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September 5, 2023 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 05 September 2023

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General Debate

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Warren

I have been listening for over two years now on the Media, the Trade Unions, Labour MP’s and Prime Minister’s criticize National Party Leader Chris Luxon on many subjects with lies and innuendo for political gain, on abortion, tax, housing, his wife’s car and many other trivial things so the Council of Trade Unions slime politics would not affect his vision for a better New Zealand.
So to hear Chris Hipkins use his soy boy opinion of National that they are incredibly thin skinned and shouldn’t be in Parliament if they can’t take criticism is a bit rich considering his school boy policy of fronting the teacher when being disciplined and say but he did it first and I am only copying what he did.
Chris Hipkins has form with his lying , deciet and innuendo when fronting from the podium of lies over Covid-19 where people lost their jobs over Labour the Government’s jab policy and mandate that many won’t forget.
This Government have been given a wake up call by the voter in the polls and Chris Hipkins our Prime Minister has been put on the backfoot in trying to reduce the hugh deficit Labour now finds themselves in so it look like and smells like there only way out is to play dirty and we will have to put up with their sleaze for another four week’s.
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September 5, 2023 8:01am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Did Labour not ho to the police during field days over his mugshot on the golf balls? They definitely made some type of complaint
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:03am
- Brian McDonald
  
  Yeah, he would have been better off firing one across the bow of our biggest trading partner, thinking that China wouldn’t notice. Then again it might been an accident something like calling into Oravida on the way to the airport for a cup of tea.
  
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  September 5, 2023 11:53am
- Sir Cullen's Sidekick
  
  Warren – Kiwi Sheeple like negative campaigning. That is why Chippie is on the attack. Shopkeepers are giving Chippie flowers. He is a winner mate. Winge as much as you want. Chippie is comin to get ya.
  
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  September 5, 2023 12:10pm
  - Warren
    
    Don’t worry about me SCS , you just get out there with your phantasy of Chippy and have a beer with your mates, you will need it the night of the Election.
    
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    September 5, 2023 12:35pm
Scott

“Killing our tamariki” is the lead story on Newshub this morning. According to the “journalists” who wrote this story it is racist to have the same health system for everyone. Maori children are dying and if this was white children in Remuera there would be an outcry, they say.
Health policies are racist the “experts” say.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.newshub.co.nz/home/new-zealand/2023/09/expert-calls-out-blatant-racism-in-health-policies-as-rheumatic-fever-cases-skyrocket.amp.html

Well actually having the same treatment of everyone is not racist, it’s the opposite of racist.
Why do Maori need their own health system when every Maori person now has white ancestry as well? What are the genetic differences really after hundreds of years of intermarriage?

Lastly this by Maori for Maori improving Maori health, what is the basis for that assertion? Maori in the past had poor health and a life expectancy at the time of colonisation of about 30. The old Tohunga’s had to be suppressed by an act of parliament because they did more harm than good.

This article is a political hit job advocating for the separate Maori health system, it is advocacy and not objective journalism.

And it is actually racist itself. Imagine this slogan, “we want a health system by white people for white people”. Racist, right?
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September 5, 2023 8:01am
- Tom Hunter
  
  Well actually having the same treatment of everyone is not racist, it’s the opposite of racist.
  
  I’m afraid that you’ve missed the slow transition in thinking on this subject over the last forty years in academia.
  
  It started with the argument that “racism” requires both bigotry against another race and the power to effect that bigotry. So you can be a White-hating group like the Harawira clan but they’re not racists because they have no power over Whites.
  
  Having succeeded with that argument it has now progressed to the Orwellian treatment of the phrase “Colour Blindness”, which used to be held as good thing in that you didn’t “see” a person’s skin colour but treated them as a human being – MLK’s old judged-by-the-content-of-their-character desire.
  
  But what Colour Blindess really means now is that you don’t see the oppression linked to skin colour by society’s power structures: thus it is racist.
  
  So I’m sorry to say that you are appealing to an argument that has been bypassed and is no longer accepted – in fact actively rejected – by academics and activists, and by grifters of course.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:56am
  - Che Guava
    
    Do White people have any real power when we are so often lectured about how horrible we are and resistance to our being browbeaten and the constant demands for atonement is laughably written office as White supremacy. We may be a majority still, but we are the most scapegoated, abused and institutionally disadvantaged racial group.
    
    If you can criticise group X and be lauded for it, then group X doesn’t have any real power. If they did, they wouldn’t allow criticism. On the contrary, the groups who, if criticised, the mere fact of this criticism allegedly makes you a bad person with evil motivations are the ones with all the power. Of course, those with the power are the ones we must be able to criticise.
    
    Who do these people think they are, invoking self-serving and purely emotive reasons for why they are somehow beyond reproach? And its not just brown people, or even predominantly brown people, who pull this tactic.
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:12am
  - John Loveridge
    
    You’re making my head hurt, but I believe you’re correct.
    
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    September 5, 2023 2:15pm
- Stellaboxer
  
  Scott if the Māori health authority was funded by purely Maori tax income I wouldn’t have problem with it . The reality is having a separate system is racist and because of the seperate administrative staff it makes less money available for both front line staff. The idea that Maori have their own system but it’s funded by the entire taxpayers 80 odd percent of whom can’t use it is repulsive. The other thing that I can see happening is that as it fails, which it almost certainly will, it will be claimed by the grifters that it’s because of under funding and will become a black hole for money to be sucked in from the rest of the public sector and disappear into a beano of massively expensive cultural theatre never to be seen again.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:57am
  - Ghost
    
    Anyone can use the Māori health provider in my town, it isn’t limited to Māori.
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:05am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Then why do they need a specific Maori health provider? None of this makes any sense. Though when you’re trying to gaslight a whole nation, making sense is the last thing you would be trying to do.
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:23am
      - Ghost
        
        It’s part of the programs the local iwi run, they have their own marae school, community program to get any truant students to school, food bank, and health care, including counseling. It’s how it should be, not with a separate health board, it was always part of the dhb before labour got in.
        
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        September 5, 2023 10:41am
      - Che Guava
        
        Unless we can speak the truth, falsehoods will prevail. Taken generally, Maori have some real issues as a group that have nothing to do with anyone else. For this reason, it doesn’t matter how many extra resources or privileges are thrown their way, nothing will change unless they change themselves. And why would they change while the resources and privileges are so abundant? See how the cycle will perpetuate itself unless we get real?
        
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        September 5, 2023 11:19am
  - Paulus
    
    Maori do not have enough qualified Medical staff to support a Maori Separatist Movement.
    So where are they going to get some to activate it like Dentists – Understand Otago usual 28 entries (with Maori preference of course)and something like 7 years of training.
    Of all Uni placings 25% do not finish year one, and 30% of the balance do not complete.
    
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    September 5, 2023 1:39pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  The main vectors for rheumatic fever are overcrowded, damp houses. That’s not on anyone but the parents.
  
  The uncomfortable truth is that many Maori and Polynesian families have more children than they can afford to bring up.
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:07am
  - mawm
    
    Probably parents not taking their kids with Strep throat to the GP for antibiotics is the main cause.
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:29am
    - kevn
      
      mawn… Free docs for kids doesn’t do it?
      
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      September 5, 2023 6:44pm
  - septic skeptic
    
    Another way to look at that might be to say some of them can’t afford NOT to have the kids under the current welfare settings,
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:31am
    - miltonF
      
      Nailed it.
      
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      September 5, 2023 2:57pm
  - artemisia
    
    Maybe more children than can be afforded, but also other family members and friends moving in because they have not been successful in finding a private rental. For whatever reason.
    
    Some households find it hard if not impossible to refuse requests. While it’s a good thing if families look out for their own it can discourage responsibility for actions, or lack of same.
    
    Traversing housing issues back in 2020 (below link) included Labour’s go to ‘University of Otago public health professor Philippa Howden-Chapman said overcrowding was the single biggest housing-related cause of poor mental and physical health.’
    
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/homed/renting/122907853/election-2020-vanilla-housing-policies-unlikely-to-ease-auckland-rental-crowding–economist
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:55am
  - wsk12345
    
    But…colonialism!!!! White man forced us to live in houses!
    
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    September 5, 2023 12:31pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      What ! Get back to your whare. 😉
      
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      September 5, 2023 1:28pm
- redeye
  
  Article finishes;-
  
  Made with support from Te Māngai Pāho and New Zealand On Air.
  
  I had to look it up;-
  
  Te Māngai Pāho is the New Zealand Crown entity responsible for the promotion of the Māori language and Māori culture by providing funding for Māori-language programming on radio and television
  
  The article was written entirely in English.
  So are they promoting the language, or government policy?
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:46am
  - alloytoo
    
    I would Just like to remind everyone that written Maori is a colonial imposition.
    
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    September 24, 2024 12:51pm
- Loddenthinks
  
  As with just about everything these days, the MSM are looking at it arse-about-face.
  
  Why are the kids getting rheumatic fever and rheumatic heart disease? These are entirely preventable diseases, as evidenced by the fact that so few get it. Don;t be fooled by the “skyrocket” claim – the number of cases reported this year, after the worst season (winter) is only 86. So it’s not poverty, it’s not inequity, it’s not racism. What could it be? Useless parents who don’t know how to look after their kids?
  
  And Maori and Pasifika are over-represented? I guess that makes me a racist.
  
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  September 5, 2023 2:15pm
- Surely Knott
  
  The expert whose last name is Anderson (Kāi Tahu and Kāti Māmoe).
  
  If NZ is to be divided by race isn’t it misleading to only put your Maori tribes but not to put your Anderson (English/Scottish) tribe.
  
  If the argument is that Maori are disadvantaged and English are privileged. And yet you are hiding the privileged part of your heritage.
  
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  September 5, 2023 3:02pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Apropos of yesterday’s Wellington motorway blocking protesters, from the report audio one is English while another is German or Dutch.

Frankly these hypocrites, who didn’t walk to NZ, can piss off & protest all they like back where they came from. I sincerely hope that they are convicted and deported.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/wellington/132868080/restore-passenger-rail-protesters-strike-again
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September 5, 2023 8:01am
- John Loveridge
  
  I heard one of them on Red Radio yesterday. She was all but hysterical about climate change. All reason had gone.
  
  This is the way to deal with them though:
  
  https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pyBwYlxd3D4
  
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  September 5, 2023 2:22pm
- Ehlana
  
  In the interests of the climate, we should provide each of them with a tree, some flax and a selection of stones to work it. They can then create their own carbon neutral canoes to sail and row back home.
  
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  September 5, 2023 3:34pm
Grunter

Roy Morgan: ACT = 18%
Straight after the Nats announce a very weak tax policy.

Hate to say it – but “I told you so….”

ACT will crack the 20% mark on Oct 14th
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September 5, 2023 8:03am
- lifesgood
  
  Ahhhh…Roy Morgan, inaccurate since they began. Seriously, does anyone actually believe them?
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:41am
  - Grunter
    
    They were actually the most accurate 3 years ago at the last election.
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:50am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Yes, but they have had polls with TPM at 7% and YOP at 4 and Greens on 15 at the same time, they are bullshit the last year
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:05am
      - Grunter
        
        Of course only Oct 14th will tell who is right…… Bit harsh saying RM is BS. I guess most Labour and Labour-Lite voters will be saying that today….,
        
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        September 5, 2023 10:49am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    It wasn’t that long ago that they were referred to by those on the right as Rouge Morgan because their polls mostly favoured Labour and the left.
    
    I guess it’s like media bias – if both sides insist you favour the other, you’re probably in the right spot. I mean that for other countries, obviously – everyone knows the MSM here are all rabid lefties…
    
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    September 5, 2023 4:51pm
- slightlyrighty
  
  Is there a likelihood that Labour will poll below ACT come October 14?
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:02am
  - Ghost
    
    No, labour’s hardcore voter base will keep them well above act.
    
    Only accurate poll is election night
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:18am
  - Loddenthinks
    
    We can but hope, but I think Ghost is on the money here.
    
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    September 5, 2023 4:52pm
- ClanMcleod
  
  I’m picking NZF will get close to 8%.
  
  National are weak on a number of fronts, climate being one of the primary areas. That’s where Act are picking up votes.
  
  NZF filling the covid void left by both as predicted.
  
