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February 14, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 14 February 2026

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General Debate

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NeverMindTheBollocks

I have to say that I think Chris Bishop is wrong to reject buying an ocean-going tug. In my view he’s overly focussing on the likelihood of a catastrophic maritime event occurring (very low) vs the outcome of such an event (has he forgotten the Wahine?).

The fact is that we rely on shipping, and we’re a long way from wherever a suitable tug is based.

Having an ocean-going tug locally is part of the price we pay for living down here.

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/586770/relying-on-tug-boat-from-australia-risks-lives-council-leaders-say
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February 14, 2026 8:01am
- Handyman
  
  We used to have a suitable tug available off Taranaki courtesy of the gas industry. I believe it was used once for a drifting ship near Nelson. No gas industry = no ocean tug.
  
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  February 14, 2026 9:27am
  - Taieri
    
    MMA Vision is still there.
    
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    February 14, 2026 11:04am
- Simon
  
  Out sourcing basic maritime safety measures for a sea going county like NZ is just a sign of decline. NZ should be self sufficient in all areas, but the county is carrying way too much dead weight that’s just not possible.
  
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  February 14, 2026 9:54am
  - ISeeRed
    
    Yep. Immigrant families, the feral class, bloated pubic service, the treaty/Maori grifters, countless consultants, rich Boomers with pensions, all sucking the country dry.
    
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    February 14, 2026 2:17pm
- fightingtemeraire
  
  When HMS Nottingham hit the bricks off Lord Howe Is, tugs from NZ were sent up “with urgent dispatch”!!!
  
  There were no suitable tugs available when Rena hit the bricks.
  
  We used to have decent sized tugs but now they have all gone to Harbour Tugs.
  
  All they have to do is get Wellington and Marlborough Port Companies to buy suitable tugs and the Govt pays for the difference in costs between a Harbour Tug and a suitable tug.
  
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  February 14, 2026 12:56pm
  - AitchW
    
    How much more are the running costs for ocean going tugs than harbour tugs?
    Do you need more qualifications to drive an ocean going tug?
    Are ocean going tugs suitable for berthing ships?
    Could an ocean going tug on standby in Wellington be funded by a levy on vessels visiting NZ? Maybe tacked on to existing port fees?
    
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    February 14, 2026 1:29pm
    - Taieri
      
      How much more are the running costs for ocean going tugs than harbour tugs?
      ———-
      
      Higher than for a harbour tug as an ocean going tug would be far more complex piece of machinery
      
      Do you need more qualifications to drive an ocean going tug?
      ———
      
      Yes, class 1 certificates for Master, C/E. Also higher manning level.
      
      Are ocean going tugs suitable for berthing ships?
      ———
      
      No reason why they can’t be, but it wouldn’t make much sense.
      
      Could an ocean going tug on standby in Wellington be funded by a levy on vessels visiting NZ?
      ———
      
      No reason why not.
      
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      February 14, 2026 2:38pm
- Dudley Quaffquaff
  
  That’s how you do cost-benefit analysis. You multiply the probability (how likely is it) by the hazard (how bad will it be if it happens) and the result is the risk. You then consider how far the expenditure will reduce the risk.
  
  Say I invent an umbrella that guarantees you’ll never be struck and killed by lightning. Will you give me $500 for it? What, isn’t your life worth $500?
  
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  February 14, 2026 1:28pm
- nathie
  
  NMTB – agree, we are a distant nation that relies on both interisland and international shipping with no other nation close by to lend assistance.
  
  I also think Chris Bishop’s reputation (and National’s) will be mud for generations if there was a disaster.
  
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  February 14, 2026 2:43pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Watch this be seized upon by the pro Aotearoa crowd.

Like NZ, Nauru lacked a written language prior to the arrival of the white man (term used deliberately). By definition, how can a spelling be inaccurate?

http://www.rnz.co.nz/international/pacific-news/586787/nauru-president-proposes-changing-country-s-name-to-naoero
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February 14, 2026 8:02am
- Jack5
  
  Until recently people didn’t care that their name for another country didn’t match that country’s name for itself.
  
  I don’t recall grizzles about the English-speaking world talking of “Warsaw” for Poland’s “Warszawa”; or of “Rome” for “Roma”, or of “Munich” for “München.”
  
  Because “Turkey” contrasts with “Türkiye” in Turkish, did we have to change our spelling?
  
  Put “Türkiye” into Google Translate and it sounds very close in Turkish to our old “Turkey” in English.
  
  “Türkiye” translates to “land of the Turks” and has been used officially in Turkey since 1923.
  
  When the country’s people use two languages, the problem worsens. The capital of Ukraine, an ancient Slavic city until recently “Kiev” to us, has become Kyiv reflecting the pronunciation in Ukrainian rather than “Kiev, which is close to the traditional Russian name.
  
  The drive to rename New Zealand “Aotearoa” is related to this international political play.
  
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  February 14, 2026 11:49am
  - Quail
    
    J5,
    Who is responsible for the drive to change language use in NZ to two “official “languages ?
    Which political party , and which politicians passed legislation to enable or drive this change?
    Are there any Cabinet notes available supporting this decision?
    Or was it just another “Captains Call” by a politician? If so which ones.
    The alternative is it is NZ bureaucracy driving this.
    If so that is well out of their field of responsibility!
    It is certain that individual New Zealanders have never been asked.
    We have , at least ,a right to know!
    
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    February 14, 2026 1:16pm
  - Sir Henry Morgan
    
    Maybe in part it’s an attack directly specifically at English speakers?
    
