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January 4, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 04 January 2026

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Cassandra

I wrote this last night, it’s kinda outdated as I read the news at 6 am!

There’s a long article in the Herald, reprinted by Radio NZ, about a gang of drug dealers. It’s headed “Multimillion Tribesmen Drug Syndicate Dismantled.”

It details a massive drug distribution organisation which has brought misery to hundreds of families. The sentences are laughable.

* Ricky Michael Te Rangi Poa: 7 years and 7 months’ imprisonment.
* Michael Joseph Aaron Erikson: 8 years and 4 months’ imprisonment.
* Andrew Michael Smith: 9 years and 3 months’ imprisonment.
* Jaxxon Erikson: 6 years and 3 months’ imprisonment.
* Blake Michael James Harpur: 5 years and 9 months’ imprisonment.
* Jordan Rapana: 5 years and 6 months’ imprisonment.
* Matthew John Linto: 3 years and 1 month’s imprisonment.
* Tramayne Rauhihi: 2 years and 10 months’ imprisonment.
* Dylan Rudd Stuart: 1 year and 9 months’ imprisonment.
* Caleb Anthony Pasione Caffery: 10 months’ home detention.
* Sherryn Elizabeth Erikson: 9 months’ home detention.

In Singapore all of them would have a very short stay in prison. I wonder what a US court will give Maduro and co?
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January 4, 2026 8:02am
- kowtow
  
  Our law enforcement folk do do great work with limited resources.
  
  All to be undone by the judiciary , who going by the sentencing are not on the side of law abiding society and vulnerable victims but on that of the organised , violent and dangerous criminals.
  
  Not fit for purpose.
  
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  January 4, 2026 8:41am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Some in the judiciary have in effect become knowing enablers of recidivists.
    
    When a judge gives a ‘second chance’ to a scumbag with 300 convictions, there is something seriously wrong…
    
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    January 4, 2026 9:08am
    - ISeeRed
      
      When it comes to judges and ludicrous sentencing, I do wonder if it’s simply: “He can find out where I live”
      
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      January 4, 2026 2:30pm
    - sungsamning
      
      The sentencing bands need to be narrowed. And the law cutting them in half needs to be dropped.
      
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      January 4, 2026 7:51pm
- BullyHayes
  
  Yeah these sentences are pathetic. The gang foot soldiers see prison time as a rite of passage – and the senior guys as just a ‘cost of doing business’
  
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  January 4, 2026 9:35am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  Interesting. If they are Class A drugs, the maximum sentence is life. Has a life defence ever been handed for trafficking in Class A drugs? Probably not.
  
  If they are Class A drugs the sentences seem light.
  
  The home detention sentences are odd. There is no allowance for home detention sentences for trafficking in Class A drugs.
  
  New Zealand seems to have lower sentences across the board than Australia. But our per capita imprisonment rate is about 15 percent higher than that of Australia. Which is interesting. The only possible explanation is that our serious crime rate is higher than that of Australia. The New Zealand crime rates are skewed by the very high Maori crime rates compared to other ethnicities.
  
  New Zealand imprisonment rates per capita are about double of those of Canada and the EU.
  
  So it is an interesting paradox. Relatively high per capita imprisonment rates but combined with lenient sentences, certainly compared to Australia.
  
  It would be interesting to do analysis of a scenario where Maori crime rates were the same as other ethnicities. Maori are 15 percent of the population while being 50 percent of the prison population. There’s your problem. 🙁
  
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  January 4, 2026 11:53am
  - peterwn
    
    Home detention is available via the Sentencing Act if the proposed sentence is two years or less. The Crimes Act does not need to state that Home Detention is available.
    
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    January 4, 2026 12:20pm
    - Nikola Donatello
      
      No you are wrong about that. The penalties for the misuse of class A drugs are covered by the Misuse of Drugs Act. Not the Crimes Act.
      
