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May 13, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 13 May 2026

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General Debate

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Cassandra

Sob story on Stuff this morning about a former Head Boy from Naenae who spent 18 months looking for a job when he left school. He has no employment qualifications or skills. “It’s really tough and I can’t afford to go to university”.

Technical institutions are not mentioned in the story. He now has a job at the Electoral Commission.

I enlisted in the Army after leaving school but my other option was night school, my father observing that accountants were still employed during the Depression.

I imagine that employment is not easy to find if you are unskilled. Surely children get guidance while at school? Jobs go to those qualified for them. Do they expect to leave school and just get a well paid job? Are they that stupid?

Isn’t the purpose of schooling to prepare children for the next step, which is to acquire the skills required for their chosen job?
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May 13, 2026 8:01am
- kowtow
  
  He can’t get a proper job cos no qualifications.
  
  Nek minnit he’s in the civil service.
  
  Therein the problem. And we thought we had voted that nonsense away.
  
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  May 13, 2026 8:08am
  - Nigel Kearney
    
    A University degree does not have the value it once did. More employers should hire white collar workers straight out of high school. Maybe if enough do it, universities might even start improving the value they offer.
    
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    May 13, 2026 9:01am
    - Paulus
      
      As a one time empoyer, many years ago we employed people who would fit into our existing Teams.
      
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      May 13, 2026 11:30am
    - Kaiser Wilhelm
      
      I recall being told a couple of years ago by a manager in a large company that literally everyone working in the mailroom / incoming and dispatch office, had at least a bachelor’s degree for what was fairly menial work.
      
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      May 13, 2026 2:20pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Many years ago (think 40 years ago) we were looking to hire a receptionist.
      As a startup with little money
      Went to WINZ….they send a bunch of no hopers obviously NOT looking for a job.
      
      Then we interviwed a young Indian Girl via WINZ, only education high school, who had been turned away by many prospective employers.
      
      She hesitantly suggested her spelling was not good. We laughed and said we use wordprocessors which will correct your spelling.
      
      Hired her on the spot. The best receptionist we ever had who went on to be a top consultant with us(we ran an IT company).
      
      Have always believed spurious University degrees are a waste of time & money. unless its a requirement for a profession.
      
      My daughter has a BA, a waste of money IMHO but I supported her in a growing up phase. She went on to Succesfully work in many different places that did NOT require a degree.
      
      Still Treasure her award for being Top Employee on Whistler/Blackcomb mountain (4,000 employees)
      
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      May 13, 2026 3:02pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Hmm, I read that article also. The young man in question was Head Boy and seems to have been achieving in other ways also. The school took him on as a teacher aide – presumably as a good example to other pupils. He certainly seems to be enthusiastic, which is a huge plus.
  
  But, he comes from a large family and going to University seems to have been discarded as an option. I’m mildly surprised, as he would like to be a teacher and you’d have to think that scholarships would abound for someone like him (he’s Polynesian).
  
  I think he’s been poorly advised by whoever he’s been speaking with. I’d say he’s very employable.
  
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  May 13, 2026 8:14am
  - Flossie
    
    Back in the day (late sixties) teaching was a very popular option for school leavers. You could attend college and be paid to come out after three years with a respected qualification. Of course there was the requirement to teach for three years afterwards, and I don’t know if you were sent where the need was or you could choose. I did not follow that path as after consideration I decided I didn’t really think I was suited but the scheme appeared to work really well and many of my contemporaries went on to become teachers.
    
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    May 13, 2026 8:45am
    - pdm
      
      Agreed Flossie.
      
      At a guess I would think 50/60% of pupils that I went through 6th form with at CHB College, Waipukurau, in 1963 went to Teachers College at Ardmore and most if not all came out as teachers.
      
      Those were the days when teachers were bonded for 3? years and I think 1 or 2 years Country Service was required of newly qualified teachers.
      
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      May 13, 2026 8:53am
      - Jigsaw
        
        Well I was at Christchurch Teachers’ College 1960-61 and we had no bond but there was a 2 year country service requirement to progress up the salary scale so I am unsure as to exactly when the bond was bought in.
        
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        May 13, 2026 9:53am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        I was at CHB College from 1973, mostly to eat my lunch and play sport, and based on the calibre of teachers we had, I wouldn’t go within 1,000 miles of a Teachers Training College!
        
        Left at 15 (albeit in the 7th Form at the time) and never looked back.
        
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        May 13, 2026 11:48am
    - David Garrett
      
      Flossie: Believe it or not, I went to Teachers College straight out of school…I had no intention of ever being a teacher, but you got twice as much bursary – known as the “tert bert” – if you signed up for teaching. My academic record in the three uni papers I was enrolled for was E, E, NS (No script), meaning I didn’t turn up for the last exam because I was out of it.
      
      Then followed ten years in the oilfield in different parts of the world – which really grabbed me. I turned down a place in the Wellington Polytech journalism school which at the time was the only course going. I often wonder how my life would have turned out if I had taken that route instead of the other.
      
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      May 13, 2026 9:09am
      - Flossie
        
        Don’t we all wonder how it would have turned out if we’d made a different decision at the time! If I had known how things were going be I know I would have made several much better decisons.
        
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        May 13, 2026 9:57am
      - David Garrett
        
        Flossie: Yes, I am pretty sure that the 60 year old me – or even the 35 year old me – would have taken that journalism course. It was only one year, and I still could have fitted the oilfield in. Ah well…an old saying used to be: “Three things come not back; the sped arrow, the spoken word, and the lost opportunity”.
        
        To that I guess you can add: “the sent text or email”!
        
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        May 13, 2026 10:13am
  - Paulus
    
    Are male Teachers favoured at all at Teacher’s Colleges. No way I understand.
    But do they not now have to have a Univesity degree first.
    
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    May 13, 2026 9:58am
  - rouppe
    
    At my son’s time at Wellington College, there was not one white Head Boy.
    
    It seems these days being Head Boy is less about what the person brings, more about what the person is.
    
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    May 13, 2026 10:13am
    - Loddenthinks
      
      You’d need a hell of a lot more data for that to be a rational statement. What was the ethnicity breakdown at WC (presume WBC)? What were the relevant skills, marks, leadership qualities and so on?
      
      Why should white boys get a mortgage on being Head Boy?
      
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      May 13, 2026 11:53am
      - The Housekeeper
        
        Yes, I considered those points too but at the end of the day I would expect Head Boy to have excellent academic achievements along with everything else. Who ever heard of a Head Boy that was only expected to attract an entry level job? What the hell were his teachers thinking?
        
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        May 13, 2026 2:32pm
    - plc
      
      James Blackwell was a ginger
      
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      May 13, 2026 12:00pm
    - Ghost
      
      When I was at school we voted for the head boy and girl, has that changed? It was a popularity contest back then, many of us would just write down something stupid out of protest of who was running. One year Mickey Mouse got the most votes. George Bush not far behind
      
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      May 13, 2026 12:05pm
- artemisia
  
  Last year fam member turning 18 was referred by WINZ to Maccas, started 2 weeks later with job subsidy from taxpayers. A year later still there, building skills and starting to look for a step up, not necessarily there. No school quals. About the same time their friend started similarly, didn’t last and is still on the dole. When I asked why he was laid off I got a one word answer, not from him – Attitude.
  
  Other young ones in the fam, no uni, all employed and doing well. Apart from one who is unemployable.
  
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  May 13, 2026 8:21am
  - Bobba Fret
    
    Maccas I believe is a great training ground and has a very good management program.
    
