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January 31, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 31 January 2026

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artemisia

“Everyone’s identity has already been stolen” – Haywood Talcove, CEO of government at US LexisNexis Risk Solutions on identity theft.
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January 31, 2026 8:06am
sungsamning

A Hong Kong company will no longer be operating ports in Panama. The Supreme Court has voided the contracts. It looks like the ‘Donroe Doctrine ‘ is gaining traction. Xi won’t be best pleased.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c338ygzl7meo
Panama voids Hong Kong-based firm’s canal port contracts.
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January 31, 2026 8:21am
- Master Mariner
  
  The closer to home decision of selling Darwin Port to a Chinese company by the State Government may force NZ to take sides.
  The Chinese bought it and Federal Government are trying to cancel the 99 year lease.
  FWIW, The US have a base close by.
  This will be a interesting case with so far potential serious consequences for Australia.
  
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  January 31, 2026 11:47am
  - sungsamning
    
    Yes, indeed. Regardless what people think of President Trump; not recognizing Palestine was a very smart move. The administration, and Israel are close. Joining the Board of Peace for realpolitik reasons if Vance wins in 2028 would be a smart move too.
    
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    January 31, 2026 4:42pm
sungsamning

Since leading generals were purged; the army has not been happy. Orders are being ignored. There is resentment across multiple theatre commands. Some units declined to issue public statements or hold internal meetings. A follow-up directive issued the next day—intended to suppress growing backlash—produced no meaningful change, and compliance remained minimal. [Over recent months; the CCPs favorite soap opera has become very interesting. Is Xi winning? Did he have a stroke? Has his role been reduced. Is Taiwan in danger?]
https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/ignored-orders-and-growing-resistance-in-chinese-military-after-purge-of-top-generals-5978046?src_src=RTNews&src_cmp=rtbreaking-2026-01-30-1&est=3I%2Ba%2BUrJttDgult%2Bko68cVijbvaKfSeoVnq3lRnJK7tveBwhVF4Vmmxr7BAsMFo%3D
Army v Xi.
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January 31, 2026 8:21am
Cassandra

Is it racism or just politics? The Government has lent close to $1 million to a Maori dairy farming trust. If it’s a commercially sound operation why didn’t the trust borrow from a bank? Could my family trust borrow a million from the Government? I suspect the answer to this conundrum is that a bank would require security and Maori land cannot serve that purpose. If the investment fails then I guess we taxpayers will just write it off.
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January 31, 2026 8:23am
- pdm
  
  Cass – when I was in the BNZ in Gisborne (late 70’s early 80’s) we did lend on Maori Land.
  
  It was a hell of a process though, took months and god knows what some of the Solicitors costs were as they tracked down all of the required signatories and got them to sign.
  
  It only took one or two to torpedo the whole process
  
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  January 31, 2026 8:31am
- artemisia
  
  If it is Maori freehold land owned by the trust, probably is, then AFAIK the bank can have security. If so, the bank would have conducted a risk assessment …..
  
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  January 31, 2026 8:31am
- Northshoredoc
  
  Hopefully a bit more due dilligence occured than in the case below.
  
  https://www.sfo.govt.nz/media-cases/media-releases/former-trustee-of-maori-land-trust-jailed-for-1-million-fraud
  
  I’m asuming this is the loan you’re referring to Cassandra?
  
  https://nit.com.au/30-01-2026/22417/maori-trust-secures-950k-loan-to-boost-dairy-productivity
  
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  January 31, 2026 8:39am
  - I remember when
    
    So the farm has virtually no milking infrastructure, is under stocked and below production.
    Still I see it is going to provide training, skills development and self-governance aspirations.
    
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    January 31, 2026 10:41am
  - I remember when
    
    Looking at the Government release it seems to grazing lease at the moment, not a working farm.
    
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    January 31, 2026 10:48am
- Souvlaki
  
  Indeed!
  This vote buying by NZ 1st has to be called out for what it REALLY is :https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2026/01/matua-kahurangi-10-million-for-marae.html
  
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  January 31, 2026 8:39am
  - greybeard
    
    There is no guarantee that they would vote National anyway: probably still go with TPM.
    
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    January 31, 2026 8:49am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    I see that of the $2.2m given by the taxpayer as relief funding in the immediate aftermath of the recent storm, $1m went to maraes to top up their supplies.
    
    That seemed to me to be a) a high proportion of the funding; and b) represented a lot of spaghetti on toast or whatever.
    
