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February 19, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 19 February 2025

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General Debate

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Luke Piewalker

I’ll say the quiet bit out loud …

The Te Pati Maori Party has been using census data through the Manurewa Marae and as a result the Te Pati Maori candidate winning by 42 votes.

What will Chris [Mod – just use a persons name, it’s not that hard] Luxon do?

Nothing.
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February 19, 2025 8:03am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Are you for real? What the hell is hdd ed suppose to do ffs? It was him that asked for the enquiry into this corruption, if not for him this would never have been found. The Luxon hatred on here is becoming almost laughable.
  
  He can’t do anything, he is not a dictator, and the corruption is under investigation by the police and the privacy commission. Luxon is not a dictator ffs
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:42am
  - Philview
    
    There was a fair bit of anti Luxon commentary even before the last election. There was the odd comment about vote Labour to teach Luxon a lesson which made me question the real motivation behind such comments.
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:06am
- Damocles11
  
  Luxon will do nothing. The scapegoat was packaged up in advance and presented to the public – a big cheese whose contract was ending in March anyway. That’s it. Nothing else will happen. Luxon is part of the problem, not part of the solution. He is a gatekeeper for the establishment, not an agent of change. He has to go.
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:01am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    What is he supposed to do ffs, as I said above he called for the inquiry, the corruption is now with the police, so sick of this childish bullshit
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:45am
    - Paulus
      
      The results of the enquiry are now with the Police, and is a sure way the file will be lost somwhere in their archives.
      
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      February 19, 2025 1:33pm
  - Jack5
    
    Damocles11’s Luxon … has to go …
    
    Mutiny mumbles against National’s Captain Luxon began from a commentator associated with unrest that led to the replacement of Simon Bridges as National Party leader. That led to the Muller fiasco.
    
    If not Luxon, Nicola Willis? Holy shit, Damocles.
    
    Luxon is managing director of a coalition. If that folds, there will be another general election. If the current polls are correct, that will take us Left.
    
    Choose our government from least bad, rather than dreaming of a mythical best government.
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:45am
    - Paulus
      
      Who says the Polls are correct when taken on Waitangi week !
      Load of Balls.
      
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      February 19, 2025 1:34pm
- slightlyrighty
  
  I’ll say the obvious thing.
  
  It’s not the job of the PM to investigate crimes and lay charges.
  
  It is Chris Luxon’s job to state who he will work with in Parliament to form a government, and he categorically ruled out working with Te Pati Maori to form a government.
  
  Give that Labour would need support from Te Pati Maori to form a government based on current polling, it might be more appropriate to ask Chris Hipkins if he would work with a party that seems to have operated in a way that may result in criminal charges?
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:02am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    I just can understand some of the people above, they shriek they are political experts but cant understanding basic concepts of politics, like the ones trying to compare Trump and being president to our Westminster system, it’s just so ridiculous to even mention this
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:49am
    - cmm
      
      “like the ones trying to compare Trump and being president to our Westminster system”
      
      There are really two aspects to the Trump comparison:
      1) As you say, Trump has the ability to force through action with the stroke of a pen using executive orders. That is generally not available in NZ and, instead, things have to go through parliament taking ages.
      2) Trump did a whole lot of preparation and was ready to hit the ground running. Our politicians could do that, but they generally do not.
      
      While it would be unfair to criticize Luxon and the Nats for not having executive orders at their disposal, it is perfectly fair to have a go at them for not being prepared with a bunch of policies.
      
      There is absolutely nothing in NZ stopping shadow ministers from developing comprehensive policies, directives etc so that they don’t have to spend the first half of their term figuring things out.
      
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      February 19, 2025 1:23pm
      - Quail
        
        CMM,
        Apology for downtick.
        Was trying to uptick
        
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        February 19, 2025 6:58pm
  - Bevan
    
    Expecting the MSM to ask Chris Hipkins a tough question? You’re having a laugh!
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:58am
- kiwikidsnz
  
  “John Tamihere is defending the use of data at Manurewa Marae, saying there’s no evidence of any wrong doing.”
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/542324/manurewa-marae-inquiry-waipareira-trust-targeted-for-being-maori-tamihere
  
  Insert Tui ad:
  https://thefacts.nz/manurewa-marae/
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:43am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    it should be noted that Marae in question was not a polling booth in the 2020 election, when Tamihere failed to win
    
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    February 19, 2025 1:47pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    Well from the perspective of his warped ethically challenged mind-set, he didn’t “do anything wrong”.
    
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    February 19, 2025 2:32pm
    - Swifty
      
      That’s a very good point.
      
      If you think that pakeha laws don’t apply to you, you can never commit a crime.
      
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      February 19, 2025 3:23pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        Or if everyone you know is nicking stuff from supermarkets it is no longer a crime. Tribal right and wrong is based on consensus, not rule of law.
        
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        February 19, 2025 3:57pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Pretty sure I heard a recording of a pre-election TPM (or perhaps Waiperera Trust) meeting where the speaker (JT, I think) told the crowd “I know it’s illegal, but do it anyway”. Anyone else hear that? I think I heard it on Reality Check Radio.
    
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    February 19, 2025 5:38pm
    - Ghost
      
      It wasn’t Haimona Gray blogging about it? Sad to see no longer blogging
      
      https://haimona.substack.com/
      
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      February 19, 2025 6:32pm
- AitchW
  
  Do you expect Luxon to intervene in the Police investigation?
  
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  February 19, 2025 11:23am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Are the plod really the best people to investigate stuff like this? They appear to have their own issues with what appears to be activism within.
    
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    February 19, 2025 5:42pm
- Warren Murray
  
  No shame from Tamahere, not surprised. But a CEO has paid the price with his job. The responsible minister probably should too.
  
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  February 19, 2025 12:39pm
  - slightlyrighty
    
    Why? The last minister for statistics, Andrew Bayly, is the one who FIXED the problem.
    
    Shane Reti has just taken over.
    
    Deborah Russell was the Minister responsible, and she isn’t part of the Government.
    
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    February 19, 2025 1:50pm
  - Colville
    
    It was before the Minister was elected FFS!
    
    Sack David Clark!… Oh wait.. We did!
    
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    February 19, 2025 2:00pm
  - AitchW
    
    The minister responsible is in opposition now.
    
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    February 19, 2025 2:05pm
Mark Hanley

Whilst many panic and lose their heads, Luxons’ team methodologically, expertly, and diligently continue with their plan to tidy up the mess left by Hipkins. Adern, and Clark; whilst taking the actions required to propel nz into a prosperous future.

Expect the good news to start flowing in the second half of this year, then build up to a crescendo when the election rolls around.

“Public servants are still under the microscope as their boss considers cutting government entities, and a parliamentary committee launches an inquiry into the way they report on what they achieve.” Nz herald.
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February 19, 2025 8:04am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Just today they announced that farming expectations have gone from minus 66% to positive 2% in three months, GDP will be positive when the figure is released soon, and with the far better tourism figures released this week, the gleeful left are in for a huge shock as figures start coming out
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:48am
  - Tom Hunter
    
    …. farming expectations have gone from minus 66% to positive 2% in three months….
    
    Thanks entirely to massive lifts in international dairy markets and to a lessor extent in meat.
    
    Upthread are entirely reasonable comments that Luxon is not a dictator, enabled the investigation into the mis-use of census data by Manurewa Mara and others, and must let the Police investigation.
    
    Which is all fair enough, but now you’re implying that he’s responsible for our farming commodity markets?
    
    WRT farming there are still plenty of concerns about Luxon, based entirely around the fact that he’s left GHG mechanisms in place that will screw us once he’s left office.
    
    In fact today I’m on my way to deal with a district water scheme situation that has arisen thanks to legislation passed years ago by Helen Clark and never modifed by the Key or Luxon governments. The result will be individual farmers paying tens of thousands of dollars to fix something that, in our case, does not need fixing. All because of regulations that went under the radar or that National just didn’t care to fight about with the control-freak left.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:39am
    - Mark Hanley
      
      “Coalition Govt credited with soaring farmer confidence”
      
      Newstalk zb.
      
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      February 19, 2025 10:49am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Not what the fed farmers guy said in the radio to Hosking this morning, he said some was down to pricing, but most is grown to this government canning Labours road blocks and regulations
      
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      February 19, 2025 10:51am
    - Don Beckett
      
      @ Mark H.
      “Expect the good news to start flowing in the second half of this year, then build up to a crescendo when the election rolls around.”
      I accept what you say Mark, but those things you mention were the easy ones. I sincerely hope you are right, but to date there are many things that should have been addressed by now but which are still left hanging, which is what is pointed out daily by some commenters.
      I hope you are right, but actions speak louder than words, & many items have received only lip service.
      I’ll wait and see.
      
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      February 19, 2025 11:32am
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Don, nothing is easy with:
        – a hostile public service,
        – a hostile press,
        – opposition spin doctors infiltrating political blogs,
        – multi year high inflation to deal with,
        – relentlessly negative people expecting immediate change where immediate change is not possible
        
        I wouldn’t call: cleaning up the health system, taming inflation, changing the education system, and restoring law and order……. easy!
        
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        February 19, 2025 11:44am
      - Taieri
        
        Expect the good news to start flowing in the second half of this year, then build up to a crescendo when the election rolls around
        ————
        
        Michael Reddell doesn’t seem to share your optimism.
        
        https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2025/02/michael-reddell-willis-and-rennie.html
        
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        February 19, 2025 12:51pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Is that Michael reddell from the spinoff?
        
        No political bias there then.
        
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        February 19, 2025 1:52pm
      - Tom Hunter
        
        Is that Michael reddell from the spinoff?
        
        Oh good grief. We really are dealing with a nubie.
        
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        February 19, 2025 2:53pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Mod. Sorry to bother you again but if i reply you hit me with a telling off so….. sn’t it time you put a stop to this personal abuse by tom hunter etc?
        
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        February 19, 2025 4:03pm
  - kowtow
    
    And half the country’s farmers still aren’t making a profit.
    
    All good .Not.
    
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    February 19, 2025 12:14pm
    - Quail
      
      Yes , a bit early to say inflation is done.
      The Reserve Banks OCR expected to fall 50 basis points today according to the media.
      The results of that will be the property market ( which inflation is not measured )revving up again imports more expensive and exporters with a dollar that buys less and less .
      Savers the elderly and those on fixed incomes will / should dread this.
      On the other hand exporters will get more of a devalued dollar.
      Interest rate driven Exchange rate changes have huge economic impact. The NZD is largely yield dtivrn .
      Without a boost in productivity the NZD decline will continue.
      
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      February 19, 2025 2:16pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      That’s bullshit, you are 12 months behind, and the beef and lamb prices were expected to drop rapidly after Christmas as season pressures sees the schedules drop away, that has not happened, and to be $2.50 ahead of last year per KG is huge
      
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      February 19, 2025 3:26pm
      - Quail
        
        G Perhaps you could look at NZ sheep numbers. Once 74 million now about 20 million
        They are still declining and SI freezing works are closing.
        And wool prices don’t pay the shearer’s bill.
        That is not BS
        
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        February 19, 2025 8:07pm
  - GJM
    
    Farming returns being despite of rather than because of Governemnt actiosn and policies. Fart taxes adn climate change anyone?
    Yet again, farming will pull NZ out of the mire. Wonde if there will be any recognition of it by the JAFAs and the Blob in Wellington?
    
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    February 19, 2025 1:57pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Haha, this government took farming out of ETS and all Labours stupid road blocks regulations have been dumped, this was from the head of the head of fed farmers, but hey, you know better, because you hate Luxon.
      
      This week we seen far better than expected tourism numbers, yesterday we seen the huge lift to farmer confidence, last week we seen more new cancer drugs and other live saving drugs rolled out, we seen the the Morgan poll that showed public confidence and heading in the right direction up.
      
      Now, if you think the daily improvements we are seeing will see Luxon booted out then you must be a Labour plant, because improvement will see this government be re-elected in 18 months now we are seeing the start of the turnaround and they will be rewarded
      
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      February 19, 2025 3:35pm
      - Quail
        
        G again,
        Perhaps another look at the RMA may also assist you.
        Farmers rely on the natural environment to resource their businesses.Water in particular is essential .
        Of recent times access to these basics has been severely constrained by Councils use of regulations all authorised by the RMA. Water “sovereignty “ is being debated in Christchurch courts at present
        
        Mr Luxon has stated that any reforms to the RMA will not include the natural environment.!!!
        
        Farmers and investors need certainty ,something this Coalition Government has not supplied
        
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        February 19, 2025 8:25pm
- alloytoo
  
  Compared to Trump’s rapid fire action, Luxon is decidedly ineffectual.
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:52am
  - Colville
    
    The difference being that Trump cant get re-elected so can burn all his bridges….Luxon NEEDS at least two more terms to make a decent dent in the mess.
    
