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October 16, 2024 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 16 October 2024

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General Debate

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NeverMindTheBollocks

So, Wellington City Council say that the financials underpinning their Long Term Plan have been torpedoed by the airport share sale being voted down.

But, we were told that the resulting cash had been earmarked for a long term, earthquake recovery fund.

Unless Council is planning for an earthquake in the next 10 years, both those positions cannot be true.
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October 16, 2024 8:02am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Does a long term earthquake recovery fund make sense when the council is drowning in debt and wasteful expenditure? Surely the priority should be to get that under control. If the Council is in good financial shape with low debt and prudent expenditures, then it can borrow if a natural disaster hits.
  
  I must be missing something. 😕
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:37am
  - pdm
    
    No BY – what you are using is good old fashioned common sense.
    
    Something that is obviously missing from the Mayor and most Councillors in Wellington City.
    
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    October 16, 2024 8:47am
    - John Loveridge
      
      Try most councils.
      
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      October 16, 2024 12:19pm
  - Ehlana
    
    Stupidity. Some people are born with a deficiency of stupidity. It’s thought to be caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors largely beyond your control, so it is nothing to be ashamed of. As long as you look after yourself, you can still expect to enjoy a normal healthy life.
    
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    October 16, 2024 8:50am
    - Redapplefalls
      
      Plainly you are not suffering from a ‘deficiency of stupidity’.
      
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      October 16, 2024 8:52am
    - Kiwiguy
      
      A deficiency of stupidity? Or a surplus of stupidity.
      
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      October 16, 2024 9:19am
    - David Garrett
      
      Ehlana: Surely you mean an excess or if you want to be fancy, a surfeit of stupidity, i.e too much of it?
      
      “A deficiency of stupidity” means you don’t have much stupidity, i.e you are bright.
      
      Or am I missing something?
      
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      October 16, 2024 9:22am
      - Ehlana
        
        I was replying to BY, who thought he was missing something. I think he is missing (deficient in) stupidity.
        
        At least some Wellington Council members seem to be on the other end of that spectrum and have been born with a surfeit of stupidity. Unfortunately, this causes many complications in life.
        
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        October 16, 2024 10:42am
    - Steve Otto(North Shore)
      
      Stupidity.
      From a meme on FB:
      When you are dead you don’t know you are dead, it’s just the people around you who suffer. It is the same when you are stupid.
      
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      October 16, 2024 10:41am
  - kiwikidsnz
    
    My understanding is that several councilors opposed the sale because ultimately the money would probably not be reserved for an earthquake recovery, it would be squandered to enable a future Green/Left council to continue it’s program of civic waste, vanity projects & value destruction.
    
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    October 16, 2024 8:58am
  - cmm
    
    The fund would get plundered really quickly anyway. It would just be a slush fund.
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:43am
    - artemisia
      
      There was a majority of councillors who know 100% they were elected to save the planet. Maybe still a majority. Of course they will spend whatever they can to advance their sacred duty.
      
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      October 16, 2024 12:53pm
    - peterwn
      
      Just like the proceeds from the sale of the former Municipal Electricity Department went heaven knows where.
      
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      October 16, 2024 1:13pm
  - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
    
    No Ben, I agree with you, this is quite troubling – very hard to make sense of the arguments that Council has used.
    
    1. “We are changing one asset class to another to invest in a diversified fund. It is prudent to hold assets outside Wellington/NZ”
    
    2. “If we do not sell these shares, we cannot afford projects on the LTP”.
    
    How can these positions both be true?
    
    There is some trixy accounting going on here. Don’t get this Deity wrong. Nothing at all wrong with selling assets to pay down debt, or to invest in urgent infrastructure, but you only get one go at it (ahem Municipal Electricity).
    
    Personally this Deity opposes either an Observer or Commissioners, this is what Wellington wanted – a truly Green/Left Council, let them enjoy it good and hard. Being rescued will only strengthen their position at the next election – whenever that is, because we know that they will never face accountability for their choices.
    
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    October 16, 2024 10:59am
    - Galzy
      
      The rot set in some time ago under Justin Lester and the decision to rebuild the old Town Hall, a building no one really misses, but at the cost of over $300m. Apparently, it will have perfect acoustics though.
      Hard to fantom that Tory is continuing to advocate for the Golden Mile, especially after the carnage that the Thorndon quay transformation has created.
      Unbeliveable, but typical lefty behaviour, doubling down when it all turns to shit.
      
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      October 16, 2024 12:33pm
      - rouppe
        
        I said it at the time and will repeat it.
        
        The Huddart Parker building was constructed in the early 1920’s. The town hall in 1904 with several alterations in the 1930’s.
        
        So built in a similar time, of a similar size, in a similar part of the city.
        
        In 2016 the Huddart Parker building was taken from 29% to 100% for $8 million.
        
        The cost of this town hall refurbish is reprehensible.
        
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        October 16, 2024 6:11pm
    - Eastlander
      
      Scenario: a labour-green led council governs so abominably the government is forced to step and appoint a commission. The subsequent cancellation of the council’s idiotic pet projects allows threatened rates rises to be averted, the reversal of destructive pedestrianisation schemes and the reinstatement of carparks helps businesses to recover and gives a much-needed boost to council coffers. The city benefits and the only voices raised in opposition and the greens and labour who rage at being unable to gouge the citizens to fund their ambitions and lifestyles.
      
      And you think this will strengthen them at the next election (council election presumably and why should there ever be another one?), so your preferred course of action is nothing.
      
      All this and the joy of effectively disenfranchising the green and labour voting bloc should be enticing to anyone who wants the Ardern legacy undone, but you prefer losing apparently.
      
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      October 16, 2024 12:39pm
      - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
        
        No, you forget that the Greens and Labour never take accountability, and always lie.
        
        Chuck them out and fix wellington, and the government will be loudly blamed for taking away “entitlements”, opposing democracy, being fascist tyrants etc etc etc . The Greens and Labour will then sweep back into office as the defenders of the people, to start the cycle all over again. They never get to be accountable for their mismanagement.
        
        So there is zero upside for the government. Which, in case you hadn’t noticed is being blamed 24/7 all channels, all media for trying to fix the chaos forced on them by the previous government.
        
        Exhibit A: That woman on Hosk this morning, had the balls to say that because Luxon hadn’t had a honeymoon period in the press was proof he was out of touch. Ignoring that the 24/7 pile on from day one was in fact the Labour strategy, coordinated with the media.
        
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        October 16, 2024 1:22pm
      - Eastlander
        
        That will be their rhetoric yes, but why should they be swept back into office? Labour gained power in 2017 by the narrowest of margins and the poor judgment of Winston Peters, who will most likely not be backing them again in light of the de facto adoption of He Puapua as labour policy. They have had no strong leaders since Helen Clark, no charismatic ones since Ardern deserted them and they’re shackled to a radicalised Maori caucus that repels every sane person.
        
        And Te Paati Media are only impressing each other at this point.
        
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        October 16, 2024 4:25pm
- G152
  
  Local politician local lie
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:47am
  - Paulus
    
    Wellingtonians voted for them – didn’t they ?
    
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    October 16, 2024 11:52am
- rouppe
  
  So now the value of the airport is the long term earthquake recovery fund.
  
  An airport that would become worthless in a Kaikoura-level earthquake. Meaning we wouldn’t have that money anymore.
  
  Those councillors that voted against the sale are pretty dumb
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:49am
  - Fender
    
    spilt my coffee over that thanks, blindingly obvious now you’ve said it but hadn’t crossed my mind, thank you, comment of the day for me
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:10am
  - sirknz
    
    “Those councillors that voted against the sale are pretty dumb”
    
    Yes, yes they are, and don’t forget that Wellingtonians keep voting in these clowns…
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:50am
  - cmm
    
    The current mob, and the voter base that supports them, are hungry for money to spend. They’d sell the washing machine on ebay to buy more shoes.
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:51am
  - Paulus
    
    Remember that Wellington Airport came out of an Earthquake when the land rose.
    