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    May 13, 2026 9:08am
- peterwn
  
  He probably paid little attention as to what career path he wanted so left school with little idea. Staff are not very well placed to give such advice and guidance.
  Smart kids recognise this and seek part time employment to give a good foundation for a CV. So a kid who gets a part time job stacking shelves at the local supermarket, could progress to checkout and be in the running to own a supermarket franchise one day.
  If he had not prepared himself in this way, surely he could have found some sort of job – hamburger flipper, parking warden etc.
  He has a job with the Electoral Commission – presumably a temporary one. He should make the most of this.
  I wish I knew all that back at the time.
  
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  May 13, 2026 8:36am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Part-time Jobs/after school work started disappearing after 1994 when Labourites demanded that the minimum youth rate was increased to 60% of Adult minimum rate.
    
    This meant 15 and 16 year old pupils who were picking up a few dollars a week for a few hours work were gaining real-world work experience, and by the time they left school, had references to show that they could turn up on time, be presentable, follow instructions and work with others.
    
    After the change in legislation, employers either couldn’t afford to take on students, or their small jobs were combined into a set and offered to adults willing to take on part-time work.
    
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    May 13, 2026 9:20am
    - Phronesis
      
      Minimum wages are an egregious abuse of basic human rights. People should be able to work for pay that reflects the value that they are capable of providing to an employer. Whether they be inexperienced, unqualified, handicapped, children etc. Without that right they are effectively denied the chance to participate in modern society.
      
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      May 13, 2026 9:28am
      - Paulus
        
        But New Zealand is a Socialist Country where we select to the lowest level.
        
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        May 13, 2026 11:34am
      - Ra Henare
        
        another example of PPPP
        Piss
        Poor
        Politicians
        Pandering
        In this case pandering to Unions.
        
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        May 13, 2026 3:08pm
    - Swifty
      
      I sometimes find myself thinking about my formative years in the 70s and 80s and the legions of college-age kids you’d see in takeaway shops, pumping petrol, theatre ushers, milk bars, butcher shops, dairies, green-grocers, supermarkets, warehouses etc etc working after school or weekends.
      
      You just don’t see them in anything like the same numbers now, I don’t think.
      
      Have we priced them out of the market? Have successive govts made them too expensive, administratively burdensome, or risky to employ?
      
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      May 13, 2026 10:07am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Of course we priced the students out of the market.
        
        When I was teaching in Wellington in the 1990s, many of the 15-16 year olds had after school jobs at the nearby Paknsave; and their local New World supermarkets….
        
        When the youth rates disappeared, those part-time jobs were taken over by the wives of the local dairy owners…..
        (The wives made more money for part-time work at the big supermarkets than they were making fronting the counter at their dairy…..that task got handed over to another family member).
        
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        May 13, 2026 11:17am
    - edhunter
      
      When there use to be packers (and till operators) at Foodtown who would also help you to your car if needed. The packers went first then the till operators. Who’d have thunk the unions would do so many kids (and we we’re just kids) out of the opportunity to gain work experience and a working ethic.
      
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      May 13, 2026 10:50am
      - R
        
        The function of a UNION is to progress the implementation of a MARXIST economy. Has been that way for over a hundred years. Employee welfare is just a BUSWORD for the agitators.
        
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        May 13, 2026 1:03pm
    - Quail
      
      MW,
      Rural and casual jobs on farms have largely disappeared, along with the farms ,plus over regulation , mechanisation, etc
      Used to be , that a great start for youth ,was owning dog and learning a huge variety of skills ,many of which were transferable to other industries.
      On todays farms technology ( Drones even) is huge demanding and exciting.
      Learning self reliance , problem solving and with it how to progress to managing or owning their own farm or farm business.
      The importance of the job they are doing is clear.
      On top of all that the opportunity to keep physically fit with mind and body is real.
      And their productivity is still sorely needed
      
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      May 13, 2026 11:44am
    - Kaiser Wilhelm
      
      The other issue is that the supermarkets now typically require minimum hours contracts that make it difficult for many teenagers to sign up to if they are at school. A few hours after school, or weekend work, is more scarce as a result.
      
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      May 13, 2026 2:25pm
  - TripeWryter
    
    My son didn’t have a job to go to when he left school at the end of 2000.
    But a power company was employing kids to go door-to-door to sign up customers. He was 17, about to turn 18.
    He did it for about three months – and loved it.
    Then he got a job with Kentucky Fried. He did that for about four years while he also started a course at a film school.
    He had to take out a student loan for the course. I went guarantor for the loan even though I’d been made redundant from my job.
    So he could earn money to repay his student loan he got a job in a government department.
    After several years he ended up as a team leader. Meanwhile he had acquired a partner. Together they acquired a daughter, who will be 18 in three weeks.
    My boy is now 43. He is a father of three. He works for a software company in Australia. They head-hunted him.
    He has no formal qualifications for the work he does. Nor did he have qualifications for the manager’s job he ended up doing, with a different company, when they moved to Aussie in 2011.
    He just has a knack of figuring stuff out and making things work.
    He says that working for KFC was probably the best training he could have for learning and knowing how to work.
    
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    May 13, 2026 9:29am
  - artemisia
    
    One of ours was one of the thousands to do the Warehouse Red Shirts programme, essentially a work experience intern while at school. Still in place I think. My advice was – never stand around with your arms folded, and always be the first hand up when asking for volunteers. Regardless of what it was.
    
    He was one of only 2 in the group offered paid work until the Christmas break. Now a young tradie, with plans (including looking at West Oz).
    
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    May 13, 2026 9:56am
    - David Garrett
      
      Art; I had a similar experience 100 years ago – well 55!
      
      Bruce Harvey Motors in Gisborne hired four of us as car cleaners one December… I was the last one working. It turned into a brilliant full time job for that holiday and the one after. Even got to drive second hand cars from Auckland to Gisborne aged 15. Probably illegal now.
      
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      May 13, 2026 11:54am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Snap!
        
        I had a summer hol job as a car cleaner at Wanganui Motors. Unlike you, I couldn’t drive and had no interest in or knowledge of cars and definitely no small talk with the chaps who worked as mechanics or sales people.
        
        2 of us cleaned exteriors and interiors of the car and our immediate boss drove the cars.
        
        I think I only saw the big boss – Herbie Dyke – once in the 9 weeks I worked there… but somehow the place ticked along like a well-oiled machine.
        
        It was my last summer in Wanganui… I earned enough in those 9 weeks to ensure that I’d be able to afford the shift to flatting in Wellington….and finally escape provincial NZ.
        
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        May 13, 2026 1:01pm
- Boy Geoff
  
  When’s Uncle Scrim going to be rolled out?
  
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  May 13, 2026 8:51am
  - lastmanstanding
    
    The Far North District Council has 8 unelected Maori members and 6 members elected by the democratic process. And you know what. The Minister of Local Government says he doesnt care. He doesnt care that a Council is controlled by people who were not subject to a democratic vote. This folks is where the country is headed. We are heading for a time where the Parliament will consist of a majority of Maori members appointed by the Tribal Elites. And they will decide who pays tax and how it is spent. You heard it here first.
    
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    May 13, 2026 9:11am
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      And does the National Party show any interest in stopping the rot?
      
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      May 13, 2026 10:21am
      - Loddenthinks
        
        If by “stopping the rot” you mean “enthusiastic cheerleading” then yes.
        
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        May 13, 2026 11:57am
    - Northshoredoc
      
      ‘The Far North District Council has 8 unelected Maori members and 6 members elected by the democratic process.’
      