    For example, the official new word for Turkey in “English” has changed to something that no native English speaker who is not also fluent in Turkish has a clue how to pronounce because it’s not English, it’s Turkish. However, nothing has happened in Chinese. It’s still 土耳其.
    
    And presumably the Turks haven’t suddenly started writing England instead of whatever it is in Turkish – apparently they write İngiltere.
    
    Having pulled this “look at me” stunt, I doubt the Nauruans will reciprocate by adjusting how they refer to every other country in the world.
    
    The expectation is that English-speakers will jump through hoops, while everyone else carries on as usual.
    
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    February 14, 2026 3:29pm
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      I think the eagerness of “progressives” to follow the diktat to use the name “Turkiye” is just another manifestation of Critical Social Justice ideology, which sacralizes certain ethnicities and gender minorities that are deemed “oppressed”, and apparently Muslims too (the Crusades etc). In contrast, the Danish PM wouldn’t gain much traction if she demanded that we call her country “Danmark”, because Danes are white Westerners.
      
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      February 14, 2026 5:14pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

With all this fuss about reporting modern slavery in the supply chain, I think old-fashioned regular slavery is being overlooked.

This is the second such case that I can think of, both involving Samoan matai.

The government needs to look very hard at the tradition of Pacific Islanders adopting or sponsoring young adults into NZ.

http://www.1news.co.nz/2026/02/12/samoan-chief-jailed-for-more-than-16-years-after-slavery-trial/
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February 14, 2026 8:07am
- ISeeRed
  
  Yep. And don’t mention Indian indentured servitude, thriving right here in New Zealand.
  
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  February 14, 2026 2:21pm
Chuck Bird

Trump is wrong in how he treats allies, but right on other things.

Analysis: Trump takes victory lap after biggest climate rollback yet

https://nz.news.yahoo.com/analysis-trump-takes-victory-lap-231254075.html
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February 14, 2026 8:15am
- Philview
  
  TVNZ News had a Chinese propaganda segment last night on all the great things China is doing to combat climate change and how their emissions dropped 0.3 % last year. Whereas per TVNZ Donald Trump is the bad guy and destroying the planet.
  
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  February 14, 2026 8:24am
  - NK
    
    The propaganda coming out of Western MSM is just as bad.
    
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    February 14, 2026 9:34am
    - Wandering Star
      
      The concept of “Chinese propaganda” (or the Russian, the Iranian, or the [insert tyrannical regime here] version) is, ironically, an instance of Western propaganda. That is, inherent in the concept is that there is no propaganda coming out of, and circulating within, “the West,” and it is something that only “they” engage in. Over here, we get the “balanced, objective facts” while “they” only get the skewed ideological output of their overlords. No, the latter is exactly what we get too.
      
      In short, “the news” anywhere is just another name for propaganda (i.e. directing the viewer/reader/listener towards certain ideas and conclusions, as opposed to other ideas and conclusions), except for the odd instance of “feel good” items about pets, kids or community stalwarts.
      
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      February 14, 2026 10:48am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Keep your eye on India..
    
    That’s where there’ll be a big expansion in coal-fired plants in the next few years.
    
    large amounts of new coal-power capacity is still being planned, because of the expected growth in peak electricity demand.
    
    https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-indias-power-sector-co2-falls-for-only-second-time-in-half-a-century/
    
    And how much publicity have we had that cooler temperatures over India last year led to a decrease in power demand?
    
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    February 14, 2026 10:00am
  - Inandout
    
    Phil, Since the advent of smart TVs the number of viewers watching our local news is diminishing at an alarming rate. The content available online is truly amazing and where we once dutifully watched TV news at 6pm, last night after The Chase it was You Tube. My wife and I have dinner at a table and have ad free docos on everything imaginable or UK comedies galore. We now educate ourselves rather than have TVOne force crap onto us.
    
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    February 14, 2026 10:22am
    - Wandering Star
      
      But what will we complain about when we stop watching The News? It doesn’t bare thinking about.
      
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      February 14, 2026 11:07am
      - pdm
        
        In the absence of DG let me correct you ws.
        
        bear not bare.
        
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        February 14, 2026 11:51am
      - Wandering Star
        
        Oh, you’re right: we’d just obnoxiously complain about non-issues.
        
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        February 14, 2026 11:53am
      - AitchW
        
        WS, one can go a long way on a sense of humour, may I suggest you try it some time?
        
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        February 14, 2026 1:32pm
      - Wandering Star
        
        “WS, one can go a long way on a sense of humour, may I suggest you try it some time?”
        
        I do have a sense of humour, otherwise I wouldn’t have made a joke about how KBers watch and read certain media apparently just to complain about the content of said made: now that’s funny.
        
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        February 14, 2026 3:05pm
      - septic skeptic
        
        You got a laugh out of me WS 😁
        
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        February 14, 2026 9:53pm
    - Notsofast
      
      New Zealand news globally is like Eketahuna news nationally.
      And it is strictly about cunning part maori.
      I look forward to the extinction of the 7 stone age seats to drive tv1 into a fit of apoplexy though in fairness I only experience it anecdotally places like this.
      
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      February 14, 2026 11:17am
    - wairarapapaul
      
      We have You Tube Premium as well. Worth every $$. The main issue we have with TVNZ News is that it’s biased, and they leave out info that doesn’t paint their picture. It should be called TVNZ Views not TVNZ News.
      
