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July 7, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 07 July 2025

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General Debate

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Cassandra

“The absence of strategic interests can tempt small states into a moralistic response to international political issues.”

“Small countries that believe in their own exceptionalism often develop the peculiar neurosis of needing to, as it were, punch above their weight. With limited material power, this tendency is usually expressed by grandstanding on the international stage.”

Is this all a response to Helen Clark? The author is actually writing about Ireland which has just passed a law forbidding imports from East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. The US is not impressed, with 30 states passing laws forbidding imports from BDS countries and Trump threatening to bring home pharmaceutical companies manufacturing in Ireland.

Posturing has a cost.
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July 7, 2025 8:01am
- Simon
  
  For NZ punching above its weight now is making sure everyone gets off the Manawanui in one piece
  
  Helen Clark had it easy. Decades of National, to a much lesser extend Labo, governance had not really harmed NZ as much as now.
  
  Luxon got it harder, National party governance is starting to bite society hard. NZ just cant carry National as well as it used to. Its showing.
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:11am
  - balanced
    
    Interesting…… what is your solution Simon?
    A. Winston Peters
    B. David Seymour
    C. Jacinda Ardern
    D. Chris Hipkins
    
    Perhaps you could accompany your answer with a comparison of the achievements of your chosen leader and the incumbent.
    
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    July 7, 2025 11:17am
    - Kevin
      
      Witness what happened to Latvia. Not many Latvians will likely be pleased to reflect that the Bolshevik coup Oct 1917 would not have succeeded without the ‘Lett Battalion’. Lenin would have lost without them. Their compatriots and descendants paid a v big price for their ‘success’.
      NZ Leftists have moved well past imported American psychodrama of the 60s and are well back into far creepier reworkings of others sad histories.
      
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      July 7, 2025 8:15pm
  - R
    
    NZ citizens are now reaping the reward for their irresponsible foolish voting decisions at the 2017 and 2020 elections. They have made their beds the way they were lead to believe, without thinking the exercise through to possible consequences. The country is lucky that Hipkins and coalition were despatched at the 2023 election
    
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    July 7, 2025 11:48am
    - Flossie
      
      Decisions made in the 2017 election did not include Jacinda Ardern as PM. That call was made by Peters, who gave the impression to many that he would back a National lead government.
      
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      July 7, 2025 12:04pm
      - rouppe
        
        Agree with your first sentence, but not the second.
        
        Prior to the election he was equivocal, as he has always been, about who he’ll support.
        
        The surprise was apparently not appearing to negotiate, or negotiate seriously, with the party that had the highest vote.
        
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        July 7, 2025 12:21pm
      - Jack5
        
        Or, Labour offered Peters a better deal than English’s.
        
        Heaps of studies about the weakness of coalition governments.
        
        For example:
        
        https://ijrar.org/papers/IJRAR22D3124.pdf
        
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        July 7, 2025 8:06pm
    - Philview
      
      I think the quality of MPs is really deteriorating and we have some people sitting in Parliament who shouldn’t be there. The system has to be changed.
      
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      July 7, 2025 1:19pm
      - Paulus
        
        Quite right – it is the quality of the potenntial and elected candidates which dictates our future not their ethnicity.
        In time those of Indian ethnicity will dominate all small businesses in New Zealand and not too far awayx, as they already do some.
        
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        July 7, 2025 1:53pm
- Mike
  
  I’d substitute your ‘moralistic response’ for reasoned support of international laws and institutions.
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:20am
  - Cassandra
    
    Standing in the sideline preaching is no substitute for actually paying your corner.
    
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    July 7, 2025 11:23am
- Notsofast
  
  The posturing arrogance of a small state with a secure sea border against insurgence.
  It reminds me of another one.
  
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  July 7, 2025 9:36am
- MCōs
  
  “Trump threatening to bring home pharmaceutical companies”
  How can he do that, unless he owns them?
  America isn’t a totalitarian state
  
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  July 7, 2025 9:54am
  - NothingLeft
    
    tarrif barriers and other tools – like calling them strategic industries, re-writing IP laws, changing tax laws etc.
    
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    July 7, 2025 10:34am
    - Jack5
      
      For the benefit of anyone-else puzzled by the mention of “BDS countries,” this is the definition in Wikipedia:
      
      “Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent Palestinian led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel.”
      
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      July 7, 2025 11:06am
      - Wandering Star
        
        And, for some reason, US states are empowered under the Combating BDS Act to punish businesses who support anything BDS-related, which in effect means that businesses who contract with state and local governments cannot oppose Israel, as a precondition.
        
        https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/1637
        
        “This bill allows a state or local government to adopt measures to divest its assets from entities using boycotts, divestments, or sanctions to influence Israel’s policies. Such measures shall meet various requirements, including those related to written notice and comment. It also bars lawsuits against investment companies based solely on a company’s decision to divest from entities that use boycotts, divestments, or sanctions to influence Israel’s policies.”
        
        But don’t worry, there is nothing to see here and all is perfectly normal, says US-based Israeli foreign influence lobby group AIPAC:
        
        https://www.aipac.org/resources/myths-and-facts-combating-bds-act-84j6h-rr6c7-ghnxh
        
        “… [the legislation means that] U.S. states have the authority to act against commerce- or investment-related boycotts targeting Israel without fear that they are preempting federal authority.”
        
        “The legislation only covers corporations’ commerce- or investment-related activities in the course of interstate or international commerce. The bill would not impact companies that simply express their opposition to Israel or Israeli policies.”
        
        In other words, companies can do what they like, so long as they express their support for Israel in the course of their business activities, while companies remain free to express their opposition to Israel outside of their business activities (to the extent that companies have any such activities).
        
        “The law does not even apply to individuals. The law only recognizes that state and local governments may adopt certain policies related to corporations, companies, business associations, partnerships or trusts without the concern that federal law in any way preempts the state and local governments’ ability to do so. Corporations are free to express their opposition to Israeli policies, as mentioned above.
        
        Individuals who choose to personally boycott Israel or express support for boycott efforts would clearly not be subject to the law.”
        
        Thank God they’ve cleared that up, then.
        
        “The Combating BDS Act does not limit the rights of individuals—including those acting as government contractors—to personally engage in boycotts of Israel. Such contractors can refuse to buy Israeli goods or do business with Israel in their private capacity, so long as they do not discriminate against or limit commercial relations with Israel or persons doing business in Israel while in their professional capacity.”
        
        So if you are in any way in a position or capacity to impact Israel, you cannot oppose Israel. If you are an individual with no ability to impact Israel, you are free to act as you please.
        
        And this is in America, by the way.
        
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        July 7, 2025 6:30pm
    - MCōs
      
      So a sophisticated way of holding a gun to their heads?
      Didn’t Ireland offer tax incentives for industries to relocate there similar to what we did with the film industry?
      Plenty of countries do that sort of thing
      Because we are so reliant on the EU, China and America for trade NZ is vulnerable to blackmail too as we found out in the Rainbow Warrior incident.
      
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      July 7, 2025 11:12am
      - kowtow
        
        ‘EU, China and America for trade’
        
        Sounds quite diverse range of markets . A good thing.
        
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        July 7, 2025 12:02pm
      - MCōs
        
        If either America or China pulled the plug we’d be in the shit.
        We’ve been hearing for years we should diversify rather than rely so much on China, but here we are – reliant as ever. Now we an increasingly unpredictable America to worry about.
        
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        July 7, 2025 2:56pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        MCōs: “Now we an increasingly unpredictable America to worry about.”
        
        Trump told everyone what he wants to do and he’s doing it, so, no, computer says no.
        
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        July 7, 2025 4:50pm
- Local Miller
  
  Cass, the Ireland bill is for East Jerusalem and the West Bank, NOT Gaza. In particular it’s against the Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, and “against the genocidal activity in Gaza.” Including “Gaza” the way you have is misleading.
  
  https://www.irishpost.com/news/ireland-becomes-first-eu-nation-to-introduce-ban-on-trade-with-israeli-settlements-293349
  
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  July 7, 2025 11:28am
  - Cassandra
    
    I agree. I was counting on an informed audience. It’s a blog comment, not an academic paper. I expect readers to have a bit of knowledge and to do some research.
    
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    July 7, 2025 1:56pm
- Handyman
  
  New Zealand has the opposite of an independent foreign policy. It is utterly a vassal state of the UN and never makes an independent decision.
  
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  July 7, 2025 12:42pm
Chuck Bird

Paywalled. This refers to sentencing. However, there are other issues where experts are wrong, like climate change and Covid safety and mandates.

Anti-expert rhetoric needs to stop or we all suffer from the consequences – Editorial

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/anti-expert-rhetoric-needs-to-stop-or-we-all-suffer-from-the-consequences-editorial/NFMCXO3ZT5EGTPLNZQBODVEQXA/
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July 7, 2025 8:05am
- Simon
  
  Bronson struck Perkinson once in the face, prompting him to raise his hands in a defensive stance before backing away. But, Bronson pressed forward and a scuffle occurred.
  
  Samson then removed the knife from his sleeve, came up behind his brother and raised the knife up. He then stabbed Perkinson to the chest.
  
  The knife passed through two ribs, the pericardial sac, the heart and lower right lung.
  
  National party: hmmmm because of Colonisation Samson is also a victim, he cant entirely be held responsible for his own actions. Goodness no. The comfortable well off need to share the blame somewhat. That is, our own voters need to look hard at themselves. How did they let Samson get away on them. What role have they played. Hmmmmm?
  
