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May 15, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 15 May 2026

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General Debate

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hookerphil

A public meeting was held in Waimate last night regarding the proposed Local Body 90 day forced amalgamations, (Head Start). I’ m not sure that many people appreciate just what this is going to entail, especially to those living outside of the, perhaps, 3 main city centres.
It could leave many being included in large areas, for instance the South Island could be down to 5 to 7 “local” regions.
There were about 350-400 people present at this quite short notice (3/4) days meeting and for over an hour many supportive views of the Council were expressed. It was basically accepted that amalgamations would take place and the Council should enter into discussions with other Councils both north and south of us.
I am a ex County Clerk and have been through this before in 1989.

My view is that in the South Island everything is going to hinge on the Christchurch City Council and what they wish to do. Currently they have Rolleston sitting at the end of the Southern Motorway and Rangiora and Kaiapoi on the Northern Motorway. If they decide that they want to include them in a Canterbury Council, think rugby and not region. The inclusion of both the Selwyn and Waimakariri Council areas would also mean Hurunui goes into that and we have the exact boundaries of the Canterbury Rugby Union.
It is now important that Ashburton is not added to that mix as it would leave the possible South Canterbury region too small. So again, think rugby, the old combined Hannan Shield Districts that played overseas teams, Mid Canterbury, South Canterbury and North Otago. This would bring the catchment of the Waitaki River and all the lakes under one jurisdiction of one authority as suggested last night.
This would give the new Council the larger towns of Ashburton, Timaru and Oamaru with Waimate sitting comfortably in the middle and now the area large enough to survive on its own. The rest of Otago could then end up along with Southland – gee, the Highlanders. Nelson/Marlbourgh and Westland would make 5 regions.
Back in 1989 at the time of the last amalgamations there were over 850 or so Councils, Boards and all sorts of bodies. The are now 78 and I recall at the time that it was always suggested that future amalgamations would take place.

A feature of the meeting and what was greeted with disproval was the absence of the Local M.P. Miles Anderson. It was said that he was in transit from Wellington, interestingly though the confirmed Labour Party candidate for the area – Damian O’Connor – heard of him, ex Coast now living in Dunedin, was able to be there. This is of course very much a National Party area – I would feel that overall this may cost them some Party Votes with this process outcome meant to be announced by August and implementation at the 2028 local government election cycle.
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May 15, 2026 8:01am
- RoboRob
  
  It is stupid that Rolleston (19km) , Kaiapoi (18km) and Rangiora (30km) are not part of the CCC yet Akaroa (79km) is. Many Auckland suburbs are further from the AK CBD then Rolleston is from Christchurch.
  
  We need environment canterbury to run busses becuase Rolleston and Christchurch are different councils. By merging to one council we ECan no longer need to fill that function (yes I am aware the Ecans days are numbered, thankfully).
  
  Obviously taking Rolleston from the Selwyn district council removes funding for most of the other small towns they support. I think it actually makes a lot of sense to simply have one canterbury (Rugby) council. Yes small communities lose their say in things, not that large cities communities have much say either. The up side is that the large population areas can subsidise the un economic smaller areas (see Akaroa) and economies of scale can be leveraged.
  
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  May 15, 2026 9:20am
  - MCōs
    
    It’s 120+km from Wellsford to Pukekohe, both of which are governed by ACC.
    
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    May 15, 2026 10:30am
    - OlderChas
      
      Governed by AC, Mcos – not the Accident Compensation outfit.
      
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      May 15, 2026 11:25am
    - slijmbal
      
      The irony of the creation of the Auckland (not-so) super city is that we went from too many councils to too few. Rodney and Franklin are so different qualitatively it was borderline stupid to include them. There were also no real rules about how rates were apportioned and we had “pants down” Brown making more affluent areas susbsidise his voting base in south Auckland. The rates increases for the likes of the North Shore had to be limited to 10% p.a. as they were so enormous. I think we had 60% increase in 5 years. All under the usual lies around fairness.
      
      Unlike commerce, monopolies like councils and governments don’t have pressure to implement in a manner that enables economies of scale. There was no serious effort to reduce staffing and improve processes. We ended up with a less efficient service that was even more remote from and unable to be influenced by the average rateplayer that was susceptible to being hijacked by special interest groups.
      
      While the concept of simplification of council structures sounds attractive, the example of Auckland shows that the manner of implementation is incredibly important. TBH they should probably have amalgamated certain functions that are better suited for larger geographic areas and kept the councils.
      
      I predict this will all end up in tears as I don’t see anybody has learnt anything from the Auckland mess.
      
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      May 15, 2026 2:05pm
- Tomtoddy
  
  Reform of local govt should be much less about size and much more about quality. Remove powers of general competence to start the process. At a very local level – town by town there should be small councils with very restricted powers to manage playgrounds and the like funded by larger amalgamated bodies on a per capita basis.
  
  The larger bodies should have limited roles prescribed by law and should have a share of GST plus rating income. Back to basics – we are too small for what we have now. Many places in the world have one council that services more than our entire population.
  
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  May 15, 2026 9:40am
  - sungsamning
    
    CEOs need to lose hiring and firing powers. They aren’t elected. They used to be town clerks. Councilors need to be directly responsible for departments. And they need to be rigidly restricted to roads, drains, parks, libraries, and garbage collection. Also a moratorium on ‘projects’ for 20 years, and rates capped to inflation, or 3%. Whichever is the smallest.
    
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    May 15, 2026 10:28am
    - Quail
      
      A movement called localism has created many more Mayors etc in Britain,
      There is no doubt on size does not fit all. Particularly enabling wealth transfers from one area to another based on population not productivity.
      Individual rights tend to end up on the scrap heap.
      A reform of rates etc is vital , and representation even more so!
      
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      May 15, 2026 1:07pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Amalgamatations are always a bad idea. Touted efficiencies never eventuate, as you create new layers of unaccountable bureaucrats that waste larger quantities on their empire building jollies and become ever less responsive to the diluted voices of relatively smaller local constituencies.
  
  The bureaucrats win, everyone else loses.
  
  Devolution to the smallest possible administrative body – with ability to hire and fire employees in response to voter demands – is almost always going to result in the best and most responsive and accountable provision of services to the varied needs of locals.
  
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  May 15, 2026 12:29pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

Immigration lawyer and oft quoted Alastair McClymont spells it out.

“Now that they’re going to have the potential of getting maximum points simply by having any masters degree, then really people are just looking for the cheapest and easiest masters degrees that they can do, so that they can get the postgrad work visa, then look for a skilled job.”

Nearly all the enrolments came from Asia, especially China (4465) and India (4235), and most (9535) were in universities, with a further 2125 in polytechnics and 3175 in private institutions.

