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May 25, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 25 May 2025

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General Debate

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Souvlaki

Start the day with a laugh!🤣
https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2025/05/matua-kahurangi-nz-heralds-utterly.html?m=1
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May 25, 2025 8:01am
- Alboy
  
  I saw the headline but didn’t click on it. Wouldn’t reward them with a click.
  
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  May 25, 2025 8:27am
- Cassandra
  
  I hadn’t read the Herald article and will make a point of not doing so. It’s an indication of where a once good newspaper has ended up. Fish and chip shops don’t even use it these days. I stopped subscribing 15 years ago. The parody that Parliament has become deserves better. For a dress statement (and a fine speech) I thought Matua Shane Jones took the prize.
  
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  May 25, 2025 8:28am
  - Damocles11
    
    What about your comment got some riled up? The Herald is only fit for wrapping fish and chips in. Sorry NZ establishment, it’s the truth. A recent Herald ‘birthday special’ had their ‘Premium’ content on sale for 50 cents a week. They’d give it away if they could, they simply want you in that overall subscriber number to shop to advertisers. You cannot credibly claim that your product is something that it a ‘Premium’ product and also attempt to sell it for 50 cents a week.
    
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    May 25, 2025 10:13am
- Grumpy Silver Top
  
  Indeed, enjoyable in a sad but true way. Disrespect for so much that our society holds as truth is becoming ever more visible in public fora. Even the word disrespect has lost its true meaning as the language morphs into near incomprehensible doggerel. That is, Kiwi English. Fortunately, through the various international electronic media we can still read the writing of those for whom the nuances and clarity of English are tools for communication.
  
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  May 25, 2025 8:58am
- Culture War Criminal
  
  Oh, God. “The Left are the real fashion criminals”?
  
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  May 25, 2025 10:36am
NeverMindTheBollocks

The renaming of Russell as Kororareka has been declined – or at least, deferred.

Kororareka is so named because a pre contact Maori considered the local penguins tasted sweet.

Doesn’t sound very green to me. I reckon that anyone who wants the name change has to first eat a penguin.

http://www.1news.co.nz/2025/05/23/kororareka-marae-plea-to-restore-original-name-for-russell-denied/
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May 25, 2025 8:01am
- Jack5
  
  Intercession on the name “Russell” by Chris Penk as Minister for Land Information is significant. He has authority over decisions of the NZ Geographic Board, which has changed many English-language place names to Maori versions.
  
  Another board ruling has upset Central Otago-ites. It’s that Hawea should have a macron over the first “a” in the name.
  
  Put “Hāwea” into the online Maori dictionary Te Aka and the pronounced option sounds the same as non-macron “Hawea,” except the first “a” is slightly longer.
  
  The settlement of about 1,000 people alongside Lake Hawea is reluctant to spend money changing its signs.
  
  Te Aka also lists “Hāwea,” with macron, as the Maori name for Bligh Sound in Fiordland. Bligh Sound’s English name was bestowed in 1809 in honour of William Bligh, who was governor of New South Wales. This was after the mutiny on HMS Bounty in 1789, when she was under his command. The Geographic Board changed the fiord’s official name to ” Hāwea/Bligh Sound” in October 2019. Bligh Sound is 30 km south of Milford Sound.
  
  Perhaps the Geographic Board should follow a policy of dual names: one in the English language, one in Maori. Give users the choice.
  
  The board itself has a Maori name: Ngā Pou Taunaha o Aotearoa. It gives an English version: “memorial markers of the landscape”.
  
  The board has 10 members: Anselm Haanen (chairman), the Surveyor General; Robin Kearns, a professor of geography and nominee of the Geographical Society; Paulette Tamati-Elliffe, a nominee of Ngai Tahu; Merata Kawharu, a nominee of the Minister for Land Information; Jenni Vernon, a former chairwoman of the Waikato Regional Council and a nominee of the Minister of Land Information; Adam Greenland, the National Hydrographer; Iaean Cranwell, a nominee of Local Government NZ and a leader of Maori in local government, and a Ngai Tahu councillor on Environment Canterbury; Cadence Kaumoana, chief executive of the Public Health Association of NZ and a nominee of the Minister for Maori Development; Mahana Toka, a nominee of the Minister for Maori Development; and Mick Abbott, nominee of the Federated Mountain Clubs of NZ.
  
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  May 25, 2025 1:39pm
  - Flossie
    
    That dual option worked really well for Mt Egmont/Taranaki Maunga didn’t it.
    
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    May 25, 2025 2:40pm
    - Jack5
      
      The Geographic Board didn’t merely institute “dual names” for the mountain when it made the change on 6 August 1985.
      
      It made “Egmont” a secondary> name. Here’s the board’s resolution:
      
      That the name of the mountain revert to its original name ‘Taranaki’ but that the name ‘Egmont’ be continued as a secondary name in brackets.
      
      That the prefix ‘Mount’ be used in front of the name ‘Taranaki’ for mapping purposes.
      
      That the board agrees that it sees no reason for changing the name of other geographical features or locations such as Cape Egmont, Egmont Village,
      and East Egmont.
      
      Both names became official. The board attributes the dominance of “Taranaki” to the Taranaki Daily News editor, Lance Girling-Butcher, in the early 2000’s.
      
      It says the newspaper was still using ‘Egmont’ when Girling-Butcher became editor. Prompted by requests from Maori, Girling-Butcher told sub-editors to use “Taranaki” for the mountain name.
      
      https://www.linz.govt.nz/our-work/new-zealand-geographic-board/place-name-stories/place-names-cooks-voyages/mount-taranaki-or-mount-egmont
      
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      May 25, 2025 3:23pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Disband the bloody board.
    Its a make work project!!!!
    ie they want to keep their stipend so keep making “”rulings””
    
    If somebody wants to change a name. Organise a poll of locals. Let democracy rule.
    
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    May 25, 2025 3:39pm
    - Jake Dee
      
      Nope.
      If there is one job that absolutely has to be done by central government then it’s counting what is actually there, putting names on it and drawing maps of it.
      Want to make a road from point A to point B? Where exactly and what exactly are those? Is that point A or Village Ah, point B or Mount Bee? Maybe the official name will be what the locals call it but maybe not, however it’s still a job for the sovereign power not a local opinion poll which could run 51 – 49% either way or 33-34-33% in three different ways and then change again in 20 years.
      Incidentally, I remember reading a story from ancient Chinese history (maybe Ming dynasty) when after a new Emperor had ascended the throne it was discovered that there was a small (but official) village that had exactly the same name (combination of written characters).
      Naturally the village had to change its name. That’s not just about the dignity of the Emperor, any possible confusion could gum up the official paperwork.
      
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      May 25, 2025 4:56pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        I agree on NEW NAMES, not the changing of names that have been in common usage for yonks
        
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        May 25, 2025 6:34pm
Simon

Welfare spending (non- Nat Super) in 2007 was 3% of GDP. Now in 2024 its nearly 5% of GDP. That was 20 billion pa on welfare. (non-Nat Super). That is a serious and structural problem that is getting worse.
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May 25, 2025 8:11am
- Quail
  
  Simon,
  A lot of other non productive spending in included as well .eg NZ Rail, Americas Cup.,NZ Film industry.etc etc
  When times are hard any subsidies need to be targeted to productive enterprises, not the nice to have , or just socially desirable.
  This budget fails on those counts.
  
