About
Contact
Advertise

Facebook
Twitter

February 18, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 18 February 2024

Like this:

Like Loading…

Email
Facebook
Twitter
Comment204

Uncategorized
General Debate

Comments (204)

Login to comment or vote

Bridgenag

Google has Usurped Democracy
………”.Across the globe, fair elections no longer exist.These are very dangerous companies, especially for democracy. So, here are two of the biggest investors in these companies that got them going saying they have turned into monsters”………..

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/google-has-usurped-democracy?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
20 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:04am
- NothingLeft
  
  Large equity holding first like Blackrock hold a lot of Google and Meta they get rich off big govt spending on their companies – which they can powerfully influence in western democracies
  
  9 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 10:31am
  - Che Guava
    
    Larry Fink, Sergey Brin, Larry Page, Mark Zuckerberg … these companies are just so diabolical.
    
    8 5
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 11:15am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      You’ve selected just the ones with Jewish leadership as per your obsession?
      You do realise there is also Microsoft and thousands of other companies pulling the same evil/insane crap that are not Jewish owned/run???
      
      12 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 2:33pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

So, who’s heading down to Pt Chev today??

Say what you like about Wellington, but at least our road-blocking citizen event this morning is a healthy Round The Bays.
24 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:07am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Would you like to have some of our road cones to clutter up your town?
  
  17 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:10am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_K5Gb0CqtY
From Ukraine to Ukraine, Inc. : How US and Zelensky turned a Country into a Company.
The drive towards reconstruction is completely intertwined with the interests of these financial giants, suggesting that the path to rebuilding is paved with motivations that prioritize financial gains over the welfare of Ukraine’s populace.
The prospect of Ukraine being ushered into a state of significant indebtedness, leading to subservience and dominance by external financial powers, is the only surety. Such a scenario will entrench the country in a cycle of dependency, potentially culminating in mass poverty and social devastation under the guise of reconstruction.
18 7
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:16am
- Che Guava
  
  “The prospect of Ukraine being ushered into a state of significant indebtedness, leading to subservience and dominance by external financial powers, is the only surety.”
  
  That’s the cornerstone of liberal democracy. Demoralisation of the people, rule by international banks and control by corporate media. Welcome to the “rules-based international order” Ukraine.
  
  7 6
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 11:18am
  - Trev
    
    Sounds like what China has been doing all around the world.
    
    10 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 11:36am
  - sungsamning
    
    Yeah, that’s about it.
    
    2 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 3:17pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-iQOPC2DLk
Putin Doesn’t Want to Invade Poland or Latvia.
Controversial U.S. talk show host Tucker Carlson made waves as the first Western journalist to snag an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin since the invasion of Ukraine. Putin’s recent interview with Tucker has sparked intense debate. Watch the video for more.
14 10
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:17am
- Paulus
  
  Who would believe anything Putin says ?
  The worry is that if Putin when eventually assassinated, that there may be worse to follow him.
  
  20 5
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 10:45am
  - Che Guava
    
    “Who would believe anything Putin says ?”
    
    Don’t a lot of people on KB believe Putin when he makes statements about the former USSR and, they infer, this means he wants to reconstitute it? Let’s believe him when it suits what we want to believe, and dismiss anything he says when it doesn’t, shall we?
    
    9 11
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 11:22am
  - sungsamning
    
    If he did, he’d have all of NATO to contend with.
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 3:18pm
Im Right

I’ve been pondering…..what is the point (and usefulness) of political polling this soon after an election and so far out from another?
I understand the left are grasping at straws and throwing a microscope over the 2 or 3 that have been released recently.
I feel polling this close, following a general election, is purely to see if the constant negative government reporting MSM have been flooding is all with has any effect…..they must be in a state of apoplexy as the polls have shown the right is still strong and the left still weak.

Even if the results showed the opposite, nothing would happen with an election almost 3 years away, but gives them something to talk/cheer about, and ask Luxon ‘have you seen the latest polls where National/coalition are dropping in support, how do you feel about that’…
This line of questioning will be front and foremost when the first polling shows the left rising and the right dipping. (Which will always happen, the ebbs and flows over a 3 year term, it will see both sides rise and fall)
22 4
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:19am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  It might give Labour and The Greens a clue as to whether they need to do a big RESET.
  
  36 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:13am
  - jedmo
    
    Labour following big defeat ipso facto needs a big reset. But they lack ability to look at themselves objectively, eg they got dyed in the wool leftie Bryan Gould to do their post-electoral defeat review, in 2014. Hopefully they will get another such blinkered closed-minded ideologue, to do their review now, which will result in no changes from their present losing trajectory.
    
    18 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 12:23pm
  - PurplePen
    
    The last thing you’d think you’d want is to give Labour or the gweens any idea that they need to do a reset or change in any way. Better for all of us they continue in their merry hopefully self-destructive way.
    
    12 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 2:16pm
- pdm
  
  Roy Morgan has Labour on 22% which seems accurate.
  
  Some of the others not so much – eg Maori Party on 4.5%.
  
  29 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:25am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Link please.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 10:13am
    - Ghost
      
      https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/9443-nz-national-voting-intention-january-2024
      
      9 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 10:18am
      - Jethrod
        
        Is the confidence rating that so many polls give now, a fact in math and statistics?
        Or is it just an “extra” that pollsters have dreamt up?
        Serious question , answers with backup.
        
        9 0
        Report
        February 18, 2024 10:37am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        Thanks
        
        1 0
        Report
        February 18, 2024 9:33pm
  - Colville
    
    Greens on 15%
    As Labour falls the other left parties pick up most of the slack.
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 2:40pm
- sungsamning
  
  It might show a trend starting. The wrong trend can be a wakeup call for political parties.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 3:19pm
surfing

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/bay-of-plenty-times/news/tauranga-election-council-cancels-ratepayer-leaders-invitation-to-speak-at-candidate-event/C5IISOZMCRCV5CVUEP4TWT2GPA/

Dictators and despots start small, removing the rights of those they disagree with to speak.

Ann Tolly is now an example of the corruption that occurs when leaders are appointed, not elected.
39 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:21am
- Paulus
  
  Tauranga Mahuta chosen outside Commissioners should be an example to avoid at any cost Commissioners – they have been shown to be a disaster like Labour just spend, spend and destroy, and am sure they will be happy to run away from the terrible mess they have caused and what the ratepayers will have to clear up the messes over many years. – like Arden, in July.
  
  12 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 10:50am
Simon

No one outside of Clown World gives a shit about Navalny. For the brain washed Putin & Clown World are two sides of the same coin.
11 31
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:27am
- ISeeRed
  
  Sadly true.
  
  1 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 3:48pm
pdm

It is after 8.30am and I appear to be first.

That would not have happened before we had 6 years of Lefty Governments.