  Presumably National/Act are comfortable with their current numbers so will continue to pretend it didn’t happen. It’s certainly an interesting election, the total demise of Labour being the key win, a pity the Greens aren’t joining them.
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:30am
  - rockape
    
    Not sure right now we are talking politics. On 14 Oct we are picking a Government. That puts the squeeze on minor parties
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:18am
- Kiwiguy
  
  That will put ACT in a very strong position with National. The large yellow tail will be wagging the blue dog for sure.
  Maybe Labour voters should consider voting for National to help minimise ACT’s power? 😉
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:32am
Biscuit

Did I REALLY see Labour at 24% support in the latest Roy Morgan poll?
However will Chippie, Megan W, Tova, the ‘cartoonists’ at ‘Stuff’ et al spin THAT?
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September 5, 2023 8:03am
- Dougal23
  
  I don’t believe they are so high.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:05am
- Kiwiguy
  
  Yes, the news outlets are notably slow in reporting this poll. They’ll be struggling with the news and how to spin it.
  Bob Jones’ prediction is looking more likely with every poll.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:07am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Interesting that National is down 2.5 percent from last month. ACT up 4 percent to 18 percent.
  
  https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/9332-nz-national-voting-intention-august-2023
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:17am
  - James Stephenson
    
    I also note that with the most solid, sensible and thoughtful demographic (that would be us 50+ blokes) National + ACT are at at 66.5%
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:04am
    - rockape
      
      And in Wellington the Greens are ahead of Labour ,just. 20.5% v 20%.
      
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      September 5, 2023 11:20am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Don’t you mean ‘Wokington’ ?
        
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        September 5, 2023 1:30pm
      - John Loveridge
        
        What sane, reasonable person would want to live there?
        
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        September 5, 2023 2:25pm
  - coge
    
    Polling at 31%, National under Chris Luxon are playing a very weak hand.
    
    There are things they need to say, which will get them closer to 40%. They need to say them, as they are aren’t far from the twenties themselves.
    
    A general acknowledgement of their errors of judgement late ’21 early ’22.
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:23am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      I agree. If National falls to 29 percent and ACT hits 20 percent, that is a game changer. Even at current levels of support there is no way that ACT will accept trinkets in coalition negotiations. National is going to need to concede on some key policy areas.
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:51am
      - Warren
        
        There is only one result that maters that on Election night when the vote is counted, so dreams are for free until then. As the saying goes don’t count your chickens until they hatch.
        
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        September 5, 2023 10:05am
      - wsk12345
        
        It will get very interesting if NZF plus ACT are close to equal the National vote.
        
        Will this mean that net zero will be off the agenda? And the winding back of cofovernance might need to go much further.
        
        Not that I trust W1 at all but it’s getting interesting…
        
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        September 5, 2023 12:38pm
    - hullkiwi
      
      Roy Morgan has only two things correct. The gap between left and right & the slipping of Labour.
      
      The Act/National vote is not what Roy Morgan says. As a taster look at the TPU polls. None of them had Act that strong, even in the seat specific polls.
      
      The one reality is, that Act are gaining their votes from National, while National are winning over the swing voters…..
      
      I know this because I’ve been out there talking to people….not randomly calling people on phones.
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:00am
      - Colville
        
        hull.
        Its interesting that this poll could be a reaction to Nationals weak as piss lefty tax policy.
        With traditional National voters moving to a party that more suits them.
        Time will tell!!
        
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        September 5, 2023 12:51pm
      - Ghost
        
        I would guess since the tax policy was released august 29th, this poll doesn’t really cover it.
        
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        September 5, 2023 1:01pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      TPU soon and it will have them high 30s stop talking rubbish
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:07am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      coge – that ship has sailed. Total refusal to acknowledge historically destructive events.
      
      Though Act are the same, they are picking off National voters due to Luxon’s apparent total support for ludicrous climate policies and a general perception that he’s a bit ‘woke’ and wishy washy.
      
      Still around 10% undecided, Peters will get to 8% I believe.
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:38am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        The truth hurts……😂
        
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        September 5, 2023 10:56am
      - septic skeptic
        
        Clan, if Peters does get 8% and the balance of power, you should expect to see your dreams of a full and frank Covid inquiry disappear in a puff of exhaust smoke as Winston jets off on his first trip as foreign minister.
        
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        September 5, 2023 11:42am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      Never going to happen.
      
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      September 5, 2023 4:54pm
  - Grunter
    
    Most of us can see thru their spin. They are at best Labour-Lite. Their UN-led “Global Boiling” policies are just nuts and straight out of the socialists handbook.
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:54am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Luxon has stated the UN does not run this country, and he is the only leader I have ever heard say it
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:08am
      - mawm
        
        Luxon is right – the UN doesn’t run this country but he has chosen to follow the UN path. See the difference?
        
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        September 5, 2023 10:33am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        Luxon has also stated he fully supports Net Zero 2050. Complete insanity. Key signed us up to the UNDRIP.
        There is no apparent opposition to Agenda 2030, certainly not that I’ve heard publicly. Ashley Bloomfield is helping formulate the WHO Pandemic Treaty.
        
        We may not be run by the UN/WHO but they seem to have an awful lot of influence on policies no matter who is in power.
        
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        September 5, 2023 10:44am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        That is hardly a controversial statement.
        
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        September 5, 2023 12:53pm
  - rockape
    
    But, if you look back at the last few months of polls you will see that RM generally have ACT and the Greens a couple of points higher and the two main parties a couple of points lower than other polls taken around the same time. We should have another couple of polls out soon so it will be interesting to see if that is repeated.
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:10am
- Gravelroad
  
  They will spin it that if you don’t vote for us, your benefits, subsidies and “well being” considerations will be impacted. And your ram raiding kids might not find life so free and easy.
  Must admit, after seeing Mr Hipkins’ attacks on National’s people, I had not fully realised what a bitter, unscrupulous person he actually is behind the boyish facade he likes to portray.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:19am
  - Blog-aholic
    
    The set the tone with the CTU ad yesterday.
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:21am
  - Matt Long
    
    Interesting to hear Trotter say Hipkins showed his bad character many years ago in some Labour debate.
    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=RT5FIcgoybA&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fthebfd.co.nz%2F&source_ve_path=Mjg2NjY&feature=emb_logo
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:27am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      It is a hour long interview. Can you tell us the time stamp for his remarks?
      
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      September 5, 2023 8:55am
      - Matt Long
        
        Sorry Benedict, I was listening at double spéd while I wrote an opinion piece and only caught it in passing.
        
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        September 5, 2023 9:20am
      - Burtland
        
        discussion of the mean Hipkins at 50:00
        
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        September 5, 2023 8:20pm
  - mandk
    
    Like Ardern’s, the persona Hipkins adopts is fake.
    
    He likes to portray himself as a boy from the Hutt, hinting that he grew up in the gritty end of town, although it was actually leafy Waterloo/Woburn.
    
    He also said that there is nothing he likes more than to drop into the Cossie Club for a pint on a Friday evening, although the regulars say he hasn’t been seen there for years.
    
    One would hope that he gets a job in the real world after he loses the election, but he won’t. He’ll continue working as a politico, detached from the people he professes to care about.
    
    He is a socialist, after all.
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:32am
    - Tricati
      
      Hipkins is just plain nasty – Just ask Charlotte Bellis, the 2 woman he defamed over border crossing during lock-down, Barnaby Joyce over his dual citizenship in OZ, and now, telling people it was their choice over taking the covid vaccine, regardless if was going cost them their jobs, income and in some cases their businesses and homes if they didn’t.
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:42am
      - John Loveridge
        
        I will always remember the bitter pill I was forced to swallow (almost literally) when faced with an alternative that involved losing my clients and my livelihood. I will never forgive Ardern or Chippy for that. In fact, it’s a large black mark I’ve drawn on David Seymour’s scorecard as well, but so far he’s managed to keep the scales tipped towards him.
        
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        September 5, 2023 2:33pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      [Mod – learn to communicate without being vulgar and abusive]
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:14am
  - ClanMcleod
    
    Gravelroad – if you want to see a visual representation of just how unscrupulous Hipkins is, watch this 3 minute video in which he explains how nobody was forced to take the jab.
    
    Have a bucket handy to throw up in.
    
    https://twitter.com/c_plushie/status/1698340363482882398?s=20
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:52am
    - Scooter
      
      What is it with Labour and the muppets they put behind the PM etc, maybe it’s to actually distract from what waffle the PM is saying. Carmel is looking quite scary and as for the other one, proof we have aliens amongst us?
      
      https://images.app.goo.gl/BY1TSDUWtHyLvERG6
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:26am
      - Gravelroad
        
        That Ms Sepuloni is deemed to be worthy of the position of deputy PM shows the alarming lack of intellectual depth within the parliamentary Labour Party.
        
        44 1
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        September 5, 2023 9:33am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        Yes I thought that when watching the video, very androgenous!
        
        11 0
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        September 5, 2023 10:46am
    - Joely Doe
      
      Glad to know that the carjacker with a knife was not actually stealing my car
      I just made a conscious decision to hand over my vehicle
      
      Are Hipkins supporters actually that stupid?
      No need to answer that…
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:41am
    - Ruawai
      
      The jab is ‘optional’ but if you don’t get it you can’t go to work, hospital, restaurants/bars/cafes or visit elderly relatives. You can still go to the supermarket and stay home.
      
      8 0
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      September 5, 2023 12:14pm
  - Hollyfield
    
    Someone is saying that Act is cutting benefits and therefore also cutting the super. My elderly mother was quite worried about it, especially since both her children are voting Act, and her grandchildren voting either Act or National.
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:11am
    - Ruawai
      
      Act should cut benefits but keep super as many don’t retire with much money.
      
      4 0
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      September 5, 2023 12:15pm
      - Ghost
        
        So you want to cut all but the pension? assisted living? Child disability? Orphans? Veterans? Residential care?
        
        Or how about they focusing on getting job seekers into work
        
        2 1
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        September 5, 2023 12:34pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Labour is the nasty Party and this ginger prick proves it.
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:13am
  - coge
    
    Hopkins doesn’t look well. He may know he’s leading Labour to their biggest defeat on record.
    
    40 1
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    September 5, 2023 9:26am
    - Scooter
      
      He didn’t sound good being interviewed by Mike Hosking, trying to spin more than a ballerina. Most people don’t ever have to lie but to be a politician it must be hard wired in their DNA.
      
      33 1
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      September 5, 2023 9:53am
      - jon
        
        Hipkins will no doubt be in receipt of some non to flash internal polling figures, swirling round in his head.
        
        4 0
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        September 5, 2023 11:40am
      - Media hater
        
        Even by his abysmally low standards, he sounded clueless and dishonest on Hoskings this morning.
        
        7 0
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        September 5, 2023 12:13pm
      - Ruawai
        
        Hipkin’s said the reason there are more on the job seeker benefit is because there are more people that qualify for it, no shit Sherlock!
        
        8 0
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        September 5, 2023 12:18pm
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Almost feel sorry for the bugger, he’s taking a lot of Ardern’s poison. I did say ‘almost’.
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:48am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Hipkins has [former] NZ PM on his CV forever.
        
        That’s what he wanted. The details don’t matter.
        
        4 0
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        September 5, 2023 12:23pm
    - Bobba Fret
      
      Yes he’s a desperate man and is willing to do anything to retain power including spreading lies about the opposition. It is going to even dirtier.
      
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      September 7, 2023 12:13pm
  - herb1
    
    I was once asked to stand for Labour . I can assure you nastiness and backstabbing is the norm for anyone remotely successful
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:51am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Act at 18% Look out Labour, here comes your nemesis. Come Election Act may leave you in the dust – woo-hoo!!
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:23am
  - Vinicius
    
    I’m sure the CTU and Labour will have some snide attack ads ready to target Seymour. Go to say that Wagstaff dude from the CTU is a real doozy.
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:28am
    - herb1
      
      Very hypocritical of Wagstaff to be anti wealthy successful people. Where does he think his over the top salar comes from. Without the wealthy , successful risk takers , there wouldn’t be any workers salaries and wages to pay his fees.
      
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      September 5, 2023 11:54am
  - rockape
    
    Some months ago I said the long term future for Nz politics is 30% ACT , 30% National, and 30% Labour. So a bit like the UK was some time ago with the LIB Fems holding a powerful center block. For Lib Dems substitute National.
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:24am
    - rockape
      
      I should have stated that is a prediction for 2029.
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:19am
- john1234
  
  Labour are now in 3rd place behind ACT for male voters.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:24am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    They have been for some time in many demographics if you look
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:11am
- pdm
  
  `However will Chippie, Megan W, Tova, the ‘cartoonists’ at ‘Stuff’ et al spin THAT?’
  
  With viscous animosity probably.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:33am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  They don’t mention Roy Morgan, mind you it’s a bit different from all other polls again
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:37am
- Simon
  
  Chicken shit National at 31%. After six yrs of harm inflicted against NZ by Labo the mealy mouthed response by National to this harm shows everyone National’s true colours.
  
  Its going to be a tough year next year chicken shit national might not make it through. Cant make the hard decisions. NZ will need strong Act support.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:41am
  - Fuzzysnuggleduck
    
    Do you just come here to play with G from Dunedin?
    He should be along shortly.
    Otherwise, you almost needn’t shit-post as we can gather your angle and anticipate comments ahead of time based on weeks of the same pattern of emotive bile.
    
