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July 22, 2025 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 22 July 2025

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General Debate

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NeverMindTheBollocks

Here we go. Working four days per week while receiving 5 days of pay reduces burnout and improves job satisfaction.

No sh*t, Sherlock.

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/567599/four-day-work-week-reduces-burnout-and-improves-job-satisfaction-study
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July 22, 2025 8:01am
- greybeard
  
  Presumably Paula O’Kane, from Otago University’s business school, does not actually own and run a business.
  
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  July 22, 2025 10:40am
- John Loveridge
  
  All it does is prove how rubbish their efficiency was to begin with. At my tiny little engineering firm we can barely fit everything into a five-day week as it is. If we decided to run a four-day week I’d have to employ at least one new person. The business couldn’t sustain that.
  
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  July 22, 2025 11:15am
- R
  
  What about improving productivity?
  
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  July 22, 2025 11:38am
  - rockape
    
    What , crack the whip and make them work harder? Not very good for staff moral.
    
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    July 22, 2025 3:27pm
- Swifty
  
  In another shock new study, researchers find that reducing the work week to one day, while paid for five, increases worker wellbeing and efficiency even further!
  
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  July 22, 2025 11:50am
- Paulus
  
  Presumably a University Study so they can get to a Three Day week, plus holidays and perks.
  
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  July 22, 2025 11:50am
  - NeonTeepee
    
    The Roman’s had 175 public holidays at the end. Look what happened to them!
    
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    July 22, 2025 4:01pm
    - MCōs
      
      We have 135 days made up of public holidays, weekends, statutory annual leave plus up to ten statutory sick days
      When I first went to Bangkok we ‘worked’ six ten hour days. There was a fluid number of public holidays plus nine statutory annual leave and thirty sick days
      One day the big boss changed the office hours to a forty hour week. No more meals during work hours etc; gave people some ownership of the projects they were on, from start to finish and productivity went up.
      
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      July 22, 2025 7:21pm
Scott

The New York Times reported over the weekend –

“Iran’s deeply buried nuclear enrichment plant at Fordo was badly damaged, and potentially destroyed, by the 12 massive bombs that U.S. Air Force B-2 bombers dropped on it last month, according to a new American intelligence assessment.

The new assessment helps create a clearer picture of what the combined Israeli and U.S. strikes on Iran achieved. The bombings deeply damaged Fordo — considered by the Iranians to be their best-protected and most advanced nuclear enrichment site — probably crippling Iran’s ability to make nuclear fuel for years to come.”

If the New York Times confirms that the strike went well that’s a good indicator that the nuclear programme of Iran has been set back for years. The New York Times hates Trump and hates to report any good thing that the Trump regime does.

Iran without nuclear weapons is a good thing. The world is a much safer place because of it. We know that the Mullah’s greatest wish is to destroy Israel and destroy America. They can’t do it now.
This is called winning. America is winning and the world is a better place because of it. 🇺🇸😎
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July 22, 2025 8:03am
- Northshoredoc
  
  How are those conflicts going that Trump was going to bring to an end within 24 hours?
  
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  July 22, 2025 10:43am
  - Warren Murray
    
    Your Q implies Trump is at fault for the conflicts, which started before he became President and that he has tried to stop.
    
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    July 22, 2025 10:52am
    - Northshoredoc
      
      Nonsense. My question implies no such thing.
      
      Trump commented that he would sort the conflicts in Israel and Ukraine in a very short period once he became President.
      
      Sadly, they are continuing.
      
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      July 22, 2025 12:08pm
  - Scott
    
    Great question Northshore. Here’s how he’s going so far –
    – Gaza ✅
    – Iran ✅
    – some other African countries ✅
    – China ✅
    – ISIS ✅✅
    – North Korea ✅
    
    Ukraine ❓ More work to be done. I like that Trump is not happy with Putin. He’s sending weapons to Ukraine via Europe. And Europe is going to pay for it. More sanctions on Russia are coming. More weapons to Ukraine is happening.
    So a pass mark as far as I’m concerned. But definitely more work needed. 😎
    
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    July 22, 2025 11:08am
    - Scott
      
      And just in regarding Ukraine. Some breaking news –
      
      “CONFIRMED: Peace Talks Between Russia and Ukraine to Take Place This Week in Turkey”
      
      https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/07/confirmed-peace-talks-between-russia-ukraine-take-place/
      
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      July 22, 2025 12:02pm
    - Northshoredoc
      
      Nice parallel universe you seem to live in Scott.
      
      Not sure what you think Trump has done in relation to China, Isis, Gaza, North Korea and ‘some other african countries’ that is going so well.
      
      I think the action on Iran was correct and worked well but Bibi continues to play Trump like a fiddle.
      
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      July 22, 2025 12:12pm
  - JerJer
    
    I remember a certain woman prime minister say she would solve child poverty and provide the country with 100,000 new houses, as well as a number of other things. Where are we at with that again, I believe the numbers are all worse. Who will follow up on this ? With regard to Trump I believe there is less conflict now than before he started trying to stop these conflicts. So, to me one person has made a lot of progress, and the other, well, made things worse. We need to find this woman and but these questions to her…long before we think about Trump.
    
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    July 22, 2025 2:42pm
    - Northshoredoc
      
      You’ll get no disagreement from me that Jacinda Ardern and her government were largely useless.
      
      Not sure how that relates to my question about Trump though.
      
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      July 22, 2025 5:37pm
    - John Loveridge
      
      Something about a billion trees too? How did that go?
      
      But the power and strength of her kindness is all those starving children need.
      
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      July 22, 2025 7:58pm
Cassandra

Big changes and massive savings at Defence:

“The Defence Force is cutting 255 civilian roles as part of a restructure.
The agency said it is getting rid of 281 filled roles but establishing 276 new ones, meaning five currently filled positions will be axed. The remaining 250 jobs to be cut are currently vacant.”

The five jobs lost will result in huge gains for the front end – tanks, rockets, drones, a new strike wing for the Air Force and a carrier fleet for the Navy.

Or it might mean a scone once a week at morning tea.
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July 22, 2025 8:05am
- kowtow
  
  The scones could replace the filled rolls .
  
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  July 22, 2025 8:47am
- Mike
  
  Hidden due to low comment rating. Click here to see.
  The question might be what was the purpose of the 250 vacant roles.
  The NZDF already treats its civilian staff as very much second-class, generally paying quite poorly, refusing to negotiate proper wage agreements and delaying any efforts to correct issues.
  
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  July 22, 2025 8:57am
  - slightlyrighty
    
    IN the early to mid 90’s, the NZDF embarked on a campaign of civilianising various roles in the military. A lot of these roles were being carried out by the senior NCO level. Sgt equivalent and above.
    
    There was also the civilian take-over of other roles such as Catering.
    
    It was expected that this programme would be extended to the officer corps. However, it was determined that the loss of military expertise at the senior NCO level was extremely detrimental to efficiency and morale, so the programme was halted.
    
    But the damage had already been done.
    
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    July 22, 2025 9:47am
    - R
      
      Civilianisation began in the mid 1960’s, I was a Corpral then.
      
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      July 22, 2025 11:43am
  - Phronesis
    
    The purpose of them was clearly to be able to axe them in a sweeping restructure that made it look like someone was doing something. On the upside they say that deception is the key to victory in war so maybe having deceptive military leadership is a good thing?
    
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    July 22, 2025 10:00am
  - peterwn
    
    As long as the civilians have parity with public servants in general, no problem. The only civilians who need to be higher paid are those who supervise the civilian workforce or specialists who work alongside uniformed staff.
    
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    July 22, 2025 10:06am
    - R
      
      Civilians were paid better than similar qualified Seerviccemen and women
      
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      July 22, 2025 11:45am
  - leoj
    
    Well boo hoo.
    
    Are these civilians compelled to work there? Are they in shackles?
    
    Headmaster to Mike: Must do better!
    