Come on Guys and Dolls in a couple of hours Christopher Luxon is going to be telling us how he has shed his wokeness and is going to lead New Zealand BACK ON TRACK!!!
36 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:35am
- Bridgenag
  
  A Toast to Those Who Fight
  and who ask why
  
  “I have now come to realize that “we” are in a fight against evil. That our educational system have became corrupted with socialist/Marxist ideologies, regulatory capture has turned our republic – our representative democracy- into a shell of itself, and the various deep/administrative states have come to dominate our government to the point where we live in a system of inverse totalitarianism. So many of our children have been brain washed by social media and the socialist teachings of an controlled educational system.”
  
  https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/a-toast-to-those-who-fight?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
  
  22 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 8:36am
  - Paulus
    
    Problem with Education is that it is already long lasting, and no change to the Marxist system and the quality of the Teachers will make any short term difference.
    It is too deep in other than te reo Maori from a minority population, which will increase without learning to read and write or add.
    Isn’t Kapa Haka an Secondary Education NCEA qualification ?
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 10:57am
- Bridgenag
  
  No …..Moderators have me in suspense since 8.04
  
  15 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 8:37am
  - Ra Henare
    
    It would be interesting to know how the moderator system works.
    1. Is it all mods taking the next comment in the queue.
    or
    2. Does each mod get allocated a member to moderate.
    The later would indicate the reason for having some comments late to get moderated.
    or
    3. IS it another system altogether.
    
    [Mod – comments are approved when a moderator is online. There is nothing special to it]
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 7:02pm
- Clyde
  
  And I see the MSM are already saying that it is just going to be a repeat of him “claiming” that the last Government left the country in a bad way.
  
  Its all there in plain sight. The MSM HATE anything that isn’t hard left, woke and full of BS.
  
  45 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 8:42am
  - kowtow
    
    Talking of that , anyone else notice how te media make the changes to 3 /5/10 Te Waters all about increased rates , but never mention that it was in design and intent a stealth coup against the constitution and that water in rates is already eye wateringly expensive.
    
    44 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 9:13am
    - igm
      
      Wait for the Upper Hutt wimp to have his slimey gutless outburst in MSM.
      
      25 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 9:25am
    - Swifty
      
      Exactly.
      
      They constantly neglect to mention the elephant in the room.
      
      19 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 9:34am
    - Matt Long
      
      Yes, but the leftist media are well aware that under Mahi Tahi all water and infrastructure was going to be supplied for free, with exceptional service delivery, due to a top heavy bureaucracy enmeshed with racial privilege and superstition.
      Everyone knows these types of structures are the most efficient and cost effective.
      The only real challenge regional authorities were grappling with, apart from how to dole out the dosh without being obviously corrupt is how to insert road cones into water pipes.
      
      24 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 9:52am
      - Paulus
        
        Who is this fellow Mahi Tahi ?
        
        7 1
        Report
        February 18, 2024 10:57am
    - rouppe
      
      They also never mention that 3 waters would have increased taxes instead
      
      12 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 11:35am
- Cassandra
  
  Let’s hope so. The Conservatives in the UK are also a centrist party standing for nothing and they are going down the gurgler. Luxon has one chance to stop the rot.
  
  26 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 8:42am
- Souvlaki
  
  We wish🤞…..but more likely bland platidinous pap….ignoring ‘ elephant ‘ in the room is my pick!🐘
  
  18 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 8:53am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Once woke, always woke.
  When will Luxon wake up and realise that he is not doing the important things voters asked for? He is on his way to political oblivion in 2 years 8 months.
  Look, he has done quite a few things but he won’t let this Co-Governace thing go, and the de maorification of signs and Govt departments. It is not WANTED by the majority. Do we live in a Democracy, or Ardern’s World?
  
  36 9
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:20am
  - Flossie
    
    I don’t agree that Luxon is disregarding returning signage to English first. A couple of days ago one of the government departments has reverted to English first. It was a major one too, maybe health or transport.
    
    12 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 10:05am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      NZTA. Waka Kotahi is still there but now below.
      Just get rid of it altogether.
      Luxon owes NZ for voting him in, but we can just as easy vote him out.
      I will be protesting in Botany if he does not get rid of his wokeness.
      
      15 5
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 11:32am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    When will accept there is no climate emergency?
    Will consult with Act and NZF about alarmist, Rod Carr’s replacement?
    
    22 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 10:16am
- Jethrod
  
  8Why can’t I uptick this contribution when every other one today I can?
  I am logged in.
  
  [Mod – if you haven’t already upticked try refreshing]
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 10:44am
- Paulus
  
  Vance in the Wellington rag already knows what he is going to say !
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 10:51am
Bridgenag

Interesting Tucker Carlson Interview. Listen at coffee time
The End of Democracy: “What I’m Describing is Military Rule”
Mike Benz” “It’s the inversion of democracy.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/the-end-of-democracy-what-im-describing?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
9 6
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:36am
Biscuit

pdm is first?

Never thought I’d say it but … BRING BACK MILKY!
11 14
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:47am
- pdm
  
  Smartarse.
  
  14 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 8:58am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Hopefully he has gone and joined phil u.
  
  20 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:07am
  - pdm
    
    OMG Steve – I hope you mean mikey and not me.
    
    Meanwhile I sit in trepidation waiting for Steve’s response.
    
    Biscuit taught me those big words like trepidation – not sure if he knows what they mean though.
    
    14 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 9:28am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Mike not you.
      Mike has not put in an appearance lately.
      Down at the bottom of this page under ‘comments policy’ the penalties used to be explained. If you got one week in jail and played up again, you would get two weeks, then four weeks, then eight weeks, then 16 and so on.
      Names used to be listed along with the offence date, and the length of the ban so you knew when they were due back. I would like to see it again.
      Pretty sure Mike is in jail.
      
      12 3
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 10:39am
      - Bernard Black
        
        Call me a mad conspiracy theorist Steve O, but a few weeks ago I posted about watching the documentary called Mr Organ about one Michael Organ.
        I said all I could deduct from the doco was that Michael is narcissistic, a know all, a grifter and a tedious bore, someone you would not want to sit next to at a dinner party.
        And I don’t think I have seen Milky since then, coincidence? Maybe 🤔
        
        5 0
        Report
        February 18, 2024 4:06pm
Unity

We wish!! Let’s hope he grows a spine (immediately) and does what’s right for the country. National are going to lose the next election if he doesn’t because I’m hearing complaints everywhere – from National members/supporters. They are so disappointed but are still giving him the benefit of the doubt in the hope that he IS going to do it. They won’t wait much longer. If John Key is advising him, he needs to get rid of him post haste. Look at how much damage Key did.
19 6
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:47am
- MCōs
  
  It’s early in the electoral cycle
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 1:29pm
Yvette

■ The Government has pushed the repeal of the previous government’s Three Waters programme through all stages under urgency.

But has Taumata Arowai been reformed?
[te Puna] • … is the first key pou, or pillar, of the [Labour] Government’s Three Waters Reform Programme
https://www.taumataarowai.govt.nz

Is Pipa Mahuta still the Chair of te Puna, the Maori Advisory Council which presides over Taumata Arowai, the Water Regulator? – the Maori Advisory Council which does not act as the co-governor, which all opponents of ‘3 Waters” were concerned about, but a Council that has (or perhaps had) full-governance or Waters Services?
Does it still exist?
Has the National Coalition done the full job that voters mandated them to do?
36 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:50am
- pdm
  
  `Has the National Coalition done the full job that voters mandated them to do?’
  
  Not at first glance.
  
  Tipu Mahuta and other Maori elite must go as well as Taumat Arowai.
  
  Surely that is not negotiable.
  