Our tertiary education sector whores itself to foreign students in return for a pathway to citizenship. This at a time when NZ young people, including graduates, struggle to find starter jobs.

It’s hard to see this as being in the interests of NZ. It also makes you wonder about the quality of some of these degrees, and of the providers.

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/education/595282/foreign-masters-degree-enrolments-soar-as-august-rule-change-looms
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May 15, 2026 8:04am
- Wayne1749
  
  If a masters qualification is a requirement though, it is better it is one studied and verified in NZ, and the fees go to a NZ institute.
  
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  May 15, 2026 9:38am
- Jack5
  
  It’s bad enough that our universities and polytechnics, in effect, are selling a path to NZ residency and citizenship.
  
  But many of the 3175 private “education” institutions doing this will be foreign owned. Foreigners in effect are thus selling pathways to NZ citizenship.
  
  What they and NZ tertirary educationists are selling is not only the path to NZ citizenship, but also a path to visa-free entry to Australia.
  
  So foreign institutions in NZ — and NZ’s own tertiary instiutions — are in effect offering a back door to Australia.
  
  Recent Australian research showed that almost half those from NZ seeking citizenship were not born in NZ.
  
  With Pauline Hansen-type support on the rise in Australia, NZ citizenship-pathway sellers are going to cost us visa-free entry to Australia.
  
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  May 15, 2026 1:26pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Maybe. Aus doesn’t give NZ visa-free access because they like us. They do it because it’s in their interests to do so. NZ migrants are generally young, educated and motivated people who do not have criminal convictions and are likely to integrate easily through mutually shared values.
    
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    May 15, 2026 2:47pm
Cassandra

“Yesterday, Shane Jones hosted a meeting at the Beehive. The guest list tells you quite a bit about whose interests his government is serving.”

This is the opening line of a column by a so-called academic named Bryce Edwards who poses as a commentator on politics but is actually an advocate for the far left.

Jones is the mining minister. His job is to support mining. He’s doing that job. Edwards, on the other hand, is a shill for the Green Party (actually the Red Party) paid for by you and me.
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May 15, 2026 8:04am
- Philview
  
  To be fair to Bryce he did give Labour plenty of criticism when they were in Government. I used to read his website for balance when the MSM were serving up Ardern propaganda.
  
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  May 15, 2026 8:19am
- Bryce Edwards
  
  Cassandra – your point about Jones having the role to support mining (rather than just the public interest) is a fair and logical one. I disagree with it of course, and I set out why in my column you refer to. But you’ll need to back up your accusation that I’m a Green Party shrill with some sort of evidence, which I think you will struggle to find since I’m a fairly harsh critic of them (as well as all parties and politicians). I’m also not taxpayer-funded in the slightest.
  
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  May 15, 2026 8:51am
  - David Garrett
    
    BE: “shill” dear boy…a person who secretly works for a vendor, organization, or person, while publicly pretending to be independent.
    
    “shrill” is when some fishwife shrieks at you.
    
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    May 15, 2026 9:09am
    - pejhay
      
      Both work…
      
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      May 15, 2026 5:47pm
    - peterwn
      
      That is an unfair comment on the diligent hard working women in Talleys and other fish processing pants.
      
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      May 15, 2026 6:46pm
  - Dougal10
    
    Those of us that have read you for years have definitely formed an opinion on your politics , we don’t need to provide facts to back them up as we aren’t journos.
    
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    May 15, 2026 9:11am
  - RoboRob
    
    BE: It is hard to know. Your current Democracy project, is run out of Vic university, and whilst you publish articles about ‘following the money’ you dont disclose your major donors.
    
    Interestingly when I asked Gemini AI about the funders of the Integrity institude, your name came up as a leftist. I asked Gemini why and this is what it says about you….
    
    [ Mod – cut/paste of slathers of AI is a nono – just share it and post the link. Please don’t do this again ]
    
    So yeah, even AI thinks you are a lefty, which is fine.
    
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    May 15, 2026 9:41am
  - Cassandra
    
    I withdraw the accusation, Bryce. You don’t favour the Greens over other leftists. But not the thrust. You are of a left persuasion and your claim of balance just does not stack up. Our universities are loaded with similar people, which is fine except for your public funding. Hence the shill, although that implies that the left pay you and of course it’s actually the right.
    
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    May 15, 2026 9:43am
  - Cassandra
    
    Bryce: a question re funding – you’re paid by philanthropists. Are you able to give details? And VUW provides no support? You rent an office?
    
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    May 15, 2026 10:10am
    - Bryce Edwards
      
      Hi Cassandra. Yes, I used to work for the Integrity Institute for much of 2026. Yes, I used to work for VUW (and previously Otago University). But, the Democracy Project is 100% independent of any such institutions. My only funding is from my subscribers. On the issue of ideology and political parties: I’m not claiming to be “objective” or “neutral”. I’m happy to be labelled as “leftwing” or whatever. But I’m not partisan in the slightest – I have no allegiances or give any support to any political party. I hope that clarifies things.
      
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      May 15, 2026 8:56pm
  - Cassandra
    
    Stuff: “Left-wing political scientist and commentator Dr Bryce Edwards
    [ Mod – give it a rest ]
    
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    May 15, 2026 10:14am
- Wairoa Native
  
  A lot of people in New Zealand act like mining can only be a bad thing, but countries like Australia and Canada show you can have mining and strong environmental rules. Mining brings in high-paying jobs, export income, tax revenue and royalties, especially in regional areas where good jobs can be hard to find. It also creates work for contractors, transport, engineering and local businesses around it. Interestingly, Māori working in the WA mining sector are reportedly among the highest paid ethnic groups there because the wages are so strong ( my brother among them). Instead of treating all mining as evil by default, NZ probably needs a more balanced conversation about development and economic growth.
  
  Miners in Western Australia often earn between AUD $100,000 and $180,000 a year, with skilled workers and supervisors sometimes making over $200,000.
  
  Miners in New Zealand usually earn about $80,000 to $150,000 a year depending on experience and the type of mining, with senior or specialist workers sometimes earning more.
  
  You won’t get that kind of money driving a bus of tourists about, making beds in a hotel or working as a barista, which is apparently the just transition favoured by the greens. Not to mention all those tourists that fly here, think of the Carbon miles on that.
  
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  May 15, 2026 10:28am
  - Jack5
    
    Poster Wairoa Native’s right about the connotation baggage that mining carries from the old days of men with picks and pit ponies, underpaid and living in grim British towns.
    
    Look at the economic difference between Australia and NZ now. Australia’s advantage is mining.
    
    We are wilfully neglecting NZ natural resources, proven ones as well as potential ones.
    