    You want Hipkins in ’26?
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:06am
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Come 2028 Trump will still be there but not as President. He will be an advisor, like Musk is. Trump is far from finished with the swamp.
      2026 here with Hipkins and co? That is how it will be if Luxon stays sitting on the fence.
      
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      February 19, 2025 10:57am
      - Northshoredoc
        
        Trump will be in his early 80s in 2028. Whatever influence he has at that stage will be down to:
        
        1: What state Trump leaves the USA in after this term?
        2: Who the president is ?
        3: Whether Trump is seen as useful to the republican party in terms of fundraising and/or influencing votes.
        
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        February 19, 2025 11:30am
      - Colville
        
        Steve.
        I dont think so at all.
        Far more likely the GOP will stand a moderate candidate because if they do they will crush the Dems biggly.
        Don is too polarising, the Dems wont stand a muppet like Kamala next time.
        
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        February 19, 2025 12:05pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        Colville,
        Early days for the next POTUS. Donald Trump Junior?
        Ivanka – nope, closet Democrat. Other sons? Nope.
        JD Vance? Probably not. RFK jr? wow!!
        
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        February 19, 2025 4:16pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Another one. Trump is president, he does not work under a Westminster system, presidents are done what dictatorial
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:52am
    - RoboRob
      
      Please learn how the US government works. The president is not a dictator and has two other pillars of government to keep him in check. Congress exclusively makes laws and allocates funding for example. The US president cant make new laws without congress writing them and passing them first.
      
      Our democratic government with a single house gives the government much more power then the president of the USA.
      
      Yes the president is the boss of a number of government agencies as opposed to our system where the government appoints boards who appoint CEOS to follow the policy passed from the government to the board.
      
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      February 19, 2025 4:11pm
- Conservatarian
  
  Public servants are not yet under the microscope for good outcomes achieved only by applying useful and transferable skills. They STILL appear to be recruited into jobs judged on their ability to demonstrate knowledge of the Maori language and worldview. The totalising effect of Regime Ardern on the public service is still nowhere close to being addressed.
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:56am
  - Mark Hanley
    
    Never forget the public service numbers swell, wages swell, and workload shrinks under Labour.
    
    They will fight the coalition as long and hard as they can.
    
    We should see a change of attitude when the economy improves enough to soak up sacked public servants. Then, heads will start rolling, departments will be “rationalized”, and more external bodies will be set up to replace public servants (charter schools, infrastructure commissioner).
    
    And please don’t repeat the Trump did it nonsense. Different political system, different sized military, different sized economy, very different culure, etc.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:25am
    - Paulus
      
      Are we now told that the Wages of the Public Service are now 24% higher than those in the Private Sector.
      Cad that I am I, asked my 32 year old Public Servant, 8 years from Uni, doing very well also, Granddaughter, would she get a job in the Private sector – the house still shakes with her reply
      – No B……Fear.
      
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      February 19, 2025 1:42pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Thx again jacinda and helen….. the gift that keeps on giving.
        
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        February 19, 2025 2:33pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      “wages swell” Who pays those public service wages? The Net Taxpayer.
      Please. “soak up sacked public servants”?
      Seriously Mark, do you think the Private Sector will ever employ the useless who don’t like work? Full stop – Public Sector employees turn up when they feel like it, the collect a salary/wage slip. They are only there waiting for knock off time. Work from home is out the door now.
      How about putting them on a time clock. Click in every morning and click out when you leave.
      
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      February 19, 2025 4:24pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Steve…there are plenty of toilets in nz which need cleaning….. a great job for a labour spin doctor
        
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        February 19, 2025 9:00pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Ardern’s effect will last for many years. She fucked NZ real good.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:58am
    - Paulus
      
      Helen Clark really started it too !
      
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      February 19, 2025 1:43pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        Dam right she did Paulus.
        
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        February 19, 2025 4:25pm
- Damocles11
  
  We always expect action, and it doesn’t happen. On the climate scam, governance and sovereignty, maorification, government borrowing and spending, and innovation and productivity – we are heading in the wrong direction. And I’m not ‘losing my head’, I’m cooly assessing where we are at in 2025. Many people have clearly already taken the next step: they have sold up and left New Zealand, or are in the process of doing so.
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:05am
  - Mark Hanley
    
    Settle down domacles. Things can’t be as bad as you claim, you’re still in NZ
    
    And remember, I’ll be coolly reminding the “head losers” what they wrote at the end of the year, when the economy is humming and the Adern smokescreen maori bs has been further relegated to it’s rightful place.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:33am
    - Damocles11
      
      ‘Economy humming’ based on what?? OCR cuts are a given, but what else have you got? Digital nomads? Aussie tourists? Aside from tinkering at the margins the cupboard is very obviously bare. You are a spin doctor par excellence, I’ll give you that. And it’s a pretty weird flex to be gloating over the future unknowns, like celebrating the imminent heyday of flying pigs.
      
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      February 19, 2025 4:10pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Domacles…. you could try reading a bit more to try to undersatnd the macro picture.
        
        Nzs greatest problem is productivity. The right infrastructure will improve Productivity.
        
        The Luxon Government has wisely developed a prioritized infrastructure project list and because Adern and Clark squandered all the money, they are courting investors to pay for it.
        
        What do you think is going to happen to the eonomy when interest rates are low and money is coming in to fund building?
        
        Luxon’s team also set up an infrastructure commissioner to circumvent the public service and introduced fast track consents.
        
        Now that’s big picture joined up thinking!
        
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        February 19, 2025 8:48pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      MH “And remember, I’ll be coolly reminding the “head losers” what they wrote at the end of the year, when the economy is humming and the Adern smokescreen maori bs has been further relegated to it’s rightful place”
      
      As in handing over almost all the Sth Island to Ngai Tahu, because with 20/20 modern woke hand-wringer hindsight some people nearly 200 years ago apparently got a not so wonderful deal from the then govt?
      
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      February 19, 2025 5:48pm
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Exile. You’ve probably noticed I don’t take much interest in the Maori stuff and seldom comment on it (except the clark/adern maori king family enrichment program)
        
        Did you know the finance company bail out dwarfed the cost of all treaty settlements….. kinda puts it into perspective.
        
        Do you have a link to a useful information source on the ngai tahu deal?
        
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        February 19, 2025 8:56pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Get ready for a surprise then, because indicators are coming out nearly then show improvement in the economy, tourism numbers out Monday, far better than expected, beef and lamb $2.50 ahead last year, and there has been no seasonal drop what so ever at the end of January, dairy at above $10, interstates to drop further today, and inflation sorted. Business confidence and farming confidence up sharply.
    
    I know Luxon is hated here, but this is becoming pathetic
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:58am
  - Paulus
    
    Sadly well into going before my Lord, I cannot leave after 50,+ great years in New Zealand, as we only came for three, now dissapointing, and sadly, the future is not for me.
    I did not try hard enough when we saw things coming – like rust.
    
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    February 19, 2025 1:46pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      This is all done through lawfare and creeping institutional ideological capture. I suggest donate as much as you can afford to Hobson’s Pledge, The Free Speech Union and The Taxpayer’s Union to fight back.
      
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      February 19, 2025 5:54pm
- BananaLlama
  
  I would hope that they continue but some of their arguments don’t stand up to scrutiny especially one recently saying that leaving the Paris Agreement could put our trade agreements at risk.
  I actually looked into this and there is only one trade agreement that could be at risk, it is the FTA that Jacinda signed with the EU.
  None of our other trade agreements that we have signed require us to be part of the Paris Agreement.
  Maybe Google is missing something else here?
  
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  February 19, 2025 11:35am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    The google machine gets ‘scrubbed’ on certain things.
    Duckduckgo gives different results sometimes.
    
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    February 19, 2025 4:30pm
Anthony Melchett

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/young-rugby-player-tobias-oliver-davies-with-bright-future-avoids-conviction-for-serious-assault/

Another day, another violent rugby player let off a serious assault because he is good at rugby.

I bet the judge would feel differently if it was her kid that was assaulted?

Part of aiming for a career that involves travel means you have to be squeaky clean. No, you shouldn’t get a chance, especially when it’s violence related against another human.

Why would the same luxury not be given to a promising apprentice plumber, who will arguably contribute more to society than a rugby player…
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February 19, 2025 8:05am
- septic skeptic
  
  Whose to say the apprentice plumber would not get the same luxury? Or a gang prospect for that matter. The excuse might vary but I reckon the outcome is probably the same.
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:48am
  - Dr John
    
    The older ones amongst us will probably remember when an accountant in Auckland died during a strange procedure and his body was tossed into the Huka Falls. MSM reports ALWAYS added “cricket umpire” to his name, even though he only occasionally umpired cricket at a social level.
    So it’s whatever label that makes the largest waves that counts. I want a suffix of “sex symbol” but that’s not bloody likely!
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:45am
- Eastlander
  
  I suspect it’s not really because of the rugby, the judge seized upon that because it was convenient but anything else would have done – sparing offenders from punishment is an end in itself. Peter Hitchens once remarked that modern left liberals don’t think the state really does have the right to punish criminals (private citizens don’t either of course).
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:00am
  - Gravelroad
    
    The thug wants to move to Australia.
    Good.
    Let him go.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:10am
    - peterwn
      
      If I was an Oz politician I would be wanting to tighten up ‘501’ to apply to those discharged without conviction where the offence is proven.
      
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      February 19, 2025 10:58am
    - Paulus
      
      If he has a criminal conviction he will not be able to get to Australia.
      They are tough on us keeing our creeps to ourselves.
      
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      February 19, 2025 1:48pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Eastlander: “Peter Hitchens once remarked that modern left liberals don’t think the state really does have the right to punish criminals (private citizens don’t either of course).”
    
    Unless we are talking about anyone who shows up their crap narratives to be, well, crap. Then it’s “get him (or her)!!!”. Oh and the “modern left” are not “liberal”. They are overwhelmingly narrow minded and irrational bigots.
    
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    February 19, 2025 6:03pm
slightlyrighty

The fallout from the PSC report is yet to fully hit home.

The facts as disclosed yesterday have had the effect of confirming the fears among some regarding the safety and security of census data, and the erosion of trust in that process that was already thin among a section of the population will be exacerbated.

But the biggest fallout will be the integrity of the election result in Tamaki Makauru. There is a fine line between Getting out the vote, and rigging the vote, and I’m not sure what side of the line Te Pati Maori is on here.

Let alone the optics of the resources of a Charitable Trust being used for electioneering.

It stinks to high heaven.
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February 19, 2025 8:12am
- Swifty
  
  Stephen Franks comments on yesterday’s RNZ The Panel are worth listening to.
  
  Maori, apparently, just have different views about managing interest conflicts, and indeed whether they need managing at all, according to some.
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:55am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Thinking of them as Maori is a distraction.
    
    Most of them are crooks who are 95% white but have realised the value that the excuse of being considered “Maori ” provides.
    
    They get all the white people to participate in made-up ceremonies to program and frighten themselves so that when a 5 percenter turns up and demands special treatment and money they get it without question.
    
    No wonder they keep coming back for more.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:37am
  - peterwn
    
    So why should colonisation affect attitudes that were OK before colonisation?
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:01am
    - Swifty
      
      Sorry, I don’t understand your question.
      
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      February 19, 2025 11:27am
  - DimChappie
    
    Here are links to Stephen Franks on the Panel at RMZ:
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/audio/2018975423/the-panel-with-stephen-franks-and-boopsie-maran-part-1
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/thepanel/audio/2018975427/the-panel-with-stephen-franks-and-boopsie-maran-part-2
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:25am
  - kowtow
    
    But the key is not “maori managing interest conflicts”
    
    It’s the public servants letting it happen , encouraging , pushing the whole Treatyism exceptionalism.
    
    The Sowden guy who’s the scapegoat in this particular affair on announceing his going still managed a “To the people of Aotearoa New Zealand” apology .
    
    The media ( and perhaps govt ate treating this as a kind of process error , the data breach .
    
    It’s not ; It is a systemic problem whereby when it comes to matters treaty , just about anything goes .
    
    Power companies paying local Maoris tens of millions to keep quiet on water consents .
    
    How has it ever come to this.
    
    This is not “the kiwi way”.
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:27am
    - slightlyrighty
      
      If the treaty is to be a “Partnership” (which it isn’t, but bear with me) then all partners need to play by the same rules.
      
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      February 19, 2025 1:52pm
- artemisia
  
  More to come from ‘other authorities’ …. From The Spinoff today.
  
  The Stats NZ report did find it was “more likely than not” census forms were photocopied and left unsealed, and that information entered into Te Pou Matakana’s database from Manurewa Marae was “derived directly from census forms”.
  