  33 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:33am
  - Ghost
    
    Sure they have, national campaigned on getting rid of three waters and keeping Taumata Arowai.
    
    https://www.national.org.nz/national_will_scrap_three_waters_and_deliver_local_water_well
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 9:45am
    - Yvette
      
      Ghost from your link –
      “While water quality regulator Taumata Arowai will set strict standards for water quality, National will establish a Water Infrastructure Regulator within the Commerce Commission to set and enforce standards for long-term water infrastructure investment.”
      
      No mention of te Puna, the Maori Advisory Council, which is “The Ring to Rule Them All”
      
      11 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 10:12am
  - Yvette
    
    Pdm, no – Taumata Arowai remains but is called the Water Regulator, which is what it is. But all reference to Ao Maori should be removed, since the Governments of New Zealand should be secular, and also non-racist, which of course means not raising any ethnicity about others, the corollary of putting any ethnic group down.
    
    23 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 10:07am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  This is something that Luxon will not touch with a 40 foot barge pole.
  We must not upset the natives.
  
  16 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:36am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Luxon hasn’t realised that these self styled maori representatives have no mandate from kiwis who identify as maori.
    
    They also have no interest in the welfare of maoris and in fact hold them as political hostages to bleed money from the population.
    
    The treaty grievance industry isn’t about Maori or Mana.
    
    Its about Money.
    
    29 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 10:08am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      “self styled maori representatives”
      I call them by their real name – “Activists” who spread the Waitangi Tribunal propaganda.
      
      15 4
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 10:42am
- Piniwi
  
  Right it is essential that all vestiges and tentacles of the attempted coup are purged from the system for the voters to be satisfied that National are able to walt the talk.
  
  12 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 10:18am
Nookin

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/350183184/labour-where-bloody-hell-are-ya

Poor Tova. Still tilting at windmills in the forlorn belief that the Labour Party actually stands for something and has even a vague notion as to how to achieve it.
47 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:51am
- pdm
  
  Jacinda ran for the hills.
  
  Then Jessica ran for the hills.
  
  Tova must be thick not to see that her days in the limelight are over and she should get out too.
  
  37 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:36am
  - Keith White
    
    “Tova Don’t Run.” – Lt. Col. Bill Kilgore.
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 10:37am
  - kowtow
    
    Jessica ran for the hills?
    
    Crikey I’d guess she was made an offer she couldn’t refuse ,financially.
    
    At least now she won’t have to suffer the indignity of literally chasing Crown cars for some pathetic sound bite on the 6 o’clock “news”. Or being told where to stand and what and how to report parliament protests by the Speaker.
    
    She’s now a “corporate” .To use te media lingo.
    
    Though one could say she’s sold out to the man , man.
    
    8 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 1:18pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    People with massive egos (not to mention the throng of NZ you-go-girl veggies egging them on) tend to fall hard.
    
    6 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 2:35pm
- Paulus
  
  Assume that if Tova can get a other good redundancy she will run.
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 11:00am
rouppe

Thankfully, a normal person voted into Wellington council to replace ‘Green’ Tamatha Paul.

I say ‘Green’ because the Herald has described Karl Tiefenbacher as ‘centerist’ so I guess that must be how one described one’s politics.

Only a 24% turnout, so Wellington really needs to be more engaged if it wants change from cycleways to pipes. I no longer own property there so can no longer vote in WCC elections but living nearby still take an interest.

I noted at least two councillors posting support for the losing full time renter who wanted to be able to spend rate payer money.
27 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:52am
- Steve Todd
  
  Only a 24% turnout, so Wellington really needs to be more engaged if it wants change from cycleways to pipes.
  
  This was a by-election to fill a single vacancy on council. As I said to slightlyrighty earlier, at “Greens lose WCC by-election”, be thankful the participation rate was only 24%. Had it been 44%, for example, Geordie Rogers would almost certainly have held the seat for the Green Party.
  
  6 4
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 3:09pm
  - Steve Todd
    
    Some further thoughts—
    
    My last sentence should have said, “[…] 34%, for example, […].” The turnout in the Lambton Ward at the 2022 Local Elections was 36.83%; 43.28% for the city as a whole (see https://www.electionz.com/LGE2022Returns/ELT47WG22_returns.htm).
    
    This suggests not that Lambton Ward voters were sending Council “a message” (seemingly, the generally prevailing view on Kiwiblog), but that a large portion of potential Green/Left voters, i.e., students, had not yet got themselves organised, given that polling day was 17 February, rather than, say, 16 March.
    
    Therefore, rather than Wellington having “just dodged a bullet” (see mandk’s comment, here: https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2024/02/general_debate_17_february_2024.html#comment-3515482), it would be more accurate to say that Karl Tiefenbacher dodged a bullet.
    
    The test will be if he can hold his seat on 11 October next year, given that Cr Nicola Young has a lock on the right-wing seat in the ward (see also, hullkiwi’s comment, here: https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2024/02/greens_lose_wcc_by-election.html#comment-3515582).
    
    For context, it should be noted that Karl Tiefenbacher finished fifth in 2022 (of 10 candidates), behind the three winners, Tamatha Paul, Nicola Young, and Iona Pannett (Green-aligned), and the Labour candidate, Afnan Al-Rubayee.
    
    0 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 4:52pm
Tomtoddy

Just back home after driving 3,000+ kms around some of our main highways. A couple of quick observations. The number of big rigs on the road has doubled in the last few years. Not necessarily a bad thing but the surface of the road through the Haast where there is no reason for much heavy traffic is decidedly better.

Overall the surface of our roads is third world but we all know that. Part of the problem is the cost of doing repairs. To fix a ‘hole’ takes a couple of thousand cones, traffic lights set up, at least a dozen staff including someone sitting alongside the traffic lights doing nothing, including safety officers, several trucks, rollers trucked in, specialised tar sealing gear, various signs, and more. It would not surprise me if a relatively small repair costs $25 – $50,000.
34 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:54am
- Pavel
  
  While I agree that are roads are in a terrible state, to call them third world tells me you have never been to a third world country.
  
  19 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:01am
- pdm
  
  TT you may not be old enough to remember the roadmen who did the job back in the (50’s) good old days.
  
  Bob Beattie at Mangaorapa walked miles with a shovel every day clearing drains and patching pot holes on the metal road. Used his own car for transport.
  
  Graders over the road once a year, twice if we were lucky.
  
  19 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:02am
  - peterwn
    
    One of these roadmen hit strife because of a council amalgamation but he just kept doing his job until retirement. He was entitled to a gratuity after x years service but the clock re-set when amalgamation occurred and the new council while being sympathetic considered it would have been unlawful to pay the gratuity. It was paid in the end (perhaps following a law change).
    
    19 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 9:16am
  - Inandout
    
    pdm, most modern cars would shake to bits on the old metal roads. The reason Aussie cars were so solid was because of the rough condition of their back roads.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 11:01am
    - peterwn
      
      So goodness knows what the Aussies will do now that Holden and others have shut down local production. Australians need vehicles that can handle the rough roads and be serviceable by bush mechanics. Modern cars do not seem to be up to it.
      
      5 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 1:19pm
- kevn
  
  Tom… You missed the grossly inferior bitumen part.
  
  17 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:18am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Repairing a hole is not as important as raised pedestrian crossings and the bumps each side of them. Another brainfart from NZTA, or the Council?
  