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    July 22, 2025 10:19am
  - Cassandra
    
    I had civilians in my Defence department. None of this is true, mike.
    
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    July 22, 2025 10:20am
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    They were probably wishful thinking with no realistic hope of adding them to the organisation chart like a lot of other government departments indulged in prior to the last election. No loss if they didn’t come through but a great bargaining chip with their ministers
    
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    July 22, 2025 11:37am
  - Paulus
    
    Do the NZ Defence Force have to employ Civilians?
    Havn’t they got all they need in the Ministry of Defence ?
    
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    July 22, 2025 11:54am
- G152
  
  A strike wing for the brylcream boys????
  Are they going to quit being a uniformed aero club and actually become a FORCE??????????
  
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  July 22, 2025 9:03am
  - Paulus
    
    Told easier to get propomoted as an Officer in the Navy and the Airforce, as they have so litttle to play with, so get propmoted more quickly.
    Am told the top Navy is well feminised already, but with fewer ships now !
    
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    July 22, 2025 11:57am
  - rouppe
    
    There’s no reason the aircraft we currently have can’t become more lethal in their areas of expertise.
    
    We have no real need for a strike wing. It would need to be top of the line 5th generation kit which would be very expensive.
    
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    July 22, 2025 12:23pm
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  If this is Collins preparing for war the Chinese better watch out.
  
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  July 22, 2025 9:07am
- wsk12345
  
  Cutting 5 people is not huge. It’s not even noticeable?!
  
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  July 22, 2025 9:20am
- Inandout
  
  Cass, yet the Treaty Machine rolls on leading to higher costs for power and rates. Luxon can’t make the huge cuts in this area because he won’t be liked.
  
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  July 22, 2025 10:12am
- rouppe
  
  What role are being cut, and what does are being established?
  
  If, effectively, the same staff just move from one role to another, I can’t see how that is effective.
  
  If, however, they get rid of people managers, ea’s, iwi/lgbtq/women/etc liaison and hire technology security, it specialists, engineers, that’s a different story.
  
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  July 22, 2025 11:52am
  - artemisia
    
    Restructures can be – and often are – carefully managed to include exiting specific people. A ‘redundancy’ payout required but that cost can be trivial compared to the cost of other means of terminating. And certainly less than keeping them.
    
    One large corporate I worked in included 3 people in a restructure who had each taken stress leave. A H&S risk / cost assessment had been carried out. In 2 of the 3 cases the stress was not work related but that was not relevant in the regs. (One of the 2 worked for me and the other was a close colleague.)
    
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    July 22, 2025 12:55pm
Cassandra

A bit of light relief: I’m reading Graydon Carter’s excellent memoir (editor of Vanity Fair for 20 years): “I like to dance. One night I was dancing with, would you believe it, Madonna at an Oscars party. It was disconcerting when her brother, Christopher, cut in. It was even more disconcerting when I realised that it was to dance with me”.

Back to the real world: do you sense something screwy about a new med school in Hamilton, what Matthew Hooton calls National’s gift to rural Australia? Five million people don’t need three medical schools. On the other hand Stephen Joyce does. It’ll be interesting to see what National diehards have to say.
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July 22, 2025 8:06am
- imalwaysright
  
  Another school means an entire administration and duplicated teaching staff along with new equipment, buildings and upkeep.
  
  Why not just expand the current facilities?
  
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  July 22, 2025 8:13am
  - AitchW
    
    If I remember correctly Auckland has been funded for more students. Given that auckland is just a 2 hour train ride away on Te Huia I can see no reason to open a new need school here.
    
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    July 22, 2025 9:51am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Waikato got their med school by paying Steven Joyce $1M to lobby his National party mates. What would that be called in most countries? And it doesn’t make economic sense – surely it would be more efficient to expand the existing med schools at Otago and/or Auckland.
  
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  July 22, 2025 8:17am
- artemisia
  
  ACT Saves Taxpayer Hundreds Of Millions On Waikato Medical School
  
  From ACT’s press release:
  
  ACT insisted that a full cost-benefit analysis be done before signing off on such a large investment. We demanded better planning, transparency, and accountability.
  
  And Lo! it came to pass with an ‘updated’ business case. How many other business cases get waved through without ‘better planning’ … etc?
  
  https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2507/S00156/act-saves-taxpayer-hundreds-of-millions-on-waikato-medical-school.htm
  
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  July 22, 2025 8:21am
  - Cassandra
    
    It’s a bit like taking advantage of Briscoes latest 50% off sale in order to buy some kit that you do not need. “Going broke by saving money”.
    
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    July 22, 2025 8:29am
    - AitchW
      
      Don’t talk to me about Briscoes. We went to look at air fryers at their 50% off sale. Even at 50% off the marked price they were still more expensive that at other retailers at full price. How is that allowed???
      You cannot tell me that the Commerce Commission doesn’t know about this rip off!
      
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      July 22, 2025 8:48am
      - greybeard
        
        This sort of comment would be more believable if you were to supply some names and numbers. That should be quite easy. Thanks.
        
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        July 22, 2025 10:43am
      - RoboRob
        
        @greybeard
        
        To be fair, everybody knows you never buy anything at Briscoes unless it is on sale. Only sales at 50% or more are worth attending.
        
        Not sure the commerice commision needs to be involved here.
        
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        July 22, 2025 10:59am
      - AitchW
        
        Sorry Greybeard, reported in error.
        We looked at a couple of different machines, one was a Russel Hobbs, the other was Sunbeam perhaps?
        The RH was about $30 cheaper at Heathcotes, the Sunbeam about $20 cheaper. I didn’t record the exact prices, suffice to say we didn’t buy anything at Briscoes!
        
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        July 22, 2025 11:11am
      - greybeard
        
        Sorry, I reported you in error as well AitchW. Thanks for details.
        Hey DPF: how about changing the “report” function so that you are asked to verify if you really want to report someone ? Too easy to hit “report” instead of “reply”.
        
        [It’s WordPress – nothing to do with dpf. mod.]
        
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        July 22, 2025 1:07pm
  - MCōs
    
    Everyone knows there will be cost overruns
    The various people involved National, Act, the University will come up with whatever numbers are necessary to get the project started and beyond a point of no return before the ‘unforeseen circumstances’ push the costs up.
    Happens all the time
    
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    July 22, 2025 8:50am
    - AitchW
      
      I’m more concerned about the calibre of students. Will Tainui get an easy ride?
      Simeon Brown was pretty evasive this morning when talking to the Hosk about racial selection. My gut tells me that there won’t be racial preference, rather there will be tribal selection. And free entry for Mahutas.
      
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      July 22, 2025 9:04am
      - RoboRob
        
        The law already allows for racial preference and the universities, incl Otago, already take race into account when applying for a position on a course. So probably it will just be more of the same.
        
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        July 22, 2025 9:32am
      - peterwn
        
        As long as they are academically and socially competent, no problem. An academically brilliant student is not necessarily going to be a better doctor than an average student. Indeed they could be too geekish to be a fully effective doctor.
        
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        July 22, 2025 10:11am
      - Pope Punctilious II
        
        Tainui is Waikato Uni’s landlord, so you can expect the iwi to have plenty of leverage.
        
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        July 22, 2025 10:17am
      - leoj
        
        No doubt the maori wave will continue….
        
        All students must learn te reo.
        
        All must say a karakia each day.
        
        All students will be compelled to learn maori culture.
        
        All students must learn about maori health.
        
        The wave must go on while the government does sweet FA.
        
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        July 22, 2025 11:05am
      - Burtland
        
        socially competent or medically incompetent ?
        
        think i will stick with my culturally unsafe UK doc
        
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        July 22, 2025 11:11am
    - RoboRob
      
      Yes, and it is bullshit. National (its their pet project) should not be trying to pull this one. We all know the Uni doesn’t have the money for the ‘bs’ cost let alone once the overruns begin. Shame on Willis for trying to pull the wool over our eyes. Her failure to answer HDPAs questions on funding says it all.
      