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    January 31, 2026 9:21am
    - Paulus
      
      Thought it was to top up Food supplies ?
      
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      January 31, 2026 11:50am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      They open the marae to everyone, they can feed 100s of people, and they can bed people for months without question, they will take anyone effected in.
      
      I can’t be bothered with anything Māori, but they do very well supporting people in the marae and don’t discriminate who they help.
      
      Not sure if you realise, but there was 6 regions involved, and more than one marae at each region, quite possibly a million doesn’t take long to use up I guess, and there will be other disasters
      
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      January 31, 2026 12:08pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    It’s quite possible NZF could come through the middle in Māori seats, Labour and TPM will cancel each other out some what, and an announcement is coming from the haka leader and the young green MPs with tats on Waitangi Day, now if that’s a split in TPM to start another party then that may well leave these seats up in the air, through in possible independent candidates
    
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    January 31, 2026 12:11pm
- MCōs
  
  The government gives far more than to commercially unsound projects such as the Chch stadium, americas cup and such like. Tiwai Point.
  
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  January 31, 2026 8:45am
  - Graeme Hall
    
    Hardly the point. Govt makes a dud loan therefore it should make more?
    
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    January 31, 2026 8:57am
  - Cassandra
    
    And therefore it’s okay? And those you’ve listed are actually supposed to benefit the whole community.
    
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    January 31, 2026 9:31am
    - Ghost
      
      Looks like a good investment, is that why you didn’t provide a link to it, so people couldn’t actually go learn what it was about
      
      https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/government-boosts-productivity-taranaki-land?utm_source=copilot.com
      
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      January 31, 2026 9:46am
      - Cassandra
        
        Nonsense. It’s not a government job to fund farming. Schools yes. Why not supermarkets then? Or massage parlours?
        
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        January 31, 2026 10:01am
      - Northshoredoc
        
        Looks to be a much better use of the PIF funds than a lot of their investments,
        
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        January 31, 2026 11:22am
  - Ghost
    
    Here’s an announcement from budget 2025,, far more
    
    https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/growing-productive-resilient-rural-sector
    
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    January 31, 2026 9:41am
- cmm
  
  ” lent” aka given.
  
  There is absolutely nothing new to this except, maybe, the number of zeroes in the number.
  
  Every day multiple “small business loans” are made to “small businesses”. Every day numerous NGOs get cash injections.
  
  Yup, just write it off immediately. The chance of it being paid back is low. If it does, then consider it a windfall rather than a loan being repaid.
  
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  January 31, 2026 9:10am
  - Quail
    
    Muldoon’s government was thrown out because his Government picked winners. Energy ,NZR, Manufacturer’s,Agriculture , the Aged and others.
    Redistribute the voters wealth was the name of their game .
    It still is.
    Recent Governments are rushing down the same track ..but with a substantial difference.
    The Muldoon Government spent on needed and profitable infrastructure as well as social benefits.
    Recent governments are spending only on social benefits ,and bleeding and choking the infrastructure of past productivity to do it.
    The problem when producers of wealth are not allowed to keep their wealth is that productivity inevitably declines!
    MMP ensures no accountability individual or collective , politicians overarching aim is simply to get re- elected.
    And none of them cares about individuals in NZ it is all about buying votes.
    For example : beneficiaries of treaty settlements are largely corporates, often managed by recent immigrants. They are using Maori history to make . often spurious ,claims for taxpayers money. Individual Maori often never benefit !
    They are the losers along with all NZ producers and nett taxpayers!
    IMHO
    
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    January 31, 2026 10:30am
- surfing
  
  The maori economy is booming so keep quiet and move on.
  
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  January 31, 2026 9:19am
  - Christopher Thomson
    
    Pump an unlimited amount of taxpayer dollars into any economy and it will boom.
    
    When will they start paying tax?
    
    When will for maori, by maori, become paid for by maori? Their economy is booming so how about they start paying.
    
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    January 31, 2026 10:32am
- Jack5
  
  Maori-owned land is typically unalienable — can’t be sold. So typically it’s pretty much useless as collateral (security) for getting a loan.
  
  This is a problem for indigenous-communal owned land in a number of colonised societies.
  
  Cassandra has described a cumbersome method of providing security, and there are number of trusts with complicated set-ups that seem ultimately to convince lenders they have some sort of security.
  