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    May 15, 2026 1:39pm
Taieri

a so-called academic named Bryce Edwards
————-

Why “so-called”? He is a politics lecturer at the Victoria University. That makes him an academic, whether we agree with him or not. I happen not to share his views, but it doesn’t stop me from reading his articles, which are usually quite interesting. The life would be very boring if I was to read or listen only to the people I agree with. Even when they are “shills” for the Green or any other party for that matter…
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May 15, 2026 8:21am
- lastmanstanding
  
  In his Address in Reply to the Budget Australian Liberal Party leader Angus Taylor announced a Coalition Government would index tax rates to inflation. Some of us have been calling for this for decades. The current situation allows for theft by stealth. It allows Governments to use inflation to increase their tax take. It leads to a lack of fiscal discipline. It also violates the long established principle of no taxation without a mandate from voters.
  Citizens should pressure Parties to index rates to stop bracket creep.
  
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  May 15, 2026 9:09am
  - KKNZ2025
    
    Currently NZ bracket creep tax theft by stealth is running at ~$2 Billion pa, our tax thresholds unchanged for well over a decade
    
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    May 15, 2026 9:43am
    - Skippytony
      
      It’s disgraceful that the Nats have not addressed bracket indexation – they are apparently ok with stealing by stealth.
      
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      May 15, 2026 12:37pm
    - RoboRob
      
      National did update thet thresholds in their first year, and copped a lot of crap for doing so. ‘Giving tax cuts and then complaining about a lack of money’, was the general complaint.
      
      In reality the Nats just bought us back to somewhere near we should be if we had indexed tax brackets.
      
      Yes it is sad, but not surprising, that they didn’t take the opportunity to index the rates. Doing so would have made the budget process even harder, however it would have flicked the political situation to one where Labour would face criticism for ‘putting up taxes’ by blocking threshold changes.
      
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      May 15, 2026 2:32pm
      - KKNZ2025
        
        Nationals’ virtue signalling token change in 2024 brought us nowhere near where we should be.
        “…cumulative CPI inflation since the last real bracket adjustment in 2010 sits at roughly 44%. The 2024 changes moved thresholds up by approximately 11% to 14%, depending on the bracket. The government closed about a quarter of the gap. The rest is still quietly delivering extra revenue to the Crown.
        
        This is bracket creep, and it remains one of the most effective stealth taxes in New Zealand.”
        
        https://www.become.nz/articles/tax-bracket-creep
        
        And, we’re already losing on the 2024 changes
        https://www.taxpayers.org.nz/indexing_tax_thresholds
        
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        May 15, 2026 3:00pm
- Cassandra
  
  An academic would look at all the evidence and come to a conclusion. That’s not the case here. I used to be a lefty, with a long Labour history. I looked at the evidence.
  
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  May 15, 2026 9:45am
  - Taieri
    
    I used to be a lefty, with a long Labour history
    ———–
    
    The Labour that you were (?) a member of, was not the Labour we are seeing today. While it used to be blue collar dominated, today it is a very middle class organisation, dominated by, what some call “clerisy”; former public sector employees, lawyers, analysts and such like. Even the name itself doesn’t reflect the composition of the party anymore. There’re hardly any ex. blue collar workers in the upper and middle echelons of Labour. It is just a social-democratic party by another name.
    
    As for academics looking at the evidence etc. a broad social science is hardly a scientific discipline, where 2 plus 2 equals 4. Looking at the evidence, when analysing politics, policy or any other social phenomenons can lead to entirely different conclusions. It is really a matter of opinion, even when padded with the use of statistical methods. . At the end of the day all findings in the social sciences reflect the views of their practitioners. Nothing wrong with that, as long as the conclusions reached are not treated as a gospel truth.
    
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    May 15, 2026 10:51am
    - NothingLeft
      
      1990’s lefties are generally referred to by 2020’s lefties as ‘worse than Hitler’
      
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      May 15, 2026 12:33pm
    - Skippytony
      
      “Social sciences” = oxymoron
      
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      May 15, 2026 12:38pm
      - Taieri
        
        Not really. Natural science study the physical world. Social sciences study people and societies. You still need to formulate a hypothesis and assemble arguments to prove it.
        Just because the ultimate science, the philosophy, has been prostituted, it doesn’t mean that social sciences have no place in the society or should not be conducted at universities. At the end of the day, the gender studies, queer studies, fat studies and all sorts of whatever other “-studies” are all bastard children of philosophy. We could throw them all away without harm, but should we also throw away Plato, Socrates and Aristotle?
        
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        May 15, 2026 2:33pm
  - MCōs
    
    An academic is a student or teacher at a university
    
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    May 15, 2026 11:33am
Maggy Wassilieff

Evidence confirmed…..

Our Primary school teachers are very SLOW learners
(in fact, it seems they are educationally challenged).

it would give teachers more time to learn the curriculum themselves, before they had to teach it, she said.

“They need to learn things themselves in order to be able to teach well and that is a process. It can’t happen in six minutes or six months across six new learning areas.

“The fact that they’ve now got two years to unpack their curriculum, get to know it, work out how it works for the children and the year levels they teach, work out how to make it personalised to the children in front of them is really important.”

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/education/595273/delay-to-new-curriculum-heralded-as-significant-win-for-teachers-school-leaders
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May 15, 2026 8:21am
- pdm
  
  Sounds like heifer dust from the Teachers Unions to me Maggy.
  
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  May 15, 2026 8:29am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Yes, it is insulting to the teachers who know how to teach and don’t need to spend months learning stuff they’d mastered by age 12.
    
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    May 15, 2026 8:35am
    - R
      
      The teachers problem, isn’t the new curriculum; it is simply that the teachers don’t have the required basic knowledge of the 1950’s era, despite all the signaling from Erica and the numerous ‘teacher only days’ and long holidays.
      
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      May 15, 2026 9:06am
    - Dougal10
      
      My better half is all over it and teaching the new more logical curriculum as it comes out.
      
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      May 15, 2026 9:15am
      - R
        
        There are numerous capable competent informed teachers, unfortunately they are not running the Education dept. Nor are they the unionists representing the teachers.
        
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        May 15, 2026 12:32pm
    - sungsamning
      
      Just think. Six munths ago i couldnt even spel teecher. now I are wun.
      
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      May 15, 2026 10:34am
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        Careful there, you will be given a detention for telling the truth!!!!
        
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        May 15, 2026 3:47pm
  - kowtow
    
    Sounds like a whole lot more Mondays and/or Fridays off for “teacher” only days.
    
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    May 15, 2026 9:22am
    - Jethrod
      
      I used to be thick , but I’m alright now.
      
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      May 15, 2026 12:48pm
    - Charlotte Wells
      
      Especially when it’s already a long weekend.
      
