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July 30, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 30 July 2026

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General Debate

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Anthony Melchett

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/crime/pt-england-robbery-murder-howard-te-ao-amy-parker-and-joseph-patolo-sentenced-in-auckland-for-death-of-ahmed-al-obaidy/

“…he was stabbed by Howard Te’Ao as Amy Joy Parker, who had lured him to the robbery with a promise of sex, sat by.
The victim stumbled into the roadway and collapsed, bleeding from what would have been a fatal wound in itself, as the defendants then got back inside the station wagon, a judge noted today as all three appeared for sentencing in the High Court at Auckland.

CCTV footage of the incident showed the victim’s prone body was clearly illuminated by his own headlights as Te’Ao drove his car away.
“Mr Te’Ao drove forward deliberately, driving over Mr Al-Obaidy and dragging his body beneath the vehicle for a distance of approximately three metres,” court documents state.

The fatal robbery has been previously reported, but for legal reasons the final act of brutality by Te’Ao, who turned 23 last week, has not been outlined until now.

Why was this withheld?

It is one of the worst murders in this country and should not be minimized or swept under the table. You look at the photos of them and they simply don’t care.

Court documents show all three defendants should have been confined to their homes when the killing occurred in October 2024.
Te’Ao had been recently released on parole, after a prison stint from age 19 to 21 for another robbery, and was awaiting trial for new charges of assault and wilful damage.
Parker, meanwhile, was serving a sentence of home detention and Patolo was also on electronically monitored bail.

Good to see home detention working well.
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July 30, 2026 8:02am
- R
  
  You forgot the sarc// at the end of last sentence
  
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  July 30, 2026 9:27am
- Bobba Fret
  
  The judge that let these scum out needs to be interviewed and asked for his/her comments now that the person they let out has killed an innocent member of the public.
  There comments need to be published as I would like to know their thoughts as they have blood on their hands.
  
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  July 30, 2026 11:07am
  - Jethrod
    
    Oh they are such lovely boys, who had a really, really hard upbringing and have promised not to do it again…. ye….//
    
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    July 30, 2026 1:05pm
  - Bobba Fret
    
    “Their comments” sorry about the typo
    
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    July 30, 2026 1:10pm
  - Keith White
    
    The only time judges act severely is when one of their own is attacked. Those of us old enough remember how they reacted when the Auckland judge was attacked by a machete-wielder in court.
    
    Immediately – huge security review to protect the judges, and the attacker lifetime preventative detention under spurious mental health grounds.
    
    No attack on Joe and Jane Average ever gets that response.
    
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    July 30, 2026 3:37pm
- kowtow
  
  In some ways one could say the state murdered Al Obaidy .
  
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  July 30, 2026 11:39am
  - Sir Henry Morgan
    
    100%
    
    People need to ask themselves why they pay taxes to fund a state that systematically does this stuff. It’s gone well past being the occasional stuff up.
    
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    July 30, 2026 2:21pm
- Philview
  
  I assume Howard Te’Ao was the one pictured giving the finger to the court. This guy is about as feral as they come and ideally should be put down.
  
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  July 30, 2026 1:14pm
  - Anthony Melchett
    
    Probably named after Howard Morrison too
    
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    July 30, 2026 5:33pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  Te Ao falls into the category of under 25 yr olds that TOP would allow to be tried through a Youth Court if they were to be get into power.
  
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  July 30, 2026 5:09pm
artemisia

‘Same temperature as outside’: Students face frigid Dunedin flats

Dunedin university students continue to live in flats that are colder inside than out, despite meeting Healthy Home Standards. Advocates are calling for action over the frigid flats…. The heat pump did little to heat the home and remained turned off most of the time, he said

It’s just not fair, so advocates want action or something. But according to the article, the students have heating. They just have to pay for it. Like everyone else. So unfair on the future leaders of the country. Someone (else) needs to do something.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/community/835424/same-temperature-as-outside-students-face-frigid-dunedin-flats
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July 30, 2026 8:04am
- Scott
  
  That’s so amusing to me. When I was at university in my second year we lived in an old house with no insulation and no heat pump, they had not been invented yet. We sat around a one bar heater in the living room talking and reading while wearing our dressing gowns over our clothes to try and keep warm. We put blankets on our single beds to try and stay warm. The blankets were often rubbish cheap blankets.
  
  In those days there were no duvets, no heat pumps and no lovely and warm Kathmandu jackets. Just crappy cheap blankets, a one bar heater and crappy cheap clothes. Maybe a wool jersey that your mum had knitted you, thanks Mum. 😊
  
  So forgive me if I don’t feel especially sorry for today’s students who have Kathmandu jackets, warm duvets, at least some insulation and heat pumps! Harden up people. 😎
  
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  July 30, 2026 8:24am
  - R
    
    The consequences of helicopter parenting, entitlement indoctrination and a basic lack of how to live knowledge priorities.
    
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    July 30, 2026 10:01am
  - Bullion
    
    I suffered, so everyone for the rest of humanity must also suffer.
    
    We can not have better things.
    
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    July 30, 2026 1:02pm
    - Local Miller
      
      This is a stupid comment. Of course the rest of humanity can have better, they just have to be prepared to work for it.
      
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      July 30, 2026 5:37pm
      - Bullion
        
        You just need a warm jersey from mum and a cup of “harden up”.
        
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        July 30, 2026 9:21pm
- alex Masterley
  
  JK Baxter in his “A small ode on mixed flatting” said “Dunedin nights are often cold…”
  That was in 1967.
  Nothing has changed.
  
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  July 30, 2026 9:00am
  - lastmanstanding
    
    Anthony Fauci is up before the House Committee today. Rand Paul will be questioning Fauci. Fauci’s diaries from 2019 to 2022 have been released. They reveal a nasty piece of works who delighted in being fawned over by the idiot elites. Fauci financed the Wuhan lab that manufactured Covid 19. He lied and has been exposed. He should be tried of crimes against humanity and jailed for life or better still given the Chinese remedy. May he rot in hell.
    
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    July 30, 2026 9:21am
    - RoboRob
      
      He has a presidential pardon from that guy who had dementia, he isn’t getting charged with any of that.
      
