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February 27, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 27 February 2025

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General Debate

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Ehlana

Happy International Polar Bear Day.
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February 27, 2025 8:12am
- kowtow
  
  Triggered !
  
  Where’s mikey gone ?
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:19am
  - David Garrett
    
    kowtow: I don’t know and I don’t care – but I give thanks every morning that he and his negative presence has gone!
    
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    February 27, 2025 10:28am
  - coge
    
    There used to be a Mikey on the old Trademe political forums!
    
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    February 27, 2025 6:55pm
- pdm
  
  hear hear Ehlana.
  
  Swimming sports at Patoka – 5 year old great grandson first off at 10am.
  
  Murky day and we were hoping for cancellation – still the kids will love it whatever the weather.
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:31am
- lastmanstanding
  
  Anyone who thinks we live in a benign strategic environment is delusional. NZ needs to up its defence spending from 0.9% of GDP to at least 2.5% preferable 3% as an insurnace against China agression.
  This can easily be paid for by eliminating Government waste cutting out Departments that serve no real purpose and stop spending on vanity projects.
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:38am
  - RoboRob
    
    If we up our defense spending it needs to be spend on qualiy value for money items. Buying 5 F-35 Lightning jets (at 109m a unit) might double our spending but would it be a good investment 🙂
    
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    February 27, 2025 8:49am
    - rouppe
      
      No it wouldn’t.
      
      We could arm our P8’s with torpedoes and Harpoon missiles, making it an offensive weapon.
      Add a few Northrop Grumman MQ-4C Triton UAV’s. This puts us in step with Australia, and can do the peace time patrolling of our economic zone.
      
      That’s a start.
      
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      February 27, 2025 10:25am
      - cmm
        
        “We could arm our P8’s with torpedoes and Harpoon missiles, making it an offensive weapon.”
        
        Defensive weapon.
        
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        February 27, 2025 10:50am
      - BananaLlama
        
        Using our P8’s as a strike platform is a sensible stop gap solution so it will most likely be ignored.
        
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        February 27, 2025 11:45am
      - Ra Henare
        
        Torpedos are easily outrun by modern submarines
        Harpons are short range
        P8s would need long range anti ship missiles.
        Unfortunately the P8s would be prone to being blown out of the sky by modern long range anti aircraft missiles.
        
        The maths goes something like.
        Is. Has my anti ship missile have a greater range than your anti aircraft missile.
        That difference is shrinking if not eliminated already.
        
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        February 27, 2025 2:17pm
      - Terry Dalee
        
        “Currently USN and RAAF P-8As carry the venerable but obsolescent AGM-84 Harpoon missile for surface attack with a range of 140km. This means that they would only be used to strike surface targets that have limited short-range capacity for self-defence so as not to risk the loss of the aircraft and crew. In other words, in their current configuration they would never be used in a conflict involving the Chinese navy – the PLA(N) – because it is comprised of modern warships with good area defence capabilities.
        However, LRASM changes all that because of its great range and stealth. It means that a P-8A could simultaneously launch four of them well outside the detection range of enemy radar and defensive missiles – even the most capable of which can travel around 500km in the case of a Russian S-400 system. A surface to air missile must overcome gravity and a standing start, while that force works to the benefit of an air launched weapon such as LRASM that is already travelling at the speed of the host aircraft.
        
        With these types of weapons, it is possible to trade off payload for increased range. An LRASM with a still extremely formidable 250kg blast fragmentation warhead would be able to fly for 1,500km using its fuel-efficient Williams turbofan engine.”
        
        https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/long-range-anti-ship-missile.html
        
        https://asiapacificdefencereporter.com/upgraded-raaf-p-8as-to-pack-a-punch/
        
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        February 27, 2025 10:19pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Is it coincidence that, since the anti war Trump came to power, we suddenly have worldwide calls for increased spending on weapons?
      Is this a deal to assuage the weapons industry? After all, their only interest is that they sell weapons. Whether they are used is of no consequence.
      And then there is the added advantage that most of the western world now worry about being attacked.
      Its like killing two birds with one cruise missile.
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:33am
      - James Stephenson
        
        Yes and no.
        
        Yes in Europe because he’s (again) demanding that Europe pull their weight in NATO.
        
        No in NZ because China’s actions in the Pacific are nothing to do with Trump’s election. HTH.
        
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        February 27, 2025 1:07pm
      - PurplePen
        
        “we suddenly have worldwide calls for increased spending on weapons”
        
        My guess is that’s because those nations fear that under Trump the USA will no longer or might not come to their aid if they’re attacked. So they need to beef up their own machines.
        
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        February 27, 2025 1:33pm
      - Paulus
        
        Primarily bacause Trump says that Europe does not pay its way.
        US pays 48% of NATO.
        
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        February 27, 2025 2:47pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    We cannot afford 3%. We should match Oz.
    
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    February 27, 2025 9:01am
    - kowtow
      
      Can we afford to lose a war ?
      
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      February 27, 2025 9:12am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        The amount NZ spends on defence will make no difference. It is important we pay our share which should equal Oz.
        
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        February 27, 2025 9:45am
      - kowtow
        
        CB
        
        What does that mean . match Oz . In what ?
        
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        February 27, 2025 11:40am
      - Burtland
        
        our defense strategy should just be capitulation – as Grunter proposes for Ukraine – and accept that communism is beautiful
        
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        February 27, 2025 11:57am
      - Chuck Bird
        
        Match Oz on percentage of GDP spent on defence.
        
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        February 27, 2025 1:21pm
      - MCōs
        
        We’ve never lost a war yet
        
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        February 27, 2025 2:03pm
      - Colville
        
        Chuck.
        How about we catch up with them on GDP per capita before we start throwing cash around?
        
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        February 27, 2025 2:06pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        What war?
        China will not invade NZ militarily.
        They are happy doing in financially and with immigration.
        
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        February 27, 2025 2:19pm
      - Paulus
        
        What war ?
        the only one we have here is a Maori instituted one.
        
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        February 27, 2025 2:48pm
      - grumpy
        
        Burtland/ haven’t we already done that?
        
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        February 27, 2025 7:24pm
  - stewmar
    
    LMS, if NZ increased its defence spending to 10% the Chinese could wipe us out without leaving China.
    
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    February 27, 2025 9:44am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      I think the idea is for democratic countries to act together against any self-appointed thug regimes getting too big for their boots.
      
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      February 27, 2025 5:36pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Is it really defence spending, or is it a tithe to the weapons industry?
    
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    February 27, 2025 10:17am
  - cmm
    
    There’s so much to unpack here…
    
    First off, it is a complete joke that we can even think of we can go toe to toe with China or such. That is not real. Instead we should realise that we are of little strategic interest to China etc.
    
    They could beat us if they wanted to – not problems, but it would be a waste of resources. Nobody attacks for no gain.
    
    We can improve our odds here by having a defence-oriented force that makes a hornets’ nest – making it even more expensive to attack.
    
    The idea of matching our partners would really mean that we’re always bound to them for operations. We would have no ability to act independently and move independently.
    
    In naval terms that would mean owning, say, one or two new frigates that we would attach to, say, an Australian fleet – then tag along with them whereever they go on whatever operation they deem a good idea.
    
    In airforce terms that would mean owning two or three F35s or whatever which would have to join up with the Australian airforce and just go whereever they go.
    
    If we’re going to do that then we may as well just write yearly Australia a cheque for $3bn to contribute to their military budget.
    
    The other thing we could do is focus on our own, or maybe even regional defence and forego long distance expeditionary capability.
    
    Defence is way cheaper that long distance strike capability – probably by a factor of at least10 once you’ve factored in all the costs of logistical support etc.
    
    So the choice to me seems like:
    A) an effective defence-oriented force that we can afford and could do the job properly.
    -or-
    B) an ineffective force that has to always just attach itself for the Australians etc.
    
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    February 27, 2025 11:07am
    - Phronesis
      
      High value items will all be easy targets for an adversary with overwhelming odds and air superiority. The only plausible way to discourage a much larger invader is not to stop them directly but to make the cost of occupation higher than they are willing to pay. Arming the population with effective small arms would do this. Yes there would be a social cost to this potentially but there will always be costs.
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:33am
    - kowtow
      
      Building a hornets nest here would be like kicking one over.
      
      Can you imagine the amount of “consulting” and committees there’d have to be with “partners” to dig even the most basic of dug outs!
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:44am
      - goNZ1
        
        in the event of an invasion attempt , just slap a blanket Rahui right across the motu – Sorted!
        That will scare the invaders witless – let alone setting the taniwha onto ’em
        
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        February 27, 2025 3:22pm
    - coge
      
      Exactly. NZ could be knocked over in less than ninety minutes. An elite airborne unit lands unannounced 3am Monday morning at Wellington airport. Done. Still a waste of resources for little gain.
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:45am
      - Paulus
        
        Weather would stop any Wellington Airport invasion.
        
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        February 27, 2025 2:49pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    I wonder what NZ’s position will be when Australia has nuclear subs. Will we allow them in NZ waters?
    
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    February 27, 2025 11:17am
    - James Stephenson
      
      We already have an “out of sight, out of mind” policy to the US’s nuclear subs. They don’t call into our ports so we pretend they’re not there.
      
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      February 27, 2025 1:12pm
      - Colville
        
        Do we ask where 100 US sailors came from when they pull up to the dock in inflatable boats ? 🙂
        
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        February 27, 2025 2:08pm
    - Paulus
      
      New Subs would be only nuclear powered
      – nothing new here.
      
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      February 27, 2025 2:51pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Sounds like they are working on increasing spending on defence from this budget until they get to 2% plus, surely no one expects the possible 10 billion extra to happen over night
    
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    February 27, 2025 11:58am
  - Max Mansplain
    
    A ferocious haka will see off the chinese and woukd just cost a good feed…
    Maybe chinese?
    
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    February 27, 2025 1:36pm
  - PurplePen
    
    When was the last time china invaded anyone and were successful. They don’t even have control of the Dalai Lama, Tibet and Mongolia and they’re right on their doorstep.
    
    They haven’t been able to take Taiwan and even with their new defence force are still unlikely to be able to, geography, unfavourable seas. The impact on their predominantly export economy will piss off 1 billion Chinese. What they might do is hinder shipping in our area at best.
    
    And Russia is all but spent and still keen to move west, not south. So who else is there that we need to fear.
    
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    February 27, 2025 1:38pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      PP why do you think they are bribing small pacific nations and building bases in the sth chai nah sea? Pretty sure Tibet has been totally colonised by them. The Lama is basically in exile right? Hong Kong; subsumed totally.
      
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      February 27, 2025 6:31pm
  - Michael Sommerville
    
    If you want peace, be very prepared for war!
    