  17 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 10:45am
Jennycraigsfailure

Off to Inglewood today,1st day off since new years day.
How much more white privilege can I take.After starting at 3 every day, I woke at 1.25am,body clo KS are overrated.
17 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:55am
- Inandout
  
  Jenny, poor Inglewood was once such a vibrant little town. Now just empty shops.
  
  9 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 11:03am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Meanwhile Stratford is pumping…
    
    It has only a third of the population of Gisborne, but last week seemed to be much livelier than downtown Gizzy.
    
    9 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 11:28am
Matt Long

Popular opposition leader in prison, election official admits to fraud.
Pakistan is nearly as corrupt as the US of A.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/17/senior-pakistan-official-admits-election-rigging-as-protests-grip-country
17 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 8:57am
- Swifty
  
  It’s a failed state.
  
  14 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:36am
  - Jake Dee
    
    A failed state with nuclear weapons.😨
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 9:39pm
dcrane

Today is the last day for public submissions on the proposed amendments to the WHO pandemic treaty, which would amount to a dramatic surrender of local control of government.

We need the new government to refuse to sign on to a system that allows the UN to direct our own responses to public health emergencies. The performance of the WHO during the covid pandemic has shown them to be unworthy of such power.

https://nzdsos.com/2024/02/13/our-opposition-to-the-ihr-amendments-2024/

https://consult.health.govt.nz/public-health-agency/proposed-amendments-international-health-regs/consultation/subpage.2023-11-08.7341477664/
20 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 9:25am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Just imagine Secretary-General of the United Nations Dame Jacinda Ardern still telling NZ what to do.
  Makes my head hurt.
  
  12 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 10:52am
- [email protected]
  
  Why does the government require me to allow them to place cookies on my computer before I can read the details of the IHR amendment and make comments?
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 11:48am
  - ISeeRed
    
    Got something to hide, sunshine? /sarc
    
    0 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 6:54pm
peterwn

“A mother says she’s at her wits’ end over the lack of punishment for her car-thieving, ram-raiding teenage son, whose rehabilitation involves hours playing Monopoly at a social service centre.”
In the old days a youth would have only done it twice. John A Lee the Labour politician and author committed a minor crime in his youth and was birched. He committed another minor crime and was sent to the Burnham Industrial School for a few years. He never committed a third minor crime.
27 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 9:27am
Ghost

No Clan, so I will post this

The Great COVID Cover-Up | Rand Paul
14 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 9:28am
- Surely Knott
  
  Great video. The conspiracy theorists were right. There was most definitely a conspiracy. It was never from a wet market.
  
  When he talks about people locked in their homes in China and the govt sending up drones with a loudspeaker saying “suppress your desire to be free” . Lol. Reminded me of Ardern using the motorway electronic billboards for her messages.
  
  Our response was based on authoritarian China not on the values of a liberal democracy and NZ lapped it up.
  
  And when Rand Paul’s wife asks is Fauci in jail yet. I also want to know? Who in our govt will pay the price for what they did. Bloomfield? Ardern? Forcing teens and kids via mandate and psychological manipulation to take two shots rather than the one the science advisors recommended. Misleading the public about the number of covid deaths by not disclosing the definition which was any deaths within 28 days of a positive test.
  
  We are seeing companies successfully sued for mandating their employees. Should the govt or media take some of the responsibility. The govt and media strongly encouraged employers with their messaging that this was the right thing to do.
  
  14 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 10:20am
  - Surely Knott
    
    Rand Paul 4:15 ” And what I discovered is January 31 of 2020 the conspiracy began. And it began in a flurry of emails between Anthony Fauci and ***other virologists around the world. ***
    
    Emails between Anthony Fauci and Jeremy Farrar sort of the Anthony Fauci of England, maybe the biggest dispenser of grants in all of Europe.”
    
    “The emails have a hairy nature. You know when you read emails between people and get a sense that they’re worried. ” They go on till 3 in the morning. “Hey it looks like it’s gain of function research and it looks like we funded it but it never went through the safety committee. Mysterious. Never went through the safety committee we’re unsure how that could have happened.”
    
    **** So who were the other virologists around the world. The Anthony Fauci of England was in on the fact it was a Wuhan Gain of Function Screw Up. What about the Anthony Fauci of NZ?
    
    13 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 10:38am
    - mawm
      
      Jeremy Farrar was the Wellcome Trust’s (the world’s richest trust) senior scientist and later moved to being the UK government’s.
      
      Tangential to this (because it involved censorship of Covid critics) is this highly informative interview by Tucker Carlson of Mike Benz.
      
      https://twitter.com/ScottAdamsSays/status/1758653462232093011
      
      6 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 2:21pm
  - dcrane
    
    I never saw a reasonable case made for giving even one shot to the vast majority of children.
    
    8 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 3:09pm
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Thanks Ghost. A good 15 minutes of info.
  Fauci does need to be jails and stripped of his assets. He made millions, maybe billions.
  From the comments:
  “I want to ask, “ Why aren’t these people in jail?”, but I already know the answer to that. There are people in our government, not just some of the elected officials, who are beyond corrupt and believe themselves to be untouchable. And, unfortunately, for now they are.”
  
  Then, after all of this the World needs a Nuremberg 2.0.
  Another reason she ran!
  
  8 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 11:13am
  - mawm
    
    Like his father Rand Paul is an unusual politician – he has integrity and intelligence.
    
    6 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 2:40pm
- ISeeRed
  
  Where is Clan? Hope he’s all right.
  
  2 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 6:56pm
  - Ghost
    
    Both Clan and Benedict have disappeared, hopefully they are both OK and return
    
    3 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 7:02pm
Ghost

$50, bloody hell

$50 minimum wage will put every restaurant ‘out of business’: Chef Gruel

Candidates vying for California’s U.S. Senate seat met onstage Monday for a relatively tame second debate, where California’s cost of living was raised as a key issue.

In a standout moment, Democratic Rep. Barbara Lee, former mayor of Oakland, discussed a proposal to raise the federal minimum wage to $50 per hour.

Article
18 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 9:31am
- Swifty
  
  Absolute lunacy.
  
  The woman is certifiable.
  
  18 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:46am
  - Matt Long
    
    The current federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour. By increasing this by roughly seven times the democrats could kick off Zimbabwe style inflation and get federal debt down to almost zero.
    It’s a genius strategy.
    Of course federal spending and borrowing would then have to increase to the quadrillions or quintillions to keep up their waste program.
    
    16 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 10:03am
    - Swifty
      
      Think of the manufacturing etc jobs that would just flee the US and head to South America or Asia. Think of the decimation of US car assembly plants etc.
      
      My god.
      
      13 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 10:46am
    - Paulus
      
      Our Inflation problem is principally caused, and will remain in that our Hourly Wage is too high, and cannot see inflation dropping to any reasonable place as a result.
      Keep smiling !
      
      11 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 11:05am
    - [email protected]
      
      The Federal minimum wage in the USA is $7.25 an hour (NZ$11.88).
      
      The adult minimum wage in New Zealand will increase to $23.15 per hour from April 1, 2024.
      
      No wonder that New Zealand attracted so many immigrants.
      
      stats.gov.nz:
      
      migrant arrivals: 195,200 (± 1,700), up 219 percent
      migrant departures: 108,400 (± 1,300), up 37 percent
      annual net migration: gain of 86,800.
      