      In Section 6, the Act requires judges to sentence those convicted to a term of imprisonment.
      
      https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1975/0116/latest/DLM436222.html
      
      Sadly… subclause 4 allows the judge to not impose a sentence of imprisonment if the judge thinks that there are special circumstances or the offender is aged less than 20. 🙄
      
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      January 4, 2026 2:35pm
sungsamning

Somali ‘learing center’ operatiors who have been looting the US treasury have been passing some of their ill gotten gains on to Democrat politicians. Port of Seattle Commissioner, Hamid Mohamed had got 80% of his donations from owners of ‘child care centers’. States without voter ID laws are handing out the most welfare money to illegals.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2026/01/02/database-searches-show-somali-fraudsters-funding-democrat-politicians/
Database Searches Show Somali Fraudsters Funding Democrat Politicians.
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January 4, 2026 8:15am
- cmm
  
  There has been a lot of talk that Somalis are not real African Americans because they do not share the Atlantic slave history etc of the black people forcibly brought into USA.
  
  That argument is fair enough.
  
  But exactly the same could be said of the “first black president” Obama. His blackness comes from Kenya. Also not part of the Atlantic slave trade. Also voluntary. Perhaps people will begin to see him as a fake African American too.
  
  Sure, the East Coast of Africa had a slave trade, but apart from some minor slaving by Portuguese that was all Arabian slave trading and should not be linked to white guilt etc. Well at least not Anglophone white guilt anyway.
  
  Sidenote: Most of the slaves Portuguese bought came from the West coast of Africa. Only a few came from Mozambique. Most of those ended up in Brazil.
  
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  January 4, 2026 10:15am
  - Jack5
    
    Re CMM on Arab trading of (sub-Saharan) African slaves and “Anglophone white guilt” …
    
    The US Census’s classification of “White” race: “Individuals with origins in Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.”
    
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    January 4, 2026 10:34am
peterwn

Venezuela – 51st state?
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January 4, 2026 8:29am
- mandk
  
  No. Just free from corrupt and undemocratic rule.
  
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  January 4, 2026 8:41am
  - G152
    
    Unlike the US then
    
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    January 4, 2026 9:49am
    - mandk
      
      Depends whether you are talking about Blue or Red states.
      
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      January 4, 2026 3:42pm
  - Greenheart
    
    As Trump is dealing with Maduro’s deputy please explain how that creates corrupt free and democratic rule?
    
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    January 4, 2026 9:53am
  - Lance
    
    And my a remarkable coincidence, there is a lot of oil there
    
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    January 4, 2026 10:15am
  - cmm
    
    Free? No.
    
    Just removing the top guy does not make for freedom.
    
    Refer: Iraq, Iran, …..
    
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    January 4, 2026 10:16am
    - Mike
      
      And South Africa, 1966.
      
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      January 4, 2026 10:37am
    - mandk
      
      Or you could refer to Romania, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia.
      
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      January 4, 2026 3:46pm
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    History suggests that such a turn around rarely happens. Can you think of any examples where a country has been “liberated” by external force and turned into a modern democracy, relatively free of corruption? I will qualify “since 1945”. The collapse of the soviet union does not count. That was not external liberation.
    
    I can’t think of any examples. Why would Venezuela be the first?
    
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    January 4, 2026 12:00pm
    - marcw
      
      As posted earlier, the Dominican Republic.
      
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      January 4, 2026 12:27pm
      - Nikola Donatello
        
        OK one 🙂
        
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        January 4, 2026 2:36pm
    - AitchW
      
      If American companies running the oil industry returns some prosperity to the country it just might be the first.
      
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      January 4, 2026 2:18pm
- RoboRob
  
  Not sure if that’s the plan but I would imagine that plenty of Venezuelans would be pretty keen on that.
  
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  January 4, 2026 8:45am
- kowtow
  
  Don’t worry , be happy .
  
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  January 4, 2026 8:52am
- fightingtemeraire
  
  Thought that DJT wanted Canada as the 51st state???
  
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  January 4, 2026 8:55am
  - pdm
    
    Then again Greenland is a contender for 51st State too.
    
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    January 4, 2026 9:06am
  - sungsamning
    
    No, that’d just add another blue state with two blue senators. Alberta, and Saskatchewan would be red states. Well, pinkish anyway.
    
