General Debate 18 July 2023

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Warren

Jenna Lynch analysis : ‘Embarrassing ‘ correction to youth crime shows rush.
With the promise to further crackdown on youth crime and the adults that fuel it, the Government is picking up on the anger of the electorate says Newshub Political Editor Jenna Lynch.
Lynch said the move was “reactivated clearly rushed”, saying one of the promises the Prime Minister Chris Hipkins made was to create a new offence for adults that use young people in crime that would be punishable by up to ten years in Prison. Then one hour later the Prime Minister’s Office issued a correction saying the Government wasn’t creating a new offence and instead would have encouraging young people to commit a crime a aggravating factor.
https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/07/jenna-lynch-analysis-embarrassing-correction-to-youth-crime-policy-shows-rush.html
After nearly three years of major increases of Ram Raids and Robberies hitting thousands and Labour the Government consistently down in the polls Hipkins now wants to follow National’s stance that they have been advocating for nearly six years that the Government are weak and soft on crime to position themselves in the polls.
Labour showing the Hypocrites they are with a flip flop in Crime.
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July 18, 2023 8:00am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Hypkins said he has had a guts full. Well he now knows what we have felt like for 6 years the day Davis stated they would drop prison numbers by 30%
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:43am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Known for 6 years and did what? He lied to us many times, especially about the Covid pandemic. Not to be trusted after 6 years of that.
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:45am
- rouppe
  
  So when the youth is in the dock answering the charge, how is his parents encouragement going to play out?
  
  Is the judge going to say “because your father encouraged you or made you do this, your sentence is longer”? Of course not. That aggravating factor should apply to the ADULT, who is not in the dock.
  
  It just noise of no value.
  
  All that needs to happen is that judges do not discount (as much).
  
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  July 18, 2023 9:00am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    I believe one of ACT’s policies is to limit the total discount available to 40% – which still seems a hell of a lot if you ask me. They usually only serve 1/3 of their sentences anyway!
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:55am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Most people I know who have been to jail recently have done 50%.
      
      Hasn’t Nats policy got a no less than 25% discount? It maybe 30%
      
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      July 18, 2023 7:12pm
- jon
  
  If Hipkins was for real on this new policy, he wouldnt wait till after the election to enact the new measures, he could have additional sitting days of the House, use Labour’s majority and pass the new law under urgency within weeks.
  
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  July 18, 2023 12:06pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Turns out the two new youth buildings has no funding, no plan, no land, and not even a cost analysis
    
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    July 18, 2023 7:15pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Shame. The new law as described by Chris Hipkins would inevitably have become known as ‘doing a Fagin’.
  
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  July 18, 2023 1:56pm
Benedict Yu

Given the state of the nation, I cannot help but feel apprehensive that National is stuck in the mid 30s, and that National and ACT, on this poll would have a bare majority at 61 seats.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/132560948/centreright-surges-as-hipkins-desperate-to-prove-hes-in-it-for-you
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July 18, 2023 8:03am
- Matt Long
  
  My thoughts exactly, of interest, 12% of respondents to this poll were undecided.
  Where those votes go in the coming months will determine if the centre left get a landslide over the left.
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:08am
  - imalwaysright
    
    The low support for all parties is in itself a reflection of the publics low opinion of the candidates.
    
    The public aren’t stupid , unfortunately most of the candidates are.
    
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    July 18, 2023 8:21am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Well if you can show a better selection of candidates the Nats have produce it, Nats has class written all over it
      
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      July 18, 2023 8:47am
    - Libertarians are right
      
      Sorry, I disagree. The public is very stupid.
      Labour’s candidates are clearly useless, by every reasonable metric – even for those that agree with them ideologically. It is entirely rational to have a low opinion of them.
      
      People only have low opinions of National & ACT because of utterly biased reporting against them. Only an idiot believes that reporting.
      
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      July 18, 2023 9:00am
      - H. Upmann
        
        Correct. The majority are too stupid to be allowed a vote.
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:27am
      - I remember when
        
        Most voters seem to vote for the Party first, only when the candidate is clearly unsuitable do they reflect this in their voting.
        
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        July 18, 2023 1:22pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      There seems to be an assumption that those who call the public stupid are themselves exempt from being considered stupid notwithstanding that they also are members of the public.
      
      Or is it irony.
      
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      July 18, 2023 1:50pm
  - ClanMcleod
    
    I don’t apologise for bringing it up again.
    
    How many of that 12% are people who’s lives and relationships were effectively destroyed or irreparably damaged by tyrannical, undemocratic covid policies that did far more harm than good, supported fully by National and Act?
    
    Why do they find it so hard to acknowledge this dark period in our history?
    
    I’ll say it for the last time. I do not like Winston Peters, however leaving this vacuum is a dangerous political gamble by National/Act. There are many, many people for whom, the abhorrent treatment they were subjected to is the burning focus of their lives. Like it or not, that’s the fact of the matter. No, they won’t just ‘let it go’ and pretend it didn’t happen.
    
    I find it astonishing that the political strategists in National/Act cannot come up with a compromise of some sort that acknowledges the harms done to these people. It is all most of them want and it is the very least they deserve.
    There is your 5% (minimum) bump in the polls.
    
    We are talking about the worst government in history. The most inept, most wasteful, most divisive, most dishonest, most destructive. By any metric you wish to use, they are a horror show.
    It should be an absolute shoe in for even an average, talentless opposition to be wiping the floor with them.
    
    I won’t be talking about this again until after the election. I hope it won’t be to say “told you so”. If Labour and their coalition of horror wins power it will be time to seriously consider getting out of this country for many people.
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:06am
    - Grunter
      
      Clan – I totally get what you’re saying, apart from the Winston bit. Yes he spoke to some protesters, but he also put the evil princess on the throne in the first place – so he’ll never get my vote.
      As a traditional ACT voter I am disillusioned by ACT’s entire health platform, including ignoring the Covid scam and the on-going excess deaths and avalanche of sickness that even Blind Betty can see. Seymour answers most of my emails, but completely ignores any that bring up covid and our health system.
      NZ Health is knackered so long as we have a govt monopoly, centrally planned system. What we need is a system that is proven to work in many countries. The Singapore model is the most successful (and cheaper). No party is going there.
      
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      July 18, 2023 9:19am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        Grunter – I’m not saying he deserves those votes, just pointing out there are an awful lot of damaged people out there feeling totally ignored. Many will go to whoever acknowledges them, even if it is a former abuser.
        I DO NOT want National/Act to lose. I only post because I care.
        
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        July 18, 2023 9:56am
      - gravedodger
        
        Leave Health to Dr Shane Reti, if it is repairable he is the best hope in the parliament.
        
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        July 18, 2023 9:57am
      - James Stephenson
        
        I’m not sure that it necessarily follows that just because Reti is a doctor he should automatically get and be excellent in Health. I mean, the best Health minister in living memory was Tony Ryall and he had zero background in healthcare.
        
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        July 18, 2023 11:02am
      - leoj
        
        Winston had nothing to lose. You can bet that if he was an MP during the protests, he, too, would have hidden behind Jacinda’s skirt, just like all the other spineless weaklings.
        
        As for Seymour, he missed the boat completely. He was simply chicken. He could have commandeered a dozen uniformed officers (there hundreds available) and gone into the crowd and made a speech. Nah. Gutless. Much easier to peek out from Jacinda’s skirt and shiver in fear.
        
        As for Luxon. No surprise there. Far too woke as well as meek. Nats bought a pup when they put him in charge.
        
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        July 18, 2023 11:03am
      - John Loveridge
        
        Grunter, unfortunately there is no such thing as a perfect political party, nor one with which you can agree on every point. For me ACT is by far the best compromise.
        
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        July 18, 2023 11:41am
    - RoboRob
      
      I believe that what we are seeing is simply a reflection of the established positions of voters. People on the right & left who, regardless of performance, are unwilling to vote for the other side. I think that much of the Labour vote are people who are left saying they will vote left. The question is not, ‘can they be convinced to switch’, but ‘will they show up and vote’.
      
      The 12% are harder to classify. Many of these people are the ‘disconnected’, those uninterested or uninformed. These people are highly unlikely to vote.
      
      It seems, at least on the left, that the ‘bottom’ for Labour is around 30%. The right seem slightly less parochial as Bill, with Nationals bottom slightly above 20%.
      
      With Labours current level of incompetence it seems strange that they would poll so high, but I think its just ‘voter lock in’. Very few of the lefties I know are happy but almost all still prefer Labour to National. Will they actually vote though. I thing this election will come down to turnout.
      
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      July 18, 2023 10:08am
    - H. Upmann
      
      “We are talking about the worst government in history.”
      100% put in place by Peters. And you are his Fanboy Mac. Putting out the love for him. Peters is treacherous, make no mistake.
      Covid is irrelevant now. Time to move on from your obsession. Climate is the issue that will stuff us all up.
      
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      July 18, 2023 10:40am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        H. Upmann – if you think covid is ‘irrelevant now’ then you haven’t been paying attention the last 3 years. The pivot to ‘climate’ as the ‘current thing’ was widely predicted.
        
        At no point have I ever said I am a fan of Peters. You’re talking excrement. I know Peters is treacherous. That fact has no bearing whatsoever on my opinion on why National/Act aren’t wiping the floor with the worst government in history.
        
        I’m pointing out the void being left begging for him to fill it which the National/Act acolytes refuse to see or refuse to admit. Then get grumpy when someone points out the obvious.
        
        You can wish it away all you want. Good luck with that. That’s why it’s called an inconvenient truth. Wishing it away or getting grumpy when someone points it out, doesn’t make it vanish.
        
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        July 18, 2023 11:07am
      - H. Upmann
        
        Mac: I certainly have been paying attention for the last 3 years, to the point of NOT being vaccinated.
        
        Climate hysteria came many years before Covid was invented and rather than a “pivot”, it is return to BAU. However, Covid did provide the insight to the Climate religion that mass fear was much easier to spread and is being pushed harder than ever as I am sure you have observed.
        
        So rather than wishing anything away, I am fully aware that the next pandemic is now invented and fully ready to go by now, bigger and brighter than ever, complete with a miracle “vaccine”. National/ACT not wiping the floor has no relevance to any Covid apology, but rather it is to do with media corruption.
        
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        July 18, 2023 12:19pm
      - mawm
        
        H Upmann (10.40) – “Covid is irrelevant now. Time to move on from your obsession. Climate is the issue that will stuff us all up.”
        
        Covid (especially the official response) is not irrelevant. Try telling that to the families who continue to have their loved ones taken away from them before their time. It is real.
        
        The Climate change issue, further declared “pandemics” and governmental/WHO control, and all the other measures to curtail our freedom that are coming such as 15 min cities and CBDC are certainly going to “stuff us up” …and our allegedly right wing politicians are not telling us about them and how they are going to ensure that we remain a sovereign nation and citizens of that nation with individual sovereignty and bodily autonomy.
        
        Unfortunately there is only one conclusion one can draw.
        
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        July 18, 2023 1:29pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        And as the arrogant Peters said the night of his treachery, like the song says, you can’t always get what you want, well he can suffer in his jocks, Peters had no plan to meet the protesters, he never went anywhere near until people started calling him out, at the protest, he was there half an hour and smirked and sneered, then went to the pub as usual
        
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        July 18, 2023 7:25pm
    - jon
      
      Clan, esp true, your paragraph FIVE!
      
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      July 18, 2023 12:14pm
    - Philview
      
      If the protest had happened under a National Government, Labour MPs would have joined it and the media would be calling the protest leaders heroes.
      
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      July 18, 2023 1:07pm
    - Keith White
      
      Clan, yes. Not forgiving, not forgetting. Not a chance.
      
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      July 18, 2023 3:57pm
  - Loddenthinks
    
    Your characterisation is correct – the $1uffed article calls it “another fillip for the right of politics” which is nonsense. We don’t have an active right wing political party in New Zealand, and while the range is much narrower than in some other countries, it has been drifting steadily to the left for a few decades now.
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:58am
- slightlyrighty
  
  I feel the same way. I can only hope that when the campaign proper starts, and the various Government Department Comms experts are sidelined, we might start to get a more accurate picture of where each party lies, and the capabilities of those parties.
  
