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March 6, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 06 March 2025

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General Debate

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Cassandra

Former Defence Minister Wayne Mapp is quoted on RNZ saying NZ needs four new frigates and a thousand more servicemen and women. Four frigates means there’s always one and much of the time two ready to go, and that’s precisely what we need. The new staff will be expensive. Currently our highly skilled people are underpaid, which is why many leave for civvy street. Winston Peters says we’ll need to go to 2.5% and he’s totally right.
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March 6, 2025 8:02am
- Simon
  
  Has Luxon actually said China? Get all the surrogates to spew out about China. But Luxon cant say China. Its like dont mention the war.
  
  Four new frigates?
  
  What about the internment camps for the all the Chinese living here?
  
  When is the govt going to be honest about the internment camps for the Chinese?
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:16am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    There are internment camps in New Zealand for Chinese people?
    
    [Mod – debate without making it personal]
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:43am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Not sure about only Chinese,
      What about the rest of NZ’ers during the “Great Pandemic” Internment Camp from the Great Leader.
      
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      March 6, 2025 1:56pm
- penguincouple
  
  Might be a good idea to start with hiring competent captains…
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:23am
  - G152
    
    A mister with a missus
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:29am
  - Paulus
    
    Doesn’t Minister Chris Penk have the necessary qualifications.
    He joined the Royal New Zealand Navy, serving on frigate HMNZS Te Kaha, and then the submarine squadron of Australia’s Navy.
    
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    March 6, 2025 11:05am
- AitchW
  
  Sorry Cassandra, reported in error. Fat fingers on a laptop keyboard…
  I suspect that this is Peters’ last rodeo and he knows that he won’t be around to fix up the mess if defence spending is increased to 2.5% at the expense of other areas of expenditure. It’s very liberating knowing that there will be no personal consequences to your rash decisions….
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:26am
- Jack5
  
  Conscription would be cheaper and many young people would enjoy a time in the army or navy.
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:28am
  - Positan
    
    Jack, it would also have the very practical outcome of imparting respect for authority among many who’ve never been so experienced – and it would inculcate many basic practical capabilities among those who, in their teens, have absorbed little more capability than pushing buttons on keyboards and cell-phones. The perspectives, horizons and general life-skills of the conscripted would also be vastly and beneficially expanded.
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:34am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      Ah yes, remember the Yes Minister episode on compulsory Military service?
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahgjEjJkZks
      
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      March 6, 2025 11:05am
  - I remember when
    
    Conscription for the unemployed?
    Might be ideal replacement for boot camps by getting to problem before it occurs.
    It might even be a work incentive scheme as well.
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:17am
  - yobi
    
    I strongly believe in national service for all 18 year olds. The army and navy should be the main ones running this, but it shouldn’t be treated as conscription. This should be 2 years where our youth are learning lifelong skills.
    Our armed forces would end up with some of the best with a scheme such as this and our country would be producing better citizens.
    As for our navy, they should be concertrating on coastal defense with smaller boats, not overpriced frigates. Stopping the drug runners and the illegal fishing in our waters would be far more effective than spending money on ships that don’t make a difference in the bigger scheme of things.
    
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    March 6, 2025 12:10pm
- cmm
  
  “Need” is s strong word. Buying frigates here and there is pointless unless you have some sort of plan.
  
  I think the first thing NZ needs is to establish what its strategic military goals are, then make a long term plan to support that, then buy the equipment and build the staff to support that.
  
  That would need to be multi-party plan that can last decades and many changes of government.
  
  Without that, buying any hardware just becomes a white elephant exercise.
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:31am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    To make a plan NZ needs to go back over 35 years and find out why Defence went downhill and who did it.
    Then reverse all of that. Socialism killed Defence.
    It is not just the Navy and frigates, it is all of Defence and all that is associated with it, right down to compulsory military training.
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:05am
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Sea scouts, scouts etc?
      
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      March 6, 2025 9:10am
      - Mark Hanley
        
        Fear Not… The coalition is all over it.
        
        ODT
        New Zealand’s defence capability plan is due to be released by Defence Minister Judith Collins in the coming months, ahead of the May Budget, which will outline defence spending and equipment upgrades.
        
        The plan has been pushed out since last year, but both the prime minister and Collins have indicated New Zealand would need to get closer to a 2 percent of GDP spend given the challenging geopolitical world we now live in.
        
        There’s also been a suggestion that if New Zealand intends on joining AUKUS pillar two, then Australia, the US and UK would expect New Zealand to come to the table with something to offer, namely greater defence capability.
        
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        March 6, 2025 9:14am
    - cmm
      
      Socialism was likely part of it, but so was the change in the world threats.
      
      Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the deconstruction of the USSR it has been harder to worry about the Red under the Bed.
      
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      March 6, 2025 9:16am
      - JackRabbit
        
        The Reds are already in the Bed.
        Greens + Labour + TPM
        
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        March 6, 2025 10:44am
    - G152
      
      Look at our current Air Farce. Aero clubs and airlines are better equipped
      
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      March 6, 2025 9:31am
      - Cassandra
        
        Of course, the NZ Capability Plan is close to being announced. It might not be frigates. My guess is that it will be. Re air force planes, the P8s and the new C130s are pretty good.
        
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        March 6, 2025 9:40am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      Yes, but it was always National that talked up defence, but let the capability erode away, and ironically labour who fronted the $$ for usually half-assed solutions.
      
      Both are equally to blame.
      
      CMM is correct we need to start with strategy. Our frigates were an anti-submarine screen for a UK carrier taskforce. Is that really the purpose most critical for our defence needs for the next 40 years?
      
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      March 6, 2025 11:10am
      - Bevan
        
        True, National hasnt in the last 20 years signed off on procurement contracts but it depends on how you access defence spending. Procurement starts well before the contract is signed which is usually when significant costs start to hit. As an example, the P8 procurement started well before Labour took office in 2017. Ron Mark to his credit likely sped up the process and signed the contract, but that is towards the later part of the process.
        
        The last frigates NZ had designed to operate as part of the UK carrier force were the Leander class. Also, frigates are not solely ASW platforms anymore, many are designed as multi role warships able to conduct ASW, ASuW and AAW. And they dont need to cost multiple billions for a single warship either.
        
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        March 6, 2025 11:45am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Very wise words cmm. Strategy we don’t have.
    
    For NZ:
    
    Frigates: The equivalent of a mall cop. Almost useless except for accidentally intercepting a boat of covert operatives masquerading as refugees, which we will give asylum to anyway.
    
    Frigates: Top speed 27 knots. Cruising speed 18 knots. If a frigate is moored off Pegasus ready to go and there is landing force 100km off the west coast, the frigate will be there, in a day or two depending on the weather. So long after the landing force has landed, and driven by land and taken over the South Island. If China is really a threat frigates will serve no more than a welcoming party.
    
    Frigates: Range: 9000 km @ 18 knots. Much less at full speed.
    
    Jets: The equivalent of armed killer bees.
    
    Jet: Top Speed: 2000+km/h
    If an F jet is sitting at say Harewood, and there is landing force on the west coast, the jet can be there in 10-15 minutes, most time of which will be getting pilots into jets. So the landing force will never make it to land.
    
    Jet: Range: 2700 km. While less than a frigate, a jet can fly back to base and refuel in less than an hour while other jets take their turn.
    
    And what is worse, with the amount of $dosh the Ardern govt over spent, NZ would have enough $ for several second hand aircraft carriers and more F jets than Air NZ has planes.
    
    And the debt interest the Ardern govt ran up would pay for manning and running said air craft carriers and jets.
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:36am
    - Grunter
      
      Good comment JackRabbit.
      
      I’d also add – ‘who is the enemy?”
      
      I’m with JD Vance on this – the enemy is internal – the woksters, the apartheid separatists, the hard-left Marxists. Keep them at bay and that’s 99% of the potential threat gone.
      
      I would have thought a half decent program of missiles and drones would create enough ‘defence’ to discourage most potential external threats. Anything else is a wet dream and open to ideological “do our fair share” BS.
      
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      March 6, 2025 10:22am
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        Internal, as in the NZ Govt Departments.
        Just infested with the hard left Marxists.
        
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        March 6, 2025 10:56am
    - I remember when
      
      Is it time to think about how we use AI, etc?
      
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      March 6, 2025 10:25am
      - JackRabbit
        
        AI ? Financed, created, programmed and controlled by the same vested interests that have caused the problems in the first place?
        
        Nooooooooo!!!!!!!!!
        
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        March 6, 2025 11:42am
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      That evil Ardern person means my great grandson will be paying for her fuckups!
      
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      March 6, 2025 10:53am
    - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
      
      You don’t need to invade NZ to cripple us. Our oil comes from Singapore and our goods go to and from China and California.
      
      Sink a couple of tankers in the Straits of Malacca, a tanker in the Strait of Hornuz, a container ship off the Gulf of Aden, the South China Sea or off Longbeach, and NZ will capitulate inside 6 weeks (Australia has less fuel reserves than we do, they wouldnt last a month).
      
      You can’t fly F16s without JetA1.
      
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      March 6, 2025 11:19am
      - Fender
        
        Cut the internet cable, banks offline supermarkets empty fast absolute chaos would reign in days
        There were armed holdups of vehicles in hours after gabrielle and that was localised
        Nationwide it would be bedlam and people would be feral
        
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        March 6, 2025 12:46pm
    - Bevan
      
      If a frigate is moored off Pegasus ready to go and there is landing force 100km off the west coast, the frigate will be there, in a day or two depending on the weather.
      
      If the RNZN and RAN haven’t noticed the huge PLA-N task force required to invade NZ until it is 100kms off the west coast, then they have used some serious Klingon type cloaking technology to hide multiple Aircraft Carriers, LHDs, Cruisers, Destroyers, Frigates and Logistics vessels from our surveillance. We would know they are coming well before they got that close to us. Whether we could do anything about it is another question.
      
      An ACF squadron would be valuable, but will take at least 10 years to be capable to interdicting a naval taskforce. More value right now would be large naval assets which greater combat capability to patrol our SLOC and EEZ with the ability engage in combat and collect intelligence. Although, that to will take at least 10 years to even procure. It will be interesting to se what is in the DCP and the priority they place on each acquisition.
      
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      March 6, 2025 11:57am
  - cmm
    
    Part of the problem with big ticket items is how they have changed with time.
    
    In WW2 and just post WW2, frigates and tanks and such were built at low cost because they were considered relatively disposable. They were built in high numbers and at low cost knowing they would often not survive.
    
    Now frigates are packed with expensive equipment and cost billions. They have changed. Those are now valuable assets and are typically tied to a whole structure such as a carrier battle group. They typically need to be part of a fleet to provide mutual safety.
    
    A frigate on it’s own is pretty useless and vulnerable – like a tank too. Unless they are combined with a force that give mutual protection they are relatively easy to damage/destroy.
    
    This is especially true in the modern age with highly asymmetric warfare where a $20k missile/drone can easily kill a $5 billion frigate and a $2000 missile can kill a $5million tank.
    
    So saying “we should get 4 frigates” is kinda pointless unless you have established how they are going to be integrated into other forces.
    
    If the purpose is to build a force suitable for coast guard style work in local waters, then maybe a few frigates can work integrated with anti-submarine/coast watch aircraft.
    
    However if the goal is to have regional reach and expeditionary capability then more- much, much, more – is needed if NZ wants to operate independently. 4 frigates alone would limit NZ to always joining up with a friendly fleet (eg. trotting along with the Australians).
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:51am
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      Some of that expensive equipment is in our submarine up in Samoa.
      
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      March 6, 2025 11:01am
- Tom Hunter
  
  I suggest everybody read this guest post over at No Minister from 2022 by one “Udea Station”, because it’s packed with detailed analysis of the options.
  
  The Replacement of the RNZN Anzac Frigates.
  
  One aspect in particular I’ve seen nowhere else:
  
  [T]he RNZN must also have what is called a “Zero Ship”; in other words a land based frigate training centre that replicates onshore all functional competency tasks required thus allowing the 3-vessel frigate fleet to spend more time at sea conducting security operations.
  