  “Samson was sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum non-parole period of 10.5 years.”
  
  National party: Hmmmmm, Prisons are a moral & fiscal failure. This tragic victim will be out in 10.5 yrs. It’s good that civil society can the carry the burden & cost of dangerous lunatics being released far too early. Its about justice for all. Comfortable & well off carry the cost. Take a look at yourselves.
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:14am
- Mike
  
  But experts have generally been correct about those issues.
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:21am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Only if they are “proper” experts – not wannabes.
    
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    July 7, 2025 11:07am
    - R
      
      ‘Proper’…..perhaps ‘educated credible’ experts may have been a better choice of phrase Don!
      
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      July 7, 2025 12:00pm
  - bennerg
    
    Mike, but only on a planet the rest of us do not live on ….
    
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    July 7, 2025 11:20am
  - Jack5
    
    Experts? It’s a moral debate. The smacking of kids issue times 1,000.
    
    Dostoevsky was closest to the best on it, his mind clarified by having been sentenced to death followed by a mock execution, then spending time in a Siberian prison.
    
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    July 7, 2025 11:20am
  - Local Miller
    
    Really? Have you got some secret knowledge of all these experts being correct, especially in the area of climate prediction? Here’s my counter proof.
    https://cei.org/blog/wrong-again-50-years-of-failed-eco-pocalyptic-predictions/
    
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    July 7, 2025 11:33am
  - Local Miller
    
    As we used to say: Expert – an Ex is as has been, and a spurt is a drip under pressure.
    
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    July 7, 2025 11:42am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Mike: “But experts have generally been correct about those issues.”
    
    Their models fail to predict the future. They have a long list of failed predictions about the climate and they need to heavily use censorship and slander in an attempt to silence highly credentialed and experienced scientists pointing out the numerous holes in their half-baked alarmist hypothesis. Climate science has been hijacked by grifters and astro-turfers.
    
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    July 7, 2025 4:58pm
- peterwn
  
  Well, Hark the Herald! (former byline of The Daily Herald in Utah). Presumably they are also referring to their own journos as ‘experts’. In many cases, I perceive that ‘experts’ are often so one eyed and have their heads so firmly up their backsides that they fail to appreciate the wider issues. With smoking for example, anti-smoking lobbyists see higher taxes, more controls and restrictions the ‘answer’ to smoking issues. Never mind the serious and significant negative fallouts that would result from such a stance. So it takes someone like Casey Costello with worldly experience (she was a former police officer) to balance the unreasonable attitudes of the smoking ‘experts’. So presumably the stance of Casey should not count because she is not an ‘expert’. Now pull the other one.
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:52am
  - artemisia
    
    Experts? When your only tool is a hammer …..
    
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    July 7, 2025 8:55am
- JerJer
  
  The problem is our ‘experts’ aren’t even amateurs. They are mostly idiots given a mouthpiece, and that is all. That’s a problem yes, but it will never go away unless you give the microphone to someone with at least half a brain. It’s not surprising no one listens any more.
  
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  July 7, 2025 9:02am
- Taieri
  
  “Judges know the particulars of an individual case and are experts in their field at applying the law to real-world examples. Politicians and their advisors are working in a theory bubble.”
  
  So, should judges not only apply the law but also create it? After all, at least according to the editorial writer, they’re “experts in their field”?
  
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  July 7, 2025 9:08am
  - Prince
    
    Judges may be experts in the law, but they are cosetted from the public an the real world. They are the ones in a ‘theory-bubble’.
    Politicians, on the other hand, have to face the real world public, and the victims at least every three years, and often on a daily basis.
    
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    July 7, 2025 10:50am
  - Eastlander
    
    Sentencing involves no expertise, it is an application of the judge’s personal values – and many of us don’t like their values.
    
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    July 7, 2025 2:05pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      NZ judges seem so keen to send criminals home that having a defence lawyer is becoming optional.
      
      Once the Beak gets the calculator out, the crims only concern is getting a cheap Uber home.
      
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      July 7, 2025 2:41pm
- bennerg
  
  More power and control rhetoric.
  
  “Experts” can only earn respect, it cannot be demanded. Especially when history has shown their total focus on their topic of “expertise” can become so narrow that it ignores common sense, and a broader perspective.
  
  That is why we have others who should be taking the “expert” opinion(s) under advisement, and use it to contribute to a wise decision.
  
  When politics and industry control the narrative, they control the “experts” and who can hear them. Our recent experience in this arena indicates all too well the danger of being fed diet from just a handful of well paid scientists, parroting the political message of their paymasters. Any claim of independence was demolished when any other qualified individual with a different point of view was attacked and threatened with the loss of their livelihood.
  
  Yes experts have their place, but they are not gods. Beware anyone attempting to elevate them to sainthood.
  
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  July 7, 2025 9:24am
- Tom Hunter
  
  The suicide of expertise
  
  As Nassim Taleb recently observed: “With psychology papers replicating less than 40%, dietary advice reversing after 30 years of fatphobia, macroeconomic analysis working worse than astrology, the appointment of Bernanke who was less than clueless of the risks, and pharmaceutical trials replicating at best only 1/3 of the time, people are perfectly entitled to rely on their own ancestral instinct and listen to their grandmothers.”
  
  I guess the NZ Herald writer has never read that, even though it was written in 2017 or heard of Nassim Taleb or has any idea about those failures of “experts”.
  
  Currently we’re trucking along with:
  Experts being wrong about Argentina’s economy under Milei
  
  Justice Clarence Thomas tearing apart the “experts” who’ve been advocating child mutilation
  
  BTW, experts wrote the MOH Flu Pandemic Plan over a decade ago, based on a century of learning how to deal with disease pandemics, updated it as recently as 2017 – and then experts tossed it in the trash.
  
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  July 7, 2025 9:24am
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    You might find it was not experts who threw it in the bin.
    
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    July 7, 2025 9:47am
    - R
      
      They believed that they were experts, who spoke the ‘Truth only’ from the daily podium address!
      
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      July 7, 2025 12:03pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    “The Suicide of the Royal Society of New Zealand” – now that would make for an interesting headline.
    
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    July 7, 2025 10:24am
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  This from the Herald which had (has?) AI writing editorials.
  Classic.
  
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  July 7, 2025 9:33am
- I remember when
  
  “Is the Government considering riding roughshod over the independence of our judges?”
  
  To an extent, do Governments always ride roughshod over someone’s independence?
  Secondly, how independent are our judges?
  
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  July 7, 2025 10:38am
  - imalwaysright
    
    “…how independent are our judges?”
    
    The independence, from government, of our judges seems to be being abused by judges misinterpreting law or deliberately not applying relevant law.
    
    The big problem seems to be the lack of independence of judges from the current co-governance ideology of the Supreme Court.
    
    An analogy would be GPs being bound by the nonsensical ideology of the ministry of health during the covid regime.
    
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    July 7, 2025 11:14am
  - Eastlander
    
    The ‘Judicial independence’ invoked here is a canard. The judicial function was originally devolved because the sovereign didn’t have time to judge every malefactor or hear every petitioner. The Courts were never meant to be independent, least of all in matters such as sentencing where they are supposed to be implementing the policy of Parliament.
    
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    July 7, 2025 2:17pm
- Ehlana
  
  The sentencing one is probably a good example of a basic problem. The experts say that 3 strikes doesn’t doesn’t deter crime, because criminals often act on impulse. Probably true, but is that the key consideration?
  Or is it to protect society from people who severely harm others due to their lack of impulse control?
  At what point does releasing someone who lacks the self-control to avoid hurting others become irresponsible?
  
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  July 7, 2025 4:11pm
Damocles11

Milquetoast corporate yes man Luxon is determined to continue full steam ahead with Maorification and NZ’s fiscal enslavement to the Paris climate scam, because that’s what his – and Nationals – corporate masters want. A lot of people aren’t going to like it and will leave New Zealand, but Luxon has been hard at work sourcing bulk replacement humans from India. This exercise in mass replacement will have the dual benefits of creating a new pool of voters beholden on National, and also keeping wages and salaries low to bring smiles to the faces of corporate bigwigs. What’s not to love?
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July 7, 2025 8:07am
- ISeeRed
  
  Where Australia goes, New Zealand follows:
  
  https://youtu.be/hf0SoSoywQc?si=9P1g13NyJa28RKZ4
  
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  July 7, 2025 12:38pm
- leoj
  
  You have correctly identified two major issues that the mainstream media refuse to touch.
  
  The maori wave is not abating and maori activist Luxon is heading the pull towards co-governance.
  
  I truly hope that his and the Nats stance on the Treaty Principles bill comes back to bite them in the arse next year.
  
  As for the $24bn we waste on the Paris Accord. New Zealand is broke. Breaking from the UN nonsense is a no brainer but the Nats have no brains.
  
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  July 7, 2025 6:53pm
artemisia

Revealed: The Govt departments that pushed back on minister’s diversity requirements cull

When asked about the pushback, Collins said “no one should go to work thinking they got picked because of their ethnicity, their gender, their sexual orientation, or their age”.They should all know that they’re there for the right reasons, which is on merit, and nobody should have to apologise for who they are when they do their job.”

Push back from Green Party public service spokesman Francisco Hernandez and these departments:

Ministry for the Environment
Ministry for Pacific Peoples
Department of Conservation
Ministry of Defence
Te Puni Kokiri

Any clues about what DEI and assessment of merit might mean to them in practice? Would have thought Defence would be very interested in merit.