      He could be charged for lying to congress AFTER his pardon was issued. Some people have gone to jail for this. I suspect thats not going to happen to Fauci, especially if the Dems take back the house in November, which is the norm.
      
      I do find it weird that Faucis actions are defended by the left. He isn’t a left politician, he is a government official. He was in under Dems and Reps, I find it surprising that the Dems are willing to die in a ditch defending him. I guess its a bit of TDS, Trump doesn’t like him so we will defend him.
      
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      July 30, 2026 9:46am
      - Raphael
        
        He has a pardon signed by the AutoPen
        
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        July 30, 2026 10:36am
      - RoboRob
        
        @Raphael
        
        To be more accurate I should have said, ‘he has a pardon signed by whoever was running the United States via Joe Biden’.
        
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        July 30, 2026 11:22am
    - Scooter
      
      Hipkins, Ardern, Robertson, Bloomfield and Verral also pleaded the 5th amendment during the 2nd COVID enquiry. Well they might have answered questions in private but chickened out when it came to fronting up to the public hearings.
      
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      July 30, 2026 11:49am
  - Nukuleka
    
    To be honest many of us probably grew up in homes that were pretty similar to this, wooden, uninsulated houses with an open fire that was lit in the evening and a one bar heater in front of which we got dressed in the morning. We knew no different and we dressed for the cold temperatures.
    
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    July 30, 2026 1:05pm
    - OlderChas
      
      We had a “space heater” in the 1950s/60s. (In the Hutt Valley). Burned wood and or coal. Once lit and burning it could be left damped and stay “alight” all night. As a kid with a morning paper run I would be up at 4.30am. As well as packing my papers (delivered to the door by the agent) my duties were also to stoke up the coals in the space heater, add some more and leave it going for my siblings to get up, grab there clothes and race to the nice warm lounge to dress for school. Meanwhile I pedalled my 3-speed back-pedal brake hub bike with up to 120 Dominions through the frosts and iced over puddles to deliver them, then repair to the Naenae Olympic Pool and do my swimming training. Then bike back home, get into my uniform and bike back to school. At least I had a bike! C’mon you nearly adult uni students. Harden up!
      
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      July 30, 2026 6:15pm
      - Ian Boag
        
        Newspaper-delivery-on-a-bike jobs do not exist now of course ….
        
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        July 30, 2026 6:37pm
- kowtow
  
  The media , who push their woe is me stories , be it heating costs , anti mining ( Santana) or the constant diet of health sector defeciencies etc need to decide where our wealth ( or lack of it) comes from.
  
  Their commitent to climate catastrophism and the skewing that has caused to our economy being a very big part of this.
  
  We are commiting economic and societal suicide with all this “save the planet” guff. And the media are to the fore in this .
  
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  July 30, 2026 9:08am
  - Albie
    
    How would the irony be if due to our first world guilt and need to save the planet we actually drove ourselves down to third world status thereby enabling us to burn our own abundant coal?
    
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    July 30, 2026 9:27am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      thereby enabling us to burn our own abundant coal?
      
      Don’t be silly… we are fast approaching 3rd world status…and it won’t be too long before a larger “partner country” comes to relieve us of our coal and iron sands and abundant protein.
      
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      July 30, 2026 11:20am
      - kevn
        
        Maggy… The oil and gas exploration ban was to ensure it stayed locked up for ‘them’.
        
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        July 30, 2026 11:38am
      - imalwaysright
        
        NZ is literally the land of milk and honey, yet look at the state of it.
        
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        July 30, 2026 11:42am
      - cmm (semi-retired edition)
        
        There’s enough coal for over 300 years of power generation. Steel making coal is probably significantly less.
        
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        July 30, 2026 1:25pm
    - kowtow
      
      As someone else put it;
      
      How poor do ‘we’ want to be.
      
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      July 30, 2026 12:47pm
  - Bullion
    
    Climate Change has a cost. Putting your head in the sand is not going to remove the costs. In fact, doing nothing is likely to increase costs in the long term.
    
    https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/environment/805080/how-will-we-live-as-storms-get-worse-one-region-s-story
    
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    July 30, 2026 1:06pm
    - kevn
      
      So long as milband and his ilk stay away from the levers…
      
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      July 30, 2026 2:28pm
    - NZer In Exile
      
      Overall less costly just to adapt to the not at all unprecedented interglacial cycle of slowly rising temps we find ourselves in. Next up is ~100,000 years of ice age. That will be a real problem for those well outside the tropics.
      
      It is blind activist faith to believe moving the human produced ~4% of the total Co2 in atmosphere (that total Co2 in the atmosphere being ~0.04% of the total atmosphere), up or down, is the control knob for the earth’s average temperature. Basically the whole “climate change” hysteria edifice is mad ideological capture which has snowballed out of control. Always was and still is now. Stop the madness. It’s seriously fcking up the mental health of children and causing severe economic decline.
      
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      July 31, 2026 11:55pm
- herb1
  
  My daughter lived in a cold flat which I offered to pay winter power bill for but the other flat mates wouldn’t agree as they thought it unfair so just suffered the cold . None of the flat mates were from poor families, it was just a decision a lot make. I did buy a dehumidifier which made a huge difference at night
  
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  July 30, 2026 9:19am
- All_on_Red
  
  My oldest lives in a Dunedin flat with 4 other boys (yes, imagine)
  Huge three storey house, quite old but its well insulated and double glazed. They’re not suffering.
  They also are part of Contacts free power Mon-Fri 9pm to 12pm.
  https://contact.co.nz/personal/all-plans/good-nights
  
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  July 30, 2026 9:24am
- R
  
  Perhaps these students need some education in basic living behavior. What did(nt) their parents teach them at home
  
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  July 30, 2026 9:29am
  - kevn
    
    R… to check out the op shops for extra layers of clothing? Most of the shops are overflowing with clothing, a lot of it is free.
    
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    July 30, 2026 11:40am
- MCōs
  
  Leave the fridge door open
  That’ll warm the place up
  
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  July 30, 2026 12:27pm
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    Yup, it would.
    A fridge’s compressor + motor output more heat than the cold made inside the fridge. Keeping the fridge door open will force it to run more and therefore running the fridge more makes more heat.
    
