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July 1, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 01 July 2026

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General Debate

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artemisia

School lunches. Yet again. The Auditor General found about half of meals did not meet the nutritional requirements. Mr Seymour said put more veges in and fewer children want to eat them. Sounds about right.

Time to pull the plug if the experience of a principal interviewed by Ryan Bridge on NewstalkZB this morning (5.15 am)? Principal Phil Palfrey, Kaitao Intermediate in Rotorua, was unrelentingly negative. He told us about the waste there. He said 40% to 50% go uneaten. Kids are hungry but the food is ‘unappetising’ though fortunately some of them buy food from the local shop on the way to school. The principal has tried some of the lunches and says some were ‘absolutely horrible’ but some were ‘not too bad’ though he couldn’t say which they were. Or whether they had the correct amount of veges.

Mr Palfrey was asked by Ryan Bridge if he has seen any material change in academic performance at his school since free school lunches started. His answer – No.

Not to worry though as Auckland University’s Dr Kelly Garton, in this mornings news on NewstalkZB, says children who have ‘decent’ school lunches have higher levels of attainment’ so more money needed to, presumably, add more veges. Good luck with that, academia.

Something is wrong with this picture.
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July 1, 2026 8:11am
- Raphael
  
  Last night my wife was doing the cooking. a lovely and tasty beef stirfry.
  1 of my kids ate it, two others had chicken nuggets and chips, and 1 had a bowl of porridge (in her defence she is sick).
  The eldest is 19, the youngest 14. All girls.
  
  If as a parent I can’t get my kids to eat healthy, how would the government?
  
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  July 1, 2026 8:31am
  - lifesgood
    
    Why give them a choice? Nuggets and chips are very unhealthy. Bad eating habits being developed.
    
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    July 1, 2026 8:37am
  - pdm
    
    Then again the mantra that we boomers grew up with is well gone.
    
    `If you don’t eat what is on your plate you will get it for breakfast tomorrow morning.!!!’
    
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    July 1, 2026 8:45am
    - R
      
      The other mantra was. …’you will sit there until you have finished that meal’. !!!
      
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      July 1, 2026 9:15am
      - AitchW
        
        I remember as a very young boy sitting at hte dining table all Sunday afternoon after refusing to eat tongue. Talk about child abuse!!!!
        
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        July 1, 2026 9:30am
      - leoj
        
        AitchW might like this joke:
        
        I couldn’t eat anything that comes out of an animals’s mouth. I’ll have eggs instead.
        
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        July 1, 2026 10:56am
      - Gussy
        
        That was my lot, too.
        The dog knew the score and would wait behind at the table with me.
        We’d quickly rejoin the family, in front of the telly, dog licking his chops.
        I’m sure they knew.
        
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        July 1, 2026 12:43pm
      - NothingLeft
        
        lambs tongues were fine, but the aspic jelly they came in was utterly vile.
        
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        July 1, 2026 2:27pm
    - Ian Boag
      
      Kidneys, liver, hearts, brains, sweetbreads, trotters ….. offal or (awful) 🙂
      
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      July 1, 2026 3:08pm
      - NZer In Exile
        
        I’ll pass on the sweetbreads and brains. Eating brains just seems inherently wrong to me. Guck!
        
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        July 2, 2026 8:06pm
  - artemisia
    
    Heh, My Food Bag is well aware of kids and veges. Their recipes are heavy on the veges and have very sensible and specific instructions. Like the hidden vege trick, or separate rather than mix up, or chop finely….
    
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    July 1, 2026 8:54am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Have dinner at 10 pm.
    Everything tastes good when you’re hungry.
    
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    July 1, 2026 9:06am
  - lastmanstanding
    
    Those who dont feed their kids are guilty of child abuse. No excuses. We have an adequate welfare system in fact IMHO far to adequate to have any excuses for kids not going to school with a lunch from home. It wasnt a problem in the past. Its down to lazy feckless so called parents and care givers. The more you do for them the more they expect. Next the Govenment will be provider arse wipers for them.
    
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    July 1, 2026 9:23am
    - R
      
      ..’a—wipers…that would be a challenging job. Too many people would be too lazy to get of their bums ….. !
      
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      July 1, 2026 9:54am
      - Keith White
        
        The taxpayer would have to fund bidets… and then videos of how to use said bidets… and then visiting ‘facilitators’ to coordinate home bumcare through these pale-male-colonizer-invented devices.
        
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        July 1, 2026 1:31pm
  - wisteria
    
    This says more about the parents than the kids. Good parents have brought up the family to eat together and have what is provided.
    
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    July 1, 2026 9:49am
  - Sacha
    
    A decade and more ago, I lived in a small tourist town in the central North Island.
    I was on the ‘remedial reading’ roster at the local primary school.
    At the end of the first year I made ‘graduation certificates’ for the kids who would not be coming back next year . For these kids it was often the very first time that they that they had succeeded at anything. They didn’t have any concept of success. I had quartered oranges, well, just because –
    The sad thing was that of the 5 kids who ‘graduated’ that first year, only ONE of them knew what an orange was and she had to work hard to convince the others that it would be really delicious to eat.
    The other thing was the physical neglect – some of the kids were dirty – their clothes were ill fitting and one kid wore sneakers about 3 sizes too big. He told me that someone else had taken his shoes because they were newer . . . . Another boy came to school, midwinter, in a sleeveless singlet – a case of ‘last up, worst dressed’. I mentioned it to a teacher and she raided the lost property box to find him a long-sleeved t-shirt.
    It was a hard lesson for me – I had thought we were hard-up when we had a young family but we were millionaires compared to the lives that some of these kids lived.
    
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    July 1, 2026 10:51am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      There’s no doubt that some youngsters in NZ are subjected to serious neglect and schools are often expected to “fix” the problems of the child having inadequate food, disruptive behaviours, unattended health conditions (skin, ears, eyes), inadequate clothing (no raincoat or warm jersey/cardigan), etc.
      
      I think the problem with the hungry school child has been allowed to spiral into a political football, as it is not considered fair for schools to single out needy, neglected children and deliver targeted services to them at school.
      
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      July 1, 2026 11:32am
  - BeaB
    
    Who supplied the nuggets and chips?
    
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    July 1, 2026 11:04am
    - Flossie
      
      Quite right BB. I bet the kids didn’t purchase or cook them.
      
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      July 1, 2026 11:42am
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    If the kids won’t eat the meal provided, serve it up at the next meal time. Soon they will get hungry and eat it!
    
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    July 1, 2026 1:54pm
- imalwaysright
  
  “Principal Phil Palfrey, Kaitao Intermediate in Rotorua, was unrelentingly negative. He told us about the waste there. He said 40% to 50% go uneaten.”
  
