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September 8, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 08 September 2026

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General Debate

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KKNZ2025

“If one National party vote in nine moved to a coalition partner, the Government would gain a parliamentary majority even if the opposition wins more votes in total.”

https://www.interest.co.nz/public-policy/140133/those-planning-rort-mmp-should-bear-mind-two-can-play-game#comments

https://www.nzinitiative.org.nz/reports-and-media/reports/unravelling-mmp-how-the-2026-election-could-break-the-voting-system-from-two-sides
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September 8, 2026 8:01am
- Colville
  
  I will be doing my part 🙂
  
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  September 8, 2026 11:23am
  - AitchW
    
    Me too, electorate vote National, party vote ACT.
    
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    September 8, 2026 1:22pm
    - OlderChas
      
      Likewise.
      
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      September 8, 2026 5:37pm
    - Observer of Life
      
      Ditto
      
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      September 8, 2026 8:53pm
Cassandra

Former Australian PM Tony Abbot: “It’s now clearer than ever that governments can’t indefinitely spend their way out of trouble, that only the private sector can create wealth, that Australia’s emissions obsession is hurting the economy for no environmental gain, and that countries must be selective about migrants’ values if they’re to keep their culture.”

Pretty good summary of what NZ should be doing.
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September 8, 2026 8:04am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Yes, would be great if we had someone so plain-spoken in NZ.
  
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  September 8, 2026 8:08am
- kowtow
  
  Ordinary conservatives have known that since forever .Abbott has always known it .
  Why this is remarkable is remarkable.
  
  Yet nearly 50% of voters seem to think otherwise .
  
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  September 8, 2026 8:17am
  - imalwaysright
    
    Politics is a perennial pantomime where the public calls out the imminent peril and the politician feigns confusion.
    
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    September 8, 2026 10:17am
- Master Mariner
  
  “that countries must be selective about migrants’ values if they’re to keep their culture.”
  Ok, What would you do if you wanted to dilute your Countries Culture” And thus Identity ?
  Why ?
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnbs8N4FAWg
  
  “Agenda 2030 and how our leaders intend to achieve it – My thoughts from NW Leicestershire 6/92/26”
  
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  September 8, 2026 8:44am
- Nikola Donatello
  
  The prescription for New Zealand’s prosperity is well understood. From the Treaty to education, energy, welfare policy, fiscal policy, public administration (aka fixing the public service). You could get a group of sensible people to write a prescription in a week. Followed by a fairly detailed blueprint within 60 days.
  
  That is not the problem. The problem is the refusal of politicians to do what is required. Unless that changes, New Zealand is doomed to a long slide towards poverty relative to other developed nations and many emerging countries that are racing to become wealthy. Croatia, Poland, even Albania, which is booming. By mid century these nations will leave New Zealand long behind.
  
  Yet we have a choice.
  
  For me, Christopher Luxon explaining that membership of the Paris Accord was a “bottom line” tells me everything I need to know.
  
  I honestly don’t see a solution. The so called “right” is sleep walking down an Argentinian road, closing their eyes to the emerging racial tensions and economic decline. That leaves the left in New Zealand to become full communist to differentiate themselves from the National Party. As seen in the great idea of Soviet style supermarkets.
  
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  September 8, 2026 9:07am
  - Prince
    
    NZ could be the second country (after the US) to pull out of the Paris Accord.
    Of course our exports, particularly food wine and agriculture would take a hit as other countries take the opportunity to paint our products as ‘climate-unfriendly’ to promote their own brands, but maybe that’s worth the pride we would have as leading the charge.
    On the other hand, we’re just a bit player here, maybe best to keep our head down and go with the flow on this issue.
    
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    September 8, 2026 9:17am
    - Nikola Donatello
      
      Go with the flow was not signing up to unachievable obligations.
      
      This is what some folk do not understand. The Paris Accord obligations were voluntary. The New Zealand government proposed them. We could have offererd much lower and achievable targets. They would have been accepted.
      
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      September 8, 2026 9:39am
      - keepcalmcarryon
        
        Agriculture and horticulture are meant to be exempt under the Paris accords, emissions cuts were not meant to come at the expense of food security-we are led by morons.
        
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        September 8, 2026 10:17am
      - Nikola Donatello
        
        No agriculture emissions are not exempt. These emissions are counted in the inventory of every nation. If New Zealand were to choose to exempt agricultural emissions, we would need to make even larger cuts in other emissions to meet our total emissions targets.
        
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        September 8, 2026 12:11pm
      - keepcalmcarryon
        
        You are splitting hairs.
        “ The Paris Agreement does not grant a blanket exemption to agriculture, but it explicitly mandates that climate actions must protect food production and security.”
        Therefore maintaining food production and security MUST be protected therefore it is practically exempted.
        Start pulling out pine trees and bring back the sheep.
        
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        September 8, 2026 12:33pm
      - Nikola Donatello
        
        No we are talking past each other. Agriculture emissions are not exempt from the inventory. I am not splitting hairs. New Zealand has in practise exempted agriculture from actions. But that just adds to the impossibility of our total target.
        
        Put another way.. If New Zealand commits to “reduce emissions by 30 percent by 2030″… Those emissions are TOTAL emissions including agriculture. The targets have been calculated that way forever for all nations. New Zealand knew all that when we proposed our target. Proposed. Nobody twisted the government’s arm.
        
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        September 8, 2026 2:39pm
      - keepcalmcarryon
        
        Totally agree no one twisted our arm, hence the led by morons quote.
        We did not have to attack agriculture as was done and still is (sheep farms to pines), in fact they should have been actively protected.
        
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        September 8, 2026 2:45pm
      - Nikola Donatello
        
        What really grinds my gears. We cannot meet the 2030 interim target. So what did the government do? Offer an even more stringent 2035 target 😫 That little disaster has received very little publicity.
        
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        September 8, 2026 3:13pm
    - cmm (semi-retired edition)
      
      I suspect that most of the people buying goods and services don’t really care about the Paris Accord.
      
      The biggest buyer of NZ wine is USA and China, while currently small, is growing fast.
      
      China and USA are the largest two buyers of our dairy and meats.
      
      So this would seem to be an empty threat being waved around by the people who want us to submit to this nonsense (including the current Blue-Green National leadership).
      
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      September 8, 2026 9:40am
      - Nikola Donatello
        
        Also we need to face the fact that we cannot meet the 2030 Paris Accord interim obligations. Not even close. What are we going to do if the EU threatens us?
        
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        September 8, 2026 9:42am
      - rouppe
        
        Let them starve. They are already making it very difficult to farm in the EU. Or at least that’s the impression I got from Dutch relies recently.
        
        If they kill off all their own agriculture, they will eventually have to come to others, such as us.
        
        Then we can turn the metaphorical screw
        
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        September 8, 2026 7:23pm
    - AitchW
      
      I wonder how much the average person overseas worries about how “climate friendly” our wine, cheese, and meat are. Our sauv blanc is world class as are most of our exports.
      
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      September 8, 2026 1:24pm
      - Nikola Donatello
        
        The people drinking the wine don’t worry. The officials in the European Commission definitely worry.
        
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        September 8, 2026 3:15pm
  - imalwaysright
    
    “The problem is the refusal of politicians to do what is required.”
    
    Yes, politicians of all colours have destroyed this country.
    
    For a country with such plentiful resources and talented people to be in the state it is today is a crying shame.
    
    We should be the happiest, wealthiest country on the planet.
    