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  May 25, 2025 3:21pm
Scott

Joe Biden is still in the news. Jake Tapper’s new book exposing the Biden decline has led to some Republican investigations of who was in charge of the White House?

https://youtu.be/yg1eg3azCQw?si=JV1Bz8hrCBbmZrQi

Benny Johnson reports on this issue and more specifically who was in charge of the autopen that signed all the president’s executive orders? Biden pardoned 8064 people right at the end of his term. We know because of Biden’s well documented mental decline, there is no way he would have been able to review the files of 8000 people. He wouldn’t remember 8000 people.

The speculation is that White House staffers, who were basically running the show, made money giving pardons. They took the bribe and gave the pardon by executive order, signed by the autopen, and Biden knew nothing about it.

If this is true, for 4 years the president wasn’t the president, he pardoned people he knew nothing about and staffers were bribed to issue the pardons.

One wonders about the rest of the executive orders? Biden was supposed to be a middle of the road moderate guy. Yet he governed on the far left. Did he know what he was doing? Or were the staffers running the show from behind the scenes?

This is one of the greatest scandals in presidential history and the mainstream media missed all of it.
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May 25, 2025 8:12am
- Graeme Hall
  
  My interpretation is the US mainstream media clearly knew Biden was incapable and colluded with the Whitehouse & his relatives to hide the fact from the public. Video clips of him unable to read a teleprompter, falling upstairs, andlosing his way off stage meant everyone who observed him knew the truth.
  
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  May 25, 2025 12:38pm
  - Scott
    
    Graeme, I’ve just begun reading Jake Tapper’s book on the issue. His take is that the media suspected something and asked about it but were constantly shielded by his aides who insisted he was fine.
    Whether you believe that I’ll leave up to you. 🤔
    
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    May 25, 2025 1:24pm
    - Conservatarian
      
      They must have just forgotten to run stories EVERY NIGHT FOR THREE PLUS YEARS about their suspicions and how the WH stymied their investigations and OUR DEMOCRACY
      
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      May 25, 2025 2:12pm
Simon

Turbocharging New Zealand’s economic growth is the key to brighter days ahead for all Kiwis, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon says.

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/economic-growth-key-better-days-ahead

“The Growth Budget” has just one growth-oriented policy, estimated by Tsy to raise GDP by a mere 1% over 20 years (0.5% in total in the next five).

We were, of course, promised “bold steps”.

Simply unserious

https://x.com/MHReddell/status/1925371387700814084

National party………… NZ is finished. Steady decline baked in.
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May 25, 2025 8:16am
Gravelroad

If that is the best the Herald can do to critique Ms Willis’s budget, she must be on to a winner then.
Quite misogynistic of the media.
Will look forward to hearing about the source of the suits Mr Hipkins wears.
And Mr Peters – the king of suits.
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May 25, 2025 8:25am
- G152
  
  The media is no longer a trustworthy source of ‘news’…
  As has been written Not Even Worth Seeing (or reading)
  Anything not leftish is ignored, belittled or, if important, given scant space…..
  Dump the media
  
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  May 25, 2025 9:00am
- Damocles11
  
  The focus on what are person is wearing is lamentable. Governments are temporary, our deteriorating fiscal circumstances are not. All New Zealanders should be extremely worried about the mess we are in as a nation. Unfortunately we are now so divided, polarised, and tribal that I don’t think any sort of broad consensus on almost anything is now possible. We are in one stage of the breakdown of our social cohesion. As we get collectively poorer and the medicine we will need to take will get increasingly drastic, social cohesion will break down further. For those of the centre right who are in the establishment and looking on silently I have to tell you that these problems cannot be fixed simply by lowering interest rates and awaiting a miracle, but by all means keep deluding yourselves.
  
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  May 25, 2025 9:38am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMoy0MucWZI
Chad Joining Burkina, Mali, Niger New Alliance! (AES)
Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno has announced plans to join the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), signaling a break from French influence and regional bodies like ECOWAS. This move aligns Chad with Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger in their push for sovereignty and economic independence. Presidential advisor Ali Abdel-Rhamane Haggar highlighted the cultural ties and potential benefits, including infrastructure development. If Chad joins, AES’s influence would significantly expand, reinforcing Africa’s fight for unity and self-determination. [The tone sounds like Deutsche Wochenau in English. However; there is not a lot of news on Africa in the MSM. So, some useful facts can be deduced.]
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May 25, 2025 8:33am
- Jake Dee
  
  Interesting stuff, and you are right, the MSM has greatly overlooked Africa and the changes happening there.
  This “Africa is Powerful” channel maybe leaning into the “revolutionary” “neo-colonial exploitation” rhetoric a bit too strongly for my taste, but this is still significant stuff, especially if ECOWAS stays Euro aligned and AES becomes more Eastern / Multipolar aligned with Russian military and Chinese economic assistance.
  
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  May 25, 2025 5:13pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8tk8o-vl4VI
Verizon Just Ended DEI Policies, Effective Immediately.
Verizon has officially terminated all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies and roles, effective immediately, in a dramatic move that follows mounting federal scrutiny and a high-stakes acquisition review.
In a letter to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, Verizon acknowledged that some DEI policies “could be associated with discrimination” and announced sweeping changes.
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May 25, 2025 8:34am
- Conservatarian
  
  Yes, but this move could also make your mobile phone contract quite racist.
  
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  May 25, 2025 2:15pm
  - sungsamning
    
    How so? Unless dropping DEI is ‘raycist’.
    
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    May 25, 2025 3:16pm
Cassandra

According to The Telegraph, Hamas has not paid its fighters for three months due to Israeli restrictions on humanitarian aid preventing the group seizing and selling supplies.

Members of the al-Qassam brigades, Hamas’ military wing, have not received any pay since February, a source from within the terror group said.

Confirms what the Israelis have been saying. If they send in aid it’s not going to the hungry children unless their parents pay.
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May 25, 2025 8:50am
- Mike
  
  It must be quite the decision: surrender and the kids might get fed or fight the invasion.
  
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  May 25, 2025 9:08am
- CJames
  
  The story the Hamas enablers (aka MSM) put out was the Israelis killed a number of “armed guards” that the Palestinians put on the trucks. That was why deliveries had to stop.
  In the real world, Hamas hijackers got their just rewards – can’t be many virgins left. There would be plenty of food if Hamas stopped stealing it and selling it to their people or using it to prop up their troops..
  
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  May 25, 2025 9:14am
  - Ian Boag
    
    There would be plenty of food if Hamas stopped stealing it and selling it to their people or using it to prop up their troops.
    
    I’m trying to see how the numbers stack up. There are about 2m people in Gaza. A wild guess might be that a basic diet might be about 500g/person/day. So that’s 1m kg/day = 1000 tons. At 10 tons/truck that’s 100 trucks per day every day. 500g/day is probably what you or I would consider a bit on the light side. 10 trucks/day is bullshit nothing.
    