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    September 5, 2023 12:45pm
- redeye
  
  Here in Tasman our local Labour MP, Damien ‘we need more taxes’ O’conner is so confident they’re in for a belting that he has buggered of to the RWC while all his mates are campaigning.
  Which is kinda funny until you realise we’re the ones paying for his trip.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:53am
  - Colville
    
    I admire the mans gall.
    One last dip at the trough!!
    
    but he is in for a sad tourney…..
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:44am
  - rockape
    
    I haven’t seen many hoardings around Tasman yet either. I am sure they will come eventually. I gather this was his retirement year anyway.
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:03am
  - jon
    
    O’ Connor knows full well the suckers in West Coast Tasman will reelect him.
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:44am
- Positan
  
  NOTICE THAT – at 9.00am – the Roy Morgan poll results have yet to feature AS A HEADLINE or even as a sub-heading, ANYWHERE on the Stuff page online?
  
  This country’s “leading” media are as bent as a dud corkscrew.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:53am
  - RightNow
    
    Found some reports, but yeah Stuffed obviously trying to deny it.
    https://www.odt.co.nz/news/national/act-soars-labour-slumps-new-poll-low
    https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/8336043/labour-crashes-to-new-poll-low-as-nz-election-nears/
    https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO2309/S00024/new-zealand-nationalact-nz-up-15-to-49-in-august-and-on-course-for-victory-at-next-months-election.htm
    And the Horrid buries the headline but still kind of reports about it (they must be shitting themselves lol):
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/watch-doctors-and-dentists-strike-skycity-shares-take-a-hit-and-labour-support-sinks/DCKSXWEN3BEZ7OLUWHPUDYKAHQ/
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:38am
- Prince
  
  Easy.
  $1,000 payment to every person from April 2026, a ‘Citizen Dividend’.
  Funding ? Who cares – no one expects Labour to explain how they will fund things.
  Media, Unions and a few tame Economists on the payroll reaction, ‘Gamechanger’, ‘Brilliant initiative’, ‘Hipkins hits Turbocharge button’.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:04am
- rockape
  
  Could a situation be ACT and Labour both polling about 21% each, National on 30% and Greens about 15% Winston on the cross benches at 5% or a little more. Interesting days ahead. I feel a bit sorry for Winston if he has no influence at all after so long and this being his last fling.
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:27am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Never feel sorry for Winston. The old crocodile does not need your tears.
    
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    September 5, 2023 12:25pm
  - John Loveridge
    
    The second best thing that could happen for New Zealand is that this turns out to be Winston’s last fling.
    
    Never feel sorry for that mendacious old bastard. Never forget he was the one who dumped in this dreadful mess.
    
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    September 5, 2023 2:39pm
- Prince
  
  That was before Hipkins’ triumphant weekend, and the Union attacks.
  Malpass and the Labour man Vernon Small will continue with the ‘Hipkins has relatability, Luxon can’t be trusted’ line.
  
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  September 5, 2023 1:05pm
Maggie's partner

Hosking turns, spits on the ball, rubs it on his whites and runs in to bowl.

And that’s a beauty, rising sharply off a length, and Hipkins plays and misses, he really didn’t know much about that one.

Hosking in again now, Hipkins nervously tapping his bat, it’s short, lifts straight at the midriff and Hipkins wears it, he will have a lovely bruise from that one. He drops his bat and doubles over in pain and a ripple of laughter from the crowd echoes around the stadium.

Hosking waits patiently at the top of his run for Hipkins to resume his stance and then charges in.

Got ‘im, what a beauty, a fast inswinging yorker, Hipkins all at sea, plays over it and his stumps are flattened and he’s out.

Hipkins disconsolately makes his way back to the pavilion (and obscurity), to scant applause, and out runs Luxon, on debut, and looking ready for the task, swinging his bat with gusto and shaking hands with the fielders as “simply the Best” blares out from the PA system
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September 5, 2023 8:03am
- Opie
  
  Thats possibly the best post I have read on this blog
  
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  September 5, 2023 11:25am
  - Guy Preston
    
    No way.
    Johnboys
    
    Quardle ardle wardle doodle—–phil the magpie said
    
    series circa 2009 was an absolute masterpiece.
    
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    September 5, 2023 12:39pm
G152

All those unemployables back on the dole????
No doubt they think the numbers are transposed and its actually 42
ROTFLMAO
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September 5, 2023 8:06am
I remember when

“Tova O’Brien’s new Stuff podcast will be fairless….”

There, fixed it!
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September 5, 2023 8:07am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I’m going to repeat another Poster’s comment from yesterday, because it was so good:
  
  Frank and Fearless?
  
  Rank and Readerless
  
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  September 5, 2023 12:28pm
- John Loveridge
  
  They love to promote themselves with grand adjectives, these mediocre media hacks, don’t they?
  
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  September 5, 2023 2:41pm
Fisiani2

Labour support is falling fast National are seen as the rescue team and worthy of our vote
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September 5, 2023 8:08am
- Warren
  
  Apparently Grant Robertson had to make excuses about Covid and how than saved New Zealander’s in the first political finance debate between Nicola Willis ,Grant Robertson, David Seymour and Julie Anne Genter.
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/election-2023-insults-fly-in-first-finance-debate-between-nicola-willis-and-grant-robertson/WBGP2KRAMJF4RH6YOIJTXHJNVU/
  
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  September 5, 2023 12:51pm
Bridgenag

MUST WATCH
New Zealand PM denies vaccination was compulsory despite widespread mandates, redefines what words mean
[make sure you look at the Pauline video]
https://news.rebekahbarnett.com.au/p/new-zealand-pm-denies-vaccination?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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September 5, 2023 8:09am
- Scooter
  
  It’s going viral, excuse the pun.
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:05am
  - Mark Hanley
    
    WHY IS HIPKINS SUDDENLY DENYING COVID JAB COMPULSION???
    
    Perhaps he has been forewarned of damning studies and evidence?
    
    Perhaps NZDSOS’s veiled warnings they are coming after the covid jab Tzars has scared him?
    
    I implore you all to get behind NZDSOS!
    
    An excellent letter from NZDSOS to the police commissioner asking police to investigate the coverup!
    
    https://nzdsos.com/2022/05/24/deaths-following-c-19-vaccination/
    
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    September 5, 2023 12:22pm
- Debsta
  
  And yet the average punter out there appears happy with the silence and gaslighting. WTF.
  
  14 1
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  September 5, 2023 10:12am
  - Bevan
    
    Dont confuse media silence with the ‘average punters’ opinion. When political journalists state things like ‘the public doesnt consider this important’, what they mean is they asked three of their colleagues and pretending they represent the whole country.
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:09am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  If you can redefine ‘vaccine’ then you can certainly redefine ‘compulsory’.
  
  When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.’ ‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things. ‘ ‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master — that’s all.”
  
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  September 5, 2023 12:31pm
Bridgenag

My heretical epitaph
By Doug Brodie of Nairn

It grieves me that so many people still don’t realise that they are being horribly abused by our political class and unelected, unaccountable global agencies who all share the dystopian, never-justified mindset that human beings are a blight on the planet.

“Further political scourges which I won’t go into include collateral damage from the Covid plandemic: the cost-of-living lockdown crisis, high inflation, high taxation, run-down high streets, looming recession and a dysfunctional NHS; the disenfranchising of the electorate on vital areas of policy; the capture of the judiciary and the war on free speech (see below); the chaos of out-of-control immigration while public services crumble and homelessness soars; the chaotic BLM movement and woke trashing of Western “white supremacy” history; pushing smart meters to facilitate the ulterior motive of “demand-side” energy rationing.”

“As to my decades old hobby-horse of the climate change scam, I hope I have made clear that the Net Zero agenda is a monstrous, deadly dangerous junk science fraud. “

https://open.substack.com/pub/metatron/p/my-heretical-epitaph?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
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September 5, 2023 8:10am
kowtow

NZCTU says their ads have nothing to do with Labour and are all about the danger to workers’ rights ……….I don’t recall them doing front page ads making Ardern look like Big Sister when workers lost their jobs due to fascist mandates , their livelihoods due to lockdowns or their savings due to rampant inflation………

Like the rest of this regime the NZCTU are lying hypocrites.
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September 5, 2023 8:13am
- Colville
  
  The NZCTU seems to include Unions like E Tu and MUNZ etc that seem to be part of the
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Labour_Party#Affiliated_trade_unions
  who seem to vote for the Leader of the Labour Party????
  
  But I must have that wrong as Chippy and the Media have told me there is no link!
  
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  September 5, 2023 1:06pm
I remember when

Interesting Election hoarding observation from a journey through one Palmerston North suburb,
Labour Party seem to have the great majority of the signs.
Number that have been disfigured or damaged 0%.
Te Pati Maori, one sign, 0% damaged.
National Party, three signs, 66% (two) attacked with details largely redacted.
Act, one sign, some damage, 100%.
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September 5, 2023 8:13am
- Gravelroad
  
  Here it is the opposite.
  Lots of National and ACT signs – none vandalised -that I have seen.
  Have seen 2 Labour, several NZF, no Maori. 1 Green.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:40am
  - Matt Long
    
    There’s been one ACT hoarding demolished around Whangarei I’ve seen. Have the flu so haven’t been out much lately.
    Someone put RU on a couple of Labour signs which they’ve ripped off
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:59am
    - Fuzzysnuggleduck
      
      Heh heh, the “RU” has been added in more than one electorate it seems. Seen them on Twitter too.
      Great minds think alike!
      It is a kind of understated but clever alteration.
      
      I have seen ACT and National bill board vandalised here.
      ‘Fascist’ and ‘C–t’ put right across both ACT and National ones in a particular part of my city. Showing their class.
      Actually more Labour signs up in all the various suburbs around me/across town, not sure if National is waiting until closer to the election to put them up here.
      
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      September 5, 2023 2:09pm
  - hullkiwi
    
    In Kaipara, National have had more invitations from property owners for putting up signs than we have signs. We have a big electorate in Kaipara ki Mahurangi, but we’ve saturated the electorate. The other parties are restricted to putting signs on the permitted public spots (4).
    
    In ECB there appears to be only one candidate (Erica Stanford), I haven’t seen any other party signs in ECB. In North Shore (Kowhai/EC Road) all signs pulled down, even a Barfoot’s sign, on Sunset Rd (a public site) – all parties had signs – only the Labour sign was defaced. I even saw a National sign opposite the Sunnynook shops on Sunnynook Rd (it was not vandalised). Once upon a time it was Labour area in first the old ECB & then the Glenfield seat.
    
    So, in the North, the battle of the signs suggests the election is going one way only, and it is all National.
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:39am
    - John Loveridge
      
      I’ve wondered before whether this is a reflection of National’s brimming war chest vs Labour’s dismal donations to date.
      
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      September 5, 2023 2:44pm
- Colville
  
  I Remember..
  
  Palmy is a Red electorate… Uni students/lecturers and all the ex state servants at the CRIs..
  
  around where I am (Tukituki) all the Labour signs seem to blow over in the wind…
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:47am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    So that’s where Wellington’s wind had gone
    
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    September 5, 2023 12:34pm
- kiwikidsnz
  
  Around Wellington graffiti is on many ACT, some National, NZF & Conservative, no Greens or TPM
  
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  September 5, 2023 11:37am
Cassandra

Will we slide to a cold Fiji or will we move up to a cooler Texas? If the media has its way, particularly the Simon Wilsons and Tova O’Briens of this world, Fiji here we come. But NZ voters aren’t that stupid. Correction: SOME NZ voters aren’t dumb. But the next question must be for National: bula or y’all?
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September 5, 2023 8:15am
Maggie Pie

RANDOM IMPERTINENT QUESTION

Has the Green’s co-leader absolutely lost it?

“National/Act want to double Bus Fares for disabled people
in order to fund tax breaks for property speculators”

– James Shaw

WATCH….

https://twitter.com/NZGreens/status/1697154413348167749

[and what’s with all the strange body movements]
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September 5, 2023 8:16am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  He never had anything to lose Maggie. And when you are being led by the nose by nutty activists, whatever smidgin of credibility you had, is gone.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:19am
- Suze Wainwright
  
  Man, what does having a BA teach you theses days?
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:22am
  - JJ56
    
    It is partly in World Religions, so no doubt a lot about ethics and the like …
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:35am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Channelling Lange with his ‘smell it on their breath and it smells like petroleum’. Maybe he has been sniffing a bowser or two too many himself?
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:23am
- All_on_Red
  
  Bunch of children
  Its astonishing they Poll as high as they do. Still. I guess for ‘averages’ to work, there has to be those below average aka Green Voters.
  #makeit25
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:25am
  - Stellaboxer
    
    My sons partner is a Green voter. I would describe her best with an old term, she’s a space cadet. Academically makes sense so long as she is amongst her own kind but put with people with ideas outside her wishful thinking bubble and she simply stops making sense. The other thing that is striking about her is her complete lack of financial understanding or concerns.
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:35am
    - Cassandra
      
      It’s okay Stella, the Bank of Mum will come to the party. Won’t it?
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:34am
      - Stellaboxer
        
        Yes Cassandra she usually does but it ain’t me.
        