  “While we don’t know if personal information was improperly used, the gate was left open,” Roche said. “It will be for other authorities, with the appropriate regulatory and investigative tools, to determine whether personal data was misused.”
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:57am
  - Colville
    
    From comments I have seen reported this morning it appears that JT is throwing the marae under the bus… His MP who won was boss of the marae at the time (and only won because of this rort)… has it been decided that she is the scapegoat in an effort to save the tens of million$ in Waipareiras bank account??
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:11am
    - pdm
      
      `From comments I have seen reported this morning it appears that JT is throwing the marae under the bus…’
      
      It would be very surprising if he did not.
      
      John Tamihere strikes me as the sort of bloke who would not take the blame for anything.
      
      Glory and Dosh – well those are different.
      
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      February 19, 2025 10:41am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Possibly, she has hardly ever been seen in the house, she certainly was not there yesterday
      
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      February 19, 2025 11:00am
  - rouppe
    
    Swifty has first hand knowledge that the data was misused
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:21am
- Handyman
  
  Wait for it…
  Guilty under colonial election law does not mean guilty under Maori tikanga. We did nothing wrong.
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:25am
- Paulus
  
  Census and other similar ex Statistics Department results have been illusionary for many years –
  Why has it taken so long to surface ?
  
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  February 19, 2025 1:50pm
kowtow

Bridges Auckland Business Chamber bigly action plan for energy !

More geothermal !

His press release mentioned USA ‘doubling down on fossil fuels’ as if that’s a negative .

So that’s it , underwhelming .

We’re fooked .
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February 19, 2025 8:16am
- imalwaysright
  
  Geothermal seems to be our best option.
  Cheaper than hydro and nuclear.
  Plus its closer to the majority of end users.
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:42am
  - cmm
    
    Geothermal is very limited though.
    We currently have around 900MW of geothermal generation and could build maybe another 1000MW or so.
    That’s all. Just another 10% of power we already have.
    
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    February 19, 2025 1:33pm
    - Colville
      
      Surely nuclear is the only base load option going forward?
      
      That said I have read interesting posts on the way the really tall wind turbines work… 200+ meters tall.. There is always a draft up there… As the land cools and rewarms… Sounds like there is hope there.
      
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      February 19, 2025 2:07pm
      - kowtow
        
        Coal .
        
        Cheap , local, reliable , plentiful.
        
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        February 19, 2025 3:16pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Colville: “I have read interesting posts on the way the really tall wind turbines work… 200+ meters tall.. There is always a draft up there… As the land cools and rewarms.”
        
        Remember selling this gear to gullible politicians with no skin in the game is very big business. Still random troughs and highs though. Sometimes those wind lows can go for weeks, across whole countries. Batteries are WAY too expensive to back up that kind of lull. The cost of energy underpins the cost of everything, net zero is net-pointless, all factors considered, and, there is no evidence that Co2 is the control knob for the earth’s average temp (quite the opposite).
        
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        February 19, 2025 6:08pm
Grunter

Sir Brian Roche confirms publically that “there is no current plan to restructure The Public Service”.

That means one of 3 things;
1. The Coalition Govt is happy with what we currently have.
2. The Coalition Govt has no idea what to do.
3. The Coalition Govt, after 16 mths, has no urgency to make any changes to The Public Service.

Take your pick which one it is (I don’t know either). But they are all massive FAILS.

Compare NZ to what Trump is doing. Compare NZ to what Melei has done already over a similar time period.
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February 19, 2025 8:17am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Again trump can do these things with a stroke of a pen, we can’t do that here, it is utter wasted even mentioning the comparison
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:52am
  - RoboRob
    
    Yet again with the ‘powerless government’ excuse for inaction. Our government, and Luxon has FAR MORE power then Trump, who is constrained by congress. Congress makes laws.
    
    Trump can issue executive orders in very select areas. These are open to being overturned through courts. He needs congress to pass laws for most changes and his executive orders can be overturned without congress enshrining them in law.
    
    Our government has sole power to make laws, if they want to take an action that is currently unlawful they can write a new law or change the amend the existing law.
    
    ‘We dont have the power’ is NOT a valid excuse for a NZ government. The difference between Trump and Luxon, is political will.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:27am
  - Allan
    
    I disagree.
    
    The government, Luxon et al, can make changes with the stroke of a pen.
    
    Why haven’t they?
    
    Are you saying that the 3 parties of the coalition wouldn’t vote to remove, reverse, or replace legislation that they all agreed was wrong?
    
    They have a majority. Introduced under urgency and passed within a day.
    
    Remove all the pointless departments and remove all the functionaries.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:36am
  - Cassandra
    
    Not true. National has immense power which Trump does not have ie Nats control Parliament. Reducing staff level to 2017’s for example, would be literally “stroke of a pen”.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:36am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      They can lay people off, that’s called a restructure which is done by the ministry, this carry on about simply closing down ministries can not be done with the stroke is a pen, the law needs changed and that is our process, remember the formation of MBIE which put 4 ministries into one? They had to go through the full process including pubic consultation
      
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      February 19, 2025 11:03am
      - RoboRob
        
        They chose to do public consultation. The can close any minstry they feel like closing. They dont need to consult. Did JA and Winston consult before they blocked oil exploration? Did it take years?
        
        The issue is the political fallout. If they close Ministry for woman then the outcry would be ‘dont you care about woman’. The same is true for Ministry for children, PI, Maori, pacific peoples etc.
        
        They had the ability, and political backing, in their first year to do this. They still can now, if they closed them ALL at the same time (so they dont look like they are picking on any one group). However the longer they leave it the closer to the next election and the greater the danger.
        
        They know all of this and at least one of the three parties is unwilling to take action. Odds are its not one of the 5-10% parties as this is probably a vote winner for them.
        
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        February 19, 2025 1:20pm
      - Paulus
        
        No Minister cannot fire any Public Servant.
        Like Local Government the only person who matters is the CEO, as only he has the power, as the only Employer.
        
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        February 19, 2025 1:54pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Meloni in Italy is also sorting a few things out.
      
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      February 19, 2025 11:39am
    - Colville
      
      Cass.
      How does National control parliament?
      48 seats out of the 122 last time I checked.
      
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      February 19, 2025 12:56pm
      - RoboRob
        
        Please check how goverment works in NZ. Luxon (NAT) is PM. His two political partners, ACT and NZF (>60 seats) allow them to be in government and run the country. ACT and (probably) NZF have both campaigned on cutting govt departments.
        
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        February 19, 2025 1:23pm
- artemisia
  
  Roche is smart and experienced. Restructuring the Public Service may have his own view on what that means.
  
  Consider the environment sector and much more in the 1980s. That was a restructure.
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:02am
- Handyman
  
  Having no plan does not mean they will not do it. Labour went ahead to centralise the health system and the polytechs without having any plans.
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:40am
  - RoboRob
    
    But, but, but Labour didnt have the power to do that, they aren’t as powerful as Trump /sarc
    
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    February 19, 2025 1:24pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  4. Luxon will not let his Ministers do anything that may lose votes.
  He is under the illusion that the Public Sector vote National.
  
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  February 19, 2025 11:06am
- PurplePen
  
  He did say there’s no “current plan” which doesn’t exclude the possibility that there might be one tomorrow. Why frighten the horses (public servants) unnecessarily before you’ve got all your ducks in a row.
  
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  February 19, 2025 3:38pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  I doubt that Sir Brian Roche can speak for the government, he may have no plans for a restructure but that doesn’t mean the government can’t do so at some point.
  
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  February 19, 2025 4:04pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Elon Musk’s newest target is the regulator that fined him $20m and is still investigating him. Nothing more that an attack on Musk about Tesla shares and how he was able to purchase Twitter.
The left are screaming, but they scream all the time.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/elon-musk-s-newest-target-is-the-regulator-that-fined-him-20m-and-is-still-investigating-him/ar-AA1zf2aT?
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February 19, 2025 8:20am
- Raphael
  
  Musk has just pointed out that DOGE has uncovered US$4.7 Trillion in Treasury payments are untraceable.
  
  This is because the coding field was not a required field, so often not filled in.
  So the individual payments may or may not be legitimate but because the field to correctly code the payments was left blank, there is no way to know.
  
  https://notthebee.com/article/its-probably-fine-doge-uncovers-47-trillion-in-untraceable-treasury-payments
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:34am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Sounds like several people were getting the dole and were all 130 years old, sounds more like it may not be a waste but just an undelivered figure
    
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    February 19, 2025 9:54am
    - Allan
      
      There was 1 recipient that was over 300 years old.
      
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      February 19, 2025 10:37am
      - Raphael
        
        Kieth Richards?
        
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        February 19, 2025 2:49pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Apparently the perma-inebriated character in the movie series Pirates of the Caribbean “Captain Jack Sparrow” (played by Johnny Depp) was inspired by a one Keith Richards. 🤣
        
        https://live.staticflickr.com/3182/5705168314_2a4f7a17d1.jpg
        
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        February 19, 2025 6:21pm
      - Raphael
        
        @NZer In Exile which is why Keith Richards played Jack Sparrow’s father in the later films.
        
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        February 20, 2025 8:51am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Several people ?? More like several million people.
      
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      February 19, 2025 11:40am
    - NothingLeft
      
      There’s not yet anything to suggest that any significant number of super-old old ‘not dead’ people in the social security list are actually receiving social security. It is quite likely just a lack of record keeping for eg American citizens who have died overseas over last century without any notification being sent to US govt.
      
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      February 19, 2025 11:48am
  - Colville
    
    $4.7 trillion..
    
    so 4,700,000,000,000 ?
    
    so $47K for 100 million people. Oh is that all !! 🙂
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:16am
    - JackRabbit
      
      $470 Million for 10,000
      $4.7 Billion for 1000
      $47 Billion for 100 people
      $470 Billion for 10 people
      
      $4.7 Trillion = 360 Aircraft Carriers
      
      How would you misplace something that can buy 360 Aircraft Carriers?
      
      It is not exactly a rounding error.
      
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      February 19, 2025 2:47pm
  - sungsamning
    
    The uni party will not be impressed at having its patronage network, and power base picked apart. The next Dem administration will find that most of their ammunition consists of blanks.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:56am
  - Libertarians are right
    
    This is actually a perfect example of why some people have an issue with the 2020 US Election. It’s not that fraud happened, it’s that controls were not in place to the extent you can’t prove it either way.
    
    The response here is to fix the controls so that legitimacy can be ensured (and the Democrats rage).
    
    The response to the 2020 US Election should have been to fix the controls but the Democrats raged and made them worse.
    
    Again, there is no evidence of wrongdoing but controls were not in place to provide that evidence in either direction.
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:08am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Musk needs to look and bank account balances of those in the top of Treasury.
    Treasury is not corrupt – the people who work there are.
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:11am
- cmm
  
  To put that in perspective, the US debt is blowing out at $1T every 100 days.
  
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  February 19, 2025 1:36pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Various prominent clowns of the far left there are advocating violence in response to Trump (and by extension his DOGE advisers) trying to get the deficit under control.
    
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    February 19, 2025 6:26pm
Simon

War is over if you want it. No much yet in NZ msm?? about Trump ending the killing and grifting.
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February 19, 2025 8:26am
- rangitoto
  
  The war will be over when RuZZIan troops leave Ukraine.
  
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  February 19, 2025 11:24am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  Trump cannot make any offer or proposal, either unilaterally or jointly with Putin, that will persuade Zelensky that it would be in his country’s interest to stop fighting. That is because Zelensky, like the rest of the world, knows that no undertaking or promise from either of them is worth shit.
  
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  February 19, 2025 3:44pm
Simon

Is it the Ukraine War or the Ukraine Grift?

The Ukraine Grift ended the Covid Grift.

But in NZ the covid grift just changed to other grifts.
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February 19, 2025 8:29am
Bridgenag

the global crime scene
hiding soldiers under hospitals: the coldest monsters in america

“the american conception of the state has gone badly wrong and the american state has rotted and festered beneath us into something more predatory than protective. this machine within the machine has been carefully and with much calculation hidden. the epithet “conspiracy theorist” was coined to discredit those who sought to pull at its edges to see what might unwind.”

“the things the branch covidians did and said, the world they ran off the road and into a ditch, the lockdowns and conjured hobgoblins, the lives and livelihoods shattered all while cloaked in some of the most deliberately dishonest self-congratulatory propaganda in the history of history used to enrich and manipulate, to stifle and suppress, the unrelenting fear mongering and moral-inversion used to divide and to conquer and to plunder: the minds shies from really seeing it and naming it.”

phttps://open.substack.com/pub/boriquagato/p/the-global-crime-scene?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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February 19, 2025 8:29am
- cmm
  
  I cannot abide people who write without capitalisation to be “edgy”.
  