  As I see it, ACT is the key to a center right government, and their campaigning should be targeted at building their base, but not frightening the horses in the center, and allowing National to build that up.
  
  Fortunately, the Greens and TPM will make Nationals Job much easier.
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:11am
- NK
  
  The Spinoff has published an average of the last five polls which shows Nat/Act make 60 seats and the others, including the maori Party about the same, or 48% v 46% or thereabouts. How anybody at all can vote for the Mugabe-esque policies of the Greens is completely beyond me. It really does show the lack of intelligence amongst the average voter.
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:13am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    On these poll results, it would not take much to tip the coalition of chaos over the line. One big bribe to shift one or two percent of voters be enough.
    
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    July 18, 2023 8:20am
    - PeeJay
      
      And we all know the bribes will come and they will be huge. Labour would rather bankrupt the country and turn it into an ethnic feudal state than lose power. I shudder to think of the bribes they will have lined up for the election.
      
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      July 18, 2023 8:26am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        I predict a big financial bribe for families.
        
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        July 18, 2023 8:44am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Labour have bankrupted us before (Cullen)
        Then they just walked away, shed all responsibility.
        They will do it again to try not to lose power. The deals with the Greens and especially TPM will have been discussed weeks ago.
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:10am
      - Prince
        
        [Cullen] was a saint compared to Robertson.
        Cullen gloated ‘we’ve spent it all’, leaving National with a decade of deficits to get Govt spending under control.
        Robertson spent the cash, then borrowed $100B more – it will take 20-30 years to pay that back. Our children, and their children have this debt strapped to their backs for a working lifetime.
        And what did Robertson get for the $100B ? Wrecked Health and Education, a growing criminal underclass, gangs, record emigration, trashed roads, empty cycle lanes.
        
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        July 18, 2023 2:27pm
    - Biscuit
      
      Can this centre-rightist, pensioned, white fellow put his hand up and say ‘Chippie, $5000 extra in my National Super the week before the Election and I MIGHT consider you as a voting option.’
      
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      July 18, 2023 8:31am
      - Cassandra
        
        If that’s your personal position then you should be ashamed.
        
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        July 18, 2023 8:36am
      - Captain Mainwaring
        
        I come from the same place as you Biscuit, but I don’t think our selfish interests should be put ahead of the future of our country.
        
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        July 18, 2023 8:49am
      - Biscuit
        
        Lest the dripping sarcasm isn’t immediately apparent, the word MIGHT isn’t in capital letters for nothing.
        
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        July 18, 2023 8:52am
      - RoboRob
        
        lol. I actually thought you were channeling Winston Peters 🙂
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:10am
      - Warren
        
        I be prepared to gamble that Labour will push policy of a increase in the pension for the oldies if they are still in the race to be the Government in August 2013.
        Hipkins will swallow as many dead rats as needed to stay in power.
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:10am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Nope, we will get nothing. Labour want us poor and on the breadline.
        Pensioners are just a liability. They are waiting for us to die!
        Sorry, I plan to clock out around 90 – 19 years to go and counting.
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:15am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      They have been throwing bribes, the cost of living payments, the petrol tax cuts, the cheap buses and trains, and they still drop
      
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      July 18, 2023 8:50am
    - hullkiwi
      
      Benedict the error are the polls. If you applied the polls, Tauranga and Hamilton West would not have been the landslides they were. I do not recall a single poll in last year’s mayoral election with a forecast that Brown would win in a landslide either.
      
      Polls in NZ and abroad have been failing for years, because they are not as truly representative of the population’s views they purport to be measuring. The worst example of poll failures was in 1992 in the UK. There, not one poll predicted that John Major and the Tories would win the election.
      
      There are multiple reasons to doubt the accuracy of polls, such:
      1. The use of appointed panels, are these people really representative of the electorate?
      2. The demise of the landline and the proliferation of mobile phone only households, so pollsters are no longer able to get a cross section of voters across the country.
      
      Finally, 18 months ago, polls were telling us Jacinda was untouchable, and we were then led to believe her popularity crumbled all because of the Wellington protest. That is rubbish. Analysis of public sentiment on social media was showing Jacinda’s popularity had gone down the drain before the end of 2021.
      
      For evidence that the published polls may be presenting a misleading view of public sentiment, have a read of The Standard, there the usual providers of posts are:
      1. Becoming very despondent about prospects in October (what do they know that we don’t);
      2. Prentice & co are regularly gaslighting each other that what is being reported as crime is not, failures in health or education are not failures, that failures of Ministers is a press and opposition beat up;
      3. That the government has a proud record of delivery; and
      4. Yesterday, Prentice stepped in to admonish & call out one contributor for his comments about the Green’s policy re. Fixing historic Maori Land claims (by the way Prentice was arguing rubbish about the policy);
      5. In desperation & in the first week of the campaign, we see Hipkins announce a policy, stolen from National, botch the presentation, and then this morning try to claim to Hosking that the government has been working on the policy for 6 weeks (that is called b******t!
      
      These are not signs that Labour are optimistic that they will win.
      
      On the contrary, Luxon is getting full halls in his tour around the country (including in Labour strongholds of TeAtatu, and Manurewa), you don’t see Labour doing this in North Shore or ECB.
      
      The final words are with Seymour “there is a mood for change”.
      
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      July 18, 2023 9:24am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        The 1992 UK General Election was just one of many such egregious errors by the pollsters. I was living in the UK at the time and my spidey senses did not detect the mood for change that Seymour so accurately uses with regard to this election.
        
        In fact my good mate, of a similar mind, bought a bottle of Moet et Chandon, took it to work and put it on his desk on election day, to toast the winning Conservatives when the results came through. As the results trickled, then flooded through, showing the Tories would definitely win, a couple of his hard left-leaning colleagues grudgingly admitted defeat and asked if he was going to drink the champagne now.
        
        He said “Not sure, I might just tip it down the drain” he had a wicked sense of humour.
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:04am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        “1. The use of appointed panels, are these people really representative of the electorate?”
        NO! They represent those who appointed them. This is why Co-Governance is so wrong. Co-Governance is just a sweet name for Tyranny, ruled by Tribal Maori Elite.
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:21am
      - hullkiwi
        
        LT, at the time of the 92 election, I was in Port Moresby, and had a place at a UK university to read for my Master’s. In PNG, we had satellite from Aust, where we picked up the BBC & ITN news channels. Being so far away, the 92 result was the complete opposite of what the media had been relaying during the April (do you remember Robin Cook and Olivia’s ear?).
        
        Anyhow, all through the middle of 92, I was cursing Major and the Tory Whets who were all in favour of the UK being in the ERM, and Soros and his hit job on the pound. I lost $000s because of that hit job.
        
        In hindsight, it would have been better for the Tories had they lost in 1992.
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:40am
  - kowtow
    
    ‘It really does show the lack of intelligence amongst the average voter.’
    
    If there had been any doubt that was settled by the 2020 batflu general election.
    
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    July 18, 2023 8:30am
    - sirknz
      
      Think of how intelligent the ‘average person’ is, and remember that half the population is dumber than that.
      
      You see them everywhere, the folks who make seven lane changes in heavy traffic only to end up two cars back from where they would’ve been if they stayed where they were, the people who buy the stuff on the stands at the front of the supermarket and ignore the other brands on the shelf in the aisle at a lower price. These are the people we allow to vote and they often don’t understand the basic manipulation tactics that the media and the politicians use against them everyday.
      
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      July 18, 2023 9:17am
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        You see them everywhere. They are the ones still wearing masks, even when alone in the car!
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:24am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        You see them every evening, fronting the TV News
        
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        July 18, 2023 6:11pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Most people I have spoken too who are openly labour voters have said they either won’t vote or might vote ACT, sadly it looks like some fools will think Peters is the bloody saviour, and if he sits on the cross benches will shaft anything Nats or Act try cause he is a hater. If you are not voting cause disgruntled, roils it stop people who usually vote Labour for saying Lsnour in a poll?
      
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      July 18, 2023 9:20am
      - RoboRob
        
        Agree re not voting, thats what I suspect most of the Labour voters I know will do. I am stunned you know a lefty that would vote for ACT, seems highly unlikely to me.
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:12am
      - Hollyfield
        
        RoboRob you’re right that in that Labour voters don’t seem likely to become Act voters. However people do often say they are longtime Labour voters who are now voting for Act. I think this shows a large number of people are focusing on personalities, looks and soundbites, rather than policy. This was shown by all the people who said they were voting for Jacinda “because she’s a woman”. Or xxx because they’re a particular race. Or any other reason nothing to do with policy. I don’t know how much of this is due to our current superficial social media society, or whether there have always been voters like this.
        
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        July 18, 2023 11:20am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        RobboRob
        
        The few Labour voters who have spoken are older Labour lifers, they say we can’t not Torry blah blah blah, but some have said that Seymour has some good ideas, I can only assume they might vote ACT and their attitude all their lives has come from their parents and has stayed
        
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        July 18, 2023 7:34pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    @NK-
    Correct.
    We live in a world where many teenagers and 20 somethings think they are entitled to go on holiday to places like Italy and Japan, and leave their personal tags/graffiti on sacred and ancient monuments.
    When challenged they say they didn’t know that the Colosseum was of any historical importance – so what’s wrong with carving C loves J on it?
    Ignorance is bliss.
    
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    July 18, 2023 8:36am
- Colville
  
  With Hipkins rating in the low 20’s (and sinking) I think we will see a slight but steady widening of the gap.
  Labour is toxic..Greens , TPM and scum like Winston will get most of those defectors but Nat/ACT will get a few.
  1% makes a big difference in the gap.
  Labour to hit 25% by October.
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:23am
  - mandk
    
    I agree.
    
    Nats/ACT will be 10-15% ahead of Lab/Grn at the election.
    
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    July 18, 2023 8:37am
  - Biscuit
    
    Talking of which, can one of the mods clue DPF in to the fact that his CURIA PUBLIC POLL AVERAGE figures on the right of the screen are stuck in September 2022 mode.
    
    Hell, back in them days Jacinda still (mis)ran the country!
    
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    July 18, 2023 8:50am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I don’t think that falls in the job description of the moderators. 🙂
      
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      July 18, 2023 8:53am
      - Biscuit
        
        Heh heh, Benedict, possibly so…
        
        But, putting on my Big Brother voice (although I think Auntie Helen said it in a paraphrased way), ‘a mod’s job is whatever a mod reckons it to be’…
        
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        July 18, 2023 9:02am
  - rouppe
    
    The Greens are going full on racist. Yet they still are 7-10 in the polls. That’s disturbing
    
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    July 18, 2023 10:09am
  - leoj
    
    Closer to the election, even the pollsters will be forced to recognize the truth.
    
    As of now, the numbers are fudged.
    
    However, the prospect of a woke National-led govt is not all that inspiring. Here’s hoping that Seymour, for all his unwillingness to apologize for being in lock-step with all the other parties during the protest, at least provides the namby-pamby party some spine.
    
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    July 18, 2023 11:17am
- PeeJay
  
  Agreed – I keep on hearing from the like of Hosking and Jones, and Tony and G on Kiwiblog, that National will win in a landslide but the poll numbers seemingly refuse to budge. While I suspect there is something not quite right with the methodology – 50% of most polls are by self selected panels which seems far from random – the fact the DPF & Curia mimics the results of most polls, and I would expect Curia to have a more solid methodology, the fact Curia has a similarly close result should be a cause for concern.
  
  Could the poll’s just be wrong? The famous UK election of 1992 gave rise to the “shy tories” phrase, where right wing participants in polls refused to reveal their true voting intention.
  
  Could the same thing be happening here? Or are almost 50% of voters really so happy with the current shit show that they think, hold on a second – why don’t we add the Maori party into the mix as that will really make things better?
  
  Regardless, just considering the daily horror stories of crime and the health system collapsing, you would have expected National / ACT to be winning easily.
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:24am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    “Or are almost 50% of voters really so happy with the current shit show”
    
    I think 40 percent are totally happy.
    
    10 percent support the Greens so are communists.
    
    That leaves the 30 percent who are gang members, academics, public servants, and the long term welfare dependant.
    