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      February 14, 2026 3:03pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Dinner watching a Screen??
      What happened to conversation on some relaxing music?
      
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      February 14, 2026 3:24pm
  - Wayne1749
    
    Not sure if it is propaganda. I visited an area outside of Guangzhou recently. Twenty years ago it was smoggy, now blue skies. They have gone almost full electrification of the vehicle fleet. Twenty to thirty years ago the air had that smell of poor fuel quality exhaust common to developing countries. That is now completely gone. It is not propaganda that China is charging to the front on renewable energy, both in speed and scale – that is pretty much acknowledged by all serious observers, Western or otherwise.
    
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    February 14, 2026 6:22pm
- Scott
  
  Aww cmon Chuck. Trump has called climate change a scam.
  Trump has got rid of mandates about everyone has to drive electric cars by next week.
  Trump has said the road to prosperity is through increasing fossil fuel production.
  Trump has pulled America out of the Paris climate change accords.
  What’s not to like? 👍
  
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  February 14, 2026 8:31am
  - colina
    
    Miranda Devine: Donald Trump debunking Al Gore’s climate fears has made the world a better place
    http://www.skynews.com.au/insights-and-analysis/miranda-devine-donald-trump-debunking-al-gores-climate-fears-has-made-the-world-a-better-place/news-story/30659c7b92a1503e25ee24c412aee91a
    
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    February 14, 2026 10:04am
  - leoj
    
    We should pull out of the Paris Accord too (and the UN).
    
    If we did, Trump might drop tariffs on our exports to the US.
    
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    February 14, 2026 10:14am
- Handyman
  
  Trump’s action will have no effect on the climate, just as Obama/Biden’s had no effect either.
  Ironically, the US is the only country to meet its Paris agreement targets. The main reason for the drop in CO2 emissions in the US is the replacement of coal for electricity generation with cheap local natural gas. This was not mandated by congress but purely the result of the fracking revolution.
  
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  February 14, 2026 9:45am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Market forces
    
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    February 14, 2026 12:30pm
  - Ra Henare
    
    Interesting to note that in large Cities in Cambodia.
    Pollution from the many Motor bike powered Tuktuks has been reduced!
    Not by any Government action!!~!
    
    But by the ïnvasion” of LPG Indian 3 wheel LPG tuktuks. which are cheaper to run!!
    
    Free market at work.
    
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    February 14, 2026 5:46pm
artemisia

Mount Maunganui landslide: Businesses hit hard call for urgent help – Two owners call for more council and government support.Herald today, paywalled.

Tough for them and many others. Is this landslide being considered an Act of God by their insurers? They do have insurance, don’t they?
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February 14, 2026 9:03am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  The same is true down on the South Coast of Wellington. Was down there yesterday – it’s like a ghost town. Cowards are avoiding the place like there’s a miasma that will give you the plague.
  
  Toughen up, people! Have you never travelled in India? At least you can be sure that the Maranui doesn’t wash its dishes in seawater.
  
  If you want those businesses to survive then you’ve got to go & spend money there.
  
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  February 14, 2026 9:20am
- pdm
  
  Panic has taken over all through the country obviously.
  
  Clifton Motor Camp near Cape Kidnappers was cleared out yesterday in case the hill behind it subsided from the rain.
  
  An overreaction by Council I would say because the hillside has always been well planted with a variety of trees and has always looked very stable to me. Mind you I am not a structural engineer or geologist.
  
  A different kettle of fish further round where there is nothing to hold the hill sides that make up the Cape in place.
  
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  February 14, 2026 9:22am
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    So do we think people should, or shouldn’t, take their chances when there’s a risk of a severely negative outcome? See the conversation bout Bishop and the ocean-going tug above.
    
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    February 14, 2026 1:31pm
  - AitchW
    
    I suspect that, after the tsunami of finger pointing at the Mount, councils and camp ground operators will be very quick to pull the evacuation trigger after rain on hillsides.
    
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    February 14, 2026 1:35pm
- NK
  
  If NZ went to Carbon Zero tomorrow, these landslides and slips would still happen.
  
  Simple scientific fact.
  
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  February 14, 2026 9:35am
- Paulus
  
  Yes, an act of God, and nothing to do with man (or woman)
  – but which God ?
  
  Consequential Loss of Profit in a standard commercial policy applies only when their property has also been damaged.
  Sadly otherwise – tough !
  
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  February 14, 2026 9:49am
  - artemisia
    
    Thanks Paulus. So usually no insurance cover unless there is physical damage? Makes sense. But should ratepayers and taxpayers pay? Or should businesses have a rainy day fund so they remain viable?
    
    In new research released by Xero, small business owners confessed that sometimes it did get a bit much, with close to half of survey respondents admitting they had thought about throwing in the towel. It seemed 2025 had been an uphill battle, with three quarters of the business owners surveyed saying this financial year had been more stressful than previous years
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/586591/is-owning-a-small-business-really-worth-it
    
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    February 14, 2026 10:21am
I remember when

The opening of the International Events Centre in Auckland was on Television the other night.
The coverage showed the usual Maori recognition of the occasion.
I guess there was a Maori blessing when the alterations started.
Why didn’t the Centre open on time and without damage during construction?
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February 14, 2026 9:06am
Boy Geoff

Is Treasury starting to worry about a possible Labour/Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand/Te Pati Maori government?
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February 14, 2026 9:07am
- Handyman
  
  Good observation.
  I have proposed previously that the coalition should sign as many long term infrastructure contracts as possible this year (hospitals, roads, schools etc).
  The incoming LGM government can cancel road contracts (at some cost) but it will be politically harder to cancel confirmed hospital and school contracts.
  As our host pointed out yesterday, given the opportunity in 2021 to spend $250million on essential water treatment OR cycle lanes, the Wellington Labour and Green party voted for cycle lanes. These are the same Labour and Green parties now in Parliament.
  