    But you might as well just use a fan heater… or cuddle up.
    
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    July 30, 2026 1:23pm
    - Scott
      
      cmm – I didn’t twig at first to this bit in the article :
      
      “We all got like girlfriends and we spend a lot of time spending the nights at their houses because it’s actually too cold to sleep here, especially in the winter.”
      
      Right. So you have to sleep at your girlfriend’s house because your house is just too cold. And that’s the only reason you ask your girlfriend if you can sleep at her house??
      
      That’s just so sad! You have to sleep with, I mean sleep at your girlfriends house!
      Who are they trying to kid? 😁
      
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      July 30, 2026 2:00pm
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  A bit of harden up never hurt anyone.
  
  In fact, it is a rite of passage that helps to build character.
  
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  July 30, 2026 1:00pm
  - OlderChas
    
    Yeah, CMM, but now they have “advocates” to whinge about it for them (and make them look ridiculous.)
    
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    July 30, 2026 6:19pm
greybeard

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/wellington/green-party-mp-tamatha-paul-removes-line-of-campaign-merchandise-inspired-by-metallica/GAYHV7RABNB4TORA7U3EWATJV4/

I gad to hunt for this article: not only has Paul removed the offending items from sale but it looks as though the media luvvies have removed any references to it.
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July 30, 2026 8:07am
- Swifty
  
  More Green thievery – just like their proposed confiscatory tax regime.
  
  Anything is allowed in their pursuit of a world which conforms to their student idealism.
  
  Par for the course.
  
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  July 30, 2026 8:17am
- rouppe
  
  When I saw the piece where she was using the “buff bros” and “bikini baddies” campaign to attract votes, I wondered if those pictured had consented to their images being used.
  
  This revelation makes me even more curious…
  
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  July 30, 2026 8:21am
  - RoboRob
    
    Apparently so, most are friends of the green MP who is into cross fit. I know this because for some reason this story is big news. It was on breakfast yesterday but I was very surprised to see it was a lead item on one news last night too.
    
    If only the media could do a story on say the Greens under 25yrs youth court policy rather then puff pieces on thrist traps. Great media for the Greens though. Well done MSM.
    
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    July 30, 2026 9:50am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      What on earth is a “thirst trap”, I wondered.
      
      So I googled…..and discovered that some folks are so ~~starved of sexual stimulus~~ dehydrated from abstinence that a picture of an unclothed body rehydrates them.
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirst_trap
      
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      July 30, 2026 1:15pm
  - OlderChas
    
    I must have had too many “aperitifs” before I watched the recorded News rouppe. I thought it was the Waikato (sorry her first name escapes me) lady who did the ”buff bros” thing. The one where photos of a fireman with his shirt off – the candidate herself flexing biceps etc were part of her campaign?
    
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    July 30, 2026 6:27pm
- Bullion
  
  Eight Mile Style v New Zealand National Party
  
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  July 30, 2026 1:09pm
Yvette

Te Papa “vandalism”
Question to Gemini AI –
In the Te Papa exhibition damage case, a proposed tikanga defence appears to be the reason why the case was dismissed and an explanation, like discussing that tikanga, was deemed not in the public interest.
In what way would it not be in the public interest?

Answer –

Under New Zealand’s Prosecution Guidelines, prosecutors must drop a case if continuing it does not serve the broader public good, regardless of whether a conviction is likely. When defence lawyers introduced expert testimony on tikanga Māori regarding the Te Papa Treaty display protest, proceeding to trial failed the public interest test for several key reasons:

⚬ Resource Proportionality: The damage involved an easily replaced replica panel. A lengthy jury trial featuring expert cultural and legal witnesses was a disproportionate use of taxpayer funds and judicial time.
⚬ Avoiding Political Theatre: Courts evaluate specific statutory offences; they are not intended to serve as platforms for broader political or constitutional debates over Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
⚬ Legal Uncertainty: Post-Ellis v R, tikanga is part of common law, but using it as a defence to criminal property damage remains untested. Prosecuting carried a high risk of protracted, expensive appeals without advancing public safety.
⚬ Institutional Resolution: Te Papa had already resolved the core grievance by updating the exhibition in consultation with iwi, rendering criminal deterrence unnecessary.

Ultimately, the Crown concluded that the financial, legal, and political costs of a trial far outweighed any public benefit of securing a minor conviction.

Other questions can be offered –
⚬ does tikanga motivation allow certain people to commit what may otherwise be criminal actions, but have any case against them dismissed and it not be in the public interest for the public to see that?
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July 30, 2026 8:18am
- Quail
  
  Y,
  This decision , if taken as a legal precedent . apparently enables every graffiti artist in NZ to continue their craft anywhere without being held to account.
  This version was actually much more important than the majority because of the value to so many in NZ of the documents defaced.
  But “ the financial , legal , and political costs outweighed any public benefit”
  Really?
  There was huge public interest in having a trial ,
  The Court ( perhaps political) decision not to proceed was an absolute disgrace!
  
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  July 30, 2026 9:06am
  - Yvette
    
    As you point out, Quail, here are some credibility gaps in this apparent tikanga defence.
    One is that Te Papa acknowledged the exhibition needed reconsideration.
    But that has nothing to do with the case itself, because by their very actions, the people who defaced the exhibit must have believed Te Papa was not going to change anything, hence their actions.
    
    Another aspect is whether, with blessing of tikanga, those involved in “the perceived crime” were right in their actions, and would not have been found guilty, depending on whether the courts could determine if the display – presumably a product to Te Papa’s research, expertise and ‘authority’ – was correct or not.
    So tikanga and the Treaty would have also been on trial.
    
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    July 30, 2026 9:49am
- Nigel Kearney
  
  I agree this is a problem, but I don’t think a lengthy and expensive trial based on a ‘tikanga’ defence is the answer. The prosecution has to choose one or the other, so I understand their position.
  
  The judiciary created this problem and only Parliament or the judiciary can fix it.
  
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  July 30, 2026 9:10am
  - Quail
    
    NK,
    Agree with you.
    “tikanga is simply an expression of co governance.”
    It should have no place in NZ law!
    It is overdue that the judiciary ( and a load of others ) accepted that the only relevant new law is authorised , scrutinised and passed by those in the Beehive!
    
