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August 9, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 09 August 2026

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General Debate

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Positan

Intellectual practicability very rarely exudes from Green Party MPs, so Tamatha Paul’s time-wasting rave about the “bastardisation of English” certainly didn’t elevate my expectations.

I found it fascinating that she could promote such matchless hypocrisy in overlooking the substance of her Maori language which, demonstrably, simply has to be the most bastardised language promulgated in today’s world.

English has always embraced and absorbed words from other languages where they filled an unmet or existing gap – and utilised them with the same spelling as their country of origin.

Words like “verandah, bungalow and shampoo” from Hindi/Urdu. “Ballet, café and entrepreneur” from French. “Spaghetti and graffiti” from Italian. “Fiesta, guerilla and tomato” from Spanish. “Tsunami and anime” from Japanese. “Ombudsman” from Sweden, etc.

However, for absolutely phoney and nonsensical Maori reasons, English words are totally bastardised and contaminated into a semblance of “Maori” that never before existed.

Take “pirihimana”, the invention for “police”, or “hato hone” for “St John” as in ambulance. Absurdly, in the latter instance, “hato” substitutes for “halo” (around the saint’s head) – but there is no “L” in Maori, so while the “T” may appear similar enough to replace “L”, the resultant pronunciation comes across solely as regressive.

Among other bizarre postulations, “kotahi rau tekau ma tahi” serves to convey “111” in Maori – which with the eleven syllables required would have many emergencies over and done with before any alarm call managed to be communicated.

Tamatha Paul might have been “head girl” at college and first Maori woman elected president of Victoria University Student’s Association. However, it readily appears that somewhere along the way she’s failed to absorb any of the skills that might have contributed to the exercising of sensible rationale instead of untrammelled blethering.

As the saying goes, sometimes it’s best to be silent and be thought a fool – than to speak and remove all doubt.
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August 9, 2026 8:03am
- David Garrett
  
  Positan: good examples. “Te kooti” is one of my pet hates…as if there was any kind of justice system before whitey came along…or certainly no “system” which bore the slightest resemblance to ours.
  I do rather like “whare paku” or “shit house” …a direct translation.
  
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  August 9, 2026 8:22am
  - pdm
    
    Te Kooti of course was one of New Zealands very first terrorists.
    
    I clearly remember my grandfathers oldest sister (my great aunt) telling me when I was 5 or 6 that she and her parents had to hide in the bush in the Wanstead/Wallingford area of, Central Hawkes Bay District to avoid a Te Kooti raiding party.
    
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    August 9, 2026 9:57am
    - Boy Geoff
      
      A raiding party? Surely they were just decolonizing…
      
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      August 9, 2026 10:41am
    - Jigsaw
      
      My great-grandfather hid in long grass to avoid Te Kooti at Matawhero near present day Gisborne. Te Kooti was a 19 century Charles Manson type who murdered many in cold blood- and mostly Maori as well. Was pardoned and died in bed. As pdm says a terrorist who created terror all over the cental North Island.
      
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      August 9, 2026 1:22pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  You’ve got to feel sorry for Tamatha Paul. She’s the product of NZ’s education system since 2000. What chance did she have?
  
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  August 9, 2026 8:56am
  - R
    
    The Education system problem began following the implementation of ‘Tomorrow’s Schools ‘ by that education intellectual David Lange
    
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    August 9, 2026 9:47am
- Hugh Jarse
  
  Morning Positan, my personal favourite is helicopter = waka topatopa, running a close second is cow = Kau.
  
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  August 9, 2026 8:56am
  - greybeard
    
    I drink a lot of pia and weina. But never before I drive te ka up te motowei.
    
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    August 9, 2026 10:10am
    - R
      
      GB…… I guess that the communion wine was served in large goblets this morning. Bless you.
      
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      August 9, 2026 11:56am
  - rouppe
    
    Afternoon tea: kapu ti.
    
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    August 9, 2026 10:20am
  - Salacious Crumb
    
    Was at an All Blacks test a few weeks back and every time a player scored, the word “tarai” came up on the big screen with the English translation in the background.
    
    They’re not even trying anymore….
    
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    August 9, 2026 1:25pm
- rjay
  
  If one listened to the debate the objective of each speech from the opposition was to get the Minister and government speakers to respond with something that could be put into an anti te reo soundbite.
  They avoided the trap of saying obvious things which social media have taken up. This is not about her being thick (in this case) but rather about being politically astute to set traps. Don’t buy into it
  
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  August 9, 2026 9:17am
  - Charlotte Wells
    
    I disagree; I think she is that thick.
    
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    August 9, 2026 10:36am
- Kurious Kiwi
  
  I went to the opening of the new Maungawhau railway station yesterday. The new CRL will greatly benefit auckland commuters but at a cost per km far higher than international comparisons. The project manager was criticised for claiming that the build cost could have been halved, but it was obviously grossly overspecced in places and opulent with masive “artworks” signifying maori features inside and out. If we were a wealthy nation thats ok but with people sleeping on the streets and underfunded hospitals a more functional build might have been the better decision.
  
  And why the obsession with all things Maori as the sole choice for decoration? We could have celebrated the wide variety of cultures who make up our largest city.
  
  What struck me was the dominance of made up maori language in bold type, (they presumably hadnt invented trains or lifts or escalators) understood by perhaps 5% of NZers and 0% of tourists, and English printed underneath in smaller fainter print. This also applied to safety signs so in an emergency this could actually be dangerous.
  It really pressed my GOM (grumpy old man) button.
  
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  August 9, 2026 9:30am
  - KH
    
    You mean Mt Eden station. A favourite of my school days.
    
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    August 9, 2026 10:45am
    - OlderChas
      
      I was going to ask, KH – where the hell is Maungawhau???. Seriously – I had no idea.
      
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      August 9, 2026 5:11pm
  - kowtow
    
    Provincial NZ
    
    A newly opened NZ Transport office on a main street .
    Same thing . Waka Kohtahi in big bold capitals first , then underneath much smaller English , New Zealand Transport Agency.
    
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    August 9, 2026 10:50am
  - R
    
    Obviously passenger safety in an emergency is not paramount in the minds of Auckland Transport and ACC; otherwise all signage would be in the prominent english language. The most universally understood language in the world
    
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    August 9, 2026 4:56pm
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  For over a century (since 1922) Ireland has had schools that teach all subjects (except English language) in Gaeilge (Irish Gaelic).
  