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    September 8, 2026 9:21am
  - R
    
    Nikola, your summary is half right in its assessment. The major problem for NZ is the comprehension of economics by a very large section of the population. Many of these people have no knowledge of economics, they have been deliberately educated that way. Socialism is the major ‘health’ problem in NZ; people have been indoctrinated to accept mediocrity as a norm, any individual who strives to Excell at a personal level, or in business, is denigrated by the MSM of all forms.
    I have recently observed motivated young people who are well aware that their personal desire to achieve is not wanted in NZ
    One only has to look at the regukarly published ‘Polling ‘ to see why bright young people are leaving NZ they see no future in NZ. Sad really.
    
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    September 8, 2026 9:26am
    - Nikola Donatello
      
      Yes and if a talented graduate asked my opinion, I would say leave as quickly as you can.
      
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      September 8, 2026 9:40am
      - Flossie
        
        And go where?
        
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        September 8, 2026 12:02pm
      - Nikola Donatello
        
        Australia, the USA, Dubai, Poland, Singapore, Chile, if willing to learn Spanish, Malaysia, Estonia….
        
        Many others I guess.
        
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        September 8, 2026 12:14pm
      - kowtow
        
        NK
        Estonia /Poland .
        
        Not if you believe the NATO hype at the moment.
        
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        September 8, 2026 12:51pm
      - Flossie
        
        Just for starters, I do know that Australia and the USA have their own issues. And I’m certainly not sure but I would expect countries such as Singapore don’t allow just anyone who fancies it to move in. The same as we don’t allow just anyone to stroll on in here.
        
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        September 8, 2026 1:31pm
      - Nikola Donatello
        
        Yes sure I am not saying it is easy to move nations apart from Australia. But people work in Singapore. I did a quick search.. About 400,000 professional ex pats reside in Singapore. Plus another 1 million lower skilled guest workers.
        
        Yes Australia has issues but being harshly honest.. It has more going for it over the next few decades than new Zealand.
        
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        September 8, 2026 3:20pm
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    The problem is the refusal of politicians to do what is required.
    
    The problem is the refusal of the New Zealand public to vote for politicians who’ll do what is required
    
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    September 8, 2026 10:24am
    - pdm
      
      Here is the answer Dudley.
      
      Party Vote Act on 7 November.
      
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      September 8, 2026 11:21am
      - Colville
        
        pdm.
        
        Great meeting in Hastings on Saturday.
        
        I think Seymour is pretty careful to stick to doing a few things well rather than throwing himself into every battle.
        
        I have heard him say that he supports New Zealand doing the minimum we can get away with to keep our trading partners.
        
        Comments (above) saying we should just pull the pin and take the hit on our exports are just deluded. We are broke as a country already, can we afford to lose $10Bil or so when Euro or UK decide not to take our butter, lamb and wine because it is no longer carbon friendly? and make no mistake its those poncy supermarket chains that will cross us off the supplier list in a heartbeat.
        
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        September 8, 2026 11:31am
  - Quail
    
    Perhaps the answer re the Paris Accord is simply to follow the money?
    The investment in carbon NZ wide has been huge , ranging from Air NZ and many others including iwi purchasing farms , and claiming credits on their land.
    Many of todays businesses ,land owners , managers ,foresters Iwi and farmers are relying on carbon sequestration to pay their bills. There is impact throughout the whole NZ economy.
    Land use has radically changed pretty much everywhere in NZ driven by the ETS.
    The Carbon industry ,sequestration and credits, is deeply embedded throughout the NZ economy.
    Any politicians shutting down this industry now are likely to face a substantial backlash as resulting bankruptcies and economic chaos become rife.These could cause an economic depression throughout NZ.
    Not a great prospect in election year, or indeed at any time!
    One day the issue will have to be addressed.At present it is firmly in the “ too hard ‘ basket.
    
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    September 8, 2026 10:43am
    - Nikola Donatello
      
      Not really my area but do the carbon offsets investments in New Zealand have anything to do with New Zealand’s Paris Accord commitments? I thought that the driver was investments by other countries and offshore companies who have emissions obligations that can be met by New Zealand investments.
      
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      September 8, 2026 12:17pm
    - kowtow
      
      I forecast , and especially if the US remains Republican , when , not if , the true right takes power in Britain, France and Germany the whole carbon thing will collapse.
      
      Oh and for those who think markets are inviolable , think tulips .
      
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      September 8, 2026 12:56pm
  - kowtow
    
    It’s already happened.
    NZ once at the top of OECD rankings , today barely hanging in there.
    Education standings too.
    
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    September 8, 2026 12:48pm
  - Pope Punctilious II
    
    “That leaves the left in New Zealand to become full communist”
    
    Communism is not going to happen in NZ. What is going to happen (unless the right muscles up) is a Maori ethnostate, with the iwiocracy weaponizing tikanga and Maori mysticism to gain a stranglehold on the country. That’s worlds away from communism. Marxists like Martyn Bradbury imagine that the Maori revolution is going to deliver a communist utopia, but they are simply the useful idiots of the iwiocracy.
    
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    September 8, 2026 1:01pm
  - crikey
    
    NickD: So what is the answer? It’s clear to me – a centre-right coalition not lead by National.
    
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    September 8, 2026 5:23pm
- Gussy
  
  The Magic Money Tree is dying.
  
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  September 8, 2026 10:12am
  - R
    
    Tree dying………..seems to be going the way of the Golden Goose!
    
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    September 8, 2026 2:19pm
- Ra Henare
  
  Today’s western society(Read NZ) has gone down the slippery slope of dependence. I.e., dependence on “they.”
  
  As in “they” should do something. This naturally is reflected in the expansion of government department rules & regulations.
  
  The days of self-reliance (with associated common sense) have all but disappeared.
  
  This is everywhere now in the silly season (pre-election), where wanna-be politicians feed the stupid with plans to raise taxes, drop taxes, and build things, not build things. Legislate against free speech for those handful of lovies who are easily upset.
  
  and on and on.
  
  Recently I have been reading up on Cambodian Buddhism (Theravada Buddhism ).
  
  One thing that struck me was they don’t worship a god to bring them miracles when they are in deep trouble. They have the attitude that.
  
  Every individual is the sole owner and heir of their actions. No external power, ritual, or priest can erase a person’s unwholesome actions or grant them enlightenment; spiritual progress is entirely self-generated through intentional action.
  ie there is no deity(read governmnet) to save you from yourself.
  
  So no bleating to the government about potholes, road cones etc etc. Hence, no unemployment handouts (unemployed get supported by families).
  
  No complaining about the neighbor’s loud wedding party. Funerals, etc.
  
  There is definitely something to be said for governments getting out of people’s lives.
  
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  September 8, 2026 1:49pm
Cassandra

Has any heard of Susan Te Kahurangi King? There’s an article in the New Yorker, paywalled.

She lives in Te Aroha, is rated as an artist in the US – MOMA has her work – and is mute.
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September 8, 2026 8:06am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Yep,
  There’s been some TV and Radio documentaries on her.
  
  https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/culture-101/audio/2018904117/being-a-voice-for-mute-global-star-artist-susan-te-kahurangi-king
  
  I knew her brother Stephen King back in the 1970s – he gained fame for helping to save giant podocarp trees in Pureora Forest.
  