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      May 15, 2026 4:58pm
- CJames
  
  This problem has been going on for years – primary school teachers without what most would consider basic literacy and numeracy skills. I still remember over thirty years ago, a teacher “corrected” my seven year old daughter’s spelling in a story with a spelling mistake. Even showing her a dictionary, I could not get her to accept that she had made a mistake.
  I recently saw that teacher is still in the classroom.
  
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  May 15, 2026 8:30am
  - KKNZ2025
    
    Primary & Secondary teachers get paid the same based on qualifications and experience (service).
    
    Not contribution, competence, performance…
    
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    May 15, 2026 8:45am
    - R
      
      Competence and performance…..lack of. Therein lies the root cause of the poor results from the classroom.
      
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      May 15, 2026 9:08am
    - RoboRob
      
      Welcome to the land of Unions.
      
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      May 15, 2026 10:09am
      - R
        
        Sorry Robo, never belonged to a Union. Professional Association which respected our employer, and we were well looked after, generally.
        
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        May 15, 2026 11:25am
  - Observer of Life
    
    CJ: About 18 years ago our youngests teacher (primary) had given a list of words to spell. One was incorrect. Youngest argued vehemently she was right/I was wrong, until I pulled out the dictionary. There were many ocassions where she got things wrong .. youngest eventually stopped defending her. Youngest was around 7yrs old at the time.
    
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    May 15, 2026 9:09am
- Swifty
  
  Two years?
  
  That embarrassing.
  
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  May 15, 2026 8:32am
  - lifesgood
    
    They are hoping for a change of government and then won’t change the curriculum at all. Erica Stanford should have told them to get lost. Are teachers really that dumb? It seems yes they are.
    
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    May 15, 2026 1:07pm
    - RoboRob
      
      100%, clearly a delaying tactic. I might add that the unions oppose EVERY change and always claim they need more time, and money, to implement whatever change is required.
      
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      May 15, 2026 2:36pm
- David Garrett
  
  “…unpack their curriculum…”
  
  Aaaaargh! What happened to words like “study” and “familiarize ” ?
  
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  May 15, 2026 8:42am
  - R
    
    Too many syllables for many of today’s teachers!
    
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    May 15, 2026 9:09am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Oh No, David….
    Unpacking has a precise meaning in “constructivist” education (Much loved by Waikato Uni grads)
    
    Unpacking
    
    The process of deconstructing student learning outcomes into competencies to identify key life-long transferable learning skills and the types of learning experiences and assessments that align with these outcomes
    
    https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/five-ps_learning-of-the-competencies-pptx/273036639
    
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    May 15, 2026 9:10am
    - David Garrett
      
      Mags: First grade mumbo-jumbo! Typical of the rubbish that comes out of Waikato.
      
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      May 15, 2026 10:57am
      - OlderChas
        
        Absolutely DG. I’ve read it 4 times and still cant tell you what it actually means!
        
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        May 15, 2026 11:31am
    - R
      
      Deconstructing…?…..isn’t the correct english use word ‘dismantling’!
      
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      May 15, 2026 12:38pm
  - PaulP
    
    DG, I personally think it should be unpick anyway. It’s only recently that unpack has been used to describe analysing and studying something.
    
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    May 15, 2026 10:05am
    - David Garrett
      
      Paul: I have actually seen both used …apparently to mean the same thing
      
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      May 15, 2026 12:38pm
- Mummy
  
  I once prepared a CV for a teacher who provided me with her old one plus some extra notes. Hers was the worst case of misuse of capital letters I had ever seen so I corrected it together with all the other bad grammar. She capitalised the words teacher, school and the names of subjects that didn’t need them plus almost every other noun in the document. When she came to pick it up together with the floppy disk I saved it on (yes, pre-email) she was really angry and wanted me to change it all back again. When I said I wouldn’t because it was wrong and would reflect on me and my business, but she insisted, I took the hard copy of the CV, ripped it in half and binned it, took my floppy disk back and told her to find someone else to do the job. The only time in 30 years of running a business that anything like that happened.
  
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  May 15, 2026 8:48am
  - Flossie
    
    In the mid eighties had a sister in law who was a teacher. We often played the then new game of Trivial Pursuit that was the go to at the time, and said s.i.l. argued the point every time she got a question wrong – i.e. very often! No matter how the rest of the table tried to point out her error(s) she was adamant that she knew best. I hadn’t had any particular position on the skills of our teachers until that time.
    
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    May 15, 2026 9:31am
    - RoboRob
      
      My wife works for the MOE on the ‘front line’. Her role has recently been expanded from dealing with ECE centres (pre school) to also include primary schools. 90%+ of her problems are with primary teachers. They expect to be spoon fed and attempt to threaten and bully her into doing what they want, which is generally what is easiest for the teacher and worst for the child involved.
      
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      May 15, 2026 9:48am
      - imalwaysright
        
        My wife deals with the fruits of these primary school teachers.
        She teaches 14 year olds how to read and write, multiply and divide.
        They would be at the level of a competent 8 year old.
        Why aren’t the Ministry identifying these deadbeat primary teachers and culling them?
        
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        May 15, 2026 10:52am
      - RoboRob
        
        @imalwaysright
        
        Easy
        a) Unions
        b) Principals (wont identify the poor performing ones)
        c) We already have a shortage of teachers.
        
        Mostly (a). The unions block anything that could measure a teachers performance. Remeber they had Labour drop (and not replace) Nationals national standards for primary schools. They did this so that you couldn’t compare school performance or teacher performance.
        
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        May 15, 2026 2:39pm
    - David Garrett
      
      Flossie: My daughter was at high school – Kaipara College – until 2017. She came back home one day and asked me if it was true that Hitler invaded Poland because the Poles had killed 80,000 ethnic Germans in Poland – which is of course total nonsense.
      
      Turns out a teacher – who didn’t have a degree in history – showed the class a video from YouTube which included “American soldiers” summarily executing concentration camp guards at camps they liberated. The trouble was one of those “soldiers” was Leonardo di Caprio.
      
      Long story short, the teacher was required to inform her class that the video was bullshit – as was her claim regarding Hitler’s reasons for starting WW II. Said teacher was sour as fuck about it.
      
      The reason this sticks in my mind is my daughter said “Dad, the only reason I knew this was wrong because you are my Dad, and you have taught me stuff about WW II. Probably the whole rest of the kids would have no idea, and believed what Mrs X told us”.
      
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      May 15, 2026 10:12am
      - Cassandra
        
        I bet Mrs X is now wearing a scarf and chanting about the river.
        
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        May 15, 2026 11:25am
      - David Garrett
        
        Cass: Mrs X was a middle aged white woman…hopefully she’s retired and the kids of Helensville and District are now safe from her bullshit!
        