    That is the reality there is a hard floor of 40 percent support for Labour and the Greens. Maybe a bit higher.
    
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    July 18, 2023 8:41am
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      40% Ben? Not when poor old Andy Little was Labour leader…..
      
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      July 18, 2023 9:16am
      - Colville
        
        Wasnt far off 40%. Lab on 23 and Greens on 15?
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:56am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        I mean the combination of labour and the Greens.
        
        If you look back to the 2014 election, Labour on 25 and greens on about 10. That was the Cunliffe nadir
        
        My hypothesis is that the rusted on support for Labour and the Greens has shifted from about 34 percent to about 42 percent. Simply because of the expansion of the state dependent.
        
        That is why a new Government needs to be a government of massive reform. Unless it can change dependence on the state, it is almost inevitable that Labour the Maori Party and the Greens will be in government in 2030. Unless National and ACT have changed society, that New government will simply embark on an accelerating lurch to a nationalist ethnic communist state.
        
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        July 18, 2023 11:43am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        He said Labour and green combined, when Angry Andy was leader, I am pretty sure Greens were 15% and higher
        
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        July 18, 2023 7:45pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      30 percent who are gang members, academics, public servants, and the long term welfare dependant.
      
      I think there are something like 4m voters give or take a bit. That would mean 1.2m of the people you identify ….. Really?
      
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      July 18, 2023 10:47am
      - In Vino Veritas
        
        Roughly 450k are public servants Ian. So that leaves 700. And according to the Welfare Expert Advisory Group, as of Sept 22, there were 630k (excl Super) receiving some sort of welfare payment for over 1 year. That’s pretty close to your number.
        
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        July 18, 2023 1:09pm
  - Simon
    
    https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/9292-nz-national-voting-intention-june-2023
    
    Go to Party vote analysis by Gender & Age.
    
    Labo bedrock support is women 50 yrs plus. That isnt going to change.
    
    Labo got 51% last election. The sheep vote is strong in NZ. Dont think Luxon is winning enough sheep over.
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:17am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Then what he Is ACT going if they are our saviours?????
      
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      July 18, 2023 10:21am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    The betting odds on betting sites in Oz are worth following.
    
    Blue Bet in Oz had a Nat win paying $1.48 a fortnight ago. It is now only paying $1.37. I bet Sportbet Aust will soon follow.
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:19am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      The aim not to lose, they are experts at gambling
      
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      July 18, 2023 9:41am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        The betting sites do not lose. The odds are set by how many betters bet each way.
        
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        July 18, 2023 9:58am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        That is not how it works. The odds are set by the betting volumes.
        
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        July 18, 2023 2:15pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    I would like you to put up just one post where I said the Nats will win in a landslide? That is bullshit, I think it is comfortable, and if we win 62 seats to 58 then four seats is comfortable, but it looks like idiots will Lear Peters back in, and the wasted vote will change so 47% will not be enough to form government
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:40am
    - leoj
      
      It’s your blinkers.
      
      Nats do not have all the answers and have handicapped themselves by putting a wokester in charge.
      
      Wokeness is not what the country needs right now.
      
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      July 18, 2023 11:22am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Listen here fFS, I have my opinion, you have touted, worry about your bloody own opinion, and keep your pesky little nose out of mine. My opinion has never once said Nats in a landslide, I am starting to wonder if a couple of you guys have been sniffing glue
        
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        July 18, 2023 7:48pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      G the giant from Dunedin – my concern with your comments is that you are triggered by any criticism of National, offering telling people to “bugger off” or similiar. 🙂
      
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      July 18, 2023 2:17pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Not true, I get angry when we are dictated to by act voters, they can have their opinion I will have mine, to take this worst government in history out then Nats must be high in the vote, my opinion still does not accept the bloody lie that I said Nats in a landslide, I think Nats snd ACT will be government by 4 or 5 seats at most, unless the left stay at home which is possible.
        
        It might help to tell you people that my Nat support realises ACT are part of the new government, do I really have to say that in every post?
        
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        July 18, 2023 7:52pm
    - blue collar
      
      I’ve always said they’ll win in a landslide !!
      Happy to take your spot brother G .
      Carn brother peejay … I’ve got me finger on the pulse , Māori , welfare dudes , hippies , tradies , white collars , religious , oldies , youngies , Nigel nobodies ……
      
      Guaranteed 60-40 split .
      
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      July 18, 2023 7:12pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        It’s possible, but 60/40 only if Labour sit at home on election day, but I thinking 52% to 47% with the coalition of chaos on 47
        
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        July 18, 2023 7:54pm
  - Ghost
    
    No you haven’t, none of them have claimed national will win by a landslide
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:41am
    - PeeJay
      
      Fine. Hosking has certainly indicated the election won’t even be close, Tony keep’s on saying the polls aren’t to be believed and Luxon is drawing huge crowds, and G? Well, can’t be bothered going there – any perceived criticism of his beloved National just gets a stream of insults back – see above. So have they used the term landslide? Nope. Have they implied National will easily win, yes they have.
      
      Therefore I apologise for stating they said landslide. Implication is not the same. I apologise.
      
      However, Bob Jones, No Punches Pulled, July 3rd “…Labour will be swept out in a landslide, as I’ve been writing for the past two years.”.
      
      One of them clearly has said this in writing and the others have clearly implied it’s not even going to be close.
      
      Waiting for your apology Ghost.
      
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      July 18, 2023 10:16am
      - Ghost
        
        Luxon is getting big turnouts to his meetings. Are the polls to be believed? They sure didn’t have the red wave that was predicted in the USA. The only poll that people will know how accurate all the other polls are is the election. Are national voters saying anything different here than act voters come in here and say in support of act, no.
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:34am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Ffs, worry about your own opinion, I voted Labour for 20 years, and I decided they are useless, so I moved to Nats, but for some reason you militant Act voters eho were not ACT voters in the passed ( and yes I have given ACT my party vote a few times) somehow are the experts, worry about yourself, as I say again, I have never said Nats will win in a landslide, you fools saying this is nothing more than childish petulance, what the he’ll does Hosking have to do with me supposedly saying Nats in a landslide
        
        [Just saying, you would come across as less unhinged if you stopped prefacing your replies with ‘FFS’. mod.]
        
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        July 18, 2023 7:58pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Thanks Ghost, I know it will be close, it always is, I have never said Nats will win in a land slide, it is possible Labour voters may sit at home election day, but that is the only way it would be a landslide. The nation is divided, so they may not sit at home
      
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      July 18, 2023 10:23am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Peejay, I agree with your comments about polls. Read my comment above, I also cited what happened in 1992 in the UK.
    
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    July 18, 2023 10:43am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      Polls are much different here than in the UK under FPP or the US with their voting system. In those countries a party can win on on the popular vote but still lose the election.
      
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      July 18, 2023 10:56am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  But people had had it with Labour, they won’t be going back no matter what, bribes have not been helping them, 12% undecided, they will be decided on keeping the government, that’s where the damage will come from
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:45am
  - PeeJay
    
    I really hope so G but as Benedict and I noted above, there will be massive bribes coming, the likes of which we’ve probably not seen before. I agree with Benedict – there will be massive bribes for families and I have a horrible feeling they will do something truly stupid like offer to cancel student loans. They will be so desperate to keep power (and keep the best paying job most of them will ever have) that the bribes could be truly horrifying in magnitude. If they win, the country is effectively all but guaranteed to be bankrupt – it changes from “might” to “when” I think.
    
    The average voter has a political attention span of a goldfish – a few weeks of massive “free stuff” bribes stories (with no consequences noted in our awesome MSM), some fluffy soft focus articles in the MSM on how wonderful Labour / Greens / Maori are, combined with some negative reporting on National / ACT policies, might just be enough to get them over the line.
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:22am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    People have had it with Labour, but for how long? I would like to see National/Act in power for 12 or even 15 years, but the socialists/communists will come back. 6 year old kids will be able to vote in 12 years. They are in class learning Marxist crap right now. Basic reading/writing/math is out the door.
    
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    July 18, 2023 10:36am
    - leoj
      
      No, they are learning f#*king useless te reo and all things maori, as if they have a clue.
      
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      July 18, 2023 11:26am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Luxon learning Te Reo privately and hardly every use sea it publicly has absolute what yo do with the election? Seymour tried to ask a question in Māori a couple of weeks ago, he got it wrong and looked like a complete toll, but hey him doing te Reo in parliament is different right?
        
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        July 18, 2023 8:02pm
- Simon
  
  “I cannot help but feel apprehensive that National”
  
  Yep its pretty much over for NZ. NZ society damaged in a way that Labo/Gweens/M Party still within winning range after 6 yrs of wreckage and failure.
  
  Its diversity, inclusion and equity ie the borg vs talent, hard work & merit. NZ has chosen the borg. Combined with all the boomers retiring, all that knowledge and experience being replaced by feelings. NZ its over. There is around 6 yrs left before NZ becomes a developing nation with all the talent & hard working heading overseas.
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:45am
- 2ic
  
  Another way to put the poll when you include the 12% undecided/won’t say:
  
  National: 30.8%
  Labour: 29%
  Undecided/won’t say: 12%
  Act: 10.6%
  Green: 8.8%
  NZ First: 2.7%
  Maori: 2.5%
  TOP: 1.5%
  Freedoms NZ: 0.7%
  Democracy NZ: 0.5%
  ONE Party: 0.4%
  New Conservative: 0.4%
  Legalise Cannabis Party: 0.1%
  Other: 0.7%
  (results don’t tally to exactly 100% due to rounding)
  
  Sobering isn’t it that with the worst government this country has ever known, National can barely get 30% support. I would think there would be a lot of freedom/anti-mandate voters in that 12% undecided that feel abandoned by National and Act and are looking for a home (I’m one of them). Unfortunately that vote is being split among several (very) minor parties, and come election day these voters may find NZ First is their only option to have a voice in parliament.
  
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  July 18, 2023 9:09am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    No that’s not what a poll does at all, it gives you a result out of the answered calls, the un answered do not count, out of the unanswered, when they make their mind up they will be going to one of the parties
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:50am
    - 2ic
      
      What that assumes is that the ‘unanswered’ group will distribute their votes in the same proportion as those that responded to the poll. I don’t believe that will be the case this election, for the reasons I stated.
      
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      July 18, 2023 10:57am
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        No, not necessarily the same as above, but if they do vote it will go to those above, and if they don’t the MMP portion will be similar as the poll gives out, not a watered down number
        
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        July 18, 2023 8:04pm
- Bob
  
  How can the Verian Poll figures be correct?. The sum of Ctr Left, and Centre Right plus undecideds (12%) should be 100%, not 105%
  Who is fiddling the polling?
  
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  July 18, 2023 9:52am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    The numbers are rounded, labour only got 32.7 Nats might have been 34.9 all thousand other parties might be similar, 5 parties on 1% all are probably just under
    
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    July 18, 2023 10:25am
- Liberty
  
  I wouldn’t be too concerned over the polls. Heartland NZ has had a gut full of Labour,Greens, Maori and NZF.
  It will be a good majority to a Nat/Act Government
  This time the government won’t be hamstrung by Peters and Dunn.
  
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  July 18, 2023 1:16pm
NK

National’s policy of allowing those under 30 to use Kiwisaver to pay rent bonds is just a terrible policy and idea on many fronts. I truly do despair at policies like this.
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July 18, 2023 8:08am
- Nickc2
  
  What are those many fronts?
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:14am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    What is one bad point to what looks like a hood policy?
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:53am
- Blog-aholic
  
  I disagree.
  It isn’t compulsory and they only draw down the bond amount and if they are good tenants they get the entirety back into their KS. A few may take advantage and they barely lose anything on KS interest etc. Let’s face most KS investments are losing money at the moment as well.
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:17am
  - Cassandra
    
    Thin end of the wedge, that’s the problem.
    
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    July 18, 2023 8:37am
  - sirknz
    
    It will be expanded to include other ‘essential’ things by other parties and it will result in there be nothing left for retirement.
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:35am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Let them stay in the street then
      
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      July 18, 2023 10:55am
- Tony Stuart
  
  I disagree NK. Given that bonds for young people are unlikely to be for long-term tenancies, it’s a creative way of them being able to come up with a lump sum of cash.
  