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    January 4, 2026 7:54pm
- vand
  
  I doubt it – wasn’t Maduro selling cheap oil to China- is it a cunning move by the Don against China (the Don was also concerned about drugs etc ).
  
  https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/venezuela-forced-double-discount-oil-asia-due-flood-sanctioned-crude-2025-12-10/
  
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  January 4, 2026 8:56am
  - kowtow
    
    Funny old hypocritical lefty world .
    We constantly get treated by the media to “experts” like Otago Uni Robert Patman , repeating his academic anti Trump mantra about the importance of the international rules based order , when countries like Venezuela and Iran get a relatively free pass in their support for other evil regimes such as Russia and China .Likewise India which buys sanctioned oil .And the EU hiding behind American power still buying Russian oil and gas , during war ,while claiming to support Ukraine.
    
    There is no international rules based order .
    
    Meanwhile Maduro will get the full legal due process he is entitled to in Orange Man Bad’s USA , which he wouldn’t have got in the many evil regimes he has supported .Because despite all the anti American rhetoric here it has accountability , the rule of law.
    
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    January 4, 2026 9:36am
    - Handyman
      
      Hypocritical is the right word.
      Under Patman’s International Rules Based System, Venezuela owes US oil companies billions of dollars in reparations for stolen oil facilities.
      
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      January 4, 2026 2:18pm
  - MCōs
    
    Reading that article it seems China won’t be affected so much as Venezuela who will now lose its oil revenue to offshore oil companies.
    Here’s some interesting information about where China acquires oil.
    https://www.energypolicy.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/file-uploads/Where%20Does%20China%20Get%20Its%20Oil_%20-%20The%20Wire%20China.pdf
    
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    January 4, 2026 9:56am
    - MCōs
      
      https://x.com/mluckovichajc/status/2001402304688194035?s=61
      
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      January 4, 2026 11:20am
    - All_on_Red
      
      ‘will now lose its oil revenue’
      Umm, they get not much now due to the Sanctions and their lack of refineries.
      With Sanctions removed they will get a lot more.
      A lot lot more.
      Their weakness is actually in refining. They could get even more if that could happen.
      Of course all those US Oil companies whose assets in Venezuela were nationalised and stolen off them are probably going to want those assets back before they help…
      
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      January 4, 2026 11:27am
  - sungsamning
    
    Yes, there’s a bit less scope for mischief from China in Venezeula. Cuba is out in the cold. No more Venezeulan oil. They might be the next domino to fall.
    
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    January 4, 2026 7:56pm
- Jack5
  
  Peterwn’s … Venezuela – 51st state?
  
  Greenland 52nd, British Columbia 53rd, Alberta 54th, Saskatchewan 55th, Manitoba 56th.
  
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  January 4, 2026 10:38am
- marcw
  
  No, after the Americans removed the communists from the Dominican Republic in the 1960’s, they have prospered as an independant country. Whereas, Haiti … well, where would you rather live?
  
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  January 4, 2026 11:51am
Hugh Jarse

The police do fine work in catching and bringing these types of criminals to trial and in most cases securing convictions and then the wheels fall off when the final act required of the state to protect its citizens is so demonstrably weak.

The judiciary are failing this country and while that is happening there is little chance that this type of offending will reduce, the rewards are massive for those prepared to risk short stints in prison.
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January 4, 2026 8:41am
- kowtow
  
  Given the reach the gangs have , prison may be no deterent at all.
  
  This is how states fail.
  
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  January 4, 2026 9:42am
  - Hugh Jarse
    
    Maybe not, but 30 years in the pokey is still much better than 8 or 9 with a third off in my book.
    
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    January 4, 2026 12:43pm
    - kowtow
      
      Oh yes 30 + years in the pokey would be a dterent .
      
      But who gets that these woke days .
      
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      January 4, 2026 1:23pm
Northshoredoc

How does Trump’s latest escapade affect the US economy and this year’s midterms?

Does it matter? The US Senate and House look increasingly irrelevant under this presidency.
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January 4, 2026 8:43am
- kowtow
  
  Might be off putting to the MAGA base .
  Could be a hugely boost to the potential “Latino” vote .
  Petrol price at pump may continue to fall .
  