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  February 14, 2026 9:59am
- Simon
  
  No. For what’s it worth the normal people, well people who work and are self sufficient, although luke warm on National recognise that Labour are not a viable government in waiting.
  
  Don’t think the election will be close. In the end National are average but should win comfortably Labour are simply terrible, that’s the word on the street.
  
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  February 14, 2026 10:03am
  - David Garrett
    
    Simon: that might be the word on your street.
    
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    February 14, 2026 11:11am
    - alwyn.a
      
      What is the word on the hala in your kolo? Is it the same as Simon says?
      Or do they have more important matters to worry about?
      
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      February 14, 2026 2:29pm
- Nikola Donatello
  
  The Treasury is an government agency and so inanimate. It cannot “worry”.
  
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  February 14, 2026 10:24am
  - Boy Geoff
    
    But, of course…
    
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    February 14, 2026 10:30am
  - David Garrett
    
    Niko: don’t be silly…you know exactly what Boy means
    
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    February 14, 2026 11:12am
    - Nikola Donatello
      
      Yes I apologise for being silly.
      
      My sensible point should have been that Treasury officials tend to worry about what is in front of them. In extensive dealings with Treasury officials I have never heard them even allude to politics.
      
      If there is a change of government they will advise that government. So no. They are definitely not sitting at No 1 The Terrace “worried” about opposition political parties.
      
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      February 14, 2026 11:23am
    - RichardX
      
      Why would a pedant pull someone up for being pedantic?
      
      Is all pedantry “silly”?
      
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      February 14, 2026 12:58pm
    - Nikola Donatello
      
      I must add though David that you are the self appointed grammar watcher here. I am correct. The Treasury cannot “worry”.
      
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      February 14, 2026 4:45pm
  - Paulus
    
    But it is run by Wellington Public Servants s0 does that not tell you anything.?
    
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    February 14, 2026 1:45pm
    - Nikola Donatello
      
      Most of the the Treasury public servants are atypical.
      
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      February 14, 2026 4:47pm
Jack5

The crap that comes out of Auckland University …

Red Radio reports:

“A new study has linked food insecurity experienced by Maori to the ongoing consequence of colonisation rather than the result of individual choice or lifestyle.”

Research led by Madeline Shelling “documents” (RNZ reports authoritatively) “how land loss, environmental degradation, restrictive laws and the marginalisation of matauranga Maori have dismantled Maori food systems across generations.”

Shelling says:

“”It came out quite clearly in my PhD that the way that we assess kai security or food security in Aotearoa is not representing Maori values, traditions or knowledge because it’s a questionnaire made up of eight questions that are all related to how we access food by having money and obviously in te ao Maori and many indigenous cultures around the world, having money is not the only way that you access kai, and it never has been.”

In a blurb at another web site, Shelling says: “My undergrad and Honours were specialising in geography and environmental management, with a side of development studies. My PhD is focusing on reconceptualising and re-indigenising food security and food sovereignty in New Zealand.”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/586847/it-s-hard-to-get-healthy-kai-when-you-don-t-have-healthy-whenua
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February 14, 2026 9:07am
- peterwn
  
  And the PhD reviewers will lap it up and she will have no trouble getting post doc funding and grants.
  
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  February 14, 2026 9:30am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    This PhD candidate devoted..
    
    13 years at school..
    Probably 4 years for an honours degree..
    Maybe 3 years for a masters
    Now, say, 4 years for a ohd5.
    
    24 years of education! And at the end the only plausible job this person could get is to become an academic and to teach this stuff to undergraduates who are on the same journey.
    
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    February 14, 2026 11:02am
    - Taieri
      
      “Dr Madeline Shelling (Ngāti Porou) holds a bachelor of science in geography and environmental management, as well as a PhD in Māori health from the University of Auckland. Her work with Ihi Research, alongside experience as a park ranger, has sparked a lifelong passion for reforestation and pest control, dedicated to food sovereignty and kaitiakitanga. She is currently undertaking a post-doctoral research project on Māori food security.”
      
      Some of her wonderful ideas are here:
      
      https://thespinoff.co.nz/authors/madeline-shelling
      
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      February 14, 2026 11:08am
      - Nikola Donatello
        
        Thanks for the link. That provides a profile of her skills and experience. I withdraw and apologise for my derision of her education.
        
        I still think that the concept of food sovereignty is deeply misguided
        
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        February 14, 2026 11:42am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        I see she advocates for the cultural harvesting of kererū, our native wood pigeon.
        
        The problem with kererū is that they have a very low reproduction rate… just 1 egg/year. The odds of that egg hatching and getting to adulthood are pretty low these days…. (mean breeding rate of 0.24 fledglings/pair/season).
        
        https://www.doc.govt.nz/documents/science-and-technical/docts15.pdf
        
        Basically, kererū are being rate-limited these days by predation….mainly rats.
        
        A solution for Maori who want to increase their food sovereignty would be to start consuming forest rats again…. in time, the kererū population might increase.
        
        https://teara.govt.nz/en/kiore-pacific-rats/page-3
        
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        February 14, 2026 11:49am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        “Awww Mum. Not rats again!”
        