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    October 16, 2024 11:53am
    - rouppe
      
      True, fair point. It could rise further, or drop back into the sea. The latter would be worse, but even a further rise would be destructive to the airport as an airport. Just look at the rail line down the SI east coast. Essentially a rebuild.
      
      Either way, I doubt it could be sold for $400 million after the sort of earthquake that needs half a billion dollars to repair the city.
      
      Might be largely unaffected, though personally I think that unlikely.
      
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      October 16, 2024 1:43pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Those Councillors voting against the airport shares sale fell into two quite opposing blocs. Some were anti sale of public assets; others were quite ok with the sale of public assets but not until the Green slush fund-supporting Councillors are turfed out on their collective ear.
    
    The real choice at that vote was whether to retain the funds locked up in the asset, or liquidate the asset and piss the funds up against the wall.
    
    Of the two, I know which I prefer, at least until after the next Council election.
    
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    October 16, 2024 12:54pm
    - ecco
      
      Unfortunately Whanau and co will get probably get back in next election due to the Green Party machine that leaps into gear at election time and mobilises all the transient student population to vote green. Note these students are not direct ratepayers, so high rates rises are not infringing on them as much as landlords are having to absorb much of the rate rises.
      
      We saw this in action at the last council by election whereby the businessman, Karl Tiefenbacher who ran, got defeated narrowly by the Green Party candidate. Would have been very interesting had the right leaning Tiefenbacher got in.
      
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      October 17, 2024 4:54am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Think like a Green leftie and it all becomes clear.
  Putting money in the bank when you can’t pay your bills is how the left think, and that money can be eroded away on more stupid Green ideas.
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:54am
  - john1234
    
    Left think is spending your money on rainbow crossings and cycleways when you can’t pay your bills.
    Putting money in the bank is foreign to the Wellydud greenies.
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:38am
    - Don Beckett
      
      That’s right. In Tauranga, the newly elected council is spending $10,000 on a bloody rainbow crossing FFS. There was a petition to council by ratepayers to cancel the project, but the council voted to carry on. These pricks are no better then the commissioners.
      
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      October 16, 2024 10:52am
      - Paulus
        
        As the Tauranga Councillors have only just been voted, in following the Commissioners debacle, look what we are left with.
        
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        October 16, 2024 11:55am
      - John Loveridge
        
        And the commissioners were barely any better than the dysfunctional council they replaced.
        
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        October 16, 2024 12:21pm
      - ecco
        
        I don’t really care what commissioner gets put in in Wellington as long as the government -read nz tax payer- doesn’t end up bailing out the Wellington City Council of the debt mess they are in. Due to successive left mayors starting with Wade Brown.
        
        I’ve paid more than my fair share of extortionate rates when I lived in Wellington ($10k+) for at least ten years and I’ve now left the place for somewhere where my rates are half what I paid in Wellington.
        
        Wellington needs a Wayne Brown type to come in and clean it up, someone who’s had a real life job and has financial literacy. We know this is not going to happen.
        
        Wellington clearly is heading the same way as California (another woke bastion of left leaning disciples) ie insolvent and bust.
        
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        October 17, 2024 5:09am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Looks like the Mayor of Wellington will actually attend a meeting in person today.
  
  https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350452640/wellington-mayor-calls-urgent-meeting-axe-hovers
  
  Seems she has a habit of being MIA.
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/checkpoint/audio/2018959891/wellington-council-could-soon-face-govt-intervention-willis
  (From about 3 min.)
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:27am
  - peterwn
    
    Best thing that she can do at the special meeting is tender her resignation. Also The Post should admit it was wrong to support her Mayoralty bid.
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:47am
    - Eastlander
      
      A reliable source informed me that in the aftermath of her public intoxication scandal a friend of hers suggested that she resign for the sake of her mental health. Her answer was as follows:
      
      “Why would I quit? I’ve never been paid so much for doing nothing!”
      
      Now her pleas of hardship are not to be taken at face value, but she does have a large mortgage to pay, having bought at the height of the market. She not only needs to hold onto the job for as long as possible, she needs another high-paying job lined up for when has to leave office. She has probably scuppered her chances of getting on the green list with the attempted sale of the airport shares and her threats to cut WCC’s social housing expenditure, so that leaves an Iwi org (still a possibility if she can somehow get the council to agree to sell the shares to the local Iwi as was most likely planned), or one of the various consultants who hoped to profit off the golden mile upgrade. Neither will be on the table if she resigns.
      
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      October 16, 2024 12:48pm
  - Taieri
    
    Looks like the Mayor of Wellington will actually attend a meeting in person today.
    ———–
    
    With her busy schedule it might be a bit difficult to find the time…
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:57am
  - Close Hen Counters
    
    The mayor has pulled heaps of Covid sickies – there is a letter from ?quality and control in the Wellington council showing all the dates!!! It’s on twitter and I’m technically incompetent to know how to pull the article across to here 😢
    
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    October 16, 2024 11:08am
  - John Loveridge
    
    I hope she manages a good sound nap beforehand so that she can bring her mental A-game to the table.
    
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    October 16, 2024 12:22pm
- cmm
  
  The basic problem is having a party girl (even a recently sober one) try to run a billion dollar budget.
  
  She can probably organise a bottle of wine and maxxing out her credit card on entertainment and shoes, but that is all.
  
  A huge pile of money would become a slush fund. Nobody would miss just one million. Right? then another, then another until it is all gone.
  
  Exactly the same process that leads from having just one drink to being up-ended in the flower beds with crisps in your hair.
  
  Tory herself isn’t the real problem though. It is the people that vote for her. Voters like those will continue to deliver a council like that.
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:43am
  - Fender
    
    to be fair, I get the jokes and I don’t like her but isn’t she just a figure head, its not like she actually gets to make any decisions, or even knows whats going on, judging by other councils around the country and what they do and don’t get told by their executives, being a councilor appears to be a game so the public think they have a say in things
    
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    October 16, 2024 11:04am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      No, I don’t think so. I think that Mayoring is actually a real job of work.
      
      They are just one vote, but they have the gavel, and their job is to wrangle Councillors, keep staff in line, and walk the line to achieve as near to a consensus as possible.
      
      A good mayor is a first class facilitator
      
      An excellent mayor is one who can wrangle conflict, set direction and gives Councillors credit for solutions.
      
      Siccing your chief of staff on “opponents” with anonymous complaints, and then hiring your mates to “review” and bag said opponents, is just “rats in the ranks” levels of deceitfulness – normal cut and thrust of local government and to be expected.
      
      Getting caught doing the rat fucking, is however, inexcusable.
      
      An excellent (or even a competent) mayor is, alas something Wellington has not had for many years.
      
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      October 16, 2024 11:29am
      - Paulus
        
        All Councillors in New Zealand are there to whitewash the Council Executives and their lobby groups.
        Nothing else – stupid system !
        
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        October 16, 2024 11:57am
- Handyman
  
  The Wellington debacle is only news because the left did not follow their usual process. “Never be in a position to allow voters comparisons of performance.”
  
  Three situations where the left solved PR problems…
  1. The full page comparisons of DHB health performance highlighted poor performance of some DHBs.
  2. Young people were comparing training across state institutes with private industry providers.
  3. In Auckland there was one right leaning council with good services, low rates and no debt. Next door there was a left wing council with low rates and maxed out debt.
  
  The “solution” is always the same. Create a monopoly to eliminate comparisons and allow the monopoly to “mange the message”. Hence Te Whatu Ora, removal of industry ITO and Auckland super city.
  
  Wellington tried the same trick as Auckland but the neighbouring councils wanted none of it. This left Wellington exposed. Wellington voters are now reaping what they sowed, and there is nowhere to hide.
  
  Wellington is a small city with easy access from nearby cities. People will simply move to another city and commute when not working from home. Wellington is about to experience the opposite of gentrification as the centre is hollowed out to be replaced by a different kind of “diverse and vibrant” community.
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:50am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Turmoil in the kingdom of conkers! The World Champion accused of using a steel replica to smash his way to victory.