      How does this work in practice, do they all have the same voting rights on council?
      
      Who appoints the unelected members and who are they?
      
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      May 13, 2026 10:24am
    - Souvlaki
      
      This week’s NZCPR Guest Commentator, King’s Counsel Gary Judd, argues that the appointment of those iwi representatives is however, unlawful:
      A longish, but very good article imo.
      
      https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2026/05/nzcpr-newsletter-egregious-betrayal.html
      
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      May 13, 2026 10:34am
    - Steve Todd
      
      @lastmanstanding @ 9:11AM
      
      That’s not quite right.
      
      The Far North District Council comprises the mayor and 10 elected councillors (see https://www.fndc.govt.nz/Council/Mayor-and-Councillors).
      
      According to AI, “[a]s of April 2026, the Far North District Council has appointed 10 non-elected representatives (two from the Northland iwi chairs forum and eight hapū representatives) to its Te Kuaka Māori Strategic Relationships Committee, granting them full voting rights on that committee (see https://thespinoff.co.nz/atea/16-04-2026/undemocratic-and-racist-heres-whats-going-on-with-far-north-district-council).
      
      • Total Non-Elected: 10 (appointed to the Te Kuaka Committee).
      • Committee Structure: This committee includes these 10 members alongside 6 elected councillors.
      • Context: These appointments were approved in April 2026 to increase Māori participation in decision-making, though the move has generated significant local debate.”
      
      So, we’re talking about one committee (of seven), on which the appointed members hold a majority. (According to the council’s website, the Te Kuaka Committee comprises five elected members and seven appointed members. See https://www.fndc.govt.nz/Council/council-committees.)
      
      Presumably, the 10 (or seven) appointed members cannot vote at full council meetings where final decisions are made.
      
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      May 13, 2026 10:40am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Presumably, the 10 (or seven) appointed members cannot vote at full council meetings where final decisions are made.
        
        Perhaps not this year…. but watch this space!!!!!
        
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        May 13, 2026 11:23am
      - Steve Todd
        
        @Maggy Wassilieff @ 11:23AM
        
        […] but watch this space!!!!!
        
        Okay, but for how long?
        
        You’re not implying that we are headed towards a Labour, Greens, Te Pāti Māori, Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, Tākuta Ferris majority coalition government in November, are you?
        
        After all, for the foreseeable future, that is the only way (albeit still extremely unlikely, if not totally impossible) clause 24(1)(b) of Schedule 7 of the Local Government Act 2002 (“the Act”) could be amended to allow appointed members to vote at full council meetings (see https://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/84/en/latest/#DLM175643). I should have made that clear in my response to lastmanstanding. I was too rushed to confirm it.
        
        For the record, (1) non-elected members of committees and subcommittees are appointed under clause 31(3) of Schedule 7 of the Act*; and (2), in my view, there will be no change of government following the general election on 7 November.
        
        * Not all appointed members are iwi or hapū representatives. They can be any “person who has the skills, attributes, or knowledge that will assist the work of the committee or subcommittee.” I freely admit, though, that I know of no such other appointments.
        
        Should a future government legislate to allow appointed members of local authorities to vote at full council meetings, then we will all have lost our democracy, including Māori.
        
        Therefore, in my view, we will be “watching this space” for a long, long, time.
        
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        May 13, 2026 3:13pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        @Steve Todd
        
        Perhaps these essays might help…
        
        https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2026/05/nzcpr-newsletter-egregious-betrayal.html#more
        
        https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2026/05/guest-post-its-called-setting-yourself.html
        
        No time period… but perhaps by 2040…..
        
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        May 13, 2026 4:41pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        @Maggy Wassilieff @ 4:41PM
        
        Maggy: You said, “watch this space”, meaning just wait, it won’t be long before appointed members can indeed vote at full council meetings.
        
        I read both those “essays” this morning, but I fail to see how they “might help”. Help with what? They are articles pointing out “the so-called problem”. Interesting, of course, but they’re not relevant to appointed members voting at full council meetings, which you implied is inevitable.
        
        I’m saying, if that happens “perhaps [as you say] by 2040”, which it won’t have, we will all have lost our democracy. Which indeed we will have. But that is not going to happen.
        
        No matter. We struggle on.
        
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        May 13, 2026 5:40pm
    - marcw
      
      It would be enlightening to know, in the following FNDC population how many of the:
      1. Tribes
      2. Iwi
      3. Hapu
      4. Marae
      5. Maori
      
      are actual rate payers, especially those who have been allocated voting rights in Council business.
      
      There used to be a democratic principle, “no taxation without representation.” Any rating decisions made by non-elected council staff I contend should be considered invalid and unenforceable in law.
      
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      May 13, 2026 2:09pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        Sort of throws mud over the concept that
        All New Zealanders have equal rights.
        
        NO, NZ is a racially divided Country.
        
        I can go back 5 generations to a liason between a ENglishman and a Maori Lady.
        So I am a maori.
        
        My cousins, no such luck. (They descended from the Englishmans liasion with a Welsh chic)
        
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        May 13, 2026 3:11pm
- Damocles11
  
  Employment is not easy to find full stop. Younger New Zealanders are having to compete against hundreds of thousands of immigrants who will work for less, and now they are also being told that many existing jobs will evaporate due to automation and AI.
  You should not need degrees and diplomas to get work. In fact, the degrees and diplomas seem to set people up for well-paid make-work positions in the public service, at the expense of taxpayers. Rather than closed-shop snobbery represented by an over-emphasis on degrees, we should be getting back to roll-up-your- sleeves egalitarianism.
  The response of older New Zealanders to the challenges of our modern economy seems to be to bitterly attack younger New Zealanders if they have the temerity to speak up. “Ooeerr…interest rates were very high in our day.” Yes they were, that’s the point. Money had value, and if you wanted to borrow some the interest rate reflected that fact. This kept prices low and meant that debt was kept to sensible levels. People saved and did not live beyond their means. This era of ridiculously low interest rates and easy credit has been a boon for older asset owners but has seen younger New Zealanders saddled with enormous debt. Ridiculously low interest rates and easy credit have seen house prices explode to eye-popping levels. Older New Zealanders saying “we worked hard so we deserve this” is an understandable attempt to justify what has happened, but they got paid for that work. Windfall capital gains due to crazy low interest rates are something else entirely.
  I don’t blame young New Zealanders for their disenchantment with where New Zealand has ended up. They are facing a very difficult and uncertain future. Covid brought with it a feeling that we were becoming a ‘post work’ society, and automation and AI are only increasing this feeling. We are on a road to a ‘post human’ world, where people are on the scrap-heap and artificial intelligence is in the drivers seat.
  
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  May 13, 2026 9:02am
  - MCōs
    
    “Younger New Zealanders are having to compete against hundreds of thousands of immigrants who will work for less”
    
    I knew a young Thai woman who picked up a polytech qualification, but couldn’t get a job because she was Thai even though she offered to work as an intern for nothing to get a foot in the door
    Next thing I heard from her family she had work in Oz straightaway.
    
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    May 13, 2026 9:23am
    - Damocles11
      
      Ultimately people will leave, yes. Australia has a larger economy and more opportunities. Older New Zealanders act like they don’t care, they just want people to stop moaning….but if the young and productive leave, who will buy their houses, and who will pay for their superannuation? We can’t address these issues by telling young people to shut up and go away, because they will – they’ll go and leave this country as a giant retirement village staffed by low-skilled immigrants.
      