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    February 27, 2025 3:20pm
- JackRabbit
  
  The polar bears are not happy.
  
  They are unhappy that that watermelon Greenies keep saying that they, the polar bears, are reducing in number, and that money being raised in their name to protect their “falling numbers”, goes off to feed radical political activism, unrelated to the polar bears.
  
  In reality, the polar bears are increasing in numbers.
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:58am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Still time to make a booking for this year’s Polar Bear ~~killing spree~~ eco-hunt.
    
    https://www.ameri-cana.com/north-american-hunting/canadian-arctic-polar-bear-hunt
    
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    February 27, 2025 10:43am
  - I remember when
    
    Polar bears bearly exist!
    
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    February 27, 2025 11:16am
    - imalwaysright
      
      That’s a polarising comment.
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:22am
      - goNZ1
        
        fur enough
        
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        February 27, 2025 3:24pm
Benedict Yu

This is a good example of how Councils are ignoring the Government demanding that they ‘get back to basics’.

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-getting-local-government-back-basics

Porirua Council is currently advertising for a senior, highly paid position.

“Manager Māori Strategy – Pou Matua Rautaki Māori”

“Implement and monitor the Porirua City Māori Strategy Maungaroa 2050 and oversee the delivery of strategic priorities identified in the Maungaroa 2050 activity plan….”

“Lead consultation on the social, environmental and economic aspirations for the future of Porirua.”

https://www.seek.co.nz/job/81890638?type=standard&ref=search-standalone#sol=733c9ba8e7144eda79106becc2ddd82648995eef

Where to start? The best way that the council can promote “economic aspirations” is to limit rates rises and administer efficient regulation.

“Social aspirations” are none of the council’s business.

“Environmental aspirations”.. I don’t even know what it means.

This position and the strategy it it will implement are diametrically opposed to the stated intentions of the government.

The only solution is to amend the Act and to sack the first Council that pulls a stunt like this.

Then the Government should do this….

Include in the Local Government Act a transitional provision that is activated by an Order in Council after the amended Act comes into effect. It would require Councils to abolish the positions of all staff who are working on now prohibited Council activities. Examples could be climate change strategies, Te ao Maori social strategies and so on. All the staff would be placed on immediate leave while the necessary redundancy procedures are enacted.

Of course this would cause much wailing. However it is clear to me that nothing less will work.
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February 27, 2025 8:12am
- kowtow
  
  On the Platform , it would appear we’re putting $millions into the maori fest at New Plymouth .
  
  Plunket is also pointing out how highly politicised a lot of the “cultural” content ( we’re paying for) is.
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:21am
  - RoboRob
    
    I had thought that Iwi were paying for this event. Then on TV1 this morning they had the Chinese translator for this event. There is no way thats not government money, IWI wouldn’t have been paying for that if it was there own money.
    
    Thomas freidmans ‘Spending other peoples money on things for other people’ (You dont care how much you spend or the quality of the outcome)
    
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    February 27, 2025 9:28am
  - Ghost
    
    The festival got just under $50 million for the next 3 years in budget 2024.
    
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    February 27, 2025 9:35am
  - sirknz
    
    Is anybody actually following it given that $1 media seems to be putting up a new story about this every 15 minutes.
    
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    February 27, 2025 9:49am
  - graham
    
    Te Matatini (the kapa haka competition being held in New Plymouth) is also being promoted – I’m sorry, I mean “reported on” – on One News each night. Which just means another item that we skip over, as it doesn’t interest us.
    
    I sometimes wonder if TVNZ have any idea just how much of the news gets skipped over. Anything presented by Maiki Sherman is generally skipped – we just can’t be bothered listening to yet another hit-job. Similarly any item about Trump; we prefer to get our information from neutral sources that aren’t trying to push an agenda. I suspect that with so-called “Pride” events coming up that’ll be yet more content getting skipped. And I have a friend who hasn’t watched the news at all for two weeks now as she just got annoyed with the sheer volume of rubbish that has been on recently.
    
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    February 27, 2025 10:19am
    - RoboRob
      
      Stopped watching TV news regularly some years ago. Amazing how much better you feel without watching an hour of depressing stories each night.
      
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      February 27, 2025 10:40am
      - BananaLlama
        
        News avoidance is a real thing there was some polling done previously and quite a large number of New Zealanders just straight up avoid any national news because it is so negative towards them.
        
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        February 27, 2025 12:16pm
    - ISeeRed
      
      Follow your friend.
      
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      February 27, 2025 12:05pm
    - Ghost
      
      It seems to rate well
      
      From 2023
      
      Almost 730,000 New Zealanders watched the live broadcast on TVNZ 2 last week, while 188,000 streamed the festival on TVNZ+.
      
      Article
      
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      February 27, 2025 1:02pm
      - marcw
        
        To be honest, that’s the biggest load of self promotion garbage I have seen for a while. And all from one Nevak Rogers, who just might have a vested interest in all the effusive bs. It’s almost the definition of “conflict of interest”.
        
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        February 27, 2025 1:10pm
      - RoboRob
        
        I call BS on those numbers.
        
        1. Its accross the week so 188,000 might be ~26k people watching each day. How long did they actually watch too. Did they just pop in and watch their school teams performance? Probably
        
        2. 730, 000 TV viewers. Pull the other one. How did they get that number? Poll?
        
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        February 27, 2025 1:12pm
    - Paulus
      
      Talking about Maiki where is Tova ?
      
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      February 27, 2025 2:53pm
      - sirknz
        
        Popping out a puppy I believe.
        
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        February 27, 2025 7:20pm
- Simon
  
  Apparently in US 60% of black women with university degrees work for government. Same thing happening in NZ.
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:28am
  - Taieri
    
    Same thing happening in NZ
    ———–
    
    How many black women with university degree work for NZ government then? Are they NZ black women or American black women or, perhaps, International black women?
    
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    February 27, 2025 9:34am
    - Simon
      
      Yep same thing happening in NZ.
      
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      February 27, 2025 10:18am
    - cmm
      
      You know exactly what he meant – 60% of Maori women with degrees.
      
      If the definition of government was broadened to include taxpayer funded NGOs then that would almost certainly be true.
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:09am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        What else are their degrees useful for?
        
        How many Maori women take applied degrees such as Nursing, Hort/Ag Science, Engineering, Pharmacy, Food Tech, etc?
        
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        February 27, 2025 11:30am
- cmm
  
  It is a basic fact that councils and other governments (heck even charities and Lions Club comittees) attract power freaks and activists who want to build bigger organisations which give them more control and influence
  
  They have an open cheque book to work with – the tax/ratepayers’ wallets.
  
  There are absolutely no incentives to work more efficiently and zero down sides to splurging. Therefore what is going to happen is always an expansion of governmental powers.
  
  And we can expect our rate increases to continue to outstrip inflation.
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:48am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Local councils are the fourth arm of the Labour régime, the others being the media, the public service, and the Party itself.
    
    It appears that not being in central government is no great hardship for the Party, they seem to be enjoying watching the government flounder and the country continue its death spiral with many councils happy to help.
    Local government is the current gravy train for Labour , Greens, Maori party, and their associates, and is protected by the public service and the media.
    
    Twenty percent rates rises in an economy with four percent inflation shows there is something bad going on
    
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    February 27, 2025 9:19am
  - alwyn.a
    
    “They have an open cheque book to work with”.
    
    I think that we should let them have that, but nothing else. After all the New Zealand banks stopped issuing or accepting them back in 2021.
    They could write all the cheques they like but no-one will accept them.
    
    That was such a common expression, wasn’t it? Now the old image of an “open cheque book” is obsolete.
    
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    February 27, 2025 9:58am
    - cmm
      
      Yup, so what? Wallets are increasingly obsolete too as people attach their credit cards to their cell phones.
      The technicalities of it might be obsolete, but the basic concept isn’t.
      
      Would it help if I said “free access to tax/rate payer’s funds” instead.
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:12am
      - alwyn.a
        
        I wasn’t objecting to what you say. n fact I heartily agree with you.
        I was just reading the phrase we all used and realising that, after a century or more of being the standard means of transferring money, it was now totally obsolete.
        Saying “access to the ratepayers chequebook” was so much more elegant than “free access to tax/rate payer’s funds” somehow.
        
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        February 27, 2025 3:59pm
  - cmm
    
    These increases compound just like compounding interest.
    
    For every $1000 of rates in 2025, by 2050 they will be:
    5% pa rates rise: $3386
    7% pa rates increase (what I understand Auckland considers frugal): $5427
    10%: $10,834
    15% $32,919
    20%: $95,396
    
    So if your current rates are the Auckand average of $2800 and the rates rise is “only” 7%, then in 2050, expect them to be $15200.
    
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    February 27, 2025 11:21am
    - kowtow
      
      Exactly !
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:46am
- Ross Bayer
  
  Hi I have done some analysis of councils in my region and for some councils personnel costs have risen by as much as 40% in the last three years
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:50am
  - RoboRob
    
    Well councils have been increasing rates by 3x – 10x inflation for the last 10 years. They haven’t been increasing / improving basic services so the money has to be going somewhere. New construction or staff.
    
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    February 27, 2025 9:32am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Why doesn’t the government do what I suggest? Simply prohibit all the whacky activities? I meant do it seriously. I don’t know how many folk work for councils but I would guess that 30 percent could go.
    
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    February 27, 2025 10:11am
    - cmm
      
      Surely it should not be up to central government (who are just the same).
      
      Surely it is up to what the ratepayers want.
      
      If the ratepayers keep voting for this nonsense, then that’s what they want.
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:23am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Most rate payers don’t vote, and the ones that do seem allergic to thinking.
        
        Most people these days seem to be disconnected from reality. There seems to be an attitude that someone else will fix it.
        
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        February 27, 2025 11:54am
      - Handyman
        
        Only some voters are ratepayers.
        In Wellington, renters, students and stay-at-home kids outnumber actual ratepayers so always vote for “free stuff”.
        You can see why there is a push by the left to have 16 year olds vote.
        
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        February 27, 2025 12:01pm
      - Eastlander
        
        Local governments are purely creatures of statute and central government is well within its rights to define their responsibilities and composition.
        
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        February 27, 2025 12:08pm
    - PeeJay
      
      In the construction industry, there is a saying regarding safety that is remarkably adaptable to a wide range of scenarios such as this.
      
      What you walk past, you accept.
      
      As nobody in the Coalition seems to be that bothered by all this sort of stuff to the extent of actually doing something while they actually have the power to do something, I’ve always inferred from that that it can only mean that they aren’t really that bothered about it – they see the issue, walk past it and accept it as is (sure – lots of noise occasionally but no real action).
      