      8 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 1:12pm
- Keith White
  
  I agree, as long as we reduce the maximum wage for politicians also to $50 an hour.
  
  13 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 10:38am
Its only I

As of writing Trumps gofundme is $81000…..thats a lot of insulin payments and social security checks from Redneck USA.

Will the fund surpass 1 million a week to cover the interest?

Let’s hope Trump takes over the entire RNC with the help of Daughter in Law and Habba INC to fund the rest.
5 5
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 10:00am
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Stop Co-Governance. Julian Batchelor.
The wake up calls are coming hard and fast for Luxon.
Email him.

https://stopcogovernance.kiwi/blog/a-showdown-is-coming/
8 4
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 10:15am
- thirteenstars
  
  “Warn him that he will be a one term PM if he doesn’t.”
  
  I doubt it though if he continues to vacillate and Seymour/Peters/Jones continue to stand strong, National’s vote will diminish as ACT/NZF increase, but the rules of the game are that the leader of largest party becomes PM.
  
  The upshot come 2027 is that a citizens initiated referendum will likely be held at the same time as the election. At that point the 800-pound gorilla in the room will have put on a lot of weight and be quite irresistible in its advances.
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 12:36pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350182475/shameful-rage-proposed-rent-fees-increases-240-charities-tauranga

I read this a couple of times but nowhere does the article actually spell out the rentals these organisations are currently paying.

The author, Annemarie Quill ( a suitable name for a writer ! ) never bothered to include such insignificant details . To quote just percentage increases is meaningless.
15 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 10:20am
- Biscuit
  
  Indeed, greybeard.
  
  My level of concern for those organisations increased 500%…
  
  13 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 10:30am
  - Swifty
    
    Hahahahahaha!
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 10:34am
Swifty

Why do Maori commit crime at levels far exceeding their level in the population? And what are Maori doing about it?

Waititi wouldn’t know. He thinks whitey is the cause of it all.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=09ewzipkucU
19 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 10:34am
- Keith White
  
  Dey wuz Warriorz?
  
  10 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 10:39am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Worriers. They are worried that they are going to lose the Gravy Train, and rightly so.
    
    8 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 11:22am
- Ghost
  
  I think multiple reasons
  
  Some failed by the education system
  Some the products of growing up in the welfare system
  Family structure, and violence
  
  Some will be that maori are more likely to be convicted and jailed than non maori
  
  I think there are a lot of reasons and they need a wide ranging approach to addresses it, but not just a maori only approach
  I think we need to get back to basics. Luxon is right. Get your children to school. Bring basics back in school, cooking, sewing, etc, basic home skills. I’d even like to see kids taught meditation and given tools to cope with stresses. Bring back Plunkett for all children, regular visits up until kindergarten. I’d like to see parenting classes for expecting parents teaching life skills, cooking, cleaning, basic finances.
  
  21 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 11:14am
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    One problem with the schools Ghost.
    The teachers are Marxists, from pre-school to Uni.
    Children will just be indoctrinated. How do we stop that? Homeschooling?
    
    12 2
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 11:24am
  - Grunter
    
    John Tamahere had the right idea back in 2000. Now here’s changed his mind. Why?
    
    Always follow the money….!!!
    
    https://www.bassettbrashandhide.com/post/john-tamihere-why-did-he-change
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 4:13pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Firstly “Maori” (whatever that actually means in 2024) are not all the same.
    
    It’s pretty clear the subset who “don’t do well” are the product of dysfunctional culture (I’m not talking about ancient Maori culture, I mean the culture of very low aspirations) and therefore dysfunctional attitudes (such as generally not giving a sh*t about improving themselves, and blaming everything on non-Maori). The lefty enablers of this stuff are just keeping these people in a cycle of poverty and criminality.
    
    4 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 5:53pm
  - ISeeRed
    
    Maori are less likely to be convicted precisely because many people think they are more.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 7:03pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Shit parents/families, propped up by a Maori culture that tolerates shitty behaviour. Until or unless they start expecting same levels of behaviour that almost every other culture in NZ does they will always be the conspicuous losers that most are wary of.
  
  18 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 12:43pm
- PurplePen
  
  It would be interesting to see what percentage of “normal” Maori commit crime vs those still in Maori tribal arrangements or living closer to a traditional Maori way. My use of the term “normal” is for want of a better adjective. I’m wondering if there would be no difference in the statistics between “normative”? or “integrated”? Maori and the rest of the population. If so, what does that say about the Maori elite who continue to oppress their own kind.
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 2:51pm
- miltonF
  
  My feeling is that it is driven by racism of low expectations from predominantly left wing Marxist identitarian politics.
  
  It’s a kind of self perpetuating cycle. Here’s a small example of how easily this occurs:
  
  A teacher feels bad that their Māori student can’t keep up in class. The correct solution is to give the student more support or hold them back a year. But the teacher is engrained in Marxist theory. They want “equality of outcome”. They feel that the Māori student is incapable of achieving this on merit, so they decide to “pass” the Māori student regardless, so they are “equal”. This then sets the student up to continually fail for the rest of their lives. And it’s all because the teacher wanted to be “nice”.
  
  5 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 5:02pm
colina

This Leighton Smith podacast interview with Winston Peters is well worth a listen to.
My view of Winston has improved somewhat.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/podcasts/the-leighton-smith-podcast/leighton-smith-podcast-225-february-7th-2024-winston-peters/
9 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 10:46am
- Paulus
  
  But I still and will never like Peters, after all he destroyed New Zealand with Ardern, and I can never forgive him, despite what you say.
  
  19 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 11:07am
- Keith White
  
  My opinion of him could hardly have sunk.
  
  Regardless of any of his strutting self-rehab attempts, he dumped Ardern on our country out of purely spiteful pique, and that is what his name will forever be associated with in NZ history.
  
  23 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 11:19am
  - mogg
    
    Agreed, but at the moment he is saying a lot of things which need to be said because nobody else has the courage to say them.
    
    10 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 12:36pm
    - pdm
      
      Mogg
      
      Seymour is saying very similar things but he has a different focus to Peters.
      
      Seymour has the best interest of New Zealand and New Zealanders in mind.
      
      Peters has the best interest of himslf in mind.
      
      Casey Costello, Mark Patterson and Jaime Arbuckle do give me some hope for NZFirst. Their problem is – how do they move Winston and Shane Jones on. They are lifers.
      
      12 1
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 12:52pm
      - mogg
        
        I agree with Seymour 100%, but a month before the last election ACT were on 14% then Seymour started stupid talk about the ‘cross benches’, lost support and let NZF into government. Now ACT back to 13%
        with no need for Winston but it’s too late.
        They are ‘lifers’ but then so are 90% of the rest of them. Look at Hipkins and Robbo still in parliament with their proven record of failure, they have no shame.
        
        10 2
        Report
        February 18, 2024 1:15pm
      - Steve Otto(North Shore)
        
        Mogg,
        Let’s forget NZF and have the Greens instead?
        Oh boy, that is a serious question.
        Your answer is…..
        