  In housing on communal land, there’s a system of lending on movable houses, with the building itself then able to provide some security.
  
  Communal ownership prevented the rise in pre-colonised countries of cadastral systems with land ownership recorded and able to be legally transferred.
  
  Cadastral systems also require written language, of course.
  
  A Peruvian economist, Hernando do Soto, has written on the problems for development from communally owned land. De Soto (in Latin America also known, in the Spanish name form of Hernando de Soto Polar) heads a think tank on this economic development problem.
  
  A link to the Wikipedia entry on de Soto is given below, and here’s an AI summary of this:
  
  …formal property rights are crucial for economic development, as they allow individuals to leverage their assets for credit and investment. His work suggests that recognizing and registering land ownership can help alleviate poverty by transforming “dead capital” into productive economic resources.
  
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernando_de_Soto_(economist)
  
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  January 31, 2026 9:26am
  - artemisia
    
    Jack5 – “Maori-owned land is typically unalienable — can’t be sold.”
    
    Most is Maori freehold land and can be sold. A bit more complicated than normal fee simple but can be and is done all the time.
    
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    January 31, 2026 10:16am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Selling isn’t the problem, its them wanting it back when they’ve spent the money…
      
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      January 31, 2026 10:49am
    - Jack5
      
      The term “Maori freehold” is not equivalent to “freehold” land for the rest of us citizens.
      
      “Maori freehold” has been transferred to individual title from Maori customary land.
      
      Imagine you are a lender and the would-be borrower offers as security “Maori freehold land”. This “Maori freehold” comes under the Te Ture Whenua Maori Act.
      
      It entails notifying Maori other than the owner but with some sort of link to that land. Then offering them first right of purchase. For a lender trying to realise the security, what a nightmare.
      
      Any sale of Maori freehold land must be after giving this first right to buy to a “preferred class of alienees” who must be notified of any move to sell land. These “alienees” are Maori with connection to that land.
      
      You can find who is in the “preferred class of alienees” here:
      
      https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0004/latest/DLM289897.html?search=sw_096be8ed81dfa7fc_preferred_25_se&p=1&sr=0
      
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      January 31, 2026 11:36am
      - artemisia
        
        I am aware, and banks will do a risk assessment. But it is not correct to say the land cannot be sold. And while some Maori freehold land has a lot of owners, still plenty with a very small number, including 1, and there are well established processes for owners or trusts to obtain agreement to sell, lease etc.
        
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        January 31, 2026 2:39pm
      - Jack5
        
        Artemisia’s … while some Maori freehold land has a lot of owners …
        
        The problem’s not the number of current owners but the number of Maori who have first right to buy.
        
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        January 31, 2026 3:18pm
      - Hair Removal Specialist
        
        The registration of the mortgage of Māori land is an act of alienation. But alienation through registration of a mortgage goes through a short form approval process (stamped by registrar at court after sitting in court for a month). Once mortgage is registered, mortgagee is able to sell on default without following usual process that applies on normal sale of Māori land, such as right of first refusal to preferred class of alienees (broadly, Māori with connection to the land). In theory, the process for buying and selling Māori land outside of mortgagee sale shouldn’t be to difficult, but there are massive delays at Māori Land Court which have in my experience made the process excruciating and costly for all involved (even where sale is to someone who is a preferred class of alienee).
        
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        January 31, 2026 6:44pm
      - Jack5
        
        Re the post of Hair Removal Specialist at 6.44:
        
        I’m no lawyer, but the legislation (detailed at the link below) seems to say that applications for Property Law Act court orders on mortgages on Maori freehold land must be made to the Maori Land Court.
        
        If “Maori freehold” land’s to be security on the loan you are considering making, you’ll need to know the ramifications of this.
        
        https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1993/0004/latest/LMS450189.html?search=sw_096be8ed81dfa7fc_mortgage_25_se&p=1&sr=2
        
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        January 31, 2026 7:42pm
- Yvette
  
  Cassandra
  
  Making the announcement at Rātana, Regional Development Minister Shane Jones said the funding would boost resilience at Wainui Marae near Ōhope. We were told it would create 71 jobs and deliver a full complex including a wharenui, wharekai, wharetāonga, wharepaku, and modern facilities for worship, learning, and events. All very worthy on paper.
  https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2026/01/matua-kahurangi-10-million-for-marae.html
  
  Wharepaku are toilets. A marae cannot legally host overnight stays, large hui, tangihanga, or public events without compliant sanitation under the Building Act, Health Act, and local council bylaws.
  