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      May 13, 2026 10:24am
      - newview
        
        Er us older NZrs have paid for our own Super thanks Dam. It’s the unemployed who don’t haven’t.
        
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        May 13, 2026 3:43pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      Who refused to employ her because she is Thai?
      
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      May 13, 2026 10:33am
      - MCōs
        
        Those who gave preference to locals who they could relate to culturally.
        She spoke fluent English with a fairly strong accent and people preferred fluent English with a Kiwi accent
        I noticed that working for an Australian company in Bangkok. Australians in the office had the inside running and American clients only spoke to people with English as a second language if they had no choice (except in bars)
        
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        May 13, 2026 12:54pm
    - ISeeRed
      
      And Thai companies in Thailand have a preference for hiring Thais who speak Thai. What’s wrong with that? The problem we have is Indians hiring only other Indians in New Zealand and discriminating against New Zealanders. You never have much to say about that. Just deflection.
      
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      May 13, 2026 1:06pm
  - Jack5
    
    With high youth unemployment, National’s pro-large immigration stand will cost the party at the general election.
    
    The India-NZ FTA deal that opens the door to thousands of young immigrants is astonishing!
    
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    May 13, 2026 10:17am
    - Damocles11
      
      Surely high immigration – done to suppress wage and salary growth, keep the property bubble inflated, and to lazily get some GDP growth – is a dunderheaded policy when AI and automation are supposed to be coming for many of the existing jobs. Already we have unemployment above 6% in Auckland and above 7% in the Bay of Plenty. Madness!
      
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      May 13, 2026 11:11am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      Another one talking bullshit, Labour let 300000 unvetted immigrants come here in their last 2 years. this year after returning NZers and work visa category was taken out only 23000 immigrants came into this country, Nats do not have a mass immigration policy at all, why people have to lie is beyond me, and another thing, the full text of the IFTA shows categorically there is no Indian immigration pathway, and the 3 year work visa is not able to be renewed, and their family cannot come, you keep listening to Peters lies, but all that does is guarantee Labour back with mass immigration and unvetted immigrants.
      
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      May 13, 2026 11:53am
      - Jack5
        
        Big G’s … the full text of the IFTA shows categorically there is no Indian immigration pathway.
        
        Here’s a part of the deal (from an Indian web site):
        
        “The agreement removes any numerical limits on Indian students and allows them to work up to 20 hours per week while pursuing their studies.
        
        “Post-study employment options have also been widened. Indian graduates completing undergraduate or master’s programmes in STEM fields will be eligible for post-study work visas valid for up to three years. Doctoral graduates, meanwhile, will be able to stay and work in New Zealand for up to four years after completing their studies.”
        
        A certain surge of demand for Dunedin slum flats, though not enough part-time jobs for everyone, and bugger the locals.
        
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        May 13, 2026 2:49pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      Meanwhile in the Kingdom of Wonder.
      
      No mass immigration problem.
      Border agents reject you on feelz..ie they dont like you. Seem to work well.
      No dole for the cuzzies on the couch(or anybody else)
      So no unemplyment problem
      Work(formal or informal) rquired to eat.
      
      A balmy 28 this morning when I went to my local market, where produce is the same price it was 4 years ago.
      
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      May 13, 2026 3:23pm
  - Philview
    
    I think AI will replace some career paths but humans will adapt. I am finding Chat GPT provides better explanations on many things than a human teacher.
    
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    May 13, 2026 11:06am
- slightlyrighty
  
  My son finished Year 13 knowing that Uni was not his path, although to be honest he knew that in year 12. His school helped him on a vocational path that has resulted in him gaining an apprenticeship which he is soon to complete.
  
  My Daughter’s school is actively helping year 13s prepare for year 14 with guidance and advice. Did this young man get similar?
  
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  May 13, 2026 9:20am
  - kowtow
    
    Serious question.
    
    After 13 years in full time education , why do they need yet another .
    
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    May 13, 2026 12:00pm
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  Can someone draw me a picture how a loser like this could be selected as head boy?
  
  I suspect there was some field tilting because of race etc. (Confirmed by reading the article).
  
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  May 13, 2026 9:41am
  - lifesgood
    
    I agree. His college obviously has a low bar for becoming head boy.
    
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    May 13, 2026 12:14pm
  - Steve Todd
    
    @ cmm (semi-retired edition) @ 9:41AM
    
    Ah, Naenae College, Sir Bob Jones’ alma mater.
    
    I suspect there was some field tilting because of race etc. (Confirmed by reading the article).
    
    Upon reading this comment, I went back and re-read the article. I found nothing that confirmed your prejudice.
    
    Please point out where, in the article, “field tilting” was confirmed for you. For your ease of reference, I link to it here: https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360977013/boarding-card-no-plane-former-head-boys-18-month-job-search-youth-unemployment-crisis-levels.
    
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    May 13, 2026 12:35pm
- G152
  
  True.
  For me it was family farm then navy
  
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  May 13, 2026 10:17am
- NothingLeft
  
  Might not have any good mentorship in family. Helps a lot if you have experienced adults to suggest how to navigate your way though early career, or even to get you your first break as so many in middle class have access to.
  
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  May 13, 2026 10:33am
  - R
    
    Ah ha! …experienced adult mentorship. That is having two married parents sitting around the dinner table for the family meal discussing school activities and future plans isn’t it!
    
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    May 13, 2026 1:18pm
- Handyman
  
  The purpose of school is not to prepare the person for their chosen job. It is to provide workers for the jobs that society needs.
  Imagine if all children wanted to be poets or rubgy players. Is it then society’s role to create jobs for these children?
  In reality there is a great sorting process involving intelligence, application and aptitude on one hand and income/lifestyle on the other.
  At the bottom were poorly paid jobs only requiring low intelligence. Some people used these jobs as stepping stone and some staying in these jobs for life.
  What changed?
  During economic downturns starter jobs, where the minimum wage is 60% of the average wage, disappear first. Experienced workers compete for fewer jobs. This disproportionately affects school leavers with no experience and no skills.
  
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  May 13, 2026 10:43am
- Ghost
  
  We pass a guy each day that looks like he has a nice job. He takes elderly and disabled people for walks each day.
  
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  May 13, 2026 10:53am
NeverMindTheBollocks

With government permits and approval from a local representative Aboriginal group, Fortescue has been mining iron ore from a block of land in the Pilbara.

The Yindjibarndi, equivalent to iwi for the land in question and not part of the Aboriginal group, sued. They have just been awarded $150k for economic loss. Oh, and $150m for the feelz.

Anyone thinking of leaving NZ for the Lucky Country to avoid first settler madness should think again.

http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgkp3z1p7zdo
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May 13, 2026 8:07am
- David Garrett
  
  Nevermind: I agree with your last para…the Aussies seem hell bent on going down the same dangerous road we have been on for 25 years
  
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  May 13, 2026 9:13am
  - Simon
    
    Western trait wracked with white guilt and will do anything stupid to attempt to achieve equality of outcomes for all.
    
    National for eg have literally crippled themselves mentally with white guilt. Just look at them.
    
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    May 13, 2026 9:43am
- Damocles11
  
  Seems like this was a mine on the tribes land, and a staggering amount of revenue has been generated:
  ‘Since 2013, Fortescue’s mines have generated tens of billions of dollars in revenue by extracting iron ore from Yindjibarndi land in remote north Western Australia.
  The Yindjibarndi group had sought A$1.8 billion in compensation.’
  
  Whereas Ngai Tahu want $180 million to approve a gold mine situated on private freehold land.
  