        0 0
        Report
        February 18, 2024 4:39pm
kowtow

Anyone see where one of the women at the hug a Hamas hate Israel fest in London wearing a terrorist paraglider picture has been outed as a refugee from Gaza ………whose family claimed they were in danger there from ……..Hamas .
17 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 11:40am
- mogg
  
  Yes but did you see that the judge who let them off had previously liked support for Hamas on social media. He had also liked a Hamas radical who had called for the destruction of Israel, the case has been appealed.
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 2:49pm
- rouppe
  
  Lying is grounds to have refugee status rescinded.
  
  Pick ’em up, send ’em back…
  
  11 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 2:53pm
Ghost

Special thanks to labour

Luxon also said they’d found a “financial mess” at King Ora.

“Advice from Treasury was that Kainga Ora’s forecasts relied on the sale of 10,200 homes in the coming years just to balance its books, even while Kainga Ora’s debt is set to rise to $29 billion.

Article
19 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 11:41am
- Ghost
  
  Here are a few of the things Luxon said the government had done within the first 81 days of forming:
  
  – Abolished the Ute Tax.
  – Stopped Auckland Light Rail, which after six years, cost taxpayers more than $200 million.
  – Repealing the Auckland Regional Fuel Tax – gone on the 1st of July.
  – Cancelled Let’s Get Wellington Moving.
  – Repealed Labour’s RMA reforms.
  – Banned cellphones in schools.
  – Disestableshed Te Pukenga.
  – Commissioned an independent review into Kainga Ora led by Sir Bill English
  – Taken the first steps to extend free breast cancer screening up to age 74.
  – Soon they’ll introduce legislation to disestablish the Māori Health Authority.
  – Brought in tough new laws going after gangs and illegal firearms.
  – Ended taxpayer funding for cultural reports.
  – Repealed Labour’s Three Waters reforms.
  
  23 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 11:43am
  - Paulus
    
    Surely anybody who requires for sentencing in Court a Cultural Report still can.
    Only difference is that they pay for it themselves and not the Taxpayer.
    
    12 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 1:41pm
- Ghost
  
  Special thanks to labour, you really know how to fuck a country, and that is what you have done.
  
  “I have to level with you, New Zealand, and say – the state of the nation is fragile,” Luxon said a second time towards the end of his speech, outlining what he said were major problems with the economy, infrastructure and public finances.
  
  “Our job is to restore the spirit and the promise of New Zealand, that if you work hard – come what may – you can get ahead,” he said. “We were not elected to manage decline.”
  
  22 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 11:47am
- pdm
  
  re Kainga Ora.
  
  Lets call it Housing NZ again.
  
  That will be a good first step in fixing the mess.
  
  20 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 12:43pm
  - Ghost
    
    Well it would be a start because I noticed stuff can’t even spell it, instead calling it king Ora.
    
    10 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 12:44pm
  - Paulus
    
    KO staff are almost all Maori !
    It appears to be for Maori, by Maori, hence a snafu.
    
    7 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 1:43pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Just found out Bathurst 1000 is on.
Let’s go Brandon.
3 3
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 12:00pm
- virtualmark
  
  Bathurst 12 hours this weekend. That’s GT3 cars, not Supercars.
  
  Bathurst 500 next weekend.
  
  Bathurst 1000 is on 13 October.
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 12:45pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    Google machine threw a curve ball
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 19, 2024 8:06am
Maggie Pie

TRENDING

How silly is this clown?

Hamas leader appears to have forgotten that the conditions he now seeks to impose on Israel, from his Dubai Penthouse, for the return of the Hostages….. are exactly the same as those that existed on October 6th, 2023.

He has just green-lighted Netanyahoo to wipe Palestine off the map.

https://twitter.com/HenMazzig/status/1758965427449798780

c.c. Chloe and the rest of those Hamas-hugging green numpties
13 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 12:13pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, those weekend marchers for Palestine will be told this is all lies by their Muslim co-marchers and they will blindly keep chanting.
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 12:23pm
- mogg
  
  Best to stop calling them greens, they are all Marxists using green issues as a Trojan horse to attack capitalism.
  
  18 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 12:30pm
- Hollyfield
  
  Here’s an interesting interview about “Westplaining” where Hamas, Houthis etc literally states their aims, and the West says “oh no, that’s not what they mean, this is what they mean…”
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHZyuposz3I
  
  8 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 12:47pm
Ghost

Then for god sake stop wasting money.

Faced with council debt ballooning to more than $400 million, Timaru District councillors have some tough decisions to make over what they can afford and what they will have to cut from the Long-term Plan budget.

Article
12 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 12:35pm
- ISeeRed
  
  That was close! I nearly clicked on a Stuffed link!
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 9:38pm
Yvette

Luxon calls New Zealand ‘fragile’, pledges welfare hit
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Luxon has pledged a major crackdown on long-term welfare recipients, telling them “the free ride is over”

And the Illawara Mercury, quoted above and next, says “While Mr Luxon leads a three-party coalition, including his National party with right-wing minor parties ACT and NZ First, but his speech made no mention of his coalition partners.”

Nor, it seems, did he mention race relations.
Dang!
Aussies (the Voice) may have been interested
Not to mention New Zealanders
9 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 12:42pm
Jack5

The Reserve Bank of NZ and its head honcho, Adrian Orr, triggered last year’s blow-out in immigration.

That’s what the Minister of Immigration, Erica Stanford, said in an interview with Jack Tame on TVNZ today.

Around 2.50 minutes into the video clip Stanford says: ” … if you look at 2022, the RBNZ’s Adrian Orr was saying: ‘We’ve got a supply problem. We desperately need workers’.”

The Reserve Bank put a lot of pressure on the Government to basically close its eyes and “open the doors”.

Stanford described Labour’s go-along response then as a knee-jerk reaction.

“And we are where we are because of that. Now the RBNZ are shifting their position and saying because of high migration we might have a slight demand problem.”

The Minister said she did not wish to repeat a “knee-jerk” reactions – “what Labour did last year” without considering unintended consequences.

At another point in the interview Stanford said the immigration blow-out wasn’t caused by Covid.

Tame put it to the Minister that house prices are roughly 5 per cent higher than otherwise because of last year’s migration.

Stanford’s policy seems to be, on instruction from under instruction from Prime Minister Luxon, to focus on immigration planning, and look at skills needed.

Last year 52 per cent of the people brought into NZ were level 4 and 5 – “that is your cleaners, fast-food chefs, labourers.”

This, said Stanford, was not a recipe for productivity, wage growth, prosperity.

“Last year we brought in 52,000 pretty unskilled people.”

The goal of immigration is to control productivity, GDP, wage growth.

Stanford’s intelligence and cool-headedness impressed in the interview, and Jack Tame demonsterated how informative his show can be when he relaxes from his old blitzkrieg approach.

The interview:

https://youtu.be/dZo8VONXteU?si=vwX6E1sGGSw3GXX3
11 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 12:44pm
Chuck Bird

Luxon’s State of the Nation speech told how wind farms would help save the planet. He neglected to say how much CO2 was emitted in there production, how long they will last or what happens to their blades when they reach the end of their lives.
7 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 1:21pm
- Albie
  
  We don’t talk about that stuff Chuck. Just the same as we don’t talk about what’s going to happen to thousands of EV batteries, some weighing 500kg or more when they’re f..d in 10-12 years. Oh, that’s right, Julie Ann reckons we’re going to bolt them onto houses. Silly me!
  