  If 40% go uneaten then he should reduce his order by 40%.
  
  It is he who is causing the waste.
  
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  July 1, 2026 8:53am
  - kowtow
    
    I wonder how his pupils do , education wise .That’s what his job is.
    
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    July 1, 2026 9:49am
  - rouppe
    
    Precisely.
    
    I suspect that a significant number of children eat lunch brought from home, and that if he ordered a more appropriate number the ministry of education might realize that most people don’t need it.
    
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    July 1, 2026 10:28am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Another college up north was ordering a lunch for each pupil, about 1200 a day. He also complained that more than half were wasted.
      
      Yes, it could be that principals are deliberately over ordering to disguise how small the problem actually is, and to deliberately push up costs and make the Minister look bad?
      
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      July 1, 2026 11:00am
    - Paulus
      
      Why are so many small children still close to obesity by the time they leave Primary School.
      Can’t be hunger !
      
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      July 1, 2026 1:29pm
  - Ghost
    
    orders aren’t made on the day, so they have to guess how many will be at school on that future date, and how many will eat the slop that is served to them. seeing the photos yesterday, my dog eats better.
    
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    July 1, 2026 1:36pm
  - Master Mariner
    
    That’s assuming he can do the Math.
    Make it into a Math assignment and get the kids involved.
    
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    July 1, 2026 4:41pm
- Paulus
  
  What is wrong of course it is Election Year.
  I say scrap the whole thing if they believe it is so wrong and give responsibilities to Parents and Schools again.
  The unions love the so called 50% (a load of bullshit) figures but politically they want more power.
  Is not the whole deal a Ministry of Education (Marxist) responsibility ?
  
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  July 1, 2026 9:09am
  - R
    
    Isn’t the provision of nutritious meals a PARENTAL RESPINSIBILITY. After all the parents, not the general TAXPAYER, bought the child(ren?) into the world. I’m assuming that these are motivated net tax paying parents who care.
    
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    July 1, 2026 9:19am
  - BeaB
    
    And what about the schools that put out unopened lunches for the staff to take home or invite parents to take them home for dinner?
    Very few left over by all accounts.
    
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    July 1, 2026 11:11am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      The Min of Education has banned schools from offering left-over school lunches to kids to take home or to groups who distribute to hungry adults.
      
      From a couple of weeks ago:
      
      Some schools continue to redistribute surplus lunches to their communities despite our advice not to share leftover food after the school day.
      
      https://www.education.govt.nz/bulletins/healthy-school-lunches-panui/11-06-26
      
      https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/heather-du-plessis-allan-drive/audio/pat-newman-hora-hora-school-principal-on-the-education-ministry-telling-schools-not-to-let-students-take-leftover-lunches-home/
      
      The School lunches can’t be that bad if other folk want to eat them.
      
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      July 1, 2026 11:40am
- RoboRob
  
  Wrote a long post on this but lost it all when WordPress decided I wasn’t logged in, Arrgh.
  
  The short of it was.
  
  Most of the kids (90+%) dont need the lunches. If they did they wouldn’t have the cash to buy lunch from the shops on the way to school. If they were starving they would eat them regardless of how ‘bad’ they are.
  
  Apparently they are unhealthy. I would like the ‘experts’ to compare them to a parent provided sandwich, apple and biscuit style lunch. I suspect, they are more substantial. My wife says they are small portions, but if that’s an issue surely the school could give a hungry kid a second rather then throwing them out?
  
  The Act policy was right, scrap it. Their coalition partners didn’t have the stones to scrap it and so instead we had a year of media attacks. Now come election year it is again back on the agenda, with every media outlet running stories on how ‘Seymours lunches program is a failure’. This could have been scrapped in year one of this government but very poor political judgement has left it as an anchor on the government and ironically the ACT party.
  
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  July 1, 2026 9:12am
  - R
    
    RobRob…politically, do you really believe that the MSM would support a ‘scrap this socialist school meals’ policy? in an election year
    
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    July 1, 2026 9:22am
    - RoboRob
      
      No. But if it had been scrapped in 2023 the MSM would have stopped talking about it within weeks and NOBODY would remember it now and it wouldn’t be another attack vector.
      
      Its smart politics, you do your unpopular stuff in year one because people dont remember by year three.
      
      Its the same as a lot of people dont remember all the good things this government did in year one.
      
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      July 1, 2026 10:22am
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      It would VERY STUPID politics to scrap the lunches program a few months before an election – the media would have a field day, as they did with Potaka’s clueless announcement about opening up DOC land for sale or development. It should have been scrapped in year one.
      
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      July 1, 2026 10:27am
      - RoboRob
        
        Lol, yes it would. I wasn’t suggesting they should scrap it now, I am saying it should have been scrapped immediately post the 2023 election.
        
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        July 1, 2026 11:22am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Strange that we aren’t hearing much from Iwi on the school lunches.
    They seem to be experts on mining, marine reserves, ports, public land management, water supply, hydro generation, celestial star systems, hotels, casinos, central Auckland high rise buildings….
    
    Surely one of them would know how to cut a lunch?
    
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    July 1, 2026 10:15am
  - gravedodger
    
    On point Rob, I often wonder what an elite academic would claim after assessing what was in my lunch tin 1948 to 1955.
    Then I also wonder what our neighbours missus gave to her son who devoured the soft of a 1/4 procera loaf between bus corner and his home when school bus doubled as bread van
    
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    July 1, 2026 12:00pm
  - Paulus
    
    But what about the many School holidays.
    Where does the food go ?
    
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    July 1, 2026 1:32pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  And who is caring about the kids arriving at school without breakfast?
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/education/559428/school-breakfasts-a-really-great-way-to-show-our-community-that-we-care
  
  https://www.kickstartbreakfast.co.nz/breakfast-clubs
  
  Perhaps we should just keep kids at school until 6pm and furnish them with a nutritious hot dinner before they go home for the evening.
  
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  July 1, 2026 10:17am
  - imalwaysright
    
    It will be meals on wheels for the parents next…
    
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    July 1, 2026 10:29am
    - R
      
      We already have meals on wheels for some parents. It’s called WELFARE!
      
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      July 1, 2026 11:08am
      - Kiwiguy
        
        AKA Cash in a flash!
        
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        July 1, 2026 12:22pm
  - rouppe
    
    Some unfortunately live in a garage, so we must provide soft, warm, beds for everyone, just in case.
    
    Which turns the school into a boarding school, or in some instances, a borstal.
    
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    July 1, 2026 10:31am
    - nzgoose
      
      perhaps that would be a better opption, more boarding schools, but getting the kids to respect the teachers and staff is the problem, we would have to make it legal for the “school” to withhold things till the kids asked nicely for food, comfortable bed etc. but we know that would never happen.
      