    So suppose there 100 trucks/day going in? No idea about how much is being hijacked by Hamas, but the suggestion is that it would be lots.
    
    Hamas might have as many as 5000 people left (another wild guess) – if they decided they need 1 kg/day that would be 5 tons/day. Half a truck. A whole truck is they wanted to get greedy. I can’t see how they can be selling the stuff on any scale as all money must have long since evaporated for Gazans who have been under the pump for years.
    
    Go figure.
    
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    May 25, 2025 10:13am
    - Culture War Criminal
      
      Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
      The Jews’ numbers never stack up.
      
      Anything the Israelis do that harms someone else is always blamed on those being harmed. Nothing is ever the Israelis’ fault, particularly when it is something they are being widely condemned for.
      
      By their own reckoning, the Israelis’ must be the first nation of people on earth completely lacking any agency whatsoever.
      
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      May 25, 2025 10:37am
      - Nukuleka
        
        Jew-hatred at its most virulent. I assume that when you write, ‘The Jews’ numbers never stack up,” you are actually referring to the government of Israel. Or are you in fact showing your true colours by lumping together all Jews, of whatever political bent or nationality or age or gender, in order to dehumanise and vilify them en masse?
        
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        May 25, 2025 11:48am
      - KH
        
        The thing is Nukuleka. That when somebody criticises Israeli action somebody then makes it an issue about Jews. And then they are accused of being Anti Semitic.
        It’s the Israelis who do the lumping together.
        
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        May 25, 2025 11:54am
      - Culture War Criminal
        
        “Jew-hatred at its most virulent…to dehumanise and vilify them en masse?”
        
        How about you respond to what I said if you think I’m so wrong?
        
        This kind of response reminds me of the “so what you’re really saying is…” Cathy Newman interviewer meme.
        
        But to your point, isn’t “dehumasing and vilifying the Palestinians en masse” precisely the central theme to the Zionist “arguments” regarding Gaza?
        
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        May 25, 2025 12:19pm
      - leoj
        
        The end goal is to elimate Hamas, always the troublemakers, to the degree that even Gazaans will drop them. In the meantime, collateral damage is necessary.
        
        Israel must win if it is to survive but it seems you are for Israel’s destruction which makes you no better than an unhinged terrorist.
        
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        May 25, 2025 12:58pm
      - Culture War Criminal
        
        Exactly KH. Jews are the ones who lump themselves together as a collective, but if someone else does the same thing or observes their collective tendencies, they are an “antisemite”?
        
        Jews tell us they want a homeland for the Jews in the Levant (often referred to as “the Jewish State of Israel” whose national flag features a prominent star of David on it), but when you say that the Israelis are Jews, you’re an antisemite too?
        
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        May 25, 2025 12:58pm
  - Jake Dee
    
    Like it or not Hamas is the government of Gaza, soldiers and other government workers always get paid and governments always extract a tax.
    If you don’t approve of the government and think it illegitimate then their trade gets called “smuggling” and their taxation gets called “hi-jacking” but they are still doing what every government has done since ancient times.
    If you don’t like the government of Gaza then become the new government of Gaza. This will of course have to be a government imposed from the barrel of a gun. How legitimate is that?
    
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    May 25, 2025 5:37pm
- cmm
  
  The same thing happens to all that foreign aid Westerners contribute to when they see images of starving kids in Africa.
  
  A very large % of the money and goods gets paid to the warlords of the areas the trucks drive through as ~~tax~~ security fees.
  
  The guy with the gun eats first.
  
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  May 25, 2025 9:27am
  - Culture War Criminal
    
    “The guy with the gun eats first”
    
    And who has the most and the biggest guns in this scenario? The Israelis do.
    
    Literally, and figuratively, Israel has the weaponry to make Gazans’ lives extremely difficult, as we can clearly see.
    
    It seems to me that the things that the Israelis blame Hamas for doing (using civilians as human shields resulting in heavy casualties, stealing food and supplies from Gazans, and doing other things that go against the interests of Gazans) are, in every case, things that Israel obviously and directly benefits from (and do not benefit Gazans). Therefore is it not much more reasonable to conclude that Israel is doing, or allowing. all of these things, and then blaming Hamas after the fact. How would Hamas benefit from making Gazans’ lives more difficult? They wouldn’t, but Israel would.
    
    They expect us to believe that it is Hamas (not Israel) that is the real enemy of the Palestinians, which is an Orwellian inversion of the truth if ever I saw one.
    
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    May 25, 2025 10:49am
    - Jack5
      
      Culture WC’s … How would Hamas benefit from making Gazans’ lives more difficult?
      
      The assumption there is that Hamas knew its attack on Israel would make Gazan life “more difficult”.
      
      Hamas obviously didn’t see Israelis would rip Gaza apart for seizing and holding hostages.
      
      Hamas now doesn’t see Israelis will fight till they get the hostages back. Hamas doesn’t see Israelis will fight regardless of other international views as long as the US stands by them.
      
      How did suicidal thickos like Hamas get power over the people of Gaza?
      
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      May 25, 2025 12:29pm
      - mandk
        
        How do suicidal thickos like Hamas get power over the people of Gaza?
        
        Easy.
        
        Through lies and eliminating your opponents.
        
        And when you win, you consolidate your position by killing any dissenters.
        
        It’s the Islamic way.
        
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        May 25, 2025 1:31pm
      - Culture War Criminal
        
        “The assumption there is that Hamas knew its attack on Israel would make Gazan life “more difficult”.
        Hamas obviously didn’t see Israelis would rip Gaza apart for seizing and holding hostages.”
        
        Do you seriously believe what you are saying? Hamas have no doubt noted how the Israelis will never let any slight go unpunished, and are a fundamentally vengeful people who never forgive, and certainly never forget, anything.
        
        They seem to wake up every day obsessed with the past and their interactions with others. They’re still hung up on and motivated by events that happened thousands of years ago even, so claiming that Hamas never expected a brutal response against the people of Gaza is fantasy land stuff.
        
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        May 25, 2025 2:10pm
      - Paulus
        
        Hamas only do what the Iranian Theocracy tell them, and others locally finance them.
        
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        May 25, 2025 2:20pm
      - Master Mariner
        
        “How did suicidal thickos like Hamas get power over the people of Gaza?”
        They were enabled through the UN and “Democratic” voting process.
        Better the “Devil you know ” kind of thought to enable a ONE State solution as you know.
        As far as I’am concerned there is NO Moral high ground and only a race to the bottom with both Israeli and Palestinians as collatoral damage.
        The silence is deafening.
        
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        May 25, 2025 3:21pm
      - Romney
        
        With support from Israel to weaken Fatah as I recall.
        
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        May 25, 2025 3:24pm
      - Jack5
        
        Culture WC’s words about Israelis: …They seem to wake up every day obsessed with the past…
        
        Is it the “past” when Hamas is holding hostages?
        