O tempora! O mores!

http://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/350451849/world-conker-champion-found-steel-chestnut-accused-cheating
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October 16, 2024 8:08am
- Loddenthinks
  
  He was also the chief judge of the whole competition, responsible for drilling holes in everyone’s conkers (except his own steel one, of course) and attaching the strings.
  
  In typically English fashion, the title given to the chief judge is King Conker.
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:39am
- kowtow
  
  NMTB
  
  If ever there was an example of the media distraction/waste of space , this has to be one of the best .
  
  India and Canada at loggerheads over state sponsored terror.
  European borders tightened over similar.
  Israel under rocket and terror attack with air raid sirens across the country.
  Ukraine being crushed by Putin.
  An imbecile in the Oval Office.
  China economy in the dumps but more sabre rattling .
  
  Etc
  
  And the big international msm story , accompanied by big colourful photo ; conker cheat !
  
  Unbelievable , yet proof of how the msm seeks to infantilise us , keep us in the dark etc
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:43am
  - Fender
    
    to be fair, people are people, clickbait has always worked, people just want to be amused once in a while, smile occasionally otherwise the news would be all too depressing to even bother going to work, Links from Stuff should be banned anyway at least on this site to keep blood pressures and other health issues in check.
    I had a workmate emigrated from England 10 years ago and he was discussing how our news constantly lists home invasions and violence etc which scares old people into believing the world is out to get them, he said in England it was so common that it just didn’t get mentioned which is probably helpful to a lot of peoples mental wellbeing and a better option.
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:19am
    - kowtow
      
      fender
      I get the click bait , light cover stuff but Herald devoted approx 25% of today’s “world news” space to it .
      
      That’s ridiculous to the extent that they shouldn’t pretend to themselves or to anyone else to be a serious newspaper .
      
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      October 16, 2024 10:56am
      - Paulus
        
        Herald and its subsidiaries have more space to Advertising – without Harvey Norman they would be out of business !
        
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        October 16, 2024 11:59am
Scott

One of the many areas in which this government is enacting a quiet revolution is in the area of education.
Erica Stanford, who is fantastic, announced yesterday new measures to teach kids mathematics. New books and methods that have been successful in some schools and are now being rolled out to the rest.
https://www.instagram.com/p/DBIhrsIvAiy/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
Stanford is demanding of schools that kids actually learn the basics, reading, writing and arithmetic. The previous govt wanted kids to just learn Te Reo and gender ideology!

Now yes there is more to do. But educators must now teach kids. This will concentrate their minds and they’ll be too busy to teach gender studies.

Also the kids aren’t distracted by cellphones so they can learn and play and actually talk to each other.
This is real change. Please note this, all you knockers out there. The kids are alright. They’re now learning something. 😎
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October 16, 2024 8:13am
- John Loveridge
  
  More of this, please. I speak as a father who has had to wage battle with the education system on behalf of his children for nearly 20 years now.
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:49am
  - Paulus
    
    I paid privately for mine and then they did so for their children.
    Best money could bye and it shows.
    
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    October 16, 2024 12:01pm
    - John Loveridge
      
      God I wish. I’ve never had the means to pay for private education. But to offset that disadvantage a little, my kids have always had their mother at home. They’re coming out OK.
      
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      October 16, 2024 12:25pm
- Rodney Hide
  
  Scott
  
  I am pleased you are impressed. I am not. The schools are still teaching ten year old girls (and boys) they could be born in the wrong body and could be boys (or girls).
  
  I have witnessed the harm this is doing to young people including the loss of a young life.
  
  Stanford is fully onboard with this. That despite her Prime Minister promising in the coalition agreement with NZ1 that it would end.
  
  I consider it child abuse. And our Education Minister is okay with that. To me it is unforgivable. Does she truly think kids can be born in the wrong body? Or is she just playing along? Either way, she stands accused
  
  Do you think National Party members and voters are okay with that? I would be interested in your thoughts.
  
  Rodney Hide
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:55am
  - Scott
    
    Rodney, you make some good points.
    Erica Stanford needs to tread carefully. There is a huge LGBT lobby that is very powerful. If she openly opposed them what would happen? There would be drag queens and people with blue hair protesting wherever she goes. The media would stir up an uproar.
    
    But who can oppose teaching kids the basics? Who can oppose getting their maths scores up? Educators now have to educate. They have to concentrate on their core mission.
    
    So what’s she’s doing is good. I don’t disagree with you on the trans stuff. It’s ludicrous (I would also add demonic). However maybe there is more than way to deal with the problem? Get educators focussed on educating and they won’t have time to trans the kids. They’ll have to teach maths instead.
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:43am
    - Matt Long
      
      There’s not huge Trans the kids lobby, there’s a vocal one.
      
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      October 16, 2024 11:19am
    - Paulus
      
      Thought I read the other day that LBQXYZ and all periferies are about 1.5% of the population.
      
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      October 16, 2024 12:03pm
    - John Loveridge
      
      What did the census reveal? That the LGBT community amounts to 5/8 of fuck all. Yet they make a LOT of noise and have everybody terrified of offending them.
      
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      October 16, 2024 12:26pm
    - Rodney Hide
      
      Hi Scott
      
      I appreciate your reply. But she has schools teaching kids they could be born in the wrong body and some being queered but she has to tread carefully cos someone with blue hair might scream at her?
      
      Gutless.
      
      Or she believes it.
      
      Rodney
      
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      October 16, 2024 1:55pm
      - Scott
        
        Rodney, I appreciate your reply –
        “But she has schools teaching kids they could be born in the wrong body and some being queered”.
        This teaching happened well before Ms Stanford became Minister of education. It was largely a result of the previous Labour govt.
        
        But I do not agree with a confrontational approach. It is not prudent. In my opinion most NZers would not put up with it. In this I differ from a lot of kiwiblog commentators who would like Chris Luxon to sound more like Donald Trump.
        
        No. National needs to legislate and keep pushing for their goals. Ms Stanford is getting teachers to teach, to concentrate on the basics, for kids to put down their cellphones and actually learn something. That’s vital. That’s important.
        
        I don’t believe Ms Stanford is gutless or a trans idealogue. What I think we can agree on is getting teachers to focus on their core mission is an objectively good thing.
        
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        October 16, 2024 2:45pm
      - Jethrod
        
        Well said Scott!!
        
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        October 16, 2024 3:51pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Yes, it is child abuse.
    
    The thought that directives from the minister will be enacted by the low intellect ideology driven cohort of “teachers” (indoctrinators) is naive and fanciful.
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:49am
  - Notsofast
    
    Maybe this is helpful Rodney,
    
    “Erica Stanford, who asked ERO to find out “how RSE is currently taught and how well it meets the needs of students, expectations of parents and capability of schools”.
    
    To our surprise, Resist Gender Education was invited by ERO to contribute to the consultation, and we have done so, emphatically. Our full submission is available here, or read on for the key points.”
    
    https://open.substack.com/pub/resistgendereducation/p/ero-dynamics?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=3ehku5
    
    Let us hope the tide is turning.
    
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    October 16, 2024 10:52am
  - Jack5
    
    The issue Rodney Hide highlights is a rumbling volcano of contention.
    
    The early wisp of smoke from the crater is the background fact that NZ’s Minister of Mental Health, Matt Doocey, once worked at the London Tavistock Clinic, closed down by the UK in a transgender issue.
    
    Background:
    
    1. Final report of UK’s Cass review that led to the closure. This is a summary but you can also download the full report here:
    
    https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/
    
    2. A British Medical Journal brief review that includes a warning: “the toxicity of the debate is exceptional”:
    
    https://www.bmj.com/content/385/bmj.q1189
    
    3. The closing of Tavistock, which BBC describes as “UK’s only dedicated gender identity clinic for children and young people.”:
    
    https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62335665
    
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    October 16, 2024 11:01am
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    Erica Stanford is a progressive who, along the rest of the intellectually- and morally-challenged majority of our parliamentarians, voted to criminalize any parents and health professionals who oppose medicalization of a child’s gender dysphoria
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_Practices_Prohibition_Legislation_Act_2022
    And she appears to have done nothing to stop the teaching of maatauranga in science classes.
    