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  September 8, 2026 9:16am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    More info here:
    
    https://robertleonard.org/susan-king-address-unknown/
    
    https://apseditions.co.nz/collections/susan-king
    
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    September 8, 2026 9:33am
Cassandra

RNZ: “The charitable work of the Duke and Duchess is a personal matter for them both and undertaken in their private capacity,” Lord Chamberlain, a senior Buckingham Palace official, wrote.

An example of RNZ’s immense skill. Lord Chamberlain doesn’t exist. THE Lord Chamberlain is the head of the Royal Household. The incumbent is Richard Benton, a former Army officer, MP and recently appointed a life peer.

RNZ should employ some proper journalists. The Lord Chamberlain’s letter was sent out to confirm that M&H’s status ie non-working, no HRH, all comms to their office, has not changed.
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September 8, 2026 8:07am
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  Bah, who needs proper journalists when you’ve got John Campbell and Mihi Forbes.
  
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  September 8, 2026 8:09am
  - pdm
    
    Does anyone know anyone that watches those two?
    
    I hate to say it but I think our eledest daughter (coming up to age 56) would watch both and even cheer them on.
    
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    September 8, 2026 11:24am
  - Burtland
    
    Joanna Forbes seems to be gone – for now
    
    Campbell is nauseating
    
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    September 8, 2026 8:51pm
- mike
  
  Gosh, what an error.
  
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  September 8, 2026 8:14am
  - mike
    
    Not an RNZ story, BTW – ABC.
    
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    September 8, 2026 8:22am
    - Ghost
      
      agree, this is nothing to do with RNZ. Unfortunately. as usual, the poster is too lazy to include links so people can read the story.
      
      When media run a story from another company they expect the work has been done to confirm the accuracy of the story. God, there would be no point in running other companies stories if you had to recheck them all. The fault here is with ABC.
      
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      September 8, 2026 9:44am
      - Cassandra
        
        Ghost: I’m ancient and sight impaired. Posting a link is beyond me. I take it you are too lazy to search it out yourself? You’re also very quick to abuse people. Chill.
        
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        September 8, 2026 10:08am
      - Ghost
        
        It’s very basic to copy a link from the article, it’s actually the decent thing to do when discussing a story. Plenty of elderly folk here do it. Stop being so precious
        
        https://www.wikihow.com/Copy-and-Paste-a-Link
        
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        September 8, 2026 10:10am
    - AitchW
      
      Gosh, what an error.
      
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      September 8, 2026 1:25pm
  - David Garrett
    
    Mikey: So you don’t think details regarding public officials’ titles are of much importance?
    
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    September 8, 2026 8:22am
    - mike
      
      Not really, and this one is particularly trivial.
      
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      September 8, 2026 8:32am
      - Cassandra
        
        Thinking that The Lord Chamberlain, a man named Richard Benton, is a man named Lord Chamberlain is trivial in itself but indicative of the quality of RNZ. That’s my point. It’s okay if you’re fine with that, mike, but it’s not fine with me.
        
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        September 8, 2026 9:15am
      - David Garrett
        
        Cass: Well said. As a lawyer if I cite a case in submissions that has misnamed a party, I would be seen as very slack. Perhaps old Mikey is quite happy with slack, but I am with you.
        
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        September 8, 2026 9:29am
      - jv
        
        sloppy is as sloppy does
        
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        September 8, 2026 9:38am
  - Handyman
    
    Not as serious as other hanging offences, like misgendering, obviously, but rather an indictment on the standard of journalists employed by the official state broadcaster.
    The RNZ reposts articles without any idea of their veracity while blaming the original poster for getting it wrong.
    It makes you wonder about the hundreds of articles with the opening line “Scientists say….”
    
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    September 8, 2026 8:50am
- David Garrett
  
  Cass: But where is RNZ (formerly known as Radio NEW ZEALAND) going to get these “proper journalists” of which you speak?.
  
  There are a handful of journalists whose work I respect…and they are all over 50 and in the twilight of their careers.
  
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  September 8, 2026 8:16am
  - mike
    
    Radio New Zealand seems a bit modern, shouldn’t it be the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation?
    
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    September 8, 2026 8:28am
    - David Garrett
      
      You’d be in favor of “radio o Aotearoa’ I presume?
      
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      September 8, 2026 8:33am
      - mike
        
        Irirangi Aotearoa.
        
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        September 8, 2026 9:18am
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        Irirangi o Aotearoa
        
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        September 8, 2026 9:19am
      - David Garrett
        
        I have just realised they use that term now…part of the deliberate attempt by the left to change the name of the country by stealth.
        
        (Yes I do still listen to Radio NEW ZEALAND from time to time…Kathryn Ryan is still pretty good).
        
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        September 8, 2026 9:38am
      - cmm (semi-retired edition)
        
        No, just RA.
        
        “Radio” is old technology. Going to just “R” was, apparently, a nod to being multi-media.
        
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        September 8, 2026 9:43am
      - Albie
        
        DG: Speaking of Aotearoa, I have just finished Sam Neil’s biography. Seemed like a nice guy, and obviously a very talented actor. He was also a card carrying leftie who constantly referred to our country as Aotearoa. C’est la vie.
        
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        September 8, 2026 10:14am
      - David Garrett
        
        Albie: Neill a “very talented actor”?? Not for me…but obviously he must have been in others’ eyes since he had a long an successful career in Hollywood and elsewhere.
        
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        September 8, 2026 11:55am
    - Ra Henare
      
      MIke, good sarcasm, lost on the majority who replied to you as they look to try and trash you again.
      
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      September 8, 2026 1:55pm
  - Cassandra
    
    A very good question. Perhaps what it needs is some editing. Personally I’d give up and close it down apart from Concert.
    
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    September 8, 2026 8:29am
    - Colville
      
      Cant people who want classical just use Spotify like normal people? Why does the taxpayer need to subsidise that particular breed of person?
      
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      September 8, 2026 12:28pm
    - Ra Henare
      
      it would seem cass that you are one of a small group listening to Concert.
      
      Average Hourly Audience: At any given random hour (averaged across peak and off-peak times), the simultaneous audience is typically closer to 8,000 to 15,000 people.
      
      RNZ Concert operates on a direct annual budget of roughly $3.5 million NZD.
      
      So Cass, you want taxpayers to fund your fetish? ie $233 an hour for your listening pleasure.
      
      Bit selfish, don’t you think??
      
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      September 8, 2026 2:02pm
  - redeye
    
    RNZ are busy responding to the latest polls, showing the current government being returned, by trolling for some bad news stories.
    Right in the middle of a story about the flu they prompt
    
    Are you a nurse, doctor or paramedic working on the front lines? …
    We want to hear from those who are in the thick of it. If you have a story to share, email: [email protected] – anonymity can be offered.
    
    I have read this site almost every day for the past 10 years and I don’t remember them ever doing this for the last government.
    
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    September 8, 2026 8:45am
    - crikey
      
      redeye: “ RNZ are busy…”. No, the collective term (here RNZ) uses the singular case, thus ‘RNZ is busy…”.
      
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      September 8, 2026 5:32pm
- MCōs
  
  He’s actually Richard Benyon, smarty pants.
  
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  September 8, 2026 8:34am
  - Cassandra
    
    Touché.
    
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    September 8, 2026 9:17am
    - Cassandra
      
      It was autocorrect, Your Honour, and I’m visually impaired. The Somme.
      
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      September 8, 2026 9:19am
- imalwaysright
  
  The last time RNZ employed a journalist they sacked him for correcting a Reuters report and thereby rendering it truthful.
  
  RNZ are merely a repeater station for the central propaganda providers.
  