        Here’s my next story about the faculty of Kaipara College…one silly young woman told my daughter’s class that “some gang members do a lot of good in their communities”…cue my next visit to the school. I asked her how much she actually knew about the Mob and their Blue wearing scum opponents…turned out very little.
        
        Then I asked her if she thought some of the members of the SS were straight up guys…Her reply? “I’ve never heard of that gang”. Ok, she was in her early 20’s – but had a uni degree in something. Surely you’d pick up somehow that the SS were the thugs for the Nazi party during three years at uni??
        
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        May 15, 2026 11:53am
      - NothingLeft
        
        “Surely you’d pick up somehow that the SS were the thugs for the Nazi party during three years at uni??”
        
        Only if it was on tik-tok.
        
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        May 15, 2026 12:40pm
      - kowtow
        
        DG
        
        Are you familiar with the book/tv series Piece of Cake ( free to view on you tube)
        
        About a fictional Spitfire squadron ‘Hornet” at the war’s outbreak.
        
        It’s excellent.
        
        Anyway there’s a scene where an air commodore comes over to France ( phoney war on) to visit and during a mess night dinner is invited to answer any questions .
        No one really keen , till the reservist non flying Intelligence Officer , a Cambridge Don ,asks the AC who’s just patriotically declared the war’s all about brave Poland etc
        
        When we defeat Germany will we restore Poland’s boundaries ……I suppose so .
        
        Does that include the area of Czechoslovakia Poland occupied last year .
        
        There’s also a bit about german minorities and Russia invading Poland.
        
        AC gets flustered ” At least they ( Poles) don’t beat up Jews”
        
        IO ; Oh yes they do , regularly.And with every sign of enjoyment.
        
        Highly recommended.
        
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        May 15, 2026 12:51pm
- Handyman
  
  The two year delay has only one purpose: to outlast the current government and have things “return to normal” under a Labour/Greem/Maori (LGM) government.
  
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  May 15, 2026 9:33am
  - RoboRob
    
    Yes, and its two more years before they have to do any work on the change over.
    
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    May 15, 2026 2:41pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  I think the problem isn’t so much a Teacher problem as a Teachers Union problem.
  
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  May 15, 2026 9:37am
  - lifesgood
    
    Yes but the stupid teachers still back the union.
    
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    May 15, 2026 1:03pm
    - RoboRob
      
      Because their employer is the government and they cant easily walk into the Ministers office and point out that they deserve a pay rise becuase x&y.
      
      But yes, the Unions are a massive problem. As are the media that enable the unions by involving them in discussions on children / education. The unions work for the staff NOT the children. When the Union says we need to do x&y to help the children, they really are saying we need x&y for the teachers. It’s the same as buying a house. The realestate agent may be nice and helpfull but in the end they work for the seller and legally have to do things in the sellers interests.
      
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      May 15, 2026 2:45pm
- JackRabbit
  
  it would give teachers more time to learn the curriculum themselves, before they had to teach it, she said.
  
  “Six munths ago I couldn’ spel teacha, now I is one.”
  
  In any profession, teaching what you already should understand requires no time. Perhaps the teachers need to go back to school, as well as a mandatory detoxification course to get rid of left wing indoctrination.
  
  Detox course subjects:
  [1] Socialism is evil. Subject example Ardern.
  [2] Fake Climate change.
  [3] Fake Pandemics.
  [4] Fake Vaccines.
  [5] Transgenders are sick people. Compare with the walking dead.
  
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  May 15, 2026 10:59am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    In any profession, teaching what you already should understand requires no time.
    
    Yes, it doesn’t say much for the Quality of the B.Ed. programmes and Teacher Training Courses if a qualified primary teacher needs 2 years to come to grips with a revamped curriculum.
    
    Imagine if folks out in the real world of work needed 2 years to process and adapt to a few changes in procedures or technology.
    
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    May 15, 2026 12:38pm
    - Skippytony
      
      For the life of me, I do not understand why this is so difficult.
      The teachers basic job is to develop competencies in their pupils. Can we all agree with that?
      The set of competencies are centrally defined, this is called the curriculum, yes?
      For each binary competency we should, surely be able to define a common assessment technique.
      Example, we want the pupils at age (say) six to be able to add 2+2 and show that it equals 4.
      The meaning of two must be understood (competency 1) the meaning of addition must be understood (competency 2) and the assessment for this competency pretty much writes itself, eg: “Pupil, add 2 plus 2 and write the result here.
      The meta assessment of the class, teacher,school and system is how many six year olds can complete the assessment.
      The only conversation going on at the governance level is what are the competencies required to be taught, year by year.
      Ok, this example is binary in that (well, in my world at least) there is only one correct answer. So in this example, the competency is standardised, the assessment could be nationally standardised and it all only needs to be documented once for the whole country. There is no cultural element to the competence, we either expect all six year olds to be capable of mastering the competence, or someone needs to objectively prove why that is not the case and the target.
      There is no reflective element to the learning.
      I think 80-90% of what constitutes primary education fits into this framework.
      We should be focussing on how much of this basic content can be effectively taught using AI – that would really set the cat amongst the pigeons.
      
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      May 15, 2026 1:02pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        The Teacher’s job is to teach the children to be Teachers.
        Communism in drag——-
        
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        May 15, 2026 4:01pm
    - RoboRob
      
      I dont think Maths (for example) is a requirement for a primary level B.Ed degree. They teach you how to teach (hopefully) and a lot (a metric shit ton) of Maori stuff (its in every paper).
      
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      May 15, 2026 2:48pm
      - artemisia
        
        Surely the curriculum is rather an important part of the process for teacher training.
        
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        May 15, 2026 3:45pm
artemisia

The Northland region has one of the lowest median household incomes. Have those making race-based governance decisions considered the potential economic and demographic impacts if businesses relocate or reduce operations?

Negative multiplier effect, anyone?

Top seven industries 2023 census
Construction: 11.8%
Health Care and Social Assistance: 11.7%
Retail Trade: 9.2%
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing: 9.0%
Education and Training: 8.6%
Manufacturing: 7.8%
Public Administration and Safety: 7.0%
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May 15, 2026 8:23am
- NothingLeft
  
  Northland is so warm you don’t need a house. Subsistence living is viable, grow MJ for free and use welfare payments to buy a new caravan, couch and TV every few years. Only losers go to work.
  
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  May 15, 2026 12:43pm
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    I am temporarily living in the far north. In winter is it cold and it rains. It is not warm. The “subtropical” label is exaggerated. Kerikeri is the same latitude as Nowra in southern New South Wales. Winter in Nowra would be called “cold and wet”.
    
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    May 15, 2026 2:02pm
    - Don Beckett
      
      Yes, I lived in Wollongong 80 kms. North of Nowra for 10 years in the 1980’s and the winters can be cold – frosts regular every winter, and one year I had to have the fire going one week before Christmas. Winters very similar to the Bay of Plenty, but summers warmer – when the Nor- westers blow often gets to 42 deg. C.
      