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    October 16, 2024 12:48pm
- Paulus
  
  Problem is that the Educators are not capable enough to teach children the new requirements.
  They didn’t do that at school.
  Of course they will fight like hell in the schools, led by the fixated Head teachers, and Union Reps.
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:56am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Heaven forbid the kids learn something other than Marxist indoctrination.
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:01am
- Anthony Melchett
  
  Except they aren’t. Well not all of them anyway.
  
  It still comes down to the individual teachers. Too much going on, no maths today.
  
  Don’t hand in your project? Don’t worry about it.
  
  The trend of having 2 year groups in the same class also worries me. When you are the younger cohort, the smart kids race ahead in learning and then have a year off the next year as they have already done the work and the rest of the class catches up. Then if you get in with a bunch of kids that are screen zombies they only teach to the younger kids level leaving the top kids bored while teachers try and convince parents their kids learning issues are because they are trans.
  
  I’m not making any of this up.
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:02am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Heard of a teacher offered a student NCEA points in return for good behaviour.
    Not unusual, apparently.
    
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    October 16, 2024 10:04am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Stanford continues to allow the teaching of maatauranga in science classes. I wrote to her months ago about this – no reply.
  
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  October 16, 2024 12:40pm
Close Hen Counters

I’m hanging out for the day TVNZ sees the error in its way and reporters like maiki Sherman lose their jobs. She just cannot leave Mr Luxon alone re his wealth and comes across as a weirdo jealous stalker. I see Ms Ardern and her reported value of 25m is never mentioned in the 6pm news …. Nor her wearing of designer clothes, 300k speaking jaunts, flying to prince willy for her gong ….
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October 16, 2024 8:17am
- Flossie
  
  I’m hanging out for the day they call our country New Zealand. There’s a headline this morning stating something about foreign nurses who can’t get a job in Aotearoa.
  I refer them to the results published here yesterday that two thirds of us do not want that name. They should get smart quickly and read the room before they’re all made redundant.
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:37am
  - John Loveridge
    
    I was going to reply to the same effect.
    
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    October 16, 2024 8:49am
- Loddenthinks
  
  Yes what an all-time pathetic “gotcha” moment when she harangued him on the fringe of a press stand-up to ask “Mr Luxon, do you think you’re in touch with the average voter?”
  
  Cue smug expression when he said he thought he was – oh yes, Maiki, you’ve outdone yourself this time with your poll result ready for the big reveal later. Truly pathetic.
  
  I couldn’t give a toss if the PM or any politician is or isn’t “in touch with” the average voter. I just want them to run the country properly. Some loser wailed “He’s running it like a company, not a country. A country has people!”
  
  Yeah, no shit Sherlock. Guess what every company in the world has?
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:45am
  - mogg
    
    The question should be, does One News think it is in touch with the average viewer. Research from Victoria Uni finds that 60% of people actively avoid MSM news, 70% of people think that MSM news reporting is biased.
    
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    October 16, 2024 10:42am
    - PeeJay
      
      Completely agree with this. I’ve been actively avoiding MSM for a while now , at least NZ MSM – still read the occasional article but very infrequently. Just found I could no longer stomach the blatant bias.
      
      Strangely, folks posting links on sites like this (Maggy W is particularly impressive in this regard) tend to be far more interesting and varied than anything you would read or view on the MSM sites – science, culture, economics etc – often from a right or libertarian perspective but not always and often thought provoking.
      
      Still read some overseas media and still try to get a range of opinions to avoid the echo chamber risk (Times & Guardian etc to ensure some balance) but absolutely do not miss NZ media.
      
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      October 16, 2024 1:41pm
      - mogg
        
        But what’s-her face on 3 News does have a nice hairstyle and a lovely white trouser suite.
        
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        October 16, 2024 3:51pm
- kowtow
  
  The Willy Gong is a bigly issue .
  
  here was me thinking she was the republican claiming the future of the monarchy in NZ was limited and that the planet was in an existential emergency due to bar b ques and plane travel and yet ……..
  
  And where’s te media paahti to call out her rank hypocrisy .
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:46am
- MCōs
  
  Apart from anything else Jacinda Ardern is no longer the PM or involved in NZ politics.
  Plenty of other ex political leader are eg John Key, Helen Clark, Don Brash, Peter Dunne, Roger Douglas and to a lesser extent Phil Goff, Bill English, Jim Bolger, Richard Prebble, Rodney Hyde
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:56am
  - grumpy
    
    Yep, Luxon and Key abandoned big money and to save New Zealand and Jacinda abandoned New Zealand to pursue big money….
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:31am
    - muzled
      
      Brand Jacinda has and always will be about Brand Jacinda.
      
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      October 16, 2024 3:21pm
- Gravelroad
  
  On newstalkzb this morning, the odious Ginny Andersen tried to “gotcha” Mark Mitchell MP, who has (stand by to be aghast and revolted) even more houses in his investment portfolio than Mr Luxon!!
  Quelle Horreur!
  Ms Andersen admitted that she studies the Register of Pecuniary Interests closely and has discovered this outrage about Mr Mitchell.
  Mitchell tried to justify his crime by saying he has saved up to buy property since he was a 20-year-old police recruit etc etc etc when he should have just old Ms Andersen to go get a life.
  Or talk to former Labour PM Helen Clarke about her property money making investments.
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:27am
  - grumpy
    
    Very disappointed. Hosking let Anderson scream over the top of Mitchell at will. No mention of Clark and Ardern’s new found wealth…..
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:35am
  - Beach Haven expat
    
    Was this the Ginny Andersen who claimed one week to have had her rent shoot through the roof just like lots of other disadvantaged folks and then a few weeks later confirmed the register listing that she owned a house? I was confused.
    
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    October 16, 2024 12:11pm
    - grumpy
      
      Sounds exactly the same one….
      
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      October 16, 2024 2:17pm
Scooter

Good to see Mike Hosking asking Chris Luxon some hard questions, about time. I think MH is getting about as fustraded with him as he got with Ardern. I doubt CL will do an Ardern but he probably got a wake up call with that interview IE being held to account.
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October 16, 2024 8:18am
- Clyde
  
  I agree. Luxon was evasive in this interview and it is clear that Seymour for one has had enough of this race-based shit. Frankly, if Luxon suddenly did some decisive things around the “judiciary”, universities and education in general, as well as selling off TVNZ and RNZ, he would be seen as a strong leader. I can’t see his problem – he needs to ACT, if you’ll pardon the pun.
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:52am
- Inandout
  
  Scooter, that was yesterday so a long time in politics. Wellington council having a commissioner installed any day soon may be the next talking point.
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:54am
  - Gravelroad
    
    It has been suggested that an early election for a new Wgn council might be an option.
    And that Minister Simeon Brown could be considering this.
    Very risky IMO..
    Wellington being Wellington could easily re-elect the same lot and with an increased Labour/Greens majority.
    The entitlement level of many of the Wellington city voters would allow that – no worries at all.
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:09am
  - Paulus
    
    No let the voted Council sort it out not a Commissioner like the stuffed Tauranga Mahuta Council.
    
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    October 16, 2024 12:06pm
  - Rumblestrip
    
    If you have a family member who has a problem — say, a gambling addiction — there is a point where you simply have to cut them off and let them reap the consequences of their actions. It can be very painful, but the only way out. If you keep bailing them out, they will never learn.
    