  I’ve seen lots of criticism about landlords ripping off the tenants, but that won’t happen. Tenancy Services holds the money, and will repay it directly back to the Kiwisaver account on completion of the tenancy, subject to the tenants looking after the flat. I think it’s a creative solution to what can be a significant problem, especially for students.
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:22am
  - Simon
    
    Its the signal which is bad. Tab into life savings to get by with living costs.
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:19am
    - Blog-aholic
      
      Governement already slices tax off your savings with tax on interest earned.
      
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      July 18, 2023 9:49am
      - Albert_Ross
        
        But it’s not taxed on withdrawal, unlike countries where interest isn’t taxed.
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:05am
      - RoboRob
        
        @Albert_Ross
        
        Actually most other countries are MUCH better with retirement savings then us. We tax peoples income BEFORE ks contributions, many countries allow contributions pre tax.
        
        For most people the tax rate when contributing is significantly higher than the tax rate when withdrawing. Because of the power of compounding interest, tax free contributions and tax on withdrawals is significantly better for savers. If governments here really wanted to help people save they would
        
        1) allow tax free contributions
        2) reduce or remove tax on gains during investment
        3) cap fees on KS saver accounts
        4) remove the token $500 ish govt contribution. the top 2 items are significantly more valuable to savers.
        
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        July 18, 2023 11:03am
    - Bob
      
      If KS contributions weren’t compulsory, the public would be able to spend their income as THEY see fit; and would probably be able to fund the Bond themselves.
      
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      July 18, 2023 9:56am
      - Albert_Ross
        
        They’re not compulsory. You can opt out at the start, or take a contributions holiday later. If you’re too inept to manage that process, you probably shouldn’t be attempting to manage your own retirement fund.
        
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        July 18, 2023 10:07am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      The most important thing in life is a roof over ya head, you are going to bitch over anything Nats choose, Acts policy is not to fund Kiwisaver at all I think, do you are being very cheap with another attack
      
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      July 18, 2023 10:57am
    - Ghost
      
      It’s nothing different than already exists where you can access it for hardship reasons.
      
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      July 18, 2023 11:05am
- Colville
  
  NK.
  I agree.
  National barking at every car rather than picking its fights.
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:26am
  - Tony Stuart
    
    There’s a General Election in 88 days time. People expect the Opposition to have a full suite of policies covering a wide range of activities.
    
    It’s specifically targeted at U30’s, not us old farts, it’s opt-in, not compulsory, and gives those who have a Kiwisaver account the option of putting it to good use, especially at a time when Kiwisaver investments aren’t doing especially well.
    
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    July 18, 2023 8:38am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      This is one dingle thing you people have been telling Bishop that worries them, it was suggested by young Nats, and will be the talking point of the younger voter, but I would not be surprised if Labour come out and say we will pay every bond for the young, that’s tgd mentality of these idiots
      
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      July 18, 2023 11:05am
  - hullkiwi
    
    Colville, National is not barking at every passing car. However, I would be well off if I had a $1 for every time I read on this site, “Act supporters” chiding Luxon & National for not barking at every passing car.
    
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    July 18, 2023 8:50am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Exactly to my, it’s childish like the Labour foot soldiers on social media who suggest the government is doomed great, and the economy is absolute humming
      
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      July 18, 2023 11:06am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    WTF this is a policy, what has barking at cars hot yo do with it ffs
    
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    July 18, 2023 11:00am
- Ian Boag
  
  If it’s OK to rat Kiwisaver for rental bonds …. why only allow this for first homes? Why not just allow it to be ratted for anything the holder wants … ?
  
  It’s their money …..
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:50am
  - RoboRob
    
    For once we agree Ian 🙂
    
    Once you start allowing access to KS savings you open the floodgates for other reasonable withdrawals. How about
    1) allowing withdrawals to start a business
    2) allowing withdrawals to cover study expenses
    3) allowing withdrawals on injury or job loss
    4) allowing withdrawals for child birth
    
    The list goes on and on.
    
    After the CHCH earthquakes the govt allowed KS access. My financially illiterate friends (also left wing voters coincidentally) took advantage to fund some car purchases and a trip. Short term gain that will probably have cost them $100,000 or more in the long run.
    
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    July 18, 2023 11:08am
    - Ghost
      
      You can already access your KiwiSaver to buy a house, for financial hardship, for illness
      
      Flood gates haven’t opened have they?
      
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      July 18, 2023 11:12am
      - RoboRob
        
        Only 1 house, and financial hardness / illness are apparently VERY difficult to access.
        
        There is a big difference between being able to apply for hardship vs guaranteed access to funds. As I mention in my post, the govt gave instant hardship access to people in CHCH and many took it for frivolous things.
        
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        July 18, 2023 11:19am
      - Ghost
        
        The access for bond is limited, they get to transfer it to the tenancy services and when their rent ends it is then transferred back to their KiwiSaver. It’s a tiny hand up for a small amount of people that would use it
        
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        July 18, 2023 11:23am
      - Piniwi
        
        An apparently for International air travel iof you are handicapped. The people eligable have already indicated or proven they are responsasble individuals by having a KiwiSaver account so what is wrong getting some short term benefit. Also at 30 and below they rercover any short term loss by the gains in life from serious studies. Plus working to the new retirement age of 67.
        
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        July 18, 2023 3:13pm
- Nigel Kearney
  
  Kiwisaver should be completely locked in until 65 with no exceptions.
  
  Once governments depart from that and start finding all sorts of silly excuses to nibble away at it, the floodgates will eventually open and every irresponsible person will have ways to grab that money and waste it, along with our taxpayer contribution, then get to 65 and put their hand out for more.
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:55am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Is using it for a first home irresponsible? If so, why not a non-first home? Come to think of it, why not a commercial/residential rental property? Maybe a managed fund ….
    
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    July 18, 2023 9:07am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    That is why I opted out when Kiwisaver started. I know there were Employer and Govt contributions that I missed out on, but I decide to save my own money.
    Already had a property so the first house was not going to apply. Employer contributions would also affect wage rises.
    I knew one day the Govt would find ways to nibble at it.
    So, now retired with a freehold house in Trust, boats, caravan, and vehicles, and collecting super, did I do the right thing? I think so.
    No matter who is in power they want us to do one thing – look after them, and bleed you dry.
    
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    July 18, 2023 10:53am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Why, you can pull your money if you are Ill,why not let people help their putting a roof over their head
    
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    July 18, 2023 11:07am
  - Ghost
    
    You can already access KiwiSaver for different reasons, have the flood gates opened?
    
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    July 18, 2023 11:08am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Why ffs? Young people have been saying one of the toughest things for them is getting into a flat, this money is not wasted, and it must go back, how the hell is it a dumb policy?
  
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  July 18, 2023 9:53am
  - ISeeRed
    
    Why only “young people” under 30? Older people find it tough too. Just pandering to the youth vote. So underwhelming, so National.
    
    5 5
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    July 18, 2023 10:19am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      It’s young people who have been asking Nats for help to get into their first flat
      
      4 2
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      July 18, 2023 11:08am
      - RoboRob
        
        These young people should toughen up. Save up for a bond, its not hard. I did it when I was young and working at KFC while studying. Its NOT that hard.
        
        This is a stupid policy and financially irresponsible.
        
        5 3
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        July 18, 2023 11:14am
    - Ghost
      
      People can already access their KiwiSaver for financial hardship, to buy a house, for illnesses.
      
      5 0
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      July 18, 2023 11:09am
  - RoboRob
    
    Because there are hundreds of ligitimate reasons to tap into ones KS. The financial costs long term, are significant, and most people are too financially illiterate to understand that, especially young people.
    
    FFS bond is a tiny amount of money, if you cant save up a bond perhaps you should reconsider flatting.
    
    4 3
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    July 18, 2023 11:12am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      [Mod – can you drop your Argo when posting], you pay a months rent, which could be 2.5 grand, you pay a week up front, and a week in advance, so that’s another 1200 or 1250 on average. It’s 4 grand, no young person has this money unless parents pay it, I would rather them fend for their selves
      
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      July 18, 2023 8:10pm
Tony Stuart

I can take or leave Michael Laws, but his interview of Dr Shane Reti yesterday was outstanding. At 25 minutes, it’s longer than most, but really informative and you get a great sense of the preparation Dr Reti is doing for his likely elevation to the role of Minister of Health after the General Election.

https://theplatform.kiwi/?code=vrdccKXF&videoType=jw_player&title=RHIrU2hhbmUrUmV0aStvbitoaXMrbmlnaHQrcmlkZSt3aXRoKzE5K2FtYnVsYW5jZStjcmV3cw%3D%3D&type=video
39 3
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July 18, 2023 8:09am
- O C Smith
  
  Agreed Dr Reti is one of the many reasons why we shout Party Vote NATIONAL.
  
  34 3
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  July 18, 2023 8:13am
  - Cassandra
    
    No, he’ll be health minister anyway. On all other issues it’s ACT we and the country need.
    
    23 4
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    July 18, 2023 8:39am
- yossarian
  
  Reti is the type of person I’d want as a Prime Minister instead we get ‘celebrities’ who’s claim to fame is name recognition and not much else. BTW I’d include Luxon in that list too
  
  16 3
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  July 18, 2023 8:36am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    I thought Reti said he didn’t want the job. He still does some work in his med centre I believe
    
    5 0
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    July 18, 2023 11:11am
O C Smith

The Govt lauds our “low unemployment” without any reference to our significant “job seeker” numbers which are very hard to find.
31 0
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July 18, 2023 8:10am
- Simon
  
  NZ is in a recession and unemployment is a lagging indicator. National will get blamed for the unemployment next year.
  
  19 1
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  July 18, 2023 8:52am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  They aren’t hard to find, they just don’t count
  
  3 0
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  July 18, 2023 11:11am
- Piniwi
  
  I beg to differ OC for example the Maori fisheries aka Sealord were crowing about bringing in 120 odd Vietnamese for the hoki season to handle them there were 2846 Jobseekers in Nelson. (They never chose to work there even back in the early 80’s,) This came from a quick google search that rendered up an official site where you could check by district. A good journalist would have been able to show such information but the article was in Nelson Mail (Stuff) and you know they are like the native gibberish on life support of other people money.
  
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  July 18, 2023 12:08pm
- mogg
  
  30,000 young people long term and 50,000 people in total, inactive but fit for work. Young people are being paid $20,000 per Ann plus other costs.
  
  1 0
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  July 18, 2023 2:26pm
Matt Long

I couldn’t find the link but someone had tight-lipped photos of Labour’s misbehaving ministers, Wood, Allen and Nash(?) a week or too back.
Here’s another of the same stripe.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/northern-advocate/news/retrial-begins-in-whangarei-for-murder-accused-samuel-pou/XPYOZJX4NBEL5GE3SDSNHAPGNE/
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July 18, 2023 8:11am
Unity

Dr Shane Reti is coming across as amazing. He will probably be the greatest Minister of Health of all time.
26 2
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July 18, 2023 8:13am
- Grunter
  
  What is he going to change? Yes to common sense basic stuff like measuring waiting lists and stopping racist decision making. But that’s just tinkering on the sidelines. At best we’ll go back to our pre-2017 health system which was stuffed already.
  I think Reti is a solid guy, but I’m waiting for a big idea to change status quo.
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:49am
  - WaynelSexton
    
    Grunter, you’re racist if you don’t see that his skin colour makes him the greatest.
    
    6 7
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    July 18, 2023 9:02am
    - Grunter
      
      Wayne – ha….yep, so I’m told by the few woke lefties that still dare to talk to me……
      
      1 0
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      July 18, 2023 9:28am
  - Waipuk
    
    The problem is he has to deal with the health ministry or whatever the name is.
    
    4 0
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    July 18, 2023 11:01am
  - Piniwi
    
    Maybe Grunter but we have yet to hear how the system will be after it is made back into Health NZ and what will replace the sidelined DHB system. I believe Dr Reti has a wealth of knowledge and expertise that will be getting worked overtime along with somebody else who might be a be a potential Assistant Minister. Don’t forget potential ministers are going over expenditure line by line to identify wasteful spending.
    