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  September 8, 2026 10:00am
  - SoloView
    
    @ imalwaysright
    Hall wasn’t sacked – he resigned.
    
    From the review commissioned by RNZ
    The review found Hall had breached RNZ’s editorial standards by adding a pro-Russian perspective to stories on the invasion of Ukraine, among other edits.
    
    The report found Hall “genuinely believed he was acting appropriately to provide balance and accuracy and was not motivated by any desire to introduce misinformation, disinformation or propaganda”.
    
    It considered two contrasting perspectives.
    
    The first was that Hall was a “rogue actor who made a decision to abuse the trust placed in him”, and the second that the inappropriate editing “was inevitable because of significant … failures by RNZ”.
    
    “The panel does not hold to either of these contrasting views. What we found was a journalist who acted in breach of both editorial standards and RNZ’s contract with Reuters and an organisation that facilitated the conditions for a journalist to do so,” the report read.
    “
    
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    September 8, 2026 12:02pm
    - imalwaysright
      
      I’ll stick with my version, but you have correctly recounted the event as published.
      
      2 2
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      September 8, 2026 12:18pm
      - Ghost
        
        well, as usual, your version is not correct
        
        https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/06/21/rnz-staffer-resigns-over-making-changes-to-news-stories/
        
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        September 8, 2026 12:30pm
  - Jimbo666
    
    And the Otago Daily Times republishes what RNZ writes, thereby compounding any errors, of which there are many
    
    3 0
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    September 8, 2026 12:46pm
nathie

Welcome to Chloe-Mart! Opening hours:

Monday: Closed all day (staff working from home).

Tuesday: Open 9am-9.05am.
Closed 9.05-10am (staff waiata practice).
Closed 10-11am (staff morning tea).
Open 11am-12pm.
Closed 12-2pm (staff lunchtime).
Closed 2-2.55pm (staff union meeting).
Open 2.55pm-3pm.
Closed 3-4pm (staff afternoon tea).
Closed from 4pm onwards (staff wanna go home early).

Wednesday: Same as Tuesday.

Thursday: Closed (staff on strike – join our demonstration marches to National & ACT Party electorate offices, comrades)!

Friday: Closed all day (staff working from home).

Saturday and Sunday: Closed all day (staff say nope, its our weekend now, so go away)!

Now Hiring! Please go to your local Public Servant workplace for your application forms exclusively in te reo! Generous Salary will be 2x Living Wage!
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September 8, 2026 8:08am
- Philview
  
  They will not need security guards as shoplifting will be encouraged.
  
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  September 8, 2026 10:07am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    ” Men do not despise a thief, if he steal to satisfy his soul when he is hungry;”
    Proverbs 6:30
    
    “If a starving man steals bread, the Ruler, not him, should be punished.” – Hazrat Ali
    
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    September 8, 2026 10:32am
  - Nobby2
    
    Phil, and you can earn reward points when you do it.
    
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    September 8, 2026 2:42pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Tough hours, Nathie. There’s no scope there for me to drop off and pick up the kids from school.
  
  I’m going on strike!
  
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  September 8, 2026 6:10pm
Master Mariner

Here is an excellent summary of Diesel prices, Mainly UK centric but the issue is further enhanced for NZ.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObmZiVY0asI
It seems like everyone is waiting for Persian Gulf Oil to open and start flowing.
If you believe that then dont worry.
However as i believe this will not happen any time soon and if it does there will still be major restrictions along with a lot higher costs.
The real issue is we need to go back to the drawing board with Strategic thinking. The World is rapidly changing for the worst and supply chains are not what they where especially with Freedom of the Sea and Right of Safe passage. In a nutshell we need to do more here to secure essential supplies, Whether manufacturing and Energy security.
I do not think we have any one in Government with the foresight to forsee and explain NZ real situation and consequences little than come up with a solution.
Hoping is not a Plan along with burying your head in the sand.
The first thing to understand is the World is changing quickly much to NZ detriment.
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September 8, 2026 8:22am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  The Russkies are very keen on drilling in the Arctic and shipping their oil along the ice-free passages. Well clear of Hormuz.
  
  Shame they’re such murderous batards.
  
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  September 8, 2026 6:13pm
artemisia

The people of Saxony-Anhalt state have spoken, bigly, especially on mass immigration. Hint – they are not in favour. The election results have to be a country wide wake up call whatever form the new Saxony-Anhalt state government takes. If the ‘cordon’ is invoked, and with two state elections coming up, not hard to see increasing (shall we say) emotion.
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September 8, 2026 8:22am
- David Garrett
  
  Art: I think this can be seen as part of a trend across the world of voters rejecting “traditional” politicians in favour of something different- Trump, Farage, even greater support for ACT. But perhaps I am drawing too long a bow? Saxony-Anhalt is just one small state.
  
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  September 8, 2026 8:27am
  - mike
    
    While Farage is definitely corrupt, is he also antisemitic and pro-Putin like AfD?
    
    3 23
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    September 8, 2026 8:31am
    - David George
      
      The ADF are not antisemitic, though there may, of course, be some supporters that are. Leader Alice Weidel is a supporter of Israel. She is also so “far”-right, she’s a lesbian whose wife is from Sri Lanka. Their main focus is on the disastrous consequences for Germany of (mainly) Muslim immigration. They recognise that Israel, the Jews and we in the West share a common adversary bent on our demise. Islam
      
      “In February 2025, Israeli Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli praised the anti-Islam and anti-Palestinian party for targeting groups that campaign for Palestinian rights.
      
      Chikli said that, “surprisingly”, the AfD had led efforts to challenge German support for organisations critical of Israel.
      
      “It was also the AfD that initiated a bill in April 2019 calling for a ban on the antisemitic BDS movement… In June 2019, the AfD also proposed a complete ban on Hezbollah’s activities in Germany,” wrote Chikli in a post on X at the time.
      
      https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/germanys-far-right-pro-israel-afd-sweeps-saxony-anhalt-historic-electoral-breakthrough
      
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      September 8, 2026 9:05am
      - Taieri
        
        She is also so “far”-right, she’s a lesbian
        ———-
        
        So being of a homosexual persuasion or having a partner from the different ethnic background should preclude one from having right-wing political views?
        
        Fascinating. One is learning something new every day…
        
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        September 8, 2026 9:46am
      - Libertarians are right
        
        Taieri. There is nothing wrong with being far-right insofar that you’re talking about being pro free-markets. However, the Left have been allowed to dishonestly redefine far-right as racist, fascist, anti-LGBT etc which is idiotic and a lot of arguments from the racists etc tend towards Left Wing ideology, not the Right.
        
        AfD are basically anti-widespread immigration due to the social costs.
        
        The Left pretend it’s because they’re the evil “Far Right” because they aren’t capable of actually putting up reasonable arguments against AfD’s points.
        
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        September 8, 2026 10:25am
      - David George
        
        I don’t make the rules, Taieri. I don’t even know what the rules are anymore.
        Far Right is a label attached to people who believe what exactly?
        Is belief in the value of the family, of national borders and personal responsibility far right.
        
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        September 8, 2026 10:38am
      - Taieri
        
        Far Right is a label
        ————
        
        I try to avoid the “Far” bit. It’s disparaging and meaningless.
        
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        September 8, 2026 11:13am
      - David George
        
        Left-wing politicians in Germany.
        
        And people wonder why they voted AfD?
        