  Some reportage doesn’t always give you that much to go on – well, for anyone to go on.
  Let alone where any possible National vote-buying money might go – down the gurgler
  
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  January 31, 2026 9:44am
  - Paulus
    
    National vote buying ! – no bloody fear as Maori hate National and we will see this at Waitangi next week.
    
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    January 31, 2026 11:53am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Vote buying? Looks more like they are softening up Māori to perhaps vote NZF.
      
      Nats know they e we only get votes, but they will stand candidates as every vote away from the left is one less, it will be interesting to see if they stand aside and not stand any cancans NZF has a full set of candidates
      
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      January 31, 2026 12:15pm
    - Wandering Star
      
      What is “democracy” if it isn’t synonymous with “vote buying,” be it either promises to give something, or conversely, not take something away? That is how to attract votes. That’s vote buying.
      
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      January 31, 2026 12:48pm
      - Quail
        
        WS
        “ Ask not what my country can do for me, ask what I can do for my country “ JFK
        The opposite is greed and avarice!
        An appropriate balance is so hard to achieve!
        
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        January 31, 2026 2:30pm
  - rouppe
    
    This “creates 71 jobs” stuff irritates me.
    
    There might be 71 workers during the construction, but after the construction those 71 jobs disappear.
    
    It hasn’t “created” any jobs, just consumed existing ones for a time.
    
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    January 31, 2026 2:06pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Imagine that there are 71 suitably skilled and experienced tradies, just sitting around waiting for the call.
      
      Seems unlikely.
      
      Imagine further that these tradies are all members of the local hapu.
      
      Seems even more unlikely.
      
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      January 31, 2026 4:40pm
- sungsamning
  
  Just more institutional racism.
  
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  January 31, 2026 4:44pm
Yvette

New Zealand has been holding closed-door discussions with the United States on the supply of critical minerals, as Donald Trump threatens to place new tariffs on countries who fail to sign a deal.

The admission comes on the back of a memorandum submitted to the Waitangi Tribunal, in which claimants noted a “secret” critical minerals deal struck between The US and Australia last year. The submission says a similarly private deal in Aotearoa would show “willful disregard” by the Crown for its obligations under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/01/30/nz-in-talks-with-us-on-trump-minerals-deal/?

This is one matter where I feel a truth becomes apparent.
That the Waitangi Tribunal is of course based on the Treaty which is exclusively between the descendants of Maori and the present representatives of the Crown. The roughly four fifths of New Zealanders who are not such descendants may be included in the Third Article phrase “British subjects”, but they are not the subject of the relevant sentence.

This is why the breaking information headline may be “NZ in talks with US on Trump minerals deal” but the by-line is “The Government is negotiating with the US to provide access to our critical minerals, while a memo before the Waitangi Tribunal says a backdoor deal violates obligations to Māori”

And a few people – moi, for one – can be a little irked by that detail: it is in terms of Maori, when it is actually the whole bloody country.

Ever read “The Accidental Pope” – a humble fisherman is elected as the next pope, by the author of The French Connection and the former US Ambassador to the Vatican?
I am both an Accidental New Zealander, and also likely now an Accidental Racist
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January 31, 2026 9:02am
- I remember when
  
  The Waitangi Tribunal continue to promote the myth that Maori receive nothing from such agreements.
  They get the same benefits as every New Zealander.
  
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  January 31, 2026 11:19am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  It may well be better to have the USA wanting our minerals, it’s a market, and if it draws American investment then why is their money any less than Aussie money, they won’t be taking these minerals for nothing
  
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  January 31, 2026 12:17pm
Paulus

I see that the so called Media are going hell for leather to tell us that Winston has all the advantages over Luxon, and will continue to trip him up when ever possible.
Could you ever trust Winston but many will in the lection until he become real Coaltion Prime Minister in November.
Nasty little man – yes, he is short in stature too.
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January 31, 2026 9:13am
- MCōs
  
  I would suggest Winston’s aim is to come out of the forthcoming election with as many votes as possible and his best chance is to appeal to the xenophobe, pro Trump, anti WHO, anti UN, anti vax minority
  Never mind that in a previous life he might have been pro vax, pro UN, pro WHO
  Having said that I wouldn’t want to get into an argument about any of those points. He’s been a politician too long not to be able to convincingly deny he said what he said last week even
  
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  January 31, 2026 9:49am
  - Northshoredoc
    
    ‘He’s been a politician too long not to be able to convincingly deny he said what he said last week even.’
    