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    July 18, 2023 12:18pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Hahahahaha, Lsbour thought that about Verall
  
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  July 18, 2023 11:12am
Maggie Pie

Who the fcuk wears Safety-Goggles to a book launch?

https://twitter.com/AnneCla70780917/status/1680869280303443968

Comments = HILARIOUS 😎
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July 18, 2023 8:14am
- Blackbob
  
  Someone who expects other people to act like he would?
  
  13 0
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  July 18, 2023 8:18am
- Rich Prick
  
  He’s trying to identify as intelligent.
  
  10 0
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  July 18, 2023 9:04am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    https://twitter.com/CapnNancy/status/1680887388770566145
    
    😀
    
    3 0
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    July 18, 2023 9:15am
  - alex Masterley
    
    I thought he was identifying as Joe 90.
    
    7 0
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    July 18, 2023 9:17am
    - Inandout
      
      aM, no..Joe is only 80.
      
      5 0
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      July 18, 2023 10:10am
- ClanMcleod
  
  I note that he isn’t doing a public signing, he’s signing them to be picked up. Popular chap.
  
  6 0
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  July 18, 2023 9:18am
- wsk12345
  
  Someone who doesn’t want tomato sauce in his eyes?
  
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  July 18, 2023 10:42am
oldpark

Think NZs planning to vote on the coming NZ General Election on October 14 2023 should think long and hard who or what gets their vote .
Seems some woman from the so called Green Party is campaigning on a “Land Grab”.Not any old Land
Yes “Private Land” maybe yours or mine if she can get away with it .All a stated fact.Heard her burbling away yesterday on the Heather /Jack Tame show .
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July 18, 2023 8:23am
- Blog-aholic
  
  It is worse still. it is any private land that ‘they’ determine was ‘stolen’.
  
  So in truth it is anyones land up for grabs under a policy that is at complete odds with:
  1. The TOW
  2. Property Law
  
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  July 18, 2023 9:00am
  - Hard Cheese
    
    Not only that, there is a line item in the Greens list for “claimant support”. So effectively private landholders will be paying (via general taxation) for their land to be reappropriated.
    
    10 0
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    July 18, 2023 10:27am
    - mawm
      
      They’re communists; what else would you expect. There are many among their voters who truly believe that they are all about saving the environment and ecological diversity.
      
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      July 18, 2023 1:54pm
- backster
  
  She can rely on the support of the Green Party, the Maori party and the Maori Caucus of the Labour party. Chirpy is as weak as his predecessor and the Waitangi Tribunal always decides in favour of claimants so don’t think it couldn’t become reality.
  
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  July 18, 2023 9:01am
- PeeJay
  
  A South African friend of mine couldn’t believe this story yesterday and can’t help feeling a touch of de ja vu about all the divisiveness coming from the left. This policy is just expropriation by another name. One of his friends father lost a farm in Zimbabwe a while back – oh so typical, malarial swamp / marginal bush turned productive over generations of hard work – they got pretty much nothing for it – effectively confiscated by some party aparachik that fancied it, they moved on to SA, saw where that was going and then to Aus – got a productive farm out there and loving it despite some of the challenges.
  
  The expropriated farm in Zimbabwe, that provided employment for locals, stayed productive and profitable for a bit, then fell into disrepair and is now producing jack shit and is apparently turning back into scrub /swamp.
  
  Couldn’t believe he’s now hearing an NZ politician say expropriation is the way forward.
  
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  July 18, 2023 9:32am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    That stuff has been happening in Africa for years PeeJay. Farm is expropriated, is farmed for a few years OK, machinery starts to break down. No knowledge and|or cash left to repair. Production falls. Farm split into lots of little subsistence living farms growing a couple of cows, a few veggies and some maize, production near nil. Rinse, repeat.
    
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    July 18, 2023 1:16pm
Bridgenag

In response to Cramer’s substance I wrote to the police 22nd May about the Rosie Parker rally police efforts. This arrived last night. Is there a special school for waffle?…..//

Tēnā koe xxxxx,

I refer to your complaint about what occurred at the “Let Women Speak” event in Albert Park on 25 March 2023, and apologise for the length of time it has taken the Authority to let you know what action we will be taking.
We appreciate you taking the time to raise your concerns.
I regret the Authority cannot and does not respond to every complaint it receives with a full independent investigation. The Authority has a small staff and receives over 4,000 complaints a year. We are able only to investigate those which raise serious issues of Police misconduct or neglect of duty requiring further inquiry.
The law allows the Authority to take a proportionate response to each complaint, depending on the circumstances. In the case of what happened at the Let Women Speak event, we received many specific complaints which bear common characteristics. Your complaint is in that category.

The complaints the Authority received about this event were considered by our Management Committee who decided that the Authority should undertake an independent investigation into the Policing of this event. During this we will investigate those common characteristics and analyse the Police planning and response. We will use the information you provided, along with information from other complainants, to inform our investigation.

Therefore, while your complaint will be closed, we will inform you when our investigation is complete so that you can review our findings.

I have also written to the Commissioner of Police to advise him of the outcome of your complaint and provided him with a copy of this letter to you.

Gerry Dobbyn
Manager: Resolutions Independent Police Conduct Authority, PO Box 25221, Wellington 6140, Aotearoa New Zealand

0800 503 728
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July 18, 2023 8:29am
- Cassandra
  
  Manager of Irresolution is his real title. I’ll help: Thanks for your letter, it’s already being investigated and we’ll make arrests this week.
  
  11 1
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  July 18, 2023 8:42am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I disagree. I think that is the best outcome you could have hoped for.
  
  “The complaints the Authority received about this event were considered by our Management Committee who decided that the Authority should undertake an independent investigation into the Policing of this event.”
  
  What more did you want?
  
  18 1
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  July 18, 2023 8:58am
- Piniwi
  
  Or is that 0800waffle. Tin a Cocoa
  
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  July 18, 2023 12:24pm
PeeJay

Listened to Hipkins on Hosking this morning.

What a train wreck – Hosking was on fire and was obviously really pissed off and went for the jugular. Eviscerated would be an understatement.

Wouldn’t be surprised if Hipkins takes a leaf out of Ardern’s book and avoids Hosking for a bit!
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July 18, 2023 8:30am
- cas
  
  And listening to Lloyd Burr interview Hipkins on the Am show made me think Labour’s slogan should be “More work to do”.
  
  23 0
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  July 18, 2023 8:49am
  - In Vino Veritas
    
    “More work to do”? Any work would be good.
    
    17 0
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    July 18, 2023 9:08am
- DeepBlue
  
  Hipkins didn’t answer one question. It was always the Courts or Police’s fault. Never his government. Couldn’t comment on cases before court. So bereft.
  
  Why bother to be in Govn? Oh right, he’s in it for the yous who he favours.
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:54am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    But Hipkins has had a guts full ffs, as if we haven’t
    
    6 0
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    July 18, 2023 11:15am
Maggy Wassilieff

Who will investigate the actions of the Solicitor -General?

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/complaint-laid-against-solicitor-general
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July 18, 2023 8:45am
- alex Masterley
  
  Maggy,
  The NZLS complaints section will initially deal with the matter.
  Given the nature of the complaint the National Complaints Committee which deals with the more controversial matters e.g Gardner-Hopkins, will investigate the matter.
  At the conclusion of the investigation the NCC will make one of three decisions.
  1. Take no further steps,
  2.Conduct a hearing into the matter,
  3.Lay charges in the Lawyers and Conveyancers Disciplinary Tribunal.
  I do not know who make up the membership of the NCC. But it is senior lawyers from around the country together with 2-3 lay members.
  
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  July 18, 2023 9:06am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Cheers
    
    10 0
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    July 18, 2023 9:11am
slightlyrighty

Did enjoy listening to Paul Goldsmith on ZB this morning, when he reffered to the Greens policy on “Stolen” Land as “Insane” even by “Green Standards”.
36 0
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July 18, 2023 8:45am
- kowtow
  
  Jack Lame on newstalk yesterday with Green leader .
  
  Not once challenging the myth of “stolen lands” and in fact going along with it.
  
  14 0
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  July 18, 2023 9:39am
  - greybeard
    
    My email to NewstalkZB yesterday:
    ” Which halfwit at NewstalkZB substituted Jack Tame for HDPA today ?
    I bet the ratings dropped by about 90% for the 4pm -7pm slot.
    Idiots. ”
    Normally I would listen to HDPA on-and-off during the evening but simply turned off completely yesterday.
    
    9 0
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    July 18, 2023 11:56am
- hullkiwi
  
  Was it Goldsmith or Chris Finlayson you heard?
  
  2 0
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  July 18, 2023 10:48am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Findlayson was on with Hosking early, snd said their polices have always be crazy, he said when tribes were in parliament signing an agreement with the crown always laughed when greens spouted on about the theft, if the heads of tribes are laughing, what would the rest of nz think
    
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    July 18, 2023 12:10pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      Yes, I heard that too.
      
      1 0
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      July 18, 2023 12:45pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      I bet they’re not laughing now
      
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      July 18, 2023 6:36pm
hullkiwi

I wonder if Labour will want to continue to claim credit for this motorway now?

Heavy rain events reveal landslide problems on Pūhoi to Warkworth highway https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/493893/heavy-rain-events-reveal-landslide-problems-on-puhoi-to-warkworth-highway

Don’t get me wrong, as someone who has been on it several times over the past month it is great & is very much needed.

However, what this episode highlights is:
1. The BS that was going on about safety, and the delays in opening the motorway; and
2. That the PPP model for delivering infrastructure is not necessarily the most effective model for delivering infrastructure. I am speaking from experience, having been involved in many such project transactions in the UK and Europe, dating from the late 1990s.

NZ has an infrastructure deficit, but NZ cannot afford projects such as this or Transmission Gully to fail, as the cost is on taxpayers and the future delivery of needed infrastructure.
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July 18, 2023 8:47am
- graham
  
  As a slight aside, I notice the inevitable progression in that article that we all knew would happen.
  
  Until very recently, the majority of articles and news items would refer to “Waka Kotahi NZTA“.
  
  Now it’s just “Waka Kotahi“.
  
  As we all knew would come to pass.
  
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  July 18, 2023 9:13am
- Handyman
  
  Waka Kotahi is the Maori name.
  In English, it is pronounced “What a Catastrophe”.
  
  22 0
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  July 18, 2023 9:55am
Maggie Pie

Here’s TAURANGA today…. after 6 years of the Ardern government 🙁

https://tiktok.com/@whatzoedoes/video/7255527515651853570
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July 18, 2023 8:49am
- Matt Long
  
  But, but, aren’t all the people taking their bicycles to the shops now with aall the millions spent on cycleways?
  Don’t tell me all the fascists want to DRIVE to go shopping,and PARK by the shops?
  
  14 0
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  July 18, 2023 9:22am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    You can only despair for the retailers….
    other than Westfield even Newmarket looks the same now.
    
    15 0
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    July 18, 2023 9:29am
- Dave
  
  Not a beggar in sight; clearly doing better than Auckland. Evidently, poverty is being eliminated, at least in parts of the country.
  
  8 0
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  July 18, 2023 9:50am
  - Matt Long
    
    I imagine beggers are smart enough not to beg on empty streets in front of vacant shops.
    
    6 0
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    July 18, 2023 11:09am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Lambton Quay once the batshit crazy Greens Golden Mile policy is implemented
  
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  July 18, 2023 6:40pm
All_on_Red

Here’s a couple of sensible articles on why Trump wont win the Presidency.
He has little chance of winning Arizona, Wisconsin and Georgia. Without those, he fails.
https://townhall.com/columnists/scottmorefield/2023/07/17/heres-what-will-probably-happen-if-trump-wins-the-gop-nomination-n2625785
https://townhall.com/columnists/scottmorefield/2023/03/20/donald-trump-has-no-path-to-general-election-victory-n2620864
Wont be easy for De Santis either.
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July 18, 2023 9:01am
- virtualmark
  
  And yet, oddly enough Red, given our respective views of Trump, I think that – if nominated – he has a good chance of winning the election.
  
  The “No Labels” initiative, with Bannon and other GOP donors pulling the strings, could easily siphon off 5% of the Presidential vote, with Biden hurt more than Trump. That could see Trump through, much like Ross Perot delivered Clinton the presidency in 1992.
  