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        September 5, 2023 8:41pm
    - Colville
      
      Stella
      Dont worry…she will grow up and mature into a Labour voter 🙂
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:51am
    - crikey
      
      She sounds like an ideal Labour candidate Stella…
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:09am
  - kowtow
    
    Given the literally, unceasing weather catastrophism te media pahti engages in, it’s no surprise at all.
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:35am
- Gravelroad
  
  Mr Shaw would be better to take some time off and get out into the countryside, talk to the trees and smell some flowers.
  He has lost the plot.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:27am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    There is a serious side to that observation. James Shaw lives in central Wellington. He is on record as saying he does not enjoy driving motor vehicles. That raises a legitimate question. How much of New Zealand, and New Zealand people has he really seen, and met?
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:43am
    - Taieri
      
      How much of New Zealand, and New Zealand people has he really seen, and met?
      —————-
      
      There’s no time to see NZ people while the world is boiling…
      
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      September 5, 2023 8:46am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Probably alergic to pollen and fresh air.//
      Absolutely nothing in common with the working man.
      
      22 0
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      September 5, 2023 8:56am
    - ClanMcleod
      
      Most of Wellington is a bubble, detached from the rest of the country in so many ways.
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:04am
      - Prince
        
        I notice there are several Labour billboards around Wgton/Hutt, compared to the rest of the country.
        On the other hand, the latest Roy Margan poll has Greens higher than Labour in Wgton.
        Wgton Central and Rongotai could well turn Green this election.
        
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        September 5, 2023 9:15am
      - David Garrett
        
        Clan: Quite so…and the “Beltway” is a bubble within that larger Wellington bubble. Only the polis, their aides, and political tragics like us inhabit it.
        
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        September 5, 2023 9:23am
      - ClanMcleod
        
        David Garrett – yes, particularly that super weird bubble around Parliament, the Beltway. It’s like being on a different planet.
        I had a very good friend in Wellington for many years. Their many jobs have all been either directly with a government agency or relied on a government agency for the funding of it.
        It never seemed to me that this wonderful person had any actual job satisfaction, they seemed to be on a continuous cycle of ‘courses’ for ‘certificates’ and off on ‘team building’ jaunts around the country.
        
        We rarely discussed this, other than polite questions, ‘how’d the job?’ – ‘It’s ok, I get a bit extra since I did that course’.
        
        Then covid struck. My ‘very good friend’ who is super intelligent, wouldn’t accept any criticism of Ardern’s response, no matter how minor the criticism. As time wore on, the tyranny increased and Ardern became more vicious and her true personality was revealed, my friend and I sadly parted ways.
        I know they know things were wrong, but they were so embedded and invested in the whole circus they refused to openly say it – because they were part of the machine that enabled this.
        
        We haven’t spoken for 2 years. I miss my friend. It’s why I despise Ardern, Bloomfield and Hipkins in particular, but also have zero time for those who enabled it and still refuse to acknowledge what they did. That includes Luxon, but in especially Seymour. He still publicly states support for all that happened.
        
        I’ll be glad to see the back of this government, but the new lot certainly don’t fill me with any joy. I am very concerned about what will happen if Bloomfield helps the WHO get the ‘Pandemic Treaty’ they are working on.
        I’m particularly concerned at whether National and Act will go along with any directives that emanate from that group of unelected, heavily Gate’s funded technocrats led by a former terrorist.
        
        National and Act have said absolutely nothing to indicate that if another ‘pandemic’ comes along, they wouldn’t do the same as Ardern. In fact, based on their comments during the last circus, they would be acting even more totalitarian.
        
        Glad to see the back of Labour, I’ll reserve judgment on the next lot for at least a couple of years. I’ll be more than happy to sing their praises if they do the right things.
        
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        September 6, 2023 6:36am
    - Random T Person
      
      He does enjoy flying around in aeroplanes though.
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:12am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      See a lot from a plane.
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:16am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      How much of New Zealand, and New Zealand people has he really seen, and met?
      
      Gracious, are you implying that James Shaw is “out of touch”?
      
      Has the CTU targeted the wrong man?
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:19am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Pfsst. Flyover provinces.
      
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      September 5, 2023 12:36pm
    - rouppe
      
      Can’t see much of either flying at 10,000 ft in an airplane
      
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      September 5, 2023 1:07pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    He could start by hugging the bloody trees
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:49am
  - sirknz
    
    Ian Wishart has been pushing for James Shaw to fess up about his ‘credentials’ listed on his website, most notably about the company he ‘founded’ which he joined a few years after it had been incorporated and his BA from Victoria that he has listed but apparently never completed.
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:37am
  - Allan
    
    He has never had the plot IMHO. He most certainly has never inhabited the planet that I live on. The place would be a much better place if he and his fellow looney Greens were no where near Parliament.
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:06am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Has BMW Jimmy any proof? A quick search and I found nothing, but I am in a bit of a hurry.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:28am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    National is ending half price public transport for a bunch of people. Even after this, the subsidies for all PT users are enormous.
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:45am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Ahhh! That’s where the double fair comes from. Crafty bastard Shaw.
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:19am
      - hullkiwi
        
        Steve, there are two parts here.
        
        1. The Community Connect programme – paid for by Central govt that went live on 1 July. This scheme is giving free fares to school children (and disabled people), half price fares for those with a community service card (unemployed, & other beneficiaries), & reduced fares for under 25s.
        2. Auckland Transport still operates it’s Concessionary Fares scheme for tertiary students, school students, and senior citizens (free travel in afternoon peak).
        
        3. Free travel for SuperGold in the off peak is still in place and will remain so.
        
        So, Shaw and Chippy are playing scare tactics politics and talking BS as applied in Auckland.
        
        The origins of the Community Connect programme was in the Labour/Green’s agreement of 2017. Then it was called the “Green Card”. The programme does not have proper funding, because nobody knows the estimated impact of these services. It is anticipated it will add very little to public transport usage, as school kids and students are already using PT as are the disabled. It is not anticipated that there will be a surge in usage by the unemployed.
        
        What Shaw and co don’t get, is that people don’t travel from A to B just because there is cheap public transport. If someone has to go from A to B they are already doing so, either by car or if they can’t do that they go by PT (what a surprise).
        
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        September 5, 2023 11:15am
    - alloytoo
      
      Public transport appears to have become a bit of religion, with the central tenet being that “If we build it, they will come.”
      
      But will they come if they had to carry the true cost of the Public Transport, busways, cycle ways etc?
      
      In the age of digital personalization, we are still offering public transport in the bluntest possible manner.
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:27am
    - Warren
      
      The train from Waikato to Auckland a couple of times daily goes past my place and at the present time they would be unlikely to be a dozen passengers on board , really how can they justify keeping it going.
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:40am
      - hullkiwi
        
        Warren they can’t. The only time they get full patronage is either holidays or a set up for the media (tv cameras). If you believe the media spin, you would believe the service is always well patronised, it isn’t.
        
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        September 5, 2023 11:19am
      - zulumonster
        
        Headline in the Herald last week:
        
        “Auckland to Hamilton train: Te Huia passenger numbers up” … with some commentary on how the numbers were 30 – 50% up on June figures.
        
        Then the statement … “It was really exciting during the week when we offered free travel to see so many boarding Te Huia in Auckland to enjoy time in Hamilton …”
        
        Did anyone care to join the dots to understand why the numbers were up?
        
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        September 5, 2023 1:24pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Passengers are one thing. Paying passengers are something else.
        
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        September 5, 2023 7:12pm
  - plc
    
    I’d like to see proof he has a degree first….lying twat
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:51am
- Vinicius
  
  In one word Maggie.
  
  YES!
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:29am
- Biscuit
  
  Maggie, this is called FOMOOMNTCCF:
  
  Fear
  Of
  Missing
  Out
  On
  My
  Next
  Taxpayer-funded
  ‘Climate Crisis’
  Conference
  Freebie
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:29am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Well, he’s just secured the vote of all those Public Transport users with a disability.
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:34am
    - RoboRob
      
      Wow, at least 50 votes!
      
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      September 5, 2023 8:49am
    - Local Miller
      
      Which is a tiny number. See my comment further down the thread.
      
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      September 5, 2023 8:56am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Are the Nats not going to give more to those type of people? People that can’t work through no fault of their own
      
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      September 5, 2023 8:59am
    - Doc
      
      Take it from someone with first-hand experience. Members of the disabled community already have entitlements to substantial subsidies on public transport that are entirely unaffected by National’s budget. Eg. AT Total Mobility Scheme I’m disgusted by Shaw using them to score cheap political points.
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:05am
      - RoboRob
        
        Didn’t know that, thanks for he Info.
        
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        September 5, 2023 10:35am
      - hullkiwi
        
        Doc, I too have first hand experience of Total Mobility & I know how the scheme has been scammed over the years by the different parties (disabled users, taxi operators and the disabled bodies) that benefit from operation of the scheme.
        
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        September 5, 2023 11:25am
    - rouppe
      
      I see a lot of high end cars with the disability card in disabled carparks.
      
      Tesla the other day. Often a Lexus or similar
      
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      September 5, 2023 1:10pm
- Simon
  
  Shaw produced nothing for six yrs and is on the way out. This is performance theatre to retain leadership of the gweens.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:35am
  - Local Miller
    
    Not that he’ll be co-leader after the election. I can’t see them keeping him on in that position much longer.
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:43am
- Raphael
  
  I just want to know if he lied about having a BA
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:41am
  - RoboRob
    
    I would have thought a BA with an environmental focus would be one of the easiest degrees to get. In Canterbury many people take Antartic studies and feminist studies (not sure if the last is still true) becuase they have no / little assessment. Aka easy points. For someone like Shaw these were likely core papers 🙂
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:51am
    - JJ56
      
      No its ‘International Political Economy / World Religions’ but yes he doesn’t have a BA degree from VUW.
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:41am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Russian Civ
        
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        September 5, 2023 7:13pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Fear not….the country’s top investigative journalist is on it.
    And Ian is like a dog with a boner 😀
    
    https://twitter.com/investigatemag/status/1698768988208267283
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:52am
    - Tauhei Notts
      
      A dog with a boner would be more interested in pursuing a bitch, rather than a demented male politician.
      
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      September 5, 2023 1:49pm
    - Ghost
      
      Waste of time going after James. After the election he’ll be rolled by Chlöe and retire to bring in a new list person
      
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      September 5, 2023 1:57pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Yesterday I posted a link to a 2015 interview during which James Shaw stated that he did not complete his Bachelor of Arts degree at VUW.
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:59am
- Local Miller
  
  The ridiculous thing about James’ rant is that only a small fraction of disabled people use public transport. Pre C-19 I was using public transport every working day, twice a day and if I saw 10 disabled people on the various buses and ferries I caught over the 12 years I’d say that’s a lot. My daughter’s been a teacher in the disabled community for 7 years and by far the majority of disabled people who don’t have their own or a care giver/parent/partner transport use taxies to get around, almost always subsidised.
  What do they call this, putting up a strawman?
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:53am
- ClanMcleod
  
  Reminds me of my dad trying to dance to Chubby Checker in the 60s.
  How did he and the Greens get into parliament? Are 12% of the country that stupid? Our education standards are clearly in the gutter.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:58am
  - sirknz
    
    Are 12% of the country that stupid?
    ————–
    It sure seems that way…
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:55am
- Guy Preston
  
  Lets be honest, with that “Smells the desperation” comment, he was clearly trying to emulate Lange v Falwell… Poorly.
  
  Bugger… Blog-a-holic beat me to it.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:54am
- Scooter
  
  And Genter’s weird eyes behind him, too much wakybaky?
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:13am
- Master Mariner
  
  Maybe someone can ask for Shaws comments of the COP 28 chairman?
  https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/04/cop28-adnoc-to-spend-over-1-billion-a-month-on-oil-and-gas-for-years-global-witness-says.html
  Usefull idiots springs to mind.
  
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  September 5, 2023 11:29am
kowtow

Someone here said the media are obsessed with the Nats accounting for the tax breaks .

Last night tv1 news turned the NZCTU attack ads into a discussion of the tax plan . Today NZME Ferald is again full of it.