    Lol he is shameless.
    
    However, there’s some groups that love him and can always count on his vote.
    
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    January 31, 2026 11:24am
  - waripori
    
    Winston will stand by the letter of the Coalition agreement until the election, as will David Seymour and Chris Luxon. We can expect all three parties to emphasise their own agendas and constituencies much more over the next few months in order to get their vote as high as possible and we can expect another protracted negotiation after the election if the current partners have enough seats ( which they probably will ). It is how politics works now. No one gets everything they want and and the smaller parties do get to wag the dog a bit.
    
    Winston will have seen our hosts polling which suggests his increase in vote has come from National. He wont throw that away by doing a deal with Labour and the Greens, let alone TPM if they still exist.
    
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    January 31, 2026 11:37am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Let him try, and level headed voters will remember, if I remember rightly before the election as voters disappeared from Act big time, then NZF zoomed up, Nats turned up the heat saying cut out the middle man, it worked to an extent, because Act and NZF dropped from polling to r ed election night, I don’t think NZF will be scoring 12% on election night, and the more Peters reminds us, the more people will remember.
  
  Peters is lying about the India trade deal, and I hope it gets too a stage where they can release the details of the deal.
  
  Peters said ask Chris Hipkins about the deal he will know, Peters is speaking as if he hasn’t seen the deal, but that is also a lie.
  
  And fuck the media.
  
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  January 31, 2026 12:23pm
imalwaysright

Reward whistle blowers who expose corruption in Government and Councils and their affiliates .
First whistleblower reward issued by DOJ and USPS, says Pam Bondi https://share.google/WZKC2pH4AYatV61fr
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January 31, 2026 9:50am
- alwyn.a
  
  I guess that will be to the guy who released Trump’s tax returns to the public? He would certainly seem to have been the one to show some of Donald’s lies to the citizens of the US.
  You know, Don’s claim to donate his entire salary to charity for example.
  
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  January 31, 2026 10:26am
- sungsamning
  
  I hope these medals are not made of gold. The world supply might quickly be exhausted by just the Minnesota revelations alone.
  
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  January 31, 2026 4:53pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Greyhound racing is now banned. The Rehome A Used Greyhound people are delighted. Greyhounds for all!

My prediction is that in 10 years, greyhounds will have all but ceased to exist in NZ, because no one will be breeding them. Greyhounds for none!

A case study of short-term, wishful Leftie thinking.
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January 31, 2026 10:07am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Greyhound racing is not banned until August
  
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  January 31, 2026 1:46pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    That doesn’t obviate my point, G. It just pushes the timetable out six months.
    
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    January 31, 2026 4:42pm
- MCōs
  
  I’ve heard it said that greyhounds make marvelous pets, but I never see people around here out walking them in the streets
  
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  January 31, 2026 9:02pm
Master Mariner

So far, The Arab States are backing Iran.
Why ?
They know how easy it is to blockade the Straights of Hormuz which is critical to their own economic lifeline.
If they feel threatened, This will be there first act.
With this in mind, How is NZ’s Energy security shaping up ?
Where is the Strategy ?
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January 31, 2026 10:26am
- Wandering Star
  
  It makes much more strategic sense for the US to form alliances and be on friendly terms with the Arabs and the Iranians than the Israelis, who offer nothing other than ongoing regional strife.
  
  There’s a very good reason why presidents before Johnson were weary of recognising and aiding Israel, because they foresaw the subsequent breakdown of their hitherto good relations with the surrounding nations. But Israel had, and has, the much stronger lobby and political influence in Washington, which is why the US embarked on its disastrous policy of unconditional support for the region’s rogue state.
  
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  January 31, 2026 2:06pm
- Ra Henare
  
  Given NOBODY will benefit from military action by the USA alone in Iran, methinks it is the usual bluster from his Highness.
  
  I understand that the ARAB states and ISRAEL (subsequent to riots being quashed) have asked Trump not to attack Iran. It appears that Iran will attack all US bases (In Arab states and Israel )
  
  Am still looking for a realistic end game for US adventures in Iran.and PLEASE dont give me the ideology of freeing Iranians from tryanny.
  
  My leaning is towards oil (westernisation) of course plus control of the straits of Homuz. With a side serving of limiting oil flows to Russia and China.
  