  Geostrategically a big plus for USA hegemony in their own hemisphere.
  Further afield the Mullahs and Rocketman will be boosting their personal security arrangements.Putin won’t be happy losing a key ally.
  Hopefully Ven quickly rejoins the community of democratic nations .
  So , all good.
  
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  January 4, 2026 9:48am
  - sungsamning
    
    Yes, I can’t see much downside either. Candace Owens, and Tucker Carlson aren’t so pleased though. Nor is Margery Taylor Greene. They’re best ignored by the MAGA crew though. If events in Iran work out alright; the price of oil should trend downwards.
    
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    January 4, 2026 7:59pm
- Dougal10
  
  The senate and the house are really domestic government that have final bills signed off by the president , the white house is the international facing part of the US government , the domestic economy will shape the mid terms but have very little affect on the overseas business of the white house.
  
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  January 4, 2026 11:23am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Getting into Venezuela is one thing. Getting out will be something else.
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January 4, 2026 8:51am
NeverMindTheBollocks

Magma Healthcare director Simon Snook said “We are getting the abortion numbers correct for the country’s need.”

That is a truly disturbing statement.

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/583115/abortion-numbers-rise-since-decriminalisation-and-launch-of-telehealth-services
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January 4, 2026 8:54am
- imalwaysright
  
  Quite a sickening article.
  Since when did the ‘country’s need’ for aborting children become a thing?
  Also, how does this Snook character come up with ‘correct’ abortion numbers?
  And now they can arrange your abortion on the phone. Its all about convenience obviously…
  The whole tone of the article is that becoming pregnant is a spontaneous and unavoidable condition afflicting women, no mention of choosing to not get pregnant.
  
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  January 4, 2026 9:25am
Rusty

It has been unbelievable the trash talk from Aussie cricketer Usman Khawaja. Aust cricket including umpiring, and the media have all been racialist towards him during his career.

What an ungrateful and bitter man. He doesn’t mention why he was picked to play for Aust in the first place
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January 4, 2026 9:05am
- Scott
  
  Rusty – I thought that too. He is a Muslim from Pakistan. People were mean to me. People discriminated against me.
  The guy played cricket for Australia. Australia loved him and gave him a place of honour and a very comfortable life. And he’s ungrateful!?
  
  Imagine a white Christian man going to Pakistan and being picked to play cricket for Pakistan. Not that that would ever happen. But imagine if the guy finished his cricket career and was ungrateful and said he was discriminated against. The Pakistanis would laugh at him.
  
  Amd so should the Australians laugh at this. There is too much of this white guilt. You guys were mean to me even though you gave me a contract with Australian cricket and I played cricket for Australia.
  
  Pull the other one.
  
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  January 4, 2026 12:03pm
  - fightingtemeraire
    
    Billy Ibadullah a Christian Pakistani coached in Dunedin for many years and was awarded an NZ Award. He never complained.
    
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    January 4, 2026 5:38pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

What’s missing in Maoridom is a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. By which I mean that iwi need to acknowledge, overcome and move on from the trauma of the Musket Wars.

Consider Nga Puhi. They were the ones who started the process, trading anything they could, including prostituting their daughters, to get hold of guns. Did they use them solely for defence? Did they hell! No, they promptly started attacking Ngati Whatua to the South, who then did whatever it took to get hold of guns to push back against Nga Puhi. Once that front stabilised, Ngati Whatua promptly attached other old enemies elsewhere and so the pattern repeated down the country. Recall that one aspect of trading included tattooing the heads of slaves, who then had their heads chopped off, to be trade goods.

Despite many troubling aspects of colonialism, we all know that there were many benefits also. This cannot be said of the Musket Wars, which were an unmitigated disaster for Maoridom.

The outcome, I believe, is a seldom discussed but always present form of antipathy between Maoris of different iwis. This is exacerbated by many Maoris being of multiple iwis, including some that slaughtered others. For a people so focussed on ancestry, this must give rise to a form of self hatred.

I also think Maoridom needs an Enlightenment, ie their cultural practices such as utu, the sex-determined roles of men and women, and so on need a reset – but that’s a topic for another post.