        “Shuddup and think of the native birds”
        
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        February 14, 2026 12:35pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        “A solution for Maori who want to increase their food sovereignty would be to start consuming forest rats again.”
        
        Perhaps introduce chook raising. Eggs and meat galore.
        
        Seriously though, FFS these “academics” are nuts.
        
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        February 14, 2026 6:38pm
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      There’s no indication she has done a Masters degree.
      
      She has (sensibly) gone from a Bachelor’s honours degree into a PhD.
      
      (not all courses allow this route.)
      
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      February 14, 2026 11:25am
      - Nikola Donatello
        
        Thanks
        
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        February 14, 2026 11:26am
    - Ra Henare
      
      Did someone point out Maori Lifespan before 1840(that wonderful Maori diet) and todays Maori lifespan ?
      
      Of course that is comparing apples and pears as there are no full blooded Maori to do the comparison.
      
      Maybe increased lifespan for those identifying as Maori might be their Non Maori genetic history?
      
      Just a thought when nothing else will do 🙂
      
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      February 14, 2026 6:54pm
- Paulus
  
  Eh !
  
  2 3
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  February 14, 2026 9:50am
- Southern Raider
  
  Maybe someone needs to do a PhD in “food security prior to colonisation”
  
  Let’s have an honest conversation about the high chance of starvation and malnutrition in Maori. Living off what seafood you can collect with basic tools, birds and kumara is not going to do it. Until proper cultivation and mammals came
  Along it would have been a very bleak and short life.
  
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  February 14, 2026 9:55am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    On top of food insecurity there was the knowledge that death, enslavement, and displacement were recognised consequences of defeat in tribal warfare.
    
    These modern academics ☹️
    
    18 1
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    February 14, 2026 11:09am
    - H. Upmann
      
      Don’t forget cannibalism.
      
      12 1
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      February 14, 2026 11:22am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    You overlooked “cold” and “wet”.
    
    6 0
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    February 14, 2026 12:36pm
    - Paulus
      
      But pre Colonisation Aotearoa was the Nirvana capital of the World and considered the best of everything that man or women could have, and provide for all natives.
      A pinch more salt in the pot please !
      
      6 1
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      February 14, 2026 1:50pm
  - david
    
    Raider:
    You might then identify the importance of the part that ambulatory, mobile, on-demand protein source conveniently supplied by neighbouring villages played in the perilous survival conditions pertaining between 900AD and about 1820 AD. Food security during that 900 year period held a totally different meaning compared to how we would see it today.
    
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    February 14, 2026 1:10pm
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      900 AD? The archaeological record suggests Polynesians settled NZ in the late 13th century.
      
      2 1
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      February 14, 2026 6:19pm
  - ISeeRed
    
    There wasn’t any security for the moa.
    
    3 0
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    February 14, 2026 2:26pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    We are fairly confident that the construction of Pā which commenced some 200-250 years after East Polynesians settled in NZ is associated with groups (iwi/hapu) protecting their cultivated lands and coastal food sources.
    
    Maori construction of pa in mainland New Zealand after 1500 CE, then, can
    be seen as a response to warfare, or its threat, resulting from competitive pressure on cultivable
    land and other resources
    
    https://press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/press/n9214/pdf/ch02.pdf
    
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    February 14, 2026 3:36pm
- Albie
  
  Jack5: I read as much of it as I could stomach- excuse the pun. I would have thought food security would have improved for Maori post colonisation. Taking money, either earned or given to the supermarket or fruit and vege shop is a much more reliable way to buy kumara than growing it yourself.
  
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  February 14, 2026 10:09am
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    Yes. Not just for Maori. For all of us.
    
    They data is clear. Sorry on my phone so can’t post it, but you can easily find it.
    
    In all Western nations, families spent a much higher proportion of their income on food 100 years ago. Even 50 years ago.
    
    Food has never been so plentiful. And cheap.
    
    Of course if you live on take away Chinese and KFC it is not cheap.
    
    18 2
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    February 14, 2026 11:15am
- Handyman
  
  I can guess some of the content.
  Expecting Maori to grow vegetables on their own land is a colonial construct akin to slavery (which, btw, never existing before colonisation).
  If Maori chose to grow their own food all hapu should be funded by the Government on a hands-off basis via a Maori trust.
  
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  February 14, 2026 10:18am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  What I notice in Maori culture is that they are heavily invested in the past.
  
  Maori, like all of us, have access to cheap and plentiful food. Much more so than 200 years ago.
  
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  February 14, 2026 10:31am
- kowtow
  
  I wonder where all that colonial settler food and drink will fit into ‘re indigenising” food etc and given the history of indigenous eating habits in these islands should we all start worrying not about where the next meal comes from , but whether we will be the next meal.
  
  And no this is not facetious .
  
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  February 14, 2026 2:32pm
Boy Geoff

Highlanders beat a (current) All Blacks-laden Crusaders. What a splendid start to Super Rugby 2026!

(Jamie Joseph coached too)
11 2
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February 14, 2026 9:10am
- Jack5
  
  A great game. The result on edge till the last minutes.
  
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  February 14, 2026 9:24am
- pdm
  
  Cam Miller kicks penalty from around halfway for the win I believe.
  
  I predicted during last years NPC that he could well be the 10 we need for the next RWC, Looks like he has started this year the right way.
  
  As it is the cricket season I did not watch the game. No Super Rugby on our tv until after the 1 April.
  