  Same thinking about Cuba, why is the Donald playing wargames with them?
  
  My only guess is to take heat off of the US domestic situation. ($38 trillion debt and soon to grow faster with interest rate cuts) A common political startegy when problems in your own back yard, deflect by ramping up problems with neighbours.
  
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  January 31, 2026 7:06pm
I remember when

What has Net Zero proved.
According to numerous articles from overseas, the answer would seem to be that any actions have to compete in the open market first.
If they are commercially viable they will not need financial support.
By all means measure greenhouse gases and encourage meaningful reductions.
But let’s no dive into the water before we have assessed its depth.
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January 31, 2026 11:08am
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/home-property/360931719/forgery-fake-contracts-and-missing-cash-inside-collapse-multimillion-dollar-property-development
This week’s edition of “Scams, corruption and undesirable people”.
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January 31, 2026 11:20am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  “Chinese nationals Fujun Liu and his wife Yinji Zheng are wealthy businesspeople with property developments in their homeland and New Zealand … Issues arose for their involvement in the development in October 2018 when changes were made to the restrictions on foreign ownership of residential land under the Overseas Investment Act”.
  
  To get around the restrictions they partnered up with NZ citizen Ping Fan.
  
  “While publicly the shareholding layout would appear one way – Fan holding 76% and Zheng the remainder – the verbal, but very real agreement would be an 80:10:10 split”.
  
  I trust that Fujun Liu and Yinji Zheng have been barred from NZ citizenship on grounds of lying to regulators; they are clearly people of poor character.
  
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  January 31, 2026 12:11pm
  - Swifty
    
    Deeply dishonest people.
    
    Not wanted here.
    
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    January 31, 2026 1:05pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      From my quick scan of the article, I think the term ‘deeply dishonest’ is at a tangent to the truth.
      
      In fact, it’s their thought process that observance of the State’s regulation is voluntary and not mandatory.
      
      What concerns me is that we take so many immigrants from countries with the same attitude to the rule of law. Here, rules are to be obeyed. There, rules are to be avoided when convenient. They are not us: they think differently to us.
      
      It undermines our way of life.
      
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      January 31, 2026 4:47pm
Yvette

Troubled Bridge Over Waters
A top-ranking cop says a “significant” police presence – with officers drafted from across the country – will be preventing protesters from walking over the city’s harbour bridge tomorrow. [today]
Safety concerns led NZ Transport Agency Waka Kotahi (NZTA) to decline an application by The Freedom and Rights Coalition, an umbrella organisation created by Destiny Church in opposition to Covid-19 restrictions, to walk the bridge on Saturday.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland/police-vow-to-block-destiny-church-protest-march-over-auckland-harbour-bridge-new-ban-for-walkers/Y7S7Y32FF5FPDBTU62RJZSKOLA/

“If we don’t stand tomorrow, our country will never be the same. If you don’t want to cross the bridge, that’s fine. But show up at [Victoria Park] to show your support for the stand.” – Hannah Tamaki

“I understand this [march] is so hot that there are three counter-protests against us.” Last Sunday, a defiant Tamaki, speaking to his congregation [saying] the Bridge to Better protest was the “biggest moment of 2026”.
“I understand this [march] is so hot that there are three counter-protests against us.”

But nowhere in this reasonably long article does it say why “the Bridge to Better protest [will be] the ‘biggest moment of 2026‘ ”

Two of the other proposed protests have more or are a little self-explanatory –
One group, named Toitū Te Aroha, will march from Britomart, up Queen St in Myers Park in support of the Sikh community, which had been “targeted by acts of hate and intimidation” …The other is an Iranian solidarity protest, which will meet at Western Park in Ponsonby from 6pm tomorrow.

In 1831 the Broughton Suspension Bridge in England collapsed after soldiers marched across it in step. I don’t know that any mass haka (as Brian’s followers seem want to perform) has ever really been tested.
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January 31, 2026 11:26am
I remember when

Hundreds prepare to march down Queen Street: NZ Herald.
“There’s a few hundred protesters at Britomart…”

Why is it not hundreds, several hundred, a crowd of several hundred.
Is the Herald using ‘few’ to downplay the event and the headline?
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January 31, 2026 11:46am
AitchW

Good to see that the PM won’t be at Waitangi on Waitangi Day, choosing to attend a community event in Auckland instead.
Ngapuhi will be spitting tacks that he’s spending the day in Ngati Whatua country.
Good on him.
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January 31, 2026 12:01pm
- Wandering Star
  
  I doubt his non-attendnace is for any reason other than avoidance of being at the centre of an uncomfortable public confrontation he has no ability to handle (despite National being very pro-Maori). Rest assured, National will do nothing concrete about the trajectory re: Maoridom and their demands and privileges.
  