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        May 25, 2025 3:27pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        Did you miss the bit where Netanyahu said the ware would continue even if the hostages were released. UNTIL every HAMAS terrorist is eliminated…
        
        https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-claims-impossible-to-resume-gaza-war-if-deal-reached-to-free-all-hostages/
        
        So even if Hamas released all the hostages, the never ending war would continue.n(UNtil Netanyahu is removed from power)
        
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        May 25, 2025 6:49pm
  - Keith White
    
    Some years ago on the docks at Mogadishu a journalist (of the old fashioned sort) showed me where aid emblazoned with a Western NGO emblem was lifted out of the ship that delivered it, and moved directly to a neighbouring ship’s hold to be sailed south for sale. His editor from the UK insisted he get a witness to corroborate his phoned-in story. So I did.
    
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    May 25, 2025 3:42pm
- mogg
  
  If you have access to the UK DT you must read Daniel Hannan’s article in today’s issue. Most of what he is talking about applies to us here in NZ.
  EG training up skilled doctors nurses and other workers who then leave for better opportunities abroad only to be replaced by bringing in unskilled workers from overseas. Plus massive state overreach and bloated Public Service, unaffordable levels of benefits meaning ever higher taxes. With nobody in Parliament who is prepared to do anything about it.
  
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  May 25, 2025 10:37am
  - Jack5
    
    One immediate help for doctor supply in NZ would have been the third medical school, but with graduates tied to work in NZ regions for years as part of the deal.
    
    This project seems to have been sidelined, or kicked down the street.
    
    This type of arrangement worked in providing school teachers when university education was out of the reach of most NZ families.
    
    The $62 million a year that goes into Radio NZ would have met some of the new medical school cost.
    
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    May 25, 2025 12:40pm
    - Paulus
      
      It takes approximately 10 years to produce an experienced and reasonable Doctor, so get started and wait, and let us be told of the annual results of taxpayers money, as they qualify.
      Longer as they have to qualify in Maori Tikanga.
      
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      May 25, 2025 2:25pm
      - Jake Dee
        
        10 years after a reasonably smart and dedicated teenager graduates from high school. call that ~25-28 years after they’re born.
        
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        May 25, 2025 5:43pm
    - Keith White
      
      Another immediate help to doctor supply in NZ is ditch the racist Polynesian Preference and assign entry on merit. A large number of smart school graduates will apply and enter and do well as many of them do not want to leave their country and study elsewhere – but the racist policies of the Medical Schools and the Ministries mean they get denied entry on the basis of merit because they are pale, or Asian, or just not ‘diverse’ enough. Well, we’ve got the problem that our elites want us to have. They’ll always be able to access their preferred specialists… so they don’t care.
      
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      May 25, 2025 3:46pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      The current medical schools could accept 104?? New students!!!!! With current staff and facilities. If only they got funded.
      
      So it’s a generation away to build and staff a new medical school. Given you could find the qualified staff!!!!!
      Rational thinking would be to maximise the use of current facilities TODAY and remove the stranglehold that has stopped overseas doctors being employed here.(I do see some movement in this direction.)
      
      We have a world leading expert in Hospital/medical systems in Auckland. But because of political bias he is not being used. Dr Des Gorman. (who has Maori heritage)
      
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      May 25, 2025 6:54pm
- CJames
  
  Seems Hamas isn’t being paid by Iran.
  https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/04/27/inside-sinwars-failed-financial-gambit-iran-underpaid-hamas-58m/
  Must be hard for the mad mullahs now; Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas, Houtis ,even opposition in Iraq neutralised, and inflation at home running rampant. Would a coup be in the offing? Something the underemployed CIA would relish to get back in the good books?
  
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  May 25, 2025 1:17pm
- Ra Henare
  
  and we keep getting the HAMAS is supported by IRAN.
  So why is Iran not paying the fighters???
  
  Or is it another misinformation program from the deep depths of the Israel propaganda machine to justify with holding aid?
  
  Yes I am sceptical of EVERYTHING reported by mainstream media.
  
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  May 25, 2025 3:45pm
  - CJames
    
    You aren’t sceptical Ra. You are deliberately ignorant. Did you ever try Google to find the answer? Iran isn’t paying their previous $100M a year as it is running short of money. Here is just one article on their collapsing economy.
    https://english.alarabiya.net/views/2025/03/04/iran-s-bigger-problem-a-crumbling-economy
    As well as that they can’t do bank transfers or crypto (https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-disrupts-hamas-terrorist-financing-scheme-through-seizure-cryptocurrency), or even smuggle the money into Gaza since the border tunnels got closed.
    Once the Hamas leaders in Turkey have taken their cut, there isn’t much left for the ones they push to martyrdom. The “troops” used to raise income by seizing aid and taxing goods. They can’t do that now.
    
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    May 25, 2025 4:27pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Deliberately ignorant.. Thats a first in the slurs aimed at me on social media.
      Congratulations.
      
      I am struggling with the phrase’s meaning.
      Ignorant is a state of education/experience
      So what does deliberately mean in this context.
      Deliberately having no education/experience
      
      Maybe you meant deliberately ignoring?
      
      PS. I dont spend my day trolling around Google.
      Certainly, since Google has been shown to “censor”” certain articles it doesn’t agree with.
      Even tho Zuckerberg told congress, Google would stop censoring(large laughter from me. The guy was just saying whatever he had to say to stop the Trump regime on throttling his business)
      
      I will continue to be sceptical of everything I read on MSM, including Aljazerra and alarabia and other online sources.
      
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      May 25, 2025 7:09pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Oil price is down. Knock on effect for Iran’s budget.
      
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      May 25, 2025 8:37pm
goNZ1

‘ a damaged Air New Zealand jet will return to Auckland today at low level, unpressurised and without passengers, after it hit an airbridge in Australia. ( nz6000 departs 2pm BNE time fyi)
An Air New Zealand Boeing 777’s fuselage has been punctured after it hit an airbridge at Brisbane Airport, forcing it out of service.’

Whats going on with our pilots and marine captains lately?! sounding like Clark & Dawe, the front fell off…
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May 25, 2025 9:06am
- Master Mariner
  
  Indeed the “front has fallen off” and has for a while, It is just a time and numbers game now as it gathers momentum.
  
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  May 25, 2025 3:25pm
- Keith White
  
  DEI.
  
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  May 25, 2025 3:47pm
Damocles11

‘There are historical examples where governments have changed the economic trajectory of their nations. Thatcher, Reagan, Keating and Douglas are obvious examples. Milei is on path to repeat their success.
This government is not of that ilk. Willis’ budget makes it clear that, some underlying success notwithstanding, (it) is merely minding the social welfare state until its true masters return to power.’

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360699632/damien-grant-willis-budget-merely-minding-social-welfare-state
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May 25, 2025 9:08am
Damocles11

Is anyone watching Q&A with Willis being interviewed by Tame? What a train wreck. The amount of money we are borrowing is truly horrendous. $19 Billion more being borrowed this year than was forecast in Budget 2024. We are spending $9 Billion this year on servicing the existing debt. All together now: “but it would no doubt be worse under Labour”. It’s like finding out your house has termites in the foundations, leaking cladding, needs a new roof, and has rotting floor boards….but at least it isn’t on fire. We are in so much trouble.
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May 25, 2025 9:18am
- Notsofast
  
  Interest rates must rise with US debt where it is.
  Anyone disagree?
  