  Currently about 8% of Irish primary school children learn predominantly through Irish; that %age drops to just 4 for secondary school; and less than 0.7% are taught fully or partially in Irish at tertiary level.
  
  So after 100+ years of active encouragement of Irish in the Education system less than 2% of Irish folk speak the language fluently.
  
  Basically, most parents do not choose to send their children to total immersion Irish-language schools.
  
  The situation is much the same here in NZ
  https://www.educationcounts.govt.nz/statistics/maori-language-in-schooling
  
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  August 9, 2026 10:36am
  - pdm
    
    Visit the Outer Hebrides – my experience is the Isle Of Lewis where I have family and Gaelic is/was the common language among those who have grown up on the Island.
    
    Excluding `incomers’ (those who have moved there from the lowlands and England) of course. Our first visit was this time of the year in 1977 and was an experience never to be forgotten. We have been back 4 times since.
    
    English was of course spoken in our presence on every visit.
    
    Those pesky `incomers’ are probably now producing at least second generation Islanders and I wonder if they are Gaelic speakers and thinkers.
    
    BTW my cousins still referred to them as `incomers’ on our last visit in 2011.
    
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    August 9, 2026 10:44am
    - Maggy Wassilieff
      
      The situation had changed in the inner Hebrides by the 1830s-1850s. My grandparents (3 from Iona, 1 from Arran) could understand some Gaelic but never spoke it as far as I’m aware.
      
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      August 9, 2026 10:55am
  - Quail
    
    No wonder Ngai Tahu is so in favour of Te Reo!
    Their Maori / Irish connection is strong,
    Maori have learned the concept from their Irish cousins.
    
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    August 9, 2026 11:54am
  - David Lenny
    
    Just to add to MW’s statistic above, the proportion of the population able to speak Irish has plateaued at about 40% since 2001.
    
    “Almost 473,000 Irish speakers stated they never spoke the language and a further 553,965 indicated they only spoke Irish within the education system.” (2022 census.) Ie, about half of those who say they can speak the language never use it as a genuine language.
    
    So long as about 95% of NZers speak/understand English, and it remains a prominent international language, Maori will never gain widespread acceptance as a popular NZ language; only delusional insularity and ignorance of why people choose to speak some languages and not others enable Ms Paul to think otherwise.
    
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    August 9, 2026 12:16pm
  - Skottowe
    
    “So after 100+ years of active encouragement of Irish in the Education system less than 2% of Irish folk speak the language fluently.”
    
    Indeed. But teaching in the language won’t save it. As linguists know, what’s needed are native speakers (first and only language for first few years of one’s life). And it’s necessary to have a language environment – parents, friends, local businesses and so on – in which only that language is spoken. Hence the Gaeltacht areas. When we were in Ireland 20-odd years ago, we drove round the Ring of Kerry: a Gaeltacht area, as was the Dingle peninsula. We were there in winter: we stopped for lunch at a small village pub. Apart from the waitress, we were the only people speaking English. But I read somewhere recently that the use of Irish has dropped away in the Gaeltacht areas (the invasion of English), and it has become the second language preserve of urban liberals in cities such as Dublin. Which sounds the death knell for it, long-term. And it shows how quickly languages can be lost.
    
    If English is in the environment, children will likely be bilingual. This is I think what’s happened here in NZ. There are some people who speak Maori, but they’ll be bilingual. I have extended family members in this situation. Bilingualism is fine, where, unlike Maori, a language isn’t critically endangered.
    
    I note, over recent years, the push to persuade non-Maori to learn the language. But we’re all second-language speakers: we cannot save the language, no matter how many of us learn it.
    
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    August 9, 2026 3:56pm
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  All languages are bastard languages – every one. Therefore the statement was without merit and was just designed to be inflammatory.
  
  Languages adopt words from other languages and when they do they become words in the adopting language and obey the pronunciation and grammar etc of the adopting language. That’s a basic “law” of language evolution.
  
  So for example “Köln” and “München” in German becomes “Cologne” and “Munich” in English and “Police man” becomes “pihirihimana” (or whatever) in Maori.
  
  And we say Paris the way we do. To use the French pronunciation of “Pahree” in an Englsih sentence is just being a wanker.
  
  Thus when it comes to how so say Taupo in an English sentence then it is up to English speakers. Maori don’t get a say in it.
  
  Anybody with a multi-lingual background knows this. Basic stuff.
  
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  August 9, 2026 12:44pm
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    All languages are bastard languages – every one.
    
    And the glory of English is that as a bastard language, it has proved to be useful, adaptable and currently, supreme.
    
    https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/3143472-our-magnificent-bastard-tongue
    
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    August 9, 2026 2:51pm
    - Quail
      
      Force feeding New Zealanders a very limited ancient language simply builds resentment , followed then by non compliance .
      Government having promised to stop this stupidity in their departments should keep their word.
      Apparently not?
      I despair for the longevity of this government
      
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      August 9, 2026 5:34pm
- Skottowe
  
  ” ..Maori language which, demonstrably, simply has to be the most bastardised language…”
  
  At the time of first European arrivals, Maori language had a very small vocabulary. It simply had to absorb “loan” words, so as to deal with all of the new products and concepts brought by those arrivals.
  
  When I learned Maori in the mid-1970s, it was, of course, full of loan words and transliterations. But since then, the revisionists in the Maori Language Commission have been hard at work.
  
  “…first Maori woman elected president of Victoria University Student’s Association.”
  
  A virtue signal: everything to do with her being Maori, and nothing to do with her ability. When she was first elected to WCC, she famously didn’t know what rates were. Well, of COURSE she didn’t: her election was another virtue signal. It made the progressive lefties feel good.
  
  When she was elected to parliament, I remarked on a blog site that she’d gone from a position of some power in WCC, to one of no power in parliament, given that the Greens weren’t part of the government. And she’s been flailing around ever since. I hope that she doesn’t make it back at the upcoming election.
  
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  August 9, 2026 2:04pm
Cassandra

How grown ups behave: Japan is reviewing its nuclear policy in the face of changing circumstances. Its government is gradually edging towards acceptance eg allowing US Navy ships to base, accepting their nuclear armaments.

The Hiroshima survivors association is contemplating dissolution as its members age.