  This means far less sea-days devoted to onboard training and a shorter timeframe conducting pre-deployment work-ups. This means the generation of a 4th crew rotating through the ‘Zero Ship’ under training whilst the other frigates are deployed. Moreover, the plug and play nature of modern modular frigate designs and advanced shore maintenance management and sustainment support systems, also mean that 9 month long refits every 5 years can be greatly reduced getting the ship and crew out on the ocean with greater frequency. In many respects that ‘Zero Ship’ is the “Fourth Frigate” of the fleet.
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:32am
  - newview
    
    Tom, Iv’e read the article and agree. My choice is whatever is decided after liaising with Australia. They are who we should work with so the hardware is compatable and we can work together making a more formidable group. They are our neighbour and although we don’t agree on everything we have more in common with them than the yanks imo.
    
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    March 6, 2025 8:48am
    - imalwaysright
      
      And we should amalgamate the three services into a single marine force.
      There is too much being spent on three hierarchies and three administrations for so few assets.
      It may be also a good idea to let them run Civil Defence, they could do with the money, and the present CD lot seem to only work 37 hours a week.
      
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      March 6, 2025 8:57am
      - GazzaW
        
        They need to clean out the hierarchies and administrations of all three forces. I believe there are far more Commanders and above driving desks at Devonport Naval Base than there are at sea.
        
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        March 6, 2025 9:42am
      - Cassandra
        
        To a large extent the Services are already amalgamated. Much of the admin is joint. Policy is joint. Culture and function are seperate but intertwined. My RNZAF grandson does helicopter operations and maintenance for Navy and Army.
        
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        March 6, 2025 9:58am
      - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
        
        Long overdue. While NZDF is supposed to be joint, the number of committees and brass with veto rights is genuinely astonishing for the tiny capability it purports to control.
        
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        March 6, 2025 11:22am
  - cmm
    
    That’s an interesting take.
    
    I think though that there is often an unnecessary conflation between the ship (ie. the floaty enginey bit) and the weapons systems.
    
    Surely it would be possible to get, say, a hull built in Korea and then fit it with 5 eyes electronics etc?
    
    Of course there are areas on the hull where the weapon systems need to be mounted and those would either need to be built to the correct dimensions or easy to modify.
    
    Most of the systems are electronics.
    
    Still, the most important thing to do is first to identify the roles these would play and figure how they integrate into a complete fighting package. While frigates are quite versatile, just having frigates on their own is not an effective defence system.
    
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    March 6, 2025 8:51am
    - Tom Hunter
      
      In that case you may also be interested in another post done by one of our military contributors, “Major Starr” ( 🙂 ), done in 2023.
      What should the Royal NZ Navy do, and With What?
      
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      March 6, 2025 8:55am
      - Master Mariner
        
        Good Post Tom, See NZ search and Rescue area on the map ( NAV Area IV), One of the largest in the World.
        OK, NZ seriously needs a Large Salvage vessel capable of Towing Ships for repairs ( Singapore / Australia), In addition NZ needs a smaller Ice Breaker to Service Antarctica.
        However these are way out RNZN capabilities to Run and manage successfully. In essense the money would be better utilised to Form a Standalone “Coast Guard” model with certain Skill sets/ Expertise required and far away from any Unionised Labour Work force and will require a total rethink of Maritime NZ mandates ( ESG and all that entails).
        
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        March 6, 2025 9:26am
    - Cassandra
      
      As I have been saying on this blog for years, we cannot go it alone. We need to work closely with Australia and through them with America. And that is precisely what the Capability Plan will demonstrate.
      
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      March 6, 2025 10:00am
      - JackRabbit
        
        You first need to identify who / what the enemy / risks are.
        
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        March 6, 2025 11:44am
      - Bevan
        
        @JackRabbit, you are assuming it hasn’t already been identified. Just because its not public does not means it isn’t understood – I don’t expect our government to start directly agitating larger potential enemies until at least we have rebuilt strategic alliances and have a credible military capability to add to said alliance. Winston Churchill wasnt giving running commentary about every operation during WW2 and we shouldnt be doing that while the strategic environment is evolving – why give your enemy (potential in our case) a heads up that you know what they are doing and what you intend to do to stop it?
        
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        March 6, 2025 1:17pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        @Bevan
        I’m not assuming anything.
        
        They may have been identified. Or not. Certainly not acted upon.
        
        Arden and Co have damaged NZ, and resulted in loss of life more than any external threat, past or present.
        
        That’s not just a risk identified, but a risk that’s already been actioned.
        
        If they haven’t taken action on the past actioned risk, they either don’t understand the real risk or have no strategy.
        
        The big risks are internal.
        
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        March 6, 2025 2:14pm
  - Master Mariner
    
    In essence what you are saying is simulator training, Both Bridge and Engine Room working simultaneously during training. This can be achieved at a fraction of the cost of a New Build and Simulators configurered for all existing Ships.
    This is how we train for crisis management and outcomes under Pressure with Team work.
    Along with Pychometric testing.
    A lot do not pass.
    
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    March 6, 2025 8:54am
    - Cantabrian
      
      The RNZN already (and has for decades) utilizes simulators for a broad range of training for the very reasons people suggest – to reduce the burden on ships. Examples: bridge management, pilotage, combat operations, radar and sonar operating, damage control, basic seamanship such as boat launching and handling, under way replenishment and much more. The new sailor should be capable doing all basic tasks before his or her first seagoing posting.
      
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      March 6, 2025 9:45am
      - the deity formerly known as nigel6888
        
        Did they forget the autopilot training module on the last couple of courses?
        
        Perhaps the DEI training was prioritised?
        
        “Sorry sir, forgot about the off button, but we sang a spiffing Waiata as the ship went down!”
        
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        March 6, 2025 11:24am
    - fightingtemeraire
      
      NZ Rail put all its Masters through psycometric testing, none passed, or so I was told.
      
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      March 6, 2025 10:46am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    I think you will find that the RNZN has a Mock Up of a ship that enables trainees to learn and practice seamanship such as Replenishment ops and Berthing work.
    
    It also has a Bridge Simulator and Operations simulator as well. A zero Ship in all but name.
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:43am
  - Taieri
    
    also mean that 9 month long refits every 5 years can be greatly reduced getting the ship and crew out on the ocean with greater frequency
    ———————
    
    I haven’t had any naval experience, but I’ve had an immnse shipping experience and simply can’t imagine why does it take 9 months to refit a frigate. Some merchant/commercial vessels are very complex pieces of machinery, yet they never take that long to refit. The conversion of an oil tanker to FPSO takes about 12 to 18 months and the scope of work involved is much greater than that in the periodical refit of a smallish naval vessel, i.e. a frigate.
    
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    March 6, 2025 3:21pm
- lastmanstanding
  
  NZ spends 0.9% of GDP on defence. Governments waste more than that on Maori wonderfulness.
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:54am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Willis has already said they will be lifting funding for defence over the next few years to 2%.
    
    Don’t forget who was in government for 6 years
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:12am
    - Fender
      
      To be fair it took longer than 6 years to get to where we are
      
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      March 6, 2025 12:54pm
  - John Loveridge
    
    I’d love to know that second figure. It would be sobering.
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:27am
- kiwikidsnz
  
  You lost me at Wayne Mapp
  
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  March 6, 2025 9:04am
  - Grunter
    
    ….on RNZ!!
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:15am
- NothingLeft
  
  Frigates, and most navy ships are obsolete.
  
  Ukraine, A country without a navy, have sunk 30 Russian black sea navy ships (including a submarine.) Frigates have near zero survivability in modern conflict, unless, perhaps, they are part of a larger carrier group with multilayered highly detailed and reactive defenses.
  
  Numerous smaller drone boats or subs operating together in flotillas with high redundancy is a more likely future configuration for navies.
  
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  March 6, 2025 9:10am
  - Cassandra
    
    The plan will be to have the capacity to work with the RAN, USN and Japanese and S Korea etc. NZ role might be ASW, USN air defence. Subs will be beyond us but RAN will do that.
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:06am
  - john1234
    
    We’d do better with Corvettes and Fishery Patrol Vessels than frigates. A fraction of the price and more coverage where we need it. Not suitable for long range deployments to the other hemisphere but why would we need that? All we can afford and need is regional security in our small corner of the Pacific.
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:24am
- DeepBlue
  
  Could be the Art of the Deal WP style?Two cheaper ferries, lower break fee, four frigates to build. A complete package to interest Hyundai. Winston is a successful Foreign Affairs Minister for a reason.
  
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  March 6, 2025 12:15pm
- Sir Henry Morgan
  
  The Ukraine war has made it obvious that the nature of war has changed. Precision weapons are cheaper and easier to produce than ever. The balance of cost vs benefit offered by high spec systems from traditional arms manufacturers has been turned on its head.
  
  New Zealand should be taking note and redesigning its entire military. There is great potential to beef up certain capabilities for relatively little cost.
  
  Several new frigates could be the solution, or there may be some other better solution. Either way, Wayne Mapp is probably the last person to go to for useful insights.
  
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  March 6, 2025 3:43pm
Cassandra

Victor Davis Hanson has some advice for Zelensky: He notes that if one views carefully all the 50-minute tape of the Oval Office meeting, most of it was going quite well—until Zelenskyy started correcting Vance firstly, and Trump secondly. By Ukraine-splaining to his hosts, and by his gestures, tone, and interruptions, he made it clear that he assumed that Trump was just more of the same compliant, clueless moneybags Biden waxen effigy. And that was naïve for such a supposedly worldly leader. Hanson goes on to explain that Zelensky does not have any cards left, needs the US and must try to get back onside. All the European talk is just that. To fill the gap left by America’s withdrawal would require Europeans to prune back their social welfare state, frack, use nuclear, stop the green obsessions, and spend 3-5 percent of their GDP on defense. Is that going to happen? IMO the new reality is that America regards Ukraine (and Russia) as a side issue. Trump and his team are focusing on where America’s real interests lie and that is countering China. The US Navy is in the Mediterranean because of Israel and oil. When was the last time the German Navy patrolled the Indian Ocean? High time Europeans stopped bludging. They have the resources to deal with Putin – have they got the willpower?
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March 6, 2025 8:03am
- Master Mariner
  
  “When was the last time the German Navy patrolled the Indian Ocean? ”
  NATO actually sent warships through the Taiwan Straights a year or 2 ago, Which is obviously well outside NATO’s Mandate.
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:41am
  - Cassandra
    
    And that’s my point. Which is why Trump wants to focus on the Pacific.
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:07am
  - James Stephenson
    
    Just because a NATO member country does something, does not mean that it’s a NATO operation. Actual NATO Naval operations are ongoing in the Med and the Baltic but that’s all.
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:43am
    - Master Mariner
      
      Then explain this .
      https://www.newsweek.com/nato-news-warships-transit-taiwan-strait-defying-china-warnings-1953416
      
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      March 6, 2025 11:59am
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    WW 2 with Armed Merchant Raiders.
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:48am
- Tomtoddy
  
  Anyone who actually saw the Trump/Zelensky interview and came away saying Trump was rude and insulting is clearly heavily biased. Zelensky did 90% of the interjecting and was so disrespectful it was embarrassing.
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:45am
  - RoboRob
    
    When you just watch the conflict clip it does look like Trump and particularly Vance were the issue. Do a search in YouTube for ‘trump zelensky meeting’ and the second video titled ‘Full argument: Trump-Zelensky White House meeting descends into shouting match’ is pretty much all most people have seen and as it has the word ‘full’ in the title most think they have seen it all.
    
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    March 6, 2025 8:56am
    - G152
      
      Zelensky was setup.
      Look at the audience and the media pack.
      
      10 16
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      March 6, 2025 9:36am
      - Grunter
        
        Who set him up?
        
        IMO, it was no coincidence that the useful idiot himself was schooled up a few days before he left Kiev by none other than Borris Johnson. The former UK PM (you know the same one that flew into Kiev after the April 2022 Istanbul agreement was drafted). Jonson was interviewed in Kiev in the days leading up to the White House meeting – what was he doing there?
        
        It was Zelenskyy that requested the meeting. A number of sources were reporting days before hand that Zelenskyy was going to try and make Trump look bad. Trump knew this, Vance had already had a guts full of Zelenskyy. They were ready for his theatrics.
        