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  May 25, 2025 12:29pm
- Jack5
  
  NZ’s debt blow-out stems from Ardern’s national shutdown of the economy during the Covid epidemic. It was a national holiday.
  
  An inquiry would be helpful to see if this hyper-expensive approach saved more lives per capita than Sweden’s work-on policy.
  
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  May 25, 2025 1:02pm
  - Keith White
    
    A trial and sentences would be good too.
    
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    May 25, 2025 3:48pm
    - kiwimike
      
      KW
      Not sure about that as Treason really should be executed in my mind.
      
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      May 25, 2025 6:11pm
CJames

I see No Right Turn is running a rant about places in NZ should not be named after slavers. Does that mean he is anti-anything named after Te Rauparaha or any other Maori chief? Or is that different and he just having a hypocritical virtue signaling statement? On previous form, I think it is the latter.
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May 25, 2025 9:24am
Mike

Oh no, blowhard talk radio host, loved by MAGA, becomes FBI deputy director. What could go wrong for him? Well, he’s confirmed that Jeffrey Epstein committed suicide. Cue outrage from fans.
https://www.msnbc.com/top-stories/latest/kash-patel-dan-bongino-epstein-death-conspiracy-theories-rcna207785
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May 25, 2025 9:25am
- Gussy Fink-Nottle
  
  Perhaps there’s limits on how much you can drain the swamp?
  A clear admission that the state sanctioned the murder of a widely infamous ‘access agent’, or even worse, a sitting president, would do the US more harm than good. Much more.
  
  Or maybe Epstein was just a hapless playboy with a predilection for young ladies – and Bill Clinton on speed dial – who topped himself in a fit of remorse.
  
  I don’t feel the same glee for their disappointment, though. But then, I’m not anti-MAGA, per se.
  
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  May 25, 2025 10:56am
  - Culture War Criminal
    
    Trump’s never going to “drain the swamp” now, if he never did it in his first term when he was far more capable. He’s been assimilated into the mainstream, as can be deduced by comparing the relative levels of “TDS” expressed now, versus from 2016-2021.
    
    The “Epstein didn’t kill himself” thing, while true, is what is called a “limited hangout.” That is, a disclosure or admission that cannot be avoided any longer, but one which is meant to misdirect from and conceal the real heart of the matter, which is who Epstein was working for and for what reason.
    
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    May 25, 2025 11:41am
- Culture War Criminal
  
  “The unproven homicide allegations have spurred wild theories that Epstein might have been killed to maintain secrecy about co-conspirators”
  
  “Wild theories”? Epstein being murdered to maintain secrecy and to protect others is a completely rational hypothesis, that most reasonable people could easily entertain. In fact, it is more rational than Epstein committing suicide for …… some as yet unexplained reason, although for some reason that just happened to work out very well for people who stood to lose a great deal.
  
  Anyone who wasn’t born yesterday could see how and why this would be a rational course of action for those who killed him, and that, for one thing, the fact that the security camera mysteriously stopped working for at time for some unexplained reason right at the moment he died tends to suggest more involvement than just the deceased himself.
  
  So it isn’t a “wild theory” it is probably the leading theory by any standard of logic and realism about how the world works.
  
  However, always the bigger issues for me (which is never touched upon for obvious reasons), is Epstein’s quite mysterious sources of wealth, and his ties to the Israeli intelligence apparatus. The giant elephant in the room, then, is that “America’s friend and greatest ally” Israel was, through intelligence operatives like Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, running a longstanding and far reaching extortion and influence campaign involving America’s, and in some cases the world’s, elite class.
  
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  May 25, 2025 11:05am
  - Paulus
    
    Rubbish he and Ghislaine Maxwell ran one of the worlds top class brothels throughout the World at great financial cost to the participants.
    Many of those involved started as Prostitutes at a young age as that is what the customer like best.
    We were told that Maxwell’s files are well stored, in case she would commit suicide.
    
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    May 25, 2025 2:32pm
Damocles11

Some things will have to change quite rapidly in New Zealand. We are soon to start falling off a demographic cliff. We have universal superannuation which begins at 65. Denmark just raised its retirement age to 70.

‘Several countries utilize means-tested superannuation systems, including Australia, the United Kingdom, the United States, Austria, Belgium, Italy, and Ireland.’
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May 25, 2025 9:31am
- Mike
  
  Slowly but surely, NZ Superannuation will have to become limited to those in actual need, like other welfare benefits.
  
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  May 25, 2025 9:45am
  - Aquarius
    
    So let’s create another Government bureaucracy
    Filled with ‘unusual’ people like Mike, aka WN civil servants
    To do the means testing required to find ‘those in actual need’
    Bound to cost more than it saves !
    
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    May 25, 2025 10:16am
    - Ian Boag
      
      We have asset testing already for access to oldie care. It seems to work. The Australians have general asset and income testing testing with no obvious problems.
      
      If we did it here, the first step of course would be income testing. Totally within the current capacity of IRD/MSD who share data now to manage the abatement of benefits for those who earn some money as well.
      
      Basically us oldies think that the age benefit should be available with no conditions to top up other income. Apparently for the truly wealthy it is such an inconsequential amount that it’s not worth the bother of collecting it. We don’t feel the same way about employment or health-related benefits but they are not as deserving as us. I deserve it because I have paid taxes all these years, although unfortunately none of it went into a pension account with my name on it. I remember that Winston’s attempt to individualise it went down in flames.
      
      We are of course quite happy to pay this benefit to people who have paid little or no tax. We don’t ask even.
      
      Go figure.
      
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      May 25, 2025 10:35am
      - Skippytony
        
        Australians have general asset and income testing testing with no obvious problems
        
        ***ahem*** That’s one way of looking at it. Another is that it is an inescapable transfer of wealth from the productive / savers / wealth creators to those who aren’t. Basically, if you accumulate wealth over your life, and we are not even talking say double the national average, means testing means you get basically no “free” services from the government. Healthcare? Means tested. Pension? Means tested. Any age related discounts? Means tested. Any family or child benefits? Means tested. Own more than one property? Automatically get taxed on capital gains.
        Sell a $1 million dollar house? State government taxes you $75,000 to $90,000 “stamp duty”.
        
        You are just basically there to be harvested. And if you did what the government demanded and saved to be a self-funded retiree they are now coming after you for that as well.
        
        In other words, if you do earn you pay (a lot) taxes on the way through, and basically don’t get any benefits.
        
        I totally get why they do it, but it is fiendishly iniquitous.
        
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        May 25, 2025 1:28pm
      - Paulus
        
        I remenber that Bob Jones said that he sent his Super benefit directly to the IRDm in his name to sit as a credit to his personal tax account..
        
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        May 25, 2025 2:35pm
      - rouppe
        
        Apparently for the truly wealthy it is such an inconsequential amount that it’s not worth the bother of collecting it.
        
        Might be true of the “truly wealthy” but not true of 90% of people who would be captured by any means testing.
        
