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February 17, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 17 February 2026

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General Debate

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Swifty

One of the greats in my humble view.

RIP.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/culture/360939404/godfather-and-apocalypse-now-star-robert-duvall-dies-95

To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962

https://youtube.com/shorts/l9ojhMzbLno?si=wglCUR3xAgq0zhrb
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February 17, 2026 8:06am
- Ghost
  
  agree, a great actor. First saw him in MASH as Frank Burns.
  
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  February 17, 2026 12:23pm
igm

Did I read this correctly?
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/whanganui-chronicle/news/garth-timokina-thompson-sentenced-for-triple-fatal-crash-near-taihape/OL5TN5SZZNACNP77WQB7OG6AHM/
Words fail me!
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February 17, 2026 8:09am
- imalwaysright
  
  4 years and 3 months for killing three people.
  Judge Marinovich should be sentenced to be this scumbag’s cellmate.
  
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  February 17, 2026 10:01am
  - kowtow
    
    Front page of Herald today some guy laundered something like $123 mil for presumabably the drug traffickers , fag smugglers etc.
    
    Big deal , agrees to pay back less than $4 mil and he only gets home d .
    
    These people make it possible for the gangs etc to thrive . And all the negative things including murder , rape , overdose deaths , traffic deaths etc that the gangs cause .
    
    he and his henchmen must be laughing all the way to their multiple bank accounts across numerous jurisdictions.
    
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    February 17, 2026 10:40am
    - imalwaysright
      
      “These people make it possible for the gangs etc to thrive…
      …he and his henchmen must be laughing all the way to their multiple bank accounts across numerous jurisdictions.”
      
      Trying to work out if you mean the gangsters or the judges…
      
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      February 17, 2026 11:10am
    - nzgoose
      
      So 4m tax on his 123M I wish I could pay that sort of tax rate.
      
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      February 17, 2026 12:20pm
    - Wayne1749
      
      In the US he would quite likely be sentenced to 25 to 50 years.
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-ahVp0_9po
      
      Sentences in this country are a joke.
      
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      February 17, 2026 3:28pm
    - Ghost
      
      An important part from that article
      
      Article
      
      In 2023, Hu and Fuati were sentenced to home detention of 9 and 2 months respectively.
      
      The non-custodial sentences prompted senior police to suggest harsher penalties for money laundering in briefings to Cabinet ministers.
      
      The government has since announced that the maximum penalty for money laundering will double to 14 years in prison.
      
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      February 17, 2026 3:42pm
- Ghost
  
  he got 4 years, so, that is a positive. at least he didn’t get home detention
  
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  February 17, 2026 1:21pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Ghost: four years means out in 18 months…still happy??
    
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    February 17, 2026 1:23pm
    - Ghost
      
      no, he is out in 4 years and 3 months, he got 8 years and 6 months, he has a minimum period of imprisonment of 50% of his sentence
      
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      February 17, 2026 1:26pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Gjost: OK…I didn’t see that…eight years is a long sentence these days…only high end drug dealing gets a higher finite sentence…
        
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        February 17, 2026 1:52pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        DG
        Eight years is what the judge says so that he looks like a judge.
        
        The real sentence is four years but even the judge can’t bring himself to utter it.
        
        There is something seriously wrong in this country.
        
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        February 17, 2026 3:55pm
      - Ghost
        
        4 years, 8 years, or as I saw someone get in the US for killing someone while driving drunk, 45 years. It doesn’t bring your loved one back. No sentence will be worth it
        
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        February 17, 2026 4:26pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        The sentence isn’t to bring loved ones back from the dead is it?
        
        I thought it was to set an example and to keep dangerous individuals out of the community.
        
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        February 17, 2026 6:16pm
- Boy Geoff
  
  Who’s responsible for assigning mana levels to mokos?
  
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  February 17, 2026 4:43pm
Simon

The billions handed out to Maori, based solely on race, over the course of Luxon’s first govt. All the while national party type’s sincerely wishing Labour win the Maori seats is all you need to know about this disgusting dripping wet National party.

Why does the National party always cause so much harm? This is the history of National
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February 17, 2026 8:23am
- Chuck Bird
  
  The National Party has some very good MPs. Sadly, the PM is not one of them.
  
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  February 17, 2026 9:10am
  - wisteria
    
    Have you met the Chris Luxon. If not how can you write such rubbish.
    
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    February 17, 2026 10:44am
    - R
      
      Simon and Chuck may possibly have met PM Luxon, but if they listened to what he has said in the past; they clearly didn’t comprehend any of it.
      
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      February 17, 2026 11:34am
    - Chuck Bird
      
      I was an active National Party member flying to Christchurch as a delegate for AGMs. I was feeling very positive when he became the leader and more so when he became PM.
      
      He is agogant and will not listen respectfully to members.
      
      I resigned from National and joined Act.
      
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      February 17, 2026 12:10pm
      - Sponge
        
        Do you mean he didn’t listen to you?
        
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        February 17, 2026 12:21pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        Heard Luxon on the 12 o’ clock news reaffirming his mantra about Climate Change (Trademark).
        That will bury him if he carries on with it.
        
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        February 17, 2026 12:27pm
      - Chuck Bird
        
        Yes, Sponge, unlike David Seymour, who will listen to Act members.
        
        Luxon. does not listen respectfully to his MPs. Remember, Maureen Pugh.
        
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        February 17, 2026 12:29pm
      - David Garrett
        
        Chuck: I think you were an ACT member when I was an MP? I think you’ve also been a member of NZF?? You are what is k own as “a joiner”
        
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        February 17, 2026 1:35pm
      - Groggy
        
        Or a flip flopper
        
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        February 17, 2026 1:50pm
- Yvette
  
  Simon – The billions handed out to Maori, based solely on race, over the course of Luxon’s first govt.
  
  Such a general statement perhaps needs a little factual reference to make it acceptable.
  