        Avoid food and drink while viewing:
        https://x.com/CaseyKrol/status/2097029382040686860
        
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        September 8, 2026 11:31am
      - NZer In Exile
        
        Taieri: “So being of a homosexual persuasion or having a partner from the different ethnic background should preclude one from having right-wing political views?”
        
        Doesn’t preclude but for some reason most (obviously not all) lesbians I’ve come across appear to be lefties.
        
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        September 14, 2026 1:58pm
    - Grizz
      
      If only it were true eh Mike….
      
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      September 8, 2026 9:19am
    - virtualmark
      
      mike,
      
      AFAIK Farage/Reform aren’t anti-semitic (although there will surely be some among their supporters who are).
      
      But he is pro-Putin and has received financial support from Russia via cut-outs. There was a lot of Russian meddling in the Brexit campaigns.
      
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      September 8, 2026 10:51am
  - Cassandra
    
    You’re on the money, DG. Although a small state it’s part of a much bigger trend, according to the European papers I’m reading this morning.
    
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    September 8, 2026 8:31am
    - David Garrett
      
      Cass: Unchecked immigration – or immigration generally – is increasingly going to become a huge issue in Europe – and we should wake up and smell the coffee down here.
      
      Does anyone know how many “refugees” NZ lets in per year?
      
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      September 8, 2026 8:38am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        There is a cap of 1500 refugees annually. These are so called official refugees.
        
        In addition, folk can turn up at the airport and “claim asylum”. These are not counted as part of the cap. IIRC there are about 2000 of these annually.
        
        In addition there is a capped programme for refugees to sponsor family members to come here. IIRC that is about 1000 annually.
        
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        September 8, 2026 8:49am
      - MCōs
        
        NZ has a quota of 1500 refugees per year of whom 40% are from the Pacific/Asia region, 20% Middle East, 20% Africa and 10% Americas.
        Last year 134k total immigrants arrived in NZ so even allowing for family reunification the refugees are very small percentage.
        
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        September 8, 2026 8:59am
      - kowtow
        
        And ridiculously , “refugees” from the USA .
        
        In fairness they are taking places from real refugees .
        
        https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/world/1055669/us-siblings-become-nz-refugees-as-more-than-20-americans-claim-asylum
        
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        September 8, 2026 9:27am
      - David Garrett
        
        Thanks to both Bene and MCos for those stats. I note that both of you agree that we take 1,500 refugees a year.
        
        But why are we admitting “refugees” from the Pacific? I am unaware of any Pacific country being a dictatorship or anything other than a democracy. Any “refugee” from the Pacific is surely by definition an economic refugee and not a political one?
        
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        September 8, 2026 9:52am
      - MCōs
        
        NZ took no refugees from the Pacific last year
        The Pacific/Asia portion were all Asians, mainly Rohingya and Afghans
        
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        September 8, 2026 11:30am
  - yossarian
    
    I heard that leftie Hosking this morning talking about Farage, AfD and One Nation.
    
    Highlighting that these partys have strong personality leaders but who they bring in may be nut jobs. His lack of self awareness is failing him recently because that could be said about any political party.
    
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    September 8, 2026 10:33am
    - kowtow
      
      Yep , there really does seem to be an international media theme to “delegitimise” these new parties and of course their voters and their concerns.
      
      And as you say every party has them , indeed some whole parties are made up of extremist nutters.
      
      Not to mention how “mainstream” left parties refuse to or are literally afriad to publicly define man/woman , are into “transing” and mutilating children etc
      
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      September 8, 2026 12:25pm
    - Burtland
      
      a BBC presenter painted the AfD as Nazi this morning – he was quickly put in his place by a woman from the AfD and shut up pretty quickly
      
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      September 8, 2026 9:09pm
  - Beach Haven expat
    
    The trend has been going for longer than that – Cameron’s majority win in 2015, Brexit in 2016. While there are extremes on both edges, increasing numbers of people who we would term the middle quietly shifting their votes right because the politicians just wouldn’t even engage on their concerns, especially over immigration.
    And because the majority still won’t really engage, frustration grows and that ‘middle’ moves even further right.
    What these clowns with their view that they know best keep missing is they are there to represent their voters, not lead them. If you don’t like the beliefs of the people you want to vote for you, maybe you shouldn’t be standing?
    
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    September 9, 2026 12:14am
- Taieri
  
  The people of Saxony-Anhalt state have spoken, bigly, especially on mass immigration.
  ————–
  
  Mass immigration is not a problem in Saxony-Anhalt. In fact, the land of Saxony-Anhalt has the third lowest number of immigrants in the whole of Germany and the vast majority of them are from other European countries. A far bigger issue is the negative demographics, the young people are leaving and the older people are dying, with the net reproduction rate at only about 70%. It remains to be seen how AfD is going to deal with that.
  
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  September 8, 2026 9:43am
  - artemisia
    
    Taieri, it is rather likely that the AfD voters in Saxony-Anhalt may have an opinion about issues affecting Germany. In any case, AfD may not form, or be part of, the new Saxony-Anhalt state government.
    
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    September 8, 2026 9:56am
  - All_on_Red
    
    ‘Mass immigration is not a problem in Saxony-Anhalt.’
    Bullshit
    ‘While foreign nationals account for only 8% of the total population in Saxony, 26.9% of all crimes in 2024 were committed by immigrants and undocumented individuals. The number of crimes committed by foreigners may be even higher, as people with dual citizenship are recorded as German in the statistics.’
    https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news-corner/saxony-stats-reveal-reality-about-migrant-crime/
    They might need Immigrants but they are getting the wrong ones who wont solve the problem- more like they are a financial drain on the Country so are making things worse.
    
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    September 8, 2026 9:59am
    - Taieri
      
      ‘Mass immigration is not a problem in Saxony-Anhalt.’
      Bullshit
      ‘While foreign nationals account for only 8% of the total population in Saxony
      ————–
      
      We are discussing Saxony-Anhalt, not Saxony, which is entirely separate land within the FRG, located to the south-east of Saxony-Anhalt.
      That’s in the case you have no access to maps.
      
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      September 8, 2026 11:07am
      - mike
        
        Ouch!
        
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        September 8, 2026 1:20pm
      - All_on_Red
        
        ‘entirely separate land’
        Lol- they’re right next door to each other.
        Only a moron would think that Criminality stops at the arbitrary line between them.
        The trend of Migrants committing a lot of crime is prevalent across Germany.
        
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        September 8, 2026 1:41pm
  - Dudley Quaffquaff
    
    It doesn’t really matter whether mass immigration actually is a problem in Saxony-Anhalt. What matters is that a lot of voters think it is, through a combination of blatantly false claims on social media (Muslims demand pork ban in schools, Muslims demand no alcohol sales, Muslims demand dog ban in public) and the failure of authorities to respond strongly and loudly to actual cases of abuse and crime among the immigrant communities. No doubt the new government in Saxony-Anhalt will attempt to get rid of brown people, but hopefully they’ll try to do it in a more effective and intelligent way than the Trump administration has done
    
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    September 8, 2026 10:33am
    - Taieri
      
      What matters is that a lot of voters think it is
      ————-
      
      Of course it does and I don’t question it. I merely pointed out that for a bystander it’s a quite a minor issue. Just because the “left” tend to exaggerate certain things, it doesn’t mean that the “right” is immune to applying similar tactics.
      