New Zealanders continue to confuse their interests with feelz.
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August 9, 2026 8:04am
- kowtow
  
  ‘The Hiroshima survivors association is contemplating dissolution as its members age.’
  
  Given all the lefty inspired anti nuke hype that we’re commanded to swallow ,it’s amazing they got this far , and they even managed to survive Covid!
  
  And they’re notoriously heavy smokers to boot.
  
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  August 9, 2026 8:11am
- Positan
  
  A great many university “educated” NZers have never been able to discern the difference between nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons.
  A nuclear power station here would have greatly reduced electricity charges and, in all probability, obviated the need for our plague-like infestation of all those expensive, short-life, non-recyclable, wind-farm eyesores.
  
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  August 9, 2026 8:32am
  - KH
    
    Both geothermal and nuclear excell at base load. It’s their speciality.
    Geothermal is a fraction of the costs, we have plenty of sites and we know how to do it already.
    Who needs nukes.
    
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    August 9, 2026 8:56am
    - CJames
      
      No there aren’t plenty of sites for geothermal as explained before a number of times. Everyone who even indirectly references the numbers from the discredited Jim Lawless report like you, KH) has done, just proves they don’t know what they are talking about.
      
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      August 9, 2026 9:42am
      - CJames
        
        Here is the second addition of the report.
        https://www.mbie.govt.nz/assets/future-geothermal-generation-stack.pdf
        Look at all the “future” stations in Table 6. The big ones at the top have already been built. Now what is left – Tokaanu, Reporoa, Tikitere. Really?
        Cost of ones currently constructed is about $1M/GWh p.a. You can work out the capital cost per $/kW that the table uses. The next ones built will be more expensive
        
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        August 9, 2026 10:24am
    - MCōs
      
      “Who needs nukes”
      If you mean nuclear power, those countries which don’t have any alternative for whatever reason. In the short term that’s not us.
      
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      August 9, 2026 9:58am
      - Colville
        
        10 years time (or less)we are going to need significant additional baseload generation.
        Gas water heating is on the outer so its going to be electric storage cylinders.
        Log fires are becoming more expensive to run so AC will be heating houses.
        Electric cars more and more common.
        
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        August 9, 2026 11:10am
      - NeverMindTheBollocks
        
        If we continue to import people then we will continue to need additional base load generation. Simples.
        
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        August 9, 2026 1:35pm
  - peterwn
    
    It is easy to lump things for effect just like ‘Four legs good – two legs bad’. The original Greenpeace supported the peaceful use of the atom especially for energy production as being good for the environment then split into two factions with the complete ‘anti-nuke’ faction prevailing.
    
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    August 9, 2026 9:09am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    The Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987 is the law that bans nuclear powered ships and nuclear weapons from New Zealand. There are no provisions in the law that would prohibit the construction and operation of a nuclear power station.
    
    Such a power station may be practically impossible but as far as I know it would not be prohibited by existing laws.
    
    Happy to be corrected if I have missed a provision in the Act.
    
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    August 9, 2026 9:20am
    - RoboRob
      
      I think you are correct. But there is a lack of enabling laws. What is the process for permitting a nuclear power plant? It is undefined. So without that it is impossible for an energy company to evaluate costs, timelines and risks. No company will even look at building in NZ until the government decides it wants to enable Nuclear energy. The government would need to visibly signal that it is keen on Nuclear energy and will make the process smooth and understandable.
      
      At the moment a company could spend 10s or 100s of millions just to find out the government has no interest in allowing construction. Luxon has already ruled out Nuclear and the left have a deep hatred / fear of the technology.
      
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      August 9, 2026 12:40pm
      - OlderChas
        
        “Luxon has ruled out…” What is the difference between that utterance from him and Adern’s “Captain’s Call” that we will not explore for oil and gas ever again. It sounds to me like our Prime Ministers are becoming dictators. A Dictatorship is certainly something that I will never vote for.
        
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        August 9, 2026 5:24pm
      - Ghost
        
        And yet here you are doing what you always do now, giving half truths
        
        Luxon ruled out changing our nuclear free policy, which does not include and never has included nuclear energy.
        
        What he said about nuclear energy was that at the moment we haven’t maximised what we have. He is also looking down the road at what would be better for NZ, which is why this government has been funding OpenStar’s nuclear fusion developments. But hey, with rob, facts never matter more than a good bullshit whinge.
        
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        August 9, 2026 5:45pm
      - RoboRob
        
        @Ghost
        
        Not that you are likely to see this but calling me out for lying is just pathetic. ‘No change in our nuclear policy’ and ‘we dont need to investigate nuclear’ IS ruling it out for the time being. Out current nuclear policy may allow nuclear energy but there is no regulation framework to actually enable it.
        
        Oh and where was the whinge? All I said is that the current system does not enable nuclear energy and neither side of politics is looking to enable it.
        
        Did you get out of bed on the wrong side or is your butt hurt from me being right about the treaty principles stuff.
        
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        August 10, 2026 8:52am
Yvette

If there is to be a referendum on a four year Government term, and another question about whether MMP is still the right voting procedure for New Zealand, may be there should be a question too about the Special Maori Electorates and Seats – and that their establishing provision to franchise Maori, who under their group ownership of property did not originally qualify and did individual settler owners, a qualification which no longer exists?
The idea of a referendum may not be so silly after all.
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August 9, 2026 8:20am
- Quail
  
  There was a referendum specifically designed to reduce the number of MP’ s in the NZ House of Parliament from 120 to 99 . This was some years back.(1999)
  81.5% of voters supported that initiative but Parliament would not.
  That referendum was treated as non binding.
  This is another example of the anti democratic nature of MMP!
  
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  August 9, 2026 9:05am
  - Positan
    
    Remember, in the good old days of FPP we only had 64 MPs – TOTAL.
    
    It was the infliction of MMP that occasioned the increase to 120+ – because such a number was needed to accommodate the proportions required by the MMP system.
    
    In all honesty, given the enormous cost of running parliament and the abject, time-wasting lunacy that the MMP system has inflicted on what was once supposedly NZ’s most serious institution, wouldn’t we be far better off with 64 competent MPs, rather than the appalling rabble presently in evidence?
    