  2 2
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  July 18, 2023 9:28am
  - All_on_Red
    
    Meh
    No doubt your track record of being wrong all the time will continue
    Remember you and those 51 Intell guys telling us the Laptop was ‘Russian disinfo’?
    Good times
    
    8 1
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    July 18, 2023 9:47am
    - virtualmark
      
      Always classy Red. Never change. Embrace your true character.
      
      4 4
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      July 18, 2023 9:53am
Rusty

The scaremongering climate change alarmists are telling us Death Valley is having a record heatwave at the moment — it’s called Death Valley for a good reason right?

Apparently tourists are flocking there to be part of a new world record when it hits 56 — weird right?
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July 18, 2023 9:05am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Tornado chasers
  
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  July 18, 2023 6:41pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  The previous record was set in 1913 [Mod – deleted]
  
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  July 18, 2023 8:16pm
Master Mariner

Very worrying about the delay in this report.
It is now July and 6 months overdue.
Open and transparent and all that, Yep//

https://www.interest.co.nz/public-policy/123006/natural-gas-reserves-drop-below-10-years-supply-mbie-says-leading-comparison

https://www.mbie.govt.nz/building-and-energy/energy-and-natural-resources/energy-statistics-and-modelling/energy-statistics/petroleum-reserves-data/

A few post have been commenting on Pot holes, Well here’s a heads up. You need Bitumen. Have a look in Spread sheet ( Attached above in XL) , How many Carbon emissions are soaked up getting it here ? However the biggest issue is the cost. Best estimates is 3-400% more since closure of Marsden Pt. With every batch being the same as each other.

Ok,
“Almost 10% of the electricity we use to heat our homes and keep businesses’ lights on comes from New Zealand’s domestically produced natural gas,” says John Carnegie of Energy Resources Aotearoa.

“It is a vital component in our energy mix and picks up the slack when weather-dependent renewables cannot get there on their own.”

Maybe time to consider building a LNG Terminal ?

MBIE should ” hang their heads in Shame”.

Like I say, It will take until there is No Power out of the socket and Fuel out of the Bowser or food in the super market for some to wake up to reality.
Scorched Earth policy.
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July 18, 2023 9:18am
- NothingLeft
  
  NZ will need to build an LNG import facility in next few years, it’s unavoidable since Ardern’s moronic oil and gas ‘captains call’, but given extreme short-termism of politics and virtue signalling idiocy of left it will only happen under National.
  
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  July 18, 2023 2:22pm
Warren

Hear is some of the headlines over the last few days and now the Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Labour want you and the public to trust to trust them after yesterday’s announcement that he had had a guts full and would be changing his direction on crime.
Business Advocate says crime is out of control with crackdown to little to late for struggling business.
Ram Raids to hog election spotlight.
PM to announce shake upto tackle ‘brazen criminal offending ‘.
Mistake on youth crime announcement conflate, two options on table Hipkins says.
PM announces youth crime crackdown system needs shake up.
How can you criticize Nationals plan on Crime ,Ram Raids, Robberies and Violence for six years and in one day do a flip flop on this same policy because you are trailing in the polls.
Can anyone tell us what our Prime Minister achieved in the education portfolio or any other positions he has held ‘no’ because he runs with the hares and hunts with the hounds and is prepared to flip flop on many policy to hold power.
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July 18, 2023 9:19am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  [Mod – tone it down]
  
  1 0
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  July 18, 2023 12:14pm
Maggie Pie

THIS SOUNDS A BIT SCARY…..

What’s going on in Christchurch?

https://twitter.com/NgatiYankeeKiwi/status/1680725897790504960

(full screen/sound up)
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July 18, 2023 9:20am
- Jack5
  
  Very unusual accent in the clip: India/Sri Lanka Glasgow and Kiwi all mixed.
  
  Red flags,too, and Unite union slogans.
  
  Reflects New Zealand’s sophisticated immigration policy, picking the highly educated, technology-savvy elite, the cream of world youth.
  
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  July 18, 2023 9:32am
- All_on_Red
  
  Sounds like an Irish accent
  Another Colonial over here telling us what to do
  //
  
  12 0
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  July 18, 2023 9:44am
  - Gravelroad
    
    Not unusual.
    I believe that the great Maori leader, Sir Tipene O’Reagan ( formerly known as Stephan) who is one of the chiefs at Ngai Tahu Corp, has a big chunk of Irish heritage.
    
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    July 18, 2023 11:37am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I agree Irish… definitely NOT Glaswegian.
    
    10 0
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    July 18, 2023 11:39am
Blog-aholic

From Hobson’s Pledge Trust email:
And so it begins…the pre-election posturing and promising. With just three months to the election, the noise and flashing around of shiny trinkets to entice voters is already well under way.
The noise isn’t just about shouting slogans and making promises though. It is also about drawing attention away from the things political parties would rather we don’t remember as we enter the voting booth.
In particular, there is one big scary elephant in the room that Labour wants us to ignore. They have actually done an impressive job of shifting the attention away from this political kryptonite. It is our job to stick the spotlight firmly back on it.
What is Labour’s political elephant in the room? It is He Puapua and its stealthy enabler, the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP).
A little history…
In March 2019, then Maori Development and Local Government Minister Nanaia Mahuta, commissioned a working group to provide advice and recommendations on how to realise UNDRIP.
The working group called their report He Puapua.
Although completed in November 2019, the report and its radical recommendations avoided any public scrutiny until after the 2020 election when Labour secured a majority government.
As recommendations of the report have become a reality, Labour has been quick to distance themselves from this report, denying it is policy, denying it is a plan, and denying that they have acted on the recommendations.
Nothing to see here, folks.
Let’s take a closer look at what the report says…
Broadly, the report called for a focus on:
Self-determination by Maori
Maori participation in government
Increased influence and control of land and resources by iwi/hapu and whanau
Iwi, hapu and whanau ability to exercise authority over all aspects of culture and language
Equity for Maori in opportunity and outcomes
The general themes sound reasonable until the fine print is reviewed and the process to realise these lofty ideals are exposed.
Despite claims by Minister of Maori Development Willie Jackson that He Puapua is neither a plan nor Government policy, by a miraculous coincidence, they have just happened to implement a number of initiatives that align closely to its objectives:
Pae Ora (Healthy Futures) Act – established co-governed health with the separate Maori Health Authority
Water Services Entity Act – establishes 50/50 co-governance of the 10 water entities which will control the country’s entire water infrastructure
Resource Management reform – bills introduced to establish co-governed management of natural resources
Local Government and Electoral Reform – recommending legislative changes that differentiate democratic rights based on race and support co-government structures. This includes the entrenchment of Maori electoral seats.
Changes to the Local Government Act – that removed the opportunity to hold referenda on the establishment of Maori wards
Canterbury Regional Council (Ngai Tahu Representation) Act – Unelected Maori representation in local government established
New History Curriculum – rewrites significant parts of New Zealand’s history and leaves other parts out
Mechanisms for transferring control of the Department of Conservation estate to tribal authorities
Insertion of requirement of compliance to the undefined principles of the Treaty of Waitangi into almost all legislation
National Action Plan Against Racism in NZ – put in place public education campaigns on structural racism
Expansion of Te Pae Oranga- $70m invested in 30 more iwi community panels or community justice panels by 2024/25
Handling of Ihumātao protest – put private land on the table for disputes
Insertion of matauranga Maori into the science curriculum – undermining of sciences considered ‘Western’
This is by no means a complete list. New Zealand’s democracy really is experiencing a death by a thousand cuts.
Every issue we grapple with inevitably has the distinct shadow of He Puapua over its foundations. Water, resource management, conservation, education, justice, and health…co-governance and the themes of the He Puapua Report are everywhere.
But while Labour has attempted to take some of the sting out of the He Puapua tail, Minister Jackson has also been eager to demonstrate the continued commitment to realising UNDRIP.
In April 2022, under the cover of COVID fallout, the Minister announced that the Government had completed the first stage of a two-step engagement process toward developing their declaration plan.
To be clear, UNDRIP places no obligation or burden on New Zealand to do anything! It was an ‘aspirational’ non-binding agreement. However, it has been the policy of this Government to overstate the importance of UNDRIP and the need for a declaration plan.
Of course, loading up the parliamentary schedule with the Maori Health Authority, Three Waters, and the RMA reforms, Minister Jackson and Labour pushed their co-governance luck too far. New Zealanders became alarmed and it was evident that more racially-divisive policy would not be tolerated.
Jackson announced that work on realising UNDRIP would be put on hold, although he was at pains to defend the policies. We now know that what he meant was that any publicity and transparency would be put on hold as the implementing of He Puapua has continued at pace.
Despite this frantic and radical reform, Minister Jackson is also on record acknowledging that Maori-specific services don’t serve most Maori. In reference to the 2023 Budget, he said, “most Maori are not attached to a lot of our Maori organisations.”
These expensive co-governance policies and separate programmes and entities don’t benefit Maori and most Maori don’t ask to be divided in this way.
What Maori want and need has been confirmed by polling as being the same as what ALL New Zealanders want. We are all worried about the cost of living, law and order, housing, and education.
As we look forward to 14 October, let’s not forget to look for the looming shadow of He Puapua, the elephant in Chris Hipkins’ caucus room.
No matter how they dress it up, Labour has spent the last six years (particularly the last three) driving racial division through our institutions and dismantling the safeguards our democracy relies on.
Are you willing to take the risk and give them another three years to implement more of the He Puapua agenda?
I’m not.
Casey CostelloTrusteeHobson’s Pledge
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July 18, 2023 9:20am
Jack5

Maybe Fonterra was right to get out of Russia after the Ukraine invasion.

Russia placed local operations of the French food giant, Danone, and brewer Carlsberg., under temporary management, putting them under the control of the federal state property management agency, Rosimushchestvo.

Russian officials say t the seizures are in retaliation for similar moves by Western countries.
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July 18, 2023 9:25am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

https://www.stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/watch-this-3-minute-video-about-what-those-who-are-in-favour-of-co-governance-think-it-fascinating/

The video is with Catherine Delahunty.
Remember her? Minister for Mars.
She says that the Crown appointing people is OK, but people don’t like Maori appointing people.
Hey Delahunty, The Crown is a democratic process, not an appointment by Elite Maori!
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July 18, 2023 9:29am
ClanMcleod

Remember the covid hysteria? The pivot to climate change was predicted. Look at this insanity!!

https://twitter.com/robinmonotti/status/1679136623445827584

Julia Hartley Brewer on the subject.

“It’s an absolute sodding miracle humans survived!!”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkt2OPrO760
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July 18, 2023 9:39am
- H. Upmann
  
  Climate hysteria has been the thing for 20 + years Mac. Covid was just a minor distraction, driven by the same people.
  
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  July 18, 2023 10:48am
Matt Long

As Wayne Mapp recently pointed out neither of New Zealand’s main socialist parties have much time for property rights.
As Bob Jones points out in free countries where historical societies place restrictions on private use of persons own property, compensation is paid.
https://nopunchespulled.com/2023/07/17/heritage-buildings/
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July 18, 2023 9:46am
- Albert_Ross
  
  Like fishing rights around the Kermadecs?
  
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  July 18, 2023 10:12am
  - Matt Long
    
    Absolutely, if a right is taken from someone they should be compensated preferably by the person’s advantaged by the removal of that right, with all persons treated equally under the law.
    In the case of the Kermadecs the green groups could reach into their capacious pockets.
    
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    July 18, 2023 11:06am
    - Albert_Ross
      
      Absolutely. I’ve never understood why environmental groups bewailing the loss of native bush, tropical rainforest etc, to logging, agriculture etc – don’t just buy the land themselves, and then not log or farm it. Property rights are a wonderful thing
      
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      July 18, 2023 12:06pm
      - Wayne Mapp
        
        None of us have an absolute right to whatever we wish with your property, heedless of anyone else. And that has been the case in New Zealand, and most developed nations for well over 100 years.
        You can’t build a factory in a residential suburb. Never have been able to do so. You can’t just knock a block of native forest, for at least 50 years. You can’t build a dam wherever you want, for at least 100 years. Just to pick on some obvious examples.
        