  Not the same situation. Chalk and cheese in fact.
  
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  May 13, 2026 11:21am
David George

What is this doing here?
The UNDRIP provisions in the India trade agreement are helping legitimise a (theoretically) non binding UN agreement we didn’t support and certainly never voted for.
Gary Judd KC:
“The significance of those passages is plain enough. Glazebrook already treated the Key government’s 2010 endorsement of UNDRIP, and the Labour-NZ First Cabinet’s 2019 decision to begin an implementation plan, as signals that courts could properly treat UNDRIP as influential and authoritative. He Puapua can only strengthen that view. Parliamentary approval of this FTA will be read in the same way: as yet another official endorsement of a far-reaching constitutional project. That is why this is not an obscure drafting point but a matter of first-order public importance.

What is most objectionable in all this is the contempt it shows for ordinary New Zealanders. Constitutional change of this magnitude should be argued for openly, defended honestly and submitted to democratic judgment. Instead, it has been advanced by ministers, officials and sympathetic elites through opaque processes, delayed disclosure and legal increment. That is no way to alter the foundations of a country.”
https://garyjuddkc.substack.com/p/the-sting-in-the-india-trade-deal
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May 13, 2026 8:11am
- kowtow
  
  The minister responsible claimed he didn’t know it was there. If true that means it was inserted by unelected public service bureaucrats .
  
  That’s proof of the existence of a ‘Deep State” and how it seeks to undemocratically change our constitution by stealth.
  
  And of incompetence and negligence on the part of the legislative branch .
  
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  May 13, 2026 8:22am
  - imalwaysright
    
    This smacks of a Clarkist tactic similar to Mahuta rewriting He Puapua post Cabinet.
    Apparently Helen let her keep the pen…
    
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    May 13, 2026 8:32am
  - Jack5
    
    Kowtow on the UNDRIP clause: … it was inserted by unelected public service bureaucrats …
    
    These would be from the same department — MFAT — that seems to have missed the Cook Islands and little Niue setting up flags-of-convenience shipping registers, now managed from Asia.
    
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    May 13, 2026 10:22am
- imalwaysright
  
  “…as yet another official endorsement of a far-reaching constitutional project.”
  
  Yes, its the legislative equivalent of a Trojan Horse.
  
  The preprepared excuse for Government adherence to UNDRIP will be that it is embedded in a FTA and to not adhere would breach our agreement.
  
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  May 13, 2026 8:29am
  - KKNZ2025
    
    Is that how National got Labour to agree to support the FTA?
    
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    May 13, 2026 9:54am
    - kowtow
      
      According to the minister responsible ; he didn’t know it was there .
      
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      May 13, 2026 12:03pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        What else doesn’t he know is there?
        This is getting ridiculous.
        
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        May 13, 2026 12:51pm
- Yvette
  
  David George – …and the Labour-NZ First Cabinet’s 2019 decision to begin an implementation plan, as signals that courts could properly treat UNDRIP as influential and authoritative.
  
  The Cabinet Paper which commissioned action that became He Puapua …
  
  MCR-19-MIN-0003 Cabinet Māori Crown
  Relations – Te Arawhiti Committee
  Minute of Decision
  Released by the Minister for Māori Development
  
  … 4.1 noted that the working group will provide te Minita Whanaketanga Māori with advice and
  the form and content of a Declaration plan that focusses the government’s priority
  activities into actions representing the mutual priorities of government and Māori,
  that contribute to the progressive realisation of the Declaration;
  
  4.2 an engagement process with iwi, hapū and whānau that embodies New Zealand’s
  best practice under Te Tiriti o Waitangi and the Declaration; …
  
  Two points should be perhaps noted from this paper
  1 – It initiates consultation between the Crown and Maori – Treaty signatories, not non-Maori descent New Zealanders .
  2 – the paper records those present –
  
  Present:
  Rt Hon Winston Peters
  Hon Kelvin Davis (Chair)
  Hon Grant Robertson
  Hon Phil Twyford
  Hon Andrew Little
  Hon Nanaia Mahuta
  Hon Stuart Nash
  Hon Damien O’Connor
  Hon Shane Jones
  Hon Peeni Henare
  Hon Aupito William Sio
  Hon Willie Jackson
  Hon Eugenie Sage
  
  The Paper copy can be found by Googling:
  New Zealand, MCR-19-MIN-0003 Cabinet Māori Crown
  > Te Puni Kokiri, Released by the Minister for M āori Development
  
  A coveat at the time of signing support for UNDRIP was that it would not go beyond the Treaty.
  
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  May 13, 2026 9:35am
  - Don Beckett
    
    Winston again, protecting his baubles. Whoda thunkit.
    
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    May 13, 2026 11:31am
- Simon
  
  lol – you voted for it. Tip of the third world iceberg brought to NZ by the Axis of gross stupidity, Labour, National & ACT.
  
  Indian FTE is a back door flood of low wage third worldism. Via “export” of education placement
  
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  May 13, 2026 9:46am
peterwn

So the Major Electricity Users Group (MEUG) are welcoming the possibility of electricity industry reforms. Of course they would, they would love to have electricity ‘on tap’, no pesky contracts, high spot prices, etc.
They, like Electric Kiwi, would love a regime where they can buy at spot prices when it suits them, but can fall back to ‘standard’ prices when spot prices are high. Gentailers will not have a bar of this sort of behaviour for obvious reasons.
The only MEUG requirements would effectively be met if the Government effectively subsidises or underwrites the electricity industry. The Government stopped doing that as part of Rogernomics and is highly unlikely to re-starts subsidies/ underwriting.
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May 13, 2026 8:14am
RRM

There’s a line graph circulating of NZ public debt over time, with various PM’s faces attached.

It shows Grant and Jacinda’s public debt as a minor blip that Hipkins essentially reversed, and then Luxon and Willis have launched public debt into the stratosphere.

The Facebook left loves it and are sharing it widely. It feels like the kind of thing that would influence the election.

I’m not economically literate enough to de-bunk it…. if it’s wrong, it would be good to know in what way. If it’s right, I feel like an explanation is warranted..
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May 13, 2026 8:27am
- Phronesis
  
  I’ve seen it, even the guy who created it admits that it is wrong and has asked people to stop sharing it. The figures used aren’t comparable across time.
  
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  May 13, 2026 9:33am
  - Ra Henare
    
    of course the orignator could DELETE The facebook post presuming he posted it there.
    Replace it with a note that says deleted due to wrong information.
    
    Or delete wherever he posted it, if not facebook
    
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    May 13, 2026 3:28pm
  - Charlotte Wells
    
    Having now been caught out he wants to pretend it was all an accident.
    
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    May 13, 2026 10:14pm
- Swifty
  
  It’s terribly wrong and the author has conceded so. He says he’s going to release a corrected version today.
  
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  May 13, 2026 9:57am
  - rouppe
    
    Which will not be seen as widely as the original
    
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    May 13, 2026 11:36am
    - Quail
      
      Items that are demonstrably deliberately wrong should be sheeted home to the author
      There should be an ability to sue purveyors of lies , and inaccuracies, particularly when these items are so damaging to others.
      Consequences are essential.
      A case like this should cost the author big time!
      
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      May 13, 2026 1:59pm
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    The only honest thing would be to delete the old one until he has a corrected one.
    