      Obviously, things change when in campaign mode – come the next election I’m sure this and other examples of ‘wokery’ will be mentioned by NZF (and possibly ACT) as a rallying call for votes. Then expect another cycle of nothing done when they actually have power – rinse and repeat.
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:38am
      - Handyman
        
        In the heavy manufacturing industry our most effective saying was “don’t put your finger anywhere you wouldn’t put your dick”
        
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        February 27, 2025 12:08pm
  - Colville
    
    Hastings District Council staff levels have risen by >50% over last 6 years.
    
    and debt is at 300% of what it was.
    
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    February 27, 2025 12:46pm
  - Paulus
    
    Nearly as much as the Wellington Public Service in the same period.
    
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    February 27, 2025 2:55pm
- I remember when
  
  A representative group of Maori, either self, community or iwi funded, presenting their views to Council/Government on relevant issues seems to be an ideal alternative.
  Similar to non-Maori.
  
  12 0
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  February 27, 2025 9:06am
  - Eastlander
    
    The ‘Maori view’ on any subject is always well-known and the correct decision is always the opposite of whatever the ‘Maori view’ is seeking.
    
    8 0
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    February 27, 2025 10:22am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  “Aspirations” is another of those words that’s been sullied by wokeborg.
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:24am
- Yvette
  
  If you have a few moments of your life, which you don’t mind being gone and not progressing you well-being in any way, have a look at –
  
  Maungaroa 2050 Māori Strategy
  https://storage.googleapis.com/pcc-wagtail-media/documents/Maungaroa-2050-Maori-Strategy-update.pdf
  
  – where is the Islamic or Gloriavale equivalent (as I have been known to ask before) – let alone for the vast majority of New Zealanders, other than the 1.3 percent to ticked Maori religious worldview in the last Census?
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:46am
  - Jethrod
    
    Interesting; not one paragraph showing net financial costs. Should someone audit this piece of propaganda.
    
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    February 27, 2025 2:55pm
- rouppe
  
  I wonder if this is a strategy to get around the dissolution of the Maori ward in Porirua which will surely happen at the referendum
  
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  February 27, 2025 10:31am
- PurplePen
  
  “Lead consultation on the social, environmental and economic aspirations for the future of Porirua.” was in the job description.
  
  How long do you need an employee to consultation on aspirations. I would have thought this is a brief exercise and then it’s down to design, build, implement. There’s nothing in the job about implementing anything. Just years and years of creating reports I guess.
  
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  February 27, 2025 1:46pm
- goNZ1
  
  no wonder the PCC rates were hiked 21% recently
  
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  February 27, 2025 3:25pm
Fender

https://youtu.be/j_Iuf-lwEpE

Grok 3 have humans outsmarted themselves
Some interesting discussion from Grok itself
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February 27, 2025 8:12am
Scott

The Trump administration has ushered in a new era of cutting govt waste. The American taxpayer has been funding Sesame Street in the middle east, sex change operations in Guatemala and we have just found out, Stonewall in the UK!

So American tax dollars has been funding the promotion of homosexual and transgender activism in the UK. Apparently the American government was the biggest funder of Stonewall!?

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/02/trump-doing-good-around-the-world.php

Now the funding is being cut and Stonewall has to downsize its workforce.
But for many the question remains, why was the American government funding British organisations like Stonewall in the first place?
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February 27, 2025 8:15am
- rouppe
  
  Probably because “the government” didn’t know.
  
  They thought they were funding measles vaccination in the Congo, it was some third degree of separation activist deep in the machine who authorized the funding
  
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  February 27, 2025 10:33am
- Philview
  
  Also don’t forget New Zealand and that Tohatoha ‘A Bit Sus’ campaign to help school children learn to spot misinformation.
  
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  February 27, 2025 1:36pm
Benedict Yu

For the Executive Director of a Royal Commission to resign is unprecedented.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/542963/covid-19-inquiry-executive-director-and-assisting-counsel-resign

For once could the government not treat us like idiots. We need to know in detail why she resigned.
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February 27, 2025 8:20am
- Colville
  
  Maybe she doesn’t want her name on the report that states “Jacinda fucked it up”…?
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:30am
- Simon
  
  3 of them resigned.
  
  The brief was far too wide. Review covid. Doubt if anything scary has been uncovered
  
  Maybe if the 3 are good operators then it isn’t a quick job like the govt wants.
  
  The government wants covid buried. But there is too much hawk like public interest so the “independent commission” can’t deliver what the minister demands.
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:49am
- RoboRob
  
  And again with the whole
  
  ‘As minister I am not responsible for individual employment matters within the department and Royal Commission and it would not be appropriate for me to comment on them’.
  
  Yes it is best for the enquiry to be as independant from the govt as possible. No, its not like the minister can’t comment on what is happening or become involved. This whole, ‘Oh nooos, I am only the minister. My department is a black box that I have no control or involvement with’, is driving me crazy. Man up.
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:55am
- DimChappie
  
  The first Stuff story about the resignations was by Paula Penfold. It said staff were concerned about how the Inquiry is being run.
  “The three resignations raise serious questions about what is going on at the Inquiry and what its future looks like.
  It will also likely be a pressure point for the coalition Government, given the differing opinions among the governing parties about the importance of the Commission of Inquiry, and what it should be mandated to do.”
  The 2 lawyers who quit work at the same boutique Wellington chambers. My bet is a clash with the chairman Grant Illingworth KC.
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360593610/covid-inquiry-hit-top-level-resignations
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:57am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Not sure there is differing opinion over the enquiry, pretty sure all parties were not happy with the wide ranging parameters for the i
    enquiry, that’s why they called for a secondary enquiry, Luxon was against the country being kicked down from day one of becoming Nat leader, Peters’s was openly outspoken about what some of what was happening in the Covid times, mandates especially. Seymour did say somethings against lock down too, so not sure this has anything to do with differing opinions of coalition partners
    
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    February 27, 2025 12:07pm
- I remember when
  
  I see the article included the following statement.
  
  Ayesha Verrall, “I worry about what a pandemic response might look like today, given the state of our health system under this government.”
  
  Worry is obviously a future thing with governments.
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:59am
  - peterwn
    
    Considering that Labour made a rather ghastly mess of it last time, I am not sure what she is rabbiting on about.
    
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    February 27, 2025 9:22am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      She thinks they did well in health, it was an utter shambles, snd you can see from experience improvement, slow improvement, but Rome was not built in a day. Verrall left a Roman ruins
      
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      February 27, 2025 12:11pm
- Northshoredoc
  
  ‘For once could the government not treat us like idiots’
  
  Thanks for the morning laugh Benedict.
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:04am
  - cmm
    
    We vote for the government to treat us like incompetents.
    
    Many people really do not like the alternative – personal responsibility.
    
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    February 27, 2025 11:25am
- burt
  
  For once could the government not treat us like idiots. We need to know in detail why she resigned.
  
  It would seem obvious that the three people who have resigned are refusing to put their names to the whitewash and cover up that was designed solely to make the Labour Party look good.
  
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  February 27, 2025 10:00am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Oh, so this is not the second enquiry
    
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    February 27, 2025 12:12pm
kowtow

RNZ display a very wide shot of Luxon on the stage at Vietnam , deliberately to include Ho Chi Minh bust and hammer /sickle /star .
In terms of visualisation it was a very unbalanced photo , but in terms of editorial choice , it was juvenile.
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February 27, 2025 8:27am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  I though Marxists would love a communist regime
  
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  February 27, 2025 12:13pm
Cassandra

The US Government has commissioned a national survey conducted by the pollster that President Donald Trump trusts, McLaughlin & Associates, which found that the vast majority of American voters want the US to safeguard its future by developing fusion energy.
As opposed to fission, which has powered nuclear reactors for nearly 75 years, fusion creates no radioactivity while harnessing the power of the atom to produce energy that could meet the nation’s increasing demand for electricity during the remaining decades of this century and beyond. The challenge is to sustain this fusion process in massive magnetic cylinders, requiring a concentration of America’s scientific and industrial leadership on a scale not seen since the “Manhattan Project” (building the atom bomb before Germany did during World War II). While I studied physics (in 1961) this sort of thing is way out my league e.g: Efus = 4.03 + 17.6 + 3.27 = 24.9 MeV, Ech = 4.03 + 3.5 + 0.82 = 8.35 MeV (sic) but it sounds like there might be a major project coming. A side issue (just for NZ) is to get over our weird phobia regarding nuclear power. I can understand the CND approach (although that was/is Russian entryism) re nuclear weapons (although unilateral disarmed would have been dopey) but nuclear power? It’s the answer for most countries and NZ should welcome the ships of our friends and allies. Clean, green and nuclear powered! For a left wing which has rejected religion – apart from support for Islam – the phobia, strangely, resembles a cult. We get away with it because of hydro but as the need grows I wonder if enough of us will overcome our weird belief and embrace nuclear? Radiation free fusion might be the answer.
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February 27, 2025 8:29am
- cmm
  
  There is far too much conflation of nuclear bombs with nuclear power.
  
  Is fusion a possibility? Nuclear physics is not my field, but it seems that fusion is one of those gifts that never gives. Fusion has been just around the corner at least since I was in university over 40 years ago.
  
  The pros and cons of the Manhattan project for WW2 are interesting. It soaked up so many resources that, quite likely things would have gone far better if those resources had gone into conventional arms production (eg. building bombers and regular bombs). The firebombing of Tokyo, using conventional bombing, caused far more damage than the nukes did.
  
  At the end of the war there was a huge worry that the war would end before the bombs could be used. IMHO, the story that the bombs are what ended WW2 is a bit of a retro-fitted myth and was more of a signal to the Russians than anything else.
  
  Developing the nukes for the post WW2 (aka Cold War) period is a different matter though.
  
  Something that would also be interesting is more exploration into alternative fission fuels such as thorium. From what I have seen. thorium is more abundant and safer to work with than uranium.
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:42am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Fusion has been just around the corner at least since I was in university over 40 years ago.
    
    Just like big Pharmas cure for cancer.
    
    And both consume massive amounts of funding and grants.
    
    If nuclear is so unsafe, why did Canterbury University have a reactor for many years for year 3 Engineering students to play with? Until Lange went all woke.
    
    I don’t recall Ilam or Fendalton, or even greater Christchurch ever being locked down because of a radiation leak.
    
    The threat of radiation and a nuclear winter is a powerful tool to keep countries in fear, and inhibits development and implementation of cheap safe energy.
    
    Transferring energy use to electricity is woke virtue signalling when we rely on fossil fuels to create the excess electricity. And stopping expansion of hydro electricity from micro to macro. And polluting the countryside and sea with “day of the triffids” wind towers.
    