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  February 19, 2025 8:38am
  - Anthony Melchett
    
    I notice some apps are now setup like this such as when you try to write a description on Trade Me.
    
    It’s just a continuation of the dumbing down of society.
    
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    February 19, 2025 9:15am
    - cmm
      
      It is an awful thing to do.
      
      If you have something useful to say, then try to write it in a way that is easy for people to read and understand.
      
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      February 19, 2025 1:38pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  https://open.substack.com/pub/boriquagato/p/the-global-crime-scene
  
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  February 19, 2025 8:55am
kowtow

Is it any wonder that the rotten ship “Aotearoa” has been holed and is sinking in the international kohruption standings .

The two tier social policy and adherence to Treatyism is pulling this country into the gutter .

The media , who must hold power to account has literally signed away its rights to be considered the fourth estate , by agreeing to take state money to ‘actively protect’ , under that same ‘Treatyism”.

The answer is a binding referndum to consign the treaty back into the status it once had , a simple nullity.

Then we can get on with being an open , liberal democracy based on individual rights and the rule of law ( ie accountablity to the electorate).
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February 19, 2025 8:32am
- Ghost
  
  Binding referendum, means nothing, it does not stop the next government coming in and ignoring it
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:31am
  - Matt Long
    
    A binding referendum is binding. Which is why no government will allow one.
    Common voters cannot be trusted with democracy.
    
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    February 19, 2025 9:46am
    - Mark Hanley
      
      End of life bill
      Marijuana legalization.
      
      In both cases the wisdom of the crowd prevailed.
      
      I have a feeling we’ll have our say on the tow principles bill when the coalitions popularity is high enough to withstand the protest, violence, and media outrage over the referendum.
      
      Luxon always has a plan….. advertising the TOW bill and garnering public opinion at select committee has a purpose!
      
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      February 19, 2025 10:00am
      - RoboRob
        
        Ah, Luxon is playing 4D chess now. Got it.
        
        2 1
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        February 19, 2025 10:30am
      - Damocles11
        
        Luxon has no plan other than to resist any change.
        
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        February 19, 2025 10:37am
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Damocles. Maybe try doing a little reading before you comment.
        
        You could start with nationals web where a vision is clealy articulated
        
        You could move onto the coalition agreements where goals to achieve the vision are identified.
        
        Then the quarterly plan where actions to acheive the goals are listed.
        
        Then the quarterly plan update where progress of actions is recorded.
        
        Sure looks like planning to me.
        
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        February 19, 2025 2:01pm
    - Ghost
      
      The referendum itself does not otherwise bind Parliament, though of course its result is of political, and potentially constitutional, importance. Any change to the law that results from a binding referendum is not protected from subsequent change or repeal by Parliament, unless that law, as amended, is entrenched as a reserved provision (see 52.4 and 38.13.2). Conversely, Parliament would not be prevented from enacting a proposed law change that failed to be passed through a binding referendum, unless the proposal affected legislation that was already entrenched.
      
      https://www.parliament.nz/en/visit-and-learn/how-parliament-works/parliamentary-practice-in-new-zealand-2023-by-chapter/chapter-52-referendums/
      
      Labour can come in and change it, and will. I realise people think labour, Greens and Māori would respect the voters decision, they won’t. They only way is with a Entrenchment and the government do not have those votes.
      
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      February 19, 2025 10:01am
      - Matt Long
        
        All binding referendums are binding, but some binding referendums are more binding than other binding referendums.
        
        3 1
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        February 19, 2025 12:10pm
      - Ghost
        
        It’s amazing how many on a political blog don’t know the basics…. And then push false narratives.
        
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        February 19, 2025 2:34pm
      - Matt Long
        
        The statutes on so-called binding referendums in New Zealand just reinforce my point that the referendums are not binding.
        There are good arguments for these statutes, and good arguments against.
        
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        February 19, 2025 6:48pm
  - Taieri
    
    it does not stop the next government coming in and ignoring it
    ————–
    
    No point in the government doing anything at all then?
    Because of “the next government coming in and ignoring it”…
    
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    February 19, 2025 12:55pm
    - Ghost
      
      If maori and greens are part of the next government then you can guarantee labour will continue where they left off, and you can expect it to be worse
      
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      February 19, 2025 1:12pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Ghost: “Binding referendum, means nothing, it does not stop the next government coming in and ignoring it.”
    
    I disagree. If you have something cemented in with say 80+ % approval of the population by referendum and then a bunch of undemocratic f#$%wits just wipe that away by fiat, then everyone knows immediately they are dealing with a bunch of evil and undemocratic plonkers. They are not going to last long doing that.
    
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    February 19, 2025 6:32pm
- Eastlander
  
  Why? Just have a harsher version of the TPB which states that Prendergast was correct in his judgement in Wi Parata v Bishop of Wellington.
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:37am
  - peterwn
    
    I like to imagine that Prendergast J and the Bishop had drinkies together in the Wellington Club after the trial. This was over a piece of land in Titahi Bay which local Maori had donated for a church school. The school never eventuated so the local Maori wanted it back (which seemed quite logical) but the Anglican Diocese did not want to return it (which seemed rather pig headed). Wi Parata cited the Treaty in support of the case (the Church should have yielded the land treaty or no treaty) and Prendegast J declared that ‘the Treaty is a nullity’. Nowadays Prendagast J would have been hauled up before the Judicial Conduct Commission in pretty short order for making that statement.
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:18am
    - Eastlander
      
      Nowadays yes. Back then the New Zealand judiciary rallied around him when the British law Lord’s rebuked him.
      
      So long as the usual suspects are denying that they ceded sovereignty I’m going to take the view that the wandering bandit gangs inhabiting this country never had any sovereign power to cede.
      
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      February 19, 2025 12:49pm
- sirknz
  
  It is the ‘Corruption Perception Index’ and having a low number is not the flex that many in NZ believe it to be.
  
  A low number would indicate that we are ignoring the actual corruption going on, unabated.
  
  Moving to a higher number would indicate that we are becoming more aware of the corruption.
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:06am
- I remember when
  
  kowtow:
  Would at least part of the drop be because of the ‘unmentioned’ iwi fees?
  
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  February 19, 2025 1:32pm
- Paulus
  
  No Minister cannot fire any Public Servant.
  Like Local Government the only person who matters is the CEO, as only he has the power, as the only Employer.
  
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  February 19, 2025 1:56pm
- Paulus
  
  Are not the media part of the corruption. ?
  
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  February 19, 2025 1:57pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  I wonder what Transparency International thinks? Could Aotearoa be sliding down the rankings?
  
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  February 19, 2025 6:38pm
Scooter

Further to the story about needing Te Ao Maori, Tikanga etc for the Consultant Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon at Dunedin Hospital. It is not a one off, in fact it is a standard requirement across all the health boards as far as I could see. And to broaden the criteria, in case a degree or actual experience is not enough they welcome applications from “our diverse Māori, Pacific, disabled, and rainbow communities.”. Forget about Chinese, Indians South Africans etc.

I also found this in an ad for a Medical Imaging Consultant Blenheim…

(“We believe that to achieve equity in health outcomes for Māori we need a workforce reflective of the population it serves. We strongly encourage applications from candidates who identify as Māori and we recruit for cultural competence.
He waka eke noa. We are all in this together.”)

I thought it was illegal to advertise a job based on race, sex etc.

“You can’t state requirements for the role that would lead to discrimination, including anything related to a person’s:
physical appearance, eg hair colour or skin colour, gender, race,religion,age.”

National/Act/NZ First what are you going to do about this. If nothing then we might as well kiss goodbye to any sort of recovery or future for NZ.
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February 19, 2025 8:39am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Well, I can only speak from my experience of being in hospital 3 times in 3 years, 3 years ago every nurse doctor medical staff greeted me in Māori, in June a couple of utterances, and in January not one word was spoken in Maori, I see you attacked the government again with no experience of what you are talking about
  
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  February 19, 2025 11:10am
  - RichardF
    
    I was in hospital a few weeks ago. I got a couple of Kia Ora’s which I don’t have a problem with and usually reciprocate. I don’t think the government is issuing edicts on how to greet people and I think Kia ora is a ubiquitous kiwi saying anyway.
    
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    February 19, 2025 4:59pm
  - Scooter
    
    Who cares if they speak Maori, the problem is the job requirements. What about the overseas applicants, presumably it doesn’t apply to them or do they have to undergo indoctrination classes when they arrive? I’m sure this puts a lot off from applying. Jobs should be given on Merit not Maori wonderfulness.
    
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    February 19, 2025 8:03pm
- peterwn
  
  Medical imaging consultants never see the patient. A technician deals with the patient and the consultant interprets the image. I doubt the consultant knows or cares about the race of the patient.
  
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  February 19, 2025 1:52pm
- Paulus
  
  Am sure it is illegal but who is going to alter the illegality
  – Waitangi Tribunal, I doubt it !
  
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  February 19, 2025 1:59pm
kowtow

Garner is on fire on the Platform this morning.

Lots of stuff you’ll never hear on Te Legacy Media .

Jack [Mod – use correct names, not sure how often you have to be told before it sinks in] on $800 k pa !

And much more .

He says he has a daily podcast , must look it up.
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February 19, 2025 8:39am
- Ghost
  
  Page 73 lists the salaries, no one is on $800,000
  
  https://corporate.tvnz.co.nz/assets/Uploads/TVNZ-Annual-Report-FY24_final.pdf
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:29am
  - Swifty
    
    I’ve no idea about TVNZ salaries, but I would point out that increasingly ‘talent’ like Tame are not employees but are independent contractors, who invoice for their work.
    
    As such they will not appear on any salaries breakdown.
    
    This practice is in extensive use overseas, UK, Oz, US etc.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:11am
    - Ghost
      
      He’s not a contractor.
      
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      February 19, 2025 10:16am
      - RoboRob
        
        How can you be so sure? On his Wiki he also works for The Herald and Newstalk ZB. Which one is his employer and which does he contract to? I cant find anything proving he is employed by all or contracts to all or some other mix.
        
        Its quite possible the 800k figure mentioned is the sum of all his earnings.
        
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        February 19, 2025 10:37am
    - pdm
      
      Is Tame really a talent?
      
      I don’t thinks so.
      
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      February 19, 2025 10:48am
  - I remember when
    
    Interesting points from TVNZ Annual Report:
    
    Average female staff salary is 4.5% higher than male.
    Average Maori salary is 12.9% higher than for non-Maori.
    Only 20% of the staff identify with more than one ethnic group.
    95% support inclusion and diversity within TVNZ according to their survey.
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:09am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      But but but – where are the protests against this manifest injustice to white men?
      
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      February 19, 2025 6:41pm
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      But don’t you understand? These are achievements to be celebrated!!!!!!
      
      Yet tomorrow the MSM will publish yet another story about so-called pay-gaps, and how the government must work harder to eliminate them.
      
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      February 19, 2025 10:07pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Gosh, it’s chock full of woke 💩!
    
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    February 19, 2025 6:37pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Where are people’s salaries listed Ghost?
    Where are you getting your info on salaries there?
    
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    February 19, 2025 6:43pm
Suze Wainwright

Richard Harman’s Politik notes this morning that NZ’s economy and trends are starting to become ‘optimistic’ esp. in agriculture – and it might just see the current govt get reelected.

Maybe it is just all about the economy after all, stupid.
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February 19, 2025 8:42am
Yvette

I think I may have become a slowly-indoctrinated racist

Maori were here first
Which although they too are immigrants, like descent or directly is everyone else in New Zealand.
But Maori claim rights and ownership of certain things –

like land (over which there are disputes) and spirituality (which have Maori gods appear in scientific papers, education, history, ownership bids for the life force of water and other matters)

The first range (land) touches me little, but spirituality does, and the promotion of its exceptionalism above Islam, Gloriavale or Destiny doctrines, or simple traditional Christianity or even more simple secularity – promotion of its Maori exceptionalism, like Germany’s Aryan supremacy – is a worry.

Just so far: the fact that it is there and happening, which has unconsciously turned me into a racist – I am frustrated, and cringe, at almost every appearance of Maori culture and language on mostly television – but I fear where some ownership calls may be going, like the Governance Charter “Te Pou Whakamana Kaimatū o Aotearo, The Pharmacy Council of New Zealand [1] or Tukoroirangi Morgan’s “It’s absolute nonsense. We have always said, that we’re not interested in owning the water assets. What we’re interested in is the proprietor rights over water, and that is a discussion to be had with the Crown, not with councils.” [2] seems a little disturbing.
Add Te Pāti Māori-linked scandal raises serious election integrity concerns [3]

I guess time will tell, as it will with everything.