    So it is with the Wellington City Council. The good people of Wellington have democratically elected this dysfunctional, spendthrift council, led by an alcoholic Major of questionable competence. Now, Wellington needs to reap the consequences of their vote, and reap it good and hard.
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:13pm
Yvette

November –
 • A select committee is due to report back on the Oranga Tamariki repeal bill to remove Section 7AA next month. 
• The ACT Treaty Principles Bill. will be introduced to Parliament (November), then debated and sent to Select Committee for submissions and reported back for further debate (May). 
• Govt to change or remove Treaty of Waitangi provisions in 28 laws. The Government is moving forward with its controversial review of legislation including Te Tiriti o Waitangi provisions 
• Ngāi Tahu is next up to host a hui-ā-motu (national hui) and mobilise iwi and hapū Māori from across Aotearoa, on October 22   • Activist group Toitū te Tiriti is anticipating 50-thousand marchers will join its planned week-long protest hīkoi against the Treaty Principles Bill next month. 
• Oranga Tamariki – Community providers have had funding cut

• Government departments have been told to use their English names ahead of those in te reo. 

Guess if democracy is the baby thrown out with the bathwater, that will then allow a Plan B to take what circumstances arise from a likely tempête de merde to reassert the need for a law stating Government has the right to govern – devoid of the Treaty, but rather necessitated from the confusion caused by it.

As commented on yesterday, removal Treaty of Waitangi provisions in 28 laws should have applied to a 29th: the Coalition Treaty Principles Bill, so it doesn’t disappear up its own fundamental.
But guess if that happens there will be a longer path to pursue – triggered by constitutional questions of democracy not passing a Committee stage.

______________

Would there be a little international embarrassment in the world headlines –
NEW ZEALAND FAILS TO CONFIRM DEMOCRATIC RULE, LEGAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, AND VOTER EQUALITY
International trade context threatened – UN has a brain explosion
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October 16, 2024 8:47am
I remember when

Two fatal accidents on SH1 yesterday both involving trucks.
Both accidents were during the day.
They demonstrate one of the reasons that Zero road deaths will be impossible.
High heavy transport numbers mean many accidents involve trucks and the results are often serious for the other party.
Incidentally, if you were installing safety fencing, wouldn’t rail bridges, which often cross the road at awkward angles, be a good starting point.
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October 16, 2024 8:58am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  That spot on SH1 near Marton is notorious. Apart from being narrow, it’s also a hollow (which I think resulted from an effort to allow bigger trucks to pass under the bridge). Anytime it rains heavily, it fills up with water & traffic is diverted through Marton.
  
  The real solution, as you say, is to widen SH1 at that point; but to do so will mean rebuilding the rail overbridge & I doubt Kiwirail has that as a priority.
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:54pm
peterwn

“Watch: Seal stops Wellington trains in their tracks”
Fortunately Wellington does not use third rail electrification (unlike southern England) or the seal would have received a possibly lethal 750 volt jolt.
https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/350452630/watch-seal-stops-wellington-trains-their-tracks
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October 16, 2024 8:58am
- mandk
  
  Did this ever happen to Reginald Perrin?
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:16am
- David Garrett
  
  It’s still a story for the Women’s Weekly, not a site purporting to report “news”.
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:27am
  - sirknz
    
    Stuff gives us News?
    
    Today I learned…
    
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    October 16, 2024 10:01am
- the deity formerly known as nigel6888
  
  How much damage would a train suffer if it hit a seal on the tracks?
  
  or is that what we refer to as a “re-seal”
  
  I’ll get my coat.
  
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  October 16, 2024 1:28pm
  - Keith White
    
    If an abdominal impact, it could be seen as sealed and de-livered…
    
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    October 16, 2024 6:40pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  The third rail would burn it to a crisp, or tar-seal it.
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:55pm
Ehlana

What is it with the health sector and language?
If we focused on the patient, and considered that hospital stays usually involve ill health, stress and anxiety, we could come up with a sensible rule, like, speak to the patient, and in front of the patient, in a language the patient understands.
If you need to switch languages to make an instruction clearer for a new colleague, let the patient know that is what you are doing first (except, obviously, in an emergency).
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October 16, 2024 8:59am
- I remember when
  
  Ehlana:
  The reason for the use of English is that it is the official language of New Zealand.
  However, I read of a case where a patient said they didn’t want to be treated by Asian medical staff.
  Apparently it was originally allowed but later rescinded.
  Carried to its extreme, the patient’s request could result in Asian staff taking the same attitude and refusing to treat them.
  However, like all problems, it is necessary to know all of the details before making decisions.
  We must accept that our health system is now multi-national and others languages will be heard.
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:45am
- RoboRob
  
  The very popular labour leader, Chris Hipkins was on TV this morning arguing that you should speak in the patients native language if possible. Stunningly I agree, if the patient doesn’t speak good english and you speak their native language why not.
  
  However, I don’t think that’s what this issue is all about. I think the problem the hospital is dealing with is staff chit chatting in Indian (or whatever) as they work. I don’t think that’s acceptable and it shouldn’t be allowed. If you are in a vulnerable position, as a patient, and two orderlies are ‘babbling’ and laughing, you might wonder if they are laughing about you. Also of they spoke English you would be able to listen in or even join the conversation rather then being excluded. We are in NZ, speak English.
  
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  October 16, 2024 10:10am
  - PurplePen
    
    I think part of why we aren’t comfortable with others, certainly professionals not speaking NZ English around us is that for decades we’ve only really had the one language and access to anywhere else that doesn’t speak English is a 12-hour flight away. ok .. I’ve missed out the Pacific islands. So we’re uncomfortable with people in a profession speaking in another language right in front of us. It’s almost rude. And why not. It’s part of our culture which has developed because of our isolation, just as it’s part of our culture to shake hands, wear jandals or bare feet. I probably haven’t explained myself very well here.
    
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    October 16, 2024 12:48pm
  - mandk
    
    I don’t agree.
    
    Typically, doctors and nurses in hospitals work as part of a team, especially in emergency departments. It’s, therefore, not ideal if different members of the team are speaking different languages, and the other remembers can’t understand what is being said.
    
    When a patient goes into arrest or starts to bleed out, the last thing needed is a Tower of Babel miscommunication scenario.
    
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    October 16, 2024 1:38pm
    - RoboRob
      
      Agreed. I was thinking a one on one conversation between doctor and patient where their both speak say Chinese. Otherwise, English all the way.
      
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      October 16, 2024 2:05pm
rouppe

There an article in the Herald from Richard Prebble about how Labour can win the election.

I won’t link because it’s paywalled, but can be read on pressreader.

Basically it’s on how to reform health from a tax based system to a savings based system, sourced from work Roger Douglas has done and had reviewed (apparently).

Essentially it says, take the tax on the first $50,000 of income and divert it into individual accounts for the purpose of health. Poor and infirm topped up by ~~the government~~ taxpayers.

This is what Singapore does, apparently. On the whole, a pretty good idea, the sort of transformative thing we need. Works out to be about $8,000 a year at $50,000 income.

However the transition would seem to be expensive. It must take quite some time for the accounts to get to a point where hospital level care can be afforded, though medical insurance for surgery is not that expensive when you’re young.
Plus we have what Singapore doesn’t have. Large numbers of people on welfare, which require top up.

Thoughts?
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October 16, 2024 9:01am
- Paulus
  
  Annette King when Health Minister suggested a 3% tax purely for Health.
  I think Lange poohed that
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:05am
- MCōs
  
  Singapore gdp is $US82.6k per person
  NZ gdp is $US46k per person
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:14am
  - Taieri
    
    34 years ago, in 1990 Singapore GDP per capita was USD11862. NZ GDP per capita was then USD13663.
    
    As commentator rouppe reminds us above: “Plus we have what Singapore doesn’t have. Large numbers of people on welfare, which require top up.”
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:23am
  - David Garrett
    
    MCos: Isn’t that just a disgrace? Singapore has no exports to think about because it has no minerals and no farmland to facilitate the creation of agricultural crops. And they manage to achieve a GDP almost twice ours.
    
    A sad indictment on successive NZ governments.
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:33am
    - grumpy
      
      Brains – from a good education system.
      