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      May 15, 2026 2:49pm
Ian

I saw in Wednesday’s online Herald an article (sounded damning) about a 1500 page report on the Waipareira Trust – paywalled of course. Anyone with any more information on this?
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May 15, 2026 8:43am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Some discussion by Michael Laws here on You Tube
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vboR0ZMTNjY
  
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  May 15, 2026 9:26am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    And here’s our host discussing the issue
    
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAvhsbsGvvs
    
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    May 15, 2026 10:56am
    - David Garrett
      
      Mags: thanks for that link…very informative; particularly the bit at the end about the different treatment of Family First as opposed to Tamihere’s outfit.
      
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      May 15, 2026 11:46am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        State-sanctioned corruption writ large.
        
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        May 15, 2026 1:00pm
    - Ian
      
      The cat doesn’t give a toss…
      
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      May 15, 2026 12:12pm
rjay

Rpy Morgan reports:
Straight after the Federal Budget One Nation had more primary support (32%) than ALP 28.5%, and almost double support for the L-NP Coalition 16.5%, the Greens 11.5%, and Independents/ Other Parties 11.5% according to a Special Roy Morgan Snap SMS Poll conducted from May 13-14, 2026, with a representative Australia-wide cross-section of 2,348 electors.

Things are getting interesting. What will the polls say after our budget in a couple of weeks?

https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/10221-federal-voting-post-budget-special-sms-morgan-poll-may-14-2026?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=MRU%2014%20May%202026&utm_content=MRU%2014%20May%202026+CID_c0fdbf0d6a4b37094b2c907f0bb4083a&utm_source=Market%20Research%20Update&utm_term=Read%20Full%20Article
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May 15, 2026 9:10am
- RoboRob
  
  The ALP budget had massive changes in it. Now whether you think they are good or not is another thing. Clearly many Aussies didn’t.
  
  I hope for major changes in our next budget but I suspect not based on the coalitions record to date. No I dont count removing the coalitions third year uni free policy as a major change.
  
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  May 15, 2026 2:51pm
sungsamning

The UAE is prepared to fight for its life against Iran, and has militarily joined the U.S. and Israel in taking down the region’s largest supporter of terrorism. Although it acted secretly, the UAE reportedly attacked a refinery on Lavan Island in the Persian Gulf; the attack took the facility offline for months. [There’s no love lost between the UAE and Saudi Arabia. Pulling out of OPEC, and pumping more oil didn’t help. They’re on different sides in the Houthi situation. too.]
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2026/05/the_united_arab_emirates_forges_a_new_and_vital_alliance_with_the_us_and_israel.html
The United Arab Emirates forges a new and vital alliance with the US and Israel.
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May 15, 2026 10:20am
- Don Beckett
  
  Saudi Arabia attacked Iran he same day, co-ordinating with the UAE; and a few days ago, Kuwait also attacked Iran – mainly the Iran backed Kurds in Eastern Iraq near the Iraq – Iran border.
  
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  May 15, 2026 2:52pm
  - sungsamning
    
    Yes, Iran obviously didn’t read Napoleon Hills book.
    
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    May 15, 2026 4:31pm
sungsamning

In this episode, we break down the emerging U.S.-China realignment, the strategic pressure campaign on Iran, the restructuring of the intelligence community under Tulsi Gabbard, the collapse of the globalist system, and the beginning of a new American industrial renaissance driven by nuclear power, shipbuilding, and energy dominance. [New nuke plants and factories, investment pouring in. The City, UN and Military Industrial Complex on the back foot. Whats not to like.]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PbkOsuEYnM
Trump Brings Hard Truth to China: The Old World Order Is Over.
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May 15, 2026 10:20am
keepcalmcarryon

If you didn’t read this yet please do, Gary Judd explains what the indigenous peoples declaration in the India trade deal means:
https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/gary-judd-kc-the-sting-in-the-india-trade-deal
National is enacting he puapua.
National lied.
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May 15, 2026 10:24am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Which means its unlikely Simon Watts will do anything to stop tribal takeover of the Far North Council.
  
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  May 15, 2026 12:47pm
  - RoboRob
    
    That was highly unlikely before anything to do with FTA !
    
    He was on with HDPA at least three weeks ago promising he would have a statement about it in a couple of weeks. She was going to chase him up but I dont believe she did.
    
    Watts doesn’t ‘do’ things. See energy where he was removed and local government where he actually sabotaged rates by announcing a plan to put some kind of rates cap on in…. 2029.
    
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    May 15, 2026 3:03pm
- wsk12345
  
  There has been a discussion of this in my local ACT whatsapp group.
  
  Laura McClure says it doesn’t match the advice that ACT has received but they have a KC who is now looking into it. She is on the select committee.
  
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  May 15, 2026 1:42pm
cmm (semi-retired edition)

All this recent talk of immigration in and out of the house makes me realise that these people need to zoom out a bit and figure out what they are trying to achieve.

Just saying we need more people is broken. Not all people are the same – especially culturally and on the IQ front.

Adding a million people from China, India or Somalia is not going to fix the problems of boosting the economy and building a long term future.

We need to realise that the world’s population has peaked and is expected to start to fall soon. Thus a policy of “growth, growth, growth” that just looks at numbers is broken.

And if we’re looking at numbers then the only place generating large numbers of people is Africa. Ask Europe how that’s going.

I think, instead we should focus on quality. Accept that the numbers are in decline. Yes, we should still attract immigrants, but attract the Right Sort: quality first.

That will mainly mean attracting top shelf Asian individuals the Europeans driven out by the African invasion.
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May 15, 2026 10:24am
- NothingLeft
  
  Adding a million ~100+ IQ chinese is almost certain to lift your countries long term economic prospects. While same number of ~70 IQ Somalis will trash it.
  
  IQ is strongly predictive of job performance, income and long term wealth. Chinese have it, Somalis don’t.
  
  And what is really sad is that if you import the 1 in 40 Somali with IQ >100, their kids will, by regression to the mean on average be closer to the practically unemployable ~70 IQ Somali average. So you are inevitably bringing in a a long-term liability for the country however productive their parents might be.
  
  Which is why we should look at genetic heritage average IQ as a principle filter for people immigrating to NZ.
  
  Surprisingly Mongolians are some of the best on that metric.
  
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  May 15, 2026 12:55pm
- lifesgood
  
  Oh for the good old days when the Dutch and Croatians came in droves, Great people, hard working, similar to us culturally and keen to integrate. Mind you, unionist poms were a bloody nuisance. It seems now we are being flooded with people who are not keen to assimilate and are very different culturally. NZ as we have known it is rapidly disappearing.
  