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  February 17, 2026 10:03am
  - MCōs
    
    I’d agree. As written it sounds like individual Maori are sent cheques in the mail based on their race.
    
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    February 17, 2026 10:38am
    - gravedodger
      
      There are no cheques now in spite of many bank accounts remaining with “Check” as the account title, it is electronic transfers, and seem to work extremely well for the president of the maori Party?
      
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      February 17, 2026 12:06pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Mcos,
      
      Cheques aren’t sent to individual Maori because their self appointed representatives would never allow it.
      
      This isn’t about the individual Maori, this is about the money.
      
      If it was about the individual Maori then they would individually be able to claim their monetary entitlement.
      
      They can’t.
      
      They don’t even realise that they can’t.
      
      Many poor Maori seem to live their meagre lives believing that their (self appointed) representatives are sticking it to the man and getting what’s theirs.
      
      That’s the biggest con going on in NZ.
      
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      February 17, 2026 12:38pm
lastmanstanding

One of the great tragedies of this country is the amount of child abuse and child neglect. The usual suspects blame it on proverty and call for the Government to “do something”. I say Bull Shit.
My parents grew up in the Great Depression. My grandfathers were out of work for much of that time. No welfare then yet they managed to feed cloth and send their children to school everyday.
The difference is culture. They had a culture where their children came first and they would do whatever it took to take care of their children.
Over the years politicans have failed to maintain that culture through leadership and now give in to all and every call for ‘doing something”. The result is what we have. Only when the country gets politicans and leadership who can instill a good culture will we see change.
Remember culture is set at the top just like the fish rots from the head.
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February 17, 2026 9:11am
- Gravelroad
  
  Green zealots seem to be more concerned about animals and trees than children.
  There was a smirking, smart-Alec guy down south given media attention yesterday because he vandalised a statue of a salmon. Blamed dairy farmers and Fonterra for his actions.
  Was very proud of it he was. I guess he will face no consequences.
  Have yet to hear much from the Green Party about the shocking levels of child abuse we have here in Aotearoa.
  That is one reason that I will not be voting for them.
  
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  February 17, 2026 9:44am
  - hookerphil
    
    Sorry pressed report by mistake.
    
    I am sure however that you could find many more reasons why not to vote for them.
    
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    February 17, 2026 1:47pm
- artemisia
  
  And how much of that “culture” is due to the consequences of easy access to welfare, and also easy access to the black/grey economy to supplement incomes that don’t pay for the required lifestyle.
  
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  February 17, 2026 9:51am
  - Swifty
    
    In the UK govt statistics confirm whites subsidise all other ‘races’, on average:
    
    https://x.com/wallstreetapes/status/2023476048617406753?s=46
    
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    February 17, 2026 10:06am
    - mogg
      
      Farage has forced Starmer into uncancelling the local elections where Labour are showing 11% behind Reform. Polls showing Reform on 2000 votes last time, having increased their expected vote share to 400,000, and taking outright control of more than 20 councils.
      Starmer is to politics what Tommy Cooper was to the world of magic, a blundering fool.
      
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      February 17, 2026 11:56am
- imalwaysright
  
  Relax.
  On Dec 8 2025 the Children’s Commissioner wrote an open letter to the children of NZ.
  It included this:
  “You, your safety and happiness are so important to me that I’m writing this letter to you, and to all New Zealand’s children.
  
  I’m writing so that you know we all care about you, fully committed to a future where you grow up safe and full of joy.”
  
  Problem solved….
  
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  February 17, 2026 10:10am
  - RoboRob
    
    Meanwhile National wonder where savings can be made. Might I suggest the Childrens commissioner, their staff and buldings as a starter.
    
    According to Gemini AI, her base salary is at least 272,000 (historic pay for the comissioner). She as 30-40 staff, offices in Wellington and a board of up to 6 is paid to supervise this ICE (Independant Crown Entity).
    
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    February 17, 2026 11:13am
    - Taieri
      
      This is what the “search assist” shows for me:
      
      “Salary of the Commissioner for Children in New Zealand
      Current Salary Information
      The salary for the Commissioner for Children is approximately $628,000 annually.
      Context of the Role
      The Commissioner for Children is responsible for advocating for the rights and well-being of children in New Zealand.
      This position is part of the public sector, where salaries are generally lower than in the private sector for similar roles.”
      
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      February 17, 2026 1:42pm
      - RoboRob
        
        If you look factor in 35 staff at 130k each is ~$4.5m
        Plus equipment, cars, lease, her salary, board member fees etc, we are probably looking at $6-7m per year.
        
        You dont need to close many organisations like this before you start saving serious money. Every little bit adds up.
        
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        February 17, 2026 3:47pm
  - artemisia
    
    What a lovely letter. When will the Commissioner tell us the expected outcomes and how the letter delivered them..
    
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    February 17, 2026 7:35pm
    - Ghost
      
      the letter was to kick off a campaign to get people involved in reporting child abuse, protecting children, standing up for children
      
      easy for people to bitch about this campaign, especially when they don’t do anything to fight the abuse of children. So do tell us artemisia and alwaysright just what you are doing to try get people to stand up and protect children from abuse.
      
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      February 17, 2026 7:41pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        I don’t know where the kids are. If I did I would call the cops.
        
        Platitudes and virtue signalling from those we pay achieve nothing.
        
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        February 18, 2026 12:38pm
- David Garrett
  
  Lastman: One of the things that amaze me up here in the Kingdom is the beautiful ly dressed kids emerging from what we would call hovels…the difference is of course culture – in short Tongans highly value education…sadly not so the Maori, who mock fellow Maori who value education as “acting white”…being an illiterate gangster is much more to be admired
  
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  February 17, 2026 1:45pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    DG
    Spot on.
    
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    February 17, 2026 4:00pm
  - MCōs
    
    But they still live in hovels . . . . . .
    