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    July 30, 2026 12:52pm
- imalwaysright
  
  “Ultimately, the Crown concluded that the financial, legal, and political costs of a trial far outweighed any public benefit of securing a minor conviction.”
  
  I know it is AI, perhaps that makes my point more pertinent, but what has “political costs” got to do with prosecuting a trial?
  
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  July 30, 2026 10:41am
- Sir Henry Morgan
  
  “Institutional Resolution: Te Papa had already resolved the core grievance by updating the exhibition in consultation with iwi, rendering criminal deterrence unnecessary.”
  
  So if I’m following the logic, if the victim of a assault resolves their grievance with the person who assaulted them (maybe by paying some money or whatever) then that could become a reason not to charge their attacker? Sounds like a recipe for criminal anarchy.
  
  Again, why fund a system that systematically delivers this nonsense?
  
  Also, I very much want tikanga tested, because it’s a mystery what it even is, and everyone benefits from clarity about the implications of this novel insertion into common law. Best get this clarity soon, while people still remember what the law was like pre-tikanga.
  
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  July 30, 2026 2:32pm
artemisia

Mike’s Minute: The cost of living “crisis” no longer exists

At 3.2% with a war, we are close to being maybe 2% without one. And that is what they call a sweet spot. All that’s left is for those obsessed with the negativity of a crisis to recognise that it isn’t.

Never waste a good (non) crisis in an election year.

https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/mike-hosking-breakfast/opinion/mikes-minute-the-cost-of-living-crisis-no-longer-exists/
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July 30, 2026 8:20am
- pdm
  
  One from Mike this morning.
  
  Oil and Gas Exlporation is to start on the “Left Hand Side” of the North Island.
  
  Can someone, preferably Mike but I doubt he is available, tell me which is the “Left Hand Side” of the North Island.
  
  Or does it depend whether one is standing at Cape Reinga or Cape Palliser.
  
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  July 30, 2026 8:32am
  - Cassandra
    
    I think you’re being obtuse deliberately. Most people will understand west coast.
    
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    July 30, 2026 8:38am
    - pdm
      
      Obtuse – quite true Cass.
      
      Trying to take the mickey as the old saying goes.
      
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      July 30, 2026 8:54am
      - Cassandra
        
        Obviously my sense of humour needs coffee. Apologies.
        
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        July 30, 2026 9:15am
      - R
        
        Naughty boy pdm, so early in the morning too
        
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        July 30, 2026 10:08am
- Bullion
  
  Annual inflation to end of June 2026 was 4.1%.
  https://www.stats.govt.nz/news/annual-inflation-at-4-1-percent-in-june-2026/
  
  Mike is conflating the household living-costs price indexes with inflation.
  
  It is also not felt evenly across the economy
  
  Superannuitants’ annual cost of living up 4.5 percent, low-income 4.3 percent.
  Big income earners annual rate 1.9 percent.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/business/817191/rising-cost-of-petrol-hits-low-earners-falling-interest-rates-help-high-earners
  
  Also probably still yet to see increases in costs flow fully through the economy – even if you are not directly impacted by oil prices, possibly a supplier is and will pass that on.
  
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  July 30, 2026 1:27pm
nz_aj

“you live in unsafe, unsatisfactory housing”. Choosing to live in an old house, not heat it and complain about it being cold, does not mean it’s “unsafe”.
Perhaps they should have stayed with mum in Auckland.
You get what you pay for.

For reference, I live in a drafty old house built in 1883. It’s cold, and my choice. None of my family get sick.
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July 30, 2026 8:25am
- wsk12345
  
  I live in a chch home that fails the healthy homes standards on many factors. Warmest driest house I ever lived in.
  
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  July 30, 2026 9:30am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I live in a drafty old house
  
  Mould doesn’t like drafts.
  
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  July 30, 2026 11:26am
OlderChas

So speedway at Western Springs was shut down because the noise annoyed the glitterati that moved into the area. Now the proposal is to turn it into the Auckland Bowl entertainment venue allowing bands with thousands of decibels worth of speaker banks to entertain the masses, possibly once a week.
Did anyone consult Helun on this?
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July 30, 2026 8:29am
- R
  
  But but….it will be artistic noise from the Arts brigade, and adoring luvvies who now live in the area.
  
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  July 30, 2026 10:11am
- Jethrod
  
  Well it’s just not Eden Park init!
  
  1 1
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  July 30, 2026 1:13pm
artemisia

Dr Fauci taking the 5th. How does that work alongside a comprehensive Presidential pardon?
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July 30, 2026 8:33am
- NeonTeepee
  
  This is the biggest news today. Not that you would know it in the NZ MSM.
  
  8 3
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  July 30, 2026 8:49am
  - mike
    
    Stuff hid it on the front page.
    
    4 13
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    July 30, 2026 10:03am
- kowtow
  
  Don’t ask Biden the pardoner , he won’t know .
  
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  July 30, 2026 8:54am
- imalwaysright
  
  His Right to Silence was suspended, as is normal for that type of hearing, and he was threatened with prosecution for refusing to answer questions.
  
  In NZ none of our big players even bothered showing up in person to our “jnquiry”, instead they all hired the same law firm to speak for them.
  
  We got the middle finger…
  
  And the recent press release said that only half of the money spent during the covid scam was actually spent on covid related bills.
  
  Where’s the other $40 billion..?
  
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  July 30, 2026 9:01am
  - Ghost
    
    that is a pretty big lie. They all appeared before the inquiry, their transcripts and written engagements are all available to be read.
    
    https://www.covid19lessons.royalcommission.nz/the-inquiry/record-of-inquiry-engagements
    
    I believe I’ve put in several times for you where the covid money went. It’s basically how the reports know a large sum didn’t go to covid areas
    
    https://www.treasury.govt.nz/information-and-services/nz-economy/covid-19-economic-response/overview-covid-19-response-and-recovery-fund-crrf
    
    9 21
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    July 30, 2026 9:17am
    - Ghost
      
      aww, the dowvoters are showing their preciousness again. Don’t like facts, prefer lies, says a lot about the kind of people that prefer a lie to facts. these are the same people who attack the left for their lies, but on here a lie gets a group wank off.
      