        Anyone that still believes the MSM narrative on Zelensky is simply not thinking seriously. The US MIC brainwashing on Project Ukraine runs deep.
        
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        March 6, 2025 10:32am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Yes, he was set up by the Democrats an hour or so before. He was promoting Kackling Kamala & bagging Trump before the election, and so was taken in by the Dems, who encouraged him to go against Trump.
        Zelensky is an amateur 2nd grade actor.
        
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        March 6, 2025 11:03am
      - Master Mariner
        
        @Grtunter.
        The US & the Ukraine conflict : Recorded conversation between Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUCCR4jAS3Y
        
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        March 6, 2025 11:08am
      - Grunter
        
        Master Mariner
        Yep, most deny this conversation ever happened.
        
        AND, Nuland’s sister in-law runs the ISW – yep, the same MIC propaganda mouthpiece that the MSM use as their ‘reliable source’. The same ISW that many KBers still use today.
        
        But hey – Zelenskyy = Churchill; and Putin = Hitler is still believed. It’s called brainwashing.
        
        The tale of how Zelensky, a second-rate nobody actor in a poor country, became immensely wealthy should be widely disseminated. Years ago, the Panama Papers showed that Zelensky was already worth about $300 million and had two ultra-expensive houses in southern Florida. But to this day, nobody has investigated the provenance of that fortune, which I’m sure has grown to billions in the intervening years.
        
        Here’s a rule of thumb: Dictators who are responsible for wholesale destruction, millions of casualties, and massive looting should wind up like Mussolini, who was hung by his heels from a lamppost.
        
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        March 6, 2025 11:39am
      - Taieri
        
        Dictators who are responsible for wholesale destruction, millions of casualties, and massive looting should wind up like Mussolini
        —————-
        
        Do you have President Putin in mind by any chance?
        
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        March 6, 2025 3:24pm
    - RoboRob
      
      p.s. I do think the Vlod was the issue here, I am just saying that based on media clips and even a youtube search, the average user could be excused for thinking it was ‘Trump bad’.
      
      p.p.s
      There is no way that was a setup. Trump was wanting to announce his minerals deal, which was agreed on. There is no way he sabotaged his own press release. Much more likely either
      
      a) Vlod was used to pushing Biden around
      or
      b) Vlod is pushing for a better deal
      
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      March 6, 2025 10:02am
      - Don Beckett
        
        He was pushing for guarantees – which was the next step after the minerals agreement.
        
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        March 6, 2025 11:05am
- Matt Long
  
  Maybe a federal judge will force Trump to continue to fund the Ukraine war forever. The Supreme Court has ruled he must continue the USAID funding, with his very own DEI hire being a decisive voice. Pictures show her looking very tense at Trump’s state of the nation speech.
  https://x.com/charliekirk11/status/1897294182877913488
  
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  March 6, 2025 9:03am
  - RoboRob
    
    Thanks for the news.
    
    The core issue here is that congress appropriates funding (not the president) and the question is around if the president, who is sole in charge of the federal government, must spend all that money, even if it is wasteful.
    
    I assume Trump will now have to go to congress to get them the cancel the funds (assuming they can un-appropriate, the funds).
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:11am
  - Tom Hunter
    
    TBF that’s including contracts where the work was already completed. I doubt the USA would not pay those out at the end of the day, but Trump and company wanted breathing space to at least review them before doing so.
    
    Even with this ruling they’ll likely get it, but I’m sure they’ll be able to pull a Sir Humphrey of their own and delay particular payments that can be argued as not breaching the court order.
    
    The Impoundment Act of 1974 has long been a bone of contention as to whether it’s constitutional or not and it looks like Trump is going to test that all the way to the Supreme Court. About time.
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:41am
  - Don Beckett
    
    From my reading it was a federal judge, not the Supreme Court.
    
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    March 6, 2025 11:08am
    - Ghost
      
      https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/us-supreme-court-won-t-let-trump-withhold-payment-to-foreign-aid-groups/ar-AA1Akkbu?ocid=BingNewsSerp
      
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      March 6, 2025 11:15am
- Bevan
  
  Imagine a world where someone accuses the President of Ukraine, Ukraine being the country that has been invaded, of insultingly Ukraine-splaining something…
  
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  March 6, 2025 12:05pm
- rangitoto
  
  US is becoming irrelevant to the Ukraine war. Over the last week or so, AFU have unleashed a massive storm of FPV drones on all areas of the front. The orcs are being driven out of multiple towns and villages. Most drones are locally produced in Ukraine with millions now being produced per year.
  
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  March 6, 2025 2:30pm
Random T Person

Never thought this would happen but since the release of Grok 3 my job has become completely superfluous. I’m so completely fucked. Professional content writer of 30 years experience – freelance for 25 years. Making 1200 a day, down to roughly 0 more or less overnight. Anyway, seen this happen to many other folks, so I suppose adapt or die. Life insurance haha.
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March 6, 2025 8:11am
- RichardF
  
  I watched this video of Musk and 3 of his geniuses talking about Grok 3. It was mind blowing. I don’t know much about AI and didn’t understand most of the technical elements but it was really impressive, especially when they talked about the giant data centre they build in 120 days to power the Grok engine.
  
  https://youtu.be/AUAJ82H12qs?si=acty2MebyiBlGKnb
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:05am
  - Random T Person
    
    Grok 3 writes a pretty good press release based on targeted promps which take me less than 20 seconds to enter, in 5 seconds. It is astonishing.
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:52am
- Grunter
  
  This stuff is moving amazingly fast. Inspiring and scary. What is real is now the hardest question to answer when you see these AI tools in action.
  
  IMO – this will force a comeback of face-to-face meetings. Trust will be clouded by mis-use of AI.
  
  I don’t think anyone really knows where this is heading.
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:48am
- NothingLeft
  
  I’m so sorry.
  
  The penny hasn’t dropped for 95% of the general public yet; but AI is coming for everyone’s jobs over next 5-10 years.
  
  I expect there will be a massive political backlash in 1-3 years when people finally wake up to their livelihoods being threateaned (and huge existential danger). With at least attempts to ban AI use across many or most white collar industries, maybe with carve outs for currently unaffordable ‘luxuries’ that improve quality of life – in home assistance, gardening, health care, tutoring and child care assistance.
  
  Long term it wont save us, but may buy us a few more decades of relative comfort.
  
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  March 6, 2025 11:15am
- Jules99
  
  I’m in a similar position. Glad I bought Bitcoin at $4k.
  
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  March 6, 2025 12:01pm
- rangitoto
  
  AI can easily be manipulated by whoever is running it to promote whatever narrative they desire.
  
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  March 6, 2025 2:41pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Don’t despair. Someone’s got to write the AI prompts, which are not as obvious as it might seem on first glance.
  
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  March 6, 2025 6:56pm
Quail

Orr resigns and we do not know why.
The NZ dollar keeps trending down steeply.
The purpose of the Reserve bank is to maintain stability in the currency.
There is no lead from the bank
The Government must step in now to maintain trust in this institution.
These are dangerous times!
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March 6, 2025 8:13am
- Master Mariner
  
  Wondering the same,
  I know he was getting a “War chest” ready in foreign currency to “dabble” in the markets.
  What could go wrong after Billions lost during the Covid Fiasco.
  Mean time, House prices crashing, Job losses sky high, Inflation remains higher than broad cast, And the willing workers ( Likely previous Net Tax Payers )leaving in droves.
  Christ what a shit show.
  
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  March 6, 2025 9:34am
- Scooter
  
  NZ dollar is tanking, it’s the worst in 10 years against the US and Euro. Won’t be good for imports IE consumers and a double whammy with any tariffs but good for tourists to visit I suppose.
  
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  March 6, 2025 9:56am
  - Quail
    
    Scooter,
    Importing inflation so interest rates will go up again!
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:33am
    - Scooter
      
      Good for savers!!
      
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      March 6, 2025 11:05am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Rubbish, what was lost 2 days ago has recovered and is actually higher than the beginning of the week
    
    6 1
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    March 6, 2025 11:18am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    We want to travel to Hawaii and Alaska, but US$1 is costing NZ$1.75. Too expensive.
    A breakfast meal at Waikiki will cost over NZ$80 including a tip. That is just a fry up with toast and tea.
    
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    March 6, 2025 11:53am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  When the dollar was floated it went below 30p to the $.
  
  I was in business buying books from the UK and the rate varied between NZ$= 50p to 33p
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:50am
- Jack5
  
  Quail’s … The purpose of the Reserve bank is to maintain stability in the currency…
  
  Not quite. The Reserve Bank’s goal is to avoid unnecessary instability in the exchange rate. That doesn’t mean stop it from falling or rising.
  
  The government or its Reserve Bank couldn’t by decree set the level of the Kiwi dollar, which is a free-floating currency.
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:53am
  - Quail
    
    J5
    In effect managing the exchange rate is managing the NZD,
    The RB manage the exchange rate of the currency with a range of tools , of which the primary one being the OCR.
    NZ has had historically one of the highest interest rates in the OECD.
    
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    March 6, 2025 12:12pm
- Damocles11
  
  Orr is ‘doing a Jacinda’, getting out now before his legacy becomes even more tarnished. He probably has his eye on a cushy overseas role at the IMF or World Bank.
  The next person to take on the role is getting a poisoned chalice. NZ continues to pile up debt and balance of payments deficits yet we seem to think we deserve a strong NZD. The circle that must be squared is to keep delivering OCR cuts to pump NZ’s one trick pony ‘property ponzi scheme’ economy….while also ensuring the NZD stays at a level where we aren’t crushed by imported inflation. Orr has seen the writing on the wall and has gotten out and left the thankless and nigh-on-impossible task to someone else.
  
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  March 6, 2025 12:33pm
  - Tom Hunter
    
    No shit, Read Reddell’s commentary over at his blog Croaking Cassandra, $11 billion and out:
    
    Instead, it is pretty clear that there has been some sort of “throw your toys out of the cot and storm off” sort of event, which (further) diminishes his standing and that of the Bank (but particularly the Board and its chair). It all must have happened so quickly that we now have this fiction that Orr is on leave for the rest of the month
    …
    You don’t just storm off from an $800000 a year job you’ve held for seven years, having made many evident policy mistakes and misjudgments, as well as operating with a style that lacked gravitas or decorum etc, with not a word.
    
    Well actually if you lack gravitas and decorum then that’s exactly what I’d expect you to do.
    
    I guess we’ll have to wait to find out exactly what triggered this. Reddell wonders if, after years of empire building, Orr finally met a finance minister who said no, or even suggested budget cuts. But even he thinks there has to be more to it than that, so perhaps your suggestions are part of it as well?
    
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    March 6, 2025 3:47pm
Chuck Bird

Trump just made a back flip on cars from Canada and Mexico. He has made big mistake in starting a trade war with Canada.
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March 6, 2025 8:13am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  The supply chains of the major car manufacturers run back & forwards across the border. That’s not going to be unwound in a hurry.
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:26am
- cmm
  
  You still have not learned – these are negotiation tactics.
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:32am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Do you believe Trump when he said God intervened at the first assassination attempt so he could save America?
    
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    March 6, 2025 8:36am
    - cmm
      
      I am not sure I understand how that plays into anything.
      
      What do you mean by “believe”?
      
      * Do I personally believe God intervened? No. I am an athiest. I don’t believe God exists.
      * Do I believe Trump believes God intervened? I don’t know how religious he is. Maybe he does genuinely believe that, maybe he is milking it.
      * Do I believe many Americans who are religious believe that? Yes, certainly.
      
      Note that while I am an atheist, I do believe that religion is very valuable for many people and is generally helpful in keeping many people on a moral path. It isn’t a silver bullet though.
      
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      March 6, 2025 8:58am
    - G152
      
      Untrained sniper.
      No fancy headshots go for body mass
      
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      March 6, 2025 9:38am
  - newview
    
    cmm it’s a pretty big gamble as Trump is leading a country with massive debt and the economy is slowing I read somewhere, and these tariffs are going to hurt Americans too. If he can’t win this game of chicken quick he’s going to piss off a lot of his own people.
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:13am
    - Matt Long
      
      I’m for free trade, but if New Zealand had economic clout, I would be putting all possible pressure on the nations and blocs that are playing games with tariff, non tariff barriers and deceptive trade practices.
      New Zealand has a rising meth problem with cheap meth coming from Mexico, the same as for much of the USA, we have an interest in Trump shutting down the cartels.
      