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    May 13, 2026 8:12pm
- peterwn
  
  The previous Labour Government ‘locked in’ various expenditure programmes which were merely indicated in a footnote in reports.This expenditure is now coming home to roost on National’s watch and lefties are trying to use this as an example of financial imprudence on Nicola’s and National’s part. Public debt attributed to the now cancelled IREX ferry project would have ballooned even more if Nicola had not moved to cancel that turkey of a project. The ferries if completed would have been white elephants like two ferries ordered by the Tasmanian Government.
  
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  May 13, 2026 10:21am
  - Philview
    
    I know that in the medical professions there were billions going into stuffed up annual leave calculations from the past decade. How did the public service get it so wrong?
    
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    May 13, 2026 10:36am
    - peterwn
      
      Same sort of issues as the teachers payroll debacle some years ago. The criteria and parameters involved with pay calculations are hopelessly complicated and ‘fuzzy’. Even more so when industrial agreements are involved.Any pay system can never hope to replicate requirements precisely. Hence the move to reform legislation regarding annual leave.
      There was a case where the supervisor included wet time at time and 1/3 on time sheets. When employees got their pay they complained they had not received gumboot money (which was far less). Big boss said he would fix it and told the pay clerk to pay the gumboot money and cancel the wet money, and adjust the next pay accordingly. Some very unhappy employees!
      
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      May 13, 2026 11:31am
    - rockape
      
      Still to be resolved. My wife got back pay for her service 20121 till 2025. That came to a total of $22k. They forgot that she had worked for them since 2008 so still owe her from 2010 till 2021. That isn’t going to be lose change!
      
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      May 13, 2026 11:34am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  I have seen those graphs, nearly all i seen are being called Nats debt, but if you look at the graph properly, the graph spikes until 2023, and at the top of the spike there is a slight lift over 2 years showing the graph starting to level off, those posts are bullshit and it shows debt under Labour, not debt under Nats as the poster tries to suggest
  
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  May 13, 2026 11:57am
Pope Punctilious II

National down to 25.5% in the latest Roy Morgan poll: https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/10211-nz-national-voting-intention-april-2026?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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May 13, 2026 8:33am
- Ghost
  
  National also went up in the latest tax payers curia. Until the election polls will bounce
  
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  May 13, 2026 9:02am
  - RoboRob
    
    Agreed. It is the trend that is important.
    
    The latest Curia survey is a bit strange with TPM gaining strongly and Act dropping sharply. I imagine that will be reversed next month. These Roy Morgan poll results seem more in line with previous polls.
    
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    May 13, 2026 9:29am
    - peterwn
      
      Chris Luxon probably could not care less. The party in power holds quite a few cards to play at the right time, the next occasion being the Budget.
      
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      May 13, 2026 10:24am
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      N oit is not, the trend you say, well, the March poll dropped, but the last 2 have trended up
      
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      May 13, 2026 11:59am
      - RoboRob
        
        ‘No it is not’
        
        Are you suggesting it is not a bit strange that TPM is up strongly in the latest Curia poll?
        
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        May 13, 2026 12:54pm
  - G152
    
    Depends who is polling and what their political affiliations are.
    
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    May 13, 2026 10:20am
- MCōs
  
  Might do better if Paul Goldsmith improved his media skills if his effort on Morning Report this morning was the best he can do.
  
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  May 13, 2026 9:37am
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    Paul Goldsmith is wasting his time trying to convince anyone who still listens to Morning Report. He’s not going to find any voters there. They were filtered out a long time ago by the lefty stall at RNZ.
    
    Just as it is a waste of time preaching to the choir, it is also a waste of time preaching to the enemy.
    
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    May 13, 2026 9:44am
    - MCōs
      
      People on this forum complain that the Nats are wishy washy these days, which was what the perennial Epsom loser sounded like this morning
      He had his chance to advance his point of view, but meandered his way along.
      Morning Report has an audience of about 350k. There’s bound to be a good number just waiting for inspiration from somewhere
      
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      May 13, 2026 11:03am
  - Ra Henare
    
    Surely that was a typo Mcos.
    It should be Moaning Report
    
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    May 13, 2026 3:30pm
RoboRob

I see the Christchurch council is busy spending money it has apparently ‘saved’ in other areas. $30M to the massively over budget museum upgrade.

Now, since the museum is pretty much demolished currently, obviously something needs to be done, as much as I hate the idea. However the question is what has happened to the project manager, people who proposed the project and those who costed it (at the museum and council)? I would hope all have been fired for incompetence / negligence. I suspect all are still employed and the project manager is probably getting performance bonuses.

Not acceptable. If projects go bang there must be a negative outcome for those involved to discourage under quoting and over optimism. The reason so many of these big projects go over budget is that there is no punishment for failure.
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May 13, 2026 9:03am
- sungsamning
  
  Also the Cathederal. Watch it go over budget, and over schedule. another good reason why local government spending needs to be rigidly controlled by a new Local Government Act.
  
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  May 13, 2026 9:26am
  - RoboRob
    
    Cathedral is already wayyyyy over budget, about three times initial cost if I recall correctly.
    
    I believe the Cathedral, smaller then many houses in CHCH, is estimated to cost about half the cost of the new stadium. Yup thats value for money.
    
    New Local government act, lol. You do know that Simon Watts is the minister for local government right? The best he could do is some sort of undefined rates capping (not sure I even like the idea) that may take place in 2028?
    
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    May 13, 2026 11:30am
    - sungsamning
      
      Yeah, I know. Billions of frivililous spending by both parties over the last 50 years. It makes my blood boil. There’s no end in sight.
      
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      May 13, 2026 2:31pm
RoboRob

The CCC is promising another $15m and a loan to the cathedral project. Nooooooooo
Just heard the finance man from the council on the radio saying….
1) If we don’t do it we will be left with a pile of rubble
2) This has documentation stating that it is the last and final payout.

To #1, I say to 1, Fucking bulldoze it for <500k and send Meadow mushrooms the bill.
To #2, the original $10m we are still paying on our rates was the ‘last and final payout’. You dickheads, the rebuild committee has already said they need $70m to complete phase 2 and phase three is another $50m (if I recall correctly). So after they maybe get to finish phase two, this moron will be back saying ‘we need to finish it or we will have a pile of rubble’ and ‘this will be the last and final payout’.
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May 13, 2026 9:08am
- sungsamning
  
  It should be demolished, and a plaque with the victims names added. One can bet the farm that the rate payers will be screwed again to complete this frivilous project.
  
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  May 13, 2026 9:28am
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  God has spoken.
  God has decided the form He wants His House to take.
  Who are we to disagree?
  God wants a pile of rubble, God gets a pile of rubble.
  
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  May 13, 2026 9:46am
  - Colville
    
    Second Law of Thermodynamics?
    
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    May 13, 2026 10:16am
  - Scott
    
    cmm – I agree with you. I stood at the wreck of the cathedral a few years ago and had the same feeling. God is done with this building.
    
    Now if the Anglican church had been allowed by the courts to do what they wanted to do then a new cathedral would have been built on the site at no cost to the ratepayers and taxpayers. The insurance money would have paid for it.
    
    But what to do now? It seems that because of the courts the money is going to have to be found to complete the restoration of the old cathedral? To leave it half done doesn’t seem to be an option. Leaving it as a memorial seems to me to be a bad idea.
    
    There would have been a new cathedral if the church had their way. Now the best we can hope for is to complete the restoration of the old one.
    
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    May 13, 2026 10:50am
  - Jack5
    
    The wreckage’s probably a better tourist attraction than a rebuilt cathedral. A very micro Pompei, showing the power of earthquakes.
    
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    May 13, 2026 11:13am
- Damocles11
  
  This defiance of the Lords will is unacceptable.
  