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      July 22, 2025 9:20am
    - Quail
      
      Yes MC
      Budgeting by pretty much all Governance body’s( including local ) typically sees huge cost overruns.
      Look at some of their projects museums Theatres , library’s etc.
      Often overruns are substantially in excess of 50% of original budget.
      It is in their playbook to do this.
      And it is how they sell their projects !
      
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      July 22, 2025 1:31pm
  - R
    
    Sounds like ACT is trying to take credit for a long discussed decision, as though they, and only they (ACT) are responsible for the decision; and not the coalition Caucus. More Seymour arrogance!
    
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    July 22, 2025 8:55am
    - pdm
      
      R you are on the wrong track I think.
      
      Original cost to taxpayer $280million
      
      Actual cost to taxpayer $80million
      
      ACT Coalition agreement got this reduced.
      
      Subject to cost over runs, koha, karakia, etc.
      
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      July 22, 2025 11:33am
      - R
        
        ACT coalition…..actually pdm, from the reported facts, it seems that the Waikato Uni has recruited a significant number of financial benefactors. Time will tell what strings are attached to the benefactors funds!
        
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        July 22, 2025 11:52am
      - Don Beckett
        
        I understand Tainui have a fairly large finger in the pie.
        
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        July 22, 2025 1:37pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      They do that with every issue. Seymour tried to claim he was the Person who delivered the cancer drugs, even though it was Nats and Nats only policy before the election
      
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      July 22, 2025 5:08pm
  - Northshoredoc
    
    What an utter waste of time and money. NZ has two perfectly good medical schools far cheaper and easier to increase capacity at one or other of these if required.
    
    Additionally, there is little hope that an increase in medical students will alleviate the rural GP shortage.
    
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    July 22, 2025 9:13am
    - Jack5
      
      Isn’t the plan to tie the Waikato graduates to rural-type post-graduate assignments?
      
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      July 22, 2025 10:18am
      - Northshoredoc
        
        That is the discussion – the devil will be in the detail.
        
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        July 22, 2025 12:13pm
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        Apparently not
        
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        July 22, 2025 6:43pm
  - Phronesis
    
    The cost is irrelevant in this case, it’s the benefit that’s interesting. Who benefits? Neil Quigley benefits. Now why would the Government want to scratch the back of Neil Quigley, vice-chancellor of Waikato University? Because Neil Quigley is also currently the most powerful man in NZ. He effectively controls the Reserve Bank and therefore he controls the economy. But he is of course completely independent and any hint of political interference in RBNZ decision making would be an absolute scandal…..
    
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    July 22, 2025 9:18am
- Oskar
  
  I see that Australia has 21 medical schools, with two more being planned.
  There are 5 medical schools in Sydney alone
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_medical_schools_in_Australia
  
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  July 22, 2025 8:30am
  - MCōs
    
    Does the twenty one include the two in NZ?
    
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    July 22, 2025 7:30pm
- alex Masterley
  
  Personally I would like to see an increase over and above that already proposed in numbers of students at both Otago and Auckland Universities.
  Both of those Medical Schools are operational and wont have the enevitable teething problems that a new Medical School in Hamilton will have for example finding teaching staff prepared to live in the ‘Tron.
  
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  July 22, 2025 8:33am
  - Reg Perrin
    
    Hamilton is probably a lot more attractive than Dunedin, Better Weather, Has an airport that’s not 40 Minutes away. a rugby team that can win games, attracting events like Home Grown, close to the beach house at Waihi, Raglan, etc
    
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    July 22, 2025 8:47am
    - John Loveridge
      
      Yeah, but it’s Hamilton. Even worse, it’s in the Waikato.
      
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      July 22, 2025 11:18am
      - R
        
        Could have been even worse, and placed on a congested site in Auckland
        
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        July 22, 2025 11:54am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Dunedin’s airport is 20 mins away, and if you think Hamilton is a better place to live that Hamilton then good for you, I have been to Hamilton and thought it was a shit hole
      
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      July 22, 2025 5:14pm
  - Cassandra
    
    I wonder if it’s some nefarious plan to starve Otago? The population is up north so in some ways it’s sensible to have the med school there. But mostly I think increasing the intake at the existing schools is the better choice.
    
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    July 22, 2025 8:49am
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      Otago spoiled their chances by appointing Robbo as VC 😉
      
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      July 22, 2025 9:18am
    - pdm
      
      Two thoughts on those lines Cass.
      
      1. Dunedin is a Labour stronghold.
      2. The desire to protect Tama Potaka’s re election as an Electorate MP.
      
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      July 22, 2025 9:36am
      - RoboRob
        
        Two things that should never come into the equation on decisions like this.
        
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        July 22, 2025 11:02am
      - Tauhei Notts
        
        PDM, #2 is interesting.
        In the past East and West Hamilton have both voted the same way. I do not think Tama Potaka is a shoe in for re-election, whereas the East candidate is.
        In the privacy of a polling booth people can exercise their choice without threat of censure.
        
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        July 22, 2025 11:10am
  - Mike
    
    It’s pretty obvious that the existing medical schools could turn out more doctors faster than the Hamilton option.
    
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    July 22, 2025 9:01am
    - Jack5
      
      Especially non-European, non-Asian ones, given Otago’s racial preferences in medical school entry.
      
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      July 22, 2025 10:10am
      - Burtland
        
        cultural safety is racist BS – the people who have instigated this need to be booted out
        
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        July 22, 2025 11:37am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Correct
      
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      July 22, 2025 10:29am
    - Dougal10
      
      That statement doesn’t seem to be true , the current did not complete degree is high at the current institutions.
      
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      July 22, 2025 10:33am
      - RoboRob
        
        Or is the academic rigor high at the current institutions?
        
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        July 22, 2025 11:03am
    - JJ56
      
      I understood the existing schools were also going to increase their numbers of places, but they are 7 year degrees vs 5 at Waikato (intake from existing graduates), so even taking account of the build time the existing universities only have a couple of years lead.
      
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      July 22, 2025 11:43am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      They will be doing that also
      
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      July 22, 2025 5:11pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    Hamilton has some advantages, such as less traffic than Auckland.
    
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    July 22, 2025 9:22am
    - R
      
      And more location with better access than Auckland; med school and major hospital visit crammed onto a pocket sized site. A much more suitable site was at Greenlane
      
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      July 22, 2025 9:30am
    - waikatosinger
      
      It is also an advantage to have the Waikato base hospital (one of our largest) near a med school.
      
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      July 22, 2025 10:10am
      - fightingtemeraire
        
        Waikato is the 2nd biggest hospital in Australasia, and I think in the top 5 in the S Hemisphere.
        
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        July 22, 2025 11:18am
  - wsk12345
    
    I wonder if it will be Te Treaty led?
    Perhaps that’s why they are starting from scratch.
    
    I heard while driving home that it’s a 4 yr rather than 6 yr degree. How does that work? )I could hve fitted my 3 yr bachelors into one year but I thought med school was hard!
    
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    July 22, 2025 9:23am
  - Phronesis
    
    They are quite different models. The bottle neck in Dr training is not the medical schools but the first year jobs in hospitals as house officers. This new medical school is a different model where graduates won’t be going into those hospital jobs but will go straight into non-hospital practices. It’s essentially another tier of doctor and won’t be attractive to good students as it will be career limiting. They will hopefully be better trained than PA’s but how good they are will still depend on the who they let in.
    
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    July 22, 2025 9:25am
  - peterwn
    
    Auckland University’s medical campus in Hamilton would effectively be the nucleus of the new medical school. Possibly Auckland University and Hamilton campus staff may not be happy at the prospect but then similar would have happened to Otago University in Auckland when the Auckland medical school opened.
    
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    July 22, 2025 10:40am
  - Blog-aholic
    
    You mean ‘stabba’ tron…..
    
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    July 22, 2025 11:30am
    - Flossie
      
      What a stupid unnecessary comment. I lived there for several years and found it to be a perfectly fine place to live. Nice and central and crime no worse than any other city of comparable size.
      