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      October 16, 2024 9:37am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        and Brainy Leaders…
        
        Lee Kuan Yew
        – #1 Junior Cambridge Exam
        – #1 Senior Cambridge Exam-
        – #1 Law graduate- Cambridge Uni 1949
        
        Lee Hsien Loong
        – Top Maths undergrad (Senior Wrangler) Cambridge Uni
        – 1st Class Maths hons Cambridge Uni
        
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        October 16, 2024 10:36am
    - cmm
      
      Singapore are, however, in a prime location for trade and get to clip a lot of tickets.
      
      Their very severe anti-corruption drives have been key to making them trustworthy.
      
      They also understand that their high levels of English etc make them an excellent springboard into Asia (increased somewhat since Hong Kong went back to China).
      
      We too have few minerals worth talking about and the agricultural output might be high on a per person basis, but is pretty low on an international basis. For example we might think of ourselves as “sheep country” or “milk country”, but our output is small change on the international scale.
      
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      October 16, 2024 10:49am
    - MCōs
      
      Singapore has about 1.5million temporary migrant workers
      Here is an article from c2016. I doubt if much has changed
      https://newnaratif.com/myths-and-facts-migrant-workers-in-singapore/
      
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      October 16, 2024 10:55am
      - ISeeRed
        
        I wish ours were temporary. No voting rights and free rides.
        
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        October 16, 2024 11:38am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    Advantage Singapore has is what the Real Estate Agents call “Position, Position, Position”.
    
    It is at the x roads of Asia and can have a huge airport , container terminals and shipyards.
    
    It is in the right place as a financial centre etc etc.
    
    NZ is in the SW Pacific and at the end of a long supply line.
    
    What we need are new industries and communications.
    
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    October 16, 2024 9:53am
    - imalwaysright
      
      “What we need are new industries and communications”
      
      What we need are educated, motivated, competent people.
      
      New Zealand’s problem is its people.
      
      We have more resources and potential that any country could wish for, but we sit around bitching and moaning.
      
      The Tall Poppy syndrome has grown to include Small Poppies thanks to our new class system. Look, for example, at the public service attitude to the ordinary kiwi who wants to give it a go. They are treated like scum and punished by the process for daring to better themselves.
      People.
      
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      October 16, 2024 10:24am
      - Quail
        
        Good people , not the woke variety!
        
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        October 16, 2024 9:12pm
    - Nigel Kearney
      
      They do have an advantage as a shipping hub, but the main reason for the GDP difference is welfare spending and labour laws, with the consequence of of fewer workers in NZ and each worker producing less value.
      
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      October 16, 2024 10:48am
- slijmbal
  
  When I lived in Holland there was a specific tax just for health and the ability to claim tax breaks on specific health related costs. At least the funds were earmarked for health. It was, of course, progressive in that higher earners contributed more. It was not a personal account rather closer to an insurance type approach.
  
  Not burying costs in general taxation made it a much more transparent process and led to a better managed process IMO.
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:36am
- peterwn
  
  NZ did have a separate ‘Social Security’ tax of 1/6d in the pound (7.5%) until 1969 until it was merged with ordinary taxation.
  So the proposal basically reverts to an idea of separate taxes for separate services.
  However it is still not going to decrease actual taxes and the taxes will probably balloon. Taxpayers will then probably object to an excessive health tax funding the likes of cosmetic surgery and sex change surgery (and back again).
  It is just deckchairs on the Titanic nonsense.
  
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  October 16, 2024 10:01am
- kowtow
  
  Another thought .
  
  I suspect they have a much smaller criminal class and therefore way less money diverted into courts , bail checks ,prisons etc
  
  There are very powerful incentives there for ne’erdowells to keep their noses clean.
  
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  October 16, 2024 11:02am
  - peterwn
    
    Singapore methods of dealing with crims are cheap and effective, but would be unacceptable to the NZ public.
    
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    October 16, 2024 1:20pm
Paulus

I See the view that Supreme Court Judges should only do a five year term before returning to lower Courts and new promotions.
The current system carefully crafted by Helen Clark on an age and sex preference is now considering itself to be above Parliament – who actually are Paramount.
They are an arrogant lot currently as well because they know they have a job till 70 years of age, with an enormous pension to go with that, plus trimmings.
Becoming very rich people possibly, with more than one or two properties, like Helen Clark with her six or seven properties we are told.
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October 16, 2024 9:03am
Tauhei Notts

Over the past 28 days Betfair reveals that the punters have had Trump firm from $2.22 to $1.75.
That is, Trump’s chances have gone from 45% to 57.1%.
The Kackling One is pushing the faeces uphill with a rake.
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October 16, 2024 9:09am
- David Garrett
  
  Tauhei: His bizarre display of “singing” for 39 minutes at what was supposed to be a question and answer event might put the dent in his numbers.
  
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  October 16, 2024 9:34am
  - Inandout
    
    DG, I also read that KH said Trump was ‘unhinged’ for getting the election date wrong. Pot, kettle, black? As for the music well that makes a change from electioneering jabber.
    
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    October 16, 2024 10:08am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    Don’t you get it? Trump’s rallies are now communicated in Interpretive Dance!
    
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    October 16, 2024 11:05am
  - All_on_Red
    
    DG
    What happened was in the middle of the Q and A, two people had a ‘medical event’. Trump stopped the Q and A to close the event down and said “before we all go how about we play a song for you” He played YMCA and the crowd liked it so much they played some more songs as the crowd quietly left leaving the First Responders to attend to the two people.
    More in the link including a report from ABC News (video)who were there
    https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/10/15/the-latest-trump-related-hoax-n3795844
    I suggest you get better sources
    #TDS
    
    7 3
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    October 16, 2024 2:24pm
- Conservatarian
  
  Harris has another real problem. She tends to change her mind regularly and voters don’t know who she is or what she represents. A man loves his wife, but he can’t stand it when she changes her mind just like that. He won’t vote for a president who does so with her political position.
  
  A selection:
  
  Late 2019 (whilst polling at less than 1% in the 2020 Dem presidential primaries): “Biden is a rapist and a racist. He victimised me when I was little African American girl on a school bus in a po’ part of town [cackles]”
  July 2020: “Joe, it is an honour for me to accept your kind offer to be your deputy, and I have always been a fan of yours, always describing you as a wonderful, kind, coherent man [cackles]”
  July 2020 until 28 June 2024: “Joe is sharp as a tack, Bidenomics is working, you people don’t know how good you have it, [no achievements] [countless word salads] [cackles]”.
  After 28 June 2024: “Joe must be replaced for the good of the nation, and I was not involved in any coup. I have recently witnessed his decline as I was always the last person to leave the room when he was making a decision.”
  
  At least she has stopped the cackle.
  
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  October 16, 2024 1:57pm
Vidar

Kamala Harris is proposing a $1 million loan program for Black men in the US to start businesses, with $20,000 of that being “forgivable.” This is a blatant bribe. (Trump on track to do the best with black men since Nixon in 1960).

The proposal would likely get struck down almost immediately as illegal under the Civil Rights Act and the 14th Amendment, since it’s clearly race-based discrimination. It is being called out as this as well.

While the US has its flaws, at least such a policy would be challenged as racist there. If something like this were introduced here, it wouldn’t even raise an eyebrow—it’d just be considered business as usual. And honestly, even if Labour implemented it, the Nats probably wouldn’t bother reversing it.
16 0
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October 16, 2024 10:11am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Oh Lordy,
  
  What about Black women?….. Can’t they set up businesses, too?
  
  And how black does a black man have to be to qualify?
  
  https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/14/kamala-harris-promises-opportunity-for-black-men-amid-waning-support
  
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  October 16, 2024 10:42am
  - RalphT
    
    In order to qualify all a black woman needs to do is identify as a man.
    