Unless and until Maoridom can come together and openly acknowledge, apologise and make reparations to each other for the sins of their ancestors, they won’t move forward.
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January 4, 2026 9:13am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  The Musket wars seem to be blanked out. I recently attended an all day course on the Treaty. It covered the experiences of Maori from their arrival around 800 years ago to the present day. There was no mention of the musket wars or indeed any violent war betwen iwi. It was all about colonisation and the “fact” that Maori never ceded sovereignty.
  
  This course was attended by public servants and run by an external training organisation.
  
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  January 4, 2026 12:06pm
  - Jack5
    
    The Musket Wars — as many as 20,000 dead and that from a small population. That’s according to the Government sources below.
    
    Do arms enthusiasts come across remnants of one of the fighting tribes’ favourite muskets – the “tupara” — a double-barrel gun?
    
    You don’t read or hear much about Maori using pistols. Von Tempsky is said to have used Colt Navy .36 cap and ball revolvers, and some of his rangers carried .44 five-shot revolvers.
    
    https://teara.govt.nz/en/musket-wars
    
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    January 4, 2026 12:18pm
    - Nikola Donatello
      
      It is clear that there is a lot of propaganda in the public service. The narrative of this training course was that Maori were enjoying a peaceful existence until 1840. Colonists then twisted the meaning of the Treaty claiming that Maori ceded sovereignty. In turn that resulted in violence and the crimes against Maori that continue today.
      
      I am in no way embellishing the content of this ‘training course’. That was it.
      
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      January 4, 2026 1:38pm
      - ISeeRed
        
        We need to vote in a National-led government to stop this nonsense in the public service.
        
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        January 4, 2026 2:36pm
      - cas
        
        I was supposed to go to a course on the Treaty. I looked at the website of the consultants who were running it and decided they would be unlikely to take criticism of the ‘ it’s all the fault of colonisation’ credo so didn’t go. Totally unbalanced.
        
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        January 4, 2026 6:09pm
  - nz_aj
    
    Blanked out at te papa museum too
    
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    January 4, 2026 2:07pm
- Cantabrian
  
  It is frustrating that Maori loudly proclaim about ‘land theft’ by settlers – and suceed in gaining large sums as compensation – yet never seem to seek reparations or compensation from tribes that forced them from their land at the point of a gun (or spear).
  
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  January 4, 2026 12:53pm
  - Mike
    
    One of the benefits of colonization was the much-hyped rule of law. From that point of view, the British government, and its settler successors, guaranteed rights for the Māori inhabitants. Those guarantees were not honored.
    
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    January 4, 2026 3:52pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      They obviously overwhelmingly were honoured.
      Generally being good sorts they created the Waitangi Tribunal to investigate any alleged wrongdoings by the crown. Keep pretending the opposite though.
      
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      January 4, 2026 8:23pm
- Paulus
  
  Possibly not enough money in the pot yet !
  
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  January 4, 2026 3:44pm
vand

Country’s want ?- or rather individuals’ wants .
What country wants more abortions? !
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January 4, 2026 9:26am
Jack5

Puberty blockers look set to be an emotional issue in this final year of NZ’s Parliamentary term. ( I make it, that if the next election is held on the last possible day, 28 per cent of the term is left).

Just how emotional is shown by a threat by blocker-supporters in Queensland. They are threatening to “out” opposing politicians who are secretly homosexual.

NZ First, with a member’s bill, the Conscience Acts Referendum Bill, last March was seeking to replace Parliamentary conscience votes — free of party policy. The bill sought to replace conscience votes with referendums. To my old eyes, this bill seems to have gone nowhere. This means the issue will be fought out in Parliament.

A High Court decision 18 days ago halted the Government ban on new prescriptions of puberty blockers — drugs that delay puberty by suppressing sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen.

This is a hot issue in gender change.

One side of the puberty blocker issue — the opponents’ — is given in the third link below, that of Family First.

Excuse the list of links, but it will bring you up with the play.

NZ First’s bill to replace conscience votes:

https://www.nzfirst.nz/conscience-referendums-bill

The High Court blocks the Government:

https://www.thepress.co.nz/nz-news/360918500/high-court-orders-government-suspend-puberty-blocker-ban-now

Family First view:

https://familyfirst.org.nz/2024/12/16/pubert-blockers-facts/

The Australian threat to politicians:

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15408753/Transgender-Queensland-puberty-blockers-ban.html
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January 4, 2026 12:03pm
Jack5

NZME re-lashed the Herald to the Woke mast on Friday with its editorial supporting use of “Aotearoa” for NZ’s name.