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    August 9, 2026 9:36am
    - MCōs
      
      The last FFP election in 1993 was for 99 members.
      The population was 3,572,200 as of June 1993
      The population has increased about 50% since then, but the number of MPs by about a quarter. Not that that’s the quite the way it’s figured out.
      Btw
      I believe all these MPs are needed to slog away at committee work
      
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      August 9, 2026 10:15am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Yes I agree. I don’t see how select committees could operate with 64 MPs.
        
        120 MPs is not that many. The target of reform in the next decade should be the monster of local government.
        
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        August 9, 2026 11:31am
      - MCōs
        
        A couple of points with local government representatives.
        I diligently vote every three years for some ward candidates I’ve barely heard of and community board members whose names mean nothing more than the short blurb in the booklet that is sent out with the voting paper.
        I often think the direction of our city is being entrusted to a few people who know what they’re doing and others guided by political idealism
        
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        August 9, 2026 12:27pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    Shock result from parliament! MPs refuse to reduce their number from 120 to 99…
    
    Turkeys and Christmas spring to mind.
    
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    August 9, 2026 1:38pm
- Nobby2
  
  Yvette, I agree with having referendum for, 1; should a Government term be 4 years. 2; Is MMP still the preferred voting system and 3; should special maori electorates and seats be abolished. My view is that all referendum must be BINDING REFERENDUM.
  
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  August 9, 2026 12:18pm
Tomtoddy

I usually enjoy reading Damien Grant, not because I always agree with him, but he does, typically, introduce a different view on subjects the rest of the media covers only by parroting each other’s drivel.

His expose on Luxon in Stuff annoyed me not because he is necessarily wrong but because it adds to the constant, carping by the MSM about National’s failures and Luxon’s so-called gaffes.

OK. Luxon could do better, but he continues to hold a coalition together despite big egos and never-ending wiliness and there are many pluses for their work in education, removing regulation, trade etc. Those gains rarely get covered by the MSM.

What annoyed me most is Grant devoted a bare half dozen words to point out how devastating the alternative would be, given their past record and the few promises made by the left’s hangers-on.

Reality is that some might claim we are in the frying pan now but if we get to be in the fire by electing Hipkins and co we stand to be burnt very severely. Grant knows that for sure and he should drive the point home more forcefully.
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August 9, 2026 8:20am
- Simon
  
  Grant writing is dish water.
  
  The thing about Luxon is he is core National but doesnt hide it. Woke, dripping wet, pro-Maori rights, big on climate change, soft on crime etc etc.
  This is National but their leaders try to hide for the mugs who vote National. But Luxon doesnt bother. Luxon is honest about the harm that National are inflicting upon NZ. Luxon isnt a dancing monkey like usual National. More of a slow moving clown car.
  
  National are almost the same as the left the only difference is 5 years.
  
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  August 9, 2026 8:36am
  - Positan
    
    Quite right, Simon. National today are a far cry from the founding principles drafted by Sid Holland in 1936.
    
    National chose through various Leaders to place politics above principle – with the clear result that not a single one of its pounding principles has been remotely adhered to for decades.
    
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    August 9, 2026 9:43am
    - Cassandra
      
      “Not a single” goes too far.
      
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      August 9, 2026 10:20am
      - Positan
        
        Well then, name just a single one, Cass.
        
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        August 9, 2026 10:32am
      - Cassandra
        
        From Nats website: “We believe this will be achieved by building a society based on the following values:
        Loyalty to our country, its democratic principles and our Sovereign as Head of State.
        Recognition of the Treaty of Waitangi as the founding document of New Zealand
        National and personal security
        Equal citizenship and equal opportunity
        Individual freedom and choice
        Personal responsibility
        Competitive enterprise and rewards for achievement
        Limited Government
        Strong families and caring communities
        Sustainable development of our environment.”
        
        Take your pick.
        
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        August 9, 2026 2:20pm
      - Positan
        
        “Take your pick.”
        Cass, what you’ve quoted is nothing but meaningless propaganda from the current National Party website.
        
        My question directed you to “the founding principles drafted by Sid Holland in 1936”.
        
        They were:
        
        “To promote good citizenship and self-reliance.
        To combat communism and socialism.
        To maintain freedom of contract.
        To encourage private enterprise.
        To safeguard individual rights and the privilege of ownership.
        To oppose interference by the State in business, and State control of industry”.
        
        As I said, nothing National has done for decades remotely upholds those ideals – and inclusion of your Treaty reference underlines exactly just how woke it has become. NZ’s founding document was Queen Victoria’s Charter/Letters Patent. The Treaty was only an agreement between Maori Chief and the Crown – whereas the Charter founded and established the country.
        
        For decades I too was a one-eyed Nat. I earnestly hope that the advent of maturity will lift your voluntarily-held blindfold from your eyes.
        
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        August 9, 2026 2:48pm
    - MCōs
      
      Times have changed in ninety years. NZ was in the grip of the Great Depression, fascism was rampant in Europe with Hitler, Mussolini, Franco in power and flared up in the UK, Canada, Australia, but not here in 1936.
      Unemployment and poverty started to go down in 1936. State houses came on stream and relief camp were closed.
      It was another 13yrs before National became government.
      
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      August 9, 2026 10:37am
  - H. Upmann
    
    Luxon is clearly in the wrong party. “Woke, dripping wet, pro-Maori rights, big on climate change, soft on crime etc etc.”
    He would easily fit into either Green or Labour. Would they take him? YES!
    
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    August 9, 2026 11:48am
- R
  
  Tomt….Grant’s ‘bare half dozen words’ was a wise decision on his part. Any more than six or so words, would have stretched the comprehension skills of a significant element of the NZ population, and his message would have been lost as too hard to comprehend.
  
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  August 9, 2026 9:55am
  - RoboRob
    
    Ah yes, that reported inability of NZers to listen you refer to which is stopping Luxon from communicating his message.
    
    Where is the slew of exciting policies you said would propel National back up in the Polls. I keep listening for them but must have missed it, unless you think a referendum on MMP or changes to Kiwisaver are going to ignite the electorate.
    
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    August 9, 2026 12:45pm
- pdm
  
  TT I find Damien Grant the most objective opinion writer that Stuff has and I hope they pay him well for his weekly pieces.
  
  Todays was a critique of Luxon not a pro National or a pro Coalition pre election piece so there was no need for him to reference the undesirability of an alternative Government.
  
  I thought he was right on `the money’ as the saying goes and obviously when (to paraphrase Grant) Luxon’s `toga was raised’ Grant did not see any balls underneath.
  