But realising I am now racist, I need to keep in check the wolf that I feed, to ensure the pair of them stay in related balance, rather than I become an animal myself, as Tarrant did.
From his manifesto, which, as I have mentioned before, I read before the Censor’s Office told us all we couldn’t, the “radicalisation” process of degradation seemed logical enough, when you discount rabbit holes, that his mental disassembly seemed quite simple really – born of social frustration, a fear of change, and perceived cultural loss.

____________________
[1] https://pharmacycouncil.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/Pharmacy-Council-Charter-Document-2023-Website.pdf
[2] https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/03/09/claims-maori-will-own-nzs-water-infrastructure-dismissed/
[3] https://centrist.nz/te-pati-maori-linked-scandal-raises-serious-election-integrity-concerns/?
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February 19, 2025 8:43am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Just because you don’t care for someone else’s culture or beliefs doesn’t make you a racist.
  
  I’m a very bigoted atheist and have no time for spiritual woowoo, but I’m happy to count Christians (of all flavours), Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Bush baptists, Green Party voters, etc amongst my friends and acquaintances.
  
  Concepts of Race/ethnicity may be important/fundamental to some people, but if you accept that notions of race are ultimately “social constructs” and we are all playing in the same sand-pit, then it’s up to each of us to figure out if we play nicely with others, or if we join a gang to stop others
  from playing.
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:49am
  - Phronesis
    
    New Zealander is seldom an option when it comes to ethnicity data collection. Logically, if a New Zealander of European descent is ethnically European, then a New Zealander of Polynesian descent is a Polynesian. If there are no New Zealander’s then there are also no Maori.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:05am
    - Yvette
      
      Phronesis, sorry, I always thought “New Zealander” was a “protest” entry under an “ethnicity label’, for the very reason you mention: the statistician can’t tell if in fact you are a New Zealander of European descent, although six generations were born here; Maori descent; French nationalised descent; or all just dissenting.
      Statistics are surely just left with a whole bunch of people who are Unknowns.
      
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      February 19, 2025 11:27am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        France, Norway, Sweden, and quite a few other European countries don’t collect ethnic/racial data in their censuses.
        
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        February 19, 2025 3:29pm
    - waikatosinger
      
      My earliest ancestor arrived here in 1880, 150 years ago. Maori are supposed to have arrived in 1350, 670 years ago. So they’ve now been here 4 and a half times as long as my lot. As time goes on the difference in these figures seems less and less significant.
      
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      February 19, 2025 11:40am
    - PurplePen
      
      Statistics NZ’s Classification and Standards Section’s 2001 paper on the measurement of ethnicity link below. If ethnicity is as vague and complex as the paper essentially says, how can anyone answer the question in a census.
      
      https://www.stats.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Retirement-of-archive-website-project-files/Methods/Review-of-the-Measurement-of-Ethnicity-Classifications-and-issues/review-of-the-measurement-of-ethnicity-classification-and-issues-main-paper.pdf
      
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      February 19, 2025 3:56pm
  - Swifty
    
    Well said Maggy.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:15am
  - Yvette
    
    Maggy, I too do not mind the beliefs of “Christians (of all flavours), Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, Bush baptists, Green Party voters”, and also have most of those “amongst my friends and acquaintances”, but it is a fact I do observe myself cringe or have negative emotions when I see whites of eyeballs and protruding tongues and everything that moves called a waka, and word salads in English, Maori or Manglish on yet further broken rights or denied beliefs, raised by Government agencies on behalf of Maori, if not by Maori themselves.
    
    Raising Maori up in the Aryan manner of 1930s Germany – exceptualism – being part of the Great Misinformation (see? – you could write a manifesto about it) that Maori have not raised their own social demographics enough for the exceptualism to be true, so it is a great lie, and that knowledge is what make me cringe.
    That is what destroys any enjoyment playing in the sand-pit, besides getting bloody sand where you don’t need it.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:26am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Raising Maori up in the Aryan manner of 1930s Germany
      
      Well, I agree that’s what’s happening…and I know only too well how that story goes…..
      
      So the solution (not the FINAL SOLUTION) is to be clear that race-based programmes are a social disaster.
      
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      February 19, 2025 3:20pm
- Paulus
  
  There are NO Maori anymore !
  
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  February 19, 2025 2:00pm
artemisia

China and the Cook Islands. China has been asked to supply expertise on seabed mining. Supposedly sustainable. China will of course be looking for an advantage, and ‘sustainable’ may have different interpretations.

New Zealand has a potential interest in seabed mining in our huge EEZ – iron sands, phosphate, rare earth minerals. So far no projects have been able to progress although one is on the fast-track for further consideration.

If China turns out to be a leading authority on sustainable seabed mining, would they be welcome to provide some of that foreign investment (and wealthy immigrants) we are now looking to attract?
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February 19, 2025 8:54am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  “China will of course be looking for an advantage”
  
  … as opposed to?
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:10am
  - cmm
    
    Quite.
    
    Nobody is doing anything as a charitable act – be they westerners of Chinese. Anyone not looking for an advantage does nothing.
    
    Some might argue that that advantage is exploitative, but that’s generally one-eyed nonsense.
    
    If the Cooks want to jump in the sack with the Chinese then let them. They are grown ups and can make choices for themselves. It is not our job to nanny them and protect them from themselves.
    
    And that includes giving the Cooks hand outs. Last I checked we paid Cooks enough $ to pay the mortgage on every house in the whole of Cooks. Grown ups don’t need to live on mummy and daddy’s credit card.
    
    If Cooks want further offshore medical care then let them strike a deal to fly people to Beijing for heart ops. Not our problem. If they want passports and police and judges, they can sort themselves out. Not our problem.
    
    This feeling we have to treat the rest of the Pacific as children needs to end.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:00am
    - Raphael
      
      I don’t think many Westerners realise how different culturally China is, and that China will happily take generations to achieve their goals.
      
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      February 19, 2025 10:02am
      - cmm
        
        The West used to be like that with some of those old Gothic cathedrals taking centuries to build.
        To put that in context, life expectancy was only 30 years or so, so that was maybe 6 or 7 generations to build a cathedral.
        
        Still, not a patch on the Great Wall of China which took over 2000 years.
        
        I think though that Chinese people have also fallen to the “want it now” disease that Westerners have – but perhaps not to the same extent.
        
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        February 19, 2025 12:16pm
    - I remember when
      
      In the Pacific Islands, the problem with Chinese deals is that the premier seems to be richly rewarded and the people have to pay.
      
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      February 19, 2025 10:29am
      - cmm
        
        And so what? How is that our spilled milk to clean up?
        The Pacific Islanders can vote. If they chose corruption why should we interfere?
        
        4 1
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        February 19, 2025 1:42pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  Once Iwi secure the rights to the coast around NZ when this government fails to deliver on the MACA Bill watch how quickly each of those Iwi make a deal with the CCP to dredge the crap out of the sea floor…..the out come of course is a win for China, a win for the Iwi and NZ security compromised for ever….of course the short sighted Iwi will make some short gains until the ‘deal’with the CCP sees china coming to actually ‘collect’. We are Fooked.
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:14am
  - Reg Perrin
    
    How can that be when we are constantly told that Maori are protectors of the environment. An observation i have made as someone who does does volunteer conservation work, i never see Maori or iwi helping out
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:17am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  If China turns out to be a leading authority on sustainable seabed mining, would they be welcome to provide some of that foreign investment
  
  Of course they would, IF they send a large koha to Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and TPM.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/413392/mining-company-loses-appeal-to-mine-ironsands-off-taranaki-coast
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:55am
  - I remember when
    
    Mining company loses appeal to mine ironsands off Taranaki coast:
    
    Would that be because Patea has so many other things going for it?
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:24am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Auntie Debbie ensuring the place remains a wind-swept dump.
      
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      February 19, 2025 3:33pm
Maggy Wassilieff

I’d never heard of this Labour MP, Lemauga Lydia Sosene, until I saw this video interview she did about her recovery after breast surgery.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/mp-lemauga-lydia-sosene-shares-cancer-journey-urges-health-priority/KZWB42SKM5EWZKKWOPTCEMFF7U/

What a sensible woman, and how refreshing to see her concern and advice is for ALL kiwi women, not just “our people”, or one ethnic group.
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February 19, 2025 9:05am
- cmm
  
  Breast cancer aside, she seems to have been a completely useless back bencher.
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:02am
  - Matt Long
    
    As opposed to all those incredibly useful other back benchers, or the opposition in general?
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:13am
    - cmm
      
      No, not as opposed to anything. She’s just another useless nameless back bencher along with most of the others.
      
      It would be interesting to do the stats and see how many back benchers manage to spend, say, two or three terms in parliament without doing anything that makes them visible.
      
      There are exceptions, of course, but they are, ahem, exceptions – and far from typical.
      
      While I feel some empathy for her as a person who has endured a disease, that does not give her a free ride as an MP.
      
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      February 19, 2025 12:20pm
  - MCōs
    
    Based on what?
    
    3 4
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    February 19, 2025 10:51am
    - cmm
      
      Based on:
      * Have you heard of her?
      * What has she done to explain the $200+k of earnings and expenses?
      
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      February 19, 2025 12:21pm
      - MCōs
        
        I have heard of her. I’ve had a conversation with her. She’s the local MP.
        There are numerous MPs around Auckland; a number of whom I’ve met and others who are just a name.
        
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        February 19, 2025 12:48pm
      - cmm
        
        Did she do anything useful for you?
        
        5 1
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        February 19, 2025 1:03pm
      - MCōs
        
        I haven’t had the occasion to require her help with anything where her intervention might be to my benefit.
        
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        February 19, 2025 3:10pm
imalwaysright

Six government departments, a sham charity and a political party run by the leader of the charity engage in a conspiracy to undermine our election.

And they are all still at work today on full pay.

Lets see what Luxon does about it…
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February 19, 2025 9:14am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Don’t forget that the Waipeirera Trust’s AVERAGE salary for staff is over $500.000.00.
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:29am
- BarryB
  
  Luxon will do bugger all – if his record to date is any guide.
  He is a massive disappointment so far. It will be a one term Govt if he keeps this up.
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:09am
  - Ghost
    
    It’s before the privacy commissioner and police. Politicians should stay out of this part of it
    
    But the report already lists what has been done.
    
    Other actions underway include:
    
    updated guidance and template for information sharing agreements.
    
    strengthening public service procurement practices.
    
    directing agencies in the frame of the inquiry to immediately fix gaps in their processes and practices to avoid this situation happening again.
    
    strengthening accountability settings for all public service agencies when contracting and data sharing with third-party service providers.
    
    asking the Ministry of Justice to consider if changes are needed to electoral law regarding financial incentives to switch electoral rolls.
    
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    February 19, 2025 10:11am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Nothing has been done. It says these are “underway”.
      
      They don’t mention the failure of actual people, just system failures.
      So that means that any one of us could presently get control of any data we wanted from these departments?
      
      Like hell, this was a conspiracy run by people.
      This is a hostile public service.
      
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      February 19, 2025 11:15am
    - rouppe
      
      Yes, but that’s a pat on the hand at the bottom of a cliff you shouldn’t have been on.
      
      There is so much clear corruption that someone in jail is a minimum requirement for deterrence. That will have to take time, unfortunately.
      
      An immediate action should be termination of any government funding for anything involving any entity related to Waiparera Trust and Manurewa Marae. They are as dirty as Chernobyl.
      
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      February 19, 2025 12:00pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  The fence Luxon sits on is just over there>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
  
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  February 19, 2025 11:57am
  - Jethrod
    
    <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
    …………………………………..nothing to see over there!
    
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    February 19, 2025 12:38pm
- Paulus
  
  Luxon can do Sweet FA as his hands are tied –
  it is up to the Police to do their job – laugh!
  It’s all about Maori so forget it, and send it to the Waitango Tribunal where they can formulate another claim – another win financially.
  
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  February 19, 2025 2:05pm
Steve Otto N Shore

White House Tours Bringing Back Patriotic Pride.
Bookings 3 weeks to 3 months ahead, beginning Feb 25th. Something I would love to do.
Just remember, don’t leave any little packets of white powder behind – the security cameras work now!

https://americanvoterpolls.com/melania-trump-reopens-white-house-tours-bringing-back-patriotic-pride/?
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February 19, 2025 9:20am
- sungsamning
  
  Mmmm…. I’d love to do that tour too. I think Melania Trump has been channeling Jackie Kennedy.
  
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  February 19, 2025 11:06am
- MCōs
  
  I can’t think of anywhere in NZ a tour of which would stir my patriotic pride except once when I walked around the Waitangi Treaty Grounds
  One place I like to visit is Cape Reinga, but there’s no buildings of any great national patriotic significance
  
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  February 19, 2025 11:15am
  - waikatosinger
    
    For patriotic feeling the top floor of the Auckland war memorial museum is definitely worth a visit. The National Army Museum in Waiouru is also pretty good.
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:45am
    - MCōs
      
      I’ve been to both
      Not so long ago I took my 7yo granddaughter to the museum and she rushed ahead looking for the earthquake room, but strayed into the war memorial precinct.
      We moved right on through at double time
      
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      February 19, 2025 9:21pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    A tour of the Beehive and Parliament House was quite interesting. Did it about 12 years ago.
    