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      March 6, 2025 9:19am
      - JackRabbit
        
        Meth is a criminal problem, so you will never solve it with economic sanctions, especially as the transactions are not visible.
        
        It is about effective as banning plastic bags to discourage dog owners who don’t pig up their dog’s poop off the pavement.
        
        Or banning plastic bags in NZ because India can’t control their plastic waste.
        
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        March 6, 2025 9:44am
    - Burtland
      
      can anyone explain how “tariffing your way to wealth” works?
      
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      March 6, 2025 9:23am
      - JackRabbit
        
        They don’t.
        
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        March 6, 2025 10:06am
      - RoboRob
        
        They dont, by themseleves.
        
        But threats of tariffs or short term tariffs can be used to successfully force other arrangements. Columbia didn’t want to take their illegals back from the US. Trump threatens tariffs and within 4hrs its all resolved. Mexico was assisting migrants from its southern border to go directly to the US border, tariff threat, now they are patrolling their southern border (supposedly).
        
        Doesn’t always work but when you are the huge market the US is, you want to avoid getting tarriffed. So trump is currently proving that they can work.
        
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        March 6, 2025 10:08am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Apparently Canada has tarifs on US goods – would be interesting to know what & how much.
        
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        March 6, 2025 11:14am
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        Don at 11.14.
        The google machine gave me this:
        
        https://www.canada.ca/en/department-finance/news/2025/03/list-of-products-from-the-united-states-subject-to-25-per-cent-tariffs-effective-march-4-2025.html
        
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        March 6, 2025 12:08pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      …and these tariffs are going to hurt Americans too.
      
      Tariffs hurt both sides of the equation. Economics 101.
      
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      March 6, 2025 9:42am
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        They hurt more if you’re selling something your counterpart likes but doesn’t actually need or can easily source locally or elsewhere, such as tourism destinations or bourbon, and/or if you’re buying something you do actually need and can’t easily source locally or elsewhere, such as potash or low-price energy.
        
        Canada will certainly be hurt by all this, but not by as much as the US will. And expanding into other markets is a great deal easier with a good record of delivering on what you’ve agreed to.
        
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        March 6, 2025 10:02am
      - Bridgenag
        
        From the White House
        
        https://youtu.be/GFkLhul2vgg?si=FoY0MFPxUOWoFcN1
        
        2 3
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        March 6, 2025 10:25am
  - Burtland
    
    “negotiation tactic” is just a lame excuse for bullying
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:16am
    - RoboRob
      
      So? When you enter a negotiation you always want to negotiate from a position of strength. The USA almost always has this by default, but in recent times has not wanted to play the ‘super power’ card. Trump is taking the gloves off.
      
      The EU and China all do this. Look at OZ, China didn’t like what they said and so stopped buying wine and coal (for a while). The EU tarriffs NZ products into oblivion, ironically pushing us to trade more in Asia and China. The EU are protectionist arsholes !
      
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      March 6, 2025 10:11am
    - In Vino Veritas
      
      Lol Burt, weaker parties in a negotiation can always whine and have a sook about the other party being a bully. That is because there is generally a power imbalance. The question is always “who needs who (or what) the most?” And for a weaker party to accept a weaker deal doesn’t mean they were bullied. It just means they didn’t have any real negotiating position.
      
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      March 6, 2025 11:01am
- Inandout
  
  CB.
  “Success is not final; failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston S. Churchill
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:39am
- imalwaysright
  
  Castreau is desperate to stay in power. This is his last gasp attempt to again fool the Canadian people.
  
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  March 6, 2025 9:06am
  - Chuck Bird
    
    The Canadain Oppostion is in agreement.
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:32am
- lastmanstanding
  
  I agree with much of what Trump says and does but on tariffs he is plain wrong. Tariffs do nothing for the country that imposes them. They make the producers in that country lazy and lead to sub standard goods. NZ did the right thing in the mid 1980s getting rid of tariffs and opening the economy. We lead the world and went from a basket case economy to a much more effective and productive economy. If countries concentrated on producing the goods they are best at the world would be an economically better place. You cant tariff your way to prosperity as The Donald is about to find out.
  
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  March 6, 2025 9:24am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Well said. Tariffs benefit neither country: Economics 101.
    
    Taught in high school in the 1970’s complete with diagrams and flow charts together with real world examples.
    
    Tariffs are a tax, and the equivalent of a Mafia protection fee. No-one wins. The consumer always loses.
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:11am
    - Quail
      
      JR,
      The producer also loses.
      
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      March 6, 2025 6:36pm
  - Scott
    
    Lastmanstanding – couldn’t disagree with you more. We now make nothing. China now makes everything.
    We are getting poorer not richer.
    
    We used to make things. We used to put cars together. We used to make stereos. We used to make trains. We used to build harbour bridges.
    
    Now we make nothing. We exist on tourism and selling logs overseas.
    
    We need a big reset of our thinking on this issue.
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:29am
    - JackRabbit
      
      China now makes everything.
      
      From Economics 101:
      
      Economy of scale.
      
      If another country is better and cheaper at production, it makes no sense to produce it yourself at several times the cost. Local production can only survive with tariffs and subsidies. Everyone loses.
      
      To make electronics as cheap as some Chinese companies, you will need hundreds of acres of factory floor space, and an investment of billions in automation. Where is our market?
      
      There are electronics companies in china that produce fully assembled custom circuit board to service the prototype market. i.e. test production runs, before full production. Prototype runs are anything less than 100,000.
      
      We used to make stereos.
      
      That was before Japan, Korea, and China got into good quality electronics.
      
      Even then in the 1980’s, NZ Hi-Fi manufacturing turned to buying kits from companies like Samsung.
      
      Even today, through automation, Chinese companies can produce fully assembled circuit boards at a fraction of the price you could buy the parts for in NZ.
      
      We don’t have the scale.
      
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      March 6, 2025 12:02pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      We used to put cars together. We used to make stereos. We used to make trains
      
      All of the above cost lots more than imported product and the quality being pretty average. Prebble wrote abut it in “I’ve been thinking”. We didn’t protect these outfits with tariffs – the tool was import licencing and currency controls.
      
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      March 6, 2025 2:13pm
  - Philview
    
    I can’t remember what sector but there was an announcement this week of a particular manufacturing function relocating to the US and will create 25,000 well paid jobs. I can see a problem of the US having as issue of a lack of skilled workers. Also reported this week that even the poorest State in the US has a better GP per capita than New Zealand. We need to have a good look at ourselves.
    
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    March 6, 2025 11:15am
    - JackRabbit
      
      I can see a problem of the US having as issue of a lack of skilled workers.
      
      The US does not have the highly developed automation.
      
      4 1
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      March 6, 2025 12:04pm
    - rangitoto
      
      I think that refers to TSMC opening a high end chip manufacturing plant in Arizona. This was planned when Biden was president. I suspect the number of jobs is highly exaggerated and all the profits would go to Taiwan. It also relies on Dutch technology, so don’t annoy the Dutch too much.
      
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      March 6, 2025 2:48pm
  - thirteenstars
    
    “NZ did the right thing in the mid 1980s getting rid of tariffs and opening the economy. ”
    
    That’s a very interesting comment because I suspect many of those now screaming about how terrible it is that Trump is employing tariffs were those who condemned Roger Douglas, et al. for the swift deregulation of the NZ economy, including the removal of tariffs.
    
    Many to this day suffer from Douglas Derangement Syndrome to go along with their TDS. Pot, kettle, black.
    
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    March 6, 2025 2:01pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      We didn’t have a lot in the tariff department – we used import licencing and currency controls.
      
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      March 6, 2025 2:14pm
- Scott
  
  It appears that Honda Civics which were to have been made in Mexico are now going to be made in Indiana.
  https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/honda-produce-next-civic-indiana-not-mexico-due-us-tariffs-sources-say-2025-03-03/
  
  This report has yet to be officially confirmed by Honda.
  
  What has been confirmed is that Apple is going to invest $500B in the USA. Other companies are following suit.
  
  Trump is governing as he promised by bringing jobs back to America for American workers.
  
  I’m hoping this example will rub off onto the NZ govt. Can we bring industry and investment into NZ so that good jobs are available for NZ workers? Let’s stop our national decline and make NZ prosperous again!
  
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  March 6, 2025 9:29am
  - JackRabbit
    
    What has been confirmed is that Apple is going to invest $500B in the USA. Other companies are following suit.
    
    Apple will not be doing that because it is more economic, but because parts are in short supply in China due to USA tariffs. Expect Apple product prices to rise. Only the USA subsiding Apple will keep prices low, and who pays for that?
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:50am
    - Inandout
      
      Jack, we hear often that as consumers we should support local businesses and not employ ‘out of towners’. It makes sense to support local and keep people in jobs. We unfortunately have become so used to Chinese goods that endurance takes second place to cost. I shudder to think how many faulty items returned to the big box stores are merely dumped as uneconomical to repair.
      
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      March 6, 2025 10:58am
      - JackRabbit
        
        If you buy cheap shit it will fail, no matter which country it comes from. Big box stores buy on price only. Same as Ali-Express.
        
        However most of the good stuff, including high end reliable electronics and computer equipment is made in China, or used to be.
        
        A good example is a Spark Huawei Router. Made in China, probably costs Spark chump change. Need regular rebooting to maintain performance, limited life of the router and or power supply.
        
        Cisco IOS routers are/were also made in China under contract. Will run for 2 years without a reboot, and will frequently last 10+ years.
        
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        March 6, 2025 12:12pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        how many faulty items returned to the big box stores are merely dumped as uneconomical to repair
        
        They are cheap enough that the NZ labour cost means it makes no sense to repair them. Once upon a time if a toaster element failed you got it repaired. But that was when a toaster cost a significant amount of money ….
        
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        March 6, 2025 2:18pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    @Scott – from the link quoted …
    
    It now plans to build the new Civic model in Indiana from May 2028
    
    Lot of water to go under that bridge I guess ….
    
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    March 6, 2025 2:23pm
Fender

I get tired of the Putin is evil crap
Ukraine was a festering shithole of American corruption right on its doorstep to be honest
Do those that hate Putin and say Poland is next really carry those thoughts on logically
Do they refuse to buy japanese cars or german appliances
War is bad for everyone and unless you are prepared to send your own kids off to fight you really don’t get to comment on driving the war’s conclusion
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March 6, 2025 8:19am
- JackRabbit
  
  Zelenskyy is a puppet.
  
  The Ukraine is a giant money laundering operation for US cash which finds its way back into the coffers of the US deep state.
  
  The deep state’s dirtiest secrets are unraveling FAST. General Michael Flynn has just exposed Victoria Nuland as one of the key players behind the assassination attempts on President Donald Trump.
  
  Flynn didn’t stop there—he called out Ukraine for what it REALLY is: “One giant money laundering operation,” where billions in U.S. taxpayer money are funneled into corrupt hands and cycled back into the pockets of the DC establishment.
  
  Elon Musk himself backed up Flynn’s claims, replying: “He’s not wrong.”
  
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  March 6, 2025 9:55am
  - JackRabbit
    
    Link to the above:
    
    https://x.com/JimFergusonUK/status/1896864455083933704
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:12am
  - Northshoredoc
    
    I don’t know what’s more bizarre that someone should make claims like –
    
    ‘General Michael Flynn has just exposed Victoria Nuland as one of the key players behind the assassination attempts on President Donald Trump.’
    
    – or that people choose to repaste it all over the interwebs.
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:17am
    - Fender
      
      Do you really think he would risk the blowback if he didn’t know of some facts
      Its not like politicians aren’t worth a lot more than their salaries
      
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      March 6, 2025 10:51am
    - JackRabbit
      
      Internet. Interweb was a term out of the US program “Corner Gas”. You are showing that you are 20 years behind in your research.
      
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      March 6, 2025 12:15pm
- NothingLeft
  
  ??? Putin IS absolutely evil.
  
