General Debate 17 August 2026

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slightlyrighty

If I were to start a political party, and one of my stated intentions was to get more people of my own ethnicity into parliament, I would get totally roasted.

Because I am a Pakeha.

I bring this up because Rawiri Waititi said that is was his goal to get more Maori into parliament.

This was the opening story on One News last evening, and this has been reported without any mainstream media criticism.
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August 17, 2026 8:12am
Pope Punctilious II

Public service managers tell their charges not to go on a Maori language parade on work time because “it might become politicized”. Gosh, I would have thought the more obvious reason would be because public servants are paid to do their jobs, not to go on parades.
https://share.google/1uYWncAr8gQAHjOwo
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August 17, 2026 8:12am
artemisia

A third of Harvard’s social sciences staff laid off last week. Not the first wave of recent layoffs due to budget deficits. Aka running out of money bigly. The affected roles are non-faculty like admin, HR, support being restructured to consolidate functions.

Harvard non-faculty staffing numbers are much bigger than any New Zealand government department total FTEs. If they can do it,why can’t New Zealand?
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August 17, 2026 8:14am
- Cassandra
  
  And Harvard doesn’t owe money lenders billions either. It’s foundation is the largest in the world.
  
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  August 17, 2026 8:17am
Cassandra

A retired UK policeman reposted two items. The first: “Mohammed recently arrived at Dover. Please donate to help him move from a three-star to a five-star hotel which has a better halal menu, free wifi and Sky and is nearer to a girls’ school”.

The second was a picture of a rasher of bacon and a man in a turban alongside the caption “Fun facts about Bacon! People who eat bacon have a lower chance of marrying a 9-year-old!”.

He has been prosecuted. Not guilty re the first, guilty and fined £1,000 on the second. He is appealing, supported by the FSU.

I wonder if he’d have been prosecuted if the image showed a kippah instead of a turban?
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August 17, 2026 8:15am
- kowtow
  
  A timely opinion piece from the Jerusalem Post about the Muslim Brotherhood strategy of taking over the west.
  
  ‘By hollowing out the timber of democracy from the inside, the Brotherhood waits for the building to collapse under its own weight.’
  
  https://www.jpost.com/opinion/article-905465
  
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  August 17, 2026 8:37am
Southern Raider

Helen Clark has attacked Q Wongs interview on Q&A as a “trainwreck”

TOPs land tax and UBI policy is a looming disaster for NZ, but does make me wonder whether Helen is more worried about the vote movement from Labour to TOP
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August 17, 2026 8:15am
Yvette

David Seymour: Implementing ONE LAW for ALL in the public service

ACT will reset the public service around the basic principles of equal treatment, individual freedom, political and religious neutrality, and accountability for results. …

There is already a Cabinet expectation that services should be delivered according to need rather than race. ACT will give that principle real teeth by writing it into the Public Service Act.
Third, ACT will separate spiritual practices from public service work. …

ACT will prohibit public service employers from initiating or resourcing cultural or spiritual practices as part of the workplace.
Public servants will remain free to practise their own religion, culture, or traditions in their own time, with reasonable accommodation where appropriate.
Fourth, ACT will remove irrelevant cultural requirements from public service jobs.
A person applying to work for the Government should be judged on whether they can do the job, not their knowledge of particular cultural concepts, values, or worldviews unless there is a genuine occupational reason for doing so.

ACT will direct public service agencies to remove those requirements from job advertisements and position descriptions where they are not relevant to the role, through a clear letter of expectations to the Public Service Commissioner and a Cabinet circular.

We will ensure a public service capable of unlocking the potential of all New Zealanders. It will be neutral, professional, focused on results, and treat every person as an individual.” – David Seymour
https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/david-seymour-implementing-one-law-for-all-in-the-public-service

• It may be revealing how “main-stream media” handle this, if indeed they handle it at all.

• And further it maybe intriguing if Willie Jackson can defend Maori spirituality encroaching primary school teaching, when he, as an example, is a man who uses an expression like “dirty, filthy mongrels” quite readily.
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August 17, 2026 8:18am
- AitchW
  
  I wonder if the rules forbidding spending money on cultural and religious activities means the end of staff Christmas parties paid for by the boss? Or do the staff already fund their own Christmas party?
  
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  August 17, 2026 8:23am
- imalwaysright
  
  Rawiri Waititi said on tv1 this morning that Maori are at the bad end of all of the statistics.
  
  Then he said the Maori Party should be in Government because Maori have special knowledge of how to fix it…?!?
  
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  August 17, 2026 8:50am
- RoboRob
  
  Great policy, and likely to be very popular if Seymour can get the message out. The coverage by media is pathetic. Nothing on RNZ and 1News web sites today. Plenty of TOP stories and stories about the attempted Luxon coup.
  