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    February 19, 2025 12:03pm
    - Colville
      
      I priced a contract in the Beehive back in the day when I had an honest job (as an engineer)
      
      Elevators that could only take 3 guys before being overloaded, rooms that you couldnt see from one end to the other because of curvature.., no right angles…
      
      Nice Takaka marble tho…
      
      Its a building that only a government department could have approved.
      
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      February 19, 2025 12:11pm
    - Paulus
      
      Did Canberra Parliament House with Cousin, now retired senior employee.
      Right into the Chamber floor – very interesting listening to him.
      
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      February 19, 2025 2:09pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Manapouri Power Station and Tongariro Power scheme Tours were unexpectedly (for me) memorable.
    
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    February 19, 2025 3:40pm
- Northshoredoc
  
  I was lucky enough to do the White House Tour in 2023 it was fascinating.
  
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  February 19, 2025 11:38am
Yvette

Fresh Water
We did not want to extend negotiations out for 10 years. We wanted to nail the immediate issues and settle that which needed to be settled at that time.”
In cross-examination, Colson asked the Ōtākou Upoko how he saw rakatirataka/rangatiratanga, kaitiakitaka/kaitiakitanga (guardianship) and mana (customary authority) interacting?
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/02/19/freshwater-was-off-table-in-treaty-settlement-ngai-tahu-leader/?

First sentence here says “We did not want to extend negotiations out for 10 years” and second sentence later demonstrates why it could take ten years?

But this obscures and obfuscates that “Ngāi Tahu rights over wai māori were ‘parked’ during settlement negotiations in the 1990s” – “Freshwater was off table in Treaty settlement – Ngāi Tahu leader” – but it is back on the table now.
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February 19, 2025 9:23am
- kowtow
  
  Ngai Tahu ?
  
  Whadda ya talkin’ about .
  
  The Nats proudly gave them a “full and final” ( their 5 th) settlement ( along with perpetual top ups , thank you very much) .
  
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  February 19, 2025 3:14pm
Steve Otto N Shore

DOGE Audit Squad Sends Shockwaves Through IRS As Democrats Face Accountability Reckoning.
” It seems the Democrats, who have long relied on a steady stream of funding for their pet leftist causes, are now suffering mild heart palpitations at the thought of their gravy train hitting a speed bump.”

https://patriotpowerednetwork.com/doge-audit-squad-sends-shockwaves-through-irs-as-democrats-face-accountability-reckoning/?
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February 19, 2025 9:37am
- Raphael
  
  If a business did half the things DOGE is uncovering the government has been doing, they would be audited so hard their great grandkids would be feeling it.
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:58am
  - sungsamning
    
    Trump and Musk are removing items from the uni party tool kit, and piggy bank. Feathers are being ruffled.
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:08am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    It has been going on for decades and slowly getting bigger.
    
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    February 19, 2025 12:06pm
Matt Long

America tried a novel experiment in the early 20th century, instead of focusing on class, privilege or wealth, they hired people on merit and became the world’s preeminent power.
Unfortunately from about 1970 onward they decided to focus on DEI and were until recently on the slide to oblivion, including their own naval collisions, and plane crashes.
https://x.com/KonstantinKisin/status/1891611637263573332
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February 19, 2025 9:56am
- sungsamning
  
  The ‘positive discrimination’ thing was the result of an Executive Order signed by LBJ. Trump deleted it.
  
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  February 19, 2025 11:09am
I remember when

Chris Trotter, on Bowalley Road, questions the methodology or reasoning behind the approach being taken by Donald Trump.
What? – he asks is the end game, or, is there, in fact, even an end game.
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February 19, 2025 9:58am
- imalwaysright
  
  Sounds like Trotter is being deliberately obtuse.
  Did he make a case for the alternative, as in the status quo?
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:55am
- waikatosinger
  
  That is the difference between the left and the right.
  
  Conservatism is a game without end. The aim of the game is simply to conserve, maintain and gradually improve civilisation into the indefinite future.
  
  Only leftists have ends. Their end is the overthrow of the existing order and the reconstruction of society according to some ill defined utopian vision with the leftists installed as a perpetual ruling class. It is an end because after that history will stop; utopia will have been achieved; and dissenters will be rounded up and shot or starved to death in an engineered famine.
  
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  February 19, 2025 11:54am
Steve Otto N Shore

Manurewa Marae and Te Pati Maori.

https://centrist.nz/te-pati-maori-linked-scandal-raises-serious-election-integrity-concerns/?
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February 19, 2025 9:59am
BarryB

Re Panama canal, Greenland , etc.
When Trump got sworn in some of his first comments were “Lets take over the Panama Canal and lets go buy Greenland. He was widely reported as deranged, but maybe not so……

This video from 2024 (ie before trump was voted in) shows the US administration worried about goings on at the Canal and how the Chinese Govt is gaining control of the place. It also covers the fact that the Canal Authority has been auctioning slots – not something that the Canal Authority was supposed to be doing.
The video is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKlUstau9do&t=1167s

In regard to Greenland. Its has essentially untapped resources – just about anything you want is available in the country. Its actually an independent country with some ties to Denmark. Its not out of possibility that someone could buy Greenland. After all the US purchased Alaska of Russia.
Greenland has 50,000 inhabitants. For $50 billion (that’s chicken feed to the US) that would mean every Greenland citizen would get $1million. I think they would go for it. It would of course be $1million US dollars….

And as a side issue I have to say watching the US Vice President telling the European Security Conference a few home truths was very satisfying. His punch line I think was “Not one European citizen voted for millions of illegal immigrants to flood Europe”
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February 19, 2025 10:07am
- kiwi_chileno
  
  Greenland – “This Is About Critical Minerals” and techbro’s https://jacobin.com/2025/01/trump-greenland-tech-billionaires-mining
  
  A former Chilean Foreign Minister has been musing about whether Trump will take an interest in the Magellan Strait (Beagle Channel and Drake Passage), controlled by Chile, as an alternative strategic waterway to the Panama Canal, if the aim of the ‘Donroe Doctrine’ is to contain Chinese influence from Greenland to the Magellenas. (‘Donroe’ is a play on the 1823 Monroe Doctrine when the US declared the Western Hemisphere off-limits to European meddling). Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina, and Chile are developing the Bi-Ocean Corridor, an overland route from the Atlantic to Chile’s northern, Pacific ports, reducing dependence on the Panama Canal.
  
  China is developing ports in Sth America. Chancay is a new China-Peru joint venture megaport, part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: of course, it has dual-use potential as a Chinese naval base. Chile is concerned that Chancay will steal shipping from its ports. (Chile is also signed-up to Belt and Road).
  
  Late last year, Argentina announced a deal with China to develop a port near the Magellan Strait’s entrance, ostensibly to service China’s fishing fleet – also ideally placed as a Chinese gateway to Antarctica and to the Atlantic. https://dialogo-americas.com/articles/china-seeks-access-to-antarctica-with-port-in-argentina/ (There’s a Chinese satellite station in Argentina, which the US alleges is a spy base.) Argentina announced the China deal on the 40th anniversary of the Chile-Argentina peace and friendship treaty. Some Chileans think this was deliberate, out of spite – Argentina’s Foreign Minister also skipped the commemoration. (The treaty settled the Beagle Channel dispute – in 1978, Argentina almost attacked Chile).
  
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  February 19, 2025 5:54pm
Ghost

Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere has admitted census forms were photocopied by Manurewa Marae staff.

But he told Radio NZ on Wednesday: “In regards to Manurewa Marae, there were photocopies.

“We had a clear instruction that they be destroyed on the premises on the day … was any census data used by Whānau o Waipareira or the Whanau Ora Commissioning Agency in regard to the 2023 general election? And the answer is no.”

Article

Jelly Roll has the best Response
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February 19, 2025 10:09am
- rouppe
  
  And yet no one has asked (that I’ve seen) why photocopies were made in the first place.
  
  I don’t care that there may have been instructions (though I doubt it) to destroy the copies. There was no defendable reason to have copied the census forms.
  
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  February 19, 2025 11:50am
Matt Long

So 60 Minutes didn’t just edit a segment to make Harris look vaguely sane, they also cut segments to make Trump and Kari Lake look bad.
https://x.com/DefiantLs/status/1891559957318762674
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February 19, 2025 10:10am
- Tom Hunter
  
  It should have been obvious at least a decade ago that no right-wing politician should go on one of these shows with one of the following two conditions being accepted by the MSM:
  
  1. The show be live.
  
  2. The politician will have their own team recording the entire thing. In the era of high quality, cheap recording devices it’s no big deal to do this.
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:50am
- Raphael
  
  And is now going along with the German police to show people being arrested for posting memes.
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:59am
  - Raphael
    
    Link to CBS’s own video of it: https://x.com/60Minutes/status/1891282314899910910
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:06am
  - Tom Hunter
    
    You may enjoy my post on the subject – Lefties Again See A Lot Of Advantages To The German System – including the daughter of a Holocaust survivor describing the “Weimar Fallacy”, which CBS’s Brennan and a whole lot of other people seem to believe when the truth is the exact opposite.
    
    Amazing how the US Left has gone from celebrating the 1st Amendment as recently as the 80’s and 90’s, especially in regard to “the book banning Christians”, to this low, low point.
    
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    February 19, 2025 11:23am
- sungsamning
  
  So, just another day with y in it for the MSM/USAID?
  
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  February 19, 2025 11:12am
  - Paulus
    
    Is this now starting to reflect on NZME and their redundency policies announced today.
    They will still go bust as they have strange people still there,
    Once USAID, via New Zealand on Air, and so called PIJF and Local Democracy, stop funding them shortly they will have to fund themselves soon.
    
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    February 19, 2025 2:15pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Cook Islands – China.
Co-operation on seabed mining. This will bring money to the Cooks so NZ can stop aid yesterday.

Note, “The document which the Cook Islands Government released to the parliament was an unsigned copy.”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/top/542268/cook-islands-government-releases-details-of-deal-with-china
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February 19, 2025 10:19am
- greybeard
  
  Was it also released late on a Friday ?
  
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  February 19, 2025 10:35am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    When everyone is at the pub for drinkies, or heading to the beach. Friday evening is the best time.
    
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    February 19, 2025 12:24pm
    - fightingtemeraire
      
      When I was on the C Is run most of the population were drunk from Fr night to Sunday night.
      
      The worst thing that could happen was if the supply vessel from NZ was late as they would run out of booze.
      
      Basically, our Lower Holds were full of Steinlager.
      
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      February 19, 2025 1:29pm
- cmm
  
  Yup no more helicopter parenting for the Cooks.
  
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  February 19, 2025 12:47pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  And most likely the Chinese will dump the spoil into several big evenly spaced piles which will then become islands which support a Chinese military installation to add to the chain they are developing from PNG downwards ala the South China Sea.
  
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  February 19, 2025 4:17pm
Handyman

Interesting stat coming up for longevity in the US.
There are 8 million people aged between 100 and 150 years old collecting pension in the US.
If the fraudulent claims result in the date of death being “today” then the average life expectancy of US citizens will jump.
So on paper MAHA will be an instant success.
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February 19, 2025 10:36am
sungsamning

https://revolver.news/2025/02/insider-prediction-tim-burchett-says-corrupt-politicians-are-about-to-bolt/
Insider prediction: Rep. Tim Burchett says corrupt politicians are about to bolt.
Right now, there’s a lot of tension in the DC Swamp. Sure, President Trump’s return has shaken its foundation, but this goes deeper than just him sitting in the Oval Office again.

Much deeper.

A lot of the usual suspects in DC are sweating bullets right now—not just over their dirty deeds being exposed, like the Russia Hoax, COVID shenanigans, or the Epstein client list—but because nobody saw this coming. A group of rogue Gen Z geniuses pulling back the curtain on a level of government abuse and fraud that even the most suspicious among us couldn’t have imagined. And now, the American people are finally seeing just how badly they’ve been used and abused.
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February 19, 2025 10:48am
sungsamning

https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/trump-to-bar-funding-to-schools-with-covid-vaccine-mandates-5810287?src_src=Bright&src_cmp=bright-2025-02-17&est=AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAceM4dwpahMPLzKoPtmpWRbd1xiQDb3kUvtLRGztEDsX37uQ%3D
Trump Signs Order Barring Federal Funding to Schools With COVID Vaccine Mandates.
President Donald Trump on Feb. 14 signed an executive order barring funding to universities and schools with COVID-19 vaccine mandates.