        Because be honest, they’d at least start to exclude anyone with more than $30k income from qualifying.
        
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        May 25, 2025 4:16pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        @rouppe
        
        So you think that $30k is a bit rough as a point to start rolling off super? We do it for job seekers at about $10k.
        
        What figure do you think would be OK?
        
        Current figure being a zillion dollars … 🙂
        
        It’s a benefit – why should it be treated differently to other benefits?
        
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        May 25, 2025 5:19pm
    - pdm
      
      Aquarius.
      Sorry – downticked by mistake. Cold, old fingers.
      
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      May 25, 2025 10:49am
  - artemisia
    
    Agree. I guess Kiwisaver would have to be compulsory first, followed by a transitional period. There would then be no reason for age based, just continuation of the standard benefit system.
    
    It will also need a willing government.
    
    The system would have to take account of Kiwisaver withdrawals for first homes or other reasons.
    
    The option of again extending eligibility age does look more attractive.
    
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    May 25, 2025 11:07am
    - ISeeRed
      
      No Kiwisaver withdrawals for first homes or hardship. It defeats the whole purpose of saving for retirement. It steals the amazing effect of compounding returns over decades from workers. As usual, too many Kiwis including most politicians live in lalaland with no clue on how fucked New Zealand’s future is.
      
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      May 25, 2025 1:00pm
      - artemisia
        
        If in some galaxy far far away, Kiwisaver starts to become part of an assessment for a taxpayer pension, withdrawals can be notionally added to the Kiwsaver balance. Adjusted for inflation or similar.
        
        While that would avoid double dipping, hard to see it working well in practice.
        
        Back to the simple solution of raising the eligibility age?
        
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        May 25, 2025 3:11pm
    - Paulus
      
      Over time Kiwisaver must be universal to everybody and we should look to Australia to see how it is done.
      But cut the Fund Manager as they are the only real beneficiary often taking more that the actual investment earnings at the time.
      But the member cannot see that as a result of financial ignorance
      
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      May 25, 2025 2:39pm
      - Flossie
        
        In Australia, universal to everyone. That is, everyone who works.
        
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        May 25, 2025 3:08pm
  - Graeme Hall
    
    Actual need? Piffle. No one staves here.
    
    So you are saying – those who cannot be bothered, breed beyond their means, & consume all their income during their active years should get carried by the more prudent?
    
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    May 25, 2025 11:41am
  - tavita
    
    NZ Super is paid as income and is taxed. This means that if you are still working, the extra you earn is taxed at secondary income rates clawing back much of your ‘benefit’. This is different from other types of benefit that are non taxable. If the benefit is non-taxable it has to be means tested. In fact what would be better would be to pay unemployment and othe benefits as taxable income and then to allow beneficiaries to work at at the maximum tax rate.
    
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    May 25, 2025 12:47pm
    - Keith White
      
      Waaay too sensible tavita 👍
      
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      May 25, 2025 3:50pm
    - rouppe
      
      Secondary income tax that is then all washed up at the end of the year and likely to result in a refund.
      
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      May 25, 2025 4:18pm
  - leoj
    
    You mean, those who have succeeded in life and have saved for their future should be denied while those who have made poor choices and not saved for their future should be rewarded.
    
    Yeah, that’s fair.
    
    Yours is a typical leftist response. It discriminates against success. Again typical.
    
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    May 25, 2025 1:12pm
- Cassandra
  
  As soon as Winnie retires. Age will go up slowly but good luck with means testing aka the surcharge.
  
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  May 25, 2025 9:48am
  - Dougal10
    
    I see the means testing as a misnomer , most of those who it would technically affect will be paying more tax than the benefit they receive or are asset rich and cash poor eg they worked hard and actually own their own house.
    
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    May 25, 2025 10:01am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    I looked out the window at my cafe yesterday and seen Ian Taylor and his wife walk passed, means testing pension will see the likes of him being unable to donate his pensions to the bums of society
    
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    May 25, 2025 11:09am
    - rouppe
      
      Means testing pension as the Greens want will also mean your children’s primary school teacher won’t get it.
      
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      May 25, 2025 11:53am
      - Jack5
        
        How to ensure people with bodies worn in tough jobs such as, say, plastering, get super help earlier than the bulk with skills they can use longer.
        
        [Mod – fixed]
        
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        May 25, 2025 12:56pm
      - rouppe
        
        Fatigue, “wearing out”, tough jobs can all apply to non physical jobs. One of the reasons I stopped working was ongoing fatigue, which caused stress, which exacerbated the fatigue, which…
        
        Not to mention I’ve had three knee meniscus operations among the injuries and conditions accumulated over 60+ years. It’s not just tradespeople who deteriorate.
        
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        May 25, 2025 4:27pm
  - AitchW
    
    I remember when the age of entitlement was raised, incrementally, to 65. I was in my mid 20s.
    The usual suspects screamed from the rooftops that it would be the end of the world, that the streets would be littered with starved oldies.
    It didn’t happen then and it won’t happen now.
    
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    May 25, 2025 11:57am
- Ian Boag
  
  We can kick this further down the road by ratting the Cullen fund. There’s about $80bn there which would last quite a while at (say) $2bn now and rising to (say) $5bn in a few years. The cliff would of course still be there – and higher – but we’d all be dead. The last gasp of the current inter-generational theft ….
  
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  May 25, 2025 9:54am
  - Dougal10
    
    The cullen fund is funded by borrowing it is a joke. It’s like someone with a half million dollar mortgage pretending the 30k cash balance in their savings account is actually theirs.
    
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    May 25, 2025 10:05am
  - Fender
    
    So you’re saying that in the past people generally have made and based decisions on what will happen for future generations and not the current population and problems.
    When did this massive shift in human nature actually occur do you think?
    I assume you are leading the way through example on a daily basis
    Saving the planet for us all
    
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    May 25, 2025 10:20am
  - Damocles11
    
    And there will go our only semblance of a Sovereign Wealth Fund. Invariably in New Zealand everything eventually gets raided until there is nothing left to raid. And eventually they will come for the wealthy older New Zealanders and those who consider themselves ‘sorted’. Nothing has been done to encourage savings across the width and breadth of the populace. Instead we’ve looked at lowering interest rates and stoking immigration to pump up house prices and said “there’s our savings”. But when the legions of renters hit retirement age with absolutely nothing in the bank, governments will simply confiscate the wealth of those who banked windfall property gains. This will happen because we are fundamentally a poor nation. We simply don’t collectively save enough. And without KiwiSaver and the relatively paltry NZ Super Fund it would be even worse.
    
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    May 25, 2025 10:22am
    - [email protected]
      
      With inflation being higher than interest income on savings (which is taxed), any money you put into the bank ends up being worth less each year. That is one of the main reasons people put their money into other investments or buy houses.
      
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      May 25, 2025 1:06pm
    - KH
      
      Replace National Superannuation with a muscular Kiwisaver.
      