  He’s started a needless war that has seen hundreds of thousands killed, hundreds of thousands more tortured and raped or stolen from families, a million injured, millions more losing family members and tens of millions having their lives economically ruined, homes and jobs lost etc.
  
  It’s laid waste to the economies of both Ukraine and Russia and diverted hundreds of billions of dollars down the toilet of military expenditure.
  
  His attempted ‘liberation’ of Ukraine from the horror of democratic rule is turning it to uninhabitable, mine-infested rubble.
  
  And he’s been doing this bullshit for 25 years in other Russian federation states, with body counts now well north of a hundred thousand, all while siphoning off Trillions to put in his own and his mates pockets. Russians should be wealthy and prosperous – they’re not because of Putin and his anti-democratic Mafia regime.
  
  There has been no benefit to any of this other than satisfying the ego of this one monster.
  
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  March 6, 2025 11:34am
  - Fender
    
    Weapons of mass destruction ring a bell
    
    4 2
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    March 6, 2025 3:20pm
    - NothingLeft
      
      Are you seriously defending Putin and his regime as something other than evil and monstrous?
      
      Unbelieveable.
      
      Do you venerate Kim Jong Un, Pol Pot, Stalin, Saddam, Hitler, Mao and the rest of the last centuries worst mass murderers too?
      
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      March 6, 2025 5:12pm
      - Fender
        
        I disagree with alot of your points obviously because they all have other versions of explanation and who do you trust to have given you the facts you quote, hence the weapons quote,our supposed side can lie as good as anybody
        
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        March 6, 2025 9:30pm
Simon

New Zealand exports to China
New Zealand exports to China total $20.76 billion, comprising $18.43 billion in goods and $2.33 billion in services (figures for the year ended December 2023).

https://www.mfat.govt.nz/en/trade/free-trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements-in-force/nz-china-free-trade-agreement/key-facts-on-new-zealand-china-trade

Insane Wellington Clown Show. But all the gullible clowns who will go along with an arms race with China.
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March 6, 2025 8:20am
- Jack5
  
  Simon, China has responded to Trump’s tariff hikes by putting tariffs on farm products form the United States.
  
  That should help the prices NZ gets for its farm and horticulture exports to China.
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:42am
Scooter

Now it’s the Chinese Medicine Council’s turn to indoctrinate it’s members into honouring the Treaty of Waitangi etc in its regulations, along with Pharmacy, Midwives, Real Estate, Law Students etc. There are probably 100’s of professional bodies in NZ from Vets to Hairdressers, Plumbers, Massage Therapists. Will they eventually come under the same regulations, probably. It’s not exactly Co Governance like He Pua Pua proposed but it’s the Trojan Horse that will no doubt end up with the same result.

https://x.com/toddmstephenson/status/1896755673586966979?t=X_CkJYQJg2SKp1xd2vzfcQ&s=19
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March 6, 2025 8:23am
- I remember when
  
  All at no extra cost to the consumer of course.
  What is the total cost and who gets the money?
  
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  March 6, 2025 11:37am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Here’s an amusing little number. Tuhoe, who are more than happy to ride roughshod over their binding commitments on what was formerly DoC land before Chris Finlayson gave it away, suddenly discovered they need the High Court. What’s particularly chucklesome is that Tuhoe are injuncting one of their own hapu.

Oh dear, how sad, never mind.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360602309/tuhoe-gets-injunction-stop-hapu-occupation-and-logging-iwi-owned-forest
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March 6, 2025 8:33am
- Inandout
  
  NM, the inter tribal rivalry runs deep and because of this the squabbling will be ongoing.
  
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  March 6, 2025 9:33am
  - Paulus
    
    Inter tribal rivalry has been endemic since before the so called Treaty, whereby they killed their opposing Iwi t0ok their better women and cannibilised the rest.
    So what is new ?
    
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    March 6, 2025 11:22am
- I remember when
  
  NM:
  Does the Treaty allow the courts to decide Maori inter-iwi disputes?
  
  4 0
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  March 6, 2025 11:42am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Intra-iwi on this occasion.
    
    I’m mildly surprised that this dispute has not been sorted out in the traditional manner.
    
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    March 6, 2025 2:57pm
Jack5

What’s cooking for Mr Orr?

Adrian Orr is partly of Cook Islander descent.

Maybe Adrian’s headed north-east to set up a Cook Islands Reserve Bank and a Cook Islands dollar, a digital Cooks dollar.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/bank-profits-reserve-bank-says-margins-should-be-cut-competition-needed/VG5VCIYSERDCXEU4SG5JIZBLRU/
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March 6, 2025 8:35am
- JackRabbit
  
  What’s cooking for Mr Orr?
  
  Peking Roasted Duck and Chow Mein?
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:03am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Maybe Frickasee Rabbit ? 🙂
    
    2 1
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    March 6, 2025 11:27am
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    I heard there’s a woman in Melbourne who cooks up some tasty mushroom dishes 😉
    
    3 0
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    March 6, 2025 1:03pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Odd that he decides to bale just as Trump is cleaning house.
    But then again, I’m just a paranoid conspiracy theorist.
    
    As an aside, apparently Soros, the one who as a teenager led the Nazis to catch his fellow Jews to save himself , has been dining deep at the US Agency for International Development.
    His tentacles run far and wide.
    It wouldn’t be surprising if he had a few words of advice for our previous régime.
    
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    March 6, 2025 2:45pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Now that is an idea!!!!
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:54am
- Jules99
  
  So he was a DEI hire?
  
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  March 6, 2025 12:05pm
jv

Beware – “all managers are expected to assess ‘criticality’ “, “the SLT has been working on”, “work force headcount” etc etc – good public service comms obfuscation in the Post this morning.
The real leadership need is for the SLT’s to look at themselves, for them to demonstrate how they are committed to deliver on Government’s policies and priorities. “Teams” in themselves have become an excuse to avoid individual responsibility.
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March 6, 2025 8:35am
- pdm
  
  SLT?
  
  2 0
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  March 6, 2025 10:07am
  - RichardF
    
    Senior leadership team is my guess.
    
    5 0
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    March 6, 2025 10:45am
  - Fender
    
    Senior leadership team
    All schools have them
    
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    March 6, 2025 10:52am
  - Conservatarian
    
    Senior leadership team. Not an immoral woman.
    
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    March 6, 2025 11:03am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Lefties remain committed to group-think. They are not happy that EECA, one of the institutions they regard as their own, has had an alternative viewpoint appointed to its Board. Good to see that Minister Brown overrode MBIE’s opinion to reject John Carnegie’s candidacy – at last, a bit of Trumpism here.

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/environment/543882/simeon-brown-appointed-prominent-oil-and-gas-lobbyist-to-energy-savings-board-against-official-advice
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March 6, 2025 8:47am
Rusty

@Chuck
If you don’t believe God exists then don’t believe what Trump said but if you believe God does exist then believe what Trump said.
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March 6, 2025 8:48am
graham

Woman convicted on animal neglect charges, proceeds to breach an order banning her from owning more animals, argues that the order breached her rights as tangata whenua and kaitiaki under the Treaty.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/supreme-court-turns-down-bid-by-lai-toy-to-appeal-conviction-and-sentence-for-ill-treating-animals/XNJGEZCYEVCD7DZBQHY5GJRC5Y/

If my understanding of a kaitiaki as someone who “acts as a carer, guardian, protector and conserver” is at all accurate, someone who neglects the animals in her care to the point where many of them have to be euthanised can hardly claim to be living up to that role, in my humble opinion.

She also said that animals were taonga under the Treaty, and argued that she did not believe in the concept of legal ownership of animals.

Good to see that for once, the Supreme Court has decided that the supposed rights that someone tries to claim under the Treaty of Waitangi don’t constitute a “get out of jail free” card, and actually other people – or in this case, animals – have rights too.
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March 6, 2025 8:49am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  If animals are a taonga under the Treaty, then they’re taonga of the Crown, not of Maori. Presumably Ms Toy is of part non Maori descent, therefore has a Crown-related interest in the Treaty. But, only (part) Maori can bring Treaty claims; therefore her claim fails on either one count or the other. Catch-22.
  
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  March 6, 2025 9:56am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I note that her neglected “taonga” were all introduced to NZ by Colonising Europeans.
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:24am
  - Swifty
    
    Heh
    
    5 0
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    March 6, 2025 10:30am
  - goNZ1
    
    so who is the King of Taonga, Tauranga etc which is what you get with a completely made up written special language !
    my personal favorite is ‘scissors’ ( kutikuti ) !!!
    
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    March 6, 2025 1:23pm
    - Sponge
      
      Mine is the one I saw recently on a rubbish bin in Wanaka for cans – “Tini”
      
      4 0
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      March 6, 2025 1:52pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      The French
      
      Wi wi
      
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      March 6, 2025 2:59pm
- muzled
  
  Seriously, what the hell is the supreme court wasting their time for hearing cases like that!
  
  They get to choose what they hear and they chose that.
  
  Surely there are more pressing things to hear.
  
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  March 6, 2025 1:20pm
Tomtoddy

The first encounter I had with Ministers and officials was a long time ago but it involved the Minister calmly but firmly contradicting their advice as they sat in his office. The officials immediately changed their position and acted with respect and impartiality.

It is now apparent officials fight the decisions of Ministers and try and outwit them using any tactics to have their ideology rule. Simeon Brown faced his lot down and showed determination and courage. Good to see.
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March 6, 2025 8:51am
- pdm
  
  TT – I suspect Andrew Bayly may have been doing the same hence the verbal altercation that ended with Bayly apparently touching an official on the arm.
  
  We all know what that led to.
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:56am
  - Paulus
    
    Pathetic position for the women.
    As we understand during a telling off she tempered the position and when Bayley lightly touched her on the arm to calm her down- all Public Service Feminism Hell let loose.
    
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    March 6, 2025 11:30am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      According to the debate in the House, it was a MALE that Mr Bayley touched.
      
      Carmel Sepuloni: . And now we are told, in another way of minimalising the situation, that he had an animated conversation with his staff member and he put his hand on his shoulder.
      
      https://www.parliament.nz/en/pb/hansard-debates/rhr/combined/HansD_20250304_20250304
      
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      March 6, 2025 12:47pm
      - goNZ1
        
        Bayley is not suited to politics obviously (like Luxon actually)
        He should apply to join his cousins at Bayleys Realty Group
        
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        March 6, 2025 1:28pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

The new Minister of Health continues to make his mark. Academics are wringing their hands over speculation that Long Covid may lead to silent organ damage (translation: it’s a sneakier virus than we even thought before).

Under the last government, Jacinda & co would have immediately thrown billions at the issue.

Minister Brown simply observes that Long Covid is just another illness, saying “In general, patients with Long Covid are cared for in the same way as people with other chronic conditions. This is largely through primary care, but they can be referred to specialist care when required”.

Exactly right – top marks, that man!

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/543885/long-covid-warning-silent-organ-damage-is-a-real-problem
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March 6, 2025 8:57am
- I remember when
  
  Long covid has been shown to cause a lot of ‘experts’ to forget their behaviour when covid was an epidemic.
  
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  March 6, 2025 1:55pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    It also seems to have caused them to ignore the most obvious potential cause of these illnesses- the jab itself.
    
    But apparently, an experimental drug that interacts with our DNA in ways we are yet to discover and has been proven to be ineffective, harmful and in some cases deadly is the last thing that could be the cause.
    
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    March 6, 2025 2:58pm
    - JackRabbit
      
      Yep, and the Pfizer papers that Pfizer were forced to to release, instead of burying them for 75 years, confirm every fear.
      
      [1] Didn’t stop infection.
      [2] Didn’t stop transmission.
      [3] Side effects include Covid, miscarriages, loss of fertility, death, heart issues, and 1000+ other side effects. And Pfizer knew this BEFORE they started selling it.
      
      Some doctors can’t work out how they got ‘Long Covid’, as they have every single shot, some up to 6 and 7.
      
      “Nah governor, the paint we sell is blooming first class.
      
      If it keeps flaking off, even after a half a dozen coats, you just need to buy and apply another coat.”
      