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    February 17, 2026 5:20pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Plenty of ill bred, uncared for children come from very nice houses.
      Clearly these children come from very nice homes.
      
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      February 17, 2026 6:46pm
  - Wayne1749
    
    [Mod – give the racism a break]
    
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    February 17, 2026 11:50pm
Sir Cullen's Sidekick

Not a single line about One news poll yesterday in Stuffed or Nanny Herald.
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February 17, 2026 9:15am
- Ghost
  
  specsaves have some good deals, might be time you visit them
  
  stuff
  NZ Herald
  
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  February 17, 2026 9:33am
  - MCōs
    
    “People only see what they are prepared to see” Ralph Waldo Emerson
    
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    February 17, 2026 10:08am
    - NZer In Exile
      
      You mean like science deniers in the climate religion?
      
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      February 17, 2026 6:17pm
  - Colville
    
    If there is someone out there than can be bothered…
    
    How would the result differ if in deed TPM didnt hold a single electorate so that 2% was wasted? (and no overhang)
    
    The poll result showed them at 6 seats!
    
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    February 17, 2026 10:48am
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    Thanks for saving me some time 👍👍
    
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    February 17, 2026 6:53pm
- BeaB
  
  Note we are never given the margin of error. When the rises and falls are so tiny, one suspects they actually meaningless, despite Maiki Sherman’s excitable commentary.
  
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  February 17, 2026 9:34am
  - MCōs
    
    Refer to the Herald link provided by the Timaru Ghost for a maximum sampling error.
    
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    February 17, 2026 10:15am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    These media political polls usually have a sample size around 1000…and come with a sampling error of about +/- 3% (at the 95% confidence limit)
    
    Unless there’s a significant change in the ranking of a party, there’s really nothing happening.
    
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    February 17, 2026 10:41am
  - mogg
    
    I think Sherman has been told to calm down and stop the stupid bias.
    
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    February 17, 2026 11:44am
    - Paulus
      
      Would she know how to ? – I doubt it as she remains totally anti Government and Pro Maori of which she is one !
      She is competing hard before Tova gets back on line soon.
      
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      February 17, 2026 1:56pm
      - mogg
        
        Definitely, but maybe the choice was stop being stupid or find another job. Previously she has been making a fool of both herself and TVNZ.
        
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        February 17, 2026 2:36pm
- kowtow
  
  Talking of not a word ;
  
  the media , other than NZME The Country , has given buggah all coverage of national lamb day .
  
  But we know what the urban , urbane media think of farmers and the rural sector.
  
  See also how little there’s about the so called charity defacing the Rakaia salmon .
  
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  February 17, 2026 10:45am
  - Ghost
    
    yeah, there is little about the salmon, i mean this is all i found in half a minute.
    
    Ashburton Guardian
    Scoop
    NZ Herald
    rnz
    Stuff
    
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    February 17, 2026 11:01am
    - kowtow
      
      And national lamb day ?
      
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      February 17, 2026 12:42pm
      - Ghost
        
        Not exactly a topic most NZers will want to read about during the weather hitting the country, more a farmers story. My Gp never even mentions it, and he owns two large sheep farms.
        
        scoop
        Otago Times
        NZ Herald
        NZ Herald
        farmersweekly
        
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        February 17, 2026 1:08pm
  - BeaB
    
    Not as silly as it sounds. Lamb Day commemorates the first refrigerated shipment of lamb to the UK in 1882, the foundation of much of our future prosperity
    
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    February 17, 2026 1:18pm
  - MCōs
    
    That salmon at Rakaia represents the entire catch limit for the season
    When we were kids we had a hut at the Rangitata Mouth because Dad loved salmon fishing. The limit back then was six a day and some anglers caught 100+ a season.
    On one occasion there was a crowd of blokes fishing and one old codger who had a fish on had a heart attack a died. Someone grabbed his rod and landed the fish. Some others dragged him up the beach, put his hat over his face and went back fishing because the fish were running.
    Later they took him and the fish back to his wife at their hut on his four wheeler farm bike
    True story — so Dad reckoned.
    
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    February 17, 2026 3:43pm
- RoboRob
  
  Interesting results. Good for all the minor parties especially the Greens. I don’t see what has changed with the Greens or TPM that would result in them gaining votes. I guess some people just always choose those parties regardless of what they do or say.
  
  Again a poor result for National who seem to not be able to gain any ground. Luxon continues to tie with Hipkins.
  
  I await with baited breath the promised (by some here) avalanche of exciting policy that will swing the country towards National and Luxon.
  
  p.s. To be clear, I want a right wing government and don’t want Labour / Greens / TPM anywhere near control.
  
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  February 17, 2026 11:19am
  - R
    
    As long as the MSM outlets have a pro Marxist editorial agenda, we, will neither see, nor hear, anything POSITIVE about this government.
    
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    February 17, 2026 11:47am
    - kowtow
      
      Ironically today’s Herald editorial supports Seymour’s proposed cuts to the public dis service .
      
      yet just about every other day they attack him.
      
      Schizophrenia?
      
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      February 17, 2026 12:44pm
      - Paulus
        
        Talking of Public Service – what is going to be done now the Report has been published yesterday by Sir Brian Roche in respect of,, I understand, the CEO of the Teachers Council awarding a multi million account to her Husband.
        Oh dear, don’t do that again !
        
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        February 17, 2026 2:00pm
    - RoboRob
      
      As I have said previously.
      
      a) National are in charge of the largest news agencies in the country and have chosen to do absolutely nothing about it. (Thanks Goldsmith)
      
      b) National, ACT and NZF know the media are biased against them. Act and NZF work around this quite well. National continue to pretend that the MSM is the only news outlet and that they get fair coverage. If Act and NZF can do it why cant National?
      
      c) It’s just too easy to blame the MSM on Nationals failure to connect with the people. Continuing to blame the MSM for Nationals issues is a road to failure that I wish National and their hard core supporters wouldn’t take. National have underlying issues and the party (and the right of politics) would be well served if they admitted these issues and looked for solutions, rather them blaming the MSM.
      