Is it a te media pahti ‘obsession’ or are they obeying the instructions of their pay master .
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September 5, 2023 8:18am
- geoff3012
  
  Nats should have known this was going to happen and had all the back up experts/calcs ready to chuck back at them but……….NO…fluffing and floundering….FFS
  
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  September 5, 2023 11:42am
Warren

Not what you expect to hear on crime in you district.
Police data reveals how many retail crimes across the Waikato, more than10 retail crimes are being reported every day so far this year and since October 2017a total of 22,556 retail.crime reports have been filed across the district. That’s according to Police data obtained by the Waikato Times outlining total retail crime incidents reported.
The data revealed more than 3,500 crime
Incidents are reported every year with 2022the high water mark with 4266 reported crimes.
I would think the Police Minister will find a excuse to dispute these facts like always it wouldn’t be this Governments fault.
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September 5, 2023 8:18am
- Local Miller
  
  Not their fault, it’s all because the new app has made it easier to report crime. //S
  
  This is their standard response. My question is then: How many of the crimes reported since the new app came out are being reported through the app?
  My guestimate is a small fraction.
  
  Now why has no one in the MSM asked that question?
  
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  September 5, 2023 11:48am
Matt Long

Roy Morgan has ACT on 18% and National falling 2.5 percentage points to 31%. This suggests that the electorate is disillusioned with both National’s form of socialism as well as the neo Marxist parties.
Winston is surging on the protest vote as the minnow parties fail to show any sign of viability.
All of which should be good news for the country, ACT with nearly 40% of the government should have the influence to push through significant reforms.
National has no effective coalition partner they can use to neutralise ACT as Key did with the Maori party and Dunne.
https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/9332-nz-national-voting-intention-august-2023
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September 5, 2023 8:19am
- Positan
  
  Funnily enough, in August last year, after 9 months of seeing virtually nothing in the way of policy from Luxon, I took a $300 bet with a mate that we would have an ACT/National – not a National/ACT government.
  
  The odds then were looking very long – BUT they’re looking so much closer now, every day.
  
  Thank you, Luxon – you’re my kind of un-reactive, non-oriented, non-instinctive party leader.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:47am
  - Ghost
    
    Ah, you’ll lose your money, act won’t be the main partner.
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:39am
    - mawm
      
      Are you suggesting Nats will go with Labour? /sarc. They are probably a better ideology match.
      
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      September 5, 2023 10:46am
- RoboRob
  
  I was thinking this morning that with the results as they are, we (right wing kiwi bloggers), need to talking to our lefty mates and suggesting that only a vote for National might stop Act having too much power!
  
  I know in the last election some National voters swapped to Labour to ‘keep out the crazy Greens’.
  
  ‘Only a vote for National and a strong National will keep the power of Act down, a vote for NZF first wont do that’, should be the message to Labour voters.
  
  btw. I am likely to vote Act but the lower we can get Labour in the polls the longer they will be out of government and the moer time to fix the current mess.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:56am
- artemisia
  
  National will be OK, even happy, to accommodate some ACT policies. ‘Because MMP’ will be the public reason of course. Betcha there are closed door meetings quietly happening.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:58am
  - crikey
    
    Artemisia: Yes, the good-cop bad-cop routine.
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:16am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Well if Act sit on the cross benches then we will be in utter chaos, time for act to wake up very quickly, or we might as well keep Labour
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:03am
- plc
  
  The growth in the ACT result particularly among men absolutely reinforces a lack of faith in National to enact meaningful economic change.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:05am
  - alloytoo
    
    Speaking personally, it’s their dogshit energy policy.
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:30am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Are the Nats not going to give more to those type of people? People that can’t work through no fault of their own Morgan has been the poll that has been furtherest out, hhez they had Māori at 6.5% snd Yop at 4% in one poll only for the polls to show the total opposite, not long for a correction with TPU soon
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:17am
- David Garrett
  
  Matt Long: Quite so. I remember like it was yesterday hearing Rodney in our caucus saying “There’s no effing way Key will do a deal with the Maoris; we are going to be the gate keepers; he won’t be able to pass anything without us…”
  
  And then the phone rang; it was Tariana Turia telling him that she had just concluded a C & S agreement with the Nats. Very smart politically on Key’s part, but an abandonment of one key policy: Abolishing the Maori seats, which in 2008 was both National and ACT policy. Never going to happen now.
  
  But you are right: on current trends at least, ACT is going to have more power in the next parliament than it has ever had before. Let’s hope they use it well.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:30am
  - RoboRob
    
    So few seem to remember it was also NZF first policy. For decades a simple members bill removing the Maori seats woulc have passed with NAT, ACT & NZF support. The problem was of course that one of the three were just lying about the policy and one other didn’t see it as a priority.
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:41am
- thirteenstars
  
  Well said.
  
  Even if you knock the margin of error off ACT’s result they still form fully a third of any coalition.
  
  No doubt the National focus group people need to refocus. Perhaps they’re asking the wrong questions. Perhaps they are asking the wrong people. All that money spent. All that tabulation and analysis. Down 2.5%. All that focusing.
  
  Perhaps just take a chance and talk to real Kiwis doing it hard and feeling like their country is being pissed on at every turn.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:34am
  - hullkiwi
    
    If you are relying on the Roy Morgan poll, then you are relying on sources that will give you false hopes for 14th October.
    
    Maybe you should get out and meet people outside your echo chamber.
    
    The mood amongst the public is very different to any previous poll I’ve seen (I’ve been a participant since 1978). The mood is one of hostility & loathing towards Labour and partners, the trend is to National. Act are riding National’s coat tails.
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:42am
    - thirteenstars
      
      “Maybe you should get out and meet people outside your echo chamber.”
      
      Jesus, what a sledgehammer retort. I might not recover.
      
      Opinion masked as fact. And opinions are like arseholes: everybody’s got one. Stop being so prickly and pretentious.
      
      Sanity check: ACT stole those votes, right?
      
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      September 5, 2023 1:50pm
Local Miller

The PM this morning on Mike Hosking couldn’t explain why Unemployment is down but there are many thousand more people on unemployment benefit. He was really making as ass of himself.
Doesn’t he know that unemployment is based on the household participation survey which is for most practical reasons pretty useless given you’re depending an people answering honestly, something that a lot of beneficiaries don’t seem inclined to do. Where unemployment benefit numbers are based on the hard numbers out of what I still thin of as WINZ.
In “simple” terms unemployment is down because fewer people are looking for work, not necessarily in work. And unemployment beneficiaries are up because these same people who said “no, I’m not looking for work” on the household participation survey are telling WINZ they are looking for work.
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September 5, 2023 8:19am
- Captain Mainwaring
  
  Chippie in that interview proved what a total numbskull he is. How could we leave such an idiot in charge of a country?
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:29am
- Hollyfield
  
  “Doesn’t he know that unemployment is based on the household participation survey ”
  
  I’m sure he does know, but he can’t acknowledge it and still spin how wonderful our low unemployment rate is, and therefore how successful Labour is at absolutely everything.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:33am
- Grunter
  
  Hipkins is sounding more and more like Biden everyday…..except only one of them has dementia.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:53am
  - alloytoo
    
    Which one?
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:31am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Do you not think he made an ass of himself yesterday showing TPU attacking Labour policy as opposed to playing the man
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:18am
Random T Person

Great to see the media really holding the opposition to account.
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September 5, 2023 8:25am
In Vino Veritas

I see the parasites from the CTU are now rolling out ads in all sorts of places including You Tube. You have got to love how Labour have made things exponentially worse for people that the CTU purport to represent, and the CTU then pump $100’s of thousands into supporting Labour. Just goes to show, getting a fat pay cheque is way more important to the intellectual pygmies at CTU than their members.
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September 5, 2023 8:25am
- Cinematic
  
  Labour seem determined to roll employment relations back to the 1950’s so it makes sense the unions will support them. I expect it will backfire spectacularly however. Kiwis don’t like such tactics, it reeks of desperation.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:43am
- RoboRob
  
  My wife is a union member (she pretty much has to be, before you ask). Union members should be disgusted by the amount of money and time that is spent propping up Labour.
  
  Hipkins and co are bald faced liars when they pretend they had no knowledge and nothing to do with the Union adds.
  
  p.s. does anyone have an idea of how much the Heral addvert yesterday might have cost?
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:44am
  - Captain Mainwaring
    
    Given the Hoorald’s political stance it would have been heavily discounted.
    
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    September 5, 2023 4:46pm
Drone

I hate to bring this up again but the Kiwiblog hosting provider is not up to the task. The website response times are awful at all times of the day.
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September 5, 2023 8:29am
- thirteenstars
  
  I agree.
  
  Seems to be hosted at Inspire in Palmerston North. Always thought it was at wordpress.com. Maybe they’ve changed hosts recently because yes, it’s been a poor experience for some time.
  
  WordPress-powered blogs can suffer from errant plugins that slow performance. The inline edit feature recently installed might have something to do with it.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:55am
  - RoboRob
    
    The in line editing is wayyyyy better then the previous system.
    
    I suspect they have database issues. As posts are kept the data is getting larger and larger which doesn’t help. That said paying extra for better hosting is an easy fix.
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:46am
    - thirteenstars
      
      It certainly is better but the point is a new feature can be a factor in a general slowdown. That said, I’m obviously not recording KB’s responsiveness versus its feature updates.
      
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      September 5, 2023 11:08am
  - Colville
    
    Shout-out to Inspire.
    25 years as a locally owned company. I just got the email .
    A help desk that actually helps!
    
    Well done James.
    
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    September 5, 2023 1:16pm
RRM

Help me out here, brains of Kiwiblog.

ACT finally got Mrs RRM’s vote in 2020, but then they completely lost it by failing to take a strong stand against the Vax mandates. She thinks they are a disgraceful little conservative farmers party now.

So she is back to being a total swing voter.
Thinks I’m a fool supporting National/ACT, says they’re for the bosses and people with yachts and batches, and for big box companies who want to pay min. wage while filling the country up with cheap plastic garbage from China. They’re not really for useful idiots like me…

A quick play with the National Party tax calculator vs the Green Party of Aotearoa tax calculator suggests she might have a point?

https://www.nationaltaxcalculator.com/2023
https://www.greens.org.nz/taxcalculator

I’d be $190pw better off if this greenie fantasy UBI was implemented.

I’d be about $40 per fortnight better off if the National tax programme was implemented.

A bit underwhelmed TBH NGL, I thought National were serious about tax relief for the squeezed middle, and $20pw just simply doesn’t seem like the great tax cut we’ve been waiting for.

I realize it’s a bit moot, because the National tax policy will actually happen if they’re elected, whereas the Green one will never happen because Green Party ideas ALWAYS get slapped down by the grown-up parties in their governments.

That sounds like desperate cope though, when I say it out loud talking to Mrs RRM.

Seymour had better come through for me with some stronger advocacy on tax reform..
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September 5, 2023 8:30am
- Matt Long
  
  The neo Marxists may offer you more in nominal dollars, but they always take more away by reducing your purchasing power.
  Is Mrs RRM feeling better off than 6 years ago?
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:45am
- Cassandra
  
  Mrs M sounds like a lefty. You’ve got an uphill task.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:53am
  - Che Guava
    
    I think she sounds quite onto it. RRM, can I get her number please?
    
    I voted Seymour in 2020, but his true colours were revealed during Covid.
    
    National are not worth validating by giving them my vote, any more than Labour are.
    
    I’m just looking forward to seeing some seriously distorted proportions in terms of what is normal. The electoral system needs some shock treatment, and it may very well get it.
    
    I’m at the point where it’s better to see some chaos to bring about change than hoping for change doing exactly the same as always.
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:32am
    - Graeme Hall
      
      There is a well known psychological weakness found among Market Traders, they fail because secretly they fear to succeed. After skimming some of the comments here on Kiwiblog it seems this fear is also alive & well in politics. Some who vociferously & constantly oppose the Left, now success seems close, are focused on reasons not to support the very parties that might displace this wretched Govt.
      
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      September 5, 2023 2:57pm
- Colville
  
  What price does Mrs RMM put on having an extra 3000 crims out on the street that were meant to be in jail?
  What price for a day long wait to be seen in the ED if you or your child were so unfortunate as to need it?
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:55am
- thirteenstars
  
  Income tax should be as low as possible but it’s a poor way to judge how much the government takes off in you in real terms.
  
  NZ tax rates aren’t terrible by world standards. Not great but not confiscatory. But look at the effect of GST, excise on petrol and booze, but especially on petrol. The cost of regulation compliance and employer liabilities for social policies, which are massive in NZ. Look at the subtle but real cost of paying for a health system that forces many Kiwis to pay for private care through insurance of straight out of pocket. And the effect of Green policies that force the cost of everything up because they target energy, new development and particularly housing.
  