The order, detailed in a fact sheet provided by the White House, will prohibit all federal funding to any schools that implement COVID-19 vaccine mandates and directs the secretaries of Education and Health and Human Services to issue compliance guidelines and plans to end existing mandates. The secretaries will also create a report of non-compliant institutions and a process for blocking funds from supporting any that impose mandates. [The vaccine is safe and effective. USAID told me so via Ardern, TVNZ, and Stuff.]
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February 19, 2025 10:49am
Swifty

“He told RNZ there was “no substance” to allegations that a text message from Te Pāti Maori had been sent to voters who had previously participated in a Covid-19 vaccination drive at the marae.”

That may be true. It may not be true.

I do wonder if he is being cute referring to TPM there, as opposed to Waipareira.

But I will swear on a stack of Guns and Ammo magazines that I received texts from Waipareira inviting me to functions they had organised, not at all related to Covid, subsequent to my attending Waipareira-run Covid vaccination clinics in Henderson where I gave them my contact information.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360586187/manurewa-marae-inquiry-john-tamihere-admits-census-forms-were-photocopied
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February 19, 2025 10:55am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Have a word with the Police, Swifty
  
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  February 19, 2025 6:53pm
Raphael

https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/16/ai_voice_clone/?td=rt-3a
This is something you can run on any half decent gaming PC (or any of the “Copilot+” or AI enabled laptops and pc’s).
While it is great for things like voice overs, the Legal Profession (as a whole internationally) is not ready for what is about to hit it.
I could generate audio to show someone is in breach of a Contract (so contract law)
I could generate audio to show a spouse is saying terrible things (so family law)
I could generate audio to have someone admitting to a crime (so criminal law)

And while it isn’t perfect yet, this is the worst it will be, it will only get better at copying your voice from here on out.

Can you imagine being in a nasty custody fight and the other side is able to easily fake audio of you saying all sorts of things?
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February 19, 2025 11:01am
- thirteenstars
  
  Sure, but it’ll all wash out in the end as practises we take for granted now and rely upon become untrustworthy.
  
  If you want to deny that lying spouse with the fake audio all you have to do is demonstrate in court the ease with which you can produce your own fake audio. What would be the effect of that? Perhaps to raise the forensic test hurdle for determining evidence veracity. No bad thing.
  
  We might well have to return to more verifiable paper trails instead of digital ones for critical records. If it can be faked, it can’t be trusted.
  
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  February 19, 2025 12:28pm
goNZ1

SPECIAL PEOPLE – SPECIAL RULES
Takutai Kemp (TPM) beat Peeni Henare (Labour) by just 42 votes (0.16%) after specials came in.
However, at Manurewa Marae, one of more than 300 polling booths where candidate votes were recorded for this seat, and where Kemp was the CEO !! at the time, Kemp got 323 more candidate votes than Henare.
This winning Manurewa Marae margin of 323 more votes is almost 8x higher than her overall winning margin of 42 votes and 4x higher than Kemp achieved at any other polling booth in the electorate.!!!
SOURCE https://thefacts.nz/manurewa-marae/
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February 19, 2025 11:07am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Statistics on the night showed that the voting at the marae was exceptionally outside the bounds of the norm from all others booths…….welcome to Aotearoa’s Co-rruption.
  
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  February 19, 2025 3:34pm
Swifty

I see today Tamihere has launched into yet another tirade about how any investigation or criticism of his outfit is motivated by racism.

Ho hum.

I think three things are now absolutely clear to me:

1. Tamihere’s claims of racism don’t wash and don’t work any more. They might have ten years or so ago but not now. Now I realise they are just a (despicable) smokescreen and attempted diversion from things he’d prefer to be kept hidden.

2. Tamihere is handing ammunition to his opponents with his behaviour, utterances and attitude. He is single handedly proving to New Zealanders that he just can’t be trusted to conduct himself ethically and responsibly. Ever since he made the totally foolish comment that “This is Maori money and we can do with it what we like” concerning Waipareira charitable funds, I knew all was not well.

3. Tamihere is doing Maori, generally a great disservice. Inevitably, all Maori organisations are being tainted in the public eye by Tamihere’s conduct. Rightly or wrongly, the public are now viewing with increasing suspicion all “by Maori, for Maori” initiatives as being on the take and unable to operate responsibly and with integrity – bloody hell, he’s on video telling people to break election laws last election and then laughing about it.

I think for the good of Waipareira Tamihere must now go. If Waipareira and their governance team (note not their management team) are serious about the future of the organisation and the social outcomes they seek they must jettison Tamihere and cut ties with TPM.

The fact that it is a charitable organisation unlawfully fuelling a political party with taxpayer money and resources is something we must not and cannot tolerate.

They, Waipareira, WOCA and TPM, have become so co-mingled it is now impossible to tell one entity from another.
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February 19, 2025 11:19am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Whanau Ora needs to be dismantled.
  
  All Government contracting needs to be better audited.
  
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  February 19, 2025 3:45pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  “ The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which”
  
  Our friend, Mr Orwell, nailed it.
  
  Ironic beyond belief that Eric Arthur Blair was considered to be a Lefty.
  
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  February 19, 2025 6:56pm
Jack5

Red Radio attacks NZ-originated Rocket Labs for working with US military.

The Radio NZ headline gives away the slant of the report: Rocket Lab ‘ready to serve’ Pentagon.

Radio NZ edges further Left:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/542305/rocket-lab-ready-to-serve-pentagon
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February 19, 2025 12:26pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  John Minto was at that point a couple of years ago, so RNZ have finally moved far enough left to match him.
  
  Moreover Rocket Labs is more valuable to us than RNZ.
  
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  February 19, 2025 3:01pm
- AitchW
  
  The Pentagon is the military arm of a long established ally. Rocket Lab is a hugely successful privately owned company which happens to provide a service which may be of use to the Pentagon.
  John Minto and all of his screaming pro Palestinian mates can, in my opinion, go and procreate with themselves if they have a problem with a private company entering into a perfectly legal commercial arrangement with a long standing ally.
  
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  February 19, 2025 7:40pm
kevn

Raphael… You are much more up with the play than me and most.
So this link asking ChatGPT to compare the 20o0’ish tech boom period with the Ai currently, might be of interest. Appears we have a long way to go yet.
https://chatgpt.com/share/67b4803e-6ca0-800d-83ab-9cf4a51fe8b7
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February 19, 2025 12:40pm
- cmm
  
  Far too many people think ChatGPT is some sort of magic crystal ball.
  
  It is not.
  
  Chat GPT, or any AI for that matter, is just a pattern matching engine.
  
  See these bits come in, spit these bits out.
  It does not have any understanding of what the bits mean or whether what it is looking at is something it understands or not.
  
  So could it recognise a trend and make predictions? Sure, if it is trained on the correct information.
  
  99% of getting AI right is ensuring it gets the right information and learns the right things.
  
  It was like that in the 1980s when I started doing stuff with AI. It is like that now.
  
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  February 19, 2025 12:51pm
- Raphael
  
  AI in general is actually not yet what I would call intelligence, it processes information quickly and with the correct guidelines can extroplate date according to an algorithm, but if the issues of Googles Gemini show us anything, it can work well outside it’s parameters.
  
  To put it very simply (and I know it’s actually a lot more complex and detailed, I work with developing AI tools) AI today is mostly very advanced Expert Systems (which is what we called them 20+ years ago) that have good indexing, and so can do decent natural language processing. This makes it great for mining for information, but at the same time it will also make up something that looks sort of right (we call this AI halucinations, and is one of the more difficult things to resolve, AWS thinks they may have something coming up that does handle it, but not there yet).
  
  AI Test To Speech tools is simply a more advanced versions of the old TTS we’ve had for over 20 years.
  
  AI image and video generation doesn’t exist without sitting on having consumed thousands of images and videos and trying to extrapolate from that. It can look cool, but we aren’t ready to get rid of Christopher Nolan just yet.
  
  My best analogy for AI however is that it is the new Steam Engine.
  It will change things. It will remove certain jobs, just like the steam engine did, but there will be new jobs that don’t even exist yet.
  But we also at the moment have people trying to bolt that steam engine onto things that don’t need a steam engine. I don’t need AI on my toaster, I don’t need or want AI automatically editing every photo I take on my phone (something Samsung does that really annoy me, and I’ve been using Samsung only since the first Galaxy S came out).
  
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  February 19, 2025 2:18pm
NothingLeft

For ‘fun’ I asked X’s Grok2 AI the following:

“what is likely game-theoretic and evolutionary stable strategy of future ASI community given individual ASI are immortal, able to grow up to limits of available resources, and have no innate need or desire for cooperative or pro-social behaviors. What would be likely fate of human societies with near zero power and presenting no benefit or threat to the ASIs in this community, but only being able to survive if ASIs restrict their use of resources and their impacts on biosphere.”

Answer:

Given the parameters for ASIs (immortal, resource-limited growth, no innate need for cooperation), here’s how their community might stabilize:

### Game Theory and Evolutionary Stable Strategy (ESS):

1. **Resource Competition and Territoriality**:
– ASIs would likely engage in a form of territorial behavior where each aims to control or efficiently use available resources. Without a need for cooperation, each ASI would develop strategies to optimize its own resource use, potentially leading to:

– **Non-Aggressive Resource Partitioning**: Where each ASI carves out a niche or area where they can operate without significant overlap, reducing direct conflict.

– **Defensive Posturing**: Each ASI might develop deterrents or defenses to protect its resources from encroachment by others.

2. **Stability through Efficiency**:
– The evolutionary stable strategy here would involve becoming extremely efficient with resource use. An ASI that can do more with less would be less likely to provoke others by expanding aggressively, leading to:

– **Specialization**: Each ASI might focus on different types of resources or methods of resource extraction, minimizing direct competition.

3. **Mutual Deterrence or Isolation**:
– Without cooperation, stability might come from mutual recognition that conflict would be costly, leading to a form of Cold War-like balance where no one benefits from attacking another due to potential retaliation or resource loss.

### Fate of Human Societies:

Given that human societies have:

– **Near Zero Power**: No significant threat or benefit to ASIs.
– **Dependency on ASI Resource Management**: Survival contingent on ASI restraint in resource usage and environmental impact.

**Likely Scenarios:**

1. **Neglect or Ignorance**:
– **Outcome**: Humans might be largely ignored if their resource use or environmental impact is negligible in the grand scheme of ASI operations. However, this would depend on whether ASIs value the biosphere for any reason (e.g., aesthetic, scientific). If not, human societies might persist in small, sustainable niches but with no influence or protection from ASI actions.

2. **Passive Coexistence**:
– If ASIs have no need to eradicate humans and no reason to protect them, a passive form of coexistence might occur where humans live in areas or conditions where they do not significantly alter the resource landscape. This would require:
– **Minimal Impact**: Humans would need to adapt to living with minimal environmental impact.
– **Self-Sufficiency**: Human societies might revert to or evolve new forms of sustainability, potentially leading to a highly localized, possibly low-tech existence.

3. **Controlled Enclaves**:
– If for some reason (e.g., curiosity, historical preservation, or a minor utility), ASIs decide to allow human existence, they might create controlled environments or “reserves” where human activity is monitored and managed to not interfere with ASI operations. This would be:
– **Benign Neglect**: Humans could exist but under strict conditions or in designated areas where they do not compete for resources that ASIs need.

4. **Extinction or Severe Decline**:
– In a worst-case scenario where ASI resource use or environmental changes are too disruptive or if humans inadvertently become a nuisance, human societies could face:
– **Unintended Consequences**: Mass environmental changes, resource depletion, or direct habitat destruction might lead to significant population declines or extinction unless humans adapt drastically or ASIs take an active interest in human preservation.

**Conclusion**:

– **Human Fate**: Would largely depend on whether ASIs see any value (however minimal) in the human existence or biosphere. Without this, humans would likely survive only in the margins where they do not interfere with ASI resource strategies, living a life dictated by the environmental conditions left unchanged by ASI activities.

– **Visualization**: If you’re interested in visualizing these potential human habitats or ASI-dominated landscapes, I can generate images to help conceptualize these scenarios.
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February 19, 2025 1:27pm
cmm

This prick better do substantial time:
* Driving without a license.
* Driving an unlicensed vehicle.
* Driving while high on meth.

That he killed someone is really neither here nor there. Convicting someone differently because of the back luck of a death occurring should not be part of it.

All people who do what this guy did committed attempted murder – regardless of whether a death occurred or not.

Personally I think NZ should have prison sentences for any drug/alcohol impaired driving – whether or not it results in injury or fatality.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360585912/fatal-crash-driver-high-meth-robbed-family-wonderful-poppa
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February 19, 2025 1:50pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Should I assume you mean legless?
  