    7 2
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    October 16, 2024 11:47am
- Burtland
  
  This path breaking agenda includes:
  (1) Providing 1 million loans that are fully forgivable to Black entrepreneurs and others to start a business.
  (2) Championing education, training, and mentorship programs that help Black men get good-paying jobs in high-demand industries and lead their communities, including pathways to become teachers.
  (3) Supporting a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and other digital assets so Black men who invest in and own these assets are protected.
  (4) Launching a National Health Equity Initiative focused on Black Men that addresses sickle cell disease, diabetes, mental health, prostate cancer, and other health challenges that disproportionately impact them.
  (5) Legalizing recreational marijuana and creating opportunities for Black Americans to succeed in this new industry
  
  https://kamalaharris.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/FMfcgzQXJZxzLGgcKmSNQSXCRKXShwxJ.pdf
  
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  October 16, 2024 6:19pm
  - Burtland
    
    the bro’s might want to combine (1) & (5)
    
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    October 16, 2024 6:48pm
slightlyrighty

Here’s a question…

Why is the media so quick to attack Luxon for having the temerity to be fiscally savvy and own property, and yet ignore that a Party Girl who won 1.4 million when average house prices were $280K seems to be on the bones of her arse while driving the nation’s capital so deep into the mire that she may be forcibly removed from the role?
21 0
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October 16, 2024 11:04am
- Blog-aholic
  
  A very good question, that I am sure we all know the answer to……sadly.
  
  9 0
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  October 16, 2024 11:30am
- Steve Otto(North Shore)
  
  Lefties always want more after the bank account gets below $80,000
  
  2 1
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  October 16, 2024 5:49pm
igm

Far better a politician who has been successful than a broken arse who has never succeeded in anything other than leeching off taxpayers/ratepayers, deciding to get into Parliament so as to be in a position to vent their envy on the aforementioned successful.
11 2
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October 16, 2024 11:37am
Swifty

Genuine question.

Would those who favour a death penalty in NZ for qualifying crimes care to share their thoughts about the situation where the justice system is proven flawed from time to time?

https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/350452876/police-commissioner-apologises-alan-hall-his-wrongful-conviction?cx_testId=3&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=0&utm_source=localised_module#cxrecs_s
3 1
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October 16, 2024 11:57am
- imalwaysright
  
  Swifty,
  Maybe a more pertinent question is why police, prosecutors and judges aren’t held to account for, in some cases, blatant perversions of justice?
  It seems to be more commonly executed with low IQ or intellectually malleable people who don’t have the wherewithal to defend themselves and instead put their trust in the “professionals” who surely must have justice as their aim!
  Time to jail the cops, the prosecutors and the judges.
  It takes a sick fucker to engage in the taking of the freedom of a person because they are convenient and they won’t answer back.
  
  9 1
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  October 16, 2024 1:12pm
  - fernglas
    
    From the RNZ article:
    “Police in August said two former staff members who were involved in the original homicide investigation and a former prosecutor involved in the subsequent trial have been charged over the miscarriage of justice. All three have pleaded not guilty.”
    
    3 0
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    October 16, 2024 5:48pm
- rouppe
  
  Capital punishment is always a vexed question. More recent objections (other than what you highlight) is that the state gets to decide who to put down.
  
  About a decade ago I thought why not make the provision for the death penalty for qualifying offences, but leave it to the victim, or (if they are dead or incapable) victims next of kin to invoke it.
  
  That way, if the victim is of the forgiving type, they can commute the death penalty.
  
  1 0
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  October 16, 2024 2:01pm
  - fernglas
    
    And if they’re not, then someone gets executed. Or if the offender’s family pays them enough, they can buy their way out of it, whereas someone without enough money dies. Heaps of justice in that idea, which I think is common in countries with Sharia law. The rule of law is based on the state taking the administration of justice out of the hands of individuals, to avoid the blood feuds which otherwise happen.
    
    4 0
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    October 16, 2024 5:44pm
    - rouppe
      
      If someone murdered my son, no amount of money could buy that person out.
      
      As it stands, it someone murdered my son, no sentence would bring me justice, because for me, justice would be death.
      
      0 0
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      October 16, 2024 8:46pm
- Mod88
  
  Better any number of Guilty persons go unpunished than you execute 1 Innocent person.
  
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  October 16, 2024 3:12pm
Inandout

Unbelievable they should even be talking about this slavery compensation. What are the chances of the Arabs coughing up for their part in harvesting the prospects from African tribes with the Chief’s co-operation?
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/other/king-charles-and-the-200bn-slavery-reparations-bill-looming-over-commonwealth-summit/ar-AA1sfLRP
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October 16, 2024 12:20pm
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Ah but you don’t understand. Slavery is only evil when people of colour are enslaved by westerners. Arabs, Turks or Barbary pirates enslaving Europeans or black Africans? No problem.
  
  7 1
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  October 16, 2024 1:03pm
  - MCōs
    
    Fifty million modern day slaves, including in NZ depending on how they are defined
    https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/modern-slavery/
    
    2 1
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    October 16, 2024 1:48pm
  - kowtow
    
    A sex slave young Yazidi woman has recently been rescued from Gaza .
    
    Where’s the Green outrage .
    
    8 1
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    October 16, 2024 2:44pm
    - Jack5
      
      About 150,000 Yazidi survivors are still in refugee camps that the Iraq Government wants to close.
      
      Did any Yazidi arrive in NZ in the refugees selected for NZ by the United Nations? I doubt it.
      
      https://theconversation.com/yazidi-genocide-a-decade-on-iraq-camp-closures-loom-but-survivors-still-live-in-fear-of-islamic-state-233404
      
      1 0
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      October 16, 2024 10:41pm
- mandk
  
  It was also West Africans selling other West Africans to the slave traders.
  
  9 0
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  October 16, 2024 1:28pm
  - Inandout
    
    man, yes almost exclusively the Chief would round up the choice mandingos from amongst the tribe and display them for the Arab slave traders. It was a roaring trade of supply and demand.
    
    6 0
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    October 16, 2024 1:45pm
    - Gravelroad
      
      I saw in a TV travel programme recently, hosted by Joanna Lumley, dire premises where captured slaves were kept chained up like dogs in preparation for the next scheduled sale.
      This was in Madagascar.
      Not a lot of white people seemed to be involved in the proceedings.
      
      8 0
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      October 16, 2024 2:43pm
      - fightingtemeraire
        
        You can still see the slave pens on Lundy Is in the Bristol Channel where English and Irish captives were kept by the Barbary Pirates.
        
        5 0
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        October 16, 2024 3:40pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        Madagascar was settled by indonesians about 2-500BC, though some suggestions of previous humans being there as far back as 10000 years ago.
        
        So not genetically or culturally african.
        
        2 0
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        October 16, 2024 4:34pm
      - Jack5
        
        Some modern Africans are in denial about their ancestors’ role in the Atlantic slave trade, this article argues.
        
        A taste:
        
        “Most died on the march to the sea”—still chained, yoked, and shackled by their African captors—before they ever laid eyes on a white slave trader. The survivors were either purchased by European slave dealers or “instantly beheaded” by the African traders “in sight of the [slave ship] captain” if they could not be sold. Of course, the even more horrific and inhuman middle passage—the voyage of a European (and later American) slave ship from Africa to the Western Hemisphere—still lay before those who had survived the forced trek to the coast.”
        
        https://www.historynewsnetwork.org/article/its-time-to-face-the-whole-truth-about-the-atlanti
        
        Countering this argument, in my humble view, is the view that end customers, slave buyers and owners, were the main guilty party.
        
        It has parallels to the the drug trade. Ultimately, without buyers, the dirty business ends.
        
        2 0
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        October 16, 2024 10:48pm
- cmm
  
  To make this fair, the Poms should also send reparations bills to the Arabs (and also to the East coast countries of Africa) for all the slavery fighting they did.
  
  Tens of thousands of British and Commonwealth soldiers and sailors gave their health – and often their lives- fighing Arab slavery from the late 1900s to about 1930.
  
  Surely some compensation is due to the families of the personnel that were maimed or died this way?
  
  Both my grandfathers fought slavery in Africa. Maybe I am due some compensation.
  