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    February 27, 2025 9:11am
    - Graeme Hall
      
      The reactor was in the ground floor of the Electrical Engineering Dept, with PhD students offices on the next floor above it. I don’t think there were any fertility problems in later life judging by the quantity of Playboy mags in the upstairs tea room.
      
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      February 27, 2025 9:29am
    - Taieri
      
      Just like big Pharmas cure for cancer.
      ———
      
      And don’t forget the Green Hydrogen…
      
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      February 27, 2025 9:37am
    - Northshoredoc
      
      ‘Just like big Pharmas cure for cancer.’
      
      Cancer cure rates and survival duration have improved remarkably over the last few decades.
      
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      February 27, 2025 10:31am
      - JackRabbit
        
        Until the end of 2021, where cancers have gone through the roof, both in numbers and types. And length of time between diagnosis and death has dramatically shortened.
        
        Cancers in 30 year olds have risen by 80%.
        
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        February 27, 2025 10:58am
  - newview
    
    It appears it is possible cmm https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/markets-with-madison/inside-wellingtons-nuclear-fusion-reactor-experiment/JIL4HYFIENE6XPKR754KFQHPWU/
    
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    February 27, 2025 9:21am
    - cmm
      
      That is just a hype to try rip off venture capitalists.
      
      Fusion is not impossible. We have a huge ball of it happening in the sun. What has been problematic is making it sustainable and controllable and thus – worthwhile.
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:29am
  - Dave
    
    … quite likely things would have gone far better if those resources had gone into conventional arms production (eg. building bombers and regular bombs).
    
    Maybe, but at considerably greater human cost to the US, and possibly to the Japanese and even innocent Asians, who were dying in large numbers, as well.
    
    While Truman was probably aware of the impact on the Russians, the evidence that he wanted to intimidate them is brief, somewhat second-hand and ambiguous. On the other hand, there’s plenty of evidence Truman was concerned about American casualties and their impact on civilian support for the war if it dragged on.
    
    So it is partly a retro-fitted myth, but it was also another straw on the overloaded Japanese back.
    
    There’s a certain shock value in discovering your enemy can obliterate a city with one bomb instead of a whole fleet of bombers, just as there was when the militarists discovered on the same day as Nagasaki’s bombing that the Soviets, whom they had intended to rely on as an intermediary for a negotiated peace with the US, had declared war.
    
    Eventually, other straws on the Japanese back would probably have forced the militarists to surrender on the United Nations’ term or negotiate something similar.
    
    By the time Hirohito chose to surrender, imports had fallen to 1% of their prewar levels; inter-island shipping was much reduced (95% of the shipping between Hokkaido – the Japanese rice-bowl – and the main island had just been destroyed by US naval aviation); 8m civilians had been displaced by bombing; civilian calorie intake had been at starvation levels for months and was continuing to fall; war industry output had fallen and was increasingly unreliable in quality; the navy had been obliterated; the airforce was not far behind with few modern aircraft and increasingly short of irreplaceable, experienced pilots; the once invincible army had been defeated not just in isolated islands but more recently in Burma and even in China; the force to fight the invaders had plenty of men but was seriously short of ammunition; Japanese children were digging up tree roots to process into fuel for aircraft.
    
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    February 27, 2025 10:11am
    - cmm
      
      Dave, what you are forgetting about is the massive cost of building those bombs.
      
      Much of the “saved millions of lives” talk is rewriting history.
      
      If you read up on the Manhattan project you will see that they built 4 or 5 towns, a hydro dam and tens of massive factories to do all the uranium concentration etc. This consumed tens of thousands of workers. All those workers would have otherwise been in factories building conventional armaments instead.
      
      There are some parallels to one of Hitler’s follies – the V1 and V2 rocket programmes. These were built for vengence (a militarily useless emotion). They consumed massive resources and the amount of damage caused for the amount of resources invested was extremely low.
      
      There was certainly a shock factor in having a single bomb that could wipe out a large part of a city, but they could only generate these slowly. After the two bombs had been dropped, USA maybe had material to build one more bomb.
      
      In comparison, the firebombing of Tokyo with conventional weapons is something they could have repeated again and again. Tokyo suffered more damage that Hiroshima.
      
      For me, the ultimate war winner is still the VT fuse (proximity fuse). That was a complete game changer. I’d also put radar up there. Both make everything around them far more efficient.
      
      No doubt I look at things differently because I worked in logistics in the military. We look for effectiveness rather than just the size of the bang.
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:43am
      - Dave
        
        Since the A-bomb was originally intended as a response to a potential German nuclear weapon, it’s entirely plausible that there was an element of let’s-not-waste-them, so use them against Japan.
        
        For many years I knew that the Manhattan project was the most expensive US program of the war, only to learn last year that the B29 programme was in fact much more expensive; I believe each one cost $500,000, so the fire bombing of Tokyo with a crew of 10?? required 3380 highly trained air crew, plus the ground crew and other support staff, and the logistics to deliver across the Pacific the 1600 tons of bombs used in that raid. I think 20 plus bombers were lost that night against weak opposition, so that means another $10m+ and 200+ crew replacements.
        
        The US problem at the end of the war was that they had militarily won in the Pacific but weren’t able to pressure obdurate militarists in the Japanese war cabinet to accept UN terms of surrender – starve civilians, burn civilians, invade the crowded coastal plains with huge civilian and military casualties.
        
        “…could have repeated again and again.” Sort of – Tokyo was the most successful firebombing, so not entirely typical. Weather conditions affected incendiary attacks, but yes, they were very destructive and great bang-for-buck.
        
        How much diversion of money and man power from the A-bomb to conventional weapons and getting them to the front would have shortened the war in Europe or Japan and reduced allied casualties, if at all, I have no idea.
        
        One doesn’t have to argue ‘saved millions of lives’ to justify the nuclear weapons – I don’t – but one does have to ask what the likely Allied and Japanese losses (including civilians) would have been without the sudden use of nuclear weapons and the threat of more to come. The Japanese didn’t know how few there were, one of the intended misleading effects of using two in quick succession, doubtless helped by the captured US airman who said there were ten available, if that story’s not apocryphal. Meanwhile, 200-300,000 Asian civilians, mostly Chinese, were dying each month from the disruption of war and Allied POWs were under threat of execution, were the invasion to go ahead.
        
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        February 27, 2025 3:02pm
  - Paulus
    
    UK has just approved the building of 8 small nuclear reactors (SMR’s) finally – under a Labour Government too !
    
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    February 27, 2025 2:59pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      Eight. Wow! I hope they all work as designed. One might have expected one or two as a proof of concept ….
      
      All from the same supplier or are they hedging their bets a bit? The stuff I read said that as of November last year the short list was down to about eight possible suppliers.
      
      300 MWe is a size that would work in a small market like NZ I spose.
      
      I haven’t seen any suggestions that the waste/MW is any different to current stations – or any suggestions that the waste issue is being seriously dealt with other than in Finland/Sweden.
      
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      February 27, 2025 4:00pm
    - cmm
      
      300MW would be large for an SMR. Most are around 70MW or so.
      
      There is a lot of buzz around SMRs but they seem a rather expensive way to do things.
      
      A small reactor is not really any safer than a larger reactor. It needs the same staff and the same facilities, security etc.
      
      So you may as well build 2GW or larger stations (split into 2 to 4 reactors, each of in the 600MW to 1GW range).
      
      It seems the main value in small is that it has PR value for the scientifically illiterate. Small sounds safe.
      
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      February 27, 2025 4:26pm
- Northshoredoc
  
  All closer than you think Casandra.
  
  https://news.mit.edu/2024/commonwealth-fusion-systems-unveils-worlds-first-fusion-power-plant-1217
  
  Important to note that there are more than a few Kiwi trained engineers working on this project at MIT.
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:08am
  - JackRabbit
    
    To be accurate it has not unveiled the worlds first fusion plant. It has unveiled plans for the worlds first fusion plant. An announcement of a announcement.
    
    It will not be operational for at least 10 years. And to date, no-one has produced a working fusion generator that has a net energy output.
    
    As cmm said: “Fusion has been just around the corner at least since I was in university over 40 years ago.”
    
    In my book, ten years is “just around” the corner.
    
    I have no doubt that it will eventuate, but I have concerns about progress.
    
    From that article:
    “If we’re going to continue to lead the world in these cutting-edge technologies, continued investment in those areas will be crucial.”
    
    It will continue to be a govt funded R and D cash cow, until a Bert Munro, Richard Pearse, or Nikola Tesla type build one in their garage from local materials, without the benefit of trillions of dollars of funding.
    
    I’d be more enthusiastic about MIT’s plans if they stopped talking about a power plant that they are going to build in 10 years time, and focused only on a working prototype, the size of a suitcase.
    
    While the Deep state and USAID still exist, any such breakthroughs will go down a black hole as the breakthrough will be deemed “a threat to national security”.
    
    That black hole is already quite full of breakthroughs that were deemed “a threat to national security”.
    
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    February 27, 2025 11:14am
  - sirknz
    
    Without reading the article, it has always been ~10-20 years away from viability every time they make an announcement about it.
    
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    February 27, 2025 2:11pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Bit like that biological control of possums which has always been just around the corner…
      
      https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=hwi
      
      https://www.farmersweekly.co.nz/technology/hope-for-better-possum-control-as-genome-mapped/#:~:text=Researchers%20have%20mapped%20the%20genetic,away%20from%20pest%2Dfree%20areas.
      
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      February 27, 2025 2:50pm
- PurplePen
  
  Our anti-nuclear history clarified from CIA files offering evidence former Prime Minister David Lange became an global hero of the anti-nuclear movement more by accident than design. The policy was supposed to be anti-nuclear weapons, not power generation. From 2017 ..
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/the-real-story-of-accidental-hero-david-lange-and-how-new-zealand-became-nuclear-free/DJV4RDZSNCKSWQWJOQ5XUINIRY/
  
  And Stuff 2013 …
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/8601070/Lange-tripped-on-nuclear-linoleum
  
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  February 27, 2025 2:07pm
Grunter

China signs a strategic agreement with the Cook Islands – right on our doorstep! “How dare they!!”

NZ signs a strategic agreement with Vietnam – right on China’s doorstep! “That’s a great move!”

Maybe a little bit of hypocrisy here?//

My view – 2 good deals. Done peacefully.
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February 27, 2025 8:35am
- Mod88
  
  Cook Islanders are NZ Citizens, Vietnamese are not Chinese Citizens. Therein lies the difference. NZ Is going to have to revoke that Citizenship.
  
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  February 27, 2025 11:37am
  - Flossie
    
    And put a stop to dishing out aid money.
    