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  May 13, 2026 10:39am
- greybeard
  
  I think the CCC $15m is contingent upon the Govt also fronting-up with another $15m.
  But maybe I heard incorrectly.
  
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  May 13, 2026 12:14pm
  - Ghost
    
    yeah, its on the condition the government give $15 million. Government said no last year, no more funding
    
    Article
    
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    May 13, 2026 12:19pm
    - sungsamning
      
      I hope they also say no this year, and for the rest of the century.
      
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      May 13, 2026 2:38pm
  - sungsamning
    
    So, double the money flushed down the dunny. color me unsurprised.
    
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    May 13, 2026 2:34pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  How many years has it been since the earthquake that destroyed the cathedral? If Chch has lived without the cathedral this long, then may as well just get rid of it and have a nice open square.
  How long did it take Japan to re-build after the tsunami?
  
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  May 13, 2026 12:15pm
  - Ghost
    
    The Japanese government has spent about $US300 billion on the recovery. Infrastructure and public housing, according to the government was recently finished.
    
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    May 13, 2026 12:34pm
- RoboRob
  
  Here is the reply to my email to my local councillor. I am impressed he replied in person and quickly.
  
  I emailed why I didn’t support more money being spent and that I will watch the vote and if he votes for more spending I will not be giving him my vote next time. I mentioned the first payment was also supposed to be a one off.
  
  His reply…
  
  ‘Good afternoon
  
  Thank you for your email.
  
  I was not at Council when the first grant was made but I will look into what the condition/expectations were made.
  
  We have made it clear that NO money will be granted unless a solid case for completion is made. Each organisation (Cathedral, Museum and School of music) will now need to seek central government, organisations or private individuals for financial support.
  
  You will be able to watch the meeting via the CCC website, albeit I would expect it to be reported in the media after.
  
  Regards David
  
  I get the feeling he is voting for it but you never know, enough emails and things might change.
  
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  May 13, 2026 2:08pm
sungsamning

Museum funding OK, people go there and use the facility, the Cathedral, ditch it, demolish the eyesore, it will just keep sucking money out of the rate payers of Christchurch.
The CCC should be concentrating on doing the basics, if there is money saved just reduce the bloody rates.
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May 13, 2026 9:11am
- Jack5
  
  The rates are hurting hundreds – perhaps thousands – of older Christchurch householders.
  
  You’d think the Christchurch Ciy Council was a branch of Compulsive Spending Disorders Anonymous.
  
  It’s not just the Cathedral. Consider the central library. It’s a splendid building as you can see in the link below, and the city’s rightfully proud of it.
  
  As an old guy I recall using a cramped, tiny, busy central library with learned librarians. Householder rates were affordable and the library did the job.
  
  Christchurch’s central libary now impresses as a building, outside and inside.
  
  Go in.
  
  Spectacular stair ways link cavernous rooms with high ceilings. This means expensive heating.
  
  Outumbering citizen book worms will be:
  
  – Non-librarian staff as well as librarians;
  
  – Backpackers who can use the building’s community sewing machines;
  
  – A few other curious tourists;
  
  – City homeless or semi-homeless who value the warmth and the free computers.
  
  Most citizens use the city’s excellent suburban libraries.
  
  City splendour usually reflects citizen wealth.
  Christchurch ratepayers are just about skint.
  
  Christchurch’s splendid central library:
  
  https://architectus.co.nz/work/turanga-christchurch-central-library/
  
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  May 13, 2026 11:54am
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Yeah, but are there any books?
    
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    May 13, 2026 7:39pm
imalwaysright

This is great.

The St Joseph’s Maori Girls Choir have a song in one of the biggest movies of the year, Project Hail Mary.

Its Po Atarau/ Now is the Hour

https://youtu.be/z7MsUYfU_2A?si=kpNdDiNUVtxvb982

Its a tear jerker.

Well done.
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May 13, 2026 9:16am
NothingLeft

You can now buy a 3m tall walking robo-Mecha-suit for USD$650k from unitree
https://youtu.be/oWOyUMJWptc

Stuff like this and big autonomous robots will be ubiquitous in a few years for construction and other heavy jobs.
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May 13, 2026 10:21am
- rouppe
  
  Very Sigorney Weaver in Alien…
  
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  May 13, 2026 11:32am
Damocles11

New Zealand is not yet serious about addressing its most serious and pressing issues. Only when the problems reach the level of full-blown crisis will there be action.
Yesterday there was a ‘good news’ Herald article celebrating the fact that the deficit for the nine months to March 31 was ‘only’ $8.4 billion, a couple of billion less than forecast.
We are spending at a level that is so far beyond our means that is scarcely believable. This situation should be unacceptable to all of us, a degree of destruction to the public finances that borders on the criminal. Yet nobody seems concerned in the slightest. Economists say nothing. Politicians say nothing. The general public say nothing. This is now the ‘new normal’; as long as everyone behaves like the 3 Monkeys when it comes to our fiscal position, then we don’t have to acknowledge the problem.
It is going to take a fiscal crisis here for there to be some action. A fire lit under our collective bums. We are going to let things get so bad that we have no choice but to do something.
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May 13, 2026 10:36am
Colville

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360977673/bystander-delivers-all-blacks-worthy-tackle-alleged-offender

Great tackle by member of the public but no way was it All Black quality…the tackler used arms with a full wrap and no head contact. The All Blacks have forgotten how to do that!!
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May 13, 2026 10:36am
- greybeard
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360977677/video-shows-bystander-tackling-alleged-offender-outside-whangarei-coffee-shop
  
  The reporter needs a lesson in geography: if, as the article says, this happened around Cameron St and Vine St then it is nowhere near Kamo: Kamo is about 6 or 7 km from Cameron St.
  
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  May 13, 2026 11:19am
Yvette

The Maori Queen is in Britain at the moment.
She has met with Prince William.
Will she met with King Charles?
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May 13, 2026 10:59am
- plc
  
  Didn’t their ancestors agree to share sovereignty of NZ?
  
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  May 13, 2026 12:05pm
  - RoboRob
    
    Nope, they gave all sovereignty to the British Crown.
    
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    May 13, 2026 1:02pm
- Steve Todd
  
  Will she met with King Charles?
  
  I don’t know her schedule, but I suspect not. Too young; too little time in the job.
  
  I have no doubt, however, that we she will meet with King William V several times over the next thirty or forty years.
  
  3 3
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  May 13, 2026 12:55pm
  - kowtow
    
    Give it forty years it’ll be Sultan Ahwil bin Winsoah.
    
    7 3
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    May 13, 2026 2:24pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      Ah, well, kowtow, you can console yourself with the certain knowledge that you won’t be around to see it.
      
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      May 13, 2026 4:01pm
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    Aren’t the monarchs that William and Charles entertain actual monarchs, ie heads of state? Don’t we just have a bunch of people deciding that we have a Maori “queen”? I would wager that 95 percent of folk could not name her. I’ve already forgotten her name.
    
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    May 13, 2026 2:35pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      Don’t we just have a bunch of people deciding that we have a Maori “queen”?
      
      Most decidedly not.
      
      I must confess, though, not being a monarchist, I don’t pay close attention to such matters, but, I do know that Queen Elizabeth II met with the previous Māori queen, Dame Te Atairangikaahu, about 1995, at Government House in Wellington, and that King Charles III met with the late Māori king, Tūheitia Pōtatau Te Wherowhero VII, at the time of Queen Elizabeth’s funeral.
      
      As one of my favourite Kiwibloggers would say, “Go figure.”
      