  Case in point: the Greens agree that cities should be small and that the suburbs are evil. They agree that new land for housing use should be restricted and existing urban land more intensively used. This inflates housing prices and rents, including commercial rents. So look now at what people pay for mortgages. How much of a modern inflated mortgage payment is a hidden tax? Add that to your actual tax bill.
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:04am
- alloytoo
  
  All the tax policies are moot until PREFU, only then will we know how much shit we’re in.
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:06am
  - mawm
    
    Lots!
    
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    September 5, 2023 1:36pm
- Warren
  
  I for one respect your opinion RRM but be fair before you make a decision and the opening of the books on the 12th of September should give you a idea of whether or not we can afford to give more as it won’t be a easy ride for whoever wins the October Election.
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:22am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  If you assume there is a fixed amount of pie and the task is to divide it up, Labour/Greens policy will seem attractive.
  
  In fact the size of the pie is changing all the time, and it is the investment (or not) choices of wealthier NZers that determine how much it grows. People invest where they can get the best returns.
  
  If you don’t grow the pie, you get prices rising than wages as is happening now. No amount of redistribution can lift our overall standard of living under that scenario. Only a bigger pie can do that.
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:50am
  - hullkiwi
    
    It is not only growing the pie that is important. The other important factor is at what cost it has been to grow the pie. It is silly to grow GDP, while bleeding mony out the back door.
    
    The worst examples of this stupidity was the subsidising of the farming industry in the late 1970s/early 1980s. During this period, NZ was buying US butter, blending it and selling to mitigate the Yanks flooding the world butter supply, or the stockpiling of frozen lamb carcass because NZ was producing more lamb than the international market could buy at the price NZ was seeking. The cost of this overproduction was borne by the NZ taxpayer. Not clever economics at all.
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:58am
- Miritu
  
  Are you suggesting your vote is for sale? What about the bigger picture?
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:56am
  - kowtow
    
    Exactly .
    
    I vote for the party or parties that I consider will be the best for the country overall .
    
    Got very little to do with a few lousy bucks ( no I’m not rich , far from it ) .
    
    One also has to consider who’ll be the most inflationary , who’ll be best for the economy,societally , constitutionally etc
    
    And it sure ain’t Labour , Green or Maori whose policies are pure theft and radical left.
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:53am
  - RRM
    
    I’m not seriously considering voting the greens.
    
    But I’m feeding a family of 5 and paying a mortgage on one income, so the bottom line is hard for me to ignore. I hope this helps!
    
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    September 5, 2023 6:08pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Anyone with kids wants the best for their future. That sure as hell ain’t Labour or the Greens.
      
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      September 5, 2023 7:21pm
Local Miller

Also the PM this morning on Mike Hosking trying to explain that “technically” you did have a choice to get the jax or not. In the same way that a man with a gun to his head has a choice to hand over his money or not. Some choice !
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September 5, 2023 8:31am
- Blog-aholic
  
  The old two choices option where you either lose or you lose. Individuals never tend to win on technicalities (except cricket teams).
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:34am
- NK
  
  BS!
  
  All choice involves free will, not compulsion. That’s the fundamental thing ALL politicians lie about re the jab.
  
  A mandate and a choice cannot co-exist.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:45am
  - Sacha
    
    Ummm. I think you can choose whether to obey the mandate, or not.
    It takes courage to stand on one’s principles.
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:01am
    - David Garrett
      
      Sacha: It took more than “courage” to stand against a mandate if you were a family’s only breadwinner – and even if you were a joint breadwinner; most NZ households now rely on two incomes, not just one.
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:33am
      - Che Guava
        
        “…most NZ households now rely on two incomes, not just one.”
        
        And this is the situation defended by so many. I’m young enough that I don’t recall any different, but it is still a fundamental fault in a system when we are all slaves to the banks who have no time or ability to raise our children the way we should, if we even have children.
        
        I’m not a lefty by any stretch, but anyone who defends capitalism like it is a necessary state of affairs is so thoroughly propagandised it’s not even funny. The “socialism” v “capitalism” false dichotomy is a mental prison
        
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        September 5, 2023 11:39am
      - mawm
        
        Che – “I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies,” Jefferson wrote. ” If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around(these banks) will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.” – Thomas Jefferson.
        
        I guess we have reached that point.
        
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        September 5, 2023 1:46pm
    - Matt Long
      
      What do you say to the cafe owners who faced the choice of closing and firing their staff or complying with the mandates?
      It was easy for people like me who work outside to avoid the mandates but many were faced with starker choices.
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:49am
    - Colville
      
      Sacha.
      Takes quite a bit of courage to lose your job and default on your mortgage…
      
      Cardboard boxes aint what they used to be back in my day!
      
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      September 5, 2023 9:57am
    - Flossie
      
      It sure does take courage to have principles if your job hangs in the balance. My partner had a choice – jab or job?? He chose jab, albeit reluctantly. We did have financial commitments like buying food and paying energy bills just for example.
      
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      September 5, 2023 11:03am
    - burt
      
      Sacha
      
      So those woman who were told ‘No Jab – No Job” by Harvey Weinstein, they had a choice and they made it so he did nothing wrong?
      
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      September 5, 2023 11:54am
      - Fuzzysnuggleduck
        
        Hahah. I see what you did there.
        Hashtag MeJabbedToo.
        
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        September 5, 2023 2:30pm
    - Drone
      
      I’ts disingenius to suggest that NZlanders had a choice about whether or not to take the “jab”. politicians, the medical profession, and the media basically painted a daily picture about people dying, and how thousands would die if we didn’t have the “jab”. There were restrictions put in place on freedom of movement, schools were closed, sports events cancelled, and the daily broadcasts from the Beehive theatrette included the number of deaths and infections. All of which created fear in the minds of the people by painting a picture of a virus so deadly that if you got it you would die. Sure it was a choice, but not a really a “free” choice.
      
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      September 5, 2023 12:09pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        I never got the jab during the “terror” and never got covid; my wife got the jab & never got covid during the “terror”.
        Back in June this year, my wife went to staff function at her work (pharmacy) and caught covid. She gave it to me – heavy chest cold for 3 days -no other symptoms – then life as normal.
        My wife jot the jab purely because she would have lost her job.
        Pfft.
        
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        September 5, 2023 1:55pm
      - miltonF
        
        Do you know what is funny?
        
        The fact that more unvaccinated have caught the virus from “vaccinated” people, than vice versa, “vaccinated” people catching the virus from unvaccinated.
        
        It turns out we should have been protecting the unvaccinated from the “vaccinated”.
        
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        September 5, 2023 3:36pm
  - Tom Hunter
    
    Reminds me of this great cartoon about Sharia Law
    Opening quote: Unarmed guy: Hey, would you give me Sharia Law
    
    Exit quote: Unarmed guy: Please understand I do not condone this guy’s actions, he does not represent me.
    
    But you should probably do as he says
    
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    September 5, 2023 10:18am
- Matt Long
  
  The mandates are a non issue for this election we keep hearing, yet Twitter/X is full of posts by very angry people upset by Hipkin’s continuing lies.
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:48am
  - Lee C
    
    The mandates are a non-issue for those who surrendered to them.
    
    …. Defacto apologists.
    
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    September 5, 2023 8:55am
- RRM
  
  It was the Harvey Weinstein choice.
  
  You don’t **HAVE** to do this… but you’ll never work in this town if you don’t…
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:54am
- RoboRob
  
  Yeah, had this arguement many times with my work mates (and I was pro vax), I said its essentially compulsory and their answer was always ‘you can choose not to get it but you also choose the results’.
  
  I understand there are effects of any decision but the way the vax was setup there was essentially no choice.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:00am
- Master Mariner
  
  Sorry on phone.
  However pauline hansen has a great reply about volutary vaccines in OZ.
  If interested there is a Youtube video on this.
  Replying too Pfeizer execs.
  Well worth the watch.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:00am
- Gravelroad
  
  The parliamentary Labour Party, under the leadership of Ms Ardern and Mallard, got completely carried away with hubris and vanity.
  That they thought it a real laugh, let alone appropriate, to treat ordinary people with utter contempt and disrespect at the anti mandate protests tells a story of just how full of themselves they were – and are still.
  They treated the people worse than animals in a paddock because they dared to question the vaccines and the mandates.
  As a farmer, if I played loud music day and night at a paddock full of cows or sheep, with calves and lambs at foot; and turned hoses on them for long periods,
  I would probably be investigated for animal cruelty, fined and possibly have the traumatised stock confiscated.
  That National went along with this showed a certain lack of courage also.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:10am
  - Lee C
    
    “a certain lack of courage also.”
    
    Sorry Gravel road, but that sentence has a redundant article in it: It should read ‘certain lack of courage also.”
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:14am
    - mawm
      
      I think “complicity” is the word you are looking for. ACT included.
      
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      September 5, 2023 2:26pm
  - kowtow
    
    All of this was done under the cover of a very approving media .
    
    They never held ( still don’t power to account) they actively encouraged extremism and fascism , under the guise of caring kindness.
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:16am
- Scooter
  
  Excellent interview, Mike Hosking was all over Hipkins who didn’t have a reasonable answer. No wonder Ardern ran, Hipkins knows he can’t leading up to the election. I think his comment about the vaccine being a choice will bury him. Maybe if you were earning 500k a year you could say nah I won’t get vaxx’d and wait and see what happens but an average person depending on work, or even going about normal life it might make it a more vital and immediate decision.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:11am
  - David Garrett
    
    Scooter: Exactly. See my comment above.
    
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    September 5, 2023 9:34am
- Yvette
  
  And of course regarding the vaccination choice dividing New Zealand society. Ardern in her famous interview line agreed that was the situation –
  It is what it is, she said, Yep!
  Ardern has since disappeared from the face of the Earth – buggered if I know whether she is even in the country – and note that the media seem to treat her as persona nongrassyass, and seek no comment from her whatsoever on Labour’s polling or policies.
  But Hipkins, who stood beside her, remains
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:40am
- Bridgenag
  
  Have a look at my post of 8.09 [actually 9.30 or so
  
  https://news.rebekahbarnett.com.au/p/new-zealand-pm-denies-vaccination?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:45am
Lee C

https://twitter.com/c_plushie/status/1698340363482882398?t=GhXnyT_YH6qEdWzHZYqorg&s=01

Lies about the Mandates.

Suck it up and hang your head in shame when you realise how you were played.

Get vaxxed!
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September 5, 2023 8:52am
- Bridgenag
  
  Just had an email back after I had sent out the videos of the mandate roasting.
  Thanks for your email – in retrospect, it is surprising how well mandatory vaccination was accepted by the general population.
  The email is an effective presentation.
  
  Kid you not….not sarcastic either. …. I despair
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:50am
- Winsome Peters
  
  Damn right ! And made worse by the knowledge that ALL of these health agencies internationally knew by April 2021 that the vax was useless. i.e poor durability and efficacy.
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:35am
  - alloytoo
    
    Ardern was confronted with this data by a journalist, she ran and hid in the loo while he was “removed”
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:33am
Chuck Bird

David Seymour: The Unspoken Reality – Leadership Challenges Threatening New Zealand’s Future

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CeHsURQsNaM
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September 5, 2023 9:10am
Maggie Pie

A bestie said she spotted this Billboard on her way back to 09 😀

The comments are hilarious!

https://twitter.com/IpscVictoria/status/1698457708280590464
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September 5, 2023 9:13am
Master Mariner

https://www.interest.co.nz/public-policy/124050/murray-grimwood-assesses-future-energy-options-new-zealand-back-ministry
This should be in every politicians sight and media included.
Good to see it finaly making to mainstream media.
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September 5, 2023 9:15am
Gravyman2

And for the first time in NZ history senior doctors go on strike today. Well done Mr Hipkins…
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September 5, 2023 9:32am
- Maggie Pie
  
  5000 senior Doctors and 200 Dentists employed by Te-Watu-Ora.
  
  “FREE dental care for every New Zealander”
  
  – NZ Green Party.
  
  LOL!!
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:48am
oldpark

Noticed an interesting Phenomenon in the latest Roy Morgan Poll .
There is a line there that says Green Party Support .
How to believe that a minor Commie type of Party who daily attack our Farming Community verbally and with Legislation with not even a care in the world if NZs main source of Income which is generated by the hard working Farming Community is lessened in the out of control so called Climate Change.
NZs young Women between the age of 18 -49 National /Labour support such a disastrous attack on the Farming Community whether they are aware of it or not when they support the Commie Greens. With their debatable kneecapping of the farming Community . It certainly is up to now an unexplainable Phenomenon. Maybe a wee bit of study who or what generates the income for the food on the table and way of lifestyle in NZ .Certainly not the obnoxious Commie Greens .