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      July 1, 2026 12:25pm
    - Gulag1917
      
      With a lot of bullying.
      
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      July 1, 2026 1:12pm
  - Flossie
    
    You do know of course Maggy that there are kids without warm pyjamas or blankets – heck, even beds. Maybe school halls could be turned into dormitories?
    I am being facetious.
    
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    July 1, 2026 11:45am
- Prince
  
  Any mention of parental responsibilities, or is the Govt now expected to provide nutritious meals to kids ?
  Throw all the money you like at it, you can’t overcome parental neglect.
  
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  July 1, 2026 10:22am
  - Flossie
    
    I think the more that is provided by the state or the community, the more that is expected.
    
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    July 1, 2026 11:46am
    - Paulus
      
      No cannot be right – that is Socialism !
      
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      July 1, 2026 1:33pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        NZ is not socialist????
        Fooled me!!
        
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        July 1, 2026 2:07pm
- Groggy
  
  the ACT playbook in action, degrade a successful service to the point it is no longer delivering and then cancel it. Start by gutting local service provision for the benefit of multinational providers of slop, when said disgusting slop is rejected can the whole thing. meanwhile the only losers are the kids.
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:00am
- Dougal10
  
  Our 2 local state schools boys and girls have had these from the begining , the only times they were really eaten was when the previous govt allowed the schools to punish the children who brought lunch from home. When this practise stopped the consumption of govt lunches dropped to 50% and 2 years on it is down to maybe 20% and thats usually just kids who get up too late to bring their own . This is a huge win for common sense and the program can be shut down and those 20% can be given some education on what they could pack the night before.
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:29am
- nzgoose
  
  kids are hungry but they are not hungry enough to eat whats put in front of them and “some buy food on there way to school” more proof that the system is not required.
  
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  July 1, 2026 12:18pm
Pope Punctilious II

Usman Koala throws his weight behind a campaign against “Islamophobia” https://share.google/fW9kmYp13Htu5nEUm
Two suggestions about how Usman can help reduce “Islamophobia”:
(1) By keeping his mouth shut;
(2) By having the chip on his shoulder surgically removed.
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July 1, 2026 8:19am
- Swifty
  
  He voluntarily subscribes to a totalitarian ideology which is antithetical to a modern, secular democratic state.
  
  If Islam ruled Canberra there’d be no democracy, no freedom of speech, no separation of religion and state and two-tier citizenry – believers and non-believers. Not to mention all sorts of prohibitions on things Aussies take for granted.
  
  Why shouldn’t he and his co-religionists be given a hard time? Why should the West make these people feel welcome?
  
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  July 1, 2026 9:54am
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    He bitches about “Islamophobia” in a country that has given him every opportunity. Australian test cricket selection is meritocratic, whereas in Pakistan he’d need to have know the right people to get selected. No sympathy for the guy.
    
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    July 1, 2026 10:53am
imalwaysright

Michael Laws to Winston Peters on the Platform this morning:

“We have 400,000 New Zealanders on the Jobseeker benefit. Are we trying to solve a welfare problem with immigration?

Peters: “Yes.
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July 1, 2026 8:25am
- R
  
  NO..Peters. we are using immigration to hide a WELFARE ENTITLEMENT problem. 400,000(?) people are too lazy and unmotivated to make themselves employable!
  
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  July 1, 2026 9:58am
  - imalwaysright
    
    R
    
    My post may have given the wrong impression.
    Peters would agree with your summation, his answer was said with a tone of frustration rather than as a matter of fact.
    
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    July 1, 2026 11:06am
    - R
      
      I.A.R..that post makes a lot more sense. Even allowing for Winston’s politiking. It’s that year again!
      
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      July 1, 2026 12:13pm
- SoloView
  
  @ imalwaysright
  
  Wonder where Michael Laws got his figures from..
  
  From RNZ
  As of December last year, 427,236 people – about the population of Christchurch – were receiving a — main benefit.
  
  More than half of beneficiaries – 223,512 people, or 6.9 percent of the working age population – were on the — Jobseeker benefit.
  
  Micheal’s always good for a bit of exaggeration
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/589310/beneficiary-numbers-soar-to-12-year-high-despite-government-s-reduction-promise
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:47am
  - imalwaysright
    
    SV
    He may have meant those living on a benefit, but his point was that we are importing people to become taxpayers to pay our own citizens welfare.
    
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    July 1, 2026 12:55pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Job seeker and supported living numbers have been on the rise…
    
    The Job Seeker/ Health or Disability condition numbers (dark green line) have increased significantly. It’s also clear that the proportion being granted that benefit for psychological or psychiatric reasons (turquoise line) is supporting the growth (which is well above natural population growth.)
    
    https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/lindsay-mitchell-too-sick-to-work-needs-addressing
    
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    July 1, 2026 2:14pm
- Ghost
  
  we have 215,214 people on jobseekers. of that 118,359 are work ready, 96,852 have a health issue or disability.
  
  There are 409,575 on a main benefit. that is jobseeker, supported living, and sole parent. It includes youth payment and young parent, finally emergency benefit
  
  March Quarter
  
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  July 1, 2026 12:23pm
  - MCōs
    
    I have a Sisters of Compassion calendar. This year it features historic photographs of the organization and this month is a 1908 photo of the first crèche in New Zealand located in Buckle St.
    Back then there was no government support for solo mothers because it was believed it would be taken advantage of by the desperate women.
    The sisters looked after the kids while their mothers worked. They were fed, bathed, their clothes were washed and dried, all for no payment ready to be retrieved at the end of the day.
    They also ran a soup kitchen nearby and still do
    
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    July 1, 2026 4:36pm
    - NeverMindTheBollocks
      
      Mother Mere Hohepa* for sainthood!
      
      * aka Suzanne Aubert
      
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      July 1, 2026 9:30pm
Im Right

Ughhh school lunches, the perfect nutritional lunch would not be eaten by most kids, a good example is Jamie Oliver who campaigned for more nutritional.meals in the UK, it nearly broke his spirit when he was cooking in schools to see his ‘nutritional’ and ‘tasty’ meals were mainly untouched and the pizza/chips/cheap sausages were the winners.
Kids are fickle, and the sight of something that is good for them (veges, nothing deep fried etc etc) just won’t be eaten as it’s generally NOT the kind of food they get at home.
It’s a sad state of affairs, but it will always be a losing battle in feeding kids in schools.
The NZ principle said some kids buy a pie for their lunch at local dairy or bakery, he seems to believe it’s because the lunches are inedible, IMHO that’s BS, even if the meals were ‘tasty’, a kid would rather have a pie with their mates!
That sums it all up really.
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July 1, 2026 8:30am
- BeaB
  
  A couple of pies, some lollies and a big bottle of Coke from the corner dairy will usually top $10. Plenty of money to make a decent school lunch at home. I am sure there are people struggling with bills but feeding your kids comes first.
  Schools should provide no more than a cupboard of stuff like protein bars and cartons of milk for kids to help themselves to if they are hungry. And a ban on teachers taking them!
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:18am
  - Kiwiguy
    
    It’s easy to make a delicious dinner/breakfast meal for around $4-5 per head, but a lot of people can’t be bothered.
    Also, people are losing the skill of knowing how to shop and cook in a cheap and nutritious way. It’s not even hard to do.
    