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    February 27, 2025 1:52pm
Yvette

1
Treaty lawyer Annette Sykes says the “absolutely deplorable” Treaty Principles Bill is “attempting to erase the treaty from the soul of our nation”.
Sykes told Parliament’s Justice Select Committee on Wednesday it was not surprising thousands of people had marched in protest against the bill in November.
“For me and Te Arawa, it was the first time we had seen 10,000 Māori, Pākehā, Pasifika, Asia, out on the streets, walking in unity to provide a clear stand to actually highlight the damning efforts that are being made to erase the Treaty from the soul of our nation.”

2
Former Finance Minister Ruth Richardson says Parliament “must now step up” and define the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi, saying that would be a “proper use of statutory power”.
“The evolution of the principles of the Treaty has happened by accident rather than by design,” she told the Justice Select Committee.
“My point is what Parliament has done has effectively abandoned the definition of the principles of the treaty and let it be determined by unaccountable authorities – the courts, the Waitangi Tribunal, and officialdom.”
Richardson says she supports the timing and text of the bill.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/treaty-principles-bill-attempting-to-erase-the-treaty-from-the-soul-of-our-nation-annette-sykes-says/NYQKKLX4BFAJRPZRPJQYNY7TP4/?

Two opposing views of the Treaty Principles Bill, on which the Committee will report back. And either the Committee presumably evaluates and reports back to the House on these and thousands of other submissions, a summary of which will appear in Hansard, which I guess is the “official repository” for the whole bill.

So these views, only opinions, will or will not actually be mentioned in any detail, or at the whim of a Committee.
Certainly not rewriting the Magna Carta.

“I would never ever try and see someone rewrite the Magna Carta, and the arrogance of anybody to suggest they have the power, the ability to do so, in this modern time, without discussion and the pre-consent of the other party is absolutely deplorable.” – Treaty lawyer Annette Sykes

Is not the whole Committee stage just a random utterance of personal views which will not be evaluated, because their is no system by which it can be evaluated, unless it were to be fed into AI, but then what question would you ask it, since any question is a prompt, and anyway I don’t think it is been fed into AI –
so this entire process must just be all bullshit.

As someone indicated yesterday, we need a Trump …
With the Treaty of Waitangi he would have said there are three principles: Maori handed rule to the crown, Maori will be treated the same as all other citizens of the Crown, Maori got to keep their assets, as known at the time.
Now lets move on and make New Zealand great for everyone again
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February 27, 2025 8:39am
- artemisia
  
  How many of those marchers had read the Bill, and were able to say if – and why – they disagreed with both the proposed principles and the proposed referendum.
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:40am
  - Yvette
    
    The purposed of the march (carkoi) seems apparently to have been a membership drive for the Maori Party organisers, with the young woman Maori Party MP in addressing the hikoi members outside Parliament urging everyone to shift to the Maori Roll, if not already on it, so the Maori Party could have 20 PMs next Election, all going well – and hopefully, they will be karakia-ing, that the nation does not find out what was done with Census papers in South Auckland.
    
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    February 27, 2025 10:28am
  - Paulus
    
    You are assuming that the Carkoi people could read – our education would say, not apparent.
    
    3 1
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    February 27, 2025 3:04pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Wot Bill? Is it another anti-Treaty thing?
    I’m just here to learn how to join the Maori roll and join TPM, and make your fullas learn us te reo.
    
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    February 27, 2025 4:03pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  I think the fact Sykes is a Treaty Lawyer speaks all the volumes we need to know.
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:59am
  - PurplePen
    
    And as is typical from those that oppose the bill, nothing factual, just emotional hyperbole such as “the damning efforts that are being made to erase the Treaty from the soul of our nation”.
    
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    February 27, 2025 2:13pm
- Dave
  
  Ahh, Argument ad Magnam Cartam.
  
  Most of the Great Charter has been rewritten by statute or rendered obsolete by social change over time. Even one of its few remaining elements, habeas corpus, which predates Magna Carta as common law, has been modified by subsequent court cases and legislation.
  
  Unfortunately, despite the considerable changes since 1840 in English society and NZ, including Maori society, and changes in our understanding of ‘the Crown’, the only changes permitted to the ToW are those made by academic, judicial and bureaucratic elites, often without the consent or even the knowledge of us melanine-deprived plebs, and relying on historically dubious interpretations of the original document; in Ms Sykes’ words, ‘without discussion and the pre-consent of the other party’. Yes, that’s deplorable.
  
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  February 27, 2025 10:52am
- JackRabbit
  
  In my view, Seymours bill is a nice distraction.
  
  Seymour could accomplish more by simply stating “Maori ceded sovereignty”, with all the 1000+ references that underpin that statement.
  
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  February 27, 2025 11:20am
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  What Trump would have said is quite simple isn’t it?
  Why the confusion? Stop the bullshit yesterday!
  
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  February 27, 2025 3:58pm
Scooter

Just when you thought the NZ Reale Estate Institute had gone full woke with their compulsory Tikanga course just look at what’s going on at The NZ Pharmacy Council and it’s “competency standards” list on its website. Here are two and frankly I’m lost for words as to how ridiculous this is and what it has to do with their work, seriously being able to sing a song and even worse why the Govt hasn’t shut it down. Unless they do, it will creep into all corners of NZ’s workplace. It’s probably already too late.

“understanding the intergenerational impact of historical trauma”

“be confident to perform waiata tautoko (support song)”

https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2025/02/professor-jerry-coyne-competency.html?m=1
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February 27, 2025 8:44am
- Scooter
  
  By the way according to the 2023 census there were 861,576 Asians in NZ 17.3% of the population, Maori being around 17.8%. Considering the traditional natural medicine practice is widespread throughout all Asian countries, why is the Pharmacy Council only focused on Maori and not the other significant proportion of NZers? Maybe not so much about medicines but ideology and politics.
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:36am
  - PurplePen
    
    It’s the Treaty , that’s why.
    
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    February 27, 2025 2:15pm
  - Paulus
    
    The Statistics Department nor anybody else can prove to me that Maori are represented by 17.8% of the population.
    They only completed, I believe, 78% in the census so who made up the figures ?
    
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    February 27, 2025 3:08pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      The Dept made it up.
      
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      February 27, 2025 4:10pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Why? Doesn’t get media coverage.
    Got to be sensational and point out the colonial racism you know.
    
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    February 27, 2025 4:09pm
- lifesgood
  
  And they wonder why young people are leaving the country en masse. Well, I certainly would if I was a few decades younger.
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:38am
  - OlderChas
    
    And I’d be in the aircraft seat next to you lifesgood.
    
    7 0
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    February 27, 2025 11:52am
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Can I sit down the back in the cheap seats? I promise not to get drunk, get political, or violent and noisy.
      
      1 0
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      February 27, 2025 4:12pm
  - Ghost
    
    Everyone I know of who has left nz has left for one reason and only one reason, money.
    
    1 10
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    February 27, 2025 11:58am
    - Flossie
      
      Well not exactly true Ghost. While I can see what you’re saying, a lot of us leave for the adventure of an OE, which usually does not mean an increase in income, but provides experiences and memories. It has always been this way, and many do return.
      
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      February 27, 2025 4:00pm
    - cmm
      
      Only for money.
      Also only for educational and professional opportunities.
      Oh, and children’s futures (education, concerns over Maori-ization,…)
      And maybe …
      
      4 0
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      February 27, 2025 4:11pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Very hard to live on “wonderful scenery” alone.
      
      If your life is just stress, trying to get ahead yet going backwards, you look around for other options.
      
      Australia is not perfect. Nowhere is perfect. The NZ racial division trajectory, the sheer number of woke idiots, and the absolute lack of abundance in the economy, make Australia more attractive to many.
      
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      February 27, 2025 6:09pm
- RoboRob
  
  Well since Seymour cant (doesn’t want to?) even get it under control at Pharmac, and he is one of the staunchest opponents, I think its too late.
  
  I wrote to him about Pharmac and no response. Not exactly a promising sign from someone who supposedly was going to stamp this crap out.
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:38am
  - wsk12345
    
    I got a reply. And the job ad I complained about was amended to remove all the Maori requirements, if not the Manglish.
    
    10 0
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    February 27, 2025 11:13am
    - RoboRob
      
      Thats good news. Just checked my junk (just in case) and no response whatsoever? Care to post the reply?
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:58am
- Blog-aholic
  
  You should read the DOC Modernising conservation
  land management – Discussion document…..it is pretty much a summary of how they are going to hand over total control to Iwi of ALL Department of Conservation public land….look to the Urewera’s for your answer of how that will paly out.
  
  Make a submission as they close on 28/2/25….
  
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  February 27, 2025 10:02am
  - Countrygirl
    
    If all costs were going to iwi as well, it might work as we could use the money for something else. But I pick they will own it and we will do the work and pay for everything. The worst possible deal.
    
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    February 27, 2025 10:10pm
- artemisia
  
  I recall seeing a job description along very similar lines for the NZ Dental Association. It was a while ago so an appointee now either well embedded or the vacancy quietly shelved.
  
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  February 27, 2025 10:22am
- kowtow
  
  Given the number of young Asians I see at pharmacies I’m quite frankly surprised the requirement isn’t for karaoke .
  
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  February 27, 2025 12:17pm
I remember when

Is it time to point out thew reality?
If the average Maori is only 48% Maori, that means that 52% of Treaty payments are go to non-Maori.
So 8.8% of the population getting 52% of what some are suggesting should be 50% of our resources.
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February 27, 2025 8:46am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Do you really think Treaty Payments filter down to the Iwi members at the bottom of the tribal heap?
  
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  February 27, 2025 11:04am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Exactly.
    For the activists the worst part of a settlement is in it being published, lest a direct beneficiary see it and ask awkward questions such as “where is my share?”
    
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    February 27, 2025 12:18pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    They actually do. My mate and his father get quarterly payments from NGA Tahu, they have nothing to do with Māori or the tribe and are only a small percentage of Maori, yet they still receive the payments
    
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    February 27, 2025 12:19pm
    - rouppe
      
      Ngai Tahu (and the others) are then clearly operating more like a family trust than a charity.
      
      Why does their family trust pay no tax while mine pays 39% ?
      
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      February 27, 2025 2:35pm
    - Greenbanana
      
      G…how does your mate get a Ngai Tahu payment quarterly? My wife is one of that tribe and only gets a payment once a year, called kaumatua payment. About $350 I think.
      
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      February 27, 2025 2:43pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Even if they did pay “ordinary” part Maori a dividend that would not make the whole insane shemozzle less racist.
    
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    February 27, 2025 6:41pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  The average Maori 48% Māori? Really
  
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  February 27, 2025 12:16pm
  - Flossie
    
    That much? Really?
    