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  January 31, 2026 1:03pm
  - AitchW
    
    Why would he go there to be abused and hectored? The activists will be there looking to create trouble.
    He is absolutely right to give them a middle finger.
    
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    January 31, 2026 2:03pm
    - Wandering Star
      
      Then why not go to Waitangi and “give them a middle finger” so to speak in person? Wasn’t he elected by National voters in the vain hope he would? The last 3 years have demonstrated that it’s not in his makeup, because he’s not a real leader who isn’t afraid of confrontation.
      
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      January 31, 2026 2:34pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

A quiet day in KB-land. The weather around the country must be ok.
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January 31, 2026 12:01pm
- Northshoredoc
  
  A few of the resident commenters may be at Auckland gatherings.
  
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  January 31, 2026 1:37pm
Handyman

What President Trump should have done is take every murderer and rapist from every red state and instead of sending them home, drop them off in Minneapolis. All at once.
30,000 violent criminals on the steps of City Hall.
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January 31, 2026 12:18pm
- rouppe
  
  That’s too overt.
  
  Just withdraw ice from Minneapolis, and say due to the lack of support from State authorities, illegals there won’t be arrested by federal police.
  
  Go hard on the states where there is state cooperation.
  
  Eventually you’ll get a concentration in Minneapolis that even the state can’t bear. But to get the federal police back in, the governor and mayor should have to beg, on live TV, for Trump’s help.
  
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  January 31, 2026 1:40pm
- Lance
  
  Do you mean all the ones Trump pardoned?
  Well, certainly were many drug dealers pardoned by Trump, the fee must have been quite the payday.
  
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  January 31, 2026 1:47pm
Swifty

Don Lemon arrested:

https://x.com/gunthereagleman/status/2017289037845795032?s=46

😃
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January 31, 2026 1:04pm
- Lance
  
  Serious lines being crossed.
  Pam Bondi ignoring a judge’s ruling there is no probable cause.
  So is there a difference between say Iran and USA now? Asking for a friend
  
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  January 31, 2026 1:49pm
  - Don Beckett
    
    Where do you get your news from ?
    It’s all fake.
    
    6 7
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    January 31, 2026 2:07pm
    - Lance
      
      Try Googling FFS
      
      https://www.politico.com/news/2026/01/30/don-lemon-arrest-minnesota-protest-00756892?cid=apn
      
      https://www.reuters.com/world/us/former-cnn-anchor-don-lemon-arrested-cbs-reports-2026-01-30/
      
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      January 31, 2026 2:14pm
    - Swifty
      
      The vid is AI Don, but the arrest happened.
      
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      January 31, 2026 2:56pm
      - Don Beckett
        
        Yes, I realise that Lemon has been arrested, and rightly so. I misunderstood Lance’s “Serious lines have been crossed” – as a criticism of Pam Bondi.
        She only acted because the state DA wouldn’t arrest him, so Federal law overules state law, so Bondi acted.
        Apologies to Lance – if in fact I misunderstood his comment.
        
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        January 31, 2026 4:24pm
      - Swifty
        
        Cool.
        
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        January 31, 2026 4:28pm
Jack5

Different type of bug for Microsoft king

An Epstein scandal document might put smiles on Windows 11 users stuffed around by the software’s latest upgrade.

The document alleges Bill gates caught an STD after sleeping with “Russian girls.”

Epstein, who died in prison in 2019, also claimed the Microsoft founder asked for antibiotics he could “surreptitiously give” to his then-wife Melinda, from whom he is now divorced.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15513445/jeffrey-epstein-bill-gates-melinda-antibiotics.html?amp;ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490
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January 31, 2026 1:23pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Sweet irony.
  The scumbag had his off sider procuring antibiotics that he could sneak into Melinda’s food to cure the clap that he gave her courtesy of a hooker.
  
  There’s got to be a vaccine analogy in there somewhere….
  
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  January 31, 2026 2:14pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Seems there’s a couple of downtickers who think its okay to have sex with a prostitute, give your wife a venereal disease, not tell her, and try to medicate her without her knowledge…
    Would love to read the reasoning for that.
    