  Seymour was on TV1 breakfast this morning so they were compelled to talk to him about it. Tova looked like she was going to attack Seymour, the hatred was strong. They then had TPM afterwards who were warmly welcomed. Just about choked when one of the TPM leaders said something along the lines of ‘we need to stop focusing on race’. This from the party whose sole focus is race.
  
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  August 17, 2026 8:56am
  - mike
    
    Why would you lie about this?
    https://www.tvnz.co.nz/player/tvepisode/1news-at-six-s2026-e228-1news-at-six
    About 5 minutes in.
    
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    August 17, 2026 9:10am
Scooter

So the TOP leader Q was recruited through a job ad, not a politician, not in a party but recruited to play a role (stalking horse is apt at this time). What exactly are her employment conditions? If they get in will she have to serve 3 years or will she suddenly be overtaken by someone else, maybe the real leader? Presumably she is just the mouth piece so as a potential voter shouldn’t we know who really is making all the decisions.
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August 17, 2026 8:18am
surfing

I just looked at opportunity party tax calc again — some people will be taxed more than they earn.

If you’re retired, your home as experienced high capital grown since purchase — potentially you’ll pay more tax than your entire annual income.

Unless your personal home is exempt ? Maybe it is?
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August 17, 2026 8:19am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  The land tax proposed by TOP definitely includes the family /personal home.
  
  https://www.opportunity.org.nz/tax-reset
  
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  August 17, 2026 9:09am
Tomtoddy

Jack Tame deserves credit for exposing some of the horrifying gaps in Opportunity’s policies on yesterday morning’s TV. Qiulae Wong looked quite ill at ease as he pressed her on some issues where their ideas are plain nuts and would end in disaster.

The thought that they might be in some mix with Labour, Greens and TPM is unthinkable and would do major harm to the economy. I just wish the Coalition would stop making the pathway so easy for Hipkins and his c0-bandits.
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August 17, 2026 8:23am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Interview here:
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9YV3hc6cVk
  
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  August 17, 2026 8:33am
- kowtow
  
  ‘their ideas are plain nuts’
  
  As are the people intending to vote for them based on a photogenic , kind even , figurehead and the desire to secure opm.
  
  And we’ve been there before.
  
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  August 17, 2026 8:44am
- imalwaysright
  
  Mrs Wong came across as an actor who knows the script back to front, but doesn’t know what it means.
  
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  August 17, 2026 8:52am
- RoboRob
  
  Whilst it was nice to see TOP face a little pressure, I cant stand his interviewing style. The Goldsmith interview, where Goldsmith did quite well, was stupid. Tame constantly trying to pick an outlying edge case with move on orders and talking about shop owners punching shop lifters. Just stupid.
  
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  August 17, 2026 8:59am
waikatosinger

Unfortunately in recent years MMP has too often meant we have a meaningless election and then Winston picks the government. This is one of the main things I dislike about MMP.

I don’t have anything against Winston in particular. I just don’t like a system that focuses power in this way to create this kind of kingmaker position. TOP are a manufactured party (of the left) attempting to take the kingmaker position away from Winston. I really hope they don’t make it into parliament.
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August 17, 2026 8:52am
Yvette

There is no direct traditional Māori proverb for the English idiom “to pull the wool over someone’s eyes”, because sheep and wool were introduced to New Zealand long after traditional sayings developed.
________________

… co-leader Rāwiri Waititi used the seat of Te Tai Tokerau – contested by Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime, the Greens’ Huhana Lyndon, the Te Tai Tokerau Party leader and former Te Pāti Māori MP Mariameno Kapa-Kingi, and the party’s own Aperehama Edwards – as an example.

“You give your candidate vote to Aperehama, [and] Willow-Jean Prime – who is at seven on her party list – and Huhana Lyndon – who is also on seven on her party list – you get three … and so on and so forth, and that’s how you work it out,” he said.
https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/08/16/te-pati-maori-reveals-election-strategy-as-campaign-launches-in-gisborne/

Each voter has two votes, so Waititi is misleading here somewhat to state “you get three”.
If you give your Electorate Vote to your TMP candidate in your own Maori Electorate, and use your Party Vote for a left block party, you may well help get a Maori MP in from 7th position on either Labour or the Green’s List, but you don’t get both in – someone else’s Party Vote will perhaps contribute to that, but Maori do not get three votes.
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August 17, 2026 8:55am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Rawiri and Debbie are trying to stay relevant.
  They’ve driven TPM into the ground and can see their comfortable futures disappearing.
  They’re greasing up to Labour and the Greens in the hope that if these 2 parties come to power after the election, they will provide a role for them.
  
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  August 17, 2026 9:02am

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