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      July 30, 2026 9:40am
      - Fender
        
        its sad that you even look at the numbers, they are pointless, irrelevant and show nothing, have your opinion say it and let it fall where it falls, don’t complain because someone may or may not have agreed with you in a stupid green red box. why are they even there, adults don’t need dopamine hits surely
        
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        July 30, 2026 10:26am
      - kowtow
        
        There he goes again , ranting and lowering the tone.
        
        7 4
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        July 30, 2026 2:25pm
      - Ghost
        
        Yes kowto, we should always accept lies and bullshit, god knows you post enough with all your trump bullshit.
        
        4 6
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        July 30, 2026 3:15pm
      - kowtow
        
        I’ve said he’s a narcicist megalomaniac.
        You say that’s bullshit .
        
        So you’re a fan of his.
        
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        July 30, 2026 4:23pm
    - RoboRob
      
      Not a down voter.
      
      Hipkins and JA refused to appear in public hearings. They did private and written only. I believe imalwaysright is referring to this, which did get a lot of media at the time.
      
      23 4
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      July 30, 2026 9:58am
      - Ghost
        
        Did they appear before the inquiry, answer all questions put before them? Yes. That is a fact, to claim they never did is a blatant lie.
        
        Now, about the public inquiry, whose fault is that? I would put it on the inquiry and the government for allowing behind closed door testimony. It was stupid to do this, then want them back to do a repeat in public answering what they had already answered.
        
        But to claim they never appeared before the inquiry, is wrong, its a lie.
        
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        July 30, 2026 10:35am
    - imalwaysright
      
      Interesting that you gave preferential credence to their electronic appearance at the sham, to the disappearance of the $40 Bill.
      
      No worries eh, just call people liars…Daft.
      
      3 3
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      July 30, 2026 2:17pm
      - Ghost
        
        You’ve been shown many times when the money went, but you keep making idiotic statements where is it. Anyone with any intelligence would look where it went then attack labour for spending that money in those areas, not act like a deer before the headlights acting like they know nothing.
        
        Yeah, once again you are lying. They appeared before the inquiry in person the only person who did it over a video conference was Ardern, because she wasn’t living in NZ. They answered all the questions out before them. Stop lying. Attack them for what they said at the inquiry, attack them for what they did, again all there for anyone to read. But stop with your constant lies.
        
        And yes I get it there are people here who hate them so much they would rather support a lie than facts, and that is sad. The right used to be better than this.
        
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        July 30, 2026 2:57pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Faucci has a history of manipulation.
    He was involved in the AIDS scare in the ’80s.
    Drug dealer extraordinaire….
    
    10 4
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    July 30, 2026 11:29am
    - mike
      
      What ‘AIDS scare’?
      
      3 11
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      July 30, 2026 1:12pm
      - imalwaysright
        
        Exactly.
        Thanks.
        
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        July 30, 2026 1:14pm
      - keepcalmcarryon
        
        Just get tested bro
        
        6 2
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        July 30, 2026 2:14pm
- Northshoredoc
  
  Performative nonsense from the Senate.
  
  6 11
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  July 30, 2026 9:03am
  - virtualmark
    
    Yep. This was all about GOP Senators throwing some red meat to their voters to keep those voters angry and scared. There’s no there there, but that doesn’t matter … it’s all about the feelz.
    
    MAGA is a club for stupid people who are proud to be stupid. It’s Stockholm syndrome for people who are too dumb to locate Stockholm on a map.
    
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    July 30, 2026 12:24pm
- MCōs
  
  Donald Trump took the fifth 400 times during some hearing four years ago.
  It’s a mechanism to avoid answering loaded questions
  https://www.nytimes.com/live/2026/07/29/us/trump-news-fauci-hearing?smid=nytcore-ios-share
  
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  July 30, 2026 9:21am
  - wsk12345
    
    Not relevant when you have been pardoned
    
    8 4
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    July 30, 2026 9:31am
    - virtualmark
      
      More accurately … if the question is about something that you have been pardoned for then you cannot take the fifth, since there is no possibility of you incriminating yourself.
      
      So given that Fauci did take the fifth that shows the questions were about something he was not pardoned for.
      
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      July 30, 2026 11:43am
- mike
  
  He’s not obliged to respond to questions answered many times before, just to provide material for conspiracy theorists.
  
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  July 30, 2026 10:12am
  - RoboRob
    
    Actually, he is required to answer questions. He, like everyone who appears, doesn’t get to chose which questions are worth answering and which are bad.
    
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    July 30, 2026 10:28am
    - mike
      
      And yet he is not required.
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
      
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      July 30, 2026 10:34am
      - Raphael
        
        If his Presidential Pardon, signed by the autopen, is valid, he cannot appeal to the 5th as he has immunity.
        
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        July 30, 2026 10:42am
      - Yabster
        
        hmm the Supreme court disagrees with Mike- who to believe?- it’s a tough decision…
        
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        July 30, 2026 10:56am
      - RoboRob
        
        @Raphael
        
        I would love it if Fauci claimed his pardon is invalid just so he could claim the 5th! It would be a ‘uuge’ mistake.
        
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        July 30, 2026 11:26am
  - kevn
    
    A useful link and video…
    https://dailytelegraph.co.nz/news/fauci-stonewalls-senate-as-contempt-vote-looms/
    
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    July 30, 2026 2:32pm
  - Local Miller
    
    The legal conditions under which you can plead the 5th is “if they are being compelled to answer a question that would incriminate themselves in criminal conduct”
    But Fauci has immunity, so he can’t incriminate himself!
    He can be held in contempt of congress.
    
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    July 30, 2026 6:18pm
- JackRabbit
  
  And pleading the 5th when asked the colour of his tie, and the colour of the carpet.
  
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  July 30, 2026 1:05pm
- pb
  
  A good read. Fauci a mafia criminal nestled in the halls of state bureacracy. He personally can lay claim to most of the AIDS deaths in the 80’s due to his murderous cure, Remdesivir.
  
  https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58063409-the-real-anthony-fauci
  
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  July 30, 2026 1:47pm
  - Nikola Donatello
    
    Anything written by RFK Junior is not a good read. It is quite the opposite.
    