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  February 14, 2026 9:25am
  - R
    
    Need to reprogramme your TV pdm!
    
    2 1
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    February 14, 2026 11:30am
Tom Barker

Those analysing the Epstein files have noted that, in addition to the many redactions and the 2-3 million files yet to be released, there are unexplained chronological gaps. In particular, there are relatively few files covering the period of the early 2000s. That’s when Epstein says he was closely associated with Donald Trump. I’m sure it’s just a coincidence.
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February 14, 2026 9:41am
- amospicton
  
  Given the frenzy to ‘get Trump’ don’t you think Tom that if there was anything at all to implicate him in the Epstein files they would have been released by the Dems pre-election?
  
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  February 14, 2026 10:08am
  - Christopher Thomson
    
    Obama had them for 4 years. He tried everything to bring down the Trump presidency.
    
    Biden had them for 4 years. Consider all the lawfare on spurious ground that occurred.
    
    If there was anything detrimental do you think either of those villainous scum would have ignored it?
    
    15 4
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    February 14, 2026 11:28am
    - Hard Cheese
      
      So, if there’s nothing in them what stopping them from all being released now? You seem to be arguing on the side of protecting pedophiles and child traffickers. Are you?
      
      1 2
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      February 14, 2026 5:29pm
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    This one has been answered so, so many times. The files were sealed by court order until the beginning of last year.
    
    8 2
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    February 14, 2026 12:44pm
    - Dudley Quaffquaff
      
      Correction, sorry – until October last year. By the way, John Key is in them
      
      3 4
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      February 14, 2026 1:33pm
      - Ghost
        
        let’s be honest instead of throwing around that. There is one file that has John Key in it, and that is Scott Morrison’s wiki page. so to claim Key is in them really is just throwing shit for the sake of it.
        
        https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00263047.pdf
        
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        February 14, 2026 1:52pm
      - Dudley Quaffquaff
        
        Yes Ghost, but that’s my point. Just “being in the files” isn’t evidence of guilt or even a case to answer. We need to understand what the files say about the person, and some of what they say about Trump, even in the redacted version, includes some nasty stuff indeed.
        
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        February 14, 2026 2:33pm
      - Ghost
        
        You didn’t make any point. You failed in trying to throw out a name there with no context to stir up shit. Disgusting. I note you didn’t mention the two other prime ministers in the Epstein files, is that because they are female? Unlike you I don’t believe in throwing people under the bus, neither Clark or Ardern, who are both mentioned have nothing to do with Epstein. Ardern was in as she was mentioned in fbi briefings for things the government did. Clark for her governments stance and comments on prostitution etc.
        
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        February 14, 2026 7:36pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence even if your biases want it to be so. Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem
  
  1 8
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  February 14, 2026 10:53am
  - Christopher Thomson
    
    Quidquid Latine dictum sit, altum videtur.
    
    2 3
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    February 14, 2026 11:31am
  - Hard Cheese
    
    You wouldn’t be the sort of person to complain when Maori words are thrown into English sentences would you?
    
    2 1
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    February 14, 2026 5:35pm
Yvette

Election
Host David Farrar posted 7am asking if te Pati Maori is a party or a family?
So a majority of the officers and at least three of the seven electorates are all linked to one man.

An utterly unbelievable feature of MMP is that a considerable number – tens of thousands in fact – of voters give their vote to a party which in a “king-maker” position can cast those votes after all other votes are officially counted, in the direction one man can choose, and totally alter the apparent outcome.

Now in this aspect John Tamihere wishes to have the same power as Winston Peters.
So there could be two of them – I guess that greater number, 100 percent increase, is heading back towards democracy.
16 2
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February 14, 2026 10:01am
- Handyman
  
  TPM will never be a “king maker”. They are an appendage to the Labour/Green coalition.
  Peters, on the other hand, can decide to keep TPM out of government by going with the Labour/Green coalition.
  Even in this scenario, Peters is not really a “king maker”. It will always be a Labour/Green coalition but Peters can decide who is the third wheel.
  
  7 1
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  February 14, 2026 10:29am
  - Yvette
    
    Handyman – Peters, on the other hand, can decide to keep TPM out of government by going with the Labour/Green coalition.
    
    Or Peters could choose National / ACT and still keep TPM out of government
    
    11 0
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    February 14, 2026 10:56am
  - pdm
    
    Peters will always do what is best for Peters.
    
    The biggest Bauble ever – 18 months as Prime Minister – will be a big negotiating tool after this years election if NZFirst polling holds up.
    
    Mark my words.
    
    7 1
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    February 14, 2026 12:00pm
    - Cassandra
      
      And why not? National and ACT will still have the numbers to keep Peters and NZF on the right path.
      
      1 5
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      February 14, 2026 12:24pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      PDm, may I repeat myself.
      Winston will not want to be Prime Minister for more than a couple of days to get it on his CV/Gravestone.
      
      Being PM is a high pressure, full time commitment. eg hardwork.
      
      Even a cursory glance at Winstons history will see that hardwork and Winston are not bedfellows when used in the same sentence.
      
      Unless the sentence says WInston does not like hardwork.
      
      Also keep in mind Winston will be 81 going in to this election!!!
      
      He loves being Foreign Minister. Baubles with hard work. Perfect for him.
      
      2 2
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      February 14, 2026 7:04pm
  - AitchW
    
    We appear to heading in a direction where Labour is but an appendage of TPM. Willie Jackson is currently the de facto leader of Labour and may well soon be etiam in potestate.
    