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/politics/revealed-the-govt-departments-that-pushed-back-on-ministers-diversity-requirements-cull/
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July 7, 2025 8:11am
- sungsamning
  
  Maybe ‘experts’ could get something right occasionally. Then they might regain some credibility. All current credible experts recommend not holding ones breath in anticipation.
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:13am
- kowtow
  
  Defence comes across as one of the most publicly “diversity” committed agencies in the country .
  
  Has done a huge amount of work to “Maorify” and fenminise its symbolism and appearance in terms of cloaks , colours , peronnel etc
  
  Not so sure about its core commitment to being able to defend the country .
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:18am
- cmm
  
  Push back from the MoD is especially worrying, but that fish is rotting from the head.
  
  DEI is the worst (or best – depending on how you’re looking at it) way to take a small, weak, military force and make it even weaker.
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:20am
  - Cantabrian
    
    The Ministry of Defence is not the military. It is a civilian staffed organization separate from the NZDF.
    
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    July 7, 2025 8:36am
    - cmm
      
      “The Ministry of Defence is not the military”
      I am well aware of that.
      
      But the same forces that influence the MoD also influence the military. Any separation is theoretical rather than practical.
      
      The Governor General appoints the officers of the NZ military under advice from the Minister of Defence who will be informed via the MoD.
      
      The NZDF is woke as hell and that can only be happening with the nod from the Ministry.
      
      https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/nzdf/who-we-are/valuing-diversity-and-inclusion/a-more-inclusive-and-diverse-defence-force/
      
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      July 7, 2025 11:23am
    - kowtow
      
      Just watch any recent guard of honour mounted by the navy or army and by golly you’ll see “diversity” on parade .
      
      And it looks awful!
      
      So one has to wonder what the military folk who make the decisions on just how unimpressive they want their bodies of “men” ( cos there’s lots of women on parade , they’re easy to spot, in the central front ranks looking small and lost) to appear are getting their notions from.
      
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      July 7, 2025 1:14pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Think you might find that Military Officers serve in the Ministry of Defence. Certainly did when I, an officer in the RNZAF, along with Army and Navy servicemen served alongside civilians.
      
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      July 7, 2025 1:26pm
      - Cantabrian
        
        Sorry, Ra. That ceased to be the case in 1992. The uniforms now belong to the NZDF, which is not part of the MoD. (I also served in the old MoD when the Secretary was the Employing Authority for both civilians and military. I also served in the new Ministry after that changed.)
        This doesn’t mean that there are not a few military working in the MoD, but they are not part of the Ministry.
        
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        July 7, 2025 4:05pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    The scale of opposition to this salutary move by the government shows just how infested with activists the public service is. But I agree the capture of MOD by woke ideology is especially grievous. Any hiring criteria other than people’s ability to fight, lead or organize can only compromise the capability of our defence forces.
    
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    July 7, 2025 8:47am
    - cmm
      
      Does anyone know what happened to Commander Bronwyn Heslop who is currently on the beach, having brought “a woman’s touch” to the Navy? Beached last year she’s supposed to face a summary trial sometime this year.
      
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      July 7, 2025 11:51am
      - Ghost
        
        Working her job?
        
        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/536588/hmnzs-canterbury-commanding-officer-to-return-to-duties
        
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        July 7, 2025 11:55am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Here’s the Royal Navy view of dodgy behaviour:
        
        “Chief of Defence Staff, Adm Sir Tony Radakin, said: “We expect the highest standards of behaviour from our service personnel and our civil servants.”
        
        They sacked their top sailor recently apparently for having an affair with a junior.
        
        Rules don’t apply in NZ.
        
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        July 7, 2025 2:56pm
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    The Filipino wanted to know where there had been a non merit based appointment.
    
    It is sitting at 100′ off the S Coast of Samoa.
    
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    July 7, 2025 9:16am
    - Tauhei Notts
      
      A brilliant comment that cuts to the quick.
      
      16 1
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      July 7, 2025 12:24pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Artemisia
  
  “Would have thought Defence would be very interested in merit.”
  
  Here’s how the Royal Navy deal with officers who misbehave.
  
  I wonder what they would have done if he was a DEI hire? Probably they would have asked for advice from the NZ Navy…
  
  (The British officer is Adm Sir Ben Key, head of the Navy.)
  
  https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g8zz840ydo
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:25am
- pdm
  
  Stand firm Minister Collins.
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:31am
- Prince
  
  No matter who we elect, the Blob will march on.
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:49am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    How about if we elect someone who promises to sack insubordinate blobsters?
    
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    July 7, 2025 5:54pm
- Swifty
  
  “Green Party public service spokesman Francisco Hernandez said Collins’ moves were “another effort to bring some of that imported culture war B.S. to New Zealand.”
  
  Gaslighting at its finest – accusing us of what they themselves have done.
  
  They’ve brought it here and now infer we are evil if we oppose it.
  
  Liars.
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:51am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Maybe Francisco can explain the difference between an imported culture war, and the domestic culture war that he and his ilk seem to be fomenting.
    
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    July 7, 2025 2:59pm
  - leoj
    
    Just think, if we didn’t have MMP, there would be no Green party in parliament.
    
    Here’s lookin’ at you Jim Bolger – King of the Nat wokesters.
    
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    July 7, 2025 7:07pm
- David George
  
  “Green Party public service spokesman Francisco Hernandez said Collins’ moves were “another effort to bring some of that imported culture war B.S. to New Zealand”.
  
  Of course. “Globalise the intifada” and “trans women are women” are Kiwi As.
  The importers of culture wars want everyone else to just STFU.
  
  52 2
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  July 7, 2025 9:24am
  - 70andstilllearning
    
    Doubt that the ” New Zealand politician” saw the slightest hint of irony in his statement.
    
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Hernandez_(politician)
    
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    July 7, 2025 9:51am
    - Taieri
      
      “Francisco Hernandez graduated from the University of Otago with a Bachelor of Arts in politics and a Master of Entrepreneurship.”
      
      “He served as chief climate change advisor for the Otago Regional Council before entering parliament”
      
      And the Earth is boiling. No wonder…with chief climate advisors as qualified as Francisco…
      
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      July 7, 2025 10:06am
      - cmm
        
        The idea you can get a “Master of Entrepreneurship” from listening to lectures is absurd.
        I am not at all surprised to see that Otago’s Master of Entrepreneurship programme has been shut down.
        
        “404 Page not found” is fitting.
        
        https://www.otago.ac.nz/management/study/master-of-entrepreneurship
        
        39 0
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        July 7, 2025 10:28am
      - pdm
        
        cmm – was Francisco the only Graduate?
        
        14 0
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        July 7, 2025 11:23am
      - Jack5
        
        A year or three ago, Otago University had Morgan Godfery, a former trade union official with a law degree, as its entrepreneurship lecturer.
        
        At present, Godfery is chief executive of the Kawerau District Council.
        
        Godfery’s described at the Daily Blog as a political writer specialising in Maori politics.
        
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        July 7, 2025 12:28pm
      - rouppe
        
        cmm
        
        There’s a bachelors:
        https://www.otago.ac.nz/business/study/bentr
        
        There are post graduate options, but no Masters
        https://www.otago.ac.nz/management/study/postgraduate-degrees-in-entrepreneurship
        
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        July 7, 2025 12:50pm
  - I remember when
    
    Is use of the word “imported” have a special place in the selections of the Greens?
    
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    July 7, 2025 10:42am
- Master Mariner
  
  Rather Ironic statement.
  Collins was the first to state the sinking of Manawanui was Not because of DEI etc.
  Any sane person knows otherwise.
  
  And here’s another important point.
  Leaving the wreck there will incredibly harm NZ standing in the Nautical World.
  
  Using the excuse that NZ is not obligated to remove the wreck because it is a Sovereign State will not bode well in the International Shipping fraternity.
  
  No surprises from me regarding MOD pushing back on DEI exclusions .
  
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  July 7, 2025 5:29pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrpqU_TzAW0
New Zealand Rate Crisis.
New Zealand homeowners are facing the biggest rates increases in over 35 years, with some areas seeing rises of up to 35%. While families struggle to pay these increases, councils are experiencing massive budget overruns and increasing executive salaries.
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July 7, 2025 8:11am
- R
  
  Overruns and increasing salaries, ….due solely to DEI employment policies, and DEI mindset amongst local body electors.
  
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  July 7, 2025 12:16pm
  - sungsamning
    
    And councillors responsibilities usurped by ‘chief executives’.
    
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    July 7, 2025 7:25pm
- Taieri
  
  councils are experiencing massive budget overruns and increasing executive salaries
  —————
  
  Not just that…
  
  Councils’ version of Think Big has a lot to answer for:
  
  “Stadium debt of $85,000,000 has remained unpaid for the last 14 years.
  
  The interest cost alone ongoing [assuming 5% interest rate] is $4,250,000 every year.”
  
  https://leevandervis.com/2025/07/04/dcc-asked-to-help-pay-14-year-old-stadium-debt/
  
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  July 7, 2025 2:13pm
  - greybeard
    
    https://leevandervis.com/2025/07/01/aurora-dcc-lines-company-needs-to-be-sold-and-soon/
    
    “What was proposed was not to spend the proceeds from the sale of Aurora, but to establish a long-term investment fund that would generate returns for generations to come. The idea was to follow the model of large investment funds (think ACC who has 49 billion under investment) and invest the capital in a well-diversified portfolio of assets, and use the earnings to fund key services, infrastructure, or reduce rates. Had the DCC established such a fund, the benefits to the people of Dunedin would have been significant over many lifetimes:”
    
    Now that sounds all too familiar: exactly what the Wellington City Council ( or part of it ) wanted to do with its Wellington Airport shares. The difference seems to be that while the airport is a good investment for the WCC Aurora is a bit of a millstone around the Otago ratepayers’ necks.
    
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    July 7, 2025 3:34pm
vand

It was “groan worthy” to hear one of the hosts at Radio New Zealand refer to an “alleged” attack on a synagogue in Melbourne-We are not yet a state of Australia. And even after playing audio of condemnation from the Australian PM. Perhaps Radio New Zealand has its own intelligence sources and is investigating a possible case of spontaneous combustion.
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July 7, 2025 8:13am
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5GRao88HSA
North Korea sending up to 30k more troops to fight for Russia.
North Korea is set to triple the number of its troops fighting for Russia along the front lines with Ukraine, sending an additional 25,000 to 30,000 soldiers to assist Moscow, according to an intelligence assessment from Ukrainian officials.
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July 7, 2025 8:14am
- R
  
  Probably a true report!
  
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  July 7, 2025 12:17pm
- Lance
  
  Violent, murderous dictators flock together
  
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  July 7, 2025 12:37pm
- greybeard
  
  Stalin would have used his own people as cannon-fodder.
  
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  July 7, 2025 3:36pm
  - Libertarians are right
    
    Rawiri Waititi’s mate in Burkino Faso uses anyone that questions the government on the front lines.
    
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    July 7, 2025 4:03pm
Vidar

Trump’s agreement to end the 12-day war appears to be holding steady.

Iran and Israel are still pushing boundaries, but the conflict itself looks over.

At least until the next round – maybe 2027?
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July 7, 2025 8:20am
Hugh Jarse

MoD pushback is absolutely no surprise when one notes where their PR and recruitment energy has gone in recent years. I am only surprised that NZ Police didn’t push back as well, they have taken a similar approach to MoD
15 2
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July 7, 2025 8:25am
- Cantabrian
  
  MoD is a (smallish) civilian department. It is not the NZDF. The two were separated in 1992.
  
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  July 7, 2025 4:00pm
Cassandra

“It’s time to ditch the hypocrisy. Scrap the race-based teams, stop wasting money on superficial sideshows, and start treating rugby, and culture, with the respect they both deserve. Oh, and don’t even get me started on Moana Pasifika.” Matua Kahurangi is not so satirical this time. Apparently the Rugby Union put on a Maori kapa haka show at half time to keep the Whangarei crowd bored. Matua rather spoiled his outrage by having the game played in Scotland but nevertheless his criticism is justified. Why do we persist with this Maori and The Rest crap?
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July 7, 2025 9:00am
- Prince
  
  Ardie Savea played rugby as a kid for Orental-Rongotai club, then Rongotai College. His coaches (unpaid, many ethnicities) saw talent and developed it. Wellington and Hurricanes then invested in him through academies, trips, under age reps etc.
  
  Then Moana Pacifica came along with a taxpayer-funded wallet and purchased him for a year. That broke their bank.
  
  Somehow this shows the wonderfulness of Pacifica, and Ardies commitment to ‘his’ culture.
  
  Any wonder Rugby is in such trouble finding coaches at Junior level.
  
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  July 7, 2025 11:01am
- Paulus
  
  Many Pacificas now want to be called Maori as they can then get preferences.
  Why do we still need a Maori All Blacks team I expect at great expense ?
  There are no Maori so why ?
  
  11 2
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  July 7, 2025 2:23pm
  - MCōs
    
    Back in 1928, 1949 and 1960 and number of Maori were deprived of the honour of representing NZ when the All Blacks toured South Africa
    I wonder who decided on the criteria for being a Maori at the time?
    I expect if it had been up to you nobody would have been excluded.
    
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    July 7, 2025 4:21pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Until 1974, and the passing of the Māori Affairs Amendment Act, a Māori was defined as someone with “half or more blood”.
      
      https://www.msd.govt.nz/about-msd-and-our-work/publications-resources/journals-and-magazines/social-policy-journal/spj23/23problem-of-defining-an-ethnic-group-for-public-policy-who-is-maori-and-why-does-it-matter-p86-108.html
      
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      July 7, 2025 4:50pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        The late 60s was about the time when creative insanity started to creep into academia on these matters.
        
        8 1
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        July 7, 2025 5:03pm
- Nobby2
  
  Cass, Ardie called the team “Gods team” and the “Peoples team”. So let God (whoever that is) and the people pay for it not the taxpayer through the dodgy use of taxpayers money.
  
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  July 7, 2025 4:23pm
BeaB

RNZ clearly expects to be consulted on how hospital beds are allocated. Such arrogance.
24 2
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July 7, 2025 9:02am
- artemisia
  
  RNZ certainly managed to find ‘experts’ who think a trial ED reallocation is a terrible idea. That approach is so common in the MSM – I wonder if any of the Negative Nellies interviewed for these items sat down with the decision makers to work out a Plan B for the occasions that actually need a Plan B.
  
  Teachers and principals are particularly good at this negativity. Not exactly a good example for their pupils. OTOH do the journalists try to interview a few problem solvers? Or just problem finders because reasons.
  
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  July 7, 2025 10:54am
Maggy Wassilieff

NZ’s Carbon Credit shamboozle

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/what-you-need-to-know/566017/why-do-the-government-s-carbon-auctions-keep-failing-and-does-it-matter
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July 7, 2025 9:41am
- cmm
  
  It’s a bloody rort in so many ways, I just don’t know where to start.
  
  But, mainly, the idea that we should be punishing some industries by taxing them to subsidise other industries is always going to result in inefficiencies. It is always going to make the NZ economy run worse.
  
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  July 7, 2025 10:25am
  - R
    
    Taxing them to subsidize others…..the absolute implementation of Socialism!
    
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    July 7, 2025 12:20pm
  - Master Mariner
    
    Yep.
    It’s a productive way to fleece money from the productive to the unproductive people and Organisations to give them the illusion of feeling productive .
    
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    July 7, 2025 5:40pm
- Tom Hunter
  
  From the RNZ article…
  
  The combination of falling volumes and a rising floor price is meant to keep the country on track for meeting its climate targets, by ensuring companies don’t get their hands on too many NZUs at once, which they can use to pollute.
  
  Hmmmmm….
  
  Nigel Brunel, the New Zealand managing director for trading firm Marex, says it’s not unusual internationally for a carbon auction to fail.
  
  “But you could stand back and say, if they’re continually not clearing, what’s at play?”
  
  It’s been a long time since I did MicroEconomics 101 but I’m pretty sure that if a market is not clearing it’s because the price is too high.
  
  Pity about that contradicting the primary objective of this artificial “market” that’s all about shrinking supply and rising floor prices.
  
  Still, all markets clear sooner or later – you just might not like the way they clear.
  
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  July 7, 2025 1:17pm
  - Local Miller
    
    Micro Economics 101 also say that if the market isn’t clearing there’s not enough demand for the product. The carbon auction fails because no one actually wants to buy carbon credits and they never would except for the figurative gun against the head.
    
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    July 7, 2025 4:39pm
Scooter

I was just reading the story below and have learnt that Mount Albert also well known as Owairaka now has a third “incantation”. So why the need to inject yet another Maori name when Owairaka is perfectly fitting and is used locally, or is it just more virtue signalling. Seriously why make up these unpronounceable names, no one uses them.

Ōwairaka/Te Ahi-kā-a-Rakataura/Mount Albert.

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/national/lena-zhang-harrap-s-murder-bereft-mum-upset-after-tributes-taken-from-memorial/
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July 7, 2025 9:51am
- pdm
  
  Owairaka Athletic Club.
  
  Was this not the base for Arthur Lydiard, Peter Snell, Murray Halberg, Bill Baillie, Barry Magee, ? Julian and others from the halcyon days of New Zealand Middle Distant running.
  
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  July 7, 2025 11:29am
  - Swifty
    
    And the Ōwairaka Red kumera.
    
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    July 7, 2025 2:53pm
  - Jethrod
    
    Jeff Julian
    
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    July 7, 2025 3:25pm
- lifesgood
  
  We’ve all got a role to play in this. Just continue to use the English name, Britomart Station, Mt Albert, Mt Eden, Mount, not maunga. Most of us are not Maori.
  
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  July 7, 2025 11:33am
  - NZer In Exile
    
    In my experience it’s stuck up “white black-fellas” (as outback aboriginals call them) primarily pushing this stuff.
    
    7 1
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    July 7, 2025 5:05pm
  - MCōs
    
    I live on the slopes of Mangere Mountain.
    One day my 5yo granddaughters were visiting and asked if l would go for a walk with them up the maunga.
    You’re fighting a losing battle.
    Btw, as an aside
    They call one grandfather, koro, myself granddad and my wife yai, which is Thai
    
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    July 7, 2025 6:07pm
Bridgenag

Behind the Curtain of the New CDC Panel on Vaccines
Dr. Robert Malone and Retsef Levi on American Thought Leaders – The Epoch Times

“We take a look at some key discussions during the recent meeting, from thimerosal in certain flu vaccines to RSV shots for children, and what may happen with this committee moving forward.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/rwmalonemd/p/behind-the-curtain-of-the-new-cdc?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
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July 7, 2025 10:03am
cmm

I didn’t pay to go behind the paywall, but it concerns me that National is going after the envy vote in their leftward lurch.

Threatening to look at a wider range of options to make sure that banks pay “their fair share” is music to the ears of envious people.

But it is also a chilling shot across the bow of potential investors – basically the same as what Cindy did in the oil and gas sector, but this time in the financial sector.

Envy is one of the seven deadly sins. Deadly sins are called that because of their impact on the sinner. Being envious corrupts you.

The golden-egg laying geese are still leaving NZ in droves. Perhaps trying to squeeze more eggs out of those that are left is not a good idea.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/finance-minister-nicola-willis-eyeing-tax-settings-for-banking-sector-ahead-of-potential-election-year-changes/J23P7MVLCFHGJJAXAOCJ6WLYWU/
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July 7, 2025 10:20am
- pdm
  
  Agreed cmm.
  
  This is nuts and Willis seems to have lost the plot with her crusade against Banks and Supermarkets..
  
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  July 7, 2025 11:32am
  - RoboRob
    
    Its just virtue signalling. The feelz are more important then the policy.
    
    Going hard on supermarkets and banks plays well to the base (especially labour voters). It really doesn’t matter, to the politicians, whether the policy changes actually acheive anything. The most important thing is to have been seen to be doing something.
    
    Case in point the latest round of ‘tough on crime’ law changes.
    
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    July 7, 2025 11:59am
    - greybeard
      
      At least with the law changes the govt actually does have some control: they are powerless to change the legal rights of the supermarkets.
      
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      July 7, 2025 3:43pm
- R
  
  You obviously haven’t read the Herald article about the TAX paid in NZ by australian owned banks. Puts the activists ENVY comments to bed.
  
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  July 7, 2025 12:24pm
- Paulus
  
  Current Banks 12 months Term Deposit return is 3.18% after tax.
  No wonder the Banks are creaming it.
  
  6 1
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  July 7, 2025 2:29pm
  - leoj
    
    If Willis is concerned about banks and profits, increasing tax is not the answer.
    
    She and her woke Nats party have the power to write a law that keeps the banks’ profits in New Zealand.
    
    The Nats are pathetic aren’t they?
    
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    July 7, 2025 7:19pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Useless Green spin…..costs a fortune

n New Zealand the most egregious example is Section 7A of the Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013 that obligates certain large firms, from AA Insurance to Z Energy to prepare climate statements and report on their greenhouse gas emissions.

It is an absurdly onerous regime that achieves nothing and yet the business community has quietly acquiesced and diligently prepares their glossy annual reports on, well, I’ve read a few and it isn’t clear what they are saying.

https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2025/07/damien-grant-why-climate-change.html#more
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July 7, 2025 11:02am
- Inandout
  
  I used to belong to the FMA and pay exhorbitant fees annually but this bullshit must be one of the reasons their fees have ballooned. Being a Government Dept means they are answerable to the Coalition but given the DEI pushback from that quarter I despair. I note the FMA heading has the Maori translation above which in reality means FA and makes a mockery of the tough talk National spouted in the election campaign.
  
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  July 7, 2025 11:59am
  - pdm
    
    IMA – it was LUA when I started in 1986 saw a few changes until I sold up in 2009. Might have been IIAA then.
    
    Fees were never a problem but the switch from recognising good ethics and morals in the industry to academic qualifications for the unethical saw me off in the end.
    
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    July 7, 2025 12:37pm
    - Inandout
      
      pdm, the real estate anomoly still exists because a commercial agent gives advice on which buidings give the best returns on a daily basis. Their annual fees are just over S1100, a fraction of an FMA member.
      
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      July 7, 2025 1:06pm
Prince

Three questions:
Do Banks pay tax under the same settings as other businesses ? Ans: Yes.

Do Banks pay a lot of tax ? Ans: Yes.

If Banks pay more tax, where will the money come from ? Ans: Their customers.

Get a grip Nicola.
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July 7, 2025 11:08am
- Jack5
  
  Don’t understand the third question, Prince.
  
  All businesses’ tax ultimately comes from businesses’ customers, doesn’t it?
  
  Did an internet search and found only reference to Finance Minister Willis saying that, from 1 July, deposits at banks, building societies, credit unions and finance companies are insured up to $100,000 per person, per institution.
  
  Can’t see anything wrong with that.
  
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  July 7, 2025 11:27am
  - RoboRob
    
    Radio and TV news are reporting National to look at tax changes around banks to make sure they are paying their fair share. I cant find any print media references to it however.
    
    If true its straight out of the Ardern policy playbook.
    
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    July 7, 2025 12:04pm
  - cmm
    
    “Can’t see anything wrong with that.”
    I hope you were being sarcastic.
    
    There’s a lot wrong with that. Basically it is the taxpayer being lumbered with the cost of high risk behaviours once again.
    
    The reason some high risk investments return 10-15% is because they are high risk.
    
    If you are risk adverse then don’t be greedy and stay with 4% PIE deposits.
    If you want to get greedy and chase 10-15% then why should the taxpayer bail you out if it goes pear shaped?
    
    People want their high risk lifestyle and want others to pay for it.
    
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    July 7, 2025 12:36pm
    - Ghost
      
      The industry is paying a levy that will go into a fund administered by the Reserve Bank.
      
      Beaumont says it might be the case that some banks and other deposit takers might pass on the cost to their customers, but that’s a decision for them.
      
      Article
      
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      July 7, 2025 12:40pm
      - cmm
        
        ” The industry is paying a levy”
        Well of course.
        
        Translation is that responsible investors will pay more to subsidise the risk of irresponsible investors.
        
        If this is really done through proper insurance, then the risks will be taken into account. That means high risk investments will pay higher levies and low risk pay lower levies. It will drive down the returns of high risk investments, or drive up the cost of higher risk borrowing.
        
        Of course, being a government programme it will end up with everyone getting a haircut.
        
        Yet another reason not to invest in NZ.
        
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        July 7, 2025 2:41pm
    - Jack5
      
      CMM, on second thought, I agree that it’s wrong that the Government should guarantee deposits with finance companies, which typically pay depositors higher interest rates than banks.
      
      America’s Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation focuses on banks.
      
      Among the products it doesn’t cover are annuities. It would be interesting to know whether the NZ scheme covers reverse mortgages, which are offered by at least one bank.
      
      Institutions covered by the NZ guarantee scheme. They include the NZ subsidiaries of three of the world’s ten biggest banks:
      
      https://www.rbnz.govt.nz/regulation-and-supervision/cross-sector-oversight/registers-of-entities-we-regulate/deposit-takers-that-offer-dcs-protected-deposits
      
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      July 7, 2025 2:31pm
      - slijmbal
        
        @cmm I also have concerns as it is forced underwriting where if the fees aren’t set appropriately it can lead to increased risky behaviour by the institutions.
        
        This type of behaviour can be stupid eg Key doing the same back around 2009 after the GFC – I made safe $ by buying buying South Canterbury finance (SCF) bonds and selling them for capital gains as interest rates dropped. It was common knowledge that SCF were doing risky loans and one wouldn’t touch them normally.
        
        Does anyone know if it applies to bonds? I sense a profit.
        
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        July 7, 2025 10:46pm
      - Ghost
        
        Key inherited the “Crown Retail Deposit Guarantee Scheme” from Michael Cullen.
        
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        July 7, 2025 11:16pm
      - slijmbal
        
        @ghost – thanks for that – makes more sense that Cullen did it.
        
        I find it very strange that Labour governments have historically done commercially stupid actions when they’re meant to be the party of the working man. Many examples jump to mind – buying back Kiwirail when Toll would have been happy to give it away, letting Progressive buy Woolies and reducing our supermarket chains to 2, the retail deposit guarantee scheme was much too generous and removed moral hazard, the listing of Telecom NZ at ludicrously generous terms. At least they ended up with some airnz shares when Cullen and Clark bailed it out.
        
        They do this more than National who are not immune but less likely to.
        
        I’m guessing it’s a lack of commercial expertise as they’re mainly ex-academics, ex-public sector, ex-union hacks or professional politicians and a smattering of employment lawyers or similar. They probably think P&L stands for Pita and Lentils.
        
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        July 8, 2025 12:26am
  - Prince
    
    Jack, here is just one link to what Willis is considering…
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/finance-minister-nicola-willis-eyeing-tax-settings-for-banking-sector-ahead-of-potential-election-year-changes/J23P7MVLCFHGJJAXAOCJ6WLYWU/
    
    Also, the Herald recently published the tax paid by Banks in NZ. $2.5B.
    https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/companies/nzs-largest-taxpayers-revealed-banks-dominate-with-25b-contribution/ISJ5GK6SOBGYTLQMBUUBFDKEJY/
    
    Of course if Willis increased the rate Banks have to pay, the Govt could scratch another few $M from them (ie their customers – most NZ’ers).
    I would have thoughty the Banks ‘fair share’ as Willis puts it would be the same as other Industries/Companies.
    Bashing the Banks and other large-scale NZ employers, saying they need to pay ‘their fair share’ when they clearly do, seems to be the current trend. I expect it from the Greens/Labour/TPM, but not a National Finance Minister.
    Willis needs to remember what Party she represents.
    
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    July 7, 2025 2:36pm
- pdm
  
  Prince who are those customers?
  
  A. Many are/were National Party Voters in 2023.
  
  Maybe not so many in 2026.
  
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  July 7, 2025 11:34am
  - leoj
    
    Hope you are correct.
    
    The Nats need a giant kick up the arse.
    
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    July 7, 2025 7:25pm
- PurplePen
  
  Loosely related … every year we get a headline such as X bank makes 100’s of millions in profit or some such yuge number. What’s never in the article is what that profit represents as a return on capital the bank has invested. I’ve never bothered to look. If it’s well and truly above that made by other large corporates then the MSM have a genuine headline. But if it’s not, then it’s just the usual click-bait.
  
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  July 7, 2025 12:15pm
  - rouppe
    
    We also never seen to hear how much tax they paid.
    
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    July 7, 2025 1:05pm
    - Prince
      
      It’s a lot.
      https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/companies/nzs-largest-taxpayers-revealed-banks-dominate-with-25b-contribution/ISJ5GK6SOBGYTLQMBUUBFDKEJY/
      
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      July 7, 2025 2:49pm
  - slijmbal
    
    @Purple
    
    by international standards and compared to other banks NZ and Ozzie banks are really very profitable. When I used to have bank customers the NZ subsidiaries actually made more money than their parents at a proportional level eg per customer.
    
    One reason the NZ banks do so well is that profit is pretty much guaranteed for banks except mainly for bad debts. The parent company does not let the NZ subsidiary take risks. This is actually a problem for NZ as banks taking (appropriat) risks on businesses is a driver of growth.
    
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    July 7, 2025 11:00pm
- R
  
  Prince, Nicola is well aware of where the tax comes from, why don’t you and your ilk wait for the outcome of the enquiry. At least this coalition understands cause and effect!
  
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  July 7, 2025 12:28pm
  - Prince
    
    Cause and effect ?
    What’s the ’cause’ here, other than bashing Aussie banks, who already pay a substantial part of the country’s total taxes.
    The ‘effect’ will be further long-term damage to our reputation as a fair country to do business in, and a potential wedge for future Left Wing govts to drive punitive tax rates on any industry, company or individuals they don’t approve of.
    National are shooting themselves in the foot here.
    
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    July 7, 2025 2:54pm
imalwaysright

Watched a 5 min highlight clip of the All Black France match.
That was long enough. It looked like it was being refereed by a committee of public servants.
21 3
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July 7, 2025 11:24am
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  I liked the spoof WhakatakibTimes meme headline:
  “Allblacks shocked by loss after TMO rules out all remaining tries overnight”
  
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  July 7, 2025 1:22pm
- Don Beckett
  
  It appears the the TMO’s are refereeing the game instead of the on-field ref. The TMO is there to answer a query form the on field ref – not contact him every time there is a supposed infringement missed by the ref, and have to go back 3 (sometimes more ) plays to establish the infringement.
  It is ruining the game, & the TMO’s need to be put into line, or better still, done away with. An old friend of mine who has been a coach at schools & top level clubs is so pissed off he is now not watching the game, when previously it was virtually his life blood.
  
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  July 7, 2025 1:49pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Yes, get rid of TMO.
    If the ref and linesmen can’t referee a phase then they shouldn’t be there. If an infringement slips past them, then that is a feature of the game.
    
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    July 7, 2025 3:20pm
- Prince
  
  I also relied on the ‘highlight’ package. Once you’ve seem one series of rolling ruck/maul/pile-ups and one-off runners bashing heads into three defenders who are usually off-side anyway, you’ve seen them all.
  I’ve come to hate the word ‘ADVANTAGE’ from the ref, arm out, which signals another set of bash/crash.
  How Billy Procter’s try was ruled out was so weird. Clearly in control, always connected to ball, applies downward pressure.
  
  Reminds me of Nigel Llong, the cricket umpire, who ruled a catch not out because ‘there’s a mark on the bat (as the ball passed), but it could have come from anywhere’.
  
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  July 7, 2025 3:05pm
  - MCōs
    
    Plenty of cricket test matches were lost, usually by visiting teams, due to poor umpiring prior to the introduction of referrals to the tv umpire; as opposed to the occasional blemish since.
    
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    July 7, 2025 4:00pm
- leoj
  
  There was a test match on?
  
  Who knew?
  
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  July 7, 2025 7:26pm
BananaLlama

The problem isn’t clowns like Rawiri Waititi who thinks he can turn us into slaves it is the clowns in parliament who think we should be disarmed.
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July 7, 2025 11:36am
- PurplePen
  
  And the clowns who continually don’t stand up to him and call him out. Why I don’t know. It’s not as if there’s many voters they’d upset if they did. There would be some headlines as the Rawiri voters are noisy. But that’s about it.
  
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  July 7, 2025 12:20pm
Chuck Bird

I hope most on the blog know who Sir Ian Taylor is.

Full Interview: Sir Ian Taylor On His ‘Dear Jacinda’ Open Letter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNO-2dgq2mA
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July 7, 2025 11:37am
- Jack5
  
  That video link is paywalled – “members only”.
  
  Is Taylor diverting attention from his stand that Maori “knowledge” is science?
  
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  July 7, 2025 12:04pm
  - R
    
    YES! We’ll trying too!
    
    6 1
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    July 7, 2025 12:30pm
  - keepcalmcarryon
    
    Yes Taylor is a man whose opinion I deeply don’t care about.
    He’s living proof you don’t have to be smart to be successful.
    
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    July 7, 2025 1:23pm
    - R
      
      to be successful ……..nor to be Knighted
      
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      July 7, 2025 3:23pm
I remember when

“Increasingly intense wildfires are associated with a warming world.
Recent findngs suggest that ‘wildfire smoke’ pluming from ‘boreal forests’ could reduce global warmiong by about 12 percent.
Atmospheric scientist Dargan Frierson was “expecting the opposite to happen.”
It turns out that these blazes set off a cascade of cooling around the world, but it doesn’t mean they’re “somehow benign or benevolent,” writes Syris Valentine for Nautilis.”

Apparently the smoke and dust could black out the sun but, of course, who would expect that to cool temperatures?
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July 7, 2025 11:58am
- Wayne L Sexton
  
  Global biomass burning during the past century has been lower than at any time in the past 2000 years
  For the pre-industrial United States (1500-1800), some estimates suggest an average of 145 million acres burned annually, which is significantly lower than the 7 million acres a year it is today.
  
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  July 7, 2025 3:05pm
  - [email protected]
    
    ? 145 is lower than 7?
    
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    July 7, 2025 8:52pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Usually woke/green or poor jurisdictions not doing proper forest management (IE cold-season burning of undergrowth).
  
  Globally forest fire burn acreage has diminished significantly over the last 100 years (as have all weather related disasters). Alarmists will keep on lying though (most especially the dipsh*t click-bait artists in the media).
  
  Note as humankind gets wealthier more expensive assets get hit when these things DO happen. Hint: Don’t build/buy in forests prone to forest fires. It’s a real dumb thing to do and a horrible way to die.
  
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  July 7, 2025 5:14pm
cmm

This hindsight is 20/20 thinking we seem to encounter often irks me no end.

A father is blaming others for his mentally ill son’s second murder.

Apparently the mentally ill person was not tested in some way because the person was acting in a cagey way and, had he had a drug test he might have been detained and would not have gone on to commit murder.

But quite likely had he been tested and detained, the same father would likely have complained about “profiling” and such.

Of course something could always have been prevented in hindsight, but we should only judge actions according to the information available at the time and not the information that became available after the decision was made.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/father-blames-mental-health-staff-for-sons-second-killing-cites-missed-drug-test/AJ6U34RYCNCQ5AFRSS6GSBFQO4/
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July 7, 2025 12:22pm
Ghost

A review commissioned amid an investigation into the former deputy police commissioner has revealed weaknesses in police’s internet access controls, unmanaged devices, limited monitoring and governance gaps.

Police Commissioner Richard Chambers says the review made clear the current settings were “not robust enough and urgent attention is required”.

He has ordered the re-introduction of audits of data and internet usage on police devices and initiating an assessment of police-owned standalone devices which operated outside the police network.

Article

I’m surprised that these audits were stopped. Who would stop such an important ability to monitor what police are doing on their devices. I don’t know, no one in nz is reporting such details in their articles

Oh wait, the police press release says it

Re-introducing audits of data and internet usage on police devices, a process that was halted 4-5 years ago. These will recommence as soon as possible

Article

4 to 5 years ago these audits were stopped, hmmm, thanks Cindy…..
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July 7, 2025 12:22pm
- rouppe
  
  Putting audits on thousands of employees because of the actions of one employee is stupid.
  
  You might respond with “why should someone even be able to access porn on their work device”. Might be true for someone working in ministry of womens affairs, but do you have any idea the depths of disgusting that police have to deal with daily? That includes child traffickers, and revenge porn.
  
  You might then say well certain job descriptions can have fewer restrictions. Have you ever dealt with centralised equipment and software build organisations. I’ve constantly had a terrible time at enterprises where device access is locked down for say banking employees, but I’m a developer. I need to install software. Nope, too hard. Have to go through “the process”. That takes a week only to discover “that’s not on the approved list”. Months later…
  
  How does that foster innovation?
  
  All organisations already have policy around behaviour. This guy was discovered, he was fired. If anyone else is doing similar they’ll be cleaning their devices bloody quick.
  
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  July 7, 2025 1:23pm
  - Ghost
    
    Police had no problem doing audits until they were stopped under labour.
    
    Your average police officer does not need access to these sites in the line of their work.
    