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    July 30, 2026 2:54pm
    - Graeme Hall
      
      I thought that too, at first, but suggest you look at it before dismissing. My impression is that the material in the book was carefully researched and the book is thoroughly referenced and annotated. I’ve read worse quality published science papers.
      
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      July 30, 2026 4:21pm
  - Northshoredoc
    
    RFK lol.
    
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    July 30, 2026 4:00pm
- Local Miller
  
  There’s Federal legal precedents that once granted Presidential Pardon, the right to plead the 5th is suspended because you are protected from prosecution by the pardon. Fauci is no being threatened with obstructing a federal investigation by not answering questions. Again , there’s precedents for this.
  I watch some of the proceedings, and Fauci didn’t come out looking good. As a test Senator Hawley asked him silly questions like “What day is it today?” and “What’s the colour of your tie?” And even to these he plead the 5th.
  Fauci thinks he’s being clever and I suspect he knows he’s going to be in a lot of hot water pretty soon.
  
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  July 30, 2026 6:00pm
colina

Australia is in a terrible mess well the west is.
This nonsense continues.

Kirralie Smith dared to point at two men who identify as women in women’s football and saying the quiet part out loud – that they are men.

Now, she must pay $95,000 and pin a court-scripted statement to her social media for three months. Welcome to New South Wales, where biological reality has become a civil offence.

https://www.news24.com.au/opinion/sall-grover-australian-court-makes-stating-biological-reality-a-civil-offence-as-it-upholds-ruling-womens-campaigner-vilified-two-transgender-soccer-players/news-story/5faa6102c439b751f5aa5c30745acef8
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July 30, 2026 8:42am
- MCōs
  
  There’s another side to that story that I find far more convincing
  Having said that both sides seem to have a fair number of strident advocates who muddy the waters; consequently I like to keep well away.
  https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/07/an-anti-trans-activist-lied-about-a-trans-athlete-injuring-cis-women-now-she-has-to-pay-the-price/
  
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  July 30, 2026 10:11am
  - Notsofast
    
    Having read both links, the good news is that men cheating by joining women’s sport teams will be deterred.
    They are men.
    Note the girl Sall Grover describes being punished by her sport for choosing not to play against these men.
    
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    July 30, 2026 12:45pm
  - Nūhaka Native
    
    What part of this statement from the IOC muddies the water for you?
    
    Eligibility for any female category event at the Olympic Games or any other IOC event, including individual and team sports, is now limited to biological females, determined on the basis of a one‑time SRY gene screening.
    
    Evidence‑based and expert‑informed, the policy – applicable for the LA28 Olympic Games onwards – protects fairness, safety and integrity in the female category.
    
    Tennis great, longtime LGBT rights activist (her trainer was a transsexual) and one of the first openly gay sports people, Martina Navratilova agrees with it. She also advocated for it.
    
    https://www.olympics.com/ioc/news/international-olympic-committee-announces-new-policy-on-the-protection-of-the-female-women-s-category-in-olympic-sport
    
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    July 30, 2026 7:28pm
- R
  
  Coming to NZ, if the voters don’t wake to the real world soon. But I do detect a slight stiring from the ideological slumbers of the past
  
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  July 30, 2026 10:16am
  - RoboRob
    
    Which party would NZ voters be voting for to put an end to this stuff?
    
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    July 30, 2026 12:09pm
- Yabster
  
  what a disgrace- they are men in dresses end of story. They have no business playing against woman and the woman have a right to say so.
  
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  July 30, 2026 10:58am
Swifty

Hawley savages Fauci:

https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/2082482943046394066/video/1?s=46
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July 30, 2026 8:45am
- mike
  
  Josh Hawley. Is he the senator who ran away from the seditious mob he had helped to whip up?
  
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  July 30, 2026 10:37am
  - Yabster
    
    so what? does that make anything he said less relevant?
    
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    July 30, 2026 11:00am
    - mike
      
      Yes
      
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      July 30, 2026 1:14pm
      - Yabster
        
        in your world maybe Mike- not in most others.
        
        6 3
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        July 30, 2026 2:14pm
kevn

Indeed…
https://kirschsubstack.com/p/tony-fauci-refuses-to-testify-in
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July 30, 2026 9:03am
kevn

The last vid days it all…
https://dailytelegraph.co.nz/news/fauci-stonewalls-senate-as-contempt-vote-looms/
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July 30, 2026 9:05am
MCōs

The other day two men who had been in prison for forty years or more were executed for murder.
One of them was in his eighties. I don’t wish to point the bone at octogenarians, but he could have died of natural causes at anytime.
Setting aside the moral aspect of killing a person, what’s the point of executing of man of such an advanced age. Apparently the family of the people he killed were pleased to see him gone. Maybe he was pretty pleased himself.
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July 30, 2026 9:43am
- Eastlander
  
  The point of executing him is that he deserves to die.
  
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  July 30, 2026 11:13am
- Steve Todd
  
  Florida has the death penalty — which I am an implacable opponent of — and that is not going to change anytime soon. The problem is the interminable appeals process.
  
  When New Zealand had the death penalty, the time between conviction and execution was just two or three months. For example, see my response to Swifty, here, https://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/2025/02/general_debate_04_february_2025.html/comment-page-1#comment-3676429.
  
  Of course, in the extremely unlikely event of New Zealand re-introducing the death penalty, the appeals process in these woke times would no doubt resemble that of death penalty states like Florida.
  
  Check out the two cases you refer to, here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Aren_Duckett (aged 68) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominick_Occhicone (aged 80).
  
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  July 30, 2026 11:39am
  - leoj
    
    …and the penalty for the victims of murder are what, exactly?
    
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    July 30, 2026 12:21pm
    - Steve Todd
      
      I’m sorry, leoj, I don’t understand what you’re saying/suggesting.
      
      Can you explain?
      
      What I’m saying is, although I don’t like it, these two guys got what the law provided for. It just shouldn’t have taken so long.
      
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      July 30, 2026 2:59pm
      - leoj
        
        What I am implying is: You are either for or against the death penalty. You cannot be both, so, make up your mind.
        Victims deserve more than stupid laws.
        If you puposely kill, expect to be killed.
        Black and white. No blurred lines.
        