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  August 9, 2026 10:10am
  - Cassandra
    
    Low bar, pdm!
    
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    August 9, 2026 10:21am
artemisia

Mistake to omit creative arts technologies from new school subjects, drama teachers say

Annette Thomson is president of the drama teachers’ association Whakaari Aotearoa Drama New Zealand. She says there are critical skill shortages in the creative sector. That may well be true but have they provided the Minister with an assessment of the impact of this critical skills shortage? Perhaps they have provided details and maybe it is later on the priority list.

That would be interesting to know. For example. What studio or production opportunities have been lost and why. Is the critical skills shortage global or could we be importing some of those critical skills even temporarily as needed. How essential are more NCEA credits if students are getting the production experience at school anyway.

Because without at least a few specifics it just sounds like a group of self serving teachers joining the long list of those asking for more OPM because.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/education/938197/mistake-to-omit-creative-arts-technologies-from-new-school-subjects-drama-teachers-say
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August 9, 2026 8:25am
- Gravelroad
  
  @Art-
  Just as an aside- the large primary school here which goes up to Year 8, has in the winter term/s “clubs” on a Friday afternoon.
  Students are invited to enlist in a club of their choice.
  Currently one of my grandchildren is in the mountain biking club. Was in “sports” last time which gave young students an experience of various other sporting codes – not just rugby tackling each other in the playground at lunchtime.
  The other one is in arts and crafts club where he is constructing a convoluted car racing track out of balsa wood or similar. Prior to this choice he has done computer coding and gaming (which he knows a fair bit about anyway). And before that he did art painting and one of his efforts was picked to be shown as part of a kids exhibition in a local art gallery.
  These activities are all supervised by appropriate and qualified adults.
  Mountain biker has only fallen off once so far.
  
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  August 9, 2026 9:04am
- rouppe
  
  More to the point:
  
  Which creative arts make money and pay tax, versus those that are a net loss to the taxpayer.
  
  Then we can have a conversation about school subjects.
  
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  August 9, 2026 10:29am
  - MCōs
    
    Quite right
    Let’s bulldoze the Art Centre complex in Christchurch and bung in a tractor factory
    
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    August 9, 2026 10:45am
    - Nukuleka
      
      I’m not sure you are all that familiar, MCõs, with what you call the ‘Art Centre’ in Christchurch (rather better known as the Arts Centre to locals). It only survives because it is propped up by large annual subsidies from the CCC ratepayers. It most certainly ain’t self- sustaining despite the various cafés, retail businesses and movie theatres that lease spaces. It’s wonderful that the city has retained the original Canterbury College/ University of Canterbury buildings but please don’t conflate its existence with the role of art education in NZ schools. Your comment is plain silly.
      
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      August 9, 2026 11:30am
    - Bernard Black
      
      Good idea.
      I’m sure our knowledgeable and innovative farming community could help design and excellent range of tractors, might even become an export goldmine for NZ.
      Not sure how many export dollars the Art Centre currently earns us.
      
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      August 9, 2026 11:35am
    - rouppe
      
      I’ll just point out that Gallagher Group, that used to “just be an electric fence company” is now an international company in security systems generating significant transaction revenue.
      
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      August 9, 2026 3:15pm
Simon

Iran has got this. What a defeat for Israel / US, dropped from MSM because it will upset the boomers.
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August 9, 2026 8:43am
- kowtow
  
  There’s nothing right about that regime.
  
  Hangings ramped right up. Silence from the usual suspects.
  
  ‘ Iran executions return to near-daily pace as war distracts world from domestic repression
  Only 67 of at least 444 executions documented in Iran this year were announced by authorities, as rights advocates warn of a broader crackdown.’
  
  https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/iran-news/article-904899
  
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  August 9, 2026 10:54am
David George

“Professor” Arday has destroyed the value in the saying “you couldn’t make it up”.
He has, unintentionally, created a new one though.
“Ardaying” your CV is now a thing
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August 9, 2026 8:45am
- artemisia
  
  Humans are pretty good at rationalisng to advance the outcomes we want. Actually make that very good. But maybe not so good at spotting others rationalising if it advances the outcomes we want.
  
  Neurodivergent, high IQ or both could easily result in impenetrable convolution.
  
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  August 9, 2026 9:20am
  - imalwaysright
    
    “But maybe not so good at spotting others rationalising if it advances the outcomes we want.”
    
    The DEI box tickers were looking for boxes to tick.
    
    This guy seems to have a warehouse full…unfortunately they are all empty.
    
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    August 9, 2026 9:52am
Yvette

Go back to your own country
Peters did open a hole in his own defence though, when he said: “I stand by all my comments as the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I also stand by my comments as the New Zealand First Party leader.”
That’s Peters the minister of foreign affairs saying he agrees with the “racist and offensive” things said by Peters the MP. That may become the subject of future questions for Peters the minister.
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/943814/the-house-luxon-and-peters-who-are-you-today

“As Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Peters, what do you think of a Leader of Parliament Party expressing himself in racist terms and under-mining, indeed sabotaging the diplomatic work you seem to do so well, especially when such insulting language leaves New Zealanders and China ignorant of what you were actually talking about – covid.’

Why doesn’t a non-existent “journalist” with the guts to do so, ask Winston that?

At least Chinese officials complaining to the Department of Foreign Affairs seem to have understood the moronic irony of the incident.

Which really just leaves David Seymour a little grieved after firing off a scathing, unauthorized letter to UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Albert K. Barume, calling his critique of the Regulatory Standards Bill an “affront to New Zealand’s sovereignty” – a letter Seymour later withdrew after a rebuke from Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters
But Winston will not exercise either part of his forked tongue to apologise to David.
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August 9, 2026 8:53am
- KH
  
  Winston was very kind to Xu-Nan who is the most annoying, time wasting prat in the house. (and that’s a very high bar)
  
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  August 9, 2026 9:00am
  - mike
    
    Telling a New Zealander to “go back to your own country” was kind?
    
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    August 9, 2026 10:08am
    - rouppe
      
      Kinder than pulling out a mannequin with Xu-Nan’s face on it and chopping off it’s head.
      
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      August 9, 2026 10:32am
    - Don Beckett
      
      Neither you nor the media give the complete quote, which puts a different light on it.
      