  Of course King Charles can do what the hell he likes with his own wealth. He can sell his own farms and live like a pensioner. But, no doubt, he will keep his farms and rather give away taxpayer money.
  
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  October 16, 2024 3:39pm
- Burtland
  
  so the Moriori might have a claim coming against the Taranaki tribes ?
  
  4 0
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  October 16, 2024 6:29pm
Inandout

FGS, were we this stupid when Covid was the talk of the town?
https://x.com/goddeketal/status/1846324960110719406?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1846324960110719406%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=
1 0
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October 16, 2024 1:01pm
Ghost

I don’t think this story went the way the media hoped it will

Readers respond: Indian nurses told not to speak their languages in Palmerston North Hospital
5 0
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October 16, 2024 1:27pm
Ghost

Jezz, at least make it look different instead of copy and pasting exact text

NYT Lies To Downplay ‘Racist’ Kamala Plagiarism Scandal – So Chris Rufo Brings Receipts

After journalist Chris Rufo relayed the results of an in-depth analysis proving that Kamala Harris plagiarized ‘at least a dozen’ sections of her book on crime, the NY Times scrambled into damage control mode. First, they framed it as ‘conservative notices.’
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October 16, 2024 1:45pm
Inandout

The truth eventually surfaces on the Trump rally music.
https://www.abc27.com/news/trump-plays-music-for-supporters-after-medical-emergencies-cut-town-hall-short/
7 0
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October 16, 2024 2:28pm
- kowtow
  
  NZME radio news today reported KH saying trump a nutter , that led to the news basically agreeing with her as by way of confirmation they reported the dancing and his slip re january .
  
  fair and balanced ? trustworthy ?
  
  Not a chance.
  
  10 1
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  October 16, 2024 2:42pm
  - Its only I
    
    How do you know [del] isn’t a nutter?
    He refuses to release his medical records…again.
    What’s he hiding?
    [del] has been showing his families mental history rather a lot lately so will the, lover of love seats, Gods boi Vance chuck him out under the 25th amendment after they win?…I guess the answers to that is, it “depends”
    
    Give [del] his money, get him out of legal hot water for being a traitor then send the stinking old man back to his ratty old maralardo then get on with project 2025.
    
    [Use proper names please. mod.]
    
    0 8
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    October 16, 2024 5:07pm
    - kowtow
      
      Gosh , looks like someone triggered .
      
      Not healthy , bigly!
      
      6 2
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      October 16, 2024 6:18pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      Maybe dab some of the foam off your chin and have a wee lie-down. Also book a few days annual leave for 6th Nov.
      
      4 1
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      October 16, 2024 7:20pm
      - Its only I
        
        [Mod – your post was deleted for bringing moderators into your rant, keep us out of it. Your original post had comments removed because you weren’t using the persons proper name, pretty simple. Do not post abuse at moderators]
        
        0 1
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        October 16, 2024 9:58pm
    - RichardX
      
      Consistency in moderation …
      [ Nuther mod – if you want to grumble about moderation, contact DPF. If you persist there is a holiday in your future ]
      
      0 1
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      October 17, 2024 12:21am
Benedict Yu

Just further to my slight obsession with a secular public service…

I saw today a job ad for a senior role in a government agency. One of the responsibilities of the role is:

“Embedding Te Ao Māori (te reo Māori, tikanga, kawa, Te Tiriti o Waitangi) into the way we do things at [the agency].”

That is a very bold ambition. Is the Government really OK with this? Are senior Ministers even aware?
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October 16, 2024 3:20pm
- cmm
  
  ” Is the Government really OK with this?”
  They surely must be.
  “Are senior Ministers even aware?”
  If they aren’t it is a gross dereliction of duty.
  
  If you think otherwise, you could forward the link to the minister concerned and ask them to explain their position and what they are doing about it.
  
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  October 16, 2024 3:31pm
cmm

Perhaps one of the lawyers can explain…

I thought it was generally frowned upon to lie in court, but it seems that defence lawyers can do so without facing any consequences.

Take for example this example:

The lawyer claimed the reason why her client had an unlicensed 22 rifle and nearly 150 rounds of ammunition in his vehicle was that he had dogs and other animals he takes care of and needed the rifle in case he needed to put one down in an emergency.

I noticed that a bit around here. When our neighbour goes for a walk with her dog she takes a loaded, unlicensed rifle with her just in case she needs to shoot Fluffy.

Don’t the judges just burst into laughter and fine the lawyer $200 for wasting everyone’s time?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350452976/hunters-rifle-be-destroyed-after-being-caught-cctv
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October 16, 2024 4:20pm
- fernglas
  
  Lawyers convey their client’s instructions to the Court. Generally, they don’t make up their own lies. Their clients are perfectly capable of doing that themselves.
  
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  October 16, 2024 5:52pm
Swifty

One of many things I just don’t understand about our culture currently is the issue of ‘cultural appropriation’.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/marvel-star-simu-liu-calls-out-quebec-canada-boba-tea-company-for-cultural-appropriation-during-dragons-den-episode/B7XZCTFXOFEVJK5D5M4XV446L4/

Asian have ‘appropriated’ literally thousands of things created in the West (and frequently made them better) and nobody bats an eyelid – someone in the West latches on to bubble-tea and people go mental.

I just don’t get it.
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October 16, 2024 4:23pm
- cmm
  
  It is very easy to understand:
  
  Whites are prone to guilt. Nobody else is.
  
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  October 16, 2024 5:44pm
NothingLeft

Good wide ranging discussion of American election and what is really going on underneath all the propandizing by both sides by old-school journalist Mark Halperin with Tucker Carlson. I find Carlson a bit credulous and silly some times with some of his hobby-horses but this was good.

https://youtu.be/vV_WDBqE8VI?t=5676

Interesting comments here at linked time to accuracy of public polling – he says that in-house campaign polls (from conversations with insiders) average about 2% to right of the public polls because of cost cutting public pollsters do to get their samples – using a bare minimum of respondents – that biases them demographically towards easier to access respondents that are more locked in to democrats in particular.

Another reason to expect a Trump landslide based on current public polling
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October 16, 2024 4:44pm
rouppe

Listening to DPF on HDPA drive show.

Very funny comment: “Leave Wellington council alone, and use them as an advertisement for what a Labour/ Green government would look like”.

Some value in that!
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October 16, 2024 5:52pm
Swifty

“This is Maori money and no white mofo is going to tell us how to spend it!”

https://www.thepost.co.nz/politics/350453598/te-pati-maori-refuses-explain-lack-financial-statement?cx_testId=3&cx_testVariant=cx_1&cx_artPos=0&utm_source=localised_module#cxrecs_s

//
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October 16, 2024 8:12pm
- Ghost
  
  I don’t have a problem with them not providing this, as long as they don’t have a problem with receiving no more money until they do.
  
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  October 16, 2024 8:31pm
bc

Why does Gerry Brownlee put up with this?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/te-pati-maori-lash-out-in-house-after-question-from-winston-peters/T7TREHVI675CGTPOB4PHTFAZTI/
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October 16, 2024 10:00pm
Jack5

Australia’s birth rate has fallen to its lowest ever, and this must affect NZ’s brain drain across the Tasman.

Dr David Knox, an Australian actuary and senior partner at consulting firm Mercer, is reported on the News TV site in Australia:

“I think it’s already a little bit pronounced in terms of what the government announced recently in fast-tracking doctors from the UK, Ireland and New Zealand. That’s just a signal of what might happen going forward. If there is a profession or skill we want in this country we will accelerate the migrant process.”

In most Australian news media, high living costs, especially for housing, get much of the blame for the births dive.

The glimpse allowed across the paywall of the Sydney Morning Herald, reveals the headline: “House prices blamed for Australia’s lowest birth rate on record.”

News TV:

https://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/australian-birthrate-falls-to-record-low/news-story/404fe3ac3eafa9cb0ed608096a77cfa2
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October 16, 2024 10:18pm

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