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        July 30, 2026 3:29pm
      - Steve Todd
        
        I’m not sure if you mean the plural ‘you’, or me.
        
        Nothing I said contradicts your clarification. I made it very clear that I oppose the death penalty, and that no-one should be sitting on death row for 35+ years.
        
        I have no control over what Florida does in respect of convicted murderers, but if they are to be executed, surely we would all agree that such executions should be carried out sooner rather than later.
        
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        July 30, 2026 9:09pm
  - Swifty
    
    Gee, that Swifty fellow writes well at times.
    
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    July 30, 2026 2:48pm
- Charlotte Wells
  
  The old guy sent bombs that killed people. He was anti-black.
  
  The other person at the time of his offence was a cop. He raped and murdered by drowning an 11 year old girl.
  
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  July 30, 2026 3:06pm
Pope Punctilious II

Spare a thought for this hapless “non-binary” person who felt unsafe in the USA, and thought NZ would be a safe place to raise their “gender-diverse” child. “They” are devastated by the “hateful” sex definitions bill introduced by Jenny Marcroft.
https://thespinoff.co.nz/politics/30-07-2026/whats-going-on-with-all-these-gender-bill-submissions-being-rejected
A non-binary person whose child just happens to be “gender-diverse”? Hmmm.
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July 30, 2026 10:11am
- leoj
  
  Recently seen answer to the question: Name all the genders.
  Answer: Male, female and mentally deranged.
  
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  July 30, 2026 12:24pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  NZ seems a popular destination for gender swappers, especially if you can wangle some finances
  
  https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2026/07/30/nz-is-an-escape-hatch/#comments
  
  2 1
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  July 30, 2026 3:12pm
- OlderChas
  
  Pope the question should be – why do we let these nutters in? Question to someone wanting to immigrate into NZ ” What are your reasons for wanting to become a New Zealand citizen?” Answer – “The rubbish above.” Decision – Fuck off ya nutter. Next please?”
  
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  July 30, 2026 6:48pm
Swifty

What a joke.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361012903/victim-faces-22-year-wait-drunk-driver-pays-10-week-reparations

And a grave injustice if he indeed has assets and property.
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July 30, 2026 10:30am
- Ghost
  
  Neighbour only had to pay his fine back to WINZ for a few months then they cancelled it. his fraud was massive. Over 10 years latter they are still spending the money they stole. he’s bought 2 more cars this year. The ex bought a cafe, which went under
  
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  July 30, 2026 10:41am
  - R
    
    Ah..ha. the new justice system through the back doors of WINZ. Can’t be bothered administering those pesky reparation court orders.
    
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    July 30, 2026 11:48am
- Bobba Fret
  
  There is no justice with a lot of the judges we currently have.
  
  7 0
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  July 30, 2026 11:16am
  - leoj
    
    They should be on the ballot.
    
    1 2
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    July 30, 2026 12:24pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    The Justice System has been replaced by the Society Destruction System.
    
    2 1
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    July 30, 2026 1:19pm
- MCōs
  
  At the risk of being accused of victim blaming one gets the impression the house, similar to the neighbour, was uninsured.
  Nothing like this has ever happened to me, but if it did I’d be lodging a claim with the insurance company and letting them deal with the crazy driver, police, Winz and whoever. . . . .
  
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  July 30, 2026 5:05pm
Ghost

must be the new park and ride service

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world-news/361013342/car-launches-through-air-side-brisbane-bus
6 5
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July 30, 2026 11:04am
Ghost

the government should be asked every single day why they are not fixing the fuck up that is the sentencing act.

A man who made videos of himself sexually abusing his 5-year-old daughter – before sending screenshots to a co-offender overseas – was busted by a United States sheriff who was monitoring his associate’s behaviour.

47 videos, 282 images

Article

3 years, 10 months in jail.
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July 30, 2026 11:12am
- R
  
  Only 3 years 10 months…. No wonder such , and similar crimes are so common.
  
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  July 30, 2026 11:50am
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  If that was the sentence he will probably end up serving less than 2 years.
  
  7 1
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  July 30, 2026 1:05pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    Which brings us to 40% of the age of the 5 year old girl.
    
    Who says Judges don’t have a sense of humour. Disgusting.
    
    4 2
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    July 30, 2026 1:23pm
- Fender
  
  back paddock i’m afraid, 50c to fix
  
  4 1
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  July 30, 2026 1:39pm
Southern Raider

How does this keep happening in NZ schools? We seem to have a system where it enables fringe Principals to go off the reservation.

If you want to run a “progressive” or liberal school then surely it needs to be separate and parents in zones aren’t penalised for not having a normal “traditional” option.

As soon as I read no uniforms, supporting of LBGPQ+ and no sports focus I jumped to I wouldn’t want my kids attending that school either.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/education/albany-junior-high-school-bid-to-extend-to-year-13-divides-north-shore-parents/JKT5NQYTIRDTTKCVH5Y6I544LY/
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July 30, 2026 11:56am
- rouppe
  
  If the principal is so confident about their school, they shouldn’t mind another option.
  
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  July 30, 2026 12:36pm
rouppe

Story in the Herald about a prison supervisor being fired for taking 18kg of Scotch Fillet from the prison kitchen for a staff Christmas bbq at his house.

It’s a bit murky on the details, but surely the prison kitchen is stocked to feed the prisoners.

So was it ordered specifically for the staff event?

Or are we paying for prisoners to get Scotch Fillet for dinner?
9 1
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July 30, 2026 12:35pm
- nova
  
  The article states “Martin told the authority he believed approval had been obtained for the food to be ordered and taken off-site”. So it looks like it was never intended for the prisoners, it was for the staff BBQ all along. But perhaps the correct process was not followed?
  
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  July 30, 2026 1:41pm
- kowtow
  
  crims?
  
  they normally get scot free.
  
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  July 30, 2026 2:30pm
Scooter

Wow what a massive takedown of Fauci. Watch him squirm as the questions and accusations go on and on and ironically as he continually takes the 5th he also is unable to make any justification for what he did and you can tell he is dying to try and save himself.

https://x.com/i/status/2082482943046394066
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July 30, 2026 12:50pm
cas

Well knock me down with a feather.

There is a letter in this morning’s Herald from Maire Leadbeater saying she is ‘ staggered that she ( Julie Fairey) has raised concerns about a public meeting being held at a public venue’.

She doesn’t mention the reason Julie is concerned but her last paragraph says, ” I feel lost. My leftie forebears fought for the right to free speech when unionism and communism were the bogeys of the day. Now many on the left want to cancel free debate. We reach for the truth by listening and debating even those beliefs we hold dear”.

Good on her for sticking it to Mrs Michael Wood.
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July 30, 2026 1:04pm
- kowtow
  
  Yer but when was the trade union or communisim ever denied free speech or indeed association . Behind their revered iron curtain certainly , but hardly in western liberal democracies .
  
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  July 30, 2026 2:33pm
Ra Henare

Since the change of Editor I have included STUFF in my morning read (online headlines only).

IMHO The Herald has taken over the mantle previously held by The Truth. I.e., local gossip

STUFF gives a much better balance of world, NZ, and regional News IMHO.

EG one of the Heralds’ “Headlines” was a lottery winner’s hurrah for someone in Rotoryua, Taupo, having a second-level lottery win

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/lotto-rotorua-bay-of-plenty-and-taupo-have-winning-second-division-tickets/A2NYKICIMJDCPLLGKKKENCAX7U/
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July 30, 2026 1:06pm
greybeard

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361013356/chinas-ambassador-not-impressed-winston-peters-insulting-chinese-kiwi-mp
I see that Helen Clark is now doing Hipkins’ job for him.
She is back on Labour’s payroll in a big way.
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July 30, 2026 1:11pm
- Philview
  
  Helen is a busy lady. Yesterday she was going on about the Government’s abstention from approving the reappointment of the UN Human Rights Commissioner as an international embarrassment.
  
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  July 30, 2026 1:20pm
  - MCōs
    
    Isn’t she allowed to express an opinion?
    
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    July 30, 2026 4:52pm
    - greybeard
      
      Of course she is, but even you must have noticed that she is the MSM’s first cab off the rank these days when some sort of pro-Labour, anti-Coalition comment is sought.
      
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      July 31, 2026 8:26am
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  Why does the Chinese ambassador need to get involved?
  
  An MP, no matter their place of birth or ethnicity, is flying their NZ flag as an NZ citizen. Nothing to do with China even if there are Chinese slurs flying around.
  
  PS: What happened to Labour, and Twyford in particular, worrying about “Chinky sounding names?”
  
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  July 30, 2026 1:20pm
- MCōs
  
  Regardless of the response from Helen Clark it was appalling behaviour from Peters. He said a lot more than that which is reported in the article.
  Maybe he read the tirade from prepared notes. It sounded like an anti Asian party political electioneering statement
  
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  July 30, 2026 1:56pm
cmm (semi-retired edition)

We have a lack of joined up thinking in NZ.

MBIE is pushing hard to encourage people in NZ to get involved with overseas companies in the space sector.

Meanwhile MFAT are trying to make it harder by introducing more regulation like the Strategic Goods List and tightening down on the definitions and products covered by the dual use legislation.

The export regulations even limit who and where you speak with. Even dual citizens are being considered “foreign”. Having a discussion with a dual citizen in NZ is considered export of knowledge, as is having a Zoom call with an overseas colleague.
This is going to make it extremely different to operate in the dual-use industries – including aerospace – who all hire multi-national staff.

It would be good if these different organisations worked together to come up with consistent and simple to understand policies that promote future growth.
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July 30, 2026 1:15pm
- imalwaysright
  
  Too hard…
  
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  July 30, 2026 1:28pm
- virtualmark
  
  Not quite the story.
  
  Yes, we have offshore companies that are looking to do space-y things here. Because, compared to the US specifically:
  * It’s much easier to get regulatory approvals,
  * It’s much easier/cheaper than dealing with NASA (Cape Kennedy) or USAF (Vandenberg)
  * It’s much easier to access space (because the airspace here is much less crowded), and
  * Our public liability situation is massively simpler than in the US (*).
  
  So there are opportunities for Kiwis to be a part of that. For example if you’re a University of Canterbury rocket engineering student then have at it.
  
  At the same time we (NZ) are under pressure from the US about ITAR (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Traffic_in_Arms_Regulations). That limits who can be involved in those opportunities, and also with RocketLab. For example a dual NZ/Chinese citizen probably isn’t able to get a role on that stuff. Note that ITAR is largely why RocketLab is now notionally a US company, and why they’ve just announced launches from Alaska (you could access the same orbits from Mahia but the US won’t allow those missions/payloads to leave the US).
  
  So MBIE = “There’s opportunities for Kiwis” and MFAT = “US says no, and we have to play nice with them”.
  
  (* Had an entertaining conversation a few years ago with a US space company trying to explain the ACC system to them. “But that’s communism” was their response.)
  
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  July 30, 2026 2:22pm
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    Well, yes, having US companies come play in NZ is part of it, but another very large part is NZ selling services and products (software and sub assemblies etc) to other countries. The real big research (and IMHO big opportunities) are in Europe and Asia.
    
    We are very much being forced to toe the line on US policy. I hope it doesn’t get even tighter since about 60% of my income comes from China and Asia.
    
    Although only a small % of my customers are space customers, all my products are dual/multi-usage and can be used in both controlled devices (military, aerospace etc) as well as consumer products (cell phones, wearables, instruments,…).
    
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    July 30, 2026 3:37pm
    - virtualmark
      
      Understood. But the ITAR type regulations are important. See for example the recent news articles about how the Russian’s have been buying Japanese dual-use type parts for their weapons they’re using against Ukraine, with Japan now being embarrassed and having to tighten up on that.
      
      It would be nice if the world wasn’t that way, but it is.
      
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      July 30, 2026 4:35pm
rouppe

On the matter of consequences, Singapore knows how to do it.

A Singapore court has fined a French student S$600 (NZ$800) for licking a straw from an orange juice vending machine and putting it back into its dispenser.
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July 30, 2026 4:58pm

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