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      May 25, 2025 2:21pm
    - rouppe
      
      The whole point of it was to start tapping into it “in the 2030’s” but it seems Willis is suggesting that might be 2028
      
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      May 25, 2025 4:38pm
  - slijmbal
    
    The Cullen fund’s, as economically stupid as it was, largest contributors would have been those who either relatively recently joined or are about to join the ranks of those eligible for super. Highest earners are 45-49 years old. You don’t get to apply the inter-generational theft tag to that one. The aim of Cullen’s Folly was to do precisely what you describe.
    
    FYI if we go down that path one could also argue that the current infrastructure, warts and all, was paid for by oldies and they would like a contribution from the youngsters thank you very much. Such emotionally laden descriptions are divisive and make it more difficult to come up with a solution. They also miss the larger picture.
    
    Because there are no strong mechanisms to get people to save enough for retirement, it’s political suicide to change the current system until that is addressed. There will be large screams from those who based their savings decisions on the current approach. This needs to go hand in hand with reductions in eligibility for Super. Of course, means testing assets is an order of magnitude more complex, expensive and easier to avoid than income and assets need to come in to any eligibility criteria for Super so good luck expecting that to make major differences to Super costs until enough people have sufficient savings to make avoidance unattractive. We need something like the Ozzie system where the enforced higher levels of saving make avoidance much less attractive.
    
    I still think we are likely missing the looming health costs with everyone getting older, which will swamp Super.
    
    Interestingly, average age has dropped from 2013 after increasing by 2.5 years per decade for 40 years. I presume from our more recent turbo charged immigration. I also am unsure whether the age drop is permanent as it may be affected by temporary immigrants. It does imply, however, that the pay as you go approach will be more afforable for longer. Would be interested in seeing a more in depth analysis.
    
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    May 25, 2025 10:36am
    - Paulus
      
      Annette King I believe as Health Minister recommended a flat 3% Health Tax but her cabinet colleagues said no way, as they would not be able to get their hands on it.
      UK have it for generations as Nationsl Health Stamp as an example. Still have my numbers.
      
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      May 25, 2025 2:44pm
- mogg
  
  The UK pension is not means tested, it is decided on years of National Insurance paid into.
  
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  May 25, 2025 10:42am
  - OlderChas
    
    An American friend told me that his pension is calculated on the six highest amounts of tax paid annually from the compulsory personal income return required. Not a bad idea – i.e. if you falsify your tax return to pay less tax you get less in your old age pension. (Incidentally – his six highest years of tax paid were whilst he was in the US Air Force.)
    
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    May 25, 2025 12:39pm
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    If you’ve paid more in, you get more out.
    
    But you don’t need a mandated government scheme to do that. Any commercial savings vehicle will deliver the same outcome, and in the meantime you’ll have more say over how the money’s invested.
    
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    May 25, 2025 1:09pm
- KH
  
  Yep.
  National Superannuation will break eventually. Perhaps suddenly.
  So
  1. Compulsory Kiwisaver. Everybody.
  Phase in Kiwisaver and phase out National Super. Over 30 years.
  2. Compulsion is not about you. It is to protect you from other’s negligence.
  3. No tax on Kiwisaver at any stage. Not at entry, during, or exit. It’s not an ordinary investment. It’s a social instrument. Why would you tax such a thing.
  4. No subsidies either. Make government a strong supervisor not a participant in peoples money.
  5. Yes it will cost us all. But we are a poor country and nobody else will pay for us.
  
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  May 25, 2025 12:04pm
- slijmbal
  
  @damocles
  
  Other countries means test for political rather than financial reasons. A very comprehensive means testing like Australia’s would reduce our Super bill by about an estimated 15% once we adjust for avoidance and administration costs. Not a lot. Presses the perceived fairness button but otherwise not very effective.
  
  Approaches that combine a tax based approach on superannuants with a lighter ‘affluence’ test (means testing light) along with increasing eligibity age over time and an enforced savings regime stand a lot more chance of being effective. Also a lot less administrative overhead and wasteage.
  
  The biggest issue is lack of savings.
  
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  May 25, 2025 12:20pm
- MCōs
  
  The current superannuation scheme with its core pillar of universality was legislated by the National government of Rob Muldoon following the one term Kirk/Rowling administration.
  It was an election bribe and the subject of the infamous ‘dancing Cossacks’ ad.
  Once the genie was out of the bottle it’s hard to put it it back!
  
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  May 25, 2025 12:28pm
  - OlderChas
    
    Was reminiscing with a couple of ex-Navy mates a couple of weeks back – all of us now Gold Card holders. Subject of the cost of living was discussed and one commented, “Thank Christ they took that 7.5% of our pay (that we all bitched loudly about at the time!) and turned it into our Navy pensions.” Never a truer word spoken!
    
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    May 25, 2025 12:43pm
JJ56

So help me, someone who knows. This blow out of the accelerated depreciation policy that the media is going on about. I thought the way it worked was you got 20% writeoff in year 1, reducing your tax/costing the taxpayer ~28% of that.

But here’s the thing. That asset was going to be writenoff for tax purposes over its like time anyway, so all that has happened is the tax reduction is bought foreward in time, so the cost to the taxpayer is just the NPV of difference in time.

Not that much in the scheme of things I’d have thought, but definitely an incentive for the investor who, among other things will have a higher discount rate than the Crown.
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May 25, 2025 9:38am
Bridgenag

WWF: President Trump vs. Harvard
The outcome is critical for MAGA, MAHA, and the well-being of American Citizens

“The corruption, compromise, and narcissistic entitlement of the academic elite must be ended. If MAGA and MAHA are to succeed, U.S.-based academia must be brought back in line to focus on the interests, education, health, and well-being of the children of U.S. citizens. Not the promotion of either globalist agendas or the advancement of our adversaries’ interests.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/wwf-president-trump-vs-harvard?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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May 25, 2025 10:03am
- Inandout
  
  Bridge, you can see why Trump chose people like Noem, a person aloof from the rotten Harvard administration which has held sway for decades. God knows what else happened during Biden’s 4 years of slumber.
  
  6 4
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  May 25, 2025 10:30am
- Master Mariner
  
  That’s the question.
  Is it the university or the endowment he is targeting.
  Iam picking the later. The head of the snake is who’s controlling the endowment.
  
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  May 25, 2025 10:36am
  - Graeme Hall
    
    US Ivy League Universities have increased their highly paid admin people so there is as many of them as students. That is only sustainable by increased high fees and billions in Govt subsidy.
    
    12 3
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    May 25, 2025 11:46am
    - Lance
      
      Bullshit
      The only Govt “subsidies” were paid research projects… you know, like advanced physics etc.
      When Harvard told Trump… (paraphrase) ‘ fine, if you cut off funding for those specific projects, we won’t do them’.
      Trump got all pissy as they failed to kiss his arse, so he now has gone after the foreign students.
      A moronic, petulant and destructive thing to do.
      
      3 14
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      May 25, 2025 1:18pm
      - rouppe
        
        Advanced physics weren’t the only paid research projects. For example there one “to provide actionable insights into the challenges and responses of [Los Angeles Community College District] to the Covid-19 pandemic”. Who gives a f***.
        
        Or “Building Learning through Inquiry in the Social Sciences”. Which of course is a “stimulating, collegial, and diverse residential community in which students conduct substantive summer research.”
        