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  May 15, 2026 1:01pm
cmm (semi-retired edition)

It’s all very well trying to scare away the bears with fake wolves but that’s not a solution. The bears are still breeding and their population is growing. Soon the bears will get used to the fake wolves.

Japan is going to have to face reality: they will need to severely curtail the population of bears though shooting, trapping, or contraceptive measures. Playing with robot wolves is kicking the can down the road – not fixing it.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/japan-responds-to-rise-in-bear-attacks-by-creating-an-army-of-robot-wolf-monsters/D4S47HIENNFHRNALVDMGWQE37E/
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May 15, 2026 10:31am
- Taieri
  
  It’s all very well trying to scare away the bears with fake wolves but that’s not a solution.
  ————-
  
  Apparently they have one in Poland, chasing off the wild boars. I don’t know how effective it is.
  
  https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/articles/c86ed499gp3o
  
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  May 15, 2026 10:58am
- MCōs
  
  That’s a bit like fixing Wellington’s leaky water mains and sewer pipes with band aids
  Somewhere down the track the piper’s going to have to be paid.
  
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  May 15, 2026 11:40am
  - Jethrod
    
    That’s a good one!
    
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    May 15, 2026 1:06pm
  - greybeard
    
    Go to this website.
    All you get is a lot of fluff. No details of management, staff, etc.
    https://www.wellingtonwater.co.nz/
    What is the very well paid CEO doing to correct the problems ? Why has he not made public statements ?
    Is he actually in the office ?
    
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    May 15, 2026 6:04pm
Damocles11

According to the latest Talbot Mills poll as regards the ‘preferred PM’ rankings, the truly dreadful milksop Chris Hipkins is on 23% while the eternal ‘comeback kid’ Winston Peters is on 17%.
What a damning indictment on the National Party and its leader PM Christopher Luxon, who sits on 20%. National are a deer in the headlights, paralysed to the point where they can’t take a strong stand on anything. Maorification and co-governance continue on their merry way, and when ACT announces immigration policy that would tighten up the current very loose regime and see criminal immigrants deported, National criticise these policies as “kneejerk” and “populist”.
‘Populist’ is not a dirty words in my book. It means politicians who represent the people and are prepared to act in their behalf, rather than gaslighting and outright lying to the people while governing on behalf of vested interests.
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May 15, 2026 10:46am
- Quail
  
  The problem is that National still regard ACT’s votes as rightfully theirs .
  So they can be pretty envious when ACT brings good and sound ideas to the table.
  They really wish that these policies were Nationals but sadly don’t have the courage to back them!
  
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  May 15, 2026 1:29pm
  - RoboRob
    
    No, It appears National dont actually like most of Acts policies. Too right wing for them.
    
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    May 15, 2026 3:05pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      “Too right wing for them.”
      
      Or, as we used to call it, centrist…
      
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      May 15, 2026 3:48pm
Yvette

Treaty
The Declaration of Independence of New Zealand (He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni), signed on October 28, 1835, by 34 northern Māori chiefs (rangatira) and later 52 total, formally declared New Zealand a sovereign nation. Facilitated by British Resident James Busby, it established the Confederation of United Tribes to assert mana, protect land against foreign threats (notably Charles de Thierry), and ask King William IV for protection.
Key Aspects of He Whakaputanga
Sovereignty Assertion: It declared that sovereign power (rangatiratanga) resided with the Māori chiefs.
Independence: New Zealand was declared an independent state.
Governance: It provided for a Congress (Te Whakaminenga) to meet annually at Waitangi to make laws.
British Recognition: King William IV acknowledged the declaration, and it acted as a precursor to the Treaty of Waitangi

Most people, except apparently Dame Jacinda Ardern, are aware of what is in the Treaty of Waitangi.

Why, when it was offered to Maori Chiefs, did they not say “We have He Whakaputanga o te Rangatiratanga o Nu Tireni – why do we need this Treaty of Waitangi? Why is it different to what we agreed only five years ago?”

Those that were signatories signed a British conceived document drafted, written, translated and presented by the British with absolutely no known Maori input, not defined in relation to He Whakaputanga and now it is treated as sacred –
how was that for a paper Trojan Horse, that we are now ‘saddled’ with?
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May 15, 2026 10:53am
- Paulus
  
  When will Maori Honour the Treaty, signed at Waitangi in 1840 ?
  The Magna Carta is still Honoured in its entirety and that was signed in Runnymeade on Thames in 1297, a little earlier than Maori of 1840.
  
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  May 15, 2026 1:51pm
  - kowtow
    
    ’tisn’t.
    
    ‘Today only three articles (or clauses) of the 1297 Magna Carta remain in force in every part of the UK except Scotland:
    
    the freedom of the Church of England (clause 1)
    the “ancient liberties” of the City of London (clause 13 in the 1215 charter, clause 9 in the 1297 statute)
    a right to due legal process (clauses 39 and 40 in the 1215 charter, clause 29 in the 1297 statute)’
    
    https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/magna-carta-does-it-still-matter/
    
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    May 15, 2026 3:16pm
imalwaysright

Haven’t seen much of Netanyahu on the news.
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May 15, 2026 10:58am
Maggy Wassilieff

Some discussion a few days ago whether Nga wai hono i te po Paki would meet with Charles Windsor whilst she was in London.

Seems she did.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/05/15/maori-queen-meets-with-king-charles-at-buckingham-palace/
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May 15, 2026 11:31am
- MCōs
  
  KCIII aka Charles Philip Arthur George, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of His other Realms and Territories King, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
  
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  May 15, 2026 11:43am
  - MCōs
    
    By contrast I have one Christian name and a surname. I know of at least four others in the family with the same name, plus a swag of female MCōs, where once again the M is the same name. To distinguish us we’re all called Cossie
    
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    May 15, 2026 11:58am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Is the Kiwi version ‘ cuzzie’ ? 😆
      
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      May 15, 2026 3:01pm
- Damocles11
  
  Time we became a Republic. I’m not longer comfortable with the idea of hereditary ‘royals’ from islands on the other side of the world being part of our constitutional arrangements. I’ve never been to the UK, I am citizen of New Zealand, a democratic nation in the southern South Pacific, I was born and bred here. ‘The British Crown’ and some Maori chiefs signed a piece of paper in the 1800’s and nobody can agree on what was agreed to. Time for ‘the British Crown’ to get right out of our affairs.
  A group of Maori from the Waikato anointing themselves as ‘royal’ and carrying on as such is absurd, as is the goings on of ‘the British Crown’ and all the pomp and circumstance of these ludicrous meetings. All of this nonsense should be swept away and this country should grow up and actually become a modern democracy – one with equal rights for all citizens.
  