  6 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 3:04pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Umm,
  – the planet doesn’t need saving.
  – no they won’t.
  
  7 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 3:10pm
- Grunter
  
  This is clearly a blind spot in Luxon’s make up. He does reasonably good on a lot of things but fails miserably on the Global Boiling scam and his “Treaty is a partnership” BS.
  
  No evidence of either sorry Chris!
  
  7 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 4:31pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Vaccines. Who and what to believe or not.
Covid killed off dangerous flu lineage. They are talking about a Yamagata strain which the vaccine is in the flu shot. So if it is killed off by Covid, or the Covid vaccine, why is the Yamagata vaccine 25% in our yearly flu jab? Are they trying to resurrect it?
WHO says to forget about it.
There has been so many lies, bullshit, and misinformation it is hard to distinguish what is real and what is not.
Flu cases plummeted. Did they really? Or did flu get reported as Covid?
Wonder where ClanMcLeod is. I don’t remember him saying anything about skipping class!

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/covid-killed-off-a-dangerous-flu-lineage-sparking-vaccine-reformulation/ss-AA1cVaD0?
5 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 1:36pm
- Grunter
  
  Steve O
  1. I miss Clan 👍🏻
  2. The COVID scams have wrecked trust for a very long time. No coming back from that.
  
  7 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 4:33pm
Chuck Bird

Christopher Luxon speaks to media after State of the Nation Speech.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OelNoEX66fs
7 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 1:50pm
- PurplePen
  
  Watched the YouTube. Brilliant. Finally the actual Prime Minister is showing in Luxon. No nonsense.
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 3:27pm
- Grunter
  
  That’s the best I’ve seen Luxon – very good!
  
  The adults are back in charge!
  
  Massive problems to fix. It is possibly worse than any of us dare to think. Pharmac and Housing NZ – Wow!
  
  Grant Robertson – you are a complete tosser! No respect whatsoever! I think we all can see the airhead Ardern, brainwashed by WEF etc. But you played the ‘new age Cullen’ role. The steady hand. You are the #1 villain from the last 6 years!! What the hell were you thinking??
  
  10 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 5:20pm
- Burtland
  
  basically not reported on 1ewes
  – 6000 views on youtube
  
  when is he going to “fix” the media – the elephant is still in the room
  
  3 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 8:34pm
  - Ghost
    
    His state of the nation was live streamed by stuff, newshub, nzherald, one news.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 8:41pm
PurplePen

This is section 71 from the 1852 Independence Act. It’s worth pointing out this provision for Maori but it also says “should for the present be maintained” meaning it was a temporary measure. There must be legislation following this that removed this provision, but I’ve not as yet found it. But it would be useful to follow this legislative trail.

71. And Whereas it may be expedient that the laws, customs, and usages of the aboriginal or native inhabitants of New Zealand, so far as they are not repugnant to the general principles of humanity, should for the present be maintained for the government of themselves, in all their relations to and dealings with each other, and that particular districts should be set apart within which such laws, customs, or usages should be so observed:

It shall be lawful for her Majesty, by any Letters Patent to be issued under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, from time to time to make provision for the purposes aforesaid, any repugnancy of any such native laws, customs, or usages to the law of England, or to any law, statute, or usage in force in New Zealand, or in any part thereof, in anywise notwithstanding.

https://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-GovCons-t1-body-d1-d1.html
4 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 2:41pm
- virtualmark
  
  The Treaty of Waitangi was written in a time when, and expected a continuation of, Maori and Pakeha settlors lived in quite seperate domains within the one country.
  
  Maori had no interest in policing the (fairly lawless) Pakeha settlors, and wanted Pakeha government and law to control them. And Maori had no interest in managing relationships with other governments like the French and USA.
  
  Pakeha governors had little to no interest in getting involved in policing Maori tribal groups, and wanted chiefs to continue to exercise their chieftainship to control the Maori population.
  
  Hence the words in there about the British having kawanatanga (governorship) and the chiefs retaining tino rangatiratanga (chieftainship).
  
  But in modern-day New Zealand Maori no longer live in tribal groups under the authority of their chief. So that whole “tino rangatiratanga” bit has lost its meaning … or rather has been mis-used to argue for a whole other “sovereignty” that was never intended.
  
  8 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 4:04pm
  - PurplePen
    
    Thanks .. good point. Now I get it.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 10:27pm
Albie

Started to listen to Leighton’s podcast #226 last week, and half an hour into it turned it off.
Physicist John Sheahen discusses accepting God along with science as science doesn’t have all the answers.
Leighton gobbles this stuff up as he is a devout Christian, but I wonder if he decries Maori “science” being pushed into our universities and state institutions?
I was reluctantly brought up Presbyterian, Sunday school, high school chapel etc and for the life of me can’t understand how intelligent educated people can still believe there is an all powerful, all knowing man in the sky.
Each to his own I suppose. Had my rant.
4 3
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 2:58pm
- NoFax
  
  “for the life of me can’t understand how intelligent educated people can still believe there is an all powerful, all knowing man in the sky.”
  
  No Christian believes in an “all powerful, all knowing man in the sky”. Perhaps start with what Christians actually believe might lead to an understanding.
  
  4 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 3:35pm
  - Albie
    
    Fair enough NoFax. Can you please enlighten me as to where one could search for the proof of existence of this all powerful all knowing entity?
    
    1 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 6:11pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Tom (not John) Sheahen
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m73QYdhoCw
  
  1 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 5:21pm
  - Albie
    
    Thanks Maggy. Should proof read my posts more diligently.
    
    2 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 6:16pm
- MCōs
  
  I was brought up a Catholic
  I distinctly remember about sixty years ago Fr Williams aka Muttonbird telling us when confronted by as unanswerable question in Christian Doctrine class that somethings had to be accepted on faith.
  Religion partially exists to explain away scientific mysteries, usually to the advantage of the leaders
  
  3 2
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 6:56pm
Maggie Pie

Just stuffed an orange up a Ducks jacksie and shoved it in the oven.

It’s not exactly the same I know, but guess I can’t be tooo critical…..

https://twitter.com/RadioGenoa/status/1758557881798979858
5 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 3:10pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, shall I get rid of my Rodd dinner set and eat KFC style?
  
  4 0
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 3:20pm
  - Maggie Pie
    
    Up to you I&O….. if it were me, I’d get rid of the Rodd anyway 🙁
    
    2 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 3:40pm
Steve Otto(North Shore)

Trump.
Will New York business die?
Prosecution and Persecution? It is all to get them man the Democrats don’t want.
Videos.
Watch who wins. Watch who gets butt hurt after the Election.
I do hope Trump runs the United States before he reams these Democrats.

https://www.redvoicemedia.com/2024/02/trump-ny-ruling-sends-warning-signal-for-business-exodus-from-the-state-videos/?
3 2
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 3:13pm
- Inandout
  
  SO, New York is being overrun by illegals and is slowly dying. Empty shops and office blocks abound.
  
  11 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 3:28pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    But they will vote! That is all the crooked Democrats want.
    The illegal immigrants will get sfa of what they are promised, but the swamp wins!
    
    3 3
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 3:38pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Steve,
      
      “Illegal immigrants vote” is a Fox News make-believe designed to get you angry.
      