    This guy was discovered by accident. Due to a complaint against him the investigating officer took his devices and discovered what he was doing. Had it not been for that he wouldn’t have been discovered.
    
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    July 7, 2025 1:41pm
    - rouppe
      
      In my view the test isn’t “we used to have audits”.
      
      The test is “audits picked up poor behavior”.
      
      It’s not clear they ever did.
      
      And McSkimming was a deputy commissioner. Not an “average police officer”. It is entirely the “average police officer”, being the detective constables and detective sergeants that DO need to access some of these sites. Not all of them by any means, but they are the ordinary cop.
      
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      July 7, 2025 2:43pm
- cmm
  
  It you have to nanny your workers to that extent then you’ve got bigger things to worry about.
  
  Police should have the flexibility to access anything they need to access and should be sufficiently trustworthy to do the right thing.
  
  Does it really make any difference if he accessed illegal material on a police computer or a private computer?
  
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  July 7, 2025 2:35pm
  - R
    
    DEI imposed recruiting appears to have lowered the recrui standard, and therfore credibility off, and respect for the Police
    
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    July 7, 2025 3:26pm
  - greybeard
    
    Everyone is missing the main point: WHY were the audits of data and internet usage on police devices stopped 4 to 5 years ago ?
    
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    July 7, 2025 3:59pm
- David Garrett
  
  Ghost: Yes…Labour under Cindy and the Fat Controller were dab hands at abandoned targets, audits, and other means of measuring results. Pack of slack arses
  
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  July 7, 2025 5:25pm
R

Another successful Labour lead government decision. Not surprising really, with all the trade union experts leading the debates on Policy
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July 7, 2025 12:41pm
Ghost

Really. So submitters have to turn up, but mp’s can do the committee from wherever they are having their holiday, while eating and picking their nose.

Opponents of the Regulatory Standards Bill are saying it is unconstitutional, ignores Te Tiriti o Waitangi and will do the opposite of what it claims.

The bill is facing scrutiny at select committee this week, with about 30 hours of hearings packed into four days. ACT leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour says it aims to improve lawmaking and regulation, but its critics – who make up the majority of submitters – argue it does the opposite.

None of the MPs who make up the committee actually showed up in person – all appearing via teleconferencing – so it was just submitters, media and staff from the clerk’s office actually in the room on Monday morning.

Article
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July 7, 2025 12:47pm
- rouppe
  
  Because MP’s already have secure, authenticated, digital access to parliament. Submitters don’t.
  
  Otherwise it’ll be Te Tiriti means you have to supply me a device. And a 32″ screen. And audio gear. And training because it’s colonial. And internet. The Maori kind. And electricity. But only green. In fact you better put solar panels and a battery in.
  
  Bear in mind that the submitters have already stated they want to submit in person. This is what in person looks like.
  
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  July 7, 2025 1:29pm
  - Ghost
    
    No, that’s got nothing to do with it. If people have taken the time out of their schedule to go and make a submission, the least the mp’s can do is show some respect to them and sit and listen to them in person.
    
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    July 7, 2025 1:36pm
- Paulus
  
  Please show me wher in the few words of the Treaty of Waitangi this is shown and apparent.
  Must have misread it – several times.
  
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  July 7, 2025 2:34pm
Pope Punctilious II

Today I was surprised to get an email inviting me to comment on the “maatauranga” policy that’s been imposed on researchers applying for funding from the Royal Society of NZ. I didn’t hold back. But only after answering all the questions did I notice the survey was created by two activist crazies (Tara McAllister and Hannah Rapata). My heart sank as I realized my criticisms would go straight in the rubbish bin.
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July 7, 2025 1:08pm
- rouppe
  
  Doesn’t matter. Saying nothing is acquiescence.
  
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  July 7, 2025 1:31pm
- John Loveridge
  
  Was this an unsolicited email, or are you involved with the Society?
  
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  July 7, 2025 1:34pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    I’ve applied many times for Marsden grants, and been successful twice. Presumably that’s where they got my email from.
    
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    July 7, 2025 3:04pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Is it possible for you to place some of your answers in a public forum…..(possibly recast in a manner that doesn’t identify you or your research institute)?
  
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  July 7, 2025 3:29pm
  - rouppe
    
    I’d imagine the response he made has already made the institute ~~ineligible for further grants~~ identifiable
    
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    July 7, 2025 3:43pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    I didn’t say anything new. Most of the questions were Likert scale agree/disagree questions. At the end we were invited to give written answers to three or four questions. The one I remember most clearly asked us to appraise the positives and negatives of the way “Vision/Maatauranga” (VM) had been implemented. I said I found it hard to see any positives in the imposition of maatauranga on research grant applicants, or in its teaching in science curricula. I said the proponents of maatauranga seemed to assume that Maori are unable to relate to so-called “Western” science, and are destined to remain locked in a pre-scientific worldview. The success of Maori STEM luminaries like Athol Anderson (archaeology), Ross Ihaka (computing) and Garth Cooper (biomedical) shows this is clearly false. I stated that researchers get conflicting messages about how to handle the Vision/Maatauranga section of grant applications. One former Marsden panel member warned me a few years back that no proposal would get funded without a strong VM statement. Whereas another former panel member (panel chair, in fact) said we should be upfront if we could see no relevance of our research to maatauranga, as there’d been a veritable plague of obviously hollow VM statements. I stated the result had been a climate of confusion and fear among researchers.
    
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    July 7, 2025 4:26pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      Cheers
      
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      July 7, 2025 5:14pm
- Ghost
  
  Make use of it, submit it to dpf with your answers.
  
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  July 7, 2025 4:34pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    It didn’t really lend itself to that approach, as most Qs were Likert scale Qs. But in principle I like your idea, and will be alert to future opportunities.
    
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    July 7, 2025 6:40pm
Chuck Bird

Michael Laws talks about infanticide. However, it appears that it applies to children up to the age of 9. Should the excuse of infanticide be removed or the offence rewritten?

Hiding The Truth, Suppression Orders & Child Murder

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-OS29TOaz8

178 Infanticide
(1)Where a woman causes the death of any child of hers under the age of 10 years in a manner that amounts to culpable homicide, and where at the time of the offence the balance of her mind was disturbed, by reason of her not having fully recovered from the effect of giving birth to that or any other child, or by reason of the effect of lactation, or by reason of any disorder consequent upon childbirth or lactation, to such an extent that she should not be held fully responsible, she is guilty of infanticide, and not of murder or manslaughter, and is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 3 years.

https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1961/0043/latest/DLM329332.html
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July 7, 2025 2:35pm
Swifty

Don’t think the Islamification of Australia is a good thing?

Tough!

https://x.com/ausvstheagenda/status/1942026476704166328?s=46
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July 7, 2025 2:44pm
slightlyrighty

If you think that the MSM in NZ isn’t left wing, then you should check out who has thrown her hat in the ring to potentially contest the Tamaki Makauru By Election for Te Pati Maori.
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July 7, 2025 2:51pm
Swifty

Kamala would have prevented the Texas flood deaths:

https://x.com/gunthereagleman/status/1941977280844071362?s=46

Apparently.
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July 7, 2025 3:09pm
Swifty

We in the West pay for our own destruction by funding and enabling extremism in our universities:

https://x.com/eyakoby/status/1942014613110796548?s=46

We’re going to look back on Luxon’s term as a massive disappointment, a massive lost opportunity – that our institutions were not radically reformed and paid communists and west-haters not thrown out on their ears.
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July 7, 2025 3:20pm
Jethrod

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/watch-live-david-seymour-fronts-media-after-former-pm-calls-regulatory-standards-bill-strangest-piece-of-new-zealand-legislation/2KKGYLFOQFCTPGWDD2ARNLIJDQ/
It appears that Geoffrey Palmer, that former unelected PM from the late 80’s, is having a say re Seymour’s latest bill. He calls it the strangest piece of legislation he has ever seen.
That’s rich coming from someone who introduced one of the most contentious bits of legislation ever seen …. the Constitution act, can’t recall the proper name.
Perhaps he and Helen are horning in so much lately because of the lightweights leading the Labour party at the moment. No doubt more to come on this.
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July 7, 2025 3:37pm
- Ghost
  
  We don’t elect prime ministers. We elect the party or now, parties we want to govern. Prime Minister Bill
  English, Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, all took over leadership.
  
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  July 7, 2025 3:50pm
  - Jethrod
    
    Thank you for your comment, but what about the rest?
    
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    July 7, 2025 4:06pm
    - Ghost
      
      Nothing much left to say. You don’t like his submission. As a citizen he’s allowed to make such submissions. Really don’t care what he has to say.
      
      Its 43 years since the Constitution Act 1986, plenty of governments since then that you could hold responsible for anything in the legalisation you don’t like
      
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      July 7, 2025 4:22pm
  - Quail
    
    The blurred indecisive mess that is MMP.
    Election of politicians you may respect and then the party that may offer you everything.
    Neither can or will deliver!
    The influence of minor parties .far above their numerical electoral support kicks in.
    Elected Politicians can’t honour their promises ,and those not elected, remain in power either on the list or in the parties surrounding bureaucracy.
    MMP has destroyed democracy in NZ!
    
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    July 7, 2025 5:54pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      MMP has destroyed democracy in NZ!
      
      Okay, fair enough, Quail. That’s your opinion.
      
      So, what is your preferred alternative electoral system?
      
      Party List PR (no electoral districts)? The Aussie Lower House PV system? The utterly discredited FPP system?
      