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      July 22, 2025 2:04pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Otago and Auckland are both getting a lift in capacity, 40 extra each I think they said, the government wants 200 extra a year, OU and AU can not deliver extra 100 each
    
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    July 22, 2025 5:10pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Likely that doctors will be yet another obsolete profession as AGI + robots step into the roll before the first intake has even graduated in the 2030’s.
  
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  July 22, 2025 8:48am
  - Cassandra
    
    And the role. 😇
    
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    July 22, 2025 9:35am
  - imalwaysright
    
    N
    I’ve heard of GP’s doing internet searches of patients symptoms.
    
    That’s a good use of the web, but that leaves the doctor taking a few vitals and writing a prescription. A nurse can do that.
    
    It would be interesting to study how similar or otherwise are the diagnoses of doctors v nurses with both using the same resources.
    
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    July 22, 2025 9:44am
    - rockape
      
      Some nurses can do their Masters then practice on the same level as junior doctors. My wife is one and in ED. Get paid well for it too.
      
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      July 22, 2025 3:39pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Nothing: What complete nonsense…lawyers will be obsolete well before doctors are. There will never be a robot with either the empathy or bedside manner of a good doctor.
    
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    July 22, 2025 10:13am
    - artemisia
      
      What about the therapy robot baby harp seals in Japan’s hospitals and care facilities. Not doctoring, obviously (yet!) but empathetic certainly. Been around for 30 years. Pay equity not required.
      
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      July 22, 2025 10:24am
    - Jack5
      
      DG, they’ve had robots doing surgery for a decade or so.
      
      Now they’re adding AI to robot systems so they learn.
      
      Just hope they’re not learning from mistakes.
      
      Here’s the latest on one of the systems, the daVinci 5, which costs about $US $1.8 million to $US2.5 million (the firm has cheaper models):
      
      https://www.intuitive.com/en-gb/products-and-services/da-vinci/5
      
      AND, a comparison of prices for various surgery robots:
      
      https://r2surgical.com/blogs/news/how-much-is-a-surgical-robot-2025-edition
      
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      July 22, 2025 10:29am
    - Northshoredoc
      
      Hedonism bot ?
      
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6XXCip04us
      
      Reminds me of one of the Professors up at National Women’s Hospital.
      
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      July 22, 2025 10:48am
    - NothingLeft
      
      Don’t get too comfortable in that belief.
      
      AI’s are already better at feigning empathy and interest in random humans than real life people hence the rise of AI girl and boyfriends.
      
      And AIs are mostly already superior at diagnosis of uncommon complaints than busy doctors, they are also rapidly taking over in interpreting tests and scans at near zero cost compared to a medical professional.
      
      In 5 years times medical AI in conjunction with your $50k home robot butler/gardener as a diagnostic actuator will be able to deal with most issues that take you to see the doctor.
      
      Announcement today that several labs now have AIs achieving gold-level performance in the maths olympiad – a creative mathematical problem solving competition for global elite of high-school mathematicians, basically at a level of decent Maths graduates. That level of problem solving and reasoning ability is far ahead of most humans and getting very close to what most people would regard as General Intelligence. Sometime between 2026-2028 humans won’t be smartest things on planet anymore, at which point we will inevitably start to get replaced in all jobs by the lower cost, harder working and more productive digital intelligences.
      
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      July 22, 2025 11:28am
      - Quail
        
        AI will have to get a lot more accurate than it is presently.
        Technical replies are very often just averaging and totally wrong!
        
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        July 22, 2025 12:56pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        The rate of improvement is eye-watering. People who aren’t paying close attention just have no idea how fast things are changing, and are instead wedded to their life long assumptions about how the world functions and their places in it to such a degree that they pathologically refuse to see the cataclysm coming, or try to find ways of pretending it’s not going to whip the carpet out from under them.
        
        Suicidal complacency.
        
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        July 22, 2025 4:22pm
- kowtow
  
  I see a senior Nat says we have hundreds of young NZers studying medicine in Oz .
  
  Could that be because our universities drive them overseas with the race quotas set aside because “settler colonialism”.
  
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  July 22, 2025 8:50am
  - Phronesis
    
    Well yes, but they were probably going to end up there anyway. The pay differential between public work in NZ and private work in Australia is now at least 3x for in demand specialties.
    
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    July 22, 2025 9:28am
  - Ian Boag
    
    Generally, New Zealanders on an SCV are not able to get an Australia student loan, known as a HELP loan, unless they have been living in Australia for 10 years.
    
    Hundreds? Go figure.
    
    SCV = special conditions visa. What most Kiwis in Oz have. It’s not as hard as it used to be to get PR/citizenship, but it’s not a “hop off the plane and fill in a few forms” thing.
    
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    July 22, 2025 9:39am
  - Souvlaki
    
    I know for a fact Kowtow, your second paragraph above is ‘spot on’ the money :-(!
    
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    July 22, 2025 9:57am
  - Simon
    
    “I see a senior Nat says we have hundreds of young NZers studying medicine in Oz .”
    
    This is because of racial screening in NZ. Med schools are accepting lower grades from Maori in particular & Pacific people at the expense of other races which have higher grades. These people not accepted in NZ, fly into Aust med school.
    
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    July 22, 2025 10:38am
    - Burtland
      
      it is so dumb to exclude your brightest because of race when theres a shortage of doctors – thats where DEI takes you – the dumb arse economy
      
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      July 22, 2025 11:50am
    - Ian Boag
      
      These people not accepted in NZ, fly into Aust med school.
      
      So long as M&D can pony up tuition and living costs since they won’t be able to get Oz student loans ..
      
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      July 22, 2025 2:02pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    No, it’s because the 2 units only let a few in each year, as someone said above Aussie has 21 med schools
    
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    July 22, 2025 5:16pm
- Mike
  
  Steven Joyce seems to have profited handsomely from the deal.
  
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  July 22, 2025 8:59am
  - Jack5
    
    Gotta nail Steven Joyce, eh Mike. He’s a dangerous man for the Wet-Left, given his new role as chief executive at the Herald.
    
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    July 22, 2025 10:14am
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      But for once Mike has got it right. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/515880/auditor-general-criticises-way-university-of-waikato-contracted-steven-joyce
      
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      July 22, 2025 3:23pm
    - rockape
      
      With that and the Right wing SKY buying tv3 the worm may have turned.
      
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      July 22, 2025 3:45pm
  - Simon
    
    “Steven Joyce seems to have profited handsomely from the deal.”
    
    The grift using inside knowledge once outside parliament. Core National.
    
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    July 22, 2025 10:40am
- Jack5
  
  Google’s AI assistant again tells me me Australia has 21 medical schools involved in training doctors.
  
  There are five paths for Australian students finally to become registered GP’s.
  
  The latest figures I find, for 2023, indicate Australia had 6.6 times the number of GP’s as NZ, while it had a general population 5.1 times the size of NZ’s.
  
  https://gpra.org.au/training/fellowship-pathways/
  
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  July 22, 2025 10:08am
- rouppe
  
  If like to see the analysis on expanding Auckland and Dunedin that came up with not viable.
  
  On the face of it, expanding existing facilities seems to make sense. But if that requires new buildings and there’s nowhere for those buildings then what do you do?
  
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  July 22, 2025 12:01pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    They are lifting capacity at the other 2 units, but they can not get an extra 200 a year
    
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    July 22, 2025 5:18pm
- Paulus
  
  New Tainui sponsored Waikato Med School, but with priority for Tainui entries and qualification expected.
  But rememebr it take some 10 years to finally get a useful young Doctor – but Iwi preferred maybe.
  So the sooner it get started with 150 entries a year the sooner we might even see a result in 10 years -maaybe ?
  
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  July 22, 2025 12:02pm
- KH
  
  A third med school. They will do it differently from the hoary old unproductive ones.
  The Dunedin and Auckland schools have never agreed on anything. Until another school was proposed. An achievement in itself.
  Pity tho it’s at woke Waikato.
  