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      August 9, 2026 10:38am
      - MCōs
        
        Are you trying to put lipstick on Winston
        
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        August 9, 2026 10:47am
      - cmm (semi-retired edition)
        
        No MCos, Winston is prat enough without having to embellish what he said.
        But like a broken clock is right twice a day, Winston is at least prepared to raise a few issues that others avoid.
        
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        August 9, 2026 1:32pm
Diogenes

The website http://www.dailytelegraph.co.nz has been down for several days now. It’s one I go to a lot for a bit more independent news.

Does anyone know what’s up?
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August 9, 2026 9:16am
- kowtow
  
  Join pressreader through your library.
  
  Then you can read the print version and supplements etc
  
  ps AI tells me there’s nothing wrong with the website.
  
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  August 9, 2026 10:56am
  - Ghost
    
    no. press reader does not run articles from junk websites like this. Ai is wrong
    
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    August 9, 2026 11:20am
- kowtow
  
  My apologies dio , I read that as the DT UK!
  
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  August 9, 2026 12:20pm
- mogg
  
  I am able to read the UK Daily Telegraph, it has been working okay for me. There is a new article this am about Jason Arday, two of the professors on his original Cambridge selection panel had stated “Whites need to be re-educated” and “Whitness in education is racist”. Can you imagine a university saying Blacks need to be re-educated?
  
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  August 9, 2026 12:24pm
  - Ghost
    
    It’s a NZ website that came about under covid, it is in no way connected to the actual daily telegraph. It is a junk website run by Malcolm Dreaneen
    
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    August 9, 2026 12:45pm
    - mogg
      
      You know not what you are talking about!
      
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      August 9, 2026 1:22pm
      - Ghost
        
        Junk website, tick
        Ran by Malcolm Dreaneen, tick
        Not connected to the actual daily telegraph, tick
        Took off under covid running vaccine and Covid article, tick
        
        Perhaps you might want to stop believing junk websites.
        
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        August 9, 2026 1:37pm
    - mogg
      
      I pay subscription to the UK DT have done for years, I know what I am reading. Try getting out the other side of the bed.
      
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      August 9, 2026 2:44pm
      - Ghost
        
        Read very slowly, because I have no doubt you do not understand what is being talked about. The person above is asking about a junk website called the daily telegraph New Zealand. this discussion is not about the daily telegraph uk, or au. This discussion is about a junk website called the daily telegraph New Zealand, that the original poster is asking if anyone knows what has happened to it, it has zero connection to the actual daily telegraph. Go up and read the original post if you still cannot understands because you have completely misunderstood what the original poster is asking about. It doesn’t matter if you can access the daily telegraph uk or subscribe to it, it is not the website he is asking about.
        
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        August 9, 2026 2:58pm
Ghost

Most Controversial Clip on the Internet Right Now

won’t bother, the comment would get moderated.
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August 9, 2026 9:31am
- Andrew Worth
  
  The main motivation for compulsive lying is attention seeking, she’s just the world champion.
  
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  August 9, 2026 11:30am
- OlderChas
  
  Not often I uptick you Ghost! But that link is the biggest load of manufactured outrage ( or am I actually allowed to say bullshit on here?) that I can remember seeing. For starters – there is absolutely no one else in the whole (I presume underground transport station?) when the escalators (in both directions???) stopped moving? I won’t even get into the rest of the (patently obvious!) rubbish that this clip includes. There should be something that this woman could be prosecuted for!
  
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  August 9, 2026 5:52pm
cas

I am reading an article in the Sunday Star Times about Mark Law, the courageous helicopter pilot who went out and rescued people from White Island but he was told to stop after his first trip out there. He has a book coming out.

in the article he talks about meeting Jacinda with another hero pilot. She said to them that she could understand what they were going through as two of her departments were going through the same thing.

Law says ” …We were going Oh My God you have no frigging idea. And she didn’t. To have the audacity to say her staff, down there, hundreds of miles away, who’ve never handled someone with a burn, never even smelt White Island, never even seem someone die, were the same is bullshit.”

And then the clincher. ” I felt like we were talking to an empty wine bottle Anyone can say they are kind. It’s just damn hard to stand up when its going tough”.

His company got fined $196,000 in the end. It should have been Work Safe on trial, not the pilots.
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August 9, 2026 12:06pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  These people who try to get some sort of reflected glory by claiming a shared experience with those like Mark Laws and others are cringeworthy. But it’s all about the feelz these days.
  
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  August 9, 2026 1:19pm
- rouppe
  
  They got fined because (iirc) they flew into a dangerous environment, which meant their work wasn’t safe blah blah blah.
  
  From an official with their blinkers on and no thought processes. If there had been no-one on the island, they wouldn’t have flown there. They went to rescue people, putting themselves at risk to do so.
  
  Anyone running into a burning building and rescuing a dog, let alone a person, would be lauded as a hero. These guys did the same thing as far as I’m concerned, ran/flew into a burning building/island, and heroically rescued people.
  
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  August 9, 2026 2:26pm
  - kowtow
    
    Where was the “public interest” in prosecuting heroes.
    Should never have been allowed to proceed.
    
    A different kind of kindness /power/ leadership or somefink.
    
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    August 9, 2026 2:53pm
  - OlderChas
    
    WorkSafe (the country’s primary government regulator for workplace health and safety and a Crown agency) is a total, absolute, overbearing, interfering joke. Disband it.
    
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    August 9, 2026 5:58pm
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  A travesty that that brave guy was prosecuted.
  
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  August 9, 2026 4:06pm
Yvette

PMMP?

Positan [above] :
It was the infliction of MMP that occasioned the increase to 120+ – because such a number was needed to accommodate the proportions required by the MMP system.

MMP can in fact likely work with any number of MPs
It requires only a small mental leap
If each Party wins Electorate seats, divide the Part Vote by those Electorate Seats so each member represent the Party Vote.
A Party with no electorate seats could be represented by a Leader and/or Deputy.

In a party with 40 MPs and 40 percent of the Party Vote, each MP would be worth 1 vote.
Another Party with 10 MPs but 20 percent of the Party Vote would have MPs worth 2 votes.

Most of voting in Parliament is by Party Vote.
On the rare occasion a ‘conscience’ vote is had (when they can find a MP with a conscience), just accept each MP as having 1 equal vote.