NZME has a way to go before it accepts that Go Woke means Go Broke.

Among Herald arguments promoting “Aotearoa” were these:

“Germany is commonly referred to as Deutschland”.

The German name for German! Were they all pissed at the Herald on Friday?

German is overwhelmingly Germany’s main language, and the country has about 10 official minority or regional languages (including two versions of English’s closest relative — Frisian). (Source: CIA World Factbook).

More than 95 per cent of the people in Germany speak German as their first language, which is around the same as the proportion of people in NZ who speak English as their first language.

The article says Finland answers to Suomi at home and abroad. “Suomi” is the Finnish language, first language to 95 per cent of Finns, about the same proportion as English is to New Zealanders. Yet the Herald compares the role of Suomi to Maori, rather than to English.

It says the name “Aotearoa” pre-dates the state by centuries.

Was there a concept of one land, a country, a place, as Aotearoa “centuries” before the Treaty of Waitangi? That’s doubtful.

Do all Maori regard “Aotearoa” as the Maori version of New Zealand? Not sure about that.

I’d link to the Herald rave but it’s best left in safe, secure custody behind the paywall.
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January 4, 2026 1:50pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Regarding the Manage My Health data hack, if we were a homogeneous population with a decent set of values, we’d simply call the hacker’s bluff. Published and be damned, since none of us would seek out the data released on to the Dark web.
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January 4, 2026 2:27pm
- MCōs
  
  The problem is that there are some unscrupulous bastards out there who will scratch around looking for sensitive information for which to use as blackmail material.
  
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  January 4, 2026 4:15pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    Not just blackmail. Identity theft (for the purpose of account hijacking and then transfer of significant assets) is a growing menace also. Undoing identity theft is a nightmare that can take years.
    
    Going back to the methods of the 1980s for many things (where possible) might be a safer way to go. Trusting tech companies and/or the govt to keep one’s data secure? Nope.
    
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    January 4, 2026 8:35pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360857428/no-one-asked-have-cellphone-reception-changing-times-along-forgotten-world-highway

For some reason this article reminds me of that 1972 film “Deliverance”.
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January 4, 2026 7:35pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Have you seen the film “U-Turn”?
  
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  January 4, 2026 8:38pm

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Highlights

Target achieved II
Good progress on attendance
Health Target 5 – elective treatments
Health Target 4 – Specialist appointments

Links

Parliament fails to defend transparency
No Right Turn
"The principal view of human laws is, or ought always to be, to explain, protect, and enforce such rights as are absolute, which in themselves are few and simple."
Not PC
Word of the day
Hompaddock
The response to Budget 2026 has been unusually muted
Point of Order
You know what “does not pass the sniff test”? Labour’s incremental response to blatant corruption – this is why they plunged 7.5%
The Daily Blog
When is a Free Speech Union not a Free Speech Union?
The Standard
We Are a Country That Decided Housing Was The Economy
No Minister
My Opening Statement for the UATX Caplan-Jones Immigration Rematch
Utopia
Playing with numbers.
Kiwipolitico
Another non-tariff barrier
Offsetting Behaviour
Rugby Premiership Predictions for Round 18
Stats Chat
Budget 2026
NZCPR
UK Conversion Therapy Ban, Digital ID, Rallies, Elections
Bob McCoskrie's McBlog
A central banker’s fiction
Croaking Cassandra
THE WORKING FROM HOME RACKET BY PUBLIC SERVANTS
No Punches Pulled (Bob Jones)
Tory Whanau may have to sell Wellington mayoralty to make ends meet
The Civilian
The Accidental Engagement
Imperator Fish
Legal Beagle: Election '23: The Special Votes
Public Address
Get Vaccinated Tomorrow Or Shut Your Pie Hole
Cactus Kate
Making this movie might have been a mistake
Liam Hehir
Why I am retiring from political blogging
Kiwi FireWalker

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