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      February 17, 2026 1:27pm
      - MCōs
        
        “National are in charge of the largest news agencies in the country”
        The only news the National Party is in charge of is the propaganda they disseminate by way of X, facebook and suchlike.
        They have no control over the editorial content of state owned media.
        
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        February 17, 2026 3:05pm
      - septic skeptic
        
        My assumption is that the MSM reflect the privately held views of many of the Nat MP’s (Luxon for instance). They are happy to have the party dragged left by the media while in government and equally happy for Labour to set the agenda and march further left when they are in government. It’s a win win win situation because the National voters are happy enough with socialism – just as long as it comes in a nice blue wrapper.
        
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        February 17, 2026 3:29pm
      - RoboRob
        
        @MCōs
        
        They own TVNZ and RNZ. They have total control over these outlets. They choose not to.
        
        IMHO, governments should not control media outlets, it risks propaganda. Remember JA and her compliant media? However if National insist on owning them, they could try and do something about the obvious bias.
        
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        February 17, 2026 4:06pm
  - mogg
    
    Will Winston share PM position with Luxon this time around.
    
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    February 17, 2026 1:56pm
    - MCōs
      
      It would certainly be desperate times for the motu if that was what was required to convince NZ First to form a coalition.
      Furthermore
      Such a possibility should be signaled well before the election and not dropped on the voters like napalm in the morning two weeks after the election
      
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      February 17, 2026 3:20pm
      - septic skeptic
        
        Why? Anyone who votes for Winston First ought to be well enough aware that he will do whatever he sees as in his own best interests. On that basis they should be happy to let him decide on their behalf.
        Anyone voting for NZF in the expectation that they will see the Maori seats removed for say the 2032 election is dreaming.
        
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        February 17, 2026 3:34pm
      - mogg
        
        It would still be 10x better the Lab, Green, TPM.
        That’s what Hipkins is offering “ if they can get themselves organised”.
        
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        February 17, 2026 3:49pm
      - RoboRob
        
        Umm, no. If you vote NZF or Act you are signaling you would like Peters or Seymour as PM.
        
        If NZF gets enough votes then it is 100% fair that Peters gets to be (or share) PM. If NZF get 18% and National get 23% why shouldn’t Peters get a much larger degree of control? No need to signal anything before the election, becuase we dont know the resulting votes until after?
        
        With current polling trends I would expect Act and NZF to have considerably more control in the next government. If people want Luxon as sole PM they need to vote for National. If National want to keep control and have NZF and Act as minor parties, they need to get more votes. Pretty simple.
        
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        February 17, 2026 4:12pm
      - MCōs
        
        “Umm, no. If you vote NZF or Act you are signaling you would like Peters or Seymour as PM.”
        Not necessarily
        Either of those parties are realistically not going to get any more than 10% or so making them firm coalition prospects, which I would suggest is why people vote for them.
        Having said that the current contenders for PM are pretty lacklustre
        
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        February 17, 2026 5:37pm
      - greybeard
        
        RoboRob:
        “If you vote NZF or Act you are signalling you would like Peters or Seymour as PM.”
        Rubbish.
        What you are signalling, in my opinion, is that you want NZF and/or ACT to be vital partners of the obviously most-popular centre-right Party, National.
        In order to exclude the others.
        
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        February 17, 2026 5:38pm
BeaB

If RNZ is to continue as the official Civil Defence broadcaster I think we should expect more. Their usual reporters stumbling through obviously unfamiliar place names and our inability often to distinguish between Corin and Ingrid’s ‘chaos and carnage’ reporting and a sober, official report make the CD announcements often indistinguishable from normal broadcasting and therefore less than helpful.
I’d suggest offical bulletins, preceded perhaps by a recognisable signal of some kind and a few carefully chosen and trained announcers with a comprehensive knowledge of the geography of NZ and the correct terms and descriptions of weather events. These could be scheduled rather than popping up randomly. We could therefore have faith in what we were being told rather than the current jumble of breathless comment, inaccuracies and hyperbole.
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February 17, 2026 9:42am
- Ehlana
  
  How many people know that Radio NZ are the “official Civil Defence broadcaster”? What does that mean?
  Given the plethora of communication channels people do use these days, surely we should use as many as possible? Perhaps a trained group of people at Civil Defence who issue bulletins on the hour and half-hourly which can be simulcast by all radio and tv stations in the affected area, plus go straight to Tik Tok, Facebook, etc. ?
  
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  February 17, 2026 10:02am
  - RoboRob
    
    I wouldn’t even know what radio frequency RNZ is on and it is certainly not one of the present channels in my car.
    
    I do use their website for news as my ban on Stuff and NZ Heralds site / paywall leave few NZ options.
    
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    February 17, 2026 11:22am
    - Dudley Quaffquaff
      
      If only you had a device close at hand that could provide you with that information
      
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      February 17, 2026 11:46am
      - RoboRob
        
        Well if you are talking about using the cellphone to get emergency news thats a less reliable source (cell tower or internet outages etc).
        
        If you are being sarcastic that I could look up RNZs frequency, well at the moment I have no interest or desire to listen to RNZ. If an emergancy arrived and my cell worked, I would get the information on it rather then RNZ.
        
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        February 17, 2026 1:32pm
      - Jack5
        
        Information in an emergency:
        
        For Roborob to keep — or print out now and keep:
        
        https://www.rnz.co.nz/listen/amfm
        
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        February 17, 2026 2:27pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Lefty space cadets also have been left to do the emergency broadcasting in Aus. The far left ABC. They used to be pretty balanced and sane. Long ago.
        