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      March 6, 2025 3:40pm
RoboRob

Adrian Orr didn’t say why he is leaving, three years early, and he is immediately off site. Not attending a big event today(?) that he was to host. The Minister said about 7 words, something like, ‘I wish him well in the future’.

The RBNZ board are saying there was no issue and this is all normal. Thats clearly bs and the board should be ashamed of themselves. If you cant comment, say ‘I cant comment’, dont lie.

Apparently Orr has no future employment plans. This is very unusual for governors, who tend to announce their next role when departing.

So something is very fishy here. It could be a health issue, although the ministers words seen overly brief if that was the case. My money is on a huge bust up between Orr and Willis, strong words were said and the Minister slapped him down with an ultimatum, resign now or I will do xy and z

Clearly a success for Willis at this point. We need to wait to see the size of any parachute before we can fully credit her 🙂
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March 6, 2025 9:06am
- David Garrett
  
  Robo: I stand to be corrected, but I suspect the size of Orr’s golden parachute is confidential between him and the bank. That won’t stop leaks of course.
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:40am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I hope his parachute is gold, gold not being known for its aerodynamic qualities.
    
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    March 6, 2025 3:01pm
- NothingLeft
  
  “I wish him well in the future”
  
  translation: “good riddance to a useless bell end, responsible for more economic damage to NZ than any individual other than Ardern, Robinson or Peters”
  
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  March 6, 2025 11:40am
- Blog-aholic
  
  Did he actually do something naughty……?
  
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  March 6, 2025 11:46am
  - RoboRob
    
    Interesting. Thats definately an option. Perhaps it was ‘resign or we make this public’.
    
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    March 6, 2025 12:55pm
  - goNZ1
    
    my money is on a Kiri-allen style little event,note his red face,over weight etc , tell tale signs..
    
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    March 6, 2025 1:31pm
G the giant from Dunedin

I see rotten media are attacking Brown today over putting an oil and gas expert on the board of some energy agency, this was a cabinet decision and I would have thought an ideal candidate. But oh no, leftie shills and rotten media have Brown ignoring advice and putting an oil and gas lobbyist on the board. This shit is not going to stop, time to bury the so called 4th estate
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March 6, 2025 9:17am
- septic skeptic
  
  Well we all know it’s time to bury the MSM. So why are National floating the idea of amending laws to fund them further? They should be organizing a garage sale and calling the Sallies in to see what they can get for the RNZ/TVNZ assets.
  
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  March 6, 2025 11:31am
Steve Otto N Shore

Karoline Leavitt was jumping for joy after watching Trump do one thing in the Oval Office.
Zelenski was never going to sign that minerals deal. He wants America to fight his war, which could turn into WW3. Zelenski wants to make himself look good. Zelenski met with the warmongering Democrats before meeting with Trump and Vance. They convince him not to sign, hence the breakdown.
He will be back to sign that deal after he finds out that Europe are fucking around. Europe and the UK have no money, they can’t even keep ap with financing NATO!

https://deplorabledaily.com/karoline-leavitt-was-jumping-for-joy-after-watching-trump-do-one-thing-in-the-oval-office/?
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March 6, 2025 9:32am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  Zelensky has absolutely nothing to gain from signing the minerals deal. Trump isn’t going to help whatever Zelensky does. Putin won’t let him.
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:12am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Dream on.
    
    7 4
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    March 6, 2025 11:33am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Nothing to gain? You think the mined minerals will just never be sold by the US or Ukraine? No minerals means the US are out – they stop all funding for good. Zelensky can fight and lose his own war.
    Putin has nothing to do with it so don’t talk rubbish.
    
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    March 6, 2025 12:34pm
    - Dudley Quaffquaff
      
      What has Trump done or said that is inconsistent with the hypothesis that he is being controlled by Putin?
      
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      March 6, 2025 2:00pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        You mentioned “Putin won’t let him” Mr quaffquaff
        
        3 1
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        March 6, 2025 6:51pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    Zelensky has absolutely nothing to gain from signing the minerals deal.
    
    You are right for the wrong reasons. He stands to loose all that diverted war cash-flow money. And he is right to need security. If the money siphon stops, including back to the deep state, deep state has no further use for him, and his mouth becomes a liability.
    
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    March 6, 2025 3:50pm
- NothingLeft
  
  The new dominant weapons of war are cheap. Ukraine (backed by Europe) only needs to spend 5-10 billions a year on cheap offensive drones to win against Russia. That’s 1% of the Pentagon’s budget, and easily affordable for Europe – if they help ramp up production. It’s defensive and legacy systems like manned aviation, Tanks, APVs and Artillery that are really expensive, but their utility and cost effectiveness is plummeting.
  
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  March 6, 2025 5:24pm
Gravelroad

I was at a function last night where some people were wailing about that awful Mr Trump and, even worse, the devil Musk.
Then they got onto this Agenda 35 (might have number wrong). This is where Trump and Musk give their already rich mates more money – or something.
Is this a real thing?
The people were adamant that it is a threat to our very existence.
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March 6, 2025 9:36am
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  Might have been Project 2025 or Agenda 47. There’s plenty of information about both online.
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:18am
- RoboRob
  
  Yes its real, people do believe this shit. Just like Trumps a Russian agent and the minerals deal with Ukraine is just for Elons Tesla.
  
  Instead of debating policy much of the left has moved to just defaming people (Hitler, Sexist, Racist etc) or assuming everything the right does is for the ultra elite. Ignoring that in the US, far more of the ultra wealthy are democrats and that the Reps have become the party of the working class.
  
  When you opponent moves to name calling, you know you have won the debate.
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:21am
  - goNZ1
    
    MSM poll by CBS has 76% Approve 23% Disapprove of Trumps speech yesty !
    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-speech-joint-address-congress-poll-2025/
    
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    March 6, 2025 1:39pm
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    What has Trump said or done that would be inconsistent with the hypothesis that he’s being directed by Moscow?
    
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    March 6, 2025 1:52pm
    - RoboRob
      
      [Mod – just debate the topics]
      
      ‘he criticized Russia’s actions in Syria, calling them “barbaric” and accused Russia of supporting the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons. He also imposed sanctions on Russia for their interference in the 2016 U.S. elections and their actions in Ukraine. These sanctions targeted Russian individuals and entities involved in cyberattacks, human rights abuses, and other destabilizing activities’
      
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      March 6, 2025 3:59pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Just look at all the downticks here since Trump became President. Never used to be this many. Orange man bad.
    Just watch, I will get 5 downticks for that comment.
    
    7 7
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    March 6, 2025 3:10pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Pleased to be of assistance
      
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      March 6, 2025 7:04pm
- thirteenstars
  
  If you want to see how depraved it truly is, just search on YouTube for a few minutes and you’ll find the most outrageous claims backed by zero evidence.
  
  They have all lost their minds and many are calling for Trump to be essentially eliminated, and let’s face it, if you were insane enough to actually believe Trump was Putin’s puppet, or Musk was a Nazi, or JD Vance was Satan’s sidekick, then that would be the only morally proper thing to do.
  
  The interesting and hilarious thing is, it’s not now just Trump who’s the bad guy. Everyone associated with him must also be in on the plot to install a dictatorship. Musk, Vance, Kennedy, Gabbard, Hegseth, on and on, they’re all part of the conspiracy. It’s the faked moon landings and 9/11 as an inside job and pissing Russian hookers in Moscow hotel rooms all rolled into one demented belief system and injected with steroids.
  
  But in four years time when Trump has left office and there’s no dictatorship, and the Bill of Rights is not in tatters, will the nutters admit they were wrong? Of course not. Conspiracies are a moveable feast and they’ll have JD Vance to demonise, which is already in full swing.
  
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  March 6, 2025 2:24pm
- MCōs
  
  Elon Musk is the richest person in the world.
  Where does an overly ambitious chap like him go from there?
  Obviously he wants power
  
  2 6
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  March 6, 2025 3:17pm
  - thirteenstars
    
    Of course.
    
    The intense desire to downsize the state, to close agencies and even whole departments, to expose the entrenched bureaucracy for its profligacy and waste, his radical promotion of free speech which he is demonised for, and a general suspicion of the power of government.
    
    Musk pretends to be the champion of small, lean government but then when he’s got his young minions seeded throughout the organs of power he pulls the old switcheroo and launches a coup by firing a full-fueled Starship at the US Capitol. It all makes sense now!
    
    Masterful. Hitler himself would be proud.
    
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    March 6, 2025 3:31pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Power? Or to stop the lying, cheating, corrupt Democrats and Deep State.
    You know they are MCos!
    
    6 4
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    March 6, 2025 3:33pm
slightlyrighty

Today I saw a headline on TVNZ news that sums up how bad the education system is in this country.

It said “NCEA fails students in Low Income Schools”

It should have read “Students in Low Income Schools are Failing NCEA”
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March 6, 2025 9:44am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  “Teachers in low income schools are failing NCEA students”
  
  20 0
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  March 6, 2025 9:58am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    That would not surprise me at all. Teachers can’t teach anything except unionist Marxist shit!
    
    7 2
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    March 6, 2025 3:37pm
- cmm
  
  Riiiight…
  
  NCEA turns up at school every day. So do most teachers.
  Unfortunately pupils (I refuse to say students) fail to turn up and use the opportunities we make available for them.
  
  The biggest failure is the failure to show up, do homework and such. If kids and their parents “act white” or, better yet, “act Asian”, then they will do far better – no matter the amount of money their parents make.
  
  You can’t complain that there is no water if you don’t open the tap.
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:27am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Stanford was right over the pathetic questions on this yesterday
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:31am
zulumonster

And another tiresome attack from the lefty Anne Salmond – this time having a go at Richard Prebble for “trying to instruct the people of this country about Te Tiriti o Waitangi, a document they can’t read.”
I couldn’t find any criticism from Dame Anne of Jacinda Ardern being unable to state the 3 Articles of the Treaty – even in English, a language she is purported to be proficient in.
Apparently the lingua franca of NZ in 1840 was Maori so everyone had to be able to learn that language to be understood. What nonsense – but the MSM and (sadly a large number of people) will just lap this latest attack up. We are so far down the rabbit hole I’m not sure we can ever get out.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/03/06/anne-salmond-to-speak-about-te-tiriti-you-must-first-be-able-to-read-it/?mc_cid=dd9abfdfda&mc_eid=b68775a22a
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March 6, 2025 9:53am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Makes no difference if you can read Maori or not..
  the essential skill is being able to shape-shift linguistically.
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:28am
  - NothingLeft
    
    AKA make shit up.
    
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    March 6, 2025 11:01am
  - cmm
    
    Linguistic shape-shifting is exactly what happens if you use an unwritten language that lacks a history of precise use etc.
    
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    March 6, 2025 12:44pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Why can’t you read the treaty? It was all their in English when I went to Waitangi twice
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:32am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Littlewood Draft or the rogue James Freeman version?
    
    2 2
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    March 6, 2025 3:44pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  Attacks on Prebble are expected. He has told the Tribunal to stick it where the global warming sun doesn’t shine.
  
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  March 6, 2025 12:51pm
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Yes, I was amazed when a journalist dared to ask Ardern if she knew the articles of the treaty. But not surprised when her self-confessed ignorance went uncastigated in the media. So galling to hear from a poser who only a couple of years earlier had fatuously told a Maori audience “and you must hold us to account” (in relation to the treaty).
  
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  March 6, 2025 1:13pm
Steve Otto N Shore

One Thing Chris Finlayson Does Not Know.
This is Part 2 continued from the last vid.

Video 13.30
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUOiYEWSBgU

The Treaty is not a partnership. That came from the Court not Parliament.
Meanwhile Luxon just sits on the fence.
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March 6, 2025 9:57am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  “Akin to a partnership” * explicitly means that the Treaty is not a partnership.
  
  * Justice Baron Cooke of Thorndon
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:00am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    “Akin” Try telling that to an activist, TPM, or the Tribunal, then watch them spin out.
    
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    March 6, 2025 12:53pm
- cmm
  
  The “Akin to a partnership” was not the finding of the court, it was merely a phrase used in the discussions (ie. obiter dicta).
  