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  July 22, 2025 12:48pm
Yvette

From a post this morning by Kiwiblog host David Farrar at 7am –

… Public health lobby groups that are not funded by taxpayers have no restrictions on lobbying. In fact they do it relentlessly. But the Auditor-General has said many times that taxpayer funded organisations must not be funded by the Government to lobby the Government. Again this is something you might expect an Integrity Institute to applaud – not having Government funded lobbying …

Where does this leave the Waitangi Tribunal, not confining itself to core business, but actually lobbying against the Government?
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July 22, 2025 8:14am
- RoboRob
  
  Wish I could give more up ticks.
  
  DOC and MOH are also often actively involved in lobbying the government too.
  
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  July 22, 2025 9:35am
- Mike
  
  The Waitangi Tribunal is a permanent commission of inquiry with a clear mandate to advise the government.
  
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  July 22, 2025 3:24pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    The tribunal [had] a mandate when their recommendations were balanced and reasonable. Now it’s packed with radicals pursuing a Maori ethnostate agenda, so that mandate is gone.
    
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    July 22, 2025 4:35pm
waikatosinger

Population of Queensland Australia = 5.5 million
Number of medical schools = 3

Population of New South Wales = 8 million
Number of medical schools = 4

Population of Victoria Australia = 7 million
Number of medical schools = 5
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July 22, 2025 8:18am
NeverMindTheBollocks

This is very basic maths. It turns out that no one in New Plymouth DC’s finance dept or senior management knows how percentages work.

Jesus wept!

NB – the difference between margin and mark up. Or maybe they did, and did it anyway to deceive the ratepayers thinking that the increase was smaller than it actually is.

You decide.

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/567596/new-plymouth-rates-blunder-caused-by-lack-of-financial-reporting-knowledge-review
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July 22, 2025 8:19am
- greybeard
  
  “Councillors would also vote on amending the rates resolution wording regarding properties on a restricted water flow – usually industrial users – to ensure council was able to charge $418 for each cubic metre of water as intended.”
  
  That equates to 41.8c / litre ! ( not sure if GST is included, given their current performance ! )
  You can buy bottled water at Pak-n-Save for about that price !
  
  https://www.paknsave.co.nz/shop/product/5007226_ea_000pns?pg=1#JTdCJTIyYWxnb2xpYUFuYWx5dGljcyUyMiUzQSU3QiUyMnNlYXJjaFF1ZXJ5SUQlMjIlM0ElMjIyZDY1MDZjNmIxMzJlYTZkZTgzM2NkMTQxMDNkMmE1ZiUyMiUyQyUyMnNlYXJjaFBvc2l0aW9uJTIyJTNBMSU3RCU3RA==
  
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  July 22, 2025 11:02am
  - Colville
    
    Given that a lazy $200 cash to the fire brigard will usually get you 10,000 litres delivered on a Saturday morning you would definitely be installing a roof water tank in the yard!
    
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    July 22, 2025 11:45am
Sparrow

Would suggest reading a Guy Espinar article written back in 2023 and a Bryce Edwards article written yesterday. These articles give the background to this decision. In short it’s bordering on corruption. It makes me laugh when kiwibloggers go on about the influence of Unions and Iwi whilst ignoring the influences of National, ACT, and Corporations. The system is corrupted no matter who is in power. Has always been and will continue to be so. The public and most MPs are cannon fodder for the elites. Sometimes corrections take place but then get pulled back. Nothing will change. Why ? The system is run by humans. Greed Power Ego. Cynical yes but unfortunately reality.
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July 22, 2025 8:28am
- pdm
  
  Sparrow – National and ACT are political parties who are in Government at present.
  
  Not sure how you come to the conclusion they are the same as Corporations, Unions and Iwi.
  
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  July 22, 2025 9:41am
- DimChappie
  
  Link to the excellent Bryce Edwards article:
  
  https://theintegrityinstitute.substack.com/p/integrity-briefing-waikato-medical
  
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  July 22, 2025 10:01am
  - Quail
    
    DC
    Again the major culprit is MMP which enables politicians to live off taxpayers ,in or out of power.
    Who is influencing and even making the decisions in NZ today?
    It is the same old ,same old ,people whether or not they have an electorate mandate.
    Bureaucracy rules!
    
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    July 22, 2025 6:15pm
- peterwn
  
  There were similar fusses in the 1960’s concerning establishing a medical school in Auckland and establishing a fully fledged university at Albany on the North Shore. No one now would question the wisdom of the Auckland medical school establishment and the University never happened (although there are satellite operations of one or more existing universities on the North Shore.
  Incidentally the Auckland Medical School started in 1965 in the rabbit warren of buildings on the Symonds Street/ Alfred Street when the Chemistry Department relocated up the road. Students were expected to wear white shirts and ties as they would need to when they started being in hospitals (I am not sure whether the Northern Club still requires ties). A cartoon in the Herald showed the newly appointed Dean asking a passer-by where the new medical school was – at that time it was just a hole in the ground near Auckland Hospital.
  
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  July 22, 2025 11:02am
  - wgtn_dude
    
    Am not sure about the Auckland Club … but Massey University aviation school requires all students to wear a shirt and tie uniform while on campus. For the 3-4 year degree, they also have 8am starts most days, with in person attendance required. And no long holiday breaks like the rest of the university.
    
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    July 22, 2025 4:13pm
waikatosinger

Continuing the theme

Population of Australia = 26.6 million
Number of medical schools = 21
That is one medical school per every 1.25 million

Population of New Zealand = 5.25 million
5.25 divide by 1.25 = 4.2
So if we compare ourselves to Australia we should have 4 medical schools.

Now I know it isn’t that simple. But this whole argument that New Zealand isn’t big enough to need 3 medical schools is just nonsense.
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July 22, 2025 8:32am
- Cassandra
  
  Need? We can do nicely with 2. Want is the word you’re after.
  
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  July 22, 2025 9:37am
  - imalwaysright
    
    I’m not sure why the number of schools is relevant
    
    Surely it is the student capacity that is the important metric.
    
    We would probably be better off with just one school that employs the best talent and has the best equipment and facilities while eliminating costly duplication.
    
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    July 22, 2025 10:17am
  - slijmbal
    
    Strange no-one has mentioned the word competition wrt a new medical school.
    
    Having just 2 greatly limits striving for excellence (I know might deserve a /sarc but there are plenty of academics who want to be the best and be part of the best).
    
    I have no idea of the relative costs of expanding the current to establishing a new school but…..
    
    The larger an organisation gets the more management it gets and the more complex to administer it becomes to administer. Economies of scale don’t always work and academic entities seem to be very bad at admin.
    
    Too bone idle to actually look into the numbers but it’s not immediately obvious at a high level that expanding the current school is a better option and could well be a worse one.
    
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    July 22, 2025 10:41am
- Warren Murray
  
  As you’ve decided to pick a random country for comparison purposes, I’ll play along….Zimbabwe three medical schools and trains approx 200-225 doctors p.a for a pop of 16+ million.
  
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  July 22, 2025 11:01am
Bridgenag

Moderna Founder Launches Aerial-spraying of RNA to Alter Gene Expression of Crops
mRNA for Plants?

“So, the same forces who sought to modify the human genome, have targeted also our food and plants, as they mumble something about “save crops because global warming and cow farts.”

https://open.substack.com/pub/unshadowed/p/moderna-founder-launches-aerial-spraying?r=1aj1bv&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=post%20viewer
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July 22, 2025 8:34am
- Yvette
  
  In the sad absence of Benedict
  
  mRNA COVID vaccines — like those developed by Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna — do not modify your DNA or the human genome.
  