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    February 27, 2025 1:57pm
  - cmm
    
    Given that Maori people are seldom 50% and many Maori are only 12.5% or less (1/8th), 48% would seem rather high for an average.
    
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    February 27, 2025 4:07pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Perhaps if the moaners gave themselves a slap they’d be all square with themselves re ancestor behaviour (on both sides)?
    
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    February 27, 2025 6:45pm
Clyde

The CEO of Meridian was on Hosking this morning and said that there was plenty of locked up hydro available to overcome the impending shortfall of energy for this winter. Hosking suggested that this was a scandal – but what I want to know is what is preventing this hydro being used? Is it at all connected with these millions of dollars that Meridian is said to have given to Ngai Tahu to not object to the extension of the consents to use the Waitaki hydro schemes? Where is this hydro storage that is not being used?
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February 27, 2025 8:58am
- peterwn
  
  With the greatest respect, Mr Hosking has squat all understanding of the power system. When the Meridian CEO said there was ‘locked up’ hydro, he did not mean that it was locked up away from the generators and the system operator (Transpower). The CEO meant that the water was available behind dams ready to meet the increased winter loads. The trick is not to run out of water prematurely which means running thermal generation in the lead up to winter so that water is available as needed in the winter. On the other hand Meridian would not want to overdo it otherwise there could be a risk of the dams being full up requiring the dreaded ‘spilling’ of water. The generators and the Transpower need a good crystal ball in this game, unfortunately the available ones are not up to it.
  As for the Lower Waitaki possibilities, Meridian had a look at this some years ago and while technically feasible, they anticipated (after some investigations and sounding out) that they would not be able to obtain the resource consents needed. Now the Government could pass special legislation to allow the projects to proceed without going through normal processes but that would be political dynamite.
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:36am
  - RoboRob
    
    Political dynamite? I think not. Yes a tiny number of locals might be upset but the wider (non Green) voting public would likely applaud them for clean energy and no more shortages.
    
    Would Luxon want to take the risk. Probably not. Much easier to sit on the fence and pretend they want more generation but appease the voters who waont vote for them anyway.
    
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    February 27, 2025 9:42am
  - rouppe
    
    We have spilling in spring. It’s completely retarded in my view. Use less of the expensive stuff, and the maximum possible off the cheap stuff while it is plentiful.
    
    Spilling water out of a dam is just stupid.
    
    All of those generators are 51% government owned. Use that majority for the benefit of the nation.
    
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    February 27, 2025 2:31pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  There was a huge amount of snowfall in the southern high country this year, about 2.5 x annual accumulation that snow will still be melting right through to winter, not sure if that’s what he means kicked up, or if they have above average storage in the lakes
  
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  February 27, 2025 12:22pm
  - Clyde
    
    I don’t think that this is the case re snowfall. The last weeks has been hot and dry in the catchments. I am sure that the flows of the Clutha catchment are the lowest since records began in the 1920’s.
    
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    February 27, 2025 1:30pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Go look at ski field snow falls last winter, there was 2.5% the recent average, if the Clutha is down they are not spilling water, not that hard to work out. Snow high in the high country will melt till we get freezing conditions, I don’t think k you realise how high some of these mountains are, freezing conditions will just about be happening at night already
      
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      February 27, 2025 2:30pm
  - Observer of Life
    
    Bloody Global Warming .. sorry, Climate Change.
    
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    February 27, 2025 10:34pm
emmess

Trump’s new slogan
Make Trudeau popular again
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2025_Canadian_federal_election

Genius!
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February 27, 2025 9:09am
Maggy Wassilieff

I’ve never been a fan of Ruth Richardson, but she makes a pretty coherent case for the Treaty Principles Bill:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkr4Sp2wRG0
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February 27, 2025 9:10am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Yes that went a long way towards redeeming her in my eyes too. And what a heartening change to hear from a former Nats leader who hasn’t gone woke.
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:27am
- Colville
  
  Sometimes a broken clock…..
  
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  February 27, 2025 1:10pm
Tomtoddy

Mercury putting up electricity charges. Gee what a surprise (sarc)

Meanwhile we import coal from Indonesia and truck it from Tauranga to Huntly – where are the Green??? We can’t build new hydro because every option gets opposed and drags through the consent process, so it takes too long and is too expensive.

Geothermal is possible but also slow to establish. Wind and solar are hopeless and will only lead to blackouts. Meanwhile demand keeps growing. We face a dismal future unless we go nuclear.
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February 27, 2025 9:13am
- RoboRob
  
  If only we had a government with some conviction to improve the situation. Tinkering with laws around how gens sell to retailers is good but not addressing the real issue. They could fast track a whole heap of generation projects but they are sitting on their hands. We are almost halfway through the 3 year term and we all know nothing controversial is dont in the last year (third).
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:46am
- Chuck Bird
  
  Oz will go nuclear if Dutton is the next PM.
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:53am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    What would the problem with that be?
    
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    February 27, 2025 12:23pm
    - Chuck Bird
      
      No problem. It will be beneficial.
      
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      February 27, 2025 5:27pm
- kowtow
  
  The answer is at it always was ;
  
  King Coal .
  
  Cheap , proven , local , plentiful , reliable.
  
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  February 27, 2025 12:10pm
- goNZ1
  
  Powershop just advised us of a 10% hike from April – good to know that inflation is tamed at 2-3% per year NOT
  
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  February 27, 2025 3:43pm
  - Ghost
    
    https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/11/20/power-bills-to-increase-approx-10-per-month-from-april/
    
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    February 27, 2025 3:49pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Can someone (preferably with a legal background) explain how these Sovereign Citizen arguments differ from folks using Tikanga arguments in our Courts?

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/thedetail/543111/sovcits-are-fighting-the-law-but-the-law-s-winning
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February 27, 2025 9:17am
- peterwn
  
  Both are the same thing but dressed up differently. There is a cosmetic thing however. Those claiming to be ‘sovereign citizens’ are generally regarded as nutters and no one pays much attention to them. However calling those who advance ‘Tikanga arguments’ cannot be called nutters because of the Treaty.
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:41am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Cheers….
    Pretty much my way of thinking… but I’ve not come across anyone else equating the two.
    
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    February 27, 2025 11:09am
  - David Garrett
    
    Peter: Yeah, I’d pretty much agree with that take on it.
    
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    February 27, 2025 11:11am
- graham
  
  I read the same story in the Herald, and recalled two other cases besides the ones mentioned.
  
  Back in 2010, the “Minister of Police” of a Maori sovereignty group claimed to have issued at least 2000 “Maori Traveller’s Permits” or drivers’ licences, which he said were legitimate and recognised under sections of the Te Ture Whenua Maori Land Act 1993 and 1995. “This is a customary practice that is protected through enactment of the Parliament of New Zealand.”
  
  And in 2017, police officers stopped an Isuzu vehicle that was displaying ‘sovereignty’ registration plates in Kaitaia’s main street. The driver claimed immunity on the grounds of sovereignty and armed himself with a taiaha.
  
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  February 27, 2025 10:58am
  - cmm
    
    Can they also issue WoF?
    I wonder how it all works with insurance? WOuld it be racist for an insurance company to deny insurance to a Mouri Traveller (assuming they even bother to insure).
    
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    February 27, 2025 11:48am
- kowtow
  
  I read that earlier and thought once upon a time te media paahti would have presented at least some of these people ( ie the battlers against silly council regulationsetc) as good ole kiwi eccentrics .
  
  Now though there are some , a tiny few as far as can tell who try on the sov cit thing but the media of course smear them with an association with USA “terrorism”.
  
  A number of the cases locally are clearly nutters. So who cares , it’s a mental health issue , nor sovereign citizens .
  
  Why doesn’t RNZ do a story on how our courts are clogged up by drug traffickers and the shop stealing epidemic.
  
  Sovcit ? What a beat up.
  
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  February 27, 2025 12:07pm
imalwaysright

If Luxon has a plan then could he please share it with the rest of us?
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February 27, 2025 9:28am
Maggy Wassilieff

The Green Transition is withering….

BP blames ‘misplaced’ faith in green transition for its renewed focus on fossil fuels
CEO Murray Auchincloss says ‘fundamental reset’ will mean cut of more than £4bn to low-carbon investment plan

BP has abandoned its green ambitions in favour of ramping up fossil fuel production as its boss claimed that optimism over the pace of the green transition had been “misplaced”.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2025/feb/26/bp-oil-and-gas-spending-green-energy-scale-back
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February 27, 2025 9:31am
- Taieri
  
  The Green Transition is withering….
  ———-
  
  Not if the “Green” Party of Aotearoa has its way on our journey to the Paradise:
  
  https://www.greens.org.nz/he-ara-anamata
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:41am
- Ghost
  
  Oh no, this will mean only one thing and it isn’t good. We are going to start hearing that awful screeching from Greta again soon
  
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  February 27, 2025 9:55am
  - PurplePen
    
    No. She’s moved on to Palestine issues. Keep up.
    
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    February 27, 2025 2:21pm
- PurplePen
  
  Does that mean BP is at risk of being de-banked by the likes of our BNZ etc.
  
  Actually, just realised, it puts the kibosh on the bank’s rationale for dumping petrol stations because of the risk the business will no longer be there in X years.
  
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  February 27, 2025 2:23pm
- Chris Nisbet
  
  Not fast enough for my liking, and not according to the PM…
  https://www.national.org.nz/sig-bluegreens
  See, he can be unequivocal when it suits him.
  
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  February 27, 2025 3:50pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Yep many “green” climate alarmism related “renewable” energy projects are hitting the wall of economic reality of late. Sad that so much resource was wasted getting to that point.
  
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  February 27, 2025 6:17pm
peterwn

BP is merely indicating that there is a continuing place for hydrocarbon fuel either gas or liquid.
Vehicles, tractors etc in rural areas will always be dependent on petrol or diesel.
Can one imaging running a 1.8km long freight train from Poet Augusta area to Perth without liquid fuel (or historically coal)?
Experts say there is a place for fuel/gas electricity generation to deal with very dry years or equipment failures or when the sun is not shining or the wind is blowing – because the capital and operational costs are low despite the fuel being expensive. Trying to eliminate this ‘last ditch’ generation completely is extremely cos ineffective – society cam make better use of the financial resources for other pressing projects eg health.
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February 27, 2025 9:53am
- Taieri
  
  Why would you want to run a 1.8 km long freight train from Port Augusta to Perth? There’re no iron ore or wheat port terminals in Fremantle.
  It would be much cheaper to built an iron ore export port terminal there, and this is what is going to happen by the way.
  
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  February 27, 2025 10:38am
  - peterwn
    
    I was using that as an example. Freight trains from the eastern states converge in the Parkes – Port Augusta general area then proceed to Perth via Nullabor plain or to Darwin up the middle. Both of these lines run through very remote territory.
    Also any cars or lorries using these general routes rely on petrol / diesel. EV charging stations – forget it.
    