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    July 1, 2026 12:26pm
    - artemisia
      
      A few years ago some charities asked people to stop donating tinned tomatoes or chickpeas to their food bank.
      
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      July 1, 2026 1:27pm
      - Kiwiguy
        
        Yes, I remember that. Sad how such a basic life skill like cooking and nutrition, is being lost amongst those who need it most.
        Thankfully my wife, (& most of our friends, come to think of it) still know how to cook nutritious meals, cheaply – even the wealthy people I know, still cook like this – they haven’t lost the skill even though they could afford to eat out every night.
        
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        July 1, 2026 2:05pm
- MCōs
  
  My wife is Thai and we have Thai food pretty much every day because that’s what she knows how to cook.
  When my kids were still at school their mates used to coincidentally be hanging around the house at meal times
  Do you kids want something to eat?
  Aw yeah!
  
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  July 1, 2026 2:05pm
  - OlderChas
    
    In the thread above – IMHO it is not a problem of not knowing how to cook food for their kids – it is the problem of having money left over after paying a dealer to buy the food, and getting off the pipe long enough to get up and cook it.
    
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    July 1, 2026 5:58pm
    - Ghost
      
      Substance abuse ruins lives and some children suffer because of the addictions of their parents. But the vast amount of data in NZ points to the problem not being addiction, that a small part of small group of people, it is the high cost of housing, inflation, low wages. Plenty of hard working parents go without to make sure their kids get what they need. It’s wrong to try and make this into a false view that this is a drug/alcohol problem, for a small amount it is, for the majority, it isn’t.
      
      Our power prices are insanely high, cost of living, petrol, housing costs, etc, sometimes for people there is just not enough money once everything is paid to buy enough food, especially with how expensive food is here
      
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      July 1, 2026 6:10pm
  - OlderChas
    
    MCos – what’s your address? I’ll come around and scare the kids away and stay to make sure they don’t sneak back – at meal times lol. (Disclosure: spent many years in the Far East whilst Military, and Thai food is the best!)
    
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    July 1, 2026 6:00pm
lifesgood

What is wrong with marmite sandwiches, a small packet of raisins, an apple or banana? That’s what my kids had, sometimes peanut butter before being allergic to peanuts became a thing. If kids are hungry they would eat that, if they are buying food on the way to school they have useless parents. Why should the tax payer feed their kids? My children and grandchildren made their own lunches from the age of 7.
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July 1, 2026 8:36am
- nigel2010
  
  it worked for me. I was grateful to my mum who had to count the slices of bread to make sure me and my sister and 2 brothers had lunches everyday. it was eat them or go hungry and we all ate them. I have never had an answer to why it’s now the government (tax payers) responsibility to feed kids and not the parents
  
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  July 1, 2026 10:20am
- leoj
  
  A decent breakfast (at home, before school) would mean a snack lunch (provided by the parents).
  
  Then scrap the whole government program.
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:00am
Tomtoddy

School lunches are an impossible concept. You cant give kids what they prefer because its not healthy – give them what is healthy and they will ignore it.

Throw in the politicised teachers and an anti media and you cant win. Seymour is on a hiding to nothing.
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July 1, 2026 8:40am
- pdm
  
  TT so true about Seymour being on a hiding to nothing.
  
  Then again he is one of very few Ministers in Cabinet who will front, take it on the chin and deal with it without backing down.
  
  The rest and especially most of the National Ministers in Cabinet will have backed down as soon as the going got a bit tough.
  
  Ah la Tama Potaka with the Conservation Legislation last week.
  
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  July 1, 2026 8:50am
  - RoboRob
    
    Of course Seymour was somewhat setup. He wanted to scrap the school lunches, that was Act policy. Instead National put him in charge of them.
    
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    July 1, 2026 9:01am
    - lastmanstanding
      
      Its clear to me TOP are a branch of the Labour Party. A former Labour Party MP is CoS and Chippies missus have a senior position with TOP. Labour are hoping TOP get over the 5% to provide them with some support to counter the Greens even more made cap policies.
      
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      July 1, 2026 9:26am
      - Gravelroad
        
        Yep.
        The Opportunity Party leader, Ms Wong, will be the new Jacinda before you have time to say “be kind”.
        And I expect a lot of voters will really like that.
        
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        July 1, 2026 9:40am
      - RoboRob
        
        What position does Toni have in TOP? I see a lot of people reference this but when I did a search she only came up as a Labour candidate. Would love to point others here to that fact, if true.
        
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        July 1, 2026 10:24am
      - wsk12345
        
        RR she’s a Labour candidate??
        
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        July 1, 2026 11:17am
      - RoboRob
        
        @wsk12345
        
        My bad. There is a Toni standing for Labour, Toni Boynton, I assumed that was Hipkins Toni. I didn’t think Toni was that common of a name, clearly it is in left wing circles 🙂
        
        The answer to my question around Toni appears to be ….
        
        Iain Lees-Galloway is heavily involved with The Opportunity Party (TOP). He joined the party and was appointed as its General Manager.
        
        Toni Grace and Iain Lees-Galloway are business partners in their own private commercial venture, a consultancy.
        
        There is no record of the consultancy itself consulting for or contracting with TOP.
        
        Supposedly, while Lees-Galloway acts as the General Manager for TOP, Toni Grace remains strictly aligned with supporting Chris Hipkins and the Labour Party.
        
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        July 1, 2026 1:50pm
      - Ghost
        
        Toni and Ian’s startup it appears was quietly wrapped up in 2021. It was called here’s good, the website is long dead. the last snapshot of the website is February 2021
        
        https://web.archive.org/web/20210127072528/https://www.heresgood.nz/
        
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        July 1, 2026 1:56pm
    - Quail
      
      Yes RR.
      Luxon and Peters clearly handed Seymour the dirty end of the stick at the coalition talks.
      IMHO Seymour has done well with the few stale crumbs that dropped off the debate table for ACT.
      So well in fact that he would have been the best pick of the triumvirate for Prime Minister by far!
      