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      September 8, 2026 11:11am
    - david
      
      So far the”expert commentators “ have studiously avoided considering the downstream impacts of this election trend. I’m talking about the point at which the discomfort being felt by the hordes of young Muslim male refugees as the population turns against them more openly and the possible reactions available to them.
      One is possibly to stay and fight – likely to turn bloody and probably will be stirred and organised by the ME funded Imams who have been embedded in the European countries most affected.
      The other option will be to move. Not back to their shithole countries of origin but onward to a place least likely to resist their arrival.
      Right now, GB and the rest of Europe should be boosting their frontier protection and making it uncomfortable enough for those who have already arrived so that they advise their “brothers” to find somewhere else.
      
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      September 8, 2026 1:31pm
- virtualmark
  
  Germany has a very weird political dynamic where you can still clearly see East Germany vs West Germany.
  
  Take a look at this map of their most recent (2024) parliamentary elections … https://electiomap.com/germany/euparliamentary/2024
  
  The old East Germany votes overwhelmingly for AfD.
  
  So the more liberal West Germany has taxed itself heavily to invest in East Germany and try to pull it into the modern Western world, only for the East Germans to say “Hell no”.
  
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  September 8, 2026 10:56am
  - MCōs
    
    I went to Berlin with my son and his wife’s family about twenty years ago to have a look at the sights.
    We stayed in a hotel in what was formerly East Berlin and were surprised at the difference to the West side where we spent most of our time
    Most notably was how much more advanced the West side was, particularly with the people’s bilingual abilities.
    
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    September 8, 2026 5:19pm
- Gussy
  
  Having failed at defence, energy, economy, immigration, and innovation, the EU have lost the only thing they had any real aptitude for – controlling the message.
  
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  September 8, 2026 12:52pm
Damocles11

‘Critics of political discourse argue that labelling any desire for controlled borders or legal enforcement as “far-right” or “racist” can dismiss legitimate public debates regarding infrastructure capacity and national security.’

….and still the mainstream media continue to do it.
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September 8, 2026 8:46am
- MCōs
  
  Whereas on this forum TPM, the Green Party and even the Opportunities Party are labeled as communists
  
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  September 8, 2026 5:30pm
  - Damocles11
    
    Ok, and are they labelled as ‘far left’ by the mainstream media? My comment was as regards the behaviour of the mainstream media.
    
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    September 8, 2026 6:20pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    The Greens want to confiscate private property.
    
    Sounds a lot like Communism to me.
    
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    September 8, 2026 6:28pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Ngati Toa Iwi leader Helmut Modlik seems to have been cleared of a conflict of interest over his company’s involvement with Wellington Water -Tiaki Wai – an entity in which he has a governance role.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/wellington/iwi-leader-helmut-modlik-cleared-over-tiaki-wai-conflict-speculation/premium/E5Z3HW5MVFEQLMSTLLMTL3SIUQ/

The Herald story is paywalled.

The Wellington paper “The Post” doesn’t have any article on the matter, though it is happy to publish in full an opinion piece by Helmut Modlik on our failing Democracy.

https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/361071480/when-democracy-fails-us-we-should-rethink-democracy

Some more background here:
https://stoptiakiwai.org/tiaki-wai-conflict-of-interest/
https://www.thepost.co.nz/nz-news/361071480/when-democracy-fails-us-we-should-rethink-democracy
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September 8, 2026 8:55am
- Taieri
  
  Ngati Toa Iwi leader Helmut Modlik
  ————-
  
  A regular Māori boy from Takapūwāhia. With an Austrian father and a part Māori mum.
  
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  September 8, 2026 9:50am
  - Maggy Wassilieff
    
    I think that’s pretty much the nature of most Maori nowadays.
    
    They are the descendants of one or a few Maori great-great grandparents and numerous European great-great grandparents.
    
    In other countries they would be treated/described as mixed race, or multi-racial, or mestizo… or even in the words of Miriam Margolyes: “high yalla”.
    
    (but what does it matter? – The history of the human race is one of groups of people moving and mixing…..to varying degrees)
    
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    September 8, 2026 10:15am
    - cmm (semi-retired edition)
      
      It does matter when one magic ethnicity is chosen to be special – no matter the counter evidence.
      
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      September 8, 2026 10:42am
    - imalwaysright
      
      “…but what does it matter?”
      
      No, it doesn’t matter the ancestry of someone who wants to represent a group -their suitability is up to them.
      
      Neither does it matter that the group create a history intentionally tainted with fictional occurrences.
      
      But it does matter that these groups are given credence by Governments, and given money on the basis of their historical fiction, purely because they have a minor genetic link to Maori settlers.
      
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      September 8, 2026 10:49am
- Damocles11
  
  I don’t trust New Zealand’s ‘self policing’ in these matters. Seems that the political imperative to rubber stamp any Iwi involvement is too strong, the overriding need to not be labelled ‘racist’ is too powerful. I’m surprised so many New Zealanders just blithely accept the grift, pandering to wouldbe racial elites, and lack of accountability that we see on a daily basis in this country.
  
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  September 8, 2026 11:04am
Ghost

Chris Hipkins says Labour’s private polling has the party above 30% as he pushes back against a poll showing support plunging to 25.9% – but he won’t reveal the actual result.

Article

Someone looks incredibly uncomfortable in this video.
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September 8, 2026 9:47am
cmm (semi-retired edition)

The Frogs are pushing back.
The Eiffel tower staff strike after female staff were hidden from view during a visit by an ultra-conservative Hindu group.

Good. This multi-cultural kowtowing needs to stop. Perhaps the worm is turning…

This Hindu group have just opened a temple in France, so perhaps the French will start to understand that they are getting a multi-cultural invasion that they need to address – if it isn’t already too late.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/strike-shuts-eiffel-tower-after-female-staff-hidden-during-religious-visit/PR7CCHFO4FHYBJHTPCBTSHAJAY/
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September 8, 2026 10:06am
- graham
  
  I’m pleasantly surprised that the Herald actually printed this. And included a comment from Marine Le Pen. Perhaps the worm really is turning, and not just in France.
  
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  September 8, 2026 10:51am
- Gravelroad
  
  I have been to India. On the tourist bus tour part, our Hindu guide stopped three times per day to make brief religious observances at a temple.
  He invited us to go in with him to see the interiors. Which we did, though not every time.
  There were 13 women included in the group.
  There didn’t seem to be any problem with them visiting a temple there. Even jn the conservative rural areas.
  
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  September 8, 2026 11:02am
Ghost

Not looking good for two of Alwyn’s former charter schools

Growing debt, an illegal board of trustees, and curriculum and management fees totalling hundreds of thousands of dollars a year prompted Education Ministry intervention at two former charter schools.

Article
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September 8, 2026 10:51am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Perhaps Alwyn Poole can clarify what’s been going on and whether he has any financial links to the folks/organisations providing IP (intellectual property) to the schools.
  
  “The board’s continued “curriculum IP” payments to the former charter school owners are high risk from both a legal and audit perspective, given the lack of documented value-for-money assessment, sound procurement, and effective conflict-of-interest management aligned with the Auditor-General’s expectations.”
  
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  September 8, 2026 1:05pm
cmm (semi-retired edition)

New Zealand is about to release a new sex education book to be rolled out through junior schools nation wide.

The first chapter is about how the stork brings babies and drops them down the chimney. This forms part of the exam. This stuff is taken seriously and anyone mocking this is ostracized. Perhaps there is also a section on contraception by bricking up your chimney or using a shotgun to whack the storks.

Ridiculous? Yes of course.

So why the hell do have Maori folklore – sorry mātauranga Māori – in the curriculum alongside science etc?
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September 8, 2026 10:52am
- Gravelroad
  
  I have a grandchild who will be starting at the local state secondary school next year – year 9.
  The school principal came out to their current school to meet the upcoming new kids and to give them some idea of what to expect.
  They were told there will be four compulsory learning subjects at college next year: English, maths, science and PE.
  Plus subjects which may be chosen as well.
  
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  September 8, 2026 11:21am
  - pdm
    
    Gravel as a turdie (3rd former/Year 9) in 1960 I think compulsory subjects were:
    
    English, Social Studies (History & Geography) General Science, either Core or Full Maths and PE.
    
    My other optional subjects were Bookkeeping and Commercial Practice plus some Woodwork which was a waste of time for someone like me.
    
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    September 8, 2026 11:45am
    - R
      
      Pdm….so true. I remember those days of reading Shakespear, quadratic equations, world explorers in wooden tubs called ships AND DISCIPLINE.
      
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      September 8, 2026 12:11pm
JJ56

I guess one gets a bit more sensitive as an election approaches, but interested (but perhaps unsurprised) that Stuff lists https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361030138/prominent-lawyers-firm-investigated-after-conflict-interest-complaint as its most popular story (at least at the time of writiing).

No problem with that, but on a foolish click through I’m confronted with a photo of the lawyer who was investigated (and cleared) with one Paul Goldsmith for no apparent reason. His only relevance to the story (emerging 2/3rds through the story) is that he’s closed down the potential rort.

Ho hum
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September 8, 2026 10:55am
surfing

Labour wants to increase the price of emmissions.

This will hit those in poverty the hardest.

Nice one labour, abandoning the most vulnerable people in society.
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September 8, 2026 11:01am
- Ghost
  
  I’m sure i read something about only $10 a week. That’s a lot of money to some. Two weeks worth is a doctors visit. Only adds up to a lot. Power prices will only rise a small amount. Rates will only go up a few percent. Etc, everything adds up. Perhaps we can add cost of living to why people can be euthanized
  
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  September 8, 2026 11:18am
  - RoboRob
    
    Labour truly are hopeless. Hipkins was on 1 and 3 this morning. On 1 (from what I saw) they tried to pressure him around poll results and a leadership roll, it was amusing but 3 was far better. Ryan really bit in around where labours policy was and how it was going to be paid. Hipkins eventually admitted that they would be borrowing more, but dont worry we are committed to a debt to GDP ratio of 33%. Ryan really took him to task.
    
    It seems nothing has changed over at labour, its the extreme spend and borrow policy with a fistful of taxes, additional Maori and environmental costs to consumers.
    
    Truly unappealing. No wonder they are dropping as the ‘policy’ sneaks out.
    
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    September 8, 2026 1:25pm
  - wsk12345
    
    It we will rationalise supermarkets to “save” the average family $3.70 pw.
    
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    September 8, 2026 2:02pm
- Bullion
  
  Depends how it works. You can collect revenue from emissions and then return that revenue to those less well off – and given the price signals of internalising emissions those less well off may take those redistributions and spend it differently or change habits.
  
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  September 8, 2026 4:51pm
Yvette

It is a reality that almost every country on earth has had a past which was not just imperfect, but sometimes devastating. Cambodia had Pol Pot. Jews had the Holocaust. Germans had their country razed to the ground. Japan had cities nuked. Brazil had atrocities against the indigenous population, Argentina had military dictatorships, Eastern Europe had Soviet Rule. In my observation those countries are very aware of their pasts, but they don’t obsess over them. – kiwiblog host David Farrar 10am post

Each Maori child is born with its mind, like all others, a clean slate.
The Maori Queen wants care to be taken in what is written on it.
The Maori Party wants Parliament to entrench separatism to be written on it.
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September 8, 2026 11:45am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  Each Maori child is born with its mind, like all others, a clean slate.
  
  That’s pretty much what I believe, but it is definitely not the thinking of current “trauma-studies” folk and some Maori academics who have a notion that trauma flows through ancestral whakapapa into children’s bodies.
  
  Read this recent paper and see if you can figure out what’s at play:
  
  ‘Reflecting Humanity, Or Lack of It’: Ancestral Intelligence and Whakapapa Authority in Wāhine From Gang Whānau
  
  Walters et al. (2011) demonstrate that ancestral experience passes biologically to subsequent generations. What this research adds is that whakapapa transmits both harm and intelligence in the same space. The body that received what colonial institutions delivered into it is the body in which Pūmahara recognises the pattern, Wā reads the timing, Tohu delivers the signal and Tiakitanga directs it all toward collective protection.
  
  https://rsnz.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/kot2.70051
  
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  September 8, 2026 1:16pm
  - Yvette
    
    Maggy, we could be wrong …
    Just as Paora Moyle’s work describes a Māori child arriving with the embodied presence and history of their ancestors, research into Holocaust survivors and their descendants demonstrates that Jewish children do not arrive as a blank slate. They inherit both a biological and psychological susceptibility to trauma, as well as a cultural legacy of resilience, memory, and identity shaped by the generations before them.
    
    This may necessitate a rethink of the slate a child is born with, but not change that –
    • The Maori Queen wants care to be taken in what is written on it.
    • The Maori Party wants Parliament to entrench separatism to be written on it.
    
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    September 8, 2026 1:39pm
    - Taieri
      
      They inherit both a biological and psychological susceptibility to trauma
      ————
      
      Bollocks!
      Why the psychological susceptibility may be real, it’s the product of upbringing in the traumatised environment not an inherent and inherited trait.
      As for the “biological” bit…it’s just a load of crap.
      
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      September 8, 2026 5:50pm
      - Maggy Wassilieff
        
        it’s just a load of crap.
        
        Indeed..
        
        If you are told again and again that you are a victim, you’ll start believing it.
        
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        September 8, 2026 8:14pm
Jack5

Is this inverse racism?

Are defence lawyers’ taxpayer-funded cultural reports on clients a racist rort?

When lawyers and others hammer the word “culture” they can be talking about damn-near any beliefs or genes that differ from those o the majority ethnic group.

Is “culture” a magic word to reduce a court sentence?

A Stuff report at the weekend noted the “trust and rapport” a cultural-report writer often develops with an offender can lead to the first disclosures of trauma or abuse. That’s when it hasn’t been noticed by the country’s 1330 probation officers for their reports.

A New Plymouth lawyer is reported as saying that, for offenders he represented, a cultural report had resulted in a sentencing reduction of from 7% to 45% where offenders were given prison terms ranging from two to 11 years.

The head of the probation system is reported as comparing cultural reports to mental health reports.

Could definitions of culture be widened to gender and religion? Given how Woke NZ has become, perhaps.

But it will be discriminatory? Would the people of the extremist-Christian settlement on the West Coast ever qualify? If they’re not a sub-culture, what is?
Would an NZ-born male Mormon offender against a woman get the same consideration in sentencing as a similar offender from a Muslim country?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/crime/129721617/cultural-reports-invaluable-to-courts-say-experienced-defence-lawyers
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September 8, 2026 12:06pm
Ian

Back to the Greens and their Kiwimart supermarkets – 120 of them. Where will they be located? Do they know and are not telling us – obviously only 120 are needed. Is it a post code lottery? Should Green voters ask to find out whether they have lost out? And the Greens want to tax corporates big time. Surely Kiwimart will be an incorporation? Such tax will be passed back in the price of kale. And if TOP get their land tax in on the side, Kiwimart will be paying on the ground under their supermarkets, so another increase in the price of kale. And will any investor ever invest in NZ again knowing their assets could be nationalised. So much to consider, it makes one’s head spin…
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September 8, 2026 12:20pm
- Jimbo666
  
  Surely all will be located in Auckland?
  