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    January 31, 2026 4:47pm
  - AitchW
    
    Surely, surely, you can’t have gonorrhoeal and not know it?
    
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    January 31, 2026 4:59pm
    - marcw
      
      Rare in males to be asymptomatic, but fairly common in females. Sometimes in females the infection is only detected either after passing on the infection to others, or during an investigation of PID (pelvic inflammatory disease) or other reproductive problems. Sometimes even in investigating causes of infertility.
      
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      January 31, 2026 6:39pm
- Swifty
  
  Sprinkle it on her cornflakes?
  
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  January 31, 2026 2:55pm
- slijmbal
  
  @Jack
  
  from the article
  
  “The late pedophile financier made the astonishing claims about the Microsoft billionaire in emails he sent to himself”
  
  not even approaching proof.
  
  Also not English spelling of paedophile so possibly copied from elsewhere.
  
  Ironic if true but my bollocks detector is on level 10
  
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  January 31, 2026 11:30pm
Chuck Bird

Does anyone think Alcaraz cheated in getting medical time off for a cramp?
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January 31, 2026 1:48pm
- PeterTrentham
  
  Your only cheating if you get caught.
  
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  January 31, 2026 2:06pm
Swifty

An aging and out of touch billionaire makes his views known:

https://x.com/collinrugg/status/2016978587270943145?s=46
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January 31, 2026 2:37pm
Swifty

Leftism is a contagion:

https://x.com/jdhaltigan/status/2017337447634399677?s=46
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January 31, 2026 2:55pm
Swifty

I’ve seen some utterly moronic takes on ACT’s Slavery Bill position in recent days, but this must be the worst.

https://x.com/rtaonui/status/2017365011803623716?s=46

My god, this is the quality of NZ academics these days?
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January 31, 2026 5:31pm
- Inandout
  
  Dr Rawiri Taonui has qualifications in these:
  
  ‘Dr Taonui is an independent writer, researcher and advisor on Maori and Indigenous human rights and racism.
  
  He was previously a Professor of Maori and Indigenous Studies in the Centre for Indigenous Leadership and Head of the School of Maori Art, Knowledge and Education (Massey University); the first Professor of Indigenous Studies in New Zealand (AUT University); Head of the School of Māori & Indigenous Studies (Canterbury University); and a lecturer in Pacific Studies, Māori Studies and History (Auckland University)’.
  
  We residents of NZ know the term grifting when applied to these meaningless sibjects.
  
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  January 31, 2026 8:14pm
Swifty

It’s not a llama it’s a fu&@in alpaca!

https://x.com/punt_rd/status/2016807701247119612?s=46
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January 31, 2026 5:47pm
greybeard

I have just watched most of the T20 SuperSmash womens’ cricket final, played in ChCh between Wellington and Auckland.
Gripping game as far as the scores were concerned but disappointing as far as tactics and captaincy exhibited.

Wellington won by 5 wickets. That means that at the end of the match 5 Wellington batters had not taken the field but luckily Wellington scored enough runs to win.

But Wellington could still have lost because in the last 3 overs their required run rate was quite large.

They depended on an outstanding performance by by one player, their captain Jess Kerr. Luckily for them they got it.

The fact is that at the end of the game they still had 5 batters who were not used and in such a short version of the game this means that they depended on winning performances from the top order instead of trusting the rest of the batting lineup.

How would Wellington have felt if they had lost the match but still had 5 batters not used ? Their game-play tactics are a bit dodgy.

To lose because their required run rate was too much but still have 5 batters in the shed , who could have gone all-out to win, is simply stupid.

However, congratulations to the Blaze.

And for God’s sake Mark Richardson, stop talkng such a load of rubbish all the time.
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January 31, 2026 6:41pm
- marcw
  
  In the womens competition in Christchurch a few years ago, the batting team needed 32 runs off the last 2 overs. The fielding captain then proceeded to set a field to save singles. Aided by some poor bowling (wides and NBs), the batting team got the required runs. The coach must have gone bald that day.
  
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  January 31, 2026 6:56pm
- AitchW
  
  I do wish they were were still called batsmen. Batters sounds like baseball.
  
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  January 31, 2026 8:48pm
Swifty

UN financials in the toilet:

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/585572/secretary-general-antonio-guterres-warns-un-risks-imminent-financial-collapse
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January 31, 2026 8:56pm

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