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      July 1, 2026 10:51am
  - Quail
    
    pdm.
    ( a la Tama Potaka)
    Absolutely correct.
    ,The backdown on new conservation legislation, “where land not required for conservation purposes could be sold for private enterprise “ is cowardly and worse plainly stupid!
    Given the huge powers now embedded in the RMA , powers that ensure use of conservation ( or private land )is now impossible without bureaucratic consent.
    Perhaps it is not the same under iwi ownership?
    
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    July 1, 2026 9:42am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  The French don’t seem to understand that “school lunches are impossible concept”. In France, schoolkids are seated at tables and served three (or even four) courses for lunch. They learn what makes up a balanced, nutritious diet. They learn to enjoy vegetables that have been prepared by cooks who know what they’re doing. They learn to eat and behave in a civilized way – which all too many kids aren’t going to learn at home in this country. School lunches done properly deliver multiple benefits. But we try to do it on the cheap in AotearoaCorp, and we’ve ended up with something that pleases nobody.
  
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  July 1, 2026 10:40am
  - BeaB
    
    French school lunches are famous but it’s a hugely costly programme and the French economy is in deep trouble. Children from our family thought a lot of food was ‘disgusting’ especially the fish and chips. They loved the olives and cheeses though.
    
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    July 1, 2026 11:21am
  - kowtow
    
    The French education system is based on imperialism and preparing their own children to be cannon fodder , literally.
    
    Feed ’em and get ’em fit ( gymnastics) to fight the Prussians and dominate Europe.
    
    Britain introduced milk in schools cos they found their cannon fodder in the Boer wars were so sickly.
    
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    July 1, 2026 12:21pm
  - Paulus
    
    In the UK many years ago Schools provided lunches at tables and cooked and served by local ladies.
    My Mother in Law headed such a school lunch programme, and was much lauded as a friend when she retired.
    
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    July 1, 2026 1:42pm
- NothingLeft
  
  Seems like it should be incredibly easy, bread from a freezer, margarine, a number of spreads, kids make their own sandwiches or toast and clean up after themselves. Add in milk from fridge, restocked as needed. All pretty cheap, near zero waste and no genuinely hungry kids left in need.
  
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  July 1, 2026 1:19pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    Yes, certainly a better idea than the present set-up.
    
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    July 1, 2026 2:48pm
Southern Raider

Last night OneNews ran a story by their Maori reporter about influencers trying to convince Maori to split their votes by electing TPM candidates in electorates and giving party votes to Greens or Labour to create a 2 seat overhang.

I couldn’t work out whether TVNZ was running the story to show the folly of this idea or actually subtly promoting it.
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July 1, 2026 8:42am
- Clyde
  
  MSM are the comms department of the Liemore Pardy/Watermelons/Racists. So the question is rhetorical I assume.
  
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  July 1, 2026 9:33am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yes, it confused me too…it was if I was viewing a balanced report.
  
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  July 1, 2026 9:39am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    Story here:
    https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/06/30/maori-voting-strategy-to-split-or-not-to-split/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
    
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    July 1, 2026 10:13am
  - RoboRob
    
    I think the issue here is that the labour party are saying dont split vote, all Labour. TPM are saying split. The TPM / Labour loving MSM ‘journalists’ don’t know how to pitch the story and ironically we have ended up on a balanced report!
    
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    July 1, 2026 10:26am
- rouppe
  
  The fact that the Maori roll can be used to create overhang seats, and that maori are being coached in how to maximize that, is simply another reason to scrap two electrical rolls.
  
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  July 1, 2026 10:36am
- Philview
  
  TVNZ News are several months behind the print media on this story. It certainly alerted their viewers to the tactic on how to get the overhang in the Left’s favour.
  
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  July 1, 2026 10:57am
- Paulus
  
  You mean you think One News understood what it was all about – ?
  
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  July 1, 2026 1:43pm
Gravelroad

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/360999859/mark-reason-new-zealands-team-real-men-humble-englands-ultra-egos
If you are interested in sport, read this (and even if you are not interested in sport, read this).
Mark Reason is usually not backward in coming forward to comment critically regarding NZ’s sporting achievements – especially about rugby.
Not this time.
It is a great tribute to NZ test cricket today.
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July 1, 2026 8:50am
- pdm
  
  Yes gravel.
  
  An excellent piece by Reason today.
  
  There are two or three similar articles on Stuff this morning and the Poms and Stokes in particular are copping it in all of the ones I read.
  
  Glowing praise for NZ though.
  
  Winners are grinners.
  
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  July 1, 2026 8:52am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  That test match was actually stunning to have won the third test. for a start, the best batsman we have ever produced was out, the newly crowned number one test bowler in the world was absent, their spin bowler who is good enough to score test centuries (and did in the second test was absent)
  
  first day another bowler went down with concussion and was replaced, and bowled well, then a second bowler had hand problems, and on the last day when it was set, our fastest bowler went off with a hamstring injury, yet we still hammered them
  
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  July 1, 2026 9:28am
- MCōs
  
  I read that no team has ever lost a test after posting such a huge opening stand so it was odds on England were not going to win against a team most people had underestimated all along.
  Interestingly enough for all the emphasis placed on Ben Stokes his batting and bowling averages weren’t as good as Colin de Grandhomme who played 29 tests for NZ, but never drew attention to himself with his laboured media presence.
  
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  July 1, 2026 10:38am
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    Fancy outbowled by de Grandhomme! Mind you, averages don’t tell the whole story, and Stokes did have the ability to conjure vital wickets on flat tracks (his 4 for 70-odd in the 3rd test stopped NZ from running away to a 500+ total), whereas de Grandhomme was more of a greentop bully.
    
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    July 1, 2026 10:50am
G the giant from Dunedin

Morgan poll out yesterday, has Labour dropping another half percent and now at 25%, coalition on 51% and opposition on 42%, sadly it looks like this Marxist TOP is going to get in and is on 6.5%
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July 1, 2026 9:31am
- Raphael
  
  With the amount of shilling the Media has been doing for TOP I am not surprised that they are polling that high.
  
  Has there been another minor party that has never got above 2.5% that has got as much positive press?
  
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  July 1, 2026 10:59am
- Notsofast
  
  TOP policy is to first talk to the highest polling party.
  Until they polled like this, it was labour, but they are taking labour votes, so national will be highest polling.
  Meanwhile, there is stability in the coalition vote above 50%, so shuffling the decks on both sides remains immaterial.
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:30am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    Yes, but the 5%that was wasted votes and half the rights a couple of months ago will now be in play for the left
    
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    July 1, 2026 3:28pm
- Wairoa Native
  
  Interesting poll. Looks like TOP is eating Labour’s support. I guess that is 48.5% for the opposition versus 51% for the current coalition (since it’s pretty obvious where TOP stand). What does a TPM overhang in parliament do to that? https://www.roymorgan.com/findings/10271-nz-national-voting-intention-june-2026
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:50am
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    The poll talks about the existing coalition and opposition, TOP are not in parliament, so they have left them floating. as for TPM, they are still showing 4 seats, if they lose all seats there will be no overhang, and the left will not have the same number of seats, they will have the Māori seats, but TPM vote will be wasted votes.
    