      Reality: If an illegal immigrant is caught voting, which they would because they’d lack the right voter ID, then that’s immediate deportation … which is that last thing any illegal immigrant wants. Result is that there are no credible cases of illegals voting. And certainly not en-masse.
      
      1 6
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 3:58pm
      - dcrane
        
        Of course, they don’t need to actually vote to affect the government composition. At the next census all persons are counted, and states with heaps of illegals get more Representatives in Congress (though not Senators), and therefore more Electoral Votes.
        
        6 1
        Report
        February 18, 2024 4:39pm
      - kevn
        
        virtual… bidens minders will find a way. Why else are they allowing/encouraging the millions of illegals pouring over the border.
        Texans are the angry ones, they see it all happening.
        
        5 1
        Report
        February 18, 2024 4:44pm
      - Inandout
        
        virt, a more worrying aspect with these illegals is the low percentage who want a better life, maybe 20%. The rest are made up of criminals and bludgers, some from El Salvador a country whose government has decimated the gang culture of the 301s. If you know anything about the 301s is that they are born and bred lawbreakers, vicious in the extreme.
        
        4 1
        Report
        February 18, 2024 5:28pm
- MCōs
  
  Got your new gold Trump basketball boots yet?
  
  3 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 6:17pm
  - Steve Otto(North Shore)
    
    No, but I do know about them!
    
    0 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 19, 2024 8:10am
Swifty

Some good comments from Alf Filipaina regarding the recent school-related bashing:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/manukau-councillor-alf-filipaina-condemns-vicious-mangere-college-attack-on-marcellin-boy/RIO3FZO5R5F5DIFDGDF7TYBM2E/

This ‘turf’ shit is just infantile but people are really getting hurt. It’s been the same with the Mongies and the Blacks for decades – real primitive shit.
9 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 4:16pm
sht1971

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/pro-palestine-protest-luxon-confronted-at-big-gay-out/MRJQAOL4IZFV3JIYFL2F2RRJFU/

Clearly no idea how Palestine treats homos…..
13 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 4:48pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  I suppose if he said “not my cup of tea really but have an enjoyable day out there people” NZ’s lunatic media would be going hell for leather with beat-ups about Luxo being “homophobic”.
  
  4 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 5:58pm
  - rouppe
    
    Why go at all?
    
    It is a trend now that if you don’t show overt support, you’re accused of being overtly against.
    
    Only one way to stop that…
    
    5 0
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 7:02pm
Maggie Pie

A besti has just tweeted a pic of Chistopher with his arm around a tranny wrapped in a Pride flag at ‘The Big Gay Out’.

FFS!! Why 🙁
Does he not pay heed to his coalition partners?
11 3
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 4:53pm
- Grunter
  
  You do realise he is a politician and not a real person (Luxon…. and the Tranny) 😜
  
  I’m being a bit harsh – Luxon has had a very good day overall. Not my cup of tea hugging a trannie but that’s the price of being a PM in 2024 unfortunately.
  
  13 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 5:25pm
  - Grunter
    
    You are so bad 😜
    
    2 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 6:27pm
    - Maggie Pie
      
      People with knowledge of the matter have always maintained
      it was that image of JK that cost National the 2017 election.
      
      Just saying.
      
      3 2
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 6:47pm
- Inandout
  
  Maggie, I concur. I am slowly losing respect for that ex CEO of the gayest airline south of the equator.
  
  3 3
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 5:32pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Seems that some folks there didn’t appreciate him
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/509497/christopher-luxon-leaves-big-gay-out-after-heated-protest
  
  8 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 6:20pm
  - kowtow
    
    Why the hell do “mainstream” pollies bother with all this tosh.
    
    5 1
    Log in to Reply
    Report
    February 18, 2024 8:08pm
    - Ghost
      
      Why not? They are voters. Nothing wrong with politicians going along and showing their support.
      
      3 0
      Log in to Reply
      Report
      February 18, 2024 8:18pm
Swifty

Cultural enrichment UK styles:

https://x.com/RandomTheGuy_/status/1758563149798899746?s=20

How embarrassing for the police. They appear lost.
6 1
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 5:48pm
- Maggie Pie
  
  Good God!
  This is exactly the same sort of problem Manukau City Councillor Alf Filipaina was referring to… and why the cops always arrive late on the scene.
  
  When will this country wake up?
  
  4 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 6:55pm
- kowtow
  
  No !
  
  That’s a clear example of yet more systemic racism in the UK police.
  
  Innit.
  
  4 1
  Log in to Reply
  Report
  February 18, 2024 8:07pm
Jack5

Perhaps applicable to Kiwi politicians who like cowboy hats …

Lili Gladstone, a Crow Indian from Montana, in the Telegraph, talking about cowboy culture:

“Will the Hollywood myth of cowboys and Indians ever be replaced?

“At its worst, it’s an extension of Manifest Destiny,” she says – referring to the 19th-century belief that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the continent. It has created “these cowboy archetypes for people to worship and to try and emulate. I mean, Bezos in a cowboy hat. We have this saying in Montana, ‘all hat, no horse’, and you can tell in Montana which cowboys’ boots are clean, you know.”

Gladstone stars in a Scorcese film, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” with de Niro and DiCaprio. It’s about murders of Osage Indians in Oklahoma for their oil-rich land.
3 0
Log in to Reply
Report
February 18, 2024 10:23pm

Add a Comment Cancel reply

Login to comment or vote

« Russian opposition leader killed

The out of touch 1% »

Donations

You can now donate to Kiwiblog

Exclusive content from DPF on Patreon

Become a Patron!

Never miss a post

Email Address

Join 13K other subscribers

Highlights

Target achieved II
Good progress on attendance
Health Target 5 – elective treatments
Health Target 4 – Specialist appointments

Links

National gets Winstoned
No Right Turn
Alan Greenspan, 1926-2026: 'The Undertaker' passes away
Not PC
Cost of Renewables Holding Back Net Zero!
Utopia
Is Your Toothbrush Causing Gum Recession? How RANVOO AirJet Rewrites Oral Care with Science
The Daily Blog
Daily review 24/06/2026
The Standard
Word of the day
Hompaddock
Free Speech is in Trouble in Europe
No Minister
The mistakes that sealed Keir Starmer’s fate
Point of Order
NRL Predictions for Round 17
Stats Chat
Media Link: “A View from Afar” on Systemic Change.
Kiwipolitico
Alex Berenson on Fatherhood Manifesto, Marijuana & Biden’s COVID
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
People Power
NZCPR
Levies as end-runs around the Generic Tax Policy Process
Offsetting Behaviour
A central banker’s fiction
Croaking Cassandra
THE WORKING FROM HOME RACKET BY PUBLIC SERVANTS
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
The Accidental Engagement
Imperator Fish
Legal Beagle: Election '23: The Special Votes
Public Address
Get Vaccinated Tomorrow Or Shut Your Pie Hole
Cactus Kate
Making this movie might have been a mistake
Liam Hehir
Why I am retiring from political blogging
Kiwi FireWalker

[email protected]

PO Box 12270, Thorndon, Wellington 6144

Facebook
Twitter
FourSquare
Instagram
LinkedIn
Google+

Archives
Disclosure Statement
Editorial Policy
Privacy Policy
Complaints Policy
Comments Policy

Design by cre8d

%d

Share this:

Like this: