General Debate 12 June 2026

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CJames

Now that the inappropriately designated “business as usual” extreme model has finally been accepted as impossible by the IPCC, the alarmists have desperately been searching for another doom scenario to scare the punters. It is an emergency, their funding is at risk. The old favourite, sea level rise, is back as the go-to disaster.
RNZ have gone to their favourite academic alarmist, Jim Renwick, always ready with an apposite soundbite. He obliged with “At many locations studied, the one-in-100-year extreme sea level event is now occurring at least once per decade. Sea levels are continuing to rise so coastal inundation events will be happening even more frequently over time from here. …This week’s extreme wave event on the Wellington south coast reinforces the idea that we need to act now and develop response plans urgently”.
He got an associate to chip in with “even a small amount of sea-level rise (and/or land subsidence) can make rapid changes in the frequency of these events”. https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/environment_climate/597849/one-in-100-year-coastal-floods-now-happening-twice-a-year-in-wellington-study
So sea level rise in Wellington is causing flooding events a lot more frequently now? Has he looked at the actual data? https://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?id=690-011
Though it has data that only goes up to about 2023, the linear trend is just 2.74mm a year. So that is about 14cm in 50 years. The graph on PSMSL goes to late 2025 and actually has it flattening off. There was also land deformation from the earthquakes over that time, but I have not found any information on what those non-climate changes were so will assume they were zero.
Has that rise from the oceans getting warmer really caused a lot more flooding here? Is 6” really significant in a 10m swell? Or are you saying that despite IPCC finding to the contrary, climate change is causing more bad weather? Has he just jumped on yet another bandwagon (think Saint Greta) with his framing of the recent bad weather as proof of Global Boiling (TM)? Or is he just addicted to celebrity status and can’t cope with irrelevance – he misses people wanting selfies or asking for his autograph? Asking in a caring way for a friend.
We can put this set of statements from him alongside his other failed predictions and comments. No doubt he doesn’t want to be reminded of his quote from near 20 years ago, “Climate prediction is hard, half of the variability in the climate system is not predictable, so we don’t expect to do terrifically well.” https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/SC0706/S00026.htm
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June 12, 2026 8:00am
- greybeard
  
  Don’t you just love this Internet, with the ability to retrieve embarrassing bits from years ago ? !
  Good post, CJames.
  
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  June 12, 2026 8:08am
Cassandra

UK PM Starmer promised that the UK would go to 3.5% at a NATO meeting last year. Yesterday he said that the UK would aim for 2.68% by 2030 with no plan for 3.5%. His Defence Minister and the Deputy Minister have both resigned.

Starmer has an overwhelming majority in the House but it’s an FPP one from 34% of the vote. Rivals are circling, inside and out. But would a new Labour PM change anything?
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June 12, 2026 8:00am
- CJames
  
  When one looks at what the UK classifies as defence spending, their real spending is a lot lower than claimed. Statements made by their ministers indicate that this trend would continue if not put on steroids. IIRC, the money they we going to pay Mauritius to take Diego Garcia was seen port of defence budget. There was also equity and rainbow funding.
  
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  June 12, 2026 8:09am
Souvlaki

Increasingly, Luxon’s foolish words “There is NOTHING I like about the Treaty Principles Bill” look like coming back to bite National on the arse….like famous last words in effect !
This short clip of Michael Laws examining what is happening at the coal face of employment in Health Services is truly outrageous:
https://share.google/626PXQu4BqZpL3PA3
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June 12, 2026 8:10am
Benedict Yu

Not much surprises me any longer, but this really is something else.

Hat Tip to The Platform for covering the story yesterday.

https://youtu.be/Mx5pM4pa_CY?si=6dbP-VDPpbk4PC2B

This is a job advertisement for a “Sterilisation Technician” at Whanganui Hospital. As you would expect, this is a person who ensures a supply of sterile supplies including surgical instruments. Very important job.

Now I am confident in making this claim. A technician who supplies sterilised surgical instruments is unaware of the ethnicity of the patient who will benefit from his work. I am also confident that such technicians pay no heed to the ethnicity of patients when they go about their work.

Now wait for the position requirements. It is 11 pages. You can read it in detail at the link below. I will provide some excerpts.

“[You] are committed to working in
partnership and supporting
initiatives that meet the health
needs and aspirations of Māori
individuals and whānau.

… will have insights into your own
cultural awareness and an
understanding of how your social-
cultural influences inform biases
that impact on your interactions
with Māori, individuals, whānau,
and colleagues.

… will ensure that where there is an
inherent power imbalance it is not
exacerbated by overlaying your
own cultural values and practices
on Māori, individuals, whānau, and
colleagues.😫

… have the ability to incorporate
Māori models of health, values-
based patient and whānau-
centred models of care, and
mātauranga Māori (Māori
Knowledge) to support
empowerment and health.”

Full job description here:

https://tinyurl.com/y4t84y2z

How do you incorporate mātauranga Māori into sterilising surgical supplies? There can be no superior “Maori knowledge” that pertains to the sterilisation of these Items. Maori probably practised forms of hygiene based on tapu and trial and error experience. But there were no steam autoclaves.

I say this with sincerity. New Zealand is doomed if these recruitment practices continue in the State sector. The government could have, and should have, stopped these practices in the first 100 days of office. Instead things have become worse.

Now some would say, “it does not matter”.

It does matter. New Zealand is either a developed nation, promoting competency, excellence, and science, or it is a tribal nation, pretending to be governed by competency and science, but increasingly influenced by tribalism and mysticism. It cannot be both at the same time.

Just for interest I asked AI to provide a synthesis of the characteristics of a competent Sterilisation Technician in the USA.

“Someone excellent at sterile processing is meticulous, calm under pressure, highly reliable, and deeply committed to patient safety and infection prevention.”

Hard to argue with that.

The Government should intervene in this case. It cannot be allowed to stand.
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June 12, 2026 8:13am
artemisia

Domestic retailers win bigger share as online spending jumps 10% in 2025 – Herald 11 Jun

Most notable as a sign of what’s coming – the online category for grocery shopping is up from 10% in 2024 to 22% in 2025. That’s a sea change, with fuel price impacts still to come. More huge supermarket distribution centres surely coming, along with additional automation becoming increasingly more cost effective than low wage jobs.

My Food Bag, previously reported as the third largest in the sector, is using the Pick-to-Light order fulfilment system. Increased productivity, including all but eliminating time consuming order mistakes.
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June 12, 2026 8:25am
pdm

BY – have you emailed Simeon Brown?

He is one of the more competent Ministers from the National Party component of the Coalition and is therefore quite likely to do something about this stupidity.
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June 12, 2026 8:26am
artemisia

Several media headlines of the NZ 50 sliding this week refer to US strikes on Iran. Haven’t seen similar headlines about the impact of NZ stocks going ex dividend, as is usual this time of year.
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June 12, 2026 8:36am
- MCōs
  
  The NZ50 has gone up about 1.5% over the week
  
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  June 12, 2026 9:06am

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