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        July 18, 2023 9:04pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Reading yesterday’s General Debate I see the Moderators are not happy with me using the name “Jaspinda” OK, I see others have also been told.
I guess “Chippie” is also out.
I refuse to use her given Christian name, so I will use “Ardern.”
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July 18, 2023 9:54am
- H. Upmann
  
  Pleased to see you have seen the light Steve. Ardern is Ardern and anything else is just showing soft love for her.
  
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  July 18, 2023 10:45am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    I always thought the name I was using is fitting.
    She spins bullshit 24/7
    
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    July 18, 2023 12:00pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Labour spinners have been promoting the “Chippie” nickname to make him more relatable. Moderating something that annoys no-one would be pointless mission creep
  
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  July 18, 2023 2:19pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    You need more upticks.
    “Chippie” seems to be OK today, but “Jaspinda” is more on the insulting side?
    Please!!
    
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    July 18, 2023 6:35pm
ClanMcleod

Whoops. Make sure you don’t have a ‘fender bender’ in your shiny new, taxpayer subsidised EV.

“Shocking Number”: Rivian Owner Sees $42,000 Repair Bill For Minor Accident

We’ve explained to readers that auto insurers are inflating premiums for their customers due to the skyrocketing costs associated with vehicle repairs. Some insurers are opting to write off electric vehicles even for minor incidents, as it’s uneconomical to fix these complex systems. For those insurers who do undertake the repairs on EVs, the expenses are shockingly high.

The latest example of insurers getting roasted on repairs is a report from The New York Times that says a Rivian owner said his R1T electric pickup truck was involved in a minor fender bender in February in Columbus, Ohio. The insurance company of the driver who struck Chris Apfelstadt’s R1T offered to pay about $1,600 for the repairs.

However, after the R1T was taken to a certified repair shop in Columbus, the costs soared to a whopping $42,000 — or about half of the starting price of the EV.

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/shocking-number-rivian-owner-sees-42000-repair-bill-minor-accident?utm_source=

Watch the insurance premiums go through the roof. Not looking like such a clever investment after all.
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July 18, 2023 10:05am
- Master Mariner
  
  Yep, Wait in a year or 2 and try and do “Trade ins”,
  You will be charged to get rid of them, But fortunately for you Not as much.
  
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  July 18, 2023 11:08am
- Hard Cheese
  
  Come on, include the part where the “minor fender bender” actually wasn’t so minor and the repair cost had nothing at all to do with it being an EV:
  
  “A key reason is that the accident damaged a sleek panel that extends from the truck’s rear to front roof pillars. Repairing and repainting it set off a cascade of pricey work, including removing the interior ceiling material, known as the headliner, and front windshield,” NYT wrote.
  
  You can make a case for the argument based on damaging an EV battery, but this particular instance proves nothing.
  
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  July 18, 2023 12:07pm
  - rouppe
    
    Well it seems to be a feature of EVs it seems.
    
    Tesla also have a single panel roofline. You have to take it off to do repairs elsewhere, and due to it being glass there’s a reasonable risk of breaking it during removal. Which makes minor repair of flanks expensive.
    
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    July 18, 2023 12:59pm
    - Hard Cheese
      
      But surely single panel rooflines isn’t an inherent design requirement for an EV, I can’t imagine a crappy Leaf or cheapo BYD has one. For higher end EVs it will be minimising Cd to improve range, the tradeoff being it’s more difficult/expensive to repair.
      
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      July 18, 2023 1:46pm
Prince

This is actually shocking – how do you set up a new Health Authority and get something as basic as correct stats so wrong ?
Staff and skills were so poorly matched that data was imported and off set by one line…(!).
So Te Whatu Ora is flying blind, probably until late next year.
Omnishambles. Any other developed country would be screaming for the heads of the Ministers responsible. Little, Hipkins, Verrall.
https://www.thepost.co.nz/a/nz-news/350036162/pieces-of-ed-data-still-missing-while-patients-flounder-in-waiting-rooms
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July 18, 2023 10:14am
- Piniwi
  
  Well Prince might pay to have a look at who is running the show. Yep another POC way above her level of competence. But hey she will no doubt be conversant in the native gibberish and stone age ways.
  
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  July 18, 2023 12:39pm
Maggie Pie

RANDOM IMRETINENT QUESTION..

Anyone else find it strange that you would appoint someone as Minister-of-Justice, who openly admits to struggling with mental health issues, and may also require counselling on how to deal with staff following allegations of abuse?

Not to mention other serious issues of concern that have recently been made public as well. It seems indicative of where NZ is at today.
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July 18, 2023 10:22am
- Blog-aholic
  
  As Luxon said Wet, Whingey and Woke.
  
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  July 18, 2023 10:38am
- mogg
  
  It was her turn.
  
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  July 18, 2023 2:29pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  Not to mention other important portfolios that she’s responsible for:
  
  Minister for Regional Development (wtf even is that?)
  Associate Minister for Finance
  Associate Minister for Transport
  
  Not sure these are the sorts of roles, along with Justice, that you would give to someone struggling with mental health and interpersonal relationship issues – both inside and outside the Beehive.
  
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  July 19, 2023 8:10pm
Bridgenag

BREAKING: VAERS data clearly shows that the COVID vaccines are an unmitigated disaster for pregnant women
The CDC said the COVID vaccines were perfectly safe for pregnant women. They lied and they continue to lie to the American people. Here’s the proof and you can verify it yourself.

https://open.substack.com/pub/stevekirsch/p/breaking-vaers-data-clearly-shows?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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July 18, 2023 10:38am
- Master Mariner
  
  That CDC Racheal Walinksy has a lot to answer for. I see she is retiring ?
  
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  July 18, 2023 11:10am
- mawm
  
  Who could possibly even entertain the idea of vaccinating pregnant women with a drug that had not been tested for teratogenesis, especially one involving manipulation of the very basis for normal cellular/bodily function? Was the lesson of thalidomide so easily forgotten?
  
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  July 18, 2023 2:17pm
Swifty

Because of their record over now six years, across tens of policy areas, I have absolutely no confidence whatsoever that this last-gasp initiative from Labour will make a blind bit of difference – to this issue that they’ve watched grow year after year with apparent indifference:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/493895/mistake-at-youth-crime-announcement-conflated-two-options-on-table-hipkins-says

The fact that he made a hash even of the simple announcement confirms my worst fears.

Yes, they couldn’t even get the announcement right. Good grief. They are an embarrassment.
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July 18, 2023 10:45am
Waipuk

Here is Ian Wishart on The Platform and his thoughts on climate change.

https://youtu.be/Nbd5SlwHdo0
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July 18, 2023 11:26am
- hullkiwi
  
  I recommend you get hold of his book “Air Con”.
  
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  July 18, 2023 3:42pm
Ghost

What a Waste of money

Countdown supermarkets are set to rebrand back to Woolworths in a move that the Australian supermarket giant says comes as part of a “transformation programme”.

Its supermarkets were formerly known as Woolworths, but rebranded in 2011.

Parent company Woolworths Group said it planned to invest more than $400 million over the next three years to rebrand its network of 194 stores, starting with the older supermarkets from early 2024.

Article
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July 18, 2023 11:27am
- Hard Cheese
  
  They wouldn’t be doing it if there wasn’t a cost saving in the long run. They’ll be able to tap into a ton of marketing resources and use Woolworths Australian made home brand grocery items that they wouldn’t have before. Seems eminently sensible to me, the only stupid thing is why they named it Countdown in the first place.
  
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  July 18, 2023 12:15pm
  - Ghost
    
    They already sell Woolworths products, they market it as countdown, but it simply has the W Woolworths logo on it
    
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    July 18, 2023 12:20pm
    - Hard Cheese
      
      Not that many though, if you wander through an Australian Woolworths there’s a lot more choice in own brand products. Possibly they’re not transferable to NZ for one reason or another
      
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      July 18, 2023 12:39pm
      - Ghost
        
        A quick look on their website shows 1222 items that are countdown branded with the Woolworths W. So there are a lot and yes for places like here where they have just opened a new countdown it is a waste of money that within a few months of branding everything countdown to now have to change it to Woolworths.
        
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        July 18, 2023 12:49pm
      - Hard Cheese
        
        @Ghost Fair enough, possibly my local is different or I just haven’t noticed them.
        
        Anyway, it’s their money – not sure why people are complaining about how they use it.
        
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        July 18, 2023 1:32pm
  - rouppe
    
    They already stock Woolworths brand products
    
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    July 18, 2023 12:52pm
- Hollyfield
  
  I wonder if this is anything to do with Foodtown having a reputation of being a more expensive supermarket. Emotionally, Woolworths does sound cheaper to me. Logically I know there is no correlation between change of name and food prices.
  
  (BTW it was only a year or so ago that I stopped calling our local store “Woolworths”. Probably be another decade before I stop saying “Foodtown”.)
  
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  July 18, 2023 12:59pm
Gravelroad

Newstalkzb reporting that Wellington Mayor Tori Whanau is going on a prestigious leadership course at Harvard University.
Perhaps she could have done some leadership training before she stood for mayor.
I do hope everyone at Harvard will know who she is……..
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July 18, 2023 11:33am
- Ghost
  
  No mention of how much it is costing the ratepayers.
  
  https://stuff.pressreader.com/article/281603834942844#
  
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  July 18, 2023 11:41am
  - marcw
    
    Nor our “Climate Emergency” – 3 return trips to the US by Wellington Council staff. Hypocrites.
    
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    July 18, 2023 12:08pm
    - cas
      
      One of those going Nadine Walker is, I believe, Chloe S’s other half.
      
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      July 18, 2023 2:33pm
  - Hard Cheese
    
    Nothing. “All expenses are covered by the Bloomberg Harvard Leadership initiative” – which casts some considerable doubt as to how sensible an organisation they are. You could argue that Whanau not doing her day to day management at Wellington council is a cost to the council. I’d argue that it’s a bonus – some fool is paying to take her off their hands
    
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    July 18, 2023 12:21pm
    - david
      
      “All expenses”? Will they also cover her bar bills?
      
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      July 18, 2023 1:44pm
- Jack5
  
  It’s like Lenin in Zurich – without so much time in town libraries…
  
  Tory Whanau is one of the first. Jacinda Ardern will be centre of a chattering bunch of Leftists from New Zealand in Harvard’s base, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
  
  Ardern has been given a “dual post” at Harvard.
  
  She has been appointed:
  
  First, 2023 Angelopoulos Global Public Leaders Fellow and a Hauser Leader in the School’s Center for Public Leadership.
  
  Second, a fellow under Harvard Law School focusing, in the university’s words, “on ways to improve standards and accountability to combat extremist content posted online” .
  
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  July 18, 2023 11:52am
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    So her first focus will be the New Zealand media then ?
    
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    July 18, 2023 1:00pm
  - kevn
    
    Jack5… Are they paid roles?
    Or merely showboat/self promotion roles.
    
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    July 18, 2023 3:18pm
Jack5

The British Army is headed towards one-tenth the size is was in 1950. Then it had 700,000 men. In a year or so it will be down from the present 82,000 to 72,000 in 2023.

That’s the plan under present Defence Minister Ben Wallace, who says the spending emphasis will be on tanks rather than soldiers. Wallace is a fomer captain in the Scots Guards.

According to the Internet military web site, Global Fire Power, the UK at present ranks 57th of 145 countries in combat-tank numbers. (The top five are Russia, North Korea, the United States, China, and Egypt. The site still has Russian 2023 tank strength at more than 12,000, and the UK at 227.)

Global Firepower over-all ranks the UK as No. 5 in military strength, after the United States, Russia, China, and India. It’s calculations include aspects such as geography and trade, and, presumably, nuclear weapons.

Army cuts in Britain may allow New Zealand and Australia to recruit laid-off specialists.
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July 18, 2023 11:41am
- Grunter
  
  It makes me laugh when you read the MSM reports of how the UK is making big bold statements about sorting out Russia. The Poms are living in the distant past when Britain was “Great” Britain.
  
  And when you look at the fire power of other EU countries (eg Germany etc), it very apparent that the EU doesn’t have enough to defend their own country let alone interfere in Ukraine.
  