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      May 13, 2026 3:46pm
      - Quail
        
        My understanding is that the Maori Queen only represents one tribe in NZ.
        She certainly does not represent all NZ or indeed all Maori.
        The apparent perspective given she represents all Maori is not true!
        
        9 0
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        May 13, 2026 6:36pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        @Quail @ 6:36PM
        
        AI Overview—
        
        Nga wai hono i te po, anointed in September 2024 as the eighth Māori monarch and second Queen, represents the Kīngitanga movement (Māori King movement). She embodies Māori unity, cultural identity, and continuity for the indigenous people of New Zealand, rather than holding formal constitutional or political power within the NZ government.
        
        Key Aspects of the Māori Queen’s Role:
        
        • The Kīngitanga Movement: She represents the mandate of the Kīngitanga, which was established in the 1850s to unify Māori tribes, protect land, and establish a similar status to the British Monarchy.
        
        • Unity and Culture: She serves as a symbol of unity and a keeper of cultural legacy, specifically as a direct descendant of the first Māori king, Pōtatau Te Wherowhero.
        
        • Role and Focus: She represents the interests of Māori to the government, acts as a leader for tribes (iwi) across New Zealand, and is expected to represent younger generations and promote the Māori language.
        
        • Leadership Style: She is seen as a modern monarch who bridges tradition with contemporary issues, including environmental protection and the protection of Māori rights.
        
        Although she works with various iwi, her position holds strong, specific ties to the Tainui region and is chosen by leaders from tribes supporting the movement, not by direct hereditary succession alone.
        
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        May 13, 2026 7:46pm
rjay

The Institute of Directors have issued their Annual report for 2025. Visits to their special climate website has fallen by 2000 and they also report that climate change courses and events have been less popular. And then they state: “we remain committed to supporting good climate governance.”
You can’t escape these people despite the evidence.
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May 13, 2026 12:47pm
- Quail
  
  ST ,
  AI is often wrong!
  And can be and is manipulated .
  Trust it at your peril!
  
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  May 14, 2026 5:48pm
Ghost

I think it will be an easy guess that some people are about to be fired

O’KEEFE EXPOSE: The White House Tapes

Maxim Lott, a Special Assistant to President Trump on the White House Domestic Policy Council, admits domestic policy decisions are often made based on what “feels like a good idea,” without formal cost-benefit analysis and sometimes without President Trump’s direct involvement.

Benjamin Ellisten, a Budget Analyst Manager within the Executive Office of the President, expressed, “We have to get rid of Trump,” while also calling the president “a madman” and insisting his coworkers “can’t know” how he truly feels about the current sitting President of the United States. We have received comments from Benjamin and Maxim. When OMG contacted Ellisten for comment, he sounded flustered and claimed he had “no idea what we’re talking about” before abruptly hanging up the phone.
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May 13, 2026 1:22pm
Damocles11

Another erstwhile ‘guardian’ of our ‘treasures’ has been anything but –

‘A Christchurch man has been sentenced to four months’ home detention for taking 486 pāua from a marine reserve, which he intended to sell.
Bruce Honey Tata, 48, was sentenced yesterday on one charge under the Fisheries Act in the Hamilton District Court, following a successful prosecution by the Ministry for Primary Industries.’
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May 13, 2026 2:08pm
- Nikola Donatello
  
  I am yet to see any evidence that Maori practiced conservation before European settlement.
  
  This article reports on the carbon deposits in Antarctica ice cores from the 14th century. Cause Maori burning forests. Some folk lost their minds calling it culturally insensitive.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/te-manu-korihi/453171/researchers-link-700-year-old-soot-found-in-antarctica-to-fires-set-by-early-maori
  
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  May 13, 2026 2:43pm
  - rouppe
    
    Let alone the Battle of Moutoa where the river ran red with the blood of father and son.
    
    3 0
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    May 13, 2026 5:01pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Those moas didn’t wipe themselves out
    
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    May 13, 2026 7:42pm
    - Ghost
      
      plenty of species wiped out by the white man as well. Not sure why this little moan always comes around about Māori over 500 years ago.
      
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      May 13, 2026 8:49pm
      - marcw
        
        It’s also a fact that more species were made extinct during the time of maori occupation in NZ than since European colonisation.
        
        1 0
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        May 13, 2026 9:04pm
      - Ghost
        
        Māori settlement (1280–1769)
        
        Moa (all species)
        
        Haast’s eagle
        
        Adzebills
        
        Large geese & ducks
        
        Rails, wrens, and more
        
        scientific estimate of 40–50 species lost.
        
        European colonisation (1769–present)
        Te Ara describes:
        
        Huia
        
        Laughing owl
        
        Bush wren
        
        Lyall’s wren
        
        NZ quail
        
        Many insects and plants
        
        estimate of 70–80 species lost.
        
        is there anyone else you think should be judged by what their ancestors did long before they were even born? or just them maori folk
        
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        May 13, 2026 9:25pm
      - marcw
        
        My facts differ:
        More than 75 animal and plant species are known to have become extinct in New Zealand since human occupation (approx. 1250–1300 CE)
        Extinctions Since European Colonization (late 18th/19th Century). Around 15–20 additional bird species went extinct after 1850.
        
        Extinctions are not necessarily due to human behaviour – more due to the predators they introduce, and their efficiency. eg. kiore (maori rat) and stoats, cats, Norwegian rats (Europeans).
        
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        May 13, 2026 9:47pm
Ghost

lucky the autopen gave a pardon.

Newly released internal DOJ files appear to implicate President Joe Biden’s disgraced son, Hunter Biden, in alleged prostitution-related activity, corroborating accusations raised years earlier by Senate Republicans.

Article
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May 13, 2026 2:27pm
- RoboRob
  
  There are also new emails out showing Fauchi and his team promoting gain of function research even though it was banned. They used private email and/or code words to avoid FOIA (their version of OIA) requests. If you put a FOIA in for anything mentioning ‘Gain of function’ for example, you would get no results.
  
  Again, lucky the autopen gave a pardon. Its almost like the Biden team pardoned people they knew might have done naughty things.
  
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  May 13, 2026 3:50pm
rouppe

Students brawling. Or perhaps ganging up on one kid from a different school.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland/west-auckland-high-school-students-brawl-at-train-station-as-terrified-public-hide-in-cars/D7IBLESYDFEUPLS3BHKAE22SVY/

Do only brown kids go to Kelston Boys’ High School? Every video I’ve seen of an event of this ilk, and the “takeovers” overseas, all overwhelmingly involve people of colour. Why is that?
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May 13, 2026 5:11pm
- greybeard
  
  https://www.kbhs.school.nz/our-school/our-new-principal—mikaele-taito
  The school’s website displays a different Head to that in the article. Maybe the old Headmaster had a gutsful of this sort of behaviour.
  I suspect that the problems in this school are long-standing, and probably maori vs Pasifika or maori vs whites. With minds addled by violent TV & other media, and the cult of Rugby League violence.
  How stupid: do the parents of these kids not give them any advice or guidance whatsoever ?
  Where do they think their kids will end up ?
  
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  May 13, 2026 6:37pm
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  Can we please stop calling them students?
  
  What is wrong with school pupils?
  
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  May 13, 2026 8:15pm
  - Ghost
    
    Nothing wrong with the word student
    
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    May 13, 2026 8:36pm
Charlotte Wells

Pupils are usually younger (elementary/primary); students can be any age (high school to adulthood).

Modern usage has almost extinguished a difference.
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May 13, 2026 10:24pm

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