Wonder what part of Third World would they accept if the Commie Greens get control of NZs Government Treasury Benches .
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September 5, 2023 9:37am
- rockape
  
  When the Greens are sitting on the opposition benches with no power then their support will slide away. I suspect Labour too will poll lower in 18 months than they do on election day.
  
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  September 5, 2023 9:57am
  - Local Miller
    
    One of my dirty little secrets is that several years ago I worked for a company giving IT support to Green Peace. During one of my times on site trying to fix some database issues I was told the reason they need this fixed is because they are struggling to follow up on donors, because they find the majority of their donors are one time donors. Something like 90% of their public donors give once only and then never again.
    Says something about what people really think of the “green movement”.
    
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    September 5, 2023 2:16pm
- kowtow
  
  Easily explained by the growing urban/rural divide .
  
  And it’s always been thus.
  
  Look at most extremist movements ; they hate private ownership and also it’s very easy to create a “hate” outgroup such as landlords , “wealthy” farmers .
  
  Here in NZ that has been a lefty trope since forever .
  
  Love the striking dockers (urban working class) hate the farmers ( rural wealthy )
  
  And today aided and abetted by an extremist media we have “the farmers killing the planet and shitting in our rivers” , while the people who say that fly overseas on holidays , get driven to school or whose poo literally ends up on the beaches every time it rains.
  
  Etc
  
  Now comrade , join us or it’s off to the gulag .
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:18am
- Tom Hunter
  
  You’re missing the point. The Greens would be quite happy to destroy our farming industry and have us become the Cuba of the South Pacific.
  
  Appeals along the lines of Don’t you see how how damaging to the country this will be fall on deaf ears because damage is exactly what they want.
  
  Think Year Zero; it was a primary component of almost every communist revolution long before the Khmer Rouge; the old must be smashed first.
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:28am
  - Winsome Peters
    
    The Khmer Rouge was a good example of a “hard” communist revolution. What were are all experiencing is a more insidious “soft” communist revolution – but the goal is, as you state, the same – all traditional cultural and societal mores and institutions need to be trashed and destroyed, and then the left get to claim victory amongst the rubble. Leftism / liberalism is in essence a deconstruction project.
    
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    September 5, 2023 11:01am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Sri Lanka
  
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  September 5, 2023 8:20pm
Diogenes

If the political polls continue their current trajectory, we could face the possibility that Act and Winston could form a government without the need of National!

In which case, I am sure that we would discover that Winston and David have really been lifelong buddies, and it’s just been schoolboy play tussling that’s led everybody to believe otherwise.

But maybe David is one person who could hold Winston’s feet to the fire in the process. I fear that no-one else could.
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September 5, 2023 10:10am
- Jack5
  
  That would be an interesting test of MMP: a government with only one electorate MP, and none if he resigned or suffered some serious health misfortune.
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:27am
  - Steve Todd
    
    That would be an interesting test of MMP: a government with only one electorate MP, […].
    
    Fortunately, Jack, it can’t happen, as there are 72 Electorate MPs, leaving 71 (59.17% of 120 MPs) for National, Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori to win between them. In other words, 49 seats are not enough to form a government.
    
    Let’s say the official Effective Party Vote percentages are—
    
    ACT NZ 35 (with 1 Electorate seat)
    NZ First 17 (with no Electorate seat)
    National 23 (with 46 Electorate seats)
    Labour 15 (with 22 Electorate seats)
    Greens 7 (with 1 Electorate seat), and
    Te Pāti Māori 3 (with 2 Electorate seats)
    
    These percentages would give ACT NZ 42 seats out of 120 (119th highest quotient); NZ First 20 (114th highest quotient); National 28 (120th highest quotient); Labour 18 (118th highest quotient); Greens 8 (107th highest quotient); and Te Pāti Māori 4 (117th highest quotient). (I put these percentages and Electorate seat numbers through the Electoral Commission’s MMP seat allocation calculator, here: https://elections.nz/stats-and-research/mmp-seat-allocation-calculator/.)
    
    But National has 46 electorate seats (an 18-seat overhang) and Labour 22 (a four-seat overhang). Therefore, the new Parliament would comprise 142 MPs, 72 Electorate MPs and 70 List MPs.
    
    Consequently, ACT NZ and NZ First, with a total of 62 seats, would still be 10 seats short of a majority. Surely that would mean that National (46 seats) and ACT NZ (42 seats) would discard NZ First and form a majority coalition government with a 17-seat majority in a 142-seat House.
    
    In other words, if there is a change of government after 14 October, there is no way National cannot be part of the new governing arrangement.
    
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    September 5, 2023 12:59pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      Correction: […] and form a majority coalition government with a 16-seat majority in a 142-seat House.
      
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      September 5, 2023 1:15pm
Diogenes

Dear Mods – if I have posted a duplicate comment, please delete the second. My browser has been playing up, and I accidentally hit the “post” button twice.

[Mod – the blog is a little slow, so it will be causing your issues not your browser]
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September 5, 2023 10:12am
Chuck Bird

I would be sure Shaw would not debate with Dr Koonin.

The Inconvenient Truth About Climate Science — Steven Koonin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrJOp7ahrDw
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September 5, 2023 10:13am
Paul Marsden

Does Luxon and Seymour have the political nouse to capitalise on Hipkins claim that the jabs weren’t mandated, by issuing an apology to all New Zealanders (that with the benefit of hindsight), they were wrong in supporting the Labour govt at the time? About 30% of NZ’rs think so, so there’s a truck load of votes looking for a home right there.
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September 5, 2023 10:13am
thirteenstars

On Breakfast this morning the blonde talking head who recently had to apologise over misleading comments (Seymour?) had a hard-hitting piece about a Napier knitting club being told by a local pub that their “vibe” was not a good look for the establishment.

I think the word “cancelled” was used.

Yet not a bloody word these recent months about the likes of Julian Batchelor being cancelled all over the country because the thugs in anti-free speech activist groups have threatened violence or in many cases used violence to intimidate venue operators.

That’s NZ in 2023, folks. Damn freedom of expression and for God’s sake, don’t frighten the knitters.
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September 5, 2023 10:17am
BeaB

Why is the Herald running such a relentless anti-National campaign? Nothing at all about Labour debt, non-delivery, shallow talent pool, fantasy dental plan, lies and corruption. Not a squeak. Even their cartoonists bravely hold the opposition to account.
No-one even asked why they wheeled out at their campaign opening ancient Helen Clark instead of their starry princess Jacinda?
Is it the millions they have had shovelled in to them in government funding?
Are they pro-Labour?
I have no problem with party-aligned news media as long as they are up-front about their bias.
I subscribe to the Herald (an old , very cheap sub) mainly for the puzzles now. If they do want to support Labour, just let me know and I can find a crossword elsewhere.
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September 5, 2023 10:30am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Millions and millions and the fact that 80% of journos lean left so it fits their modus operandi…..make loads while being lefties.
  
  24 0
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  September 5, 2023 10:39am
- Gravelroad
  
  As before, it is mostly all about the money.
  A few more very expensive wrap-around adverts from Labour Party supporters could be in the pipeline.
  The managers at the Herald wouldn’t want to risk putting income from this under threat by suddenly talking about opposition policies in a balanced and unbiased fashion.
  Also, deals could have already been done around more public funding for “journalism “ – if the media work hard to ensure Labour is re-elected.
  Reporting the news without fear or favour so that the readers purchasing the paper can make up their own minds about content is a value of the past, I’m afraid.
  
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  September 5, 2023 10:47am
- NothingLeft
  
  Right wing readers have long since abandoned MSM. They are no longer the customer. Editorial biases follow that commercial reality – conforming to the beliefs of their much diminished readership.
  
  18 0
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  September 5, 2023 11:01am
- Miritu
  
  If you still subscribe to The Herald you are part of the problem.
  
  15 0
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  September 5, 2023 11:08am
- kowtow
  
  Beab
  
  You’ll be a member of your local library .
  
  checkout pressreader .
  
  ps You’re still paying for it through your rates .
  But you can end your sub , one more small victory for democracy .
  
  10 0
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  September 5, 2023 11:35am
- mogg
  
  Daily Telegraph from London quite often will offer access to their puzzles and big range of crosswords for £5.0 per annum, their cryptic crossword has become a way of life on the underground.
  Another thing for those who doubt the wisdom of Luxon’s very centreist approach to this election,just look at the contrived arrangement between TUC , Media and Labour over yesterday’s full page, add to the point where Lynch was saying”he shouldn’t be in politics”, “ doesn’t like it when the boot is on the other foot” etc. Given the least excuse the MSM will be onto, Climate denier, Racist, Hate speech, Anti trans. etc, looking for any excuse to continually drag his name through the mud. Far better to leave it to Seymour.
  Stephen Joyce is a smart political operator and very Media savy, that’s why I think his finger prints are all over National’s campaign this time.
  
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  September 5, 2023 1:44pm
  - Steve Todd
    
    Steven Joyce
    
    (C’mon, it’s so easy to google people before posting, to make sure we have the correct spelling of their names.)
    
    1 1
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    September 5, 2023 5:19pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Trump Rapping?

https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1695797472663068697
6 2
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September 5, 2023 10:46am
Maggie Pie

And I’ll tell you who my partner really hates…..
people that ask for quotes.

Just saying.
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September 5, 2023 10:48am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  When I was at work there were retail prices but never quotes on repairs.
  Take a boat trailer. Needs work on brakes. I don’t know what I am going to replace until I get inside the caliper. Pads, guide pins seized, piston seized. Had a burn out so the caliper gets hot and shrinks – the piston won’t move freely. Sometimes just throw the calipers away and fit new ones.
  This is why I never likes issuing a 3 year WOF on a new boat trailer. Salt water kills things to the point of being dangerous. Owners spray penetrating oil over everything – makes it worse. Fresh water is all that is needed.
  
  Never quote on something like that unless you want to lose money.
  
  11 1
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  September 5, 2023 11:08am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Yes my partner works on the old adage….
    ‘If people have to ask for a quote, they can’t afford it’
    
    4 3
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    September 5, 2023 12:42pm
    - Local Miller
      
      Well sometimes people want a quote to see if the work is worth doing. I recently had a quote to get my yacht refurbished. They gave me a nice high number, and when I didn’t blink or choke on my coffee, they gave me a range with the high number as the upper limit and “depending on what we find when we open her up”.
      If their quote had gone much higher I would have told them to just clean her up and get her ready for resale and be done with it. Not because I couldn’t afford it but because we’d be wasting money doing the work.
      
      4 0
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      September 5, 2023 2:33pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        You can’t give a quote until you find out what is going on inside, and what is needed to repair it.
        Something new is a fixed price.
        
        2 1
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        September 5, 2023 2:40pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrEgGE2oO0U
Jaiden the Chad Removed from Class in Colorado Over a Gadsden Flag
The ‘teacher’ hasn’t read the Bill of rights, or the constitution. Jaiden, and his mom have. And, the Supremes [not gladys Knight and friends] have let kids wear whatever they want to school since 1969.
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September 5, 2023 10:58am
- Ghost
  
  Here’s an article. Watching the video of the meeting such a well dressed, well behaved kid by the look of it
  
  Article
  
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  September 5, 2023 11:05am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  For those who don’t know, the Gadsden Flag is a yellow flag with a rattlesnake and the words “Don’t tread on me” on it. Also refers to the 13 Colonies. The flag that has red and white stripes and 13 stars also represents the 13 Colonies – the Betsie Ross Flag.
  The mentally challenged left see it as a form of slavery and racism.
  
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  September 5, 2023 11:21am
- emmess
  
  Smart move by the woke morons
  Attacking a Metallica song
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKyA3x_yh9A
  
  4 0
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  September 5, 2023 12:20pm
- Local Miller
  
  The teacher also didn’t know her history. She and the school got seriously put down by the Mom and kid. The school put out a press release acknowledging that he can come to school with pretty much anything he wants on his backpack.
  
  2 1
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  September 5, 2023 2:37pm
Benedict Yu

Just for fun, I ran a scenario using the Electoral Commission MMP seat calculator using these assumptions:

Labour gets a Party Vote of 28 percent.

It loses 13 seats – that is all seats with a majority of less than 4,000, plus one of the Wellington seats to the Greens – either Wellington Central or Rongotai, which is plausible. That gives Labour 33 electorate seats. They would only get 2 List seats – Robertson and Tinetti.

Verrall, Jackson, Prime, Rurawhe, Little and Parker – would all be out of Parliament.

https://elections.nz/stats-and-research/mmp-seat-allocation-calculator/
24 0
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September 5, 2023 11:02am
- Ghost
  
  If labour lose Grant will retire.
  
  14 0
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  September 5, 2023 11:08am
  - Diogenes
    
    That would be a win-win all round.
    
    18 0
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    September 5, 2023 11:11am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    And do what? He is only 51 years old. His entire life has been politics.
    