  “In a court opinion, obiter dicta include, but are not limited to, words “introduced by way of illustration, or analogy or argument””
  
  That is distinct from the legally binding part of the decision (ratio decidendi).
  
  So anyone saying this is what the court decided is pulling a fast one.
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obiter_dictum
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:23am
Chuck Bird

I wonder if this will make MSM.

SLAM DUNC: Is Luxon National’s Biggest Liability? Duncan Garner

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CI0hPNC3Gkc
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March 6, 2025 10:02am
- RoboRob
  
  Cant stand Garner, often says one thing one day and then the exact opposite the next. But thanks for the post.
  
  Regardless of whether Garner is talking bs or not (with regards to the internal rolling), what is clear is the discussion around Luxon is definately not restricted to Act supporters on this blog. This is what his defence crew here have been saying for some time and thats clearly not true.
  
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  March 6, 2025 10:31am
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    Duncan isn’t the most brilliant of journalists, but let’s cut him some slack. Some of us learn from experience as we get older – maybe that includes him too.
    
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    March 6, 2025 1:15pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Another media shill, never heard him when Ardern was going down or Hipkins
  
  8 7
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  March 6, 2025 10:33am
  - RoboRob
    
    Not defending Garner, but he did cover both those extensively. One thing he is good at is detecting issues within parties.
    
    As I say above, which aparently is down tick material, dissatisfaction with Luxon is obviously not restricted to this blog.
    
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    March 6, 2025 11:36am
    - keepcalmcarryon
      
      He can talk about issues to a camera which does take skill. On the downside Garner is just not very intelligent.
      
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      March 6, 2025 12:43pm
  - Ghost
    
    Seriously? Have you heard of google, or bing? Go use it and read some of Duncan’s articles attacking Ardern.
    
    Google.com
    Bing.com
    
    6 1
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    March 6, 2025 11:41am
cmm

Consumer NZ is calling for a ban on card payment surcharges.

They don’t seem to realise that those surcharges have to be paid regardless.

The current system allows people to use either a swipe debit card (no surcharges) or paywave/credit card (with surcharges).

The current system is better because it makes the cost apparent to the person making the choice.

But some people want it both ways. They want to be lazy and/or use credit cards AND not pay surcharges.

The only way for that to happen is one of:
1) The entire credit card business model is changed (not realistic given how many people use foreign credit cards in NZ).
2) All prices are increased to hide the surcharge (ie. people paying with swipe debit cards will essentially be paying the surcharge too).

The latter is really the only way to make this work. Instead of getting rid of surcharges, it hides them and makes everyone pay them.

How that is a win, I don’t know.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/360603994/consumer-nz-calls-ban-card-payment-surcharges
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March 6, 2025 10:16am
- Ehlana
  
  I don’t mind the surcharges, but I would like to know why the % changes from shop to shop. If it was a standard % at all retailers, I would have more confidence that I am covering the charge for using credit cards and not just paying a little extra for nothing.
  
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  March 6, 2025 12:05pm
  - cmm
    
    I am no expert in this field, but as I understand it the % charged to different retailers is not fixed but is dependent on the size and number of their transactions.
    
    It is the same cost to process a 50 cent transaction of a $5000 transaction, but people would balk at those being charged at the same rate.
    
    There really does not need to be any distinction between debit card processing and pay wave debit processing, except that paywave goes through the same mechanisms as credit card transfers and hence charges on those.
    
    Bottom line though is that this is not something that will just go away at the wave of a hand.
    
    Retailers get a discount if they process many transactions.
    https://comcom.govt.nz/regulated-industries/retail-payment-system/surcharging#:~:text=Different%20payment%20methods%20can%20impose%20additional%20costs,organisations%20to%20assist%20them%20with%20surcharging%20appropriately.
    
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    March 6, 2025 12:41pm
- James Stephenson
  
  I would point out that banks a) make a lot of profit and b) offer incentives for people to use credit cards. So, I don’t really get why they make their use cost-prohibitive for retailers so that a disincentive is added to every transaction.
  
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  March 6, 2025 12:12pm
- Ian
  
  No 2 is what will happen if Consumer get their way…
  
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  March 6, 2025 12:19pm
- MCōs
  
  The way I see it you look at the price list on the wall and that’s what you should expect to pay, not a kicking off point
  2.5% paywave
  10% service charge
  15% public holiday surcharge
  Optional Donation cancer society
  
  Could be worse
  I heard about a restaurant on the Rivera that demanded a tip of at least €500
  
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  March 6, 2025 2:10pm
Suze Wainwright

Has no one considered Ganesh Nana for the RBNZ role? Unbelievable!
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March 6, 2025 10:17am
- septic skeptic
  
  Only if Grant refuses to be coaxed away from Otago!
  
  6 0
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  March 6, 2025 11:39am
  - Jethrod
    
    No , he is desperately trying to get in touch with Adrian to make an offer neither can refuse.
    
    4 0
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    March 6, 2025 12:55pm
- goNZ1
  
  I see the pay isnt too bad at 800k p.a so could be a good fit for ol money bags Tamihere
  
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  March 6, 2025 1:43pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Shamubeel Eaqub had first dibs …
  
  (runs screaming from the room)
  
  3 0
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  March 6, 2025 3:10pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Something odd seems to be going on with NZ’s involvement with the Methane-Satellite which is a joint project between the Environment Defense Fund (USA) and the NZ Government.

The promised data control by Auckland Uni has not eventuated, neither has the open access to data …and yesterday MBIE released a press release stating that the satellite control was transferred “temporarily” back to its manufacturers.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/543866/control-of-methane-satellite-handed-back-to-its-us-makers-to-fix-challenges-still-no-answers-from-nz-govt-on-what-is-wrong

https://www.mbie.govt.nz/about/news/methanesat-update-march-2025
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March 6, 2025 10:52am
- greybeard
  
  Maybe they discovered that NZ produces next to no methane, and they are too embarrassed to admit it !
  
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  March 6, 2025 11:25am
Eastlander

https://xcancel.com/haynesdeborah/status/1897299212284375345#m

Some unnamed Ukrainian source is now claiming that the United States ceased all intelligence sharing with Ukraine. No word whether they can still use starlink.

This will cause serious trouble if it has actually happened.
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March 6, 2025 10:52am
- NothingLeft
  
  US policy is clearly to kill more Ukrainians in short term to try and force them to capitulate to Putin.
  
  That will permanently fuck the lives of those that Putin then extends his 3rd-world mafia rule over and condemn more to death and suffering in Putin’s inevitable next invasion, as well as granting license to China and other despots to go on offense.
  
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  March 6, 2025 11:47am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    Any of the downtickers care to explain where NothingLeft’s analysis fails?
    
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    March 6, 2025 1:17pm
    - Eastlander
      
      Didn’t downtick but it’s not actually a third world mafia country or it would never have been able to launch or sustain the war to begin with. Wishful thinking has consequences, one of which is refusing to take the opposition seriously, which leads to things like the Zaporozhye offensive or the Krynki landings where the planners believed in all seriousness that the enemy would simply run away.
      
      As for the rest, nobody is looking to launch an old-fashioned landgrab but waiting on the outcome of this war. Few nations have such ambitions and fewer still could even make a spirited attempt to accomplish them. Many nations struggle even to preserve themselves as they are. Chinese calculations will be based on their assessment of American power, not the outcome of this war. And the current American strategy of retreat from forward defence tells them all they need to.
      
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      March 6, 2025 2:34pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        Median salaries through most of Russia are under NZ $10k/year. That’s a third of lowest in OECD (Mexico). It’s very much 3rd world.
        
        Putin exploits that to get desperately poor men to sign up for death for a few $10’s of k and promises of supports for their families. But being an unaccountable mafia state the promised payments and support are not actually being honored.
        
        Sucks to be a serf under Putin.
        
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        March 6, 2025 5:36pm
      - Eastlander
        
        That money goes farther there. The current Muldoonian interest rates there are bearable since most own their homes. In terms of HDI it ranks 56th out of 193 countries (Ukraine is 100th). Serfs didn’t get paid for military service and didn’t have the option of taking an extended holiday in Tbilisi and annoying the hell out of the locals by pushing up property prices.
        Problem is interpreting everything as an omen of their imminent undoing. A number of people have the same attitude towards Ukraine, and even though Ukraine has been hit much harder, the state hasn’t collapsed and still manages to plod along. And it’s not because the Ukrainian government is more capable or more popular than the Russian one (it’s neither), it’s because a modern state supported by an enormous army and powerful internal security apparatus is very hard to destroy, especially when it’s underpinned by strong national feeling, which both the Ukrainians and the Russians have.
        
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        March 6, 2025 8:58pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    Democrat US policy is clearly to kill more Ukrainians…
    
    There, fixed it for you.
    
    Trump wants to end the war.
    
    7 4
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    March 6, 2025 1:40pm
    - newview
      
      Trump couldn’t give shit about ending the war apart from being able to brag that he did it. He just doesn’t want to spend the money.
      
      3 7
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      March 6, 2025 3:33pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        If he stops the war and saves countless lives, that is something worth bragging about.
        
        Ardern bragged about saving 80,000 lives, but we know she didn’t, and we know the forced vaccinations took a lot of lives, and lockdown took livelihoods.
        
        6 2
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        March 6, 2025 3:57pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        Trump doesn’t want to spend MORE money.
        Don’t you think the hundred of billions the American Taxpayer has paid is enough?
        It is not Govt money, it is the Net Taxpayer’s money. Governments have no money and pay for nothing.
        
        6 4
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        March 6, 2025 4:13pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        JackRabbit at 3.57.
        Livelihoods: “don’t even talk to your neighbours”
        Ardern was totally out of control.
        
        6 3
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        March 6, 2025 4:16pm
      - newview
        
        JR Trumps actions may help finish the war but they also have deprived the Ukraine of any chance of a fair deal in dealing with Russia. Regardless of whether the US was right or wrong to support the Ukraine the fact is they did. Now they have pulled the rug. Who would trust the US to be loyal to them now. They are no better than China or Russia in my book. Would the US under Trump stop China invading NZ. Only if there was a quid in it for the US.
        
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        March 6, 2025 4:25pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        Putin has never honored ceasefires in the past, other than as an opportunity to rearm and prepare for next attacks, so why would anyone believe he is going to behave differently in future? his clear goal (as enunciated daily by his internal state propagandists) is rebuilding Russian empire.
        
        An end to war in Ukraine under Trumps kosh will just see it recommencing in a few years with a rearmed upgraded and far more technologically competent Russian army that will have learnt the lessens of the current war.
        
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        March 6, 2025 5:44pm
      - JackRabbit
        
        @newview
        
        Trumps actions may help finish the war but they also have deprived the Ukraine of any chance of a fair deal in dealing with Russia.
        
        If the Ukraine wanted a fair deal, they shouldn’t have walked away from the scheduled peace talks in Donbass 3 years ago, and set off a massive volley of rockets into Russia, that escalated the war into what it is now.
        
        Ukraine pissed on its chips a long time ago.
        
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        March 6, 2025 6:25pm
  - newview
    
    Yes NL to pull intelligence is unfathomable to me. Let’s not just tie Ukraines hands behind their backs but let’s break their legs as well. Trump is morally deficient.
    
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    March 6, 2025 3:29pm
mandk

@Suze – Dr “Capitalism is a scam” Nana is still unemployed, as far as I know, but he will probably need to wait until Labour and the Greens are able to form a coalition government for the People’s Democratic Republic of Aotearoa.
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March 6, 2025 10:55am
vand

chewing the fat on school lunches:
A school in small town NZ has 400 pupils. They throw out 200 school lunches a day-so 1000 lunches a week -so typical govt wastage. Duplicated no doubt all over NZ
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March 6, 2025 12:16pm
Jack5

Jerry-mandering ….

NZ’s Speaker, Jerry Brownlee, is on the BBC web site with his rejection of MPs’ complaints (specifically Winston Peters) about use of “Aotearoa” for NZ in the House.

Peters has responded he has a problem with “Aotearoa” only when used in Parliament, and if a question is addressed to him in future using the name, he will not respond.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c743zqx453wo
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March 6, 2025 12:42pm
GazzaW

The NZ Herald has just reported that Phil Goff has been sacked by Winston Peters for “deeply disappointing comments” regarding President Trump.