Some MPs for general Parliamentary business may end up with votes including decimals: like a 1.7575 vote but that is what computers are for, and anywise the result would not err from what the Party Vote is anywise, as is now.

The present system is Mixed Member Proportional
What is outlined above is Proportional Mixed Member Proportional.

This system is in fact more accurate to Party Vote than is normal MMP.
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August 9, 2026 12:27pm
cmm (semi-retired edition)

I saw someone making an interesting claim that USA provides universal healthcare for a foreign country, but not for its own people. That country being Israel.

The argument was that the US sends about $4bn to $21bn foreign aid to Israel and without that the Israelis taxpayer couldn’t afford their universal healthcare programme. Fair enough logic.

By the same logic, we’re propping up the Indonesian airforce. We send Indonesia about $25M annually. That’s keeping 5 of their fighter jets in the air.
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August 9, 2026 1:01pm
- Ghost
  
  It’s worse, we fund Germany’s health system by treating Kim Dotcom, but it is ok, he alone keeps KFC NZ profitable
  
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  August 9, 2026 1:09pm
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    Since KDC’s next stop is wearing orange in USA, we’re saving the American taxpayer.
    
    As a prisoner in USA the taxpayer there will be paying all his medical bills. The longer things get delayed, the worse his health and the higher the cost.
    
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    August 9, 2026 1:34pm
    - Paulus
      
      And a Medical Certificate saying that he is not well enough to fly !
      
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      August 9, 2026 4:08pm
- Charlotte Wells
  
  But they’re not Israel, so it’s ok. //
  
  Always remember that there are 2 standards in the world.
  
  Anything that involves Israel is bad. Anything else, no matter how bad, is not Israel so it’s good.
  
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  August 9, 2026 1:44pm
- Southern Raider
  
  What all the lefties miss is that the “funding” to Israel is not really cash, its services in kind.
  
  The vast majority of the total headline amount is the “cost” of defence supplies to the IDF. That cost like all defence contracts is hugely marked up and employees tens of thousands of Americans.
  
  They could stop the supply and it’s not going to materially change Israel’s cash position. It will however have a massive impact on the USA defence contractors, all the employees, state and federal taxes collected back etc.
  
  Also who else is going to test the latest USA armaments in a real world situation.
  
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  August 9, 2026 1:45pm
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    “What all the lefties miss is that the “funding” to Israel is not really cash,”
    
    Yup, that is certainly correct. They are typically tied to having to buy weapons etc from USA at extremely inflated prices (eg. a Patriot missile battery costs around $1.1billion and many million for every shot).
    
    These are often more just gifts to the USA weapons industry.
    
    Still, even if Israel was to buy this equipment on the open market it would still be at least 50% of the donation value and that’s still real taxpayer money that allows other government spending (be that healthcare or pot holes).
    
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    August 9, 2026 2:57pm
cmm (semi-retired edition)

Does anyone else find this “Tour De Hood” stuff irksome?

The cops were apparently “disappointed” and from the pictures it would appear they laid on almost as many cops as there were cyclists.

This is bullshit. An event with 40 riders that needs around 20 cops should not be permitted to happen.

Herald”“The rides themselves are not illegal. What’s illegal are the activities of some of the individuals who take part in the rides,” Inspector Wayne Kitcher said at the time.”

I call bollocks. They all came together for the purpose of breaking the law and “showing they’re boss”. Yes, of course that’s illegal.

This was not just one or two bad apples spoiling an otherwise peaceful event.

It was a celebration of lawlessness. Thumbing their noses at society.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-monitor-mass-bike-ride-on-aucklands-north-shore-issue-infringements/W6XVTAAZ3BADBBFUOLPBL25AQU/
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August 9, 2026 1:40pm
cmm (semi-retired edition)

I’ve commented on these people a few times over the last couple of years It looks like finally the issue has been getting some attention.

There are at least 50 people living in make shift dwellings (some vehicles, some tents, some shacks) just in the one area in Christchurch.

They seem to be building some form of community structure, so just tearing into the place and chasing them away would be counter productive.

I am generally a libertarian thinking that people generally should not go to the state to solve all their problems, but some people are just basket cases and do need the help. I don’t have a problem helping people with genuine need.

Personally I think the way to go here is to set up some better campground-like facilities in the area with ablution blocks and such. Provide some security and a drug-free environment so that at least some of these people can get their feet under themselves.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361017198/pensioners-and-children-live-makeshift-community-now-theyve-been-told-leave
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August 9, 2026 1:55pm
- rouppe
  
  The problem is that “that area” is slated to revert back to wetland. It was originally recovered from swamp, and the earthquake turned the ground liquid under all the houses there – the liquifaction – which is why it is red zoned.
  
  While your solution mirrors what they’ve said, that’s not possible at that location.
  
  Then there’s the knock-on effect. If they did establish a campground with toilets and showers for them, the people that already live in a campground – and pay for it – will be rightfully angry about why they have to pay when this other lot don’t. If those that already pay then don’t have to, the social housing tenants will be saying why do I have to pay when those others don’t – or they’d just leave their state house to get free camping.
  
  Wrong incentive
  
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  August 9, 2026 2:18pm
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    Liquefaction is mainly a problem with high ground pressures (ie. heavy buildings on relatively small areas). It is less of a problem with lighter buildings. And if they are low-cost prefab-style buildings then these are not really a problem at all.
    
    Of course some people would get a bit annoyed if they pay for stuff which other people get “for free”. But that’s already worse with all the free stuff in NZ – be that housing, health, schooling, cuzzies on the couch smoking dope,…
    
    The point would be to make it basic, but safe. Not a holiday park. Just turfing these people out into the streets won’t solve the problem.
    
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    August 9, 2026 2:40pm
    - Paulus
      
      Glad I do not live in Papamoa, Tauranga East, as the whole area is in liquifaction, as has been shown in the last 60 years ago when water exploded frounderground and took down huge trees and roots some 4 kms from the sea.
      These can still be seen.
      
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      August 9, 2026 4:14pm
rouppe

Stuff reports that the Wellington region would face major traffic isolation in the event of a 7.5 earthquake with 90% of commuters affected.

Oh, 90% in the Hutt Valley. Different numbers elsewhere. Headlines…

On the whole it doesn’t tell us anything that wouldn’t be reasonably obvious. Though they did have this clanger:

The study reveals that two weeks after the event, the capital’s remaining road network can only function if travel demand is artificially slashed by 55 to 60%. Without massive demand-management measures – such as mandatory telecommuting or staggered work schedules – unserved traffic demand causes queues to spill back, preventing thousands of vehicles from even entering the roadway.