    13 1
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    September 5, 2023 11:37am
    - Flossie
      
      Does anyone really care what he does post October?
      
      15 0
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      September 5, 2023 12:01pm
    - NK
      
      He can go and work for Black Rock as their CFO. I’m quite keen for that firm to be brought to its knees like he’s done to this country.
      
      9 1
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      September 5, 2023 1:18pm
    - Matt Long
      
      Appointments to various boards,
      Air NZ, NZ Post, they seem to take whatever comes as Mayor of Wellington these days.
      
      7 0
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      September 5, 2023 1:41pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  Good god don’t play with us.
  
  8 0
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  September 5, 2023 11:10am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Bring it!!
  
  9 0
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  September 5, 2023 11:24am
- Swifty
  
  Delicious!
  
  9 0
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  September 5, 2023 11:32am
- emmess
  
  Labour will win less than twenty electorates.
  
  6 0
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  September 5, 2023 12:22pm
- Steve Todd
  
  […] or Rongotai, which is plausible.
  
  Wellington Central is certainly plausible, but not Rongotai.
  
  I say this yet again; Rongotai is safe-Labour.
  
  2 2
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  September 5, 2023 1:29pm
Swifty

A brief reminder of the disgraceful bile spewed by Labour’s very, very close bedfellows, the CTU, and how they actively promote hatred, division and contempt – in this case aimed at New Zealand Mum and Dad business owners.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YQBVWmgJZUw&pp=ygUfbmV3IHplYWxhbmQgZmFpciBwYXkgYWdyZWVtZW50cw%3D%3D

If I posted something similarly contemptuous of, say, gays, trans or Maori, I’d likely be arrested.

But hey, it’s different when the left do it.

I hope they are totally obliterated in the election. Gone for a dozen years or more.
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September 5, 2023 11:27am
- Local Miller
  
  So funny that the setting was back in the early 1900’s because FPAs will put NZ back 100 years.
  
  3 0
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  September 5, 2023 2:44pm
  - Swifty
    
    That’s my belief.
    
    1 0
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    September 5, 2023 3:37pm
NothingLeft

Must watch video of Eric Weinstein distilling so much of what is amiss with the world and its failing institutions with his usual genius. He’s truly without peer in seeing the socio/economic/political pathologies at play in our world: https://youtu.be/LJxBnSyH0T4
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September 5, 2023 11:32am
Maggie Pie

Just had to have a wee larf to myself….

When we were listening to Kate on ZB earlier, there was an item about 2 climbers rescued off Mt Ngauruhoe, who had spent the day lost on the mountain in freezing conditions dressed only in tee-shirts and jeans 🙁

First thing my partner said was…
“Bet you a buck to a pinch of goat shit that they’re Asians”

https://twitter.com/NewshubNZ/status/1698836224205795823

Well lo & behold LOL!!
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September 5, 2023 11:44am
- Swifty
  
  I was only praising historic Chinese immigrants as recently as yesterday on here – yes, the more recent arrivals aren’t made of the same stuff.
  
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  September 5, 2023 11:59am
  - Maggie Pie
    
    We see them all the time round the Bays running into the water for a swim….fully clothed 😎
    
    3 2
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    September 5, 2023 12:40pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Observation from SE Asia.
      
      Many go in to the water fully clothed.
      Its not real swimming more like paddling around with their feet on the ground.
      
      Its all about culture and embarrassment to show their skin.
      
      6 0
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      September 5, 2023 3:11pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Tucker Claims Assassination of Trump Around the Corner. Vid 2 minutes.
Biden is not running the Country, Obama is. There is someone who destroys to get what they want, and we all know who that is. You can’t tell me the Dems have not thought of this. There will be mentally unstable people being groomed now.
The Dems want to keep their swamp. Been going on for decades.

https://uniondailypost.com/tucker-claims-assassination-of-trump-around-the-corner/
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September 5, 2023 11:47am
- Che Guava
  
  “Biden is not running the Country, Obama is”
  
  Oh, Steve. Obama didn’t even run the country for the 8 years he as president. The United States is run by Wall Street, the US Federal Reserve, and organisations like the Council on Foreign Relations. The so-called Madisonian institutions long since gave way to unaccountable unelected groups.
  
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  September 5, 2023 12:00pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    By running the Country I really meant keeping the corruption going.
    
    4 2
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    September 5, 2023 2:45pm
    - mawm
      
      Che – Neither has the necessary skills. Some investment whizz is setting up their trusts and dummy corporations to hid their ill gotten gains. The deep state runs the administration, Wall St and big corp write the bills for Congress. The Senators and Congressmen pitch up in suits, and vote aye for the appropriate bill as arranged with their sponsors. It’s all a money-go-round.
      
      3 1
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      September 5, 2023 5:58pm
- Inandout
  
  SO, most of us realise that the Dems are out to get Trump by any means, fair or foul. But some of us are prepared to turn a blind eye and are so consumed with TDS they defy logic in what they will tolerate; even upturning the US legal system. Imagine if Hipkins brought case after case against Luxon until the latter couldn’t stand in the next election? We would rightly be outraged.
  
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  September 5, 2023 12:19pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.

Video 4.42. – If I wanted NZ to fail.

https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/brilliant-new-video-from-democracy-action-please-spread-it-everywhere/
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September 5, 2023 11:55am
- Don Beckett
  
  I recall seeing a similar video some years ago by an American – “If I wanted America to fail”. Can’t recall who it was – Tucker Carlson comes to mind, but I think before his time – maybe around the 2012 Presidential elections.
  Great video .
  
  2 1
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  September 5, 2023 12:05pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    If this Co-Governance is not stopped, I don’t think I want to live in NZ.
    Tribal Elite Tyranny? No thanks.
    Remember this is nothing new. It got off the ground in 1975 with the Waitangi Tribunal and the re-written rogue Treaty, that included Forestry and Fisheries that were NOT in the original Treaty. The original is in Archives NZ, but they can’t find it, or it can be found and has been destroyed.
    
    8 1
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    September 5, 2023 12:12pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Why I retired to Cambodia. I saw NZ going down the shitter.
      
      Cambodia today reminds me a lot of NZ in the 50s/60s. Very family oriented. Governmnet not sticking their nose in everything with petty regulations etc etc.
      Its very much a live and let live society
      
      (and parents still cuff their kids for misbehaving)
      
      5 0
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      September 5, 2023 3:18pm
    - fernglas
      
      Steve, the world is your oyster. You can go to Australia without any problem. If you have enough money, and it doesn’t need to be a lot, you can effectively buy residence in any number of countries. Find an Irish grandparent and the EU is your oyster. They might be a bit fussier in the US, though.
      
      3 0
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      September 5, 2023 4:49pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        If I could stand the cold Alaska would be an idea. The place is huge, just disappear into the Interior. Quite easy to be 100 miles away from another hyman.
        
        0 0
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        September 6, 2023 7:57am
Swifty

Have you noticed how elderly Maori are universally revered in New Zealand society, spoken of in glowing terms, ‘mighty totara’ etc and complimented for their wisdom and foresight etc etc – whereas older Pakeha, especially men, are routinely singled out for derision, scorn and racist rhetoric, and by the very people who are quick to label others as racist and in need of improvement.

I wonder whether they see the double standard? I wonder if they recognise themselves as the stinking hypocrites they are?

https://i.stuff.co.nz/opinion/300963798/why-the-f-should-we-bother-trying-to-be-better-people-in-2023

Probably not.
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September 5, 2023 11:57am
- Yabster
  
  Swifty you should have a warning on that link -“written by Joel Maxwell” ie don’t bother reading his vile crap.
  
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  September 5, 2023 12:41pm
- Inandout
  
  Swifty, I met that Joel Maxwell (Hoere Meke) guy when he worked for a local paper. He struck me as a person who just wanted an easy life, by whatever means to achieve this.
  
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  September 5, 2023 1:00pm
Ghost

Just watching the luxon press conferqnce, reading the live blogging of it on stuff, can someone tell Rachel Moore his name is Chris luxon

3 minutes ago
Rachel Moore
“Up the wahs,” National’s Chris Bishop said as the press conference ended.

Chris Hipkins repeated the phrase, just before the pair and Nicola Willis walked away from media.

Article
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September 5, 2023 1:22pm
kowtow

In furtherance of the “vax was voluntary” theme .

Don’t forget how the vultures of te media pahti hunted down and picked over the last few local govt councillors who had held out ………until they were chased down and eventually ‘medicated’ , essentially against their will but in the full glare of the gulag spot lights .
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September 5, 2023 1:55pm
- miltonF
  
  True. What happened to medical privacy? Just another of our human rights stolen from us during Covid by our socialist overlords.
  
  Vax pass anyone?
  
  8 0
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  September 5, 2023 3:47pm
Maggie Pie

We all know cyclists can be total A-holes……even to each other 😎

https://twitter.com/CensoredMen/status/1698519462595412044
8 0
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September 5, 2023 1:57pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Just like NASCAR drivers!
  
  3 0
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  September 5, 2023 2:49pm
Surely Knott

Sexist and Pointless.

University of Auckland Engineering is having free Exam Revision for NCEA Calculus and Physics “For all Students who identify as Female”

How can you identify as “Female”. We were told female is sex. Biological sex. You can at best identify as my “Gender”. The cultural expression of my Sex.

And what is the science? Are Transwomen’s math achievement equivalent to Females or Males. It’s bloody pointless. If your premise is that there is no biological sex difference and it’s simply how you “identify” then offer your NCEA math review to everyone.

Females don’t need more help at Math. Offer it to everyone who needs help. Tired of sexist racist post modernist stereotyping degrading nonsense.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=678982707596360&set=a.593156786178953
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September 5, 2023 2:27pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Good thing I only have about 20 years left on this planet (I hope)
  Common sense is not that common, actually it is uncommon.
  
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  September 5, 2023 2:52pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Meanwhile in a parallel universe the mad left are getting more and more desperate.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/national/powerful-argument-to-be-made-experts-reveal-what-could-disqualify-trump-from-2024-run/ar-AA1gfdPj
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September 5, 2023 2:55pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

OK, time for a ‘popa nap.’
3 2
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September 5, 2023 4:04pm
Swifty

What people do in their private lives is entirely up to them, I personally draw the line at taxpayer money being used to fund untested, unvalidated, health treatments irrespective of their origin or nature:

https://i.stuff.co.nz/pou-tiaki/132878406/acc-to-introduce-rongo-mori-healing-practices-at-world-conference

Has the research been done? Have we the hard evidence of the effectiveness of these treatments and measured against mainstream and internationally studied and accepted therapies?

If not, then who has authorised their use? And for exactly what reasons?

And, just as importantly, are they now legally and personally liable for any harm caused by these ‘therapies’ and especially when there were mainstream therapies not utilised?

If Mrs Hohepa dies because the ‘karakia’ therapy proved ineffective while her cancer treatment drugs remained at the chemist or in her bedside drawer, who will be held responsible?

I see massive potential liability resting on the NZ taxpayer for this. This is not first world medicine, first world clinical practice – this is reckless experimentation on the weak, vulnerable and gullible in our country.

The catch-cry of our medical establishment should be ‘not a cent unless verified’ – of course, it should be our, the public’s, catch-cry as well.
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September 5, 2023 5:03pm
- Ghost
  
  A cancer patient would continue getting their cancer treatments but rongoā would be incorporated into it, just as is done now. Alternative treatments have been incorporated into cancer treatment for a while now.
  
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  September 5, 2023 5:17pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    OK, Ghost, an undecided comment for me.
    
    2 2
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    September 5, 2023 5:32pm
  - kevn
    
    Accupuncture is popular.
    
    2 0
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    September 5, 2023 7:07pm
- fernglas
  
  When placebos used in drug trials are frequently shown to be effective, it is clear that the psychological aspect of healing cannot be overlooked. Plenty of people claim to be helped by homeopathic and herbal remedies which have no scientific basis at all. So, just because it’s a Maori thing, doesn’t mean it should be ruled out. If it helps, why not give it a try?
  
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  September 5, 2023 5:41pm
  - Swifty
    
    You miss my point.
    
    Prove that something works and my opposition disappears.
    
    Fund unproven treatments, of any sort, and you risk harm to patients as well as taxpayer money down the drain.
    
    That’s my point.
    
    6 0
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    September 5, 2023 7:19pm
Ghost

Worth the watch, worth the laugh too

Jewelry store owners give a would-be robber a surprise beat down in El Monte, California.
1 0
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September 5, 2023 5:41pm
- Ghost
  
  Damn, another good beating
  
  Video
  
  1 0
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  September 5, 2023 5:55pm
kevn

How it is…
https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/alex-holland-labour-s-failures
Might be another link but too important to miss.
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September 6, 2023 1:35pm

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