        They’re cutting the most valuable projects out of spite, not because all other options have been taken.
        
        4 2
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        May 25, 2025 4:49pm
      - Lance
        
        @rouppe
        You do know what the science of physics involves right?
        You know like quantum states, advanced semiconductor design reaching uncertainty dimensions etc etc
        It appears you do not based in your reply.
        
        0 3
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        May 25, 2025 5:32pm
      - G the giant from Dunedin
        
        Because they still refuse to lance the filthy boil which is Jew hatred in that filthy infested outfit
        
        1 1
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        May 25, 2025 8:55pm
    - Master Mariner
      
      By all estimates only 4% pays for the University along with fees and research helps to pay this.
      Question that no one seems to answer is,
      Who runs and controls the endowlment fund ? ie The other 90+ % that trump is targeting.
      It is pretty murky //
      
      3 2
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      May 25, 2025 3:34pm
- Lance
  
  Quite right.
  For Maga to succeed, the USA needs all it’s people to be poorly educated. None of this thinking shit
  
  I see the EU is pitching for the worlds smartest students to attend its universities. Trump should welcome this according to his logic.
  
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  May 25, 2025 10:44am
  - Culture War Criminal
    
    “I see the EU is pitching for the worlds smartest students to attend its universities”
    
    There’s a big difference between “pitching for the worlds smartest students” (which means the smartest students in and of themselves, many of whom will be White and native to Europe), and what the EU’s policy actually means, which is pitching for importing from elsewhere the world’s smartest brown students, a large percentage of whom will have lower IQs than the White students whose places they will take.
    
    7 7
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    May 25, 2025 11:34am
    - Lance
      
      Fuck Me !!!!
      
      If they are not white they are lower IQ !!!!!!
      
      Did you actually just write that?
      
      What an extremely odious statement
      
      5 9
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      May 25, 2025 1:00pm
      - Culture War Criminal
        
        “If they are not white they are lower IQ !!!!!!”
        
        Do you understand the concept of averages, or are you pretending you don’t so that your point doesn’t appear to be the logical fallacy that it is?
        
        If the facts are “odious” to you, then that’s your problem, not mine.
        
        https://www1.udel.edu/educ/gottfredson/30years/Rushton-Jensen30years.pdf
        
        “The new evidence reviewed here points to some genetic component in Black–White differences in mean IQ. The implication for public policy is that the discrimination model (i.e., Black–White differences in socially valued outcomes will be equal barring discrimination) must be tempered by a distributional model (i.e., Black–White outcomes reflect underlying group characteristics)”
        
        https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Richard-Lynn/publication/247325974_Race_differences_in_intelligence_A_global_perspective/links/56efdb1308ae3c6534365525/Race-differences-in-intelligence-A-global-perspective.pdf
        
        “The existence of racial differences in intelligence has been known since the time of the First World War when tests given to large numbers of military conscripts in the United States revealed that blacks had an average intelligence level about 15 IQ points below that of whites. In the following decades there has been debate over the question of
        whether these differences have a genetic basis. This debate has largely taken place in the context of the differences in intelligence found in different racial populations in the United States. “
        
        5 7
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        May 25, 2025 2:21pm
      - Jake Dee
        
        No he didn’t write that, he wrote
        “…importing from elsewhere the world’s smartest brown students, a large percentage of whom will have lower IQs than the White students whose places they will take.”
        That is SIGNIFICANTLY different.
        Debate what he wrote not what you would like to think he wrote.
        Accuracy is important.
        
        5 0
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        May 25, 2025 5:52pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Racism writ large by TPM member

https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2025/05/david-seymour-exposes-takuta-ferris-big.html
15 0
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May 25, 2025 10:17am
Damocles11

A comment I made some considerable time after two earlier comments is now posted on the forum, the other comments are still ‘awaiting moderation’. I find that odd. Surely all of those regular contributing adults that are not using foul or abusive language should be able to post unmoderated, and it shouldn’t matter if you support National, ACT, NZ First, or Uncle Tom Cobbley. If there is an egregious abuse of the privilege, revoke it.
11 4
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May 25, 2025 10:49am
- ISeeRed
  
  I’ve had issues with mods but moderation is also an unpaid, thankless job.
  
  6 0
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  May 25, 2025 1:03pm
Sparrow

I recognise that many KB’s believe that Trump is the saviour of the western world, suggest that they view his speach at West Point.
Some of his comments referred to trophy wifes, taking American democracy around the world at a point of a gun. Deranged hm !!!
6 9
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May 25, 2025 11:38am
- kowtow
  
  sp
  
  Context.
  
  “The job of the US armed forces is not to host drag shows, to transform foreign cultures, or to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of the gun. The military’s job is to dominate any foe and annihilate any threat to America anywhere, anytime, and anyplace,”
  
  Sadly it’s the TDS sufferers who’re “deranged”.
  
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  May 25, 2025 12:48pm
  - Culture War Criminal
    
    ““The job of the US armed forces is not ….. to spread democracy to everybody around the world at the point of the gun. The military’s job is to dominate any foe and annihilate any threat to America anywhere, anytime, and anyplace,”
    
    Aren’t these just two ways of talking about exactly the same thing? “Spreading democracy” is a euphemism for “dominat[ing] any foe and annihilat[ing] any threat.”
    
    One wonders exactly who these “foes” are and how they “threaten” the United States. Only Russia and China could, as a matter of military capability, seriously pose a threat to America at this point in time (with America’s capability in recent years rapidly diminishing for a number of reasons relative to these two), but it is the United States, not China or Russia, who has expressed its characteristic aggressive rhetoric and bellicose intent towards these adversaries.
    
    America really only has “foes” to the extent that it uses this designation to single out targets it intends to strike. Like Iran, for instance.
    
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    May 25, 2025 4:29pm
- Bridgenag
  
  Wouldn’t be good if people just look for the good that was happening
  
  9 4
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  May 25, 2025 1:06pm
Ghost

Credit has to be given to Guyon Espiner for this interview and his exposing the greens tax policy

Widow can’t pay her tax of $25,000 a year on her home, it’s all fine, it will be recovered when the widows house is sold….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MESN7JSUyJE
6 0
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May 25, 2025 5:12pm
- greybeard
  
  What if the house is left to descendants in a will ?
  What if the owners of the house decide that it is not worth the assumed “market value” or the “RV” ?
  Does Chloe Swarbrick really believe that the way to prosperity is to impose more taxes ?
  
  ( silly question…..)
  
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  May 25, 2025 8:29pm
Jethrod

Air NZ plane that was damaged on the ground in Brisbane, is in the air at the moment (1711) on its way to Auckland at 400kts and 10,000ft. Unpressurised. Flight NZ 6000 on Flightradar24.
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May 25, 2025 5:14pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360700956/auckland-toll-roads-speed-limit-rise-110kmh
Fair enough, but I hope the cops keep an eye on vehicles towing trailers and enforce the 90kph limit: when I travelled on the Waikato Expressway last year I was passed by several vehicles towing trailers of various types, and I was doing 110kph ! Ludicrous !
5 0
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May 25, 2025 5:25pm

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