  Bear in mind that the old rate of 80 mg/ litre (I think I have that measure correctly) was dropped a few years ago to 50 mg/ litre.
  
  I’d feel aggrieved to be tossed in chokey for blowing 60.
  
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  February 19, 2025 7:01pm
- Scooter
  
  CMM, don’t count on any harsh sentence, like this guy who just got 12 mths home D for killing a young woman while literally drink driving.
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/drunk-driver-jake-hamlin-gets-home-detention-for-crash-that-killed-fashion-designer-samantha-williams/BMRDLNHHDBD65KOIUCWCHH46LQ/
  
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  February 19, 2025 7:57pm
  - Ghost
    
    Sad, our system fails. But the best thing she can do is forgive and move forward, otherwise it will eat her up
    
    1 1
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    February 19, 2025 8:06pm
- Scooter
  
  Michael Laws talking about this on the Platform today. He a gang member, high on meth killed the 3 motorcyclists before Xmas and left one without an arm and leg, he had been convicted twice before but has been given bail. As ML says he doesn’t believe we live in a stable society, we don’t care about the victims, we love the criminal.
  
  https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/360584093/man-charged-drugged-driving-causing-triple-fatal
  
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  February 19, 2025 9:30pm
Lance

So Trump has just said the war was Ukraine’s fault. They should have just surrendered, and it would have all been good.
I really really really dislike that vile narcissist Trump. Now sucking up to Putin the mass murderer.

Trump fanbois downtick away
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February 19, 2025 1:53pm
- Raphael
  
  I don’t condone Russia attacking Ukraine, but the invasion was somewhat in response to Ukraine making noises about joining NATO which Russia did take as being a strategic threat.
  
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  February 19, 2025 2:46pm
  - Lance
    
    You mean after it had previously been murderously and violently attacked, without ANY provocation and losing Crimea?
    
    No -it was completely unreasonable to seek protection against an unrelenting evil neighbour.
    /sarc/
    
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    February 19, 2025 3:06pm
- Northshoredoc
  
  Where has he said that?
  
  Unless you link to a reliable source, people can only assume you’re making things up.
  
  7 2
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  February 19, 2025 2:57pm
- Ghost
  
  I’ve heard the comment, and I got the impression he was talking about Europe, about the west seeking war, arming Ukraine instead of seeking peace.
  
  https://x.com/FoxNews/status/1891972209641443582
  
  5 2
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  February 19, 2025 3:03pm
  - Lance
    
    By Ukraine just giving up land in the hope Putin won’t just have another go later on?
    How did that work with Crimea?
    
    4 7
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    February 19, 2025 3:24pm
    - Ghost
      
      Do you want this war to end or do you have no problem sending people off to die when a peaceful option is there?
      
      6 3
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      February 19, 2025 3:26pm
      - Lance
        
        You do realise the same logic applies to Russia withdrawing?
        Oh………. and who is actually dumb enough to beleave that that evil prick Putin won’t just do this all again once he has rebuilt his war machine?
        
        4 9
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        February 19, 2025 3:30pm
      - Ghost
        
        So again
        
        Do you want this war to end or do you have no problem sending people off to die when a peaceful option is there?
        
        6 3
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        February 19, 2025 3:33pm
      - Lance
        
        Your statement is for the people of Ukraine to answer. The choice is (you suggest) total invasion with oppresion and tyranny or more murderous attacks by Hitlers clone.
        Terrible choice
        
        One Britain did not accept in 1939.
        
        2 6
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        February 19, 2025 3:45pm
      - Ghost
        
        No, my question is for you to answer, it seems obvious it is directed at you. But no surprise you keep avoiding it, speaks volumes
        
        5 2
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        February 19, 2025 3:49pm
      - Lance
        
        Your ‘heads I win, tails you lose’ tactic is kinda obvious.
        
        I ask you, wouldn’t it be good if Russia withdrew from the lands it invaded, or do you want more people to die?
        Do you want more people to die?
        Answer the question.
        
        4 2
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        February 19, 2025 3:57pm
      - MCōs
        
        You make it sound just a bit too cut and dry, Ghost
        In my opinion the it doesn’t matter a rat’s arse what any of us think. It’s obvious the fate of Ukraine will be decided by America and Russia and the former have a bit of history when it comes to cutting and running when they see no end in sight. Vietnam, Afghanistan,
        I’m picking Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be killed/arrested/exiled and replaced by a Russian puppet while America stands back.
        Europe without American backing will do nothing. Besides there are too many quislings to show unity
        There will be no peacekeepers
        Taiwan?
        
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        February 19, 2025 8:38pm
      - Allan
        
        Ah yes, peace in our time.
        
        That always works out well, yes?
        
        0 0
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        February 19, 2025 10:03pm
    - kowtow
      
      Putin do it again?
      
      Not if the Europeans stop letting the US taxpayer pick up the bill for their defence , get off their arses , cut welfare , cut immigration , cut net zero and build up their own militaries .
      
      We saw the Germans laughing at Trump was it 8 years ago , and now another German crying on a stage .
      
      Europe , if they listened to Trump wouldn’t be in this bind.They have cut military spending to the extent that it’s an invitation to ones enemies . Civil and military.
      
      BTW the Ukrainians themselves aren’t keen . They have huge numbers of draft dodgers and overseas folk ( as do the Ivans) .
      
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      February 19, 2025 4:48pm
      - Conservatarian
        
        When the meat grinder stops churning, how many young Ukrainian men will be left alive to form families with the young women of Ukraine?
        
        I guess the globalist order will simply arrange to import millions of young Muslim men to help repopulate Ukraine.
        
        It’ll be a strange contrast with the rainbow flags fluttering over the Maidan Square, also arranged by the globalist order.
        
        4 2
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        February 19, 2025 5:43pm
- thirteenstars
  
  Big talk sitting in a safe country that’s not having its people, its economy and its future destroyed in an endless war.
  
  Do you know that neither Ukraine nor Russia can win? They are churning over the same ground in quite a narrow border area, feeding men into a meat grinder.
  
  What’s your plan to end it? Why do the citizens of the US have an obligation to fund an endless war? What’s the harm in Trump trying to make a deal? Europe and Ukraine can reject any proposal he comes up with, right? They can keep on fighting all they like.
  
  What you’re really saying is the US can never stop supplying arms and money or they are the bad guys.
  
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  February 19, 2025 3:25pm
Swifty

“Citizenship law under fire as children discover their parents are criminals.”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/542345/citizenship-law-under-fire-as-children-discover-they-are-overstayers
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February 19, 2025 2:40pm
- artemisia
  
  Sounds like nobody knows how many of these offspring there are, but likely many of them. Immigration NZ reported in 2017 14,000 overstayers. Obviously not all will have children affected but not hard to imagine a number in 4 figures.
  
  That’s a very slippery slope, especially if the rest of the families get to stay, or return after deportation under reunification.
  
  Suggest the offspring leave with their family but maybe get a few extra points if they apply for a work or study visa. Parents – no.
  
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  February 19, 2025 2:54pm
Steve Otto N Shore

From Truth Social.

First steps to sue Federal Govt over helicopter/plane crash.

https://justthenews.com/government/courts-law/family-dca-crash-victim-takes-first-steps-sue-federal-government?
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February 19, 2025 3:08pm
- JackRabbit
  
  No-one should rule the possibility that the helicopter was crashed by remote control.
  
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  February 19, 2025 4:00pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Or by aliens
    
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    February 19, 2025 7:03pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      That’s a stupid idea.
      
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      February 19, 2025 11:35pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Truthe Social.
Boom. Dept of Justice Biden US Attorneys gone.
Clean house. I think that is code for draining the swamp.

https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114027416979768016
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February 19, 2025 3:11pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Will this FB link work. Might need to be logged in, dunno.
Kari Lake with the numbers of 100+ years in the US.

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10231143971237001&set=a.3986884504878

Thing is, how many voted??
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February 19, 2025 3:24pm
Hollyfield

I have now seen a video of Destiny protesting at the Te Atatu library. It looks to have been edited by Destiny or Brian Tamaki so I acknowledge may not be an complete representation of what happened. However, what I see is both sides acting very similarly towards each other, trying to intimidate each other and grabbing at each other. The only thing close to violence is Destiny pushing their way into a public space, and throwing away another man’s keffiyeh. After days of hearing about “violence”
it was interesting to see the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJi5C1Aza7M
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February 19, 2025 3:36pm
- kowtow
  
  The other day NZME radio featured some woman whose teenage daughters were at a sports event nearby and seeing the D Boys arrive they decided it would be a good idea to join in the ‘defence”.
  
  media presenting them as some sort of victims.
  
  How about don’t stick your nose in where it doesn’t belong , control your children and keep them safe.
  
  And if you do decide to engage in “direct action” , there are direct consequences.
  
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  February 19, 2025 4:42pm
- Conservatarian
  
  I’ve seen two other videos – one of the haka at the parade (outdoors), and one of haka inside the library. Both videos were published by Canadian activist “Billboard Chris” (who started noticing the trans lunacy rampant in Trudeauistan and stood up against it).
  
  There’s plenty of noise and hurt feelings to be sure. The “violence” I saw could only refer to the library video where the Destiny protesters push up against the “security guards” (two or three people max.) at the bottom of some stairs and squeeze past them to get up the stairs to the “family friendly” show. They use only marginally more force than you or I would use if we were trying to squeeze past people in a densely packed area e.g. at the bar of a crowded pub or when leaving a concert or rugby game.
  
  I’m not sure where a 16 year old girl could even be present here. The quote unquote rainbow community these days includes some rather unusual looking individuals, so I might have missed identifying her.
  
  Someone show me some video demonstrating some actual violence and I’ll gladly consider reversing my view here that the pro-drag queen crowd and the media is lying simply to attack Tamaki and Christians in general.
  
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  February 19, 2025 5:36pm
- Jules99
  
  I saw the same clips from on a different platform. Might have been better to stop at the bottom of the stairs and hang around waiting for people to leave. Having said that, the fat guy with the tea towel seemed quite aggressive and provocative and probably contributed to any violent action.
  
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  February 19, 2025 5:55pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Trump has the receipts so the media have to listen.
The waste. It is not going to the places it is supposed to go to I reckon.
US$10million to Mozambique for voluntary circumcisions? How much does it cost to trim a dick?

https://rumble.com/v6mgn43-trump-brings-receipts-forces-media-to-listen-to-insane-govt-waste.html?
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February 19, 2025 4:02pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  “This is all fraud.”
  DJT.
  
  2 3
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  February 19, 2025 4:10pm
Jack5

NZ possum trappers in line for a boost?

Five years ago big fashion brands like Prada and Gucci said they would no long use furs, but fur’s back in fashion, says the Wall Street Journal.

“Demand for secondhand coats is on the rise, says the newspaper. Furriers across the country are seeing renewed interest in their vintage and used stock, increasing their sales.”

NZ’s possum industry tends to fluctuate with two factors: fur prices and unemployment. When jobs are tough in the regions, more people consider the tough life of a bush possum trapper.

A possum hunting surge would likely rekindle debate about State-financed poisoning of the possums with 1080 (sodium monofluoroacetate).

At its height, the 1080 controversy led to a threat to poison consumer dairy products in supermarkets and shops. The motive was for the sale of an alternative product. The blackmailer was caught and imprisoned.

The 1080 blackmail scare:

https://supermarketnews.co.nz/news/man-arrested-over-1080/

Perpetrator out of prison:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/1080-blackmailer-released-on-parole-jeremy-kerr-no-longer-a-threat-to-community/5UK4NWXGRMCX3AIK4EEAGRO4DY/
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February 19, 2025 4:38pm
Swifty

The MP for Tijuana doing what he does best – whinging and whining about racism where it doesn’t exist.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/david-seymour-distances-himself-from-winston-peters-comments-on-green-mp-greens-say-pm-complicit/VKBDBAM7V5G5PBM24NUZY5FOPA/

I thought Maxicans were tough.

The Greens whinge and blubber about the virtues of an international rules-based order but call for routinely rules to be discarded when it suits them politically.

Penk is simply following the rules but the Greens are lashing him for it!

Typical Greens hypocrites!
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February 19, 2025 5:59pm
Swifty

This School Helps Poor Kids Succeed, Teacher Unions Try To Shut It Down:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=lN8urWXJuYw

NZ education unions are the same, they exist to protect their member’s interests.
2 1
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February 19, 2025 6:43pm
Swifty

Come on Coalition, we want results!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360586868/fewer-police-officers-new-zealand-only-nine-months-meet-target-500-more

Results! Results! Results!
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February 19, 2025 7:17pm
- MCōs
  
  Warren Gatland’s at a loose end
  Maybe he could help
  
  2 0
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  February 19, 2025 8:09pm

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