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        February 17, 2026 6:21pm
- mandk
  
  Why does NZ need an official Civil Defence broadcaster?
  
  And why, given its small audience share, should it be RNZ?
  
  Virtually all radio stations operate under licence, so it could be a condition of licensing that their normal broadcasting can be interrupted for the purposes of civil defence messaging.
  
  Mobile phone operators should also be required to send emergency SMS messages (although I think they already do so).
  
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  February 17, 2026 10:17am
  - Ghost
    
    telecommunication companies have no part in emergency messages, the messages are sent by the emergency services, NEMA, civil defense, if a local event police or fire, etc
    
    radio nz have the infrastructure to cover NZ
    
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    February 17, 2026 10:32am
    - mandk
      
      I think you are missing the point.
      
      RNZ’s share of the whole radio listenership in NZ is not much more than 10%, so making it the official civil defence broadcaster risks leaving the vast majority of the population in the dark in the event of an emergency.
      
      I mean, how many people would even know how to find RNZ?
      
      Civil defence broadcasting should be a requirement of all broadcasters.
      
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      February 17, 2026 11:09am
      - Ghost
        
        RNZ are the only broadcaster that has the infrastructure, and the back up for that infrastructure that covers the country. I would expect anyone who has a radio knows how to actually tune it to different broadcasters if not set. its not about their audience, its about their coverage.
        
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        February 17, 2026 11:16am
      - RoboRob
        
        Lol, I just posted above that I dont even know RNZ frequency. Let me say though, that while they may be the offical broadcast service, all the other radio stations will cover at least some of the important announcements. During the CHCH earthquake I certainly didn’t use RNZ but I did turn on the radio for information!
        
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        February 17, 2026 11:25am
      - Jack5
        
        Many corners of New Zealand have poor reception for FM radio. Not only in country areas, but even in some hill spots in our cities and towns.
        
        These need AM radio, and Radio NZ is the only broadcaster that has 24-hour FM and AM radio broadcasts.
        
        Carrying a pocket size radio proved useful in the Christchurch earthquakes.
        
        These cheap, small radios typically receive both FM and AM. Useful if you’re out in the countryside when an emergency occurs. Saves you running a car radio then, too.
        
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        February 17, 2026 2:33pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        One of those solar powered am/fm wind up radios with torch, solar cell and rechargeable battery (and usb outlet for charging phones etc) are pretty good things to have in an emergency.
        
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        February 17, 2026 6:24pm
  - Bullion
    
    Important to have an official civil defence broadcaster so that you know you’re getting consistent and trustworthy information, being radio it is less susceptible to be impacted by power outages – battery powered radio at home won’t be affected by power outages whereas internet and tv would likely be. And as was shown leading up to and during Cyclone Gabriel, if you listened to NewstalkZB, you may have gotten the impression that it was not a major event with hosts downplaying and trivialising the event, and mocking things like school closures.
    https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/350469099/radio-hosts-trivialised-commentary-on-cyclone-gabrielle-as-the-storm-s-destructive-path-hit-new-zealand-mediawatch-says
    
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    February 17, 2026 12:07pm
- imalwaysright
  
  With all of this flooding, wind, rain, and death, the Army haven’t left their bases to lend a hand.
  
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  February 17, 2026 10:17am
  - Ghost
    
    NZDF Support to Weather Events
    
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    February 17, 2026 10:26am
    - imalwaysright
      
      I stand corrected, you are making a habit of this…
      Apologies to the soldiers.
      
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      February 17, 2026 10:41am
    - MCōs
      
      “People only see what they are prepared to see” Ralph Waldo Emerson
      
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      February 17, 2026 10:42am
  - Paulus
    
    Yes they have -look carefully including Christchurch today.
    
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    February 17, 2026 2:01pm
- Inandout
  
  BB, I thought Marcus Lush was the official radio jock disaster go to?
  
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  February 17, 2026 10:22am
- R
  
  ‘correct terms’…. also the ability to pronounce places names correctly would reduce confusion. 50 years ago announcers were able to correctly pronounce place names, but of course in that era we were all taught ENGLISH!
  
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  February 17, 2026 11:49am
Gulag1917

Prohibition is not working.
Australia has the most expensive cigarettes in the world, a pack of midmarket cigarettes costing on average about 55 Australian dollars, or almost $40, nearly double what it will set you back in New York City. A series of steep tax hikes — eight in 10 years — were put in place to reduce the rate of smoking, which has steadily declined. But the high prices have also given rise to a thriving black market now estimated to be a multibillion-dollar industry that accounts for as much as half of all tobacco sales in the country.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/15/world/asia/how-40-a-pack-cigarettes-pushed-australians-to-the-black-market.html?smid=fb-share&fbclid=IwY2xjawQAZxJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEeINwWT6dSIJ6zWMHu1rGoFiH6TvH96YmgN1Jg6owaNx_699xJeZiUTr8xZ5c_aem_5OwjqI0bKipng013zwtomg
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February 17, 2026 10:10am
- Bullion
  
  How much do they care about a black market vs how many people are smoking? Not everyone priced out of legal cigarettes will move to the black market.
  
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  February 17, 2026 12:11pm
  - Ehlana
    
    Ideally, you want a price high enough to offset the health costs of smoking and to deter smoking, but not high enough to encourage illegal selling. Gangs do not need new revenue streams.
    
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    February 17, 2026 12:37pm
Jack5

The Syrian Government has halted return to Australia of 11 families with links to Islamic State terrorists. The families comprise a total of 34 women and children.

They left Al-Roj camp in north-east Syria yesterday morning, headed for Damascus from where they planned to go to Australia.

Australia’s ABC reports the convoy was being escorted by Kurdish security forces, who still control of a small section of north-eastern Syria — including where the Al-Roj camp is.

A message was passed to the Australian families by the Kurdish escorts, saying Syrian authorities would not allow them to continue their journey.