  • They deliver a strand of messenger RNA (mRNA) into your cells.
  • This mRNA never enters the cell’s nucleus, where DNA exists.
  • Instead, it uses the cell’s existing machinery (ribosomes) to instruct the body to make a harmless piece of the virus’s spike protein.
  • The immune system sees this protein as an “intruder alert,” and learns to defend against it.
  • Then the mRNA breaks down naturally, typically within a few days.
  In short, it teaches your immune system what to look out for, like a wanted poster — it doesn’t alter the blueprint of the building.
  
  The covid vaccine gives a cell a dry-erase instruction on a whiteboard, not carving new commandments into stone tablets.
  
  the Plant Story
  Regarding the aerial RNA spraying and “gene-modifying” crops — there is research into RNA-based topical treatments for plants, but this is not genetic modification in the traditional sense and has nothing to do with mRNA vaccines for humans.
  • Scientists can spray RNA molecules onto crops to temporarily silence or activate certain genes (say, to resist a pest or disease).
  • This technique is called RNA interference (RNAi), and it doesn’t permanently change the plant’s DNA.
  • It degrades over time and is being explored as an alternative to pesticides.
  To say it’s the “same forces” doing “genome modification” is a politically charged oversimplification that connects two very different biological mechanisms.
  
  The moment we treat “RNA” like it’s a universal boogeyman, we lose the chance for clear-headed discernment. Yes, caution and curiosity are warranted — always — but do not confuse a recipe card (mRNA) for a rewritten genetic code.
  
  Where deaths occurred following the covid vaccination, causes fell into several categories:
  Coincidental (e.g., the person was already very unwell).
  Undiagnosed underlying conditions that were triggered by the immune response.
  Rare vaccine-related adverse events, like:
  Myocarditis (especially post-second dose in young men).
  Anaphylaxis (a known risk with any vaccine, treatable if caught quickly).
  TTS (as noted with AstraZeneca).
  
  Was it worth the risk?
  For a young, healthy person, the risk of severe COVID was low — but not zero, and long COVID remains a concern.
  For older adults or those with comorbidities, COVID was (and is) far more dangerous than the vaccine.
  Without vaccines, millions more would have died, especially pre-Omicron.
  
  Jacinda was as lucky as hell that by the time she reopened New Zealand , covid had morphed to omicron which was a milder form of the virus.
  
  Downtick away ↓
  
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  July 22, 2025 9:30am
  - imalwaysright
    
    No downtick, good effort.
    
    “Jacinda was as lucky as hell that by the time she reopened New Zealand , covid had morphed to omicron which was a milder form of the virus.”
    
    Has there ever been a flu virus that didn’t mutate to a more benign state?
    
    That is third form biology, but apparently the Ardern régime, and other régimes around the world, chose to tell us that this flu virus was a maverick that hunted down people who didn’t contain a chemical that even the manufacturer says is virtually useless.
    
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    July 22, 2025 11:02am
Jethrod

SkyTv has bought TV3 for a $1 in a “massive media shakeup”
Announced at 0830 today
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July 22, 2025 8:44am
- Jack5
  
  The seller, Warner Brother Discovery, has been moving away from traditional TV, which it calls “linear TV,” and into more streaming business. In its latest quarter it reported a loss of $US453 million.
  
  There must be good financial or legal reasons for giving away a business for $1 rather than just closing it. Fairfax did the same when it sold Stuff for $1.
  
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  July 22, 2025 10:56am
  - Colville
    
    How big are the fleas on that dog if its only $1 !!
    
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    July 22, 2025 12:03pm
  - Jethrod
    
    Yes and has Sinead got her $1 back yet?
    
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    July 22, 2025 1:27pm
  - John Loveridge
    
    Redundancy liabilities, that kind of thing?
    
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    July 22, 2025 8:10pm
sirknz

TV3 bought for $1 by Sky TV.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360765473/sky-buy-tv3-1

That is about $5 more than I would be willing to pay for it but it is at least twice the value of TVNZ..
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July 22, 2025 9:04am
RoboRob

‘Independent Investigation and Assurance Review of
Allegations of Misuse of 2023 Census Information’

This is the Stats department review. The reviewer is the same person reviewing the Whanu ora sponsership of rugby investigation. Both investigations are due to coplete on or before 31 July.

Interesting clauses ….

6. As part of the approach to encourage greater levels of participation of Māori in
Auckland incentives were given to people to complete the 2023 Census. Stats NZ was
aware of the use of incentives and considered that if used appropriately the use of
incentives was consistent with the purpose of funding provided to Whānau Ora

Why is stats specifying in it terms if reference that this is legal and that essentially the reviewer should ignore this?

7. Stats NZ has subsequently been made aware of allegations that incentives were also
provided in order to encourage Māori to change from the general roll to the Māori
roll.

8. Stats NZ understands that a complaint has been made to the New Zealand Police,
which the New Zealand Police are assessing

Why are they going to this level to prevent looking into this?

Matters out of scope
11. The following are out of the scope of this Review:

11.2 Any comment on the performance or competence of any person in relation to
the matters in scope of this review, except to the extent this relates directly to
the processes and management of census related forms and data;

11.3 The fitness for purpose of any Stats NZ policies or processes not directly
related to this review, or those of any other agency.

Stunning. The review specifically prevents the reviewer from making any finding or comments around the performance of Status NZ,Whanua Ora, The Marae or TPM.

So essentially the review is rigged to avoid any negative outcome for government agencies or even the investigated party.

This isn’t a one off, check Tama Potakas TOR in his TPK investigation….

Matters out of scope
13. The following are out of the scope of the Review:
(a) any comment on the performance or competence of any person in relation to the matters in scope of this Review, except to the extent this relates directly to contract management, or determining any disciplinary matters;

(b) the fitness for purpose of any Te Puni Kōkiri policies or processes not directly related to this Review; and
(c) contracts held with either Te Pou Matakana Limited or Pasifika Futures Limited by any other agency.

Are these ‘sham’ reviews, designed to tick boxes but avoid damage to any party involved or are these just standard clauses in any review (I really hop not).

Not stats even purposely signalled a desired outcome by saying the following when announcing the review….

‘“We are confident that Whānau Ora, Waipareira Trust, or any other party did not have access to our databases. However, it is still important that this is investigated and assured,” Sowden said.’ https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/scope-of-investigation-into-alleged-misuse-of-census-data/#:~:text=Doug%20Craig%20is%20the%20Director%20of%20the%20RDC,with%20a%20background%20in%20law%2C%20accounting%2C%20and%20strategy.
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July 22, 2025 9:14am
- Paulus
  
  We have been conned for many years by the Bureacrats in the so called Statistics Department, as I have commented specifically many times before here.
  Will we ever get to the truth ?
  No way !
  
  7 0
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  July 22, 2025 12:07pm
imalwaysright

Has Jevon McSkimming been arrested yet?
It has been months since the alleged behaviour was discovered.

I remember when Tamaki’s relation painted over the rainbow crossing in Auckland he was arrested, tried and convicted within about 3 days.
16 4
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July 22, 2025 9:21am
- Hugh Jarse
  
  You obviously weren’t reading the newspapers week before last.
  
  1 0
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  July 22, 2025 1:33pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Are you saying he’s been arrested?
    
    0 0
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    July 22, 2025 4:12pm
wairarapapaul

We don’t have enough doctors.
Train more. Sounds sensible especially as it’s specifically for rural GP’s which probably needs a modified course.
My rule #1, if it’s not working, don’t do more of the same thing.
The Tron does have the spectacular Hamilton Gardens.
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July 22, 2025 9:27am
- imalwaysright
  
  Why would a rural GP need to do a “modified course”?
  
  1 0
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  July 22, 2025 11:45am
- Paulus
  
  Take 10 years of hard training to produce a useful qualified and competent Doctor.
  Start now !
  
  1 0
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  July 22, 2025 12:08pm
- rouppe
  
  I spent four years at Waikato university. Hamilton is underrated I reckon.
  
  1.5 hours to Auckland for concerts or international airport.
  1.5 hours to the beach at the Mount.
  1.5 hours to raglan.
  2-ish hours to skiing (though the skiing was more reliable in the 80’s).
  Settled weather.
  