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  May 15, 2026 12:14pm
  - Damocles11
    
    Seems that a lot of people still bow at the feet of ‘the British Crown.’ Amazing. This is not Britain and the British Empire only exists in the history books. The affection of the older generations for ‘the British Crown’ actually plays right into the hands of the Maori activists who want us to remain under the thumb of the Treaty of Waitangi.
    
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    May 15, 2026 4:35pm
  - rouppe
    
    A group of Maori from the Waikato anointing themselves as ‘royal’ and carrying on as such is absurd
    
    You think becoming a republic would stop that?
    
    Honestly?
    
    0 0
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    May 15, 2026 10:06pm
- Swifty
  
  I’ve noticed a peculiar thing online – the people who sneer and scorn at the British Monarchy, born to rule, that it hereditary, it’s not elected rather an accident of birth etc etc but who absolutely swoon at the Maori Queen, saying what a great leader she is and how much they love her etc.
  
  It’s all very odd.
  
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  May 15, 2026 12:40pm
  - Damocles11
    
    The double-standards of the mainstream media.
    
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    May 15, 2026 4:36pm
- Paulus
  
  Why should she, as she is only a tribal representative of the Maori Waikato tribe of New Zealand.
  
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  May 15, 2026 1:52pm
  - Swifty
    
    The Queen of Huntly.
    
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    May 15, 2026 5:43pm
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  Maori kings and queens are both colonialist and cultural appropriation.
  The hypocrisy is breathtaking.
  
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  May 15, 2026 3:24pm
Yvette

Ngāti Ruanui demands apology for ‘shameful’ Shane Jones comments
The comments were an affront to the Ngāti Ruanui Claims Settlement Act which was built on a foundation of mutual respect and a formal Crown apology, he said.
Jones, the Speaker’s office, and the Governor-General’s office have been approached for comment. [1]

Where is the Race Relations Commissioner? Is there one?
_____________
[1] https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/595324/ngati-ruanui-demands-apology-for-shameful-shane-jones-comments
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May 15, 2026 11:59am
Swifty

Never trust a man who dyes his beard, he’s hiding something.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/leaky-home-verdict-auckland-qsm-holder-davinder-rahal-ordered-to-pay-couple-825k-over-deceptive-sale/SLK2FQV6RVHP7JVLWQZ73UFBMU/
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May 15, 2026 12:49pm
Boy Geoff

Now that it looks like Iran wants to attack undersea cables and thereby destroy the world’s digital infrastructure, do you think lefties (in particular younger Greens who rely so heavily on the latest cellphones and other state of art digital communications technologies for their pleasure & importance), may be more open to getting rid of the Mad Mullahs?

It could even be an amended rallying call for Greta…
5 4
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May 15, 2026 1:08pm
Pope Punctilious II

The push for “hate speech” laws resumes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgl_Qrf7t4o
Tamantha Paul says she’s been subjected to abuse “every single day” (can that be true?). Nicola “Teal” Willis appears to sympathize.

The TV3 announcer says “there are concerns that increasing abuse is discouraging wahine Maori from entering politics”. Without proper data, a statement like this is just idea laundering. But progressives rarely let a lack of convincing data get in the way of a good story, or of their ideological goals. A notable case was the previous government’s Safer Online Services & Media Platforms Discussion Document. This document hinted at a “need” for special protection and special rights for Maori, even though the data presented in the document showed it was Asians (not Maori) who reported the highest levels of online “harm”. These are crap data as they’re based on self-reported subjective experiences, but even these data don’t support what the authors of the document plainly wanted.
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May 15, 2026 1:10pm
- Eastlander
  
  “there are concerns that increasing abuse is discouraging wahine Maori from entering politics”
  
  Ok but surely there must a downside somewhere.
  
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  May 15, 2026 2:07pm
- MCōs
  
  There’s a Maori woman in our whanau who was, to my mind, a non controversial radio host until a couple of years ago.
  She wasn’t an MP, she didn’t express political views on the air, she is fluent in te reo.
  She was bombarded with truly nasty emails and social media messages that had to be vetted by staff.
  Apparently Monday was the worst day for some reason
  
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  May 15, 2026 3:20pm
  - Eastlander
    
    It will all have been well-deserved and probably not even abuse at all.
    
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    May 15, 2026 5:10pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    Gosh. The VC of Waikato University was deluged with hate-mail when the university was accused of being “racist” by 6 academics from the Faculty of Maori & Indigenous Studies who were being investigated because they spent a large sum of money without authorization. He’s not a Maori woman. Remember John Key? (admittedly, I’d rather forget him). He got all kinds of abuse, including death threats, and a hip-hop “artist” said he wanted to kill Key and rape his daughter. Again, not a Maori woman. But did he bitch about it like Tamantha Paul? And as I noted above, Asians actually reported higher levels of online “harm” than Maori.
    
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    May 15, 2026 5:58pm
- Ghost
  
  Unfortunately there is abuse on both sides of the political fence, it needs to stop. People need to speak up when they see it. This is not what we should accept.
  
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  May 15, 2026 6:03pm
Northshoredoc

Well here’s a Friday surprise.

https://www.pharmac.govt.nz/news-and-resources/consultations-and-decisions/2026-05-proposal-to-amend-the-special-authority-access-criteria-for-type-2-diabetes-medicines

‘This proposal would mean that, from 1 August 2026, the special authority criteria for initiating these medicines would be amended to widen access based on a reduction to the 5-year cardiovascular risk criteria, reducing eligible 5-year cardiovascular risk to greater than or equal to (≥)10% (from ≥15% currently).

Additionally, the existing criteria that enables access to these medicines for Māori and Pacific people living with Type 2 diabetes without the need to demonstrate specific cardiovascular or renal risk factors, would be removed.’

Wiat for the uninformed wailing and howling from the usual suspects.
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May 15, 2026 1:55pm
Southern Raider

Once again complete scum get name suppression for no obvious reason at all

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/k-rd-pack-rape-auckland-trio-jailed-after-german-backpackers-harrowing-statement/FJQD5IQB7RGOTGG77UGZJNRT4A/
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May 15, 2026 3:13pm
- Ghost
  
  The judge did not grant them permanent name suppression, which lead to the lawyers advising they would appeal that decision. Until that is heard the name suppression remains. The judge said because of the seriousness of their offending there was a genuine public interest in knowing their identities
  
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  May 15, 2026 4:07pm
  - kowtow
    
    As the judge acknowledges the seriousness of the offending one hopes his sentencing will reflect just that.
    ( I wouldn’t hold my breath)
    
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    May 15, 2026 4:28pm
Swifty

Bad news for women in Aussie.

https://x.com/salltweets/status/2055148531376377974?s=46

I find it quite unbelievable.
1 1
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May 15, 2026 5:40pm

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