In a statement in Canberra, the Federal Government said it would not help the families return to Australia.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-02-16/australian-families-with-isis-links-leave-camp-in-syria/106351298
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February 17, 2026 10:16am
- Inandout
  
  Jack, the UK will accept them pronto.
  
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  February 17, 2026 12:06pm
Raphael

I just wanted to thank our seteemed host for keeping this blog going for so long. It is invaluable when debunking Leftists attempt to try rewrite history. The latest being claims that Cullen supposedly left National with the economy in a great place, rather than what actually happened, and DPF has the posts that cover that period.
https://x.com/Mountain_Tui/status/2023293937767838201
https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2008/05/hes_spent_it_all.html
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February 17, 2026 10:23am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yes, KB is a fabulous archive of political history…
  
  It is quite difficult to locate some recent history in our media archives, nowadays.
  
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  February 17, 2026 10:45am
  - imalwaysright
    
    The UK Ministry of Justice orders deletion of the UK’s largest court reporting database.
    https://www.legalcheek.com/2026/02/ministry-of-justice-orders-deletion-of-the-uks-largest-court-reporting-database/
    
    Online information seems to be available at the whim of the government. We should remember that during the Covid Scam the Ardern regime were given a portal to allow them to censor online posts on Facebook etc, historical records are already tainted.
    
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    February 17, 2026 11:40am
  - Gussy Fink-Nottle
    
    There once existed an article in the Stuff archives explaining the origin of the name Aotearoa.
    
    IIRC, it referenced William Pember Reeves, and that the name was (re?)introduced – and applied to the nation as a whole – for poetic effect.
    
    The article was purged earlier this decade – it was simply ‘disappeared’.
    
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    February 17, 2026 12:29pm
    - Ghost
      
      any of these?
      
      https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Astuff.co.nz+%22William+Pember+Reeves%22+Aotearoa+origin&uact=5
      
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      February 17, 2026 12:37pm
    - kowtow
      
      The ODT had an opinion piece many years ago about the 5 full and final settlements that Ngai Tahu have had .
      
      Under the headline , something like Maori Grievance industry grinds on , or somesuch . Can’t find it these days .
      
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      February 17, 2026 12:48pm
    - Gussy Fink-Nottle
      
      No, none of those Ghost. The article I referenced (which I bookmarked, only to find it removed several years later) was less ambivalent and more conclusive it its argument.
      Sorry I can’t evidence it (which goes to my point really). I know (and you’ll just have to take my word for it) that Stuff removed an archived item, presumably because they retrospectively no longer supported its narrative.
      
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      February 17, 2026 3:52pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Who exactly decided to change the name of the country? And on who’s say so?
      Should we not have a binding referendum on changing the name of the country?
      
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      February 17, 2026 6:26pm
      - Quail
        
        Absolutely, NZ in exile!
        Have asked a time or two who is responsible for pushing the Maori language over the well understood international English language.
        No named politician or bureaucrats have claimed responsibility. It is a mystery.
        Would love to see some cabinet papers on the subject .
        So it can’t actually be happening??
        
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        February 17, 2026 9:42pm
      - keepcalmcarryon
        
        Dumb wet Nats put it on the passport didn’t they?
        
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        February 17, 2026 10:46pm
      - Ghost
        
        Labour Internal Affairs Minister Rick Barker was responsible for the design in 2008.
        
        Press Release
        Article
        
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        February 18, 2026 12:12am
sirknz

Once upon a time, kids were able to do this by age 8 and figure out the alternatives to get them to their destination.

“An Auckland father says his 13-year-old daughter is repeatedly being left behind at the school bus stop, leaving her “daunted” as she tries to navigate public transport for the first time. ”

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/education/young-students-stranded-at-north-shore-stop-as-packed-bus-drives-by-auckland-transport-adds-service-after-complaints/CHPI5J5TR5HN5JHC3BVT32HWXQ/
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February 17, 2026 10:28am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  That happened to me, and it is distressing. My mother was unwell so couldn’t come to pick me up. I was supposed to jump on the bus; my siblings would get on the same bus further along the route and we would go home together.
  
  A couple of buses did not stop for me. An old lady saw me crying, so stayed to wave down the next bus to ensure I got on safely.
  
  Mind you, I was going home from kindy, and I was just 4.
  
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  February 17, 2026 12:45pm
- Ehlana
  
  In NZ sirknz? I didn’t think we had the buses for that.
  
  I do think, though, that there have been several weeks between the end of the last school year and the start of this one in which a concerned parent could have mapped out and tried out different routes to and from school with their child, to give them the confidence to use public transport.
  
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  February 17, 2026 1:27pm
  - The Housekeeper
    
    Or organise a rota with other local parents, whose kids are also left behind, for pick ups?
    
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    February 17, 2026 3:03pm
- zulumonster
  
  This doesn’t make sense … if she is “repeatedly being left behind at the school bus stop” she should only be daunted by trying to “navigate public transport” once … not repeatedly.
  
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  February 17, 2026 1:45pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  A few years back I foolishly decided to use public transport on Christmas day to get to a family gathering in Auckland. Bus driver turned up on time in the CBD but hung out in the middle of the rd for a few secs and as I approached to get on, he tore off. I was incredibly late for the gathering and had to do a hell of a lot of walking to get to my destination. Reading Reddit (r Auckland), this kind of stuff is STILL very common with AT. A lot of comments therein suggest AT don’t give a crap.
  
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  February 17, 2026 6:31pm
Swifty

Labour and Green elites donkey deep in the Moa Point environmental devastation:

https://x.com/k1w127/status/2023198480001556894?s=46

Tamatha Paul especially so as then head of WCC’s Infrastructure Committee.
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February 17, 2026 11:32am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Bryce Edwards presents an interesting account of Wellington’s water woes:
  
  The real story is worse than the simplistic “bikes vs pipes” row. It wasn’t one vote in May 2021 that caused the disaster. It was a decade-long pattern in which Wellington’s elected representatives treated water infrastructure as a dull baseline obligation to be maintained at minimal political cost, while throwing themselves into visible, above-ground projects that could win votes and get photographed.
  
