single one of the above wannabes mobilizing significant support, they would have to cooperate to elect even one MP.
        
        3 7
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        May 20, 2023 4:36pm
    - Keith White
      
      That is not even a straw doll you have constructed there Mikey.
      
      6 2
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      May 20, 2023 5:53pm
  - Keith White
    
    MP: Robert A Heinlein has entered the chat:
    
    “Never underestimate the power of human stupidity”.
    
    5 2
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    May 20, 2023 5:54pm
    - Mike
      
      Fiction offers some people better philosophy than philosophers. It’s more digestible to read the fables of Tolkein, Rand, Heinlein, Jesus, J K Rowling, etc. Something in the narrative power, I guess.
      
      2 7
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      May 20, 2023 6:43pm
Nickc2

The only thing this Govt’s been successful at doing is driving a wedge between Maori and Non-Maori neighbors.
Thanks, Maori Caucus. Willie Jackson, Nanaia Mahuta, Kelvin Davis, and Co, take a bow.
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May 20, 2023 3:39pm
Ghost

Damn

An economics professor warns New Zealand could move from a cost-of-living crisis into an unemployment crisis as economic activity slows.

It comes after the Treasury forecasted 150,000 people could lose their jobs in the next year.

Article
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May 20, 2023 4:01pm
- Albie
  
  I wouldn’t worry too much about what those Treasury wonks say Ghost.
  Heard the [Use correct names. mod.] swatting away criticism from all the main bank economists yesterday that his spend up budget will have no affect on mortgage interest rates.
  There must be more to an arts degree than I thought.
  
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  May 20, 2023 4:56pm
Maggie Pie

SkyNew’s Rita Panahi (herself Iranian) tells transphobic guest…. that whether ‘gayness’ is considered a crime or a sin, is purely a matter of geography.

Would you take it from that then, here in NZ it’s a sin?
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May 20, 2023 5:02pm
- Mike
  
  Neither, of course. But perhaps you could get an update from your priest o which of your habits are currently classified as sinful.
  
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  May 20, 2023 5:13pm
  - Keith White
    
    AYFKM Mike.
    
    6 2
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    May 20, 2023 5:52pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Irrespective of the penance handed down at Confession tomorrow….. I’ll throw in an additional ‘Our-Father’ for you and milkey.
    
    8 2
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    May 20, 2023 6:13pm
    - Mike
      
      What’s the usual penance, and how do you deal with the advice to stop living in sin?
      
      1 6
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      May 20, 2023 6:38pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        What you need to understand is that the Catholic Church has long since changed the language concerning couples who fail to symbolize the fullness of marriage between a Man and a Woman.
        What hasn’t changed, is the Churches stance on homosexuality…. where it expressly states “that gays should go, and sin no more”
        
        Leviticus 18:22
        
        4 2
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        May 20, 2023 7:25pm
      - Mike
        
        Are you sure you want to be relying on Leviticus for a set of rules to follow?
        
        1 1
        Report
        May 20, 2023 8:50pm
      - Maggie Pie
        
        Sorry, but I think you’l’ find its useless arguing with an idiot.
        
        4 0
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        May 20, 2023 8:55pm
    - kowtow
      
      I’d a thunk an exorcism would be more in order , it being a troll and all.
      
      3 3
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      May 20, 2023 7:47pm
Jack5

Israel Folau in a controversy again because of his Christianity views.

Britain’s the Rugby Football Union will fly a “Pride Progress” flag at Twickenham in support of the LGBTQ community when a World XV side including Folau plays the Barbarians on Sunday, May 28.

Rugby Australia sacked Folau from the Wallabies in 2019 for posting in social media that Hell awaits gay people and others he considers sinners. He had played for Australia more than 70 times.

His sacking caused a backlash from supporters of free speech and religious expression.

Folau sued the Australian rugby governing body for unfair dismissal, seeking $A14 million under employment legislation that bans sacking someone because of their religious beliefs.

The case was settled out of court, with Australia news media saying Folau received $A4 million.

Folau is reported to be keen to play for Tonga in the 2023 Rugby World Cup.

The “Telegraph” reports the Rugby Union in London said in a statement about the flag decision:

“We strive to be a sport that is inclusive to all players, staff and fans, regardless of identity or background. This ethos sits at the very heart of all the work we do, as set out in the RFU’s inclusion and diversity action plan.”
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May 20, 2023 6:06pm
- Mike
  
  Perhaps he doesn’t need to play that game if a flag upsets him.
  
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  May 20, 2023 6:11pm
  - Jack5
    
    The “Telegraph” doesn’t contain any reaction from Folau, Mike.
    
    In his stand in Australia on his religious beliefs, Folau didn’t back down or refuse to play.
    
    6 0
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    May 20, 2023 6:32pm
  - graham
    
    As I’m sure even YOU realise, Mike, it’s not about the flag; it’s what the flag represents.
    
    But of course, you knew that.
    
    5 1
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    May 20, 2023 7:08pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  “Rugby Australia sacked Folau from the Wallabies in 2019 for posting in social media that Hell awaits gay people and others he considers sinners. ”
  
  As I understand it someone asked him what the bible states regarding gay sex. He replied with literally what the bible states.
  
  6 1
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  May 20, 2023 7:49pm
Maggie Pie

The Horrid reports….

A solo mum of 6 is finding the rental market in Rotorua…’brutal’.
She has applied for countless homes to rent and has appealed to landlords ‘to just give her a chance.’
In her view, a bad credit rating, the size of her family, and being on a benefit, are the main reasons she has found it impossible to get a house.

No wonder this government treats residential landlords like arseholes.
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May 20, 2023 8:12pm
Swifty

Won’t somebody do something about all this white cis-male violence?

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/mongrel-mob-gang-members-involved-in-brutal-attack-outside-palmerston-north-cafe/YCYBQWGVQNFDLMUNHNKSCF3RGA/

Somebody call Marama. She’ll know what to do. She’s got all the answers and let’s not forget they’re all ‘her people’.
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May 20, 2023 8:12pm

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