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    February 27, 2025 11:19am
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Aus has two power grids – Eastern & Western. The lines between the two would be so long that they would lose too much power. So, there is a gap between the two. It wouldn’t do to run your battery flat there.
      
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      February 27, 2025 10:22pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  There is a reasonable chance the planet is going to get significantly colder over the coming decades (as per Valentina Zharkova and others). Countries that have not shot themselves in the gonads with renewables/net-zero madness will fare best in that environment.
  
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  February 27, 2025 6:21pm
Jack5

Are Wokies out to clamp down on the .nz section of the internet? By far most NZ web sites use the .nz domain?

The Free Speech Union’s David Harvey is calling on free-speech supporters to sign up with InternetNZ and join a pushback against InternetNZ plans for a new constitution that includes:

– InternetNZ must centre Te Tiriti o Waitangi in its work;

– InternetNZ will be co-governed with two co-chairs – one of whom must be Maori;

– Any member who does not agree with InternetNZ being a Te Tiriti centric organisation will be ineligible to be on the board;

– The number of elected board members will drop from nine to five, and appointments increased from two to four so almost half the board will be appointed;

– At least one third of the Board must be Maori.

What’s to be done? Harvey suggests free-speech defenders sign up as InternetNZ members here (at $21 each):

https://internetnz.nz/membership/
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February 27, 2025 10:21am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Between the REA, the Pharmacy council and all the rest of the maori-centric ideology with this we now have reached the rock bottom of an idiocracy of absurdity……
  
  The question is when the rubberband is pulled really tight when does it snap….because snap it is going to and very soon.
  
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  February 27, 2025 10:42am
  - Scooter
    
    The only one that can put a stop to it is the govt and frankly I don’t see that they have the fortitude or guts to do it.
    
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    February 27, 2025 1:11pm
    - Blog-aholic
      
      “Those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it.” – Albert Camus.
      
      3 0
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      February 27, 2025 3:25pm
- imalwaysright
  
  The “Maori” premise is intrinsically flawed.
  All New Zealanders are now, in every facet of our existence , essentially homogeneous.
  We generally work in the same places, go to the same schools, eat the same food, have the same problems, want the same things, have many common ancestors, etc.
  Therefore the distinction between Maori and everyone else can only be made on the basis of the desire of Maori to be considered superior and therefore entitled to more than their share.
  There is not a sufficient reason for this to happen. Maori aren’t a different species, they aren’t physically nor mentally retarded, they have the same abilities and chances as those with whom they share DNA.
  Time to stop building virtual walls and making excuses and start participating in a society with their peers. Us.
  
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  February 27, 2025 11:06am
- Jack5
  
  David Harvey’s now spoken on The Platform video about Internet NZ’s move on its constitution.
  
  Internet NZ is an incorporated society that manages the .nz domain of the internet. It’s funded by fee on domain names.
  
  Learn with Sean Plunket as he gets his head around internet structure.
  
  https://youtu.be/I6qx5VkFcrs?si=Q5ZNnlZrdXYOsyeD
  
  4 0
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  February 27, 2025 11:54am
  - Jack5
    
    And detail on the Woke coup at Internet NZ:
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/543148/censorship-fears-over-revamp-of-internetnz-s-constitution
    
    5 0
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    February 27, 2025 12:56pm
    - Jack5
      
      Jeez, the Red Radio report (my 12.56 post) describes our host, David Farrar, as a Right-wing activist.
      
      For letting us write on his electronic wall of freedom?
      
      Not even Mao went after the bricklayer in the pre-Net equivalent.
      
      No-one calls the Radio NZ board and hierarchy Left wing activists – do they?
      
      7 0
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      February 27, 2025 2:02pm
- PurplePen
  
  It’s not as if InternetNZ is essential for anyone in NZ to operate any domain and website that is not .nz. It could be a case of go woke go broke if people stop using them.
  
  1 0
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  February 27, 2025 2:29pm
Damocles11

Weak woke National are supporting legislation for a 4 year Parliamentary term under the terms of the Coalition deal with ACT….but only to a certain stage.
Hmmm, where have I heard that before?
Not sure what the point of National is, as they are not interested in anything involving reform or the tackling of hard issues. Instead they seem fixated on ‘the real issues’: road cones, potholes, speed limits, citizens arrests, digital nomads….tinkering away at the margins on a bunch of things that are neither here nor there. Next grand announcement will be that they are making road signs larger to ‘get the economy really moving’. National = ‘the do nothing crew’, a bunch of nice guy fence sitters with no visions and no ideas.
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February 27, 2025 10:36am
- Ghost
  
  Not really. As was stated they want to hear what NZ’ers think in the select committee hearings before deciding the next steps which could include a referendum at the next election.
  
  1 3
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  February 27, 2025 10:44am
  - Damocles11
    
    And when a poll found that 65% of NZers wanted a Treaty Principles referendum, what happened then Ghost? (facepalm emoji). National clearly are not interested in what people think, and in any case my point is valid: National didn’t come up with the idea themselves….how could they, being utterly fixated on road cones and speed limits. The political equivalent of a jellyfish floating in the ocean currents, and just as spineless.
    
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    February 27, 2025 11:35am
    - Ghost
      
      National stated before the election they wouldn’t support treaty principles. They also signed an agreement that act agreed to that they would only support it to the first reading. They however have not stated before the election or during that they do not support a 4 year term. Actually the opposite, Luxon has stated that they intended to put it to a referendum.
      
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      February 27, 2025 11:53am
      - Colville
        
        67% support on Stuff which considering its an idea put forward by ACT is very positive as most Stuffed supporters would rather cut their arms off than agree with ACT.
        
        The comments section was the usual heavily biased and censored Stuffed crap.
        
        3 1
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        February 27, 2025 1:34pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    It will go to referendum, but its wether its simply 3-4 year term, or all this crap about opposition having all these extra powers at select committee
    
    1 0
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    February 27, 2025 12:30pm
    - PurplePen
      
      Should include reducing the number of list MPs too.
      
      4 1
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      February 27, 2025 2:31pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Dam
  I get the feeling that the man from AirNZ wants NZ in a holding pattern to await Labours return.
  
  8 2
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  February 27, 2025 11:12am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Wrong, all three parties are supporting it to first reading, who the minister this morning, he suggested what happens at select committee will show the way forward.
  
  Back to rubbishing the Nats when they have not said they don’t support a 4 year term, in fact before the election I thought they did support a 4 year term, for god sake this will go to a binding referendum, but oh woke weak Nats
  
  0 1
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  February 27, 2025 12:28pm
  - Damocles11
    
    ‘Back to rubbishing the Nats when they have not said they don’t support a 4 year term’
    
    Righto, well that’s as clear as mud then isn’t it. At least I’m sure about what they do definitively stand for: fewer road cones & more digital nomads. 👍
    
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    February 27, 2025 3:30pm
Jack5

Geek haka…

A Maori calls AI – artificial intelligence – a “taonga,” but a “taniwha”, too.

At the haka competition in Taranaki an entry was written using ChatGPT, reports RNZ. A party member said mistakes made by ChatGPT had been fixed.

Maybe ChatGPT could go to work on Treaty principles.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/543153/haka-written-by-ai-performed-at-matatini
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February 27, 2025 11:22am
- rouppe
  
  That’s cultural appropriation.
  
  AI is a colonial artifact.
  
  4 1
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  February 27, 2025 2:21pm
Morgan H

Act appears to have peaked in support and a lot of people have been speculating why. It is trying a capture vote from both Libertarians and Conservatives. It is hard to keep both demographics happy at the same time. Act needs to decide which one is more important or risk alienating both groups.
4 2
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February 27, 2025 11:53am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  I have heard some Nat supporters who give their party vote to act like I use to say Seymour is worrying them, and they are not sure they will give their party vote to act,
  
  speaking of Seymour, he is Acting PM this week, snd not one sign of stupidity
  
  3 1
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  February 27, 2025 12:33pm
  - Damocles11
    
    You’re hearing whispers are you ? People are ‘worried’ about Seymour are they? Probably the same timid souls who would struggle to say boo to a goose. At least with Luxon they know what they will get: a fence sitter who spends most of his time trying not to upset anybody.
    
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    February 27, 2025 3:35pm
I remember when

Andrew Bayley [Bayly] stands down as minister after putting hand on staff member’s arm during ‘animated discussion.’

Let him/her who has not commited a ‘similar physical assault’ cast the first stone.
5 4
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February 27, 2025 12:05pm
- rouppe
  
  I’ve been in a crowded bar, trying to get past a group of people, and I’ve touched the elbow of women (and men) in order to get their attention.
  
  The men don’t blink an eye but the look of fury on the faces of the women that they’ve been touched is incredible.
  
  I have no idea what the alternative is. Shout at them? Then I’m being belligerent. Push past? Then I’m being rude. There is absolutely nowhere else on the body that is less controversial than the elbow, so what’s the alternative?
  
  8 2
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  February 27, 2025 2:19pm
  - riffer
    
    Have you considered that “placing the hand on an arm” was perhaps a complete understatement?
    
    If it was me, and that’s all I had done, I would have told anyone suggesting I stand down to fuck off.
    
    Placing the hand, my arse.
    
    2 1
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    February 27, 2025 6:32pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      So only speculation. OK.
      
      1 0
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      February 27, 2025 7:10pm
    - MCōs
      
      It’s my understanding there was also a heated verbal exchange to accompany the physical contact
      In all my years working in an office I never witnessed such an altercation
      
      1 0
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      February 27, 2025 8:44pm
- Ghost
  
  I’ve never assaulted anyone. I’ve also never laid my hand on a work colleague. As the media stated they understand the complaints was he grabbed the person. He even said it was either a hold or touch of the arm. This mp last time he was in trouble had to correct his account of what happened. Seems he has a bit of trouble telling the truth.
  
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  February 27, 2025 8:56pm
Jack5

Invercargill’s Mayor, Nobby Clark, says he will “lobby” to hold a rates rise by the city to 3.9 per cent, though the council seems to be heading for a 9.47 per cent rise.

It’s holding a month of “consultation” before fixing the final figures.

A councillor has said in favour of a fuller rise that the rise above the mayor’s target resulted from the impact of Three Waters spending ‘’forced on us by central Government’’.

https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360594267/clark-rally-public-against-947-rates-increase
4 0
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February 27, 2025 12:10pm
- Eastlander
  
  Same thing all over the country – with labour promising to take waters off their hands they came up with all sorts of idiotic ideas for other things they could spend the money on. Now they don’t want to choose between their actual responsibilities and their passion projects and demand the ratepayers stump up for both.
  