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    July 1, 2026 3:32pm
Chris2

The death of the person waiting nine hours to be seen at the Waikato Emergency Department may not have occurred if some of the more than 300 people that went to the ED that day, had instead gone to a GP rather than clogging up the ED. Apparently there were 30-40 people waiting in the ED at the time of his death at around 1am.

One woman had the effrontery to film the resuscitation attempt. And why was she at the ED anyway? She tells the Herald she was there with a chest infection. For goodness sake, the ED is for accidents and injuries and life-threatening genuine emergencies, not a means to avoid paying for a GP consult.

I blame the ED departments for failing to turn people away who present with health issues that clearly a medical centre can treat. Maybe then the person who died, might have been seen in a timely manner and been treated and saved.

Oh and the Medical Director at the hospital is quoted as saying a review into the death will take up to two months. I say sack the Medical Director and find someone capable of having a review completed in a couple of days. This laissez-faire attitude by the Medical Director is why the health system is in the state it is today.
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July 1, 2026 9:37am
- Taieri
  
  She tells the Herald she was there with a chest infection. For goodness sake, the ED is for accidents and injuries and life-threatening genuine emergencies
  —————
  
  It should be, but…
  Down here, my partner also had a “chest infection” and was told that the closest available appointment at her GP’s was 4 week away. So I took her to the after hours doctors, where she had to wait for about 3 hours. At least down here they are open 24 hours, although between 10 pm and 8 am no GP is available only a nurse or a paramedic. As it turned out she had a nasty RSV virus and 2 weeks later is still getting over it. The charge is $100, we can afford it, but may be not everyone is in this position and not everyone is trying to “avoid paying for a GP consult”?
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:21am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  You are joking I hope. You can’t do that review in a couple of days. 8 weeks seems reasonable.
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:37am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Eight weeks in the Public Service is two days in the real world.
    
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    July 1, 2026 11:46am
    - Ghost
      
      the rapid review will be completed this week
      
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      July 1, 2026 1:28pm
  - Cassandra
    
    Spoken like a true public servant. A preliminary report could be done in a few hours.
    
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    July 1, 2026 11:50am
    - Nikola Donatello
      
      No. It could not.
      
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      July 1, 2026 1:36pm
  - G the giant from Dunedin
    
    There are 2 reviews, one is what went wrong which is the week, and the wider review that looks into what happened and how to stop it happening again.
    
    Browne was all over this calling for the wider review immediately, unlike the last death in 2021 when Labour was in power and they simply threw their hands in the year. and to see that [Mod -deleted] Hipkins waffling last night as if the world has ended because the government have cut staff, and he stated the hiring freeze is to blame when it has clearly been shown there is no hiring freeze. ffs he was probably the health minister by then, maybe not quite, but he was minster for some time before Ardern ran
    
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    July 1, 2026 3:38pm
- Ghost
  
  ED’s turn people away, actually not only do they turn them away but ours will ring up the duty doctor to get someone in.
  
  Can you confirm, or provide evidence the lady with the chest infection wasn’t sent their by her GP. Or didn’t go there because the GP was closed for the day? There are times when a chest infection is serious enough that the person get sent to the ED. The woman was obviously triaged and decided that she needed to see the doctor.
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:56am
- kowtow
  
  ‘or failing to turn people away’
  
  That would be contrary to the ToW , to which all public institutions ( and now many private) have become in thrall to.
  
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  July 1, 2026 12:26pm
- Paulus
  
  ED’s are free, Doctors are not, except in certain circumstances.
  
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  July 1, 2026 1:46pm
Maggy Wassilieff

I can’t have much sympathy for Matthew Hooton…

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/matthew-hooton-asks-court-of-appeal-to-strike-out-don-brash-defamation-case/P7L53GM5EZB3LLMJ52XTZ6RFNA/

Still, I doubt he’ll be paying out $$$$
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July 1, 2026 9:41am
- Tarquin North
  
  Sounds like he’s run out of money. I suppose he could always hit Todd Muller up for a loan if it all goes pear shaped.
  
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  July 1, 2026 9:59am
- RoboRob
  
  Yup, no way Brash wins this case. However the legal fees might be more the issue here for Hooten. It may be a case where the ‘process is the punishment’.
  
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  July 1, 2026 10:30am
- mike
  
  The first week in the job of the best qualified person to destroy a Wellington newspaper
  https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/06/20/the-secret-diary-of-matthew-hooton/
  
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  July 1, 2026 10:34am
  - Prince
    
    Boring Braunias returns to his old format.
    
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    July 1, 2026 10:37am
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    For once I agree with you. Hooton is a clever fool with an outsized ego and an outsized mouth. His idea of an argument is calling his interlocutor a “dickhead”. His influence with all too many people on the NZ right shows just how ready Kiwis are to confuse confidence with competence. See also the cases of John Key and Jacinda Ardern.
    
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    July 1, 2026 10:45am
    - kowtow
      
      ‘His influence with all too many people on the NZ right’
      
      Er not the ‘right” , the centre left .
      
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      July 1, 2026 12:30pm
    - Keith White
      
      Well, David Seymour called Brian Tamaki a dickhead and was fine with his MP Parmar getting Tamaki swatted by 6 armed police on her request.
      
      So much for ACT as a champion of freedom – and it’s not their leader’s first oppressive rodeo. With National suffering prolonged electile dysfunction, the Greens stoned and grabbing, TPM stoned and threatening, Labour just stealing and grinning, NZ First grifting troughers, and TOP at the BOTtom… nowhere to vote for integrity, ethics and sense.
      
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      July 1, 2026 1:39pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        It would be interesting to know who initiated the action against Tamaki.
        
        We are constantly told that the Police operate independently and their failings are ‘operational matters’, while their successes are Ministerial photo opportunities.
        
        Tamaki is taking them to Court, so this will probably be catagorised as an ‘operational matter’…
        
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        July 1, 2026 2:27pm
      - Ghost
        
        freedom isn’t making statements of burning down religious buildings. only one person is responsible for his license being temporary suspended, that is Brian
        
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        July 1, 2026 2:34pm
  - BeaB
    
    Lame. Braunias is too predictable to bother with.
    