  10 3
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  July 22, 2025 12:15pm
  - Tauhei Notts
    
    90 minutes from Hamilton to Raglan?
    Did you major in geography at Waikato University?
    
    5 0
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    July 22, 2025 12:42pm
    - rouppe
      
      Fair enough. It was a guess. We usually went to Kawhia because a mates family lived there and I used what I thought was a similar number.
      
      Even that would have been wrong as Mr Google says its just over an hour to Kawhia.
      
      My only defence is that it’s been 40 years since I lived in Hamilton 🤷‍♂️
      
      4 0
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      July 22, 2025 3:39pm
  - keepcalmcarryon
    
    3.5 hours from Australia.
    
    5 0
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    July 22, 2025 1:08pm
  - lifesgood
    
    All well and good but it’s still a dump. All the things you mention entail leaving it.
    
    2 1
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    July 22, 2025 2:14pm
    - MCōs
      
      It’s a dump is it?
      There’s hundreds of thousands of cities in the world and I suppose there’ll be someone who’ll claim on the one hand each one is either a dump or bloody marvelous
      
      1 2
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      July 22, 2025 8:46pm
      - ISeeRed
        
        Yep. There are high-rises, light rail, expressways, malls, bridges etc. in Bangkok that leave New Zealand’s pathetic attempts for dust yet some will likewise declare Bangkok a “dump” just because it has some poorer areas like any city.
        
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        July 22, 2025 9:36pm
sirknz

Another uni student sob story. I was working 4 jobs and close to full time hours when I was studying, as long as you have flexibility with your employers the workload wasn’t so bad on a commerce degree.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360765046/living-noodles-and-no-heating-realities-student-poverty-aotearoa

Looking through the pictures of the students focussed on in the article, I can see a few areas where they could’ve saved cash. Mid range laptop at half the cost of an Apple Mac, not buying an overpriced water bottle as used by social media influencers, not buying name brand cleaning products, not buying trendy alcoholic lemonade despite pictures of them drinking it immediately after they say they don’t buy booze.
10 1
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July 22, 2025 9:34am
Chuck Bird

No paywall. We must not shaft our farmers with this climate change alarmism. More CO2 increase global food supply.

How green finance rules could harm NZ farming: Dr Jacqueline Rowarth

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/how-green-finance-rules-could-harm-nz-farming-dr-jacqueline-rowarth/ENKXBPHYVBFXNGICRHTTQXDJHY/
12 2
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July 22, 2025 9:41am
Cassandra

Politik: “The number of students that the Auckland and Otago Medical Schools can train is set by the Cabinet. A PWC report on medical training last year found that the Universities of Auckland and Otago said they could train as many as 300 additional doctors annually without the Government spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new facilities. Waikato is proposing to train 120 students.”
12 1
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July 22, 2025 9:41am
- Northshoredoc
  
  Exactly Cass.
  
  So cui bono?
  
  5 2
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  July 22, 2025 9:45am
- Phronesis
  
  The problem would be how you would decide which graduates would get hospital jobs and which would go to train in rest homes and rural practices. The advantage of having a third school is that the career path is defined at the outset, people know what they are signing up for. The quality of students that such a school will attract may not be capable of completing the same curriculum, although that is a problem that the current med schools already face with their anti-academic entry criteria.
  
  6 3
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  July 22, 2025 9:55am
  - Paulus
    
    Problem is that none will go Rural !
    
    1 1
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    July 22, 2025 12:10pm
    - Phronesis
      
      That’s the point of this new medical school. They will be forced to train rurally and they won’t have the major hospital experience required to train in hospital specialties. They will be on a career path more akin to a physicians assistant than a physician.
      
      4 3
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      July 22, 2025 12:41pm
      - greybeard
        
        “They will be on a career path more akin to a physicians assistant than a physician.” And what is wrong with that ? I suspect that a huge majority of cases presenting to a qualified GP could easily be triaged then diverted to Nurse Practitioners or your “physicians assistants”.
        
        2 1
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        July 22, 2025 1:18pm
    - muzled
      
      Do what the dingo’s do over there on the west island.
      
      Every teacher trained has to go spend two years rural.
      
      They all know it when they start, and there is no getting out of it.
      
      Ex g/f of mine got married young and got out of it. Then divorced him and headed off to London for OE.
      
      Guess what happened when she went back to ‘straya? Yep, first job was in bumf**k nowhere! (11hr/950km drive from Brisbane…)
      
      (and oh did she throw her toys, didn’t get her out of it though)
      
      Great solution for zero cost imo.
      
      2 0
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      July 22, 2025 2:20pm
- Jack5
  
  Does PWC’s consulting still have credibility, Cassandra?
  
  The firm’s NZ Government consultancy laid off tens of people over the last year, and in Australia, PWC’s been tainted by a tax scandal.
  
  6 1
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  July 22, 2025 10:47am
Skippytony

I think they are asking the wrong question. The question should be whats the most efficient way to mint more doctors? As I understand it, the current constraint is the need for additional clinical placements. How will this new facility fix that?
Are we indenturing these doctors for a period?

Is there capacity to train them in Australia, for example? The medical stuff has to be the same, its only the “cultural competency” stuff they would need to be trained on back here.

There are what, 15? 20? places in NZ teaching Bachelor of Nursing & there are still capacity constraints (clinical placements again) and an ongoing (apparently) shortage of Nurses.

Sounds suss to me……
6 1
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July 22, 2025 10:12am
- Northshoredoc
  
  NZ had a perfect opportunity during the COVID farce to import plane loads of Drs into NZ.
  
  Another missed opportunity from the hopeless government overseeing the shambles.
  
  8 3
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  July 22, 2025 10:54am
  - Keith White
    
    “NZ had a perfect opportunity during the COVID farce to import plane loads of Drs into NZ.”
    
    Ardern’s Border Farce locked me out of my clinical job as well as my country for 9 months (I’d gone overseas for a work assignment).
    
    8 1
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    July 22, 2025 4:54pm
- Keith White
  
  The way to get twice as many clinical duty shifts to learn face-to-face medicine is to do days and nights and then days and nights and then repeat.
  
  Ask me how I know. (Actually, that was how we learned back in the day. And night…).
  
  6 1
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  July 22, 2025 4:53pm
Skippytony

Another well meant education initiative getting bogged down in woke concrete and vested interests….

https://www.msn.com/en-nz/education-and-learning/secondary-education/school-curriculum-rewrite-had-serious-problems-managers-considered-using-ai-to-help/ar-AA1J0P5r?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=c4b5c7ac858b48b7918a2ceb1c06c123&ei=23
9 1
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July 22, 2025 10:21am
JJ56

I see Dame Anne Salmond is in Newsroom today https://newsroom.co.nz/2025/07/22/anne-salmond-new-zealanders-deserve-better/ (not paywalled) bemoning the devisiveness and name calling in modern politics.

In keeping with the spirit of things she starts by likening her critics to George Orwell’s Big Brother and their thought police, or Margaret Attwood’s Gilead in The Handmaid’s Tale.

She cries out for “the past, [where] responsible leaders … worked to build cross-party consensus on key matters including climate change, Te Tiriti and the need for a healthy environment” looking for “the ‘middle ground’ inhabited by most New Zealanders”. Amen to that.

I assume therefore she sits with majority of NZers who are sceptical of many of the noisy and extremist views promolgated from a small minority on the likely impact of climate change, don’t consider the Treaty ceded sovereignty and created a governance partnership, and don’t consider a healthy environment means protection at all cost and overrides balancing this with our social and economic needs.

And most of all she would support legislation that put greater onus on the Executive to publicly explain when they stray from the principles of good governance that we subscribe to as New Zealanders.
17 2
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July 22, 2025 12:11pm
- Swifty
  
  Time after time Anne Salmond demonstrates she lacks any self-awareness.
  
  18 2
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  July 22, 2025 1:02pm
  - Keith White
    
    Salmond Coma Score = 5.
    