    2 0
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    February 14, 2026 1:44pm
    - Yvette
      
      Willie Jackson, through the Labour Maori Caucus, may control a portion of things. Some have wondered if possible succession from Labour was a factor in wringing the seeming advances Labour (a disinterested Ardern, mainly) allowed Maori.
      
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      February 14, 2026 2:07pm
I remember when

The New Plymouth LNG facility and the question of whether the levy on electricity is a tax or not.
If the government had no involvement in the electricity industry, for the firms involved it would be a cost of supply and added to the electricity cost to the consumer.
Not a tax.
When the government is the supplier it can legitimately be considered a tax.
2 3
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February 14, 2026 10:19am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  It is a levy.
  
  You are applying a subjective judgement rather than analysis.
  
  A tax is collected and paid to the Crown’s general revenue account and used to fund government spending broadly of all types with no hypothecation.
  
  A levy is ring‑fenced to a specific scheme or group and applies principles of cost recovery.
  
  10 1
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  February 14, 2026 10:55am
  - Taieri
    
    Semantics.
    If it’s compulsory it’s a tax. Regardless of word juggling.
    
    6 2
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    February 14, 2026 11:45am
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360937932/blues-v-chiefs-all-you-need-know-super-rugby-pacific-opener-eden-park
Stuff’s sports reporters must all come from the Waikato and north: no mention of Cam Miller from Otago as a contender. Watch this space.
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February 14, 2026 10:37am
- pdm
  
  Me too GB – I was touting him as the best 10 in the country at the end of last years NPC.
  
  He looked the real deal then.
  
  We don’t watch super rugby until after 1 April.
  
  3 1
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  February 14, 2026 12:07pm
  - AitchW
    
    Easter. When I was a young fellow at boarding school Easter was when the rugby posts went up and we changed into winter uniform.
    Labour weekend we swapped back. Eminently sensible.
    
    2 0
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    February 14, 2026 1:47pm
  - Paulus
    
    We don’t watch Rugby at all !
    
    1 3
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    February 14, 2026 1:53pm
Yvette

Maori Seats and ‘tikanga’
Christopher Luxon is clear about the priorities of his Government and his party: “What we’re really focused on is fixing the basics and building the future, at the moment.”
Instead, he’s answering questions about a policy from a coalition partner he doesn’t want setting the agenda.
This isn’t Luxon dodging the question. A referendum on Māori seats really isn’t a priority. He wants to be talking about economic policy, building infrastructure, reducing hospital waitlists.
comments from –
https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/02/13/maori-seats-referendum-a-treaty-principles-sized-headache-for-luxon/

Meanwhile six of the incumbent Maori Seats are waiting for the resolution of a self-inflicted court case while Winston Peters will only need to highlight that in his now declared campaign against all seven of those Seats.

Tamihere emphasised that Te Pāti Māori is a tikanga-based movement guided by ancestral wisdom. “There is a tikanga-based solution to every problem in the Māori world,” he said. “Our ancestral intelligence gives us the opportunity to work through issues in a way that doesn’t look for heads on platters – that’s Pākehātanga.”
https://waateanews.com/2025/10/13/te-pati-maori-focuses-on-tikanga-response-after-kapa-kingi-allegations/

John Tamihere’s remark there is not complimentary to non-Maori, but nor are his actions so far complimentary to “ancestral wisdom, intelligence or tikanga”

Election day: November 7 – 266 days away, John
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February 14, 2026 10:40am
- leoj
  
  Luxon is simply too scared to upset the maori takeover for fear of being called racist.
  
  It is a takeover.
  
  A gutless wonder indeed.
  
  10 4
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  February 14, 2026 12:24pm
  - Chuck Bird
    
    “A gutless wonder indeed.”
    
    It is not just about Maori issues.
    
    I emailed the Minister of Woman’s Affairs asking her two questions.
    
    One, should women have to play against men who claim to be women in sports?
    
    Two, should these same men be allowed to invade women’s spaces?
    
    I got a reply saying there is a new Minister of Sports, and I would have to wait for an answer.
    
    Winston got the matter sorted.
    
    This was not Nicola Greg’s fault, but that of Luxon, not wanting to offend anyone.
    
    Pauline Hanson has bigger balls than him.
    
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    February 14, 2026 2:59pm
NothingLeft

US Company has demonstrated a photonics based GPU replacement that is nearly 100x more power efficient at matrix multiplication. If it pans out (a few years to bring to production) it will bring power requirements for brain-equivalent processing power down to a few 10’s of watts, same as our meat-based processing and will long term make AI very cheap to put in everything (Guaranteeing human economic obsolescence). https://youtu.be/oGg96zK6Lvw
4 1
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February 14, 2026 11:10am
- Wandering Star
  
  Humans will never be economically obsolete, because humans are the consumers in the equation. If nobody has a job because of AI, then nobody’s buying anything produced by AI means.
  
  5 4
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  February 14, 2026 11:32am
- Jack5
  
  Can AI fact-check itself inscrutably?
  
  What if the very oldEncyclopedia Brittanica continues to survive, and even thrive, against fully AI services?
  
  The Brittanica, two and a half centuriesold, has an editorial team of more than a hundred editors and fact checkers.
  
  The publisher announced the end of its printed encyclopedia with the 2010 set of 32 volumes. There’s a set on sale on Ebay for $US349.99 (about $NZ580). Amazon UK has a set for sale, without postage, for about $NZ1230.
  