  The members of the left in general have a teenager’s view of money – money is for giving them pleasure, therefore money not spent on giving them pleasure is money wasted and somebody else should cover their non-fun related expenses. Require a teen to use their money to contribute to their own survival instead of spending it all on their pleasure and you will get all the sullen hostility you can eat.
  
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  February 27, 2025 2:54pm
Ghost

A man who raped a stranger as she lay frozen trying not to wake her small child beside her has appealed his prison sentence, arguing he didn’t get enough credit for his previous good character.

Article

Good character? Surely you joke.
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February 27, 2025 12:19pm
Yvette

Luxon’s comments about sending a Navy vessel into the region came soon after he delivered a somewhat bleak outlook for the Asia-Pacific region at a keynote speech at the Asean summit in Hanoi.

When was the last time we sent a military plane or ship anywhere that it did not break down or sink?
8 1
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February 27, 2025 1:01pm
- RoboRob
  
  Can our inflatable boats even get that far from the warf?
  
  /sarc
  
  4 2
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  February 27, 2025 1:14pm
- kowtow
  
  Has some idiot advised him we’re in any position to sabre rattle with China.
  
  He better be careful or we’ll find our biggest export market closed . He accepts carbon nonsense( to save exports to Europe ) but is prepared to sacrifice the China market !
  
  6 1
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  February 27, 2025 1:40pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Were we not supposed to “diversify” at least 5 years ago in order not to be held hostage to large and threatening totalitarian players? What happened? Lobbying from those getting rich off flipping ultra cheap stuff from one such player?
    
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    February 27, 2025 7:15pm
PurplePen

I see the free lunches in schools still featured. School Principal Leisha Brynes from Lincoln Heights Primary in the ODT yesterday and Herald today “which means another trip down the road to get pizzas for their 50 halal students”.

If a student has special dietary needs and their parents and the kid are all aware of it, it is highly unlikely the kid also has parents that can’t or don’t feed them.

and with respect to the entire school roll, “What’s breaking our hearts is we know that a number of these children actually need to eat lunch”.

If a kid needs food because their parents aren’t feeding them, I would have thought they’d not be turning their noses up at any handout. We survived on monotonous lettuce and vegemite sandwiches for years with one or two variations.
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February 27, 2025 1:28pm
- herb1
  
  There was an item on radio last week about a School Principal, up in arms about a supposed mislabeling of Specialized dietary meals for some students. She said she wasn’t prepared to put the students lives at risk as some could die by having the wrong food. It’s clear their parents were prepared to put their lives at risk , as if they were genuinely concerned about their children ,they would have provided the food themselves.
  Instead of all the hand wringing about the desirability or otherwise of the lunches for the children who’s parents aren’t prepared to provide for them , perhaps they need visits from the social services to see if it’s safe for them to be actually in charge of their children
  
  12 0
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  February 27, 2025 2:29pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Solution: If a kid is genuinely “hungry”, they get a slab of meat/cheese/soy-protein, some basic (allergen free and vegan) sauce squished onto it and a boiled vegetable (say broccoli). Keep it simple stupid (and prioritise). Little old NZ has limited funds to go around.
    
    1 0
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    February 27, 2025 7:21pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I tried explaining to one of my lefty mates how the school lunch scheme had been a great example of middle-class capture of tax-payers’ money.
  
  I don’t think I was very successful though, because we have a bogey-man, David Seymour, she can happily blame for the current mess.
  
  8 0
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  February 27, 2025 2:57pm
  - Gravelroad
    
    Can someone please clarify:
    I read somewhere that parents had to agree not to give their kids a cut lunch from home to bring to school if that school was part of the “free”lunch programme fiasco.
    Is that true? Or not?
    If true, how can a school or government force parents to comply with this?
    
    2 0
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    February 27, 2025 5:42pm
- goNZ1
  
  logically if school has to provide lunch,so parents dont need to – why stop there. Clothes and footwear and transport are just as important and why make parents provide them if not food?
  The whole place is going mad, if I was Seymour with all the bitching going on I would be cancelling the whole damn program
  
  7 0
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  February 27, 2025 4:28pm
- John Loveridge
  
  I’m sick to death of teachers moaning and whinging. I know for a fact that they all get in there and scoff the lunches themselves, so that’s probably half of what’s driving the latest round of whining.
  
  My youngest, the last left at school (thank goodness!), goes to a local high school that provides lunches. She makes her own every day. She wouldn’t be seen dead eating a school lunch, simply because I’ve brought her up with more pride than that. This is lost on the teachers who are first in the queue every day.
  
  2 0
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  February 27, 2025 5:25pm
  - MCōs
    
    What school is that?
    
    1 0
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    February 27, 2025 8:48pm
Flossie

School children are extremely precious if they think the free food provided is not up to standard….not enough variety or unattractive blah blah. Kids from earlier generations went to school with sandwiches made at home and containing predictable filling (e.g. jam) for years and years, and survived. If these gastronomes were hungry they’d eat what they have been given.
12 0
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February 27, 2025 3:07pm
- MCōs
  
  Im 75yo and still alive despite going through primary school with lunches every day of cheese and marmite sandwiches.
  However a lot of my friends and classmates from those days ain’t
  
  5 0
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  February 27, 2025 3:50pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    It is that 3% fat free cheese and the marmite that has kept you alive!
    Love both. 72 here and still quite active. Just bought a steel bench and a bench steel lathe to mess about with.
    
    3 2
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    February 27, 2025 5:03pm
  - greybeard
    
    I am 77.
    My sandwiches had tree tomatoes ( tamarillos for you youngsters ), or brown sugar, or fresh fruit & veges.
    Mum baked her own bread , of course.
    My teeth are crap. My memories are wonderful.
    
    5 0
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    February 27, 2025 6:15pm
Steve Otto N Shore

Judge David Harvey’s Treat Bill Oral Submission. Where Was He Right? And Wrong? (Part 3)
There is no partnership, and never was.

Video 12 minutes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cHkpP-li2w
2 4
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February 27, 2025 3:10pm
JamesSamuel

I haven’t read all of today’s postings so forgive me if this has been covered already.
It is rather touching, in a bitter-sweet kind of way, to listen to RNZ’s Morning Report in the absence of Corin Dann. Normally as you know, although irretrievably biased, they at least pay lip service to their putative obligation to be politically impartial.
Not so however with Mr. Dann’s stand in, one Alexa Cook, who obviously (as they say) hasn’t read the memo.
Her interview this morning with Chris Cahill of the Police Association was a model of somewhat overt partiality. In line with RNZ’s approach to most initiatives introduced by the Government, they had chosen Mr Cahill to draw attention to any faults or shortcomings in the Bill dealing with increased powers of citizen’s arrest.
Ms Cook, unperturbed by any pretensions of fairness or balance, not only failed to interrupt Mr. Cahill’s vehement denunciation of the Bill, but also
proffered questions to him which were in no danger of being described as neutral or dispassionate. What lawyers, I believe, call leading questions. I think even the redoubtable Mr. Cahill was rather taken aback with the degree of partiality on display. Oh what a giveaway.
Come back soon Corin. We’re missing you.
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February 27, 2025 3:46pm
- PurplePen
  
  just stop tuning in. The faster and closer their listener numbers get to zero the sooner they’ll be shut down or restructured.
  
  4 0
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  February 27, 2025 4:25pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  Miss commie Dan like a hole in the head.
  He is only important to those of his ilk.
  
  1 2
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  February 27, 2025 5:01pm
MCōs

The other day we were visiting friends about three hours north east of Bangkok. In the vicinity three buses were traveling in convoy on a major highway at about 3am to some event.
The third bus seems to have lost control going downhill, rolling over a concrete barrier, finished up on its side alongside & level with the road and nineteen people are dead (thus far).
The driver is being interviewed on TV while on a split screen dead bodies are being stretched away.
TV here is unbelievably intrusive
3 0
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February 27, 2025 4:21pm
- Ghost
  
  I hate the lack of respect the media have for victims and their loved ones. Scum.
  
  1 0
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  February 27, 2025 4:36pm
  - MCōs
    
    Here it’s not just the media.
    Big shots from the police were at the site tripping over each other and pointing at things
    
    2 0
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    February 27, 2025 5:30pm
Steve Otto N Shore

25% tariff for the EU.
I guess the EU don’t realise that Trump us for real. Time to wake up Europe commies! You have been bludging off the USA since WW2.
‘Cold turkey.’ DJT.

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/now-donald-trump-slaps-25-tariffs-on-imports-from-the-european-union/ar-AA1zRD2f?
3 1
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February 27, 2025 5:08pm
- riffer
  
  25% reciprocal tarrifs will kill Tesla stocks for sure.
  
  2 1
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  February 27, 2025 6:04pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Good. More ICE cars! American made!
    
    0 0
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    February 28, 2025 9:27am
Ghost

Epstein information coming out starting tomorrow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRqXNzXUAvM
5 1
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February 27, 2025 5:22pm
Steve Otto N Shore

List what you did this week – by email, or you’re Fired, FIRED!

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/news/other/department-heads-ordered-to-serve-up-federal-employees-to-be-fired-by-musk-s-team/ar-AA1zQUqr?

Please can we have this in NZ? Far too may useless dropkicks.
4 4
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February 27, 2025 6:02pm
- riffer
  
  Is that an educated opinion, or an assumption?
  
  4 3
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  February 27, 2025 6:05pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Why it’s a script from a genius and the wealthiest man on the planet. He was able to ditch 80% of the (lefty) staff from old twitter and keep it running as normal.
    
    3 0
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    February 27, 2025 7:24pm
Ghost

So wait, this whole idea for four year term actually isn’t a four year term. It would be a government elected for 3 years and gets the option to make it four. Wtf.

Article

The way the bill is currently drafted, the standard would be for a parliament to last three years, but there would be the option for a government to extend it to four if it met certain conditions.

Those conditions would include handing more power over to opposition parties to chair select committees, to act as an extra check on the executive.

Seymour points to the Epidemic Response Committee, set up at the peak of the pandemic and chaired by then opposition leader, Simon Bridges, as an example of a select committee led by opposition MPs which added extra scrutiny to the parliamentary process.

Under the proposed new legislation, a government would have three months to decide whether they want a four year term and pass a resolution confirming that they had met a proportionality clause which showed the select committees were stacked with MPs who didn’t belong to governing parties.

This is stupid. Voters will under this system not know if they are voting for a 3 or 4 year government
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February 27, 2025 8:01pm
Ghost

Did tax payers pay for Debbie Ngarewa-Packer to fly to Cook Islands for her wedding anniversary?

Duncan Garner podcast
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February 27, 2025 8:09pm

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