Good riddance. Is Trevor Mallard due to go next?

Message for Goff. Do not come back to Auckland hoping to pick up the mayoralty. Your days are done.
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March 6, 2025 12:44pm
Jack5

Mr Gough: you’re off!

Something he said at a Chatham House event.

What of the “Chatham House rule”? It is:

Anyone who comes to a meeting is free to use information from the discussion, but is not allowed to reveal who made any particular comment.

Did someone rat on Gough?

Peters fires Gough from London post for Trump remarks:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/phil-goff-to-go-as-uk-high-commissioner-after-deeply-disappointing-donald-trump-comments/K6Z57WF6SJH7POVI4OFKNXVH64/
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March 6, 2025 1:00pm
- David Garrett
  
  Jack: My guess is someone ignored Chatham House Rules by videoing the speakers…which clearly allows people watching said video to see who said what – a clear breach of said rules.
  
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  March 6, 2025 1:06pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Goff Gone, Good!
  
  12 0
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  March 6, 2025 1:10pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Maggy: I had a bit to do with Goff in my short time…personally he was – as Chris Carter memorably said later – “a nice guy”. There were much more dreadful people in the Labour caucus of the time than him.
    
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    March 6, 2025 1:15pm
    - goNZ1
      
      Lange used to like telling the story of when Phil Goff visited Samoa and was greeted ”Fa’a Goff”
      
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      March 6, 2025 2:26pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        And now he is coming back?
        
        4 2
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        March 6, 2025 4:28pm
- Jethrod
  
  ……. desperately searching the airways and net etc. for indiscretions by Kiwi/Irish diplomats!
  
  6 0
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  March 6, 2025 1:12pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  Poetic justice really, I recall MFAT passing comments made by then opposition leader Don Brash to US government officials to Goff who then passed it on to the media.
  
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  March 6, 2025 1:18pm
kevn

Top ranked big bikkies gouging in the US…
https://x.com/DataRepublican/status/1897431971946696711
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March 6, 2025 1:05pm
Sparrow

It’s fascinating reading all this stuff from the multitude of armchair Admirals and Generals. Should it be 2%, 5% spending, 4 frigates or subs etc etc. It’s all pointless and frankly a complete waste of our scarce resources. If it came to war our small defence force would be blown away even if we have the latest and greatest equipment. That’s the reality. We should keep out of it. Whose the enemy?
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March 6, 2025 1:13pm
- cmm
  
  Sparrow, I think you are right on the money with some of your thinking – not that I agree with it entirely though.
  
  You are 100% correct that any substantial (and even third tier military like India or Singapore or such) could crush NZ like a bug – if it was motivated to.
  
  Nor can we ever build a large enough force to act on its own. We’re always going to have to send our navy out hiding behind Aussie (or other) skirts – tagging along to one of their battle groups.
  
  However you miss the main point (and I think others do too). Military action isn’t just about attacking and defeating like a playground bully. There has to be huge benefit to send an expeditionary force thousands of miles. So who is going to every gain from attacking NZ?
  
  Military operations are expensive and consume scarce resources, especially during war times. There must be a massive strategic advantage to do so. Even then, the cost/benefit analysis has to be heavily on the advantage side.
  
  NZ has very little strategic advantage and very few minerals etc worth fighting for. As the Americans say: the juice ain’t worth the squeeze. If [insert aggressor of your choice, I’ll just say China as a place holder] want a box of kiwifruit or a block of cheese then it is way easier (and cheaper) to place an order and send a few $ rather than send a carrier battle group. We’re on the road to nowhere. There are far better strategic positions from which to attack real targets like USA or Australia.
  
  But we can enhance that significanlly and make it even more costly to attack NZ. Therefore, IMHO, the main thing is to build a local defensive hornet’s nest that make NZ not worth invading. The juice already ain’t worth the squeeze – now we can make it doubly so,
  
  This is pretty much the model Switzerland uses (and they are far more precarious than us with actual roads into 4 or 5 or whatever different countries. Like us, nobody is going to invade Switzerland for a few cuckoo clocks and chocolates, but it is potentially a pathway to other countries so it is far more strategic than we are.
  
  Switzerland have turned themselves into a self defence hornets nest. It just isn’t worth trying to push through Switzerland. It is much easier to just go around them and leave them alone.
  That model has more or less worked for them fore a few hundred years.
  
  Switzerland spends less than 1% of GDP on military and almost all of that is entirely defensive. Factors such as conscription really help that hornets nest have a sting and keep costs down (as well as having huge social benefits).
  
  One thing I would disagree on though is submarines. Local coastal submarines (ie. smaller, cheaper, short range diesel subs – not long range nukes) have an extremely valuable deterrent capability. Adding those to the mix is more valuable than surface craft as a coastal deterrent. Frigates though can also serve coast guard function such as seeing off illegal fishing craft.
  
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  March 6, 2025 5:16pm
goNZ1

that was what NZ thought in 1941 and then the PM had to fly to USA and plead for military assistance!
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March 6, 2025 2:29pm
Jack5

The new 9.3 per cent shareholder in NZME wants to clean out the NZME board, reports TVNZ. NZME owns the NZ Herald and NewstalkZB.

In a notice to NZME today, James Grenon and his entity JTG4 Ltd proposed to remove all NZME directors. Four new directors are proposed, with the four to choose a fifth.

Grenon says the proposal has been discussed with investors who it total hold 37 per cent of NZME shares, and they indicate their support.

In a separate proposal, Osmium Partners LLC, which holds 6.57 per cent of NZME’s shares, proposes two separate new additions to the NZME board.

On February 26, NZME announced a $16 million loss for its 2024 financial year.

A vote on the board membership proposals will be taken at NZME’s annual meeting.

https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/03/06/billionaire-investor-proposes-of-nzmes-board/
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March 6, 2025 3:19pm
trout

Big news;
‘The Canadian billionaire who bought a 9% stake in NZ Herald publisher NZME days ago is now seeking to remove the board – and install himself as part of a new group of directors.’
All the lefties housed at the herald; Simon Wilson and his fellow travellers (Emmerson particularly) should be polishing up their cv’s.
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March 6, 2025 3:34pm
- Steve Otto N Shore
  
  Where will they go? The Private Sector will never employ them.
  
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  March 6, 2025 4:32pm
  - cmm
    
    Ummm, who cares?
    
    Maybe they can FO to Canada and join the state run media there.
    
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    March 6, 2025 4:49pm
rouppe

Announcement by Minister of Health that bowel screening tests will be extended from 60-74 year olds to 58-74 year olds, and this will be paid for by redirecting money Labour put aside to lower the screening age from 60 to 50 for only Maori and Pasifika.

“Advice from the Ministry of Health clearly states that lowering the age to 58 for all New Zealanders will save even more lives than the previous government’s approach to lower the age to 50 for Māori and Pacific Peoples only.

So the MoH says this change to include 2 more years for everyone is more effective than including 10 more years of Maori and Pasifika only.

Guess what the reaction is?

The Māori Cancer Leadership Network, Hei Āhuru Mōwai’s chairperson Dr Nina Scott said increasing the age for Māori and Pacific people was institutionalised racism.

Predictable. And it’s not increasing the age, it’s not continuing with a trial, the outcome of which showed that lowering the age by 2 years for everyone saved more lives overall.
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March 6, 2025 5:03pm
- Ghost
  
  I heard that on the radio and thought the institutionalised racism was actually having lower ages for Māori and Pacific Islanders. There is nothing stopping their own gp from ordering a lab test earlier.
  
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  March 6, 2025 5:10pm
  - rouppe
    
    It is.
    
    I wrote the the new minister (both of them, in fact) complaining about the two examples I’ve experienced of Maori getting preferential treatment based on race.
    
    All I got in return was “I’ve asked the Ministry of Health to reply directly”.
    
    I’m not holding my breath.
    
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    March 6, 2025 9:01pm
- cmm
  
  I wonder how much of the cost of the bowel screening is tied to all the sending out of packs (most of which go in the bin) and how much actually goes into doing the lab work?
  
  “Beginning in mid-2023, Māori and Pacific peoples will be invited from age 50. The NBSP aims for 60% participation overall and is currently achieving approximately 63%. Māori and Pacific participation is lower at about 49% and 39% respectively.”
  
  So, just like shit outcomes in schools, it isn’t down to Maori being discriminated against but rather than Maori fail to use the extensive resources being thrown at them.
  
  Dr Nina Scott should pull her head out of her arse. The only thing holding Maori back are themselves.
  
  Maori don’t need the field tilted in their favour. They just need to get off the bloody couch!
  
  https://www.cancer.org.nz/about-us/our-advocacy-work/position-statements/bowel-screening/
  
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  March 6, 2025 5:25pm
  - JackRabbit
    
    It is common knowledge that no-shows and cancellations are weighted to a particular ethnicity. Staff in various medical institutions mention that if you ask to be advised of cancellations so you can get an earlier date. But they are not allowed to say what ethnicity, but may allude to it.
    
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    March 6, 2025 6:33pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      I see many leaving Awanui Labs (formerly Labtests)
      Take a card and scan, sit and wait. Fuck that.
      And they throw away the scan card outside! Can’t even drop it in a rubbish bin.
      So ignorant.
      
      2 3
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      March 6, 2025 7:05pm
      - cmm
        
        The scan cards are plastic and reused. They should be dropped back in the basket.
        Anyone taking one outside is a nobhead.
        
        2 0
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        March 6, 2025 8:57pm
      - MCōs
        
        I don’t recall seeing people of any ethnicity doing that at the particular Lab we use in Onehunga.
        For that matter our GP works in a very multiethnic clinic in an adjacent suburb. I always make an appointment, but a lot of the patients walk in off the street and can wait an hour or so. I notice when a name is called someone always responds.
        
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        March 6, 2025 10:02pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    It seems that (part) Maoris and Pacific Islanders have worse bowel cancer incidence than other New Zealanders.
    
    However, in all the media analysis cropping up today, no one has asked as to why that is so; specifically whether it’s the outcome of lifestyle choices.
    
    My bet is – yah! Which is why I’m wondering why my taxes should have been funding an age/ ethnicity inequity.
    
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    March 6, 2025 7:17pm
  - rouppe
    
    The other part of the announcement seemed to be alluding to improving the ability to return samples in Maori and Pasifika communities.
    
    I’ve had the test twice being 62… You drop it in a post box. Is there anywhere in the country that doesn’t have a post box for sending surface mail?
    
    Might not be cleared every day, but just do the test on the day that it is cleared…
    
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    March 6, 2025 8:55pm
greybeard

Cricket final.
Ravindra out for 3.
Williamson out for 1.
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March 6, 2025 6:51pm
- MCōs
  
  That’s why Oz wins so many tournaments. They have belief whereas our supporters are a bunch of miserable sad sacks
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:43pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    A double edged sword. I find sports fanatics (especially AFL fanatics) in Oz to be extremely tedious bores and too often nasty tools. I just can’t connect with their world. But that’s just me. Those people would probably regard me as being a traitor. Thankfully in Oz one is still legally free to choose their own hobbies and interests.
    
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    March 6, 2025 11:04pm
John Loveridge

The school orders 310 lunches a day and about 150 are left untouched.

“‘We’ve had a lot of kids not eating because of the look of the food, the taste, the smell…” Poole said.

“Some students are now bringing their own lunches.”

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/gisborne-school-student-in-ae-with-burns-from-hot-school-lunch/OQAAORE6KNDVXB6OQTPK3QJDC4/

Principal Poole is clearly an idiot.
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March 6, 2025 7:10pm
Ghost

While the leadership of Chris Hipkins and Carmel Sepuloni as deputy would stay, there was expected to be movement down the order, including some new portfolios.

A source says Ginny Andersen would be tasked with a new role around getting people into work, with the portfolio called Jobs and Incomes.

Article

Jobs and income…. Seriously. And how different does that sound to work and income. How about new names for everything. Health portfolio could be fixing ouchies.
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March 6, 2025 7:22pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Hipkins looks to be promoting his close mates..
  
  I think there’s more capable MPs that Ginny Anderson in the Labour Party.
  
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  March 6, 2025 8:11pm

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