      Or PR/STV? The system whereby all MPs are directly elected by the People in a manner that ensures all significant groups in our society are fairly and properly represented in our parliament?
      
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      July 7, 2025 7:14pm
      - Quail
        
        ST
        There are certainly options.
        Yes STV is probably one of the few options that gives individual voters the ability to support or not each politician in Government.
        Then it becomes the responsibility of each politician to stick to and implement their pre election rhetoric.They are then accountable to the electorate.
        Party powers would be limited.
        The question of minority groups special representation is more difficult ,but begs the question why is this necessary?If their issues are genuine or worthwhile they will gather political support.
        The whole population of NZ must be trusted to deliver the best outcomes for all.
        And in passing the concept that NZ that a country as small as NZ needs 120 plus MPs and a huge supporting bureaucracy is not in any way valid!
        
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        July 7, 2025 9:03pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        Thank you so much for responding, Quail.
        
        So, which electoral system do you think we should have, if not MMP?
        
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        July 7, 2025 9:14pm
- sirknz
  
  He is NZ’s third worst constitutional lawyer ever.
  
  He is so bad that he can’t even make it as the worst one we’ve ever had…
  
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  July 7, 2025 4:14pm
  - Jethrod
    
    Gosh…… who are #1 and #2 then?!
    
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    July 7, 2025 4:52pm
- Mike
  
  It may surprise you to know that no NZ prime minister has ever been elected to that position.
  
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  July 7, 2025 6:34pm
Damocles11

National have discovered a pot of money behind the couch! Family Boost is going up gang. If you’ve been been popping out sprogs like there’s no tomorrow then it’s ‘subsidy city’ for you:

*The new maximum rebate will be 40%, up from 25%
*The maximum weekly payment is $120 a week
*Families earning up to $230,000 per year will now also be able to get some of that subsidy cash, up from $180,000

Let’s all give thanks to our favourite centre left party National for their latest contribution towards creeping socialism and our collective insolvency.
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July 7, 2025 4:07pm
- Albie
  
  Is Family Boost on top of Working for Fanilies? I lose track of all this wealth redistribution. Distressing thing is, National are into it boots and all.
  As many here comment, I despair for the future of this country.
  
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  July 7, 2025 5:06pm
Jack5

An example of migration discord in UK …

Awareness, if not resistance, is growing about the immigration waves that have led to 40 per cent of babies born in England last year having mothers not born in England.

White Britons are on track to being a minority by year 2063.

Writing in the Telegraph, Matthew Goodwin says:

” … we didn’t vote for this. We have a political system and a ruling class that is no longer responsive to an electorate that has, for much of the last thirty years, been consistent in asking for less immigration and slower demographic change.”

The sub-headline on the article reads: “Our political elites have utterly failed to address the cultural changes that are undermining our nation.”

Once an article like this would have caused shouts of “racism!”. Now,
as this post is submitted to Kiwiblog, the article has drawn 1781 comments, overwhelmingly supportive.

Among the extreme allegations of the readers: Pakistani men practise polygamy and are free to divorce any of them. The divorced wives’ children “will automatically apply for social support.” The letter writer reckons this allows up to 30 children for each Pakistani male.

The article’s probably paywalled, but it still might be reached on accepting a trial readership:

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/07/06/mass-migration-will-change-britain-beyond-recognition/
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July 7, 2025 4:34pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Try Press Reader. No paywall. Local library card only required.
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:54pm
Swifty

Please lend us all your support as my group heads down tonight to our local Lucky Horse Chinese Takeaways to wreck the joint and abuse the owners, staff and customers – all to protest the actions of the Chinese Government in Tibet!

Death, death to the CCP!

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

//
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July 7, 2025 5:27pm
- Rumblestrip
  
  A mob of 30+ people descend on a business just because it is run by Jews with “links to Israel” whatever the hell that means. And coincidentally a synagogue was set on fire at the same time. Pure insanity.
  
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  July 7, 2025 7:38pm
Kaiser Wilhelm

The secondary teacher union has a Maori teacher conference happening in Rotorua. Today they had a keynote from Rawiri Waititi. The meeting / bending of the Marxist – Fascist continuum probably occurred given his public anti-democratic and ethno-fascist views.
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July 7, 2025 5:56pm
- rouppe
  
  It’s amazing how much they carry on about racism in the education sector, and then have racially exclusionary conferences like this
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:23pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Teachers meeting in the holidays?
  
  Can’t possibly be true.
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:54pm
Rumblestrip

I see the mushroom poisoner is guilty of murder.

I find the psychology of such poisoning cases fascinating. She killed all her lunch guests in cold blood, failing to offer any advice or assistance as they slowly and painfully died over the next few days. There is also reason to believe she tried to poison her husband on multiple previous occasions as he would regularly become ill after visiting her.

She is surely a pure psychopath and must be locked up permanently for the protection of the community. (And keep her away from the prison kitchen!)
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July 7, 2025 6:26pm
- Swifty
  
  Any idea why she did it?
  
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  July 7, 2025 7:00pm
  - Rumblestrip
    
    We are (I assume) morally normal people, so it may be hard to follow her morally abnormal reasoning.
    
    But my understanding, from what came out in the trial, is that she had very deep and secret resentment against her estranged husband and his family. She obsessed over “insults” like accidentally not being invited to a birthday party and she posted anonymously online about how she hated them.
    
    The true motive may remain locked inside her head forever.
    
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    July 7, 2025 9:19pm
nz_aj

Auckland council has voted to turn Takapuna golf course into a wetland. I question how much of a reduction in flooding at Wairau would be achieved? Why don’t they enlarge the channel to the sea?
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July 7, 2025 6:33pm
Swifty

Lovely work at the Reserve Bank if you can get it:

https://x.com/suitandtie9999/status/1942008150904967360?s=46
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July 7, 2025 7:12pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Jesus Christ!
  
  “Each employee receives 5 weeks annual leave, however you can purchase another 3 weeks leave for just 2% of your remuneration giving you 40 days of holidays a year, not including public holidays.
  
  16.6% of the workforce purchased extra leave, meaning that there were potentially over 100 employees that had 8 weeks holiday in 2024 while also working from home at least 1 day every week.
  
  On top of this, each employee also receives 15 days wellness leave per year “for when you need to recover, re-energise or rest”.”
  
  If an employee takes their annual leave, purchases 3 additional weeks, uses their wellness days in full then they get 11 weeks paid leave – when combined with Christmas, that’s a week per month, every month.
  
  No wonder you can never get them on the phone!
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:56pm
  - Ghost
    
    Try reading this
    
    https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/reserve_bank_wellness_retreat
    
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    July 7, 2025 9:03pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    NMTB: “If an employee (of the Reserve Bank) takes their annual leave, purchases 3 additional weeks, uses their wellness days in full then they get 11 weeks paid leave – when combined with Christmas, that’s a week per month, every month.”
    
    Sounds like excessive featherbedding. These kinds of perks are really only justified for people working their arses off doing continuous rotating shift work (IE afternoons, graveyards, earlies..rinse and repeat).
    
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    July 9, 2025 9:24pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  “Each employee receives 5 weeks annual leave, however you can purchase another 3 weeks leave for just 2% of your remuneration giving you 40 days of holidays a year … 16.6% of the workforce purchased extra leave”
  —————————————-
  
  Only an idiot would turn down a deal like that, which leads me to conclude that 83.4% of RBNZ staff are idiots.
  
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  July 7, 2025 9:02pm
- Rumblestrip
  
  The disgraceful legacy of that oaf, Orr.
  
  And to think, he resigned in a huff because he wasn’t allowed to waste even more!
  
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  July 7, 2025 11:03pm
rouppe

Listened a little bit to some of the hearings.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2025/07/07/covid-19-inquiry-business-leaders-on-struggles-with-mandates-finances/

It sounds a lot like they felt they couldn’t implement the vaccine mandates easily. Ie fire people who didn’t want the vaccine.

Nowhere did I hear or read stuff like:
It was crazy to open supermarkets but close butchers and greengrocers.
Why couldn’t businesses operate in a way they considered safe?
Why didn’t mandates apply to those at the greatest risk – doctors?

Sounds a bit like “how can we implement the dictatorship better?”
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July 7, 2025 8:17pm
- Ghost
  
  It was stupid. I heard many stores from my doctor of patients who needed to see the physio or chiropractor but couldn’t, so they were going in constantly for medicine to try and deal with the pain. Thankfully some ignored the lock down and quietly kept working.
  
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  July 7, 2025 8:42pm
- Rich Prick
  
  The whole thing was insane (thanks Jacinda) how many actually died solely from the snuffles? Close to zero. How many died from delayed medical treatment, I’d wager 1,000’s. My Dad was cremated alone. We never got a service. When lefties give that woman “sainthood” or peace prizes, my rage boils. That evil [Mod – deleted], who I didn’t vote for took more away from me than any policitian in history. I never got to say goodbye to my Dad because of Jacinda. Evil.
  
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  July 7, 2025 11:06pm
- Rich Prick
  
  rouppe, what we actually had a taste of was socialism at its extreme. You will live by your social passports issued by us provided you do as we tell you, buy where we allow you to and if you dare go to the beach, we will arrest you. I hated the breadline to get into a supermarket only to find bare shelves. Never mind being imprisoned for the crime of returning to your own country. Cindy needs to be held to account. I think that’s why she’s in hiding. We really do need to learn from Cindy’s socialist disaster.
  
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  July 7, 2025 11:19pm

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