  Green and Labour councillors were central to this culture, but they weren’t alone…
  
  https://www.democracyproject.org.nz/p/democracy-briefing-wellingtons-politicians
  
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  February 17, 2026 12:14pm
  - Swifty
    
    I’ve been present when Auckland councillors have agreed to slash hundreds of millions from painstakingly planned and evaluated transport maintenance and renewal budgets – to free up money for sexier projects.
    
    One particular Transport Committee meeting completely disabused me of the notion that our Councillors were anything like Auckland’s best and brightest.
    
    It was just naked, craven politicking doubled with a total preoccupation with the detail – which footpath got repaired before others – rather than the big picture stuff, the strategy, the governance, building the right infrastructure in the right places for 10 year growth etc, which should have been their focus.
    
    I really grew up that day.
    
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    February 17, 2026 12:26pm
Swifty

Germany admits its energy mistakes:

https://x.com/electroversenet/status/2023366760574202189?s=46
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February 17, 2026 11:47am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  The most expensive energy transition in the world? The UK say “hold my beer”.
  
  These Euro virtue-signallers make me laugh. They proudly announce how much their emissions have fallen. This is because they’ve made it so difficult for their industry that industry has either gone out of business or moved to the Third World.
  
  It’s almost as if they don’t understand that emissions are part of a closed loop global system; pushing in the bag of jelly here sees the bag sag outwards there. They also fail to comprehend that the failure or exit of their industry removes the tax contributions made by those industries, inhibiting the country’s ability to fund the energy transition.
  
  Some commentators here think that these signallers are all Marxists who know fine well what they’re doing. Me, I think that most of them are as dumb as a bag of hammers, who are unable to join up the dots or think more than the next day’s personal gratification.
  
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  February 17, 2026 12:54pm
Ghost

The Teaching Council “did not appropriately manage all aspects” of a conflict of interest when spending more than $1.7 million with a firm run by its chief executive’s husband, a review has found.

article

too many issues with the teaching council. time to close it down
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February 17, 2026 12:47pm
- marcw
  
  “A regulatory standards-setting body should hold itself to the very highest level, enabling trust and confidence.” – Stanford
  
  It is time Simeon Brown applied the same expectation for the NZ Nursing Council. Their conduct over the last 5 years or so has been simply appalling, and an embarassment to the nursing profession.
  
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  February 17, 2026 1:26pm
- MCōs
  
  The Teaching Council can’t be closed down because it has functions essential to make the wheels go round.
  It clearly needs a clean out of unsatisfactory personnel
  
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  February 17, 2026 2:46pm
  - RoboRob
    
    There functions could easily be bought under control of another agency related to education. If only we had some such ministry.
    
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    February 17, 2026 4:17pm
    - MCōs
      
      Who did you have in mind?
      There’s more than one way to skin a cat.
      Fix up that which is malfunctioning or, as you suggest, abolish the existing regulatory body and hand over their responsibilities to some other existing agency, which would require amendments to existing legislation.
      https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2020/0038/latest/LMS172214.html
      
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      February 17, 2026 4:53pm
  - R
    
    Clean out !…….I suspect that there wouldn’t be many personnel remaining.
    I also imagine that the same result would occur within many divisions of the Public Service. Great idea for ‘Cost saving’ though.
    
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    February 17, 2026 5:27pm
TripeWryter

Something different …
On the second Big Stormy Day of The New Year I have been watching American Youtubers covering the new Mayor of Seattle, Katherine Wilson.
She is a ‘progressive’. She will not support any investigation of any Somali childcare centre that receives Federal, Washington State, or Seattle City funds.
‘It’s not about fraud. It’s about divide and rule; the targeting of minorities particularly Somali migrants.’ That’s what she told a TV interviewer.
Sometimes I’m a bit slow; or slower than usual.
But it occurs to me that the big fight in Minneapolis is really about migrant fraud.
It took a freelance journalist, David Hoch, to bring out a story that has been virtually buried under the noise about Trump, ICE, Governor Walz, Mayor Freye, Renee Goode, and Alex Pretti.
But Somalis running childcare centres in Minneapolis – ostensibly – were ripping off American taxpayers to the tune of $US1 billion.
The childcare centres didn’t have any children being looked after.
David Hoch told a Congressional hearing that he was alerted because there were no children’s footprints in the snow near the centres.
There were more than one centre in the same block. There were no sounds of children.
The city wasn’t interested in investigating. They’re mostly Democrats.
Governor Walz’s state wasn’t interested in investigating; they’re Democrats, too.
So the Federal Government under the hated and reptilian Donald Trump decided to do it for them.
Hence the noise. Hence Minnesotans being used and exploited by people with agendas.
I read somewhere (and I apologise, I’ve forgotten where) that during the reign of the over-regarded and over-sainted Barack Obama more than 3 million illegal immigrants were deported from the United States.
Yet there were no protests; well, not that I remember anyway.
Back to Katherine Wilson, Mayor of Seattle. She sounds like a combination of Dame Jacinda Adern before it all went sour – and Chloe Swarbrick.
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February 17, 2026 12:48pm
- RoboRob
  
  The fraud in Minneapolis is much worse then you describe. It appears quite likely that it wasn’t hidden from (Dem) government officials at all. It appears some knew about it and chose not to investigate (or blocked investigations) in return for campaign contributions and votes.
  
  Supposedly the FBI were already investigating some of this prior to journalists breaking the story.
  
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  February 17, 2026 1:42pm
  - Raphael
    
    Yep. There is no way Walz would have withdrawn from his re-election campaign had there not been a link. His daughter admitted as much.
    