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  July 18, 2023 3:03pm
- Wayne Mapp
  
  In 1950, they had National Service, so just about everyone aged 18 or so had to do a year in the defence forces.
  A better comparison would be with 1980 when the Army had 160,000. So the Army has essentially halved in the last 40 years.
  
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  July 18, 2023 9:13pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/other-sports/300929971/victoria-axes-hosting-of-commonwealth-games-in-2026
No problem mate, Hipkins will promise to hold them if he thinks he could get some votes in October.
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July 18, 2023 12:01pm
- Ghost
  
  NZ makes initial move to host 2034 Commonwealth Games
  
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  July 18, 2023 12:07pm
  - greybeard
    
    Thanks. Many a true word is said in jest, and I never knew of this CG offer.
    
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    July 18, 2023 12:13pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

[Don’t post dropbox links – Not accessible to others. mod.]
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July 18, 2023 12:24pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Yes, so I found out. They used to work.
  Thanks for the delete Mod.
  
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  July 18, 2023 12:30pm
Ghost

Laughing, labour are making an announcement, they don’t have a time frame, a cost or anything really but a policy release. Now trying to explain how this differs from National and act policy

Article

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Children’s Minister Kelvin Davis are set to make a law and order announcement.

Stuff is livestreaming the announcement, from the Beehive, viewable from 12.15pm at the top of this article.

Davis is responsibile for Oranga Tamariki, which oversees youth justice operations. This includes five youth justice facilities across the country, each housing about 30 young offenders.
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July 18, 2023 12:35pm
- Ghost
  
  Laughing. Prime minister why don’t you have any detail today. Because we are just announcing that we are doing the work
  
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  July 18, 2023 12:45pm
  - rouppe
    
    But on Hosking this morning they’ve been “looking at this for 2 years”
    
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    July 18, 2023 12:47pm
- mandk
  
  The announcement was so underwhelming that it is difficult to find anything about it, even of Stuff.
  
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  July 18, 2023 1:22pm
Hugh Jarse

Been looking at it for two years LOL. Just like they looked at things for nine years in opposition. All they did was come to work to eat their lunch and put their hand out every fortnight. Hence we got 300 working groups to develop the policy they should have.
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July 18, 2023 12:58pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

EV myth busted. Powered by coal, with battery manufacturing emissions poorly understood, Govt subsidies for EVs should be discontinued.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Report-Govts-Should-Fold-Bad-Bet-On-EVs.html
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July 18, 2023 1:02pm
Ghost

Speaking out against his leader, things sound fine in labour I guess……

Labour’s David Parker has admitted he was “disappointed” in the Prime Minister’s decision to kill off a proposed tax switch, saying it was something he personally supported…

“I am a team member. Everybody knows my position. I obviously was intimately involved in the design of the proposal. My ministry, Inland Revenue, was one of the two ministries that lead and Grant [Robertson] and I did the design work,” said Parker.

“I am disappointed in that decision. As is clear from the papers, I supported it. That is life and I am a loyal member of the Labour Party.”

He said he had “no current intention” to resign.

“If I did have, I wouldn’t tell you first,” Parker said.

Asked what his future goals would be in tax reform, he replied: “It would be to implement Labour Party policy.”

He then walked off as more questions were being asked.

Article
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July 18, 2023 1:30pm
- Spam
  
  Yep. And Robbo (“I’m a team player”) similarly underlined his boss last week.
  
  “What I would say is it’s an idea that clearly I think had some merit. I wouldn’t have put so much work into it if I didn’t think that it had merit,” Robertson said.
  
  “But I also am a team player and I’m also somebody who’s very conscious of the economic conditions that we’re in.”
  
  So when are the media going to start acknowledging the disunity in the Labour party, and asking Hipkins if he’s going to resign?
  
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  July 18, 2023 1:33pm
slightlyrighty

Labour announces new policy!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/132563946/ministers-commit-to-building-two-new-high-needs-youth-justice-facilities

However…..2 MONTHS AGO…

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/489523/no-free-ride-says-seymour-as-act-proposes-to-build-youth-detention-centres

Honestly, Labour are just pissing on us without even the decency of calling it rain….
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July 18, 2023 1:46pm
- nathie
  
  So Labour has a “plan” to build these facilities … firstly, Labour “plans” are usually just announcements and usually never get started. Secondly Labour have committed the 2023/24 budget already so in other words nothing will happen anytime soon anyway (nor 2024). So see it’s just an announcement!
  
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  July 18, 2023 2:27pm
  - Nickc2
    
    FFS, someone tell Kelvin Davis it’s an election year and there’s a very very good chance his mob won’t be around post-14 October 2023.
    His chances of building any new correction centers in the next three months are zip, nada, and none.
    PS: Hey Kev, where’s the money coming from?
    Don’t forget, you bastards ran the country broke and any further borrowing is out of the question if the word responsible is in the Labour Party’s vocabulary.
    
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    July 18, 2023 3:18pm
Warren

Prime Minister Chris Hipkins credibility being attacked after yesterday’s youth crime announcement has raised questions about whether he is playing the tough on crime card for political reasons dispite criticizing National for that in the past .
This after his bungled announcement yesterday that was later corrected by the Prime Minister.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/prime-minister-chris-hipkins-facing-questions-on-political-motives-of-bungled-crime-announcement/6ALOHPZRCFA3FGHSR4SOKY23BE/
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July 18, 2023 2:10pm
Benedict Yu

I see the pink haired terror is complaining she received threats for her COVID vaccine messaging.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/132538027/the-price-paid-for-standing-up-against-vaccine-misinformation

Of course nobody should be threatened.

However she refuses to acknowledge that the vaccines were – at best – pretty useless. New Zealanders were coerced to be vaccinated. Now we have 2.4 million of us infected with about a quarter of a million reinfected.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/132538027/the-price-paid-for-standing-up-against-vaccine-misinformation

I was an early and vocal supporter of the vaccines. However after looking at the data daily for several months, I became convinced that, at best, we had been sold a vaccine based on gross exaggerations of its effectiveness. That is not even getting into the cardiac side effects, the prevalence of which in young adult males is not insignificant.

Unless the pink haired one acknowledges all this, she will be treated unkindly by many.
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July 18, 2023 2:32pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  Isn’t it an indictment of that person that if someone writes ‘the pink haired one’ we all know who it is referring to. Breaker of Rules, Maker of cartoons, Professor of spin……
  
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  July 18, 2023 3:02pm
rjay

Lovely man, a former executive member of teachers union PPTA loses teachers registration for being unpleasant to children at his school.
https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/education/132564734/teacher-stripped-of-registration-after-yelling-and-swearing-at-students?cx_testId=12&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=5&cx_experienceId=EXE6G6ISTGR0#cxrecs_s
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July 18, 2023 3:05pm
- Ra Henare
  
  Glad to see a man being a man.
  If the students had done the same to him ie F off etc etc.
  They would have been sent for “”surround support”” or some other wet bus ticket.
  Teachers council should be ashamed of themselves while at the same time there is a teacher shortage.
  
  Glad to see the x teacher is happy to be an x teacher.
  
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  July 18, 2023 4:08pm
- Ghost
  
  I had a math teacher who lost his temper with a disruptive student, told the kid to get out of his fucken class, threw the students desk at the door and told him to sit in the fucken corridor. Every student clapped the teacher.
  
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  July 18, 2023 4:16pm
Warren

Well people is this what the Labour Party is hoping for and will it arrive before October’s election.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/health/virus-sweeping-through-europe-hits-30470030?int_source=nba
Most common symptoms of early birdflu
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July 18, 2023 3:14pm
- mandk
  
  The article doesn’t provide any details of the number of cases in continental Europe, but it does say that there have been four cases in the UK since March.
  
  That doesn’t sound like a virus “sweeping through” anywhere.
  
  But don’t relax, Klaus and Bill have promised us something worse for next year.
  
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  July 18, 2023 3:55pm
AitchW

Michael Wood referred to the Priviledges Comittee for his statements regarding his shares and the ennsuing conflicts of interest.
Labour and it’s Green sidekick will be buying another couple of buckets of whitewash I suspect…..
Will he be told to say he’s sorry?
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July 18, 2023 3:32pm
- Ghost
  
  Whitewash is free, so much left over from so many labour’s scandals the past several years
  
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  July 18, 2023 3:36pm
Maggie Pie

Here’s another question.

Given the Associate-Minister-of-Justice determined Meng Foon’s actions while RRC…. ‘probably represented a serious breach of the Crown Entities Act’, but then since he decided to resign, does that mean this will be the last we hear of it?

Asking for a friend.
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July 18, 2023 3:32pm
Ghost

Act Party co-founder Sir Roger Douglas says his former party has “lost the plot” and he will not be voting for it in the coming election because he believes Act only represents the wealthy.

Douglas, a former Labour Finance Minister who founded Act with Derek Quigley in 1993, used a 22-page open letter to hit out at those currently leading the party and state that he will be a “swing voter” for the first time after voting for Act since 2002.

That’s despite his nephew Rob standing for Act in the Tukituki electorate.

Article
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July 18, 2023 4:57pm
- Colville
  
  So if not ACT then who?
  
  Is he going to vote for the slightly less red Chris or the slightly redder Chris?
  
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  July 18, 2023 6:33pm
  - hullkiwi
    
    This evening Jack Lame (in for HDPA) spoke to Patrick Smelly who was an advisor in his office when Douglas was Minister of Finance. The headline is what Ghost wrote, as evidence Smelly sited Douglas’s objection to Act’s tax policy.
    
    Douglas ses Act’s policy as benefiting the rich rather than whole taxpayer base. Smelly also stated that there have been terse exchanges between Douglas and Seymour regarding the direction of Act into unnecessary policy areas rather than concentrating on core policy areas.
    
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    July 18, 2023 8:14pm
Ghost

Common practise. Seen it happen down here to people who aren’t local to the petrol station. Good on them, stops people driving off without paying.

Professionally trained Māori opera singer Kawiti Jack Waetford claims he was racially profiled at a Northland petrol station after they made him prepay for his gas while a well-dressed Pākehā in a flash truck behind him was allowed to fill up first and then pay.

Article
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July 18, 2023 5:28pm
- herb1
  
  Maori hypocracy for all to see but few to recognise.
  This angry man claims that it’s unfair he was treated differently and “ we” all should be treated the same.
  Never heard this guy complaining about Maori being treated differently in health , governance , education , entry to universities and particularly med school and so much else.
  Ems it’s ok being treated differently as long as it’s to your advantage over others and costs you nothing
  
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  July 18, 2023 7:09pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/waikato/132567500/drone-delivered-pizza-no-pie-in-the-sky-idea-for-huntly
First deliveries to Huntly !
How deliciously appropriate: make it even quicker for fatties to get even fatter.
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July 18, 2023 5:31pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/132560951/baby-almost-fatally-injured-in-first-six-hours-alone-with-dad
Jesus.
Another one.
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July 18, 2023 5:43pm
- Colville
  
  What chance a neck tattoo??
  
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  July 18, 2023 6:34pm
  - Swifty
    
    He’s on Facebook.
    
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    July 18, 2023 7:13pm
greybeard

I have just seen Michael Wood, David Parker and Kiri Allen on TV3 news: there is something about all three of them that makes me shudder when I see their faces.
Is that silly ?
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July 18, 2023 6:11pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Only silly thing is watching New Zealand TV news.
  
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  July 18, 2023 6:37pm
Swifty

An extraordinary interview showing the fruits of the Chinese Communist gang’s money and influence in the Pacific.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=w4i4xABX-x4

The Solomons PM couldn’t bow and scrape any more even if he wanted to.
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July 18, 2023 7:48pm
NZer In Exile

Bumped into an elderly ex Sth African guy today. He said before Sth Africa fell into the murderous feral mess that it now is (IE now way worse than the apartheid era), the “indigenous” party started changing all the place names.
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July 18, 2023 9:23pm
NZer In Exile

Climate emergency “czar” grilled:

John Kerry Devastated at House hearing on Climate by Scott Perry.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/07/17/john-kerry-devastated-at-house-hearing-on-climate-by-scott-perry/
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July 18, 2023 10:44pm