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    July 1, 2026 11:26am
Rusty

Last night on TVNZ sports Damien McKenzie was asked a question which he started with
“Nah, yeah” I have heard sports people and others speak that way even with “Yeah, Nah”

Is it No/Yes or Yes/No to the question?
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July 1, 2026 10:32am
- Philview
  
  Jimmy Carr was amused by this in his comedy routine. He was starving and went into a cafe late in the afternoon and asked if there was any food left and was told Yeah/Nah. Jimmy wondered what psychological mind games are at play in New Zealand. He wondered about the minefield of dating in New Zealand. Per Jimmy if a man asks a woman if he can sleep with her and gets told “Yeah/Nah” what is he meant to make of that.
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:04am
  - MCōs
    
    That story is bullshit
    What cafe is open late in the afternoon?
    
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    July 1, 2026 5:19pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  So much clearer when it is no, no, no, yes
  https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6_IYZTP-lnE
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:08am
  - R
    
    Most of our prominent sports people are somewhat inarticulate.
    
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    July 1, 2026 11:18am
    - lifesgood
      
      And it’s painful to hear some of the women interviewed after a game. Dreadful voices and accents.
      
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      July 1, 2026 1:35pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        “Dreadful voices and accents.”
        
        …and that’s just the interviewer.
        
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        July 1, 2026 2:30pm
    - MCōs
      
      I saw Tom Latham cut through all the crap and congratulation Ben Stokes on his amazing career at the post game presentations.
      What else do you want from these blokes?
      Sometimes I watch American TV and casual bystanders to events speak as if their whole lives have been building to this 30secs of prominence before they resume their previous bland existence.
      Most of our sportspeople do the business out there on the paddock, and hang out with the family and the team and sing the victory song.
      Some poor bugger has to put on the sponsor’s cap for an obligatory interview
      
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      July 1, 2026 5:49pm
Ian

Great article on Stuff today about Anton Segner, the first German All Black. Talks about his schooldays – “and even jolting his German school’s Christmas concert awake with a stirring haka, which the passionate youngster had learnt from YouTube.” So article out in public – now wait for someone to cry ‘cultural appropriation.” Won’t be a Chinese person…
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July 1, 2026 11:04am
Yvette

Treaty
Several times it has been pointed out that of three consecutive Prime Ministers – the highest political office in the nation – one states that the Maori ceded sovereignty to the Crown, one says they didn’t and the third could not remember what Article 1 of the Treaty was about.

Since then, an utterly failed “public conversation” has left more confusion than clarity on New Zealand democracy issues and, ever more, restatement of fundamental matters is needed to confirm –

• the New Zealand Government has the absolute right to govern and that Parliament holds full law-making power over all citizens.
• the Crown will protect the property rights of all
• that all New Zealanders are equal before the law – everyone has the same fundamental human rights and protections without discrimination based on ancestry or race, and
• the state and all government departments and services are secular, and treat all religious matters with neutrality, raising none above any other.

The first 3 matters above were in ACT’s Treaty Principles Bill, but in the void left by its dismissal, confusion has taken over, the public service is divided from Government and the people they should serve, and an activist court system necessitate the principles to be restated in law which does not mention the fucking Treaty.

In the run up to this year’s Election, does any party have the guts to do that?
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July 1, 2026 11:08am
- Yvette
  
  PS:
  I meant to add, that for sceptics, who object to stating in law what is obvious, please refer to the current legislation making English an official language of New Zealand.
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:27am
- RoboRob
  
  Well yes. What you have outlined is essentially ACT policy. I fully expect them to campaign on that again.
  
  The only other parties that might actually believe this are National and NZF.
  
  I expect NZF will give it some lip service, I don’t expect them to push it after election.
  
  National will avoid all discussion of this stuff. It is either too politically hot and / or the key players (Luxon et al.) don’t believe in it.
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:29am
  - Yvette
    
    Ngāpuhi, the largest iwi in New Zealand, remains the most prominent tribe yet to finalize a historical Treaty of Waitangi settlement. A central sticking point in their long-stalled negotiations has been the issue of sovereignty.
    
    The 2014 Waitangi Tribunal report (He Whakaputanga me te Tiriti), officially concluded that the Ngāpuhi chiefs who signed the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840 did not cede their sovereignty to the British Crown.
    Because of this finding, Ngāpuhi negotiators have firmly maintained that any settlement must explicitly address this. They refuse any standard “full and final” settlement that implies a retrospective cession of sovereignty.
    
    Traditionally, the Crown has maintained that it holds sole sovereignty, which caused decades of deadlock. However, recent negotiations have opened the door to an “agree-to-disagree” clause regarding sovereignty within the terms of negotiation to allow both parties to progress commercial and cultural redress without forcing Ngāpuhi to compromise on their historic stance that their sovereignty remains intact.
    
    Would Ngai Tahu’s catch-up clause entitle the Ngapuhi solution to apply to their settlement, and others?
    
    Does this not place the nation’s founding document on the same level, “neither confirm or deny”, as the possible visits of US nuclear armed or powered warships. Fucking brilliant!
    
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    July 1, 2026 12:00pm
    - Paulus
      
      Ngai Tahu are waiting as long as they can in the belief the longer they wait the more money they will get.
      Been the motto for years.
      
      2 1
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      July 1, 2026 1:50pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      “Traditionally, the Crown has maintained that it holds sole sovereignty, which caused decades of deadlock.”
      
      Well, there’s the problem.
      
      The Crown must never enter into discussion or negotiation of its Sovereignty.
      
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      July 1, 2026 2:33pm
  - Quail
    
    RR , Y,
    I hope ACT’s Treaty bill is resurrected .
    The three matters Y pointed out are absolutely essential as is the fourth.
    Most of us are sick to death of this issue not being addressed by the politicians and put to bed.
    It is a weeping sore!
    This debate about ancestral privilege must be settled now so New Zealand can grow and be successful again
    This Governments tinkering around the edges is just making things worse!
    There are a lot of votes in addressing this and more importantly there is right and wrong!
    
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    July 1, 2026 1:58pm
    - Ghost
      
      They aren’t. What he is doing is bringing it back in a way that would likely pass. Focusing not on treaty but on universal human rights
      
      1 0
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      July 1, 2026 2:04pm
      - RoboRob
        
        That would be very clever 🙂
        
        0 0
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        July 1, 2026 4:48pm
- Northshoredoc
  
  ‘In the run up to this year’s Election, does any party have the guts to do that?’
  
  No.
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:31am
- G the giant from Dunedin
  
  Hipkins the one saying they did not cede sovereignty has changed his mind, he said they did for year, he knows they did, and what is worse, it appears Māori activists have him by the short and curly’s
  
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  July 1, 2026 11:50am
  - Yvette
    
    G the giant from Dunedin, then Hipkins as well as Luxon both disagree with the Waitangi Tribunal and they should, as Prime Minister and previous Prime Minister, question what other conclusions the Tribunal has arrived at while being so fundamentally wrong.
    