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    February 17, 2026 2:01pm
  - kowtow
    
    Sounds just like the UK rape gangs .
    
    Was well known to the authorities , possibly as early as the ’80’s , who did nothing until compelled by a few brave journalists , literally decades later.
    
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    February 17, 2026 3:28pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Didn’t Ardern work for Blair?
      
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      February 17, 2026 4:10pm
Tom Barker

How many more times do I and others have to refute these pitiful and uninformed efforts to discredit the name Aotearoa? Here is just one of numerous examples that Maori used that name for this country prior to 1860:
Journal of FD Fenton, Resident Magistrate of Waikato, 10 August 1857
“They [ie. the Maori King movement] have also rechristened the island. New Zealand being a pakeha name, they have rejected, and now call it Aotearoa, the name of one of the canoes that carried an immigration hither.”
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February 17, 2026 1:49pm
- Swifty
  
  Straw man.
  
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  February 17, 2026 2:14pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    The first time Aotearoa appears in print is in 1855 in George Grey’s “Polynesian Mythology”.
    
    Dictionary of NZ English p. 13
    
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    February 17, 2026 4:09pm
    - Swifty
      
      I should explain myself.
      
      Tom Barker says “Look, it is reported that some Maori used the word Aotearoa in 1857!”
      
      I say, so what. As if that legitimises the completely untruthful claims that have been made about and in support of the word, especially over the last 20 or so years.
      
      This recent claim is the at Aotearoa is ‘the Maori word for New Zealand’ – inferring that it always has been and that all Maori used it.
      
      Both claims are false. The most wide usage of the word by Maori was as a label for just the North Island. The South Island was always Te Wai Pounamu, as most KBers know.
      
      And as far as I’m aware there was no pre-contact Maori name for the whole of New Zealand.
      
      To be clear, I have no issue at all about the modern use of Aotearoa for New Zealand. Frankly I don’t care, we have far, far bigger fish to fry.
      
      What I do object to is the lies, misinformation and/or myths that have accompanied this modern usage – that all Maori have used the word to label the whole country and have done since forever.
      
      Tom Barker’s post is a continuation of this misinformation. It’s a straw man. The fact that some folk in the King Movement apparently used the word as a label for New Zealand in 1857 doesn’t change these facts.
      
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      February 17, 2026 4:32pm
- Yabster
  
  refuted – you and you lefty [Mod – deleted] are good at half truths:
  
  The Quote’s Veracity: The words match Fenton’s official reporting on the emergence of the Kīngitanga (Māori King movement). Fenton was a keen observer of the movement and noted that its leaders were seeking to establish a distinct national identity, which included rejecting colonial names like “New Zealand”.
  Aotearoa as a “Rechristening”: While Fenton described it as a “rechristening,” the name Aotearoa had existed in Māori tradition for centuries. Historically, it often referred specifically to the North Island rather than the entire archipelago. The Kingitanga movement’s use of it for the “island” (or nation) was a political act to assert sovereignty over their lands in opposition to British “Pākehā” naming.
  The “Canoe” Reference: Fenton correctly identifies Aotea as the name of one of the founding migration canoes (waka) that brought ancestors to New Zealand. The addition of “roa” (long) to Aotea (white cloud) created the composite name Aotearoa.
  
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  February 17, 2026 2:54pm
  - rjay
    
    An Aotearoa was a person who manned the oars on the canoe called Aotea
    
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    February 17, 2026 3:37pm
- imalwaysright
  
  The treaty was 1840.
  These rechristening characters tried their stunt in 1857.
  They sound like Greenies to me…
  
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  February 17, 2026 4:14pm
  - MCōs
    
    It was the Values Party back then
    
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    February 17, 2026 4:55pm
mogg

Much of UK can go for months on end overcast and gloomy, totally devoid of sunshine. So Labour UK govt has decided to ramp up net zero progress by installing more Chinese made solar panels , of course to be subsidised by UK electricity bills which are already the most expensive in G7.
It was Boris Johnson and the Tories who first decided to live in fairyland, but Ed Miliband is now all in favour.
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February 17, 2026 4:00pm
- MCōs
  
  The record for sunless days in the UK is 20 days in Aberdeen
  Apart from that solar panels work without sunshine.
  
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  February 17, 2026 5:05pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    But that’s only from 1957…
    
    Sunshine was last recorded in the city three weeks ago, on 21 January. This is the longest sunless period in the area since Met Office records began in 1957.
    
    https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c14mlrd460vo
    
    How many dark dreich days occurred in earlier times?
    
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    February 17, 2026 5:59pm
  - NZer In Exile
    
    ” Apart from that solar panels work without sunshine.”
    
    To a very tiny degree. Cloudy day they do about 3% of what a sunny day produces. IE FA. Oh and of course at night they produce nowt.
    
    Always remember when the true believers talk this stuff up, ask “at what cost?”.
    
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    February 17, 2026 6:05pm
  - Yabster
    
    more half truths- sure they work- [Mod – debate the topic]
    
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    February 18, 2026 7:55am
Jethrod

OH NO!!! JUST WHEN THE TAX , LEVY, WHAT HAVE YOU DIES DOWN , ALONG COMES THIS……
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/a-very-big-decision-government-getting-advice-on-tolling-auckland-harbour-bridge-in-order-to-build-new-crossing/Y7F2GPRDA5CPPO67U5XETQYVYI/

Chippie and the TV networks , the Green Party etc will be saying it’s a TAX and going into meltdown
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February 17, 2026 4:01pm
- NZer In Exile
  
  Tax tax tax. Sooner or later the plebs have no money left to pay for the never ending fees and taxes. What to do?
  
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  February 17, 2026 6:10pm
mogg

Finding your way around Ireland:

https://youtube.com/shorts/AvMLdqwkiaQ?si=KTic_Xz6kVNZZK5H
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February 17, 2026 4:07pm

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