That sounds like they’re assuming every single person is going to try to commute to work, two weeks after an earthquake that massively affected major roads. I would have thought that:
a) If it was so big as to make a mess of the road ing network that plenty of buildings would also have been affected, and
b) many building owners/employers would be saying stay away until the buildings could be inspected.

I think you’d see something like 75-90% reduction in travel demand without doing anything.
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August 9, 2026 2:12pm
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  Quite. A 7.5 would likely put the hurt on the Wellington buildings. That would be about 3.5x the energy in the 1942 Wairarapa EQ (7.2) – the biggest earthquake to hit Wellington in the last 150 years.
  
  No need for people to go in to do their jobs in the inner city.
  
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  August 9, 2026 2:46pm
- Mod88
  
  They must follow Ken Ring as he has said there is high likelihood of an earthquake between the 8th & 11th. Nek minute Stuff running a earfquake article.
  
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  August 9, 2026 3:16pm
- greybeard
  
  The study was done at Auckland Uni: probably by people many of whom have never actually been to Wellington to experience the place first-hand. They would be more useful doing a study on what would happen to Auckland if the Harbour Bridge collapsed.
  
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  August 9, 2026 3:25pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  There’s a piece of SH2 south of Mt Bruce that is predicted to collapse in the event of this earthquake. Wairarapa cut off! Though it’s not clear whether the railway line north & south would survive.
  
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  August 9, 2026 5:51pm
  - rouppe
    
    Cut off from Wellington. Can still go north.
    
    So not really cut off at all?
    
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    August 10, 2026 8:59am
CJames

In what may be a victory in the culture wars, I notice Newstalk refers to a woman as actress.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/on-air/the-sunday-session/audio/melissa-george-australian-actress-on-her-new-tv-project-ms-x/
Be interesting to see what if any repercussions there are.
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August 9, 2026 3:42pm
Inandout

Every now and again YouTube throws up a fascinating subject. The Kray twins from their Barrister’s perspective, a true gem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzUKMfvMkQY
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August 9, 2026 3:44pm
Ghost

The actor, who played Lavender Brown in Harry Potter’s the Half-Blood Prince, Deathly Hallows Part 1 and Part 2, joined the online subscription site in 2025 out of “complete desperation” to provide for herself, her fiance, comic Alfie Brown, and their four children after a callback audition rejection.

She told the Times: “I couldn’t go and, say, work in a supermarket because I can’t afford the childcare, and also I don’t want people shouting Harry Potter spells at me as I work at Tesco.

Article

I had to google to see who she was, didn’t remember the character. I doubt anyone in a supermarket will either.
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August 9, 2026 4:05pm
- keepcalmcarryon
  
  Did you recognize the feet pics?
  
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  August 9, 2026 4:10pm
NeverMindTheBollocks

The Greens want to give $2.4 BILLION to Maoris for their maraes. I kid you not.

“Te Rangatiratanga Trust would be owned and governed by hapū and iwi, with $2.44 billion of government investment over four years”.

“The party said the government would have no authority to direct investments, appoint trustees, alter funding decisions or interfere with the operation of the trust beyond ordinary law”.

Just no!

http://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics_election-2026/945925/greens-propose-2-point-4b-funding-to-back-critical-marae
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August 9, 2026 6:03pm
- rouppe
  
  How much of other people’s money do they expect?
  
  * Treaty Settlements
  * Nil or extremely favourable tax rates on investment returns of above and commercial operations
  * PGF money which was spent on marae maintenance
  * Infrastructure Fund money for the same thing
  
  Let’s be clear. Marae are private property. They fulfil Treaty Article 2, where Maori keep what they don’t want to sell.
  
  Yes I know they are opened in times of crisis, but the quantity of money directed toward Maori interests at everyone else’s expense is enormous. My house, and all my neighbours could do with a solar system, a re-roof, or a repaint, but nope, not for us. Only for them.
  
  Iwi Trusts have billions upon billions upon billions of dollars at their disposal. They don’t need more of mine.
  
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  August 9, 2026 6:39pm
- Hugh Jarse
  
  This has been building for a few months, my oh May remember how the media have been making a big deal over evacuated people being hosted on marae as if that was the only place they could go.
  
  The reality is that many community halls in rural areas and council facilities have been used as evacuation centres staffed. Y local volunteers for many many years, but now Māori are trying to get funding for a role that has been delivered for years by local communities. It’s a rort and there are many rural areas that have no marae to deliver this anyway.
  
  .
  
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  August 9, 2026 9:58pm
  - Ghost
    
    the reality is that Marae have been used in emergencies for a long time. Māori have never asked for anything to help look after people during an emergency, they typically have got by on peoples donations. Don’t blame Māori for political parties policies.
    
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    August 9, 2026 11:08pm
Southern Raider

So Ngai Tahu, Tainui and Ngati Whatua Orakei are the richest Iwi in the country with billions of dollars of assets and don’t pay tax, yet the taxpayer should give them a share of $2.5B?

Ngapuhi refuses to settle with the Crown, its members get hundreds of millions in benefits per annum, test taxpayers should give them a share of $2.5B?

Surely a middle ground and semi fare approach would be taxpayers put in dollar for dollar of actual Iwi money put into marae projects. Not just another lolly scramble.

We will also hear at the same time Maori health is underfunded.
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August 9, 2026 6:20pm
surfing

So, greens announced that maraes are the seed of the nation that will grow the nation.

Are the greens just absolutely crazy? And, where does that leave the other 85% of the people? Paying for maori ?
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August 9, 2026 6:33pm
- cmm (semi-retired edition)
  
  What I don’t understand is what vote the Greens are going after with this drivel.
  All the Maori who are pro-Maori awesomeness are going to be on the Maori roll and voting TPM (or maybe a bit of Labour).
  All the Maroi-lover whites can’t get on the Maori roll can still cast a TPM party vote.
  So what vote are Green going for? Are they trying to eat some of the TPM cake?
  
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  August 9, 2026 8:14pm
  - Ghost
    
    They’re hoping, I would guess, that the fractions in the Māori party would lead Māori to vote for Green candidates.
    
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    August 9, 2026 8:24pm

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