    Or how do the Tribunal derive “ensuring Māori are involved in decision-making processes at all levels” from a Treaty that was conceived by the British, and drafted and translated by the British with no Maori input at any stage prior it being presented orally to Maori by the British.
    
    It is a vast disappointment that rodent bites, water stains, fading ink from light exposure, and hardening of the animal skin caused by poor early restoration methods didn’t all do a better job.
    
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    July 1, 2026 12:27pm
    - G the giant from Dunedin
      
      I certainly hope you are not suggesting Luxon says Māori did not cede sovereignty.
      
      Google is you’re friend.
      
      https://www.google.co.nz/search?q=Christopher+Luxon+questioned+if+he+thinks+maori+ceded+soverignty+in+signing+the+treaty&sca_esv=12c5d7b316a6f56c&sxsrf=APpeQnvGt0BcrvO9zsU7WHx-FBXeXBWggQ%3A1782877243349&source=hp&ei=O4x
      
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      July 1, 2026 3:42pm
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    I don’t know what that means.
    
    “Hipkins the one saying they did not cede sovereignty has changed his mind, he said they did for year, he knows they did..”
    
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    July 1, 2026 1:33pm
- Keith White
  
  No, they lack the intestinal fortitude entirely.
  
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  July 1, 2026 1:40pm
wsk12345

As a kid I didn’t have breakfast or lunch at school after I left intermediate. Being old enough to make my own and teenage enough to get up just in time to leave for my bus at 710am meant I didn’t bother. I played sport every day and had a straight A average right through m on two meals a day – one at 430 pm and the other at 6 pm. These kids need to HTFU.
9 1
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July 1, 2026 11:16am
- Charlotte Wells
  
  It’s nothing to do with the kids.
  
  It’s all about the politics!
  
  4 1
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  July 1, 2026 1:38pm
- Ghost
  
  I’ve never eaten breakfast. If I don’t feel like eating I don’t bother with lunch either. primary school lunches were fun though. You could order filled roll, pie, or fish n chips. Intermediate and high school it was whatever the tuckshop had. we’d all buy once a week. one school here, which isn’t part of the program lets kids take a hot meal to school every Friday that can go into the pie warmer, Wednesday you can order one of 3 dishes, paid for by the paprents.
  
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  July 1, 2026 1:50pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I’m definitely a breakfast/lunch/tea person and have been for as long as I can remember.
  
  Hubby isn’t… and although over the decades he’s been moulded into my manner of eating, he wouldn’t have been fussed if he only ate once a day (especially if it consisted of highly processed, fried crap and sugary gut rot).
  
  It used to drive me nuts that my daughters wouldn’t eat breakfast before school (or in the mornings during holidays).
  I tried everything… and eventually began to relax about it by the time they’d reached Intermediate and clearly weren’t fading away physically or academically.
  
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  July 1, 2026 1:58pm
  - MCōs
    
    I love breakfast
    When I was in Middlemore it was the one meal I really looked forward to. Porridge or cereal with whatever fruit is around. Bananas, grapes, kiwifruit, strawberries, blueberries
    I took the kids to America when they were young and were went to a supermarket to buy some cereal. I always check the sugar content, but it was depressing over there. Acres of shelves of the sweetest cereal imaginable. 50% 60% 70% My son, who was about 8yo said, I want that one, Cossie & this is how I scream if you so no
    Next day he had one mouthful and it was so sweet he couldn’t eat anymore.
    I laughed, he laughed, we all laughed
    
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    July 1, 2026 5:14pm
Notsofast

The law commission in a flagrant breach of government policy and instruction refuses to comply with English first in the name.
An email heading:

News from Te Aka Matua o te Ture | Law Commission – July 2026
10:07
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July 1, 2026 12:31pm
- Ghost
  
  doesn’t apply to them.
  
  The directive was for Public Service departments and select non-Public Service departments
  
  The law commission is neither of those, it is an independent Crown entity
  
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  July 1, 2026 12:37pm
- mandk
  
  At least they have got an English name.
  
  The body that has taken over the water system in the Greater Wellington are only has a Māori name.
  
  I wrote to them to complain that this is racist because they wouldn’t dream of having an English name without also having a Māori name.
  
  I’m not expecting a reply; at least not a satisfactory one.
  
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  July 1, 2026 1:16pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361000481/rule-change-boost-toy-choice-and-drive-down-checkout-prices-parents

“Under current rules, local toy suppliers face compliance costs of between $3500 and $5000 per toy to get items approved under local safety standards.”

What a rort ! Someone ( The Commerce Commission ? ) has been making a lot of money up until now, basically doing nothing, for no good reason ! Simply because, as usual, NZ has to have its own set of rules and other countries’ standards are nowhere near good enough.
Well done this Govt.
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July 1, 2026 1:04pm
NothingLeft

Trumps Billion’s a year pay-for-play corruption via family crypto-currency:

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/trump-reports-over-14-billion-income-2025-crypto-earnings

Different president, but same corrupt shit as Biden, H Clinton (sec of state) and others, just on a larger scale.
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July 1, 2026 3:42pm
MCōs

Maybe most of the imported toys haven’t been approved by the EU or the US?
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July 1, 2026 4:49pm
Master Mariner

SOH update.
https://insights.windward.ai/
The tankers that were full and waiting to depart , for the most part bolted under the announcement of the ceasefire.
Will they come back upon delivery of there product ? Nope.
Again, 85% of tankers that did depart are going to China, Russia or Iranian linked.
Approx 10% going to refineries in SE Asia . This where NZ gets its Refined Products.
OK, There is a lot of manipulation / Mis information regarding Crude inventories ( And prices).
https://oilprice.com/Latest-Energy-News/World-News/US-Crude-Oil-Inventories-Keep-Falling-As-Hormuz-Flows-Slow-To-Start.html
What is not mentioned in this article is simple Physics.
The underground resevoirs ( SPR) can not pump below approx 300m bbls.
Basically what we call un pumpables.
So with this in mind, It is “only the end of the begining”.
What is NZ inc plan ?
Do they actual realise the enormity of the problem ?
Our host praised the handling of the crisis in a previous post, I could only think they looked like possums in the spotlight.
Its not only NZ media ( Would not have a clue) but a World wide media censorship of what lays ahead.
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July 1, 2026 5:12pm
Ghost

Internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom’s attempt to overturn his extradition order has been denied by the Court of Appeal.

The justice minister signed Dotcom’s extradition to the United States – where he faces criminal charges relating to the defunct website Megaupload – two years ago.

Article

I’d say goodbye, but I think we all know this isn’t over yet.
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July 1, 2026 5:59pm

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