  It continues with online subscriptions, including a monthly option of about $NZ15 a month.
  
  Encyclopedia Brittanicais now owned by a Swiss billionaire.
  
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  February 14, 2026 12:42pm
  - NothingLeft
    
    Increasingly yes.
    
    Last couple of weeks there have been reports of AI proving several long standing but unproven mathematical conjectures (Erdos problems), and now uncovering a new discovery in particle physics. In biology they are moving far beyond humans in their understanding and prediction of immensely complex protein folding etc – which will soon revolutionize medicine. They are in summary very close to moving ahead of humans on the cutting edge of science and mathematics where already only people with >145 IQ are capable of contributing much.
    
    In 2027 humans are likely to become 2nd best in basically everything requiring intellect, and will therefore be fundamentally and irrevocably fucked.
    
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    February 14, 2026 3:28pm
NothingLeft

Microsoft AI chief reckons 18 months until all white collar work can be done by AI.

Everything’s great and the Future is going to be wonderful for humans /s

https://fortune.com/2026/02/13/when-will-ai-kill-white-collar-office-jobs-18-months-microsoft-mustafa-suleyman/

On an unrelated note; how exactly should one go about prepping a family for the collapse of govt/civilization and the end of the world?
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February 14, 2026 11:25am
- Wandering Star
  
  If the white collar jobs are gone, then so will the blue collar ones who the white collars tend to engage to do work for them (e.g. builders, plumbers, electricians and the like). It would be a cascade through the economy, and it’s hard to see how the Microsoft AI chief would keep his job too. As I say in a comment above, if there’s no employment there’s no consumption and if there’s no consumption nobody needs consumer products. Then comes the crowds with pitchforks.
  
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  February 14, 2026 12:22pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Practice taking phones off your kids for increasingly longer periods of time.
  
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  February 14, 2026 12:42pm
- Taieri
  
  Microsoft AI chief reckons 18 months until all white collar work can be done by AI.
  ————–
  
  Not necessarily.
  
  https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/what-happens-workplaces-embrace-ai
  
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  February 14, 2026 2:44pm
Swifty

Immense words of wisdom from Lee Kwan Yew:

https://x.com/rothmus/status/2022418685613519205?s=46

This is exactly the issue we have in NZ – squabbling over the division of the existing pie.
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February 14, 2026 12:33pm
Swifty

Permanently halt all Muslim immigration to the West, close all mosques, eliminate all benefits for non-citizens, close all Sharia courts.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/360938301/britains-jews-are-under-threat-police-chiefs-warning-after-massacre-plotters-jailed

Or watch Western civilisation disappear over the next 50-100 years.
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February 14, 2026 1:33pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Old Russian Joke: “If we had some ham we could make ham sandwiches. If we had some bread.”
  
  We build all our beliefs, concerns and discussions on a bed of assumptions that are about to stop being true. We all need to stop pretending there is any predicable future beyond 5-10 years. The AI singularity is upon us and all the rules will change.
  Our collective assumptions about how the world works will be upended. Human history is ending, we are about to all become ‘useless eaters’ (Nazi term for unproductive that they eradicated).
  
  Why worry about demographic changes, poor education, welfare dependency etc when there may be no demos left to change. Or if we survive we will more likely be having children as dictated by our AI masters with DNA, education, beliefs, diets and lives dictated by them., just as we do with our pets. They can breed us all to be statuesque super geniuses, or grotesque stunted feeble-minded docile dwarves (like pugs) should they prefer it.
  
  What we understand of property and economics will be dead and buried in what ever we are told to do as (at best) pets.
  
  My main curiosity now is when sufficient of the slumbering disinterested population will finally actually realize the scale of the change that is about to be foist upon them and make a belated attempt to do something about it politically, and if it will make any difference to the coming crisis.
  
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  February 14, 2026 3:48pm
  - Swifty
    
    Interesting.
    
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    February 14, 2026 6:05pm
Inandout

Tommy Robinson has departed the UK and it looks like Tousi is also ready to go for family safety. Folks things are getting more serious by the day over there as the fighting age boat people flood in, ready for action. Self destruction is not something I have come to terms with but it appears Starmer is hell bent on doing it.
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February 14, 2026 1:53pm
Jack5

Trump’s Administration has released its plan to rebuild United States shipping, paid partly by a levy on inbound cargo on ships made in China.

The plan ⁠calls for “maritime prosperity zones” to bolster investment; reforming work-force training and education; expanding the fleet of U.S.-built ⁠and U.S.-flagged ships; establishing a funding stream through a Maritime Security Trust Fund; and reducing regulations.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-releases-maritime-action-plan-aimed-resurrecting-us-2026-02-14/
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February 14, 2026 3:19pm
Swifty

Trouble in the Chathams:

https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/02/13/top-level-meeting-on-chathams-future-as-chastened-ceo-paul-eagle-quits/
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February 14, 2026 3:55pm
Swifty

Ex-CEO of Oxfam GB reveals the political pressure that has infected the organisation:

https://x.com/londonette/status/2022449687970877546?s=46
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February 14, 2026 4:01pm
Swifty

Some very good and very recent analysis of Starmer and his challenges, from The Spectator team:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nw0BFua0pMo

Makes me think of Hipkins – no vision, no plan, no over-arching strategy or even convictions.
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February 14, 2026 6:04pm
NZer In Exile

“no vision, no plan, no over-arching strategy or even convictions.”

Not a prob. He mouths slogans that tickle lefty ears.
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February 14, 2026 6:41pm

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