    2 0
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    July 22, 2025 4:55pm
- Eastlander
  
  1984 and Handmaid’s tale? Couldn’t this alleged academic quote anything more highbrow?
  
  The appeal for cross party consensus is beneath contempt and boils down to ‘do what we say even though we lost the election’ – A plea for more managerial anti-politics.
  
  5 1
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  July 22, 2025 2:00pm
Swifty

This can’t be right! It’s impossible!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/te-ao-maori/360764784/sex-v-gender-global-debate-over-definition-woman

Two Maori having diametrically opposed worldviews?

But all this time we’ve been lectured there is only one Maori worldview! And that takatapui were widely recognised as women in pre-contact Maori society before whitey came along and wrecked it all. Well that’s what Elizabeth Kerekere has been claiming for years and years.

There must be some fracturing of The Force. Some glitch in The Matrix!

And worst of all, my god, could Elizabeth Kerekere have been wrong?

//
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July 22, 2025 12:20pm
Hugh Jarse

Interesting exposure by Sean Plunkett this morning of the maorification of FENZ and subsequent follow up questions with David Seymour. Despite what David says I am of the view that there is no way or intent by this government to stop this now, it’s getting too deeply embedded, government CEOs are just defying the elected government and they are getting tacitly encouraged by a lack of action by said government.
14 1
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July 22, 2025 1:31pm
- kowtow
  
  Seymour made it very clear he and Act are against this. But they face a huge challenge .
  
  He didn’t say it , but there really is a Deep State .
  
  6 0
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  July 22, 2025 4:19pm
Swifty

Western societies lack colour and vibrancy.

Let’s fix that by importing millions of people like this…..

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14925811/Horrifying-moment-woman-executed-brother-choice-husband-groom-shot-dead-double-honour-killing-shocked-Pakistan.html

And the UK? That goes double for you.
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July 22, 2025 2:27pm
Ian Boag

A while ago PaulL did an excellent series of posts about benefits and abatement rates etc. There is an excellent article about this by Ganesh Nana with a case study based on a minimum wage family with a couple of kids where he is on the min wage and she is getting job seeker and actually looking for work. There are a couple of other things in there too, but the upshot is that if she goes into a full time job on the minimum wage the effective hourly rate is about $6 in the hand and childcare for the two kids would have to come out of that. Things like WFF and accommodation supplement and other things all interact. There’s a lot of giving with one hand and taking with the other.

He works through the arithmetic in a simple non-rant style. Thought-provoking ….

https://ganeshnana.substack.com/p/alexs-employment-pays-607-per-hour?r=37e9m9
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July 22, 2025 3:06pm
- rouppe
  
  “The effective hourly rate…”
  
  So what? I don’t care that working barely pays more than the benefit. Well I do care insofar as it is clearly a disincentive to work.
  
  But it is incumbent on everyone of working age who can work, to work. If the Social Welfare bill were to be reduced because of this then that’s money that can be spent on health, education and security.
  
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  July 22, 2025 3:44pm
  - Ian Boag
    
    I wasn’t getting on to the “cancel all benefits” wagon. Just noting the perverse outcomes that come from a system that has sort of grown in a haphazard way.
    
    And incidentally to observe that two full-time min-wage workers with a couple of kids can’t afford to rent an average 2-br flat and pay for child care …. AFAICT they don’t have enough to blow any of it on fags, booze or dope.
    
    I guess the poor are always with us.
    
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    July 23, 2025 8:54am
- mediocrates
  
  Not sure why she is on a JobSeeker benefit, if her partner is working full-time OR are they both on JobSeeker benefit as a couple?
  
  3 0
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  July 22, 2025 4:55pm
rouppe

Yeah, AI is totally going to replace human software engineers.

AI ignored instruction to freeze code, forgot it could roll back errors, and generally made a terrible hash of things

Including deleting a production database!
4 0
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July 22, 2025 3:58pm
- NothingLeft
  
  People are grasping at ever smaller twigs of cope “see it made this mistake”, as the AI stampede comes rushing onwards to crush their jobs and the whole structure of their lives and dreams underfoot.
  
  “It’s not AGI because it can’t match our best scientists or engineers yet” and neither can 99.99% of the population. Guess they aren’t Intelligent either. The most advanced models and the agentic systems in development that use them are still more expensive than the people they could mostly replace, but costs are dropping rapidly.
  
  The thing is the holes in their capabilities are evaporating at an ever faster rate, and most industry insiders see them permanently surpassing us within next 1-3 years at which point poltitical and economic collapse of the whole modern world as we know it, with most people no longer being economically unemployable is pretty much a lock.
  
  Unless there is a global ban on AI use most of what you think you know about how the world operates and your place in it is soon going to be very wrong.
  
  Wake up.
  
  1 0
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  July 22, 2025 5:38pm
  - John Loveridge
    
    Unhappily, I think you’re right.
    
    0 0
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    July 22, 2025 8:22pm
Swifty

While the views of principals should be considered, frankly I’m more interested in the views of parents and the community on the new curriculum.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/567672/education-ministry-says-new-curriculums-are-much-clearer-but-principals-disagree

How about, instead of pressing a number for a principal on speed-dial, RNZ journalists get off their arse and organise some curriculum walkthroughs around the country with hundreds of parents and the curriculum authors to gauge their views.
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July 22, 2025 4:23pm
- Keith White
  
  Wut, Swifty, you want them to commit actual reporting-style journalism? How cheeky of you!
  
  9 0
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  July 22, 2025 4:59pm
SmokerGuy

Seriously New Zealand, have you lost your f*****g mind???

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/360766139/new-poll-paints-grim-picture-coalition-government

Is this government perfect? Definitely not but the previous shit show has probably set this country back decades. Did people not get enough economic destruction and lies last time from Chippie and co?
15 1
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July 22, 2025 4:44pm
- Keith White
  
  Many net-productive taxpayers and their kids could read the ‘Mene, Mene, Tekel Upharsin’ on the wall and have left the country. Many drones, drongoes, ferals, couch-sitters and virtue-signallers want much more of OPM (Other People’s Money) and will never leave.
  
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  July 22, 2025 5:01pm
  - ISeeRed
    
    Many more see the writing on the wall and it’s in te reo.
    
    0 0
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    July 22, 2025 9:44pm
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  There was 2 polls out 2 weeks ago showing the Coalition well in front, now we have the first Talbot poll released since Jan and we are supposed to think the polls have swung hard the opposite direction. As Bolger said, bugger the polls, let’s see what happens next t month, because there will be four polls early August, Talbot is always full of shit
  
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  July 22, 2025 5:26pm
  - MCōs
    
    That’s the first time in years someone on this forum has given credence to something Jim Bolger said.
    
    0 0
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    July 22, 2025 9:07pm
- Jack5
  
  How the pollster, Talbot Mills, describes itself:
  
  “We work with leading businesses both sides of the Tasman, run the research programme of former New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, and were involved in Anthony Albanese federal and Dan Andrews Victorian wins.”
  
  🙃 A joke to put pollster-ing in perspective:
  
  They took a poll one day about womens’ legs…
  
  Around 6% said they liked fat legs…
  
  Around 3% said they liked skinny legs.
  
  The other 91% said they preferred something in between.
  
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  July 22, 2025 5:45pm
- Philview
  
  It was very aggravating to read that. If we somehow end up with Labour/Greens/TPM next year in Government imagine the consequences. Lots of new taxes/He Puapua swiftly implemented/the media fully mobilised against the right/hate speech laws. I don’t know if it will happen in my life time but I think Marxists and Iwi will eventually bring democracy to an end in New Zealand.
  
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  July 22, 2025 9:22pm
Swifty

Benn and Jenkins debate, 1975.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_zBFh6bpcMo&pp=QAFIAQ%3D%3D

Compare to Waititi, Packer, Swarbrick, Willie Jackson, Sepuloni, Hipkins et al.

My god we are poorly served.
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July 22, 2025 7:08pm

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