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  September 8, 2026 12:57pm
- Cassandra
  
  And half the supermarkets belong to Oz Woolies. Oz will not be pleased. Ain’t gonna happen.
  
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  September 8, 2026 12:59pm
  - greybeard
    
    Of course it will never happen, it is nothing more than a cry for attention.
    
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    September 8, 2026 1:15pm
    - RichardF
      
      It’s possibly the most harebrained idea I have ever heard from a politician.
      
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      September 8, 2026 3:01pm
- Blog-aholic
  
  They intend to steal (sorry) nationalise the Woolworths and Foodstuffs ones……
  
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  September 8, 2026 2:12pm
- Bobba Fret
  
  Kiwimart should definitely ‘buy’ Greenlane Woolworths it’s always very busy – say, offer Woolies $500,ooo as it’s a compulsory purchase. I’m sure Woolies would be wrapped! //
  
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  September 8, 2026 5:40pm
- OlderChas
  
  I believe – from some of the garbled reports – sorry – stories – that I have heard form either reporters – sorry – story tellers – on a couple of the National “News” channels – that the two big chains are going to suffer “forced sales” of a portion of their current supermarkets to the KiwiMarkets or whatever they are called – and that the Greens have already had shopping bags emblazoned with the new logos and signs commissioned and printed – one of which the party leader with with short, white hair proudly held up to the camera a few times while the other leader with long dark hair waffled to the sound man.
  (Oops – that may be the longest sentence I ever typed. Sorry!)
  So the setup costs will be at whatever price the “sales forcers” will decide upon?
  Has anyone consulted with the two big chains about how they see this going?
  Oh – and included in the “forced Sales” will be two of the big chains’ distribution centres.
  So no worries about where the new ones are going to be – they are already there.
  From an excellent Aussie-made movie:
  “Tell ’em they’re bloody dreamin'”
  
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  September 8, 2026 6:34pm
Maggy Wassilieff

Oh dear, oh dear,

Identity politics falls apart when a well-known Lefty starts asking people about who they really are….

https://www.stuff.co.nz/culture/361030534/miriam-margolyes-breaks-silence-racism-row-and-insults-more-people
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September 8, 2026 1:29pm
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  Margoyles is 85. Her advanced age doesn’t seem to earn her any slack
  
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  September 8, 2026 6:33pm
cmm (semi-retired edition)

We all know about STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

For a while that was expanded to STEAM – adding A for arts because they were feeling left out.

In some part of the world there is now talk of STEMM where the second M stands for medicine). Fair enough to add that to STEM.

However in NZ there is also STEMM where the second M stands for Mātauranga Māori – apparently a vital skill set.

“Empowering Kiwi kids with STEMM skills”
https://www.genesisenergy.co.nz/about/communities/school-gen

Meanwhile those of us in industry (yes, even the semi-retired) are trying to cultivate relationships with the international space industry and other technological industries. How the fuck are we supposed to be taken seriously when we include this mumbo-jumbo in with our special definition of STEM-> STEMM?

It is hard enough being taken seriously as a small nation thousands of miles from anywhere. It’s much harder when people see we revere this nonsense.
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September 8, 2026 2:13pm
- Yvette
  
  However in NZ there is also STEMM where the second M stands for Mātauranga Māori – apparently a vital skill set.
  
  Yes, it tells you a waka needs to exceed an escape velocity of 40,270 km/h to sail beyond the Earth’s grabity.
  
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  September 8, 2026 3:48pm
- Pope Punctilious II
  
  God, that is just embarrassing. How exactly is matauranga going to equip kids for the 21st century?
  
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  September 8, 2026 5:33pm
Bullion

Classic National:

In 2018 when the levy was first proposed under a Labour-led government, National campaigned strongly against it with then-leader Simon Bridges claiming it was “entirely unnecessary” and “just another tax”.

After winning power in 2023, the following year the coalition Government nearly tripled the $35 fee to $100.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics_election-2026/1300545/christopher-luxon-announces-national-s-alternative-to-introducing-bed-tax

Rather than engage their brains just reflexively oppositional, until they get into power and don’t care about the hypocrisy because it wasn’t a bad idea in the first place.
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September 8, 2026 2:24pm
- Damocles11
  
  National governs to maintain the status quo in behalf of elites and vested interests. The status quo includes whatever they inherit from a previous Labour government.
  
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  September 8, 2026 4:18pm
RdM

NZ could be the second country (after the US) to pull out of the Paris Accord.
Of course our exports, particularly food wine and agriculture would take a hit as other countries take the opportunity to paint our products as ‘climate-unfriendly’ to promote their own brands, but maybe that’s worth the pride we would have as leading the charge.

“would take a hit”

This argument is advanced (by Luxon and others?) but it seems to me to be really a fear of imagined ‘peer pressure’, predicted to come from European countries with at present green idiocy policies.

They may change when they see other countries taking a principled realistic approach instead.

Would Luxon and others advise their teenage children to ‘play it safe’ and succumb to peer pressure, or to stand up for the real truth?

Yes, NZ should join the list of countries not only abandoning the Paris Agreement but also shunning the whole climate change alarmism policy influences and influencers, propagandists.

New Zealand has a few scientists and electrical engineers who have spoken out on blogs at least about the CO2 danger nonsense, and the folly of increasing intermittent unreliable “renewable” energy sources without extensive grid backup.

Let alone the whole coal and gas subjects.

Why does Cabinet and the PM and MPs ignore or overlook their warnings, and remain fixated with the global alarmist propaganda?

Do they not have a few researchers to monitor blogs (like this and others) to grok public opinion?

And does anybody know what book it was that Luxon advised Maureen Pugh to read?

I despair at the willful ignorance of our ‘leaders’.
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September 8, 2026 3:38pm
- Bullion
  
  Its not imagined peer pressure, its specifically in the EU-NZ FTA.
  
  Importantly, the TSD chapter envisages the possibility of temporarily suspending trade preferences under the FTA, as a matter of last resort, in instances of serious violations of core TSD commitments, namely, the ILO fundamental principles and rights at work and the Paris Agreement, regardless of their impact on trade.
  
  TSD commitments are legally binding and enforceable under the dispute settlement framework of the FTA.
  
  https://policy.trade.ec.europa.eu/eu-trade-relationships-country-and-region/countries-and-regions/new-zealand/eu-new-zealand-agreement/factsheet-eu-new-zealand-trade-agreement-trade-and-sustainable-development_en
  
  The Parties recognise the importance of taking urgent action to combat climate change and its
  impacts, and the role of trade in pursuing this objective, consistent with the United Nations
  Framework Convention on Climate Change done at New York on 9 May 1992 (hereinafter referred
  to as the “UNFCCC”), the purpose and goals of the Paris Agreement, and with other MEAs and
  multilateral instruments in the area of climate change.
  2. In light of paragraph 1, each Party shall effectively implement the UNFCCC and the Paris
  Agreement, including commitments with regard to nationally determined contributions.
  3. A Party’s commitment to effectively implement the Paris Agreement under paragraph 2
  includes the obligation to refrain from any action or omission that materially defeats the object and
  purpose of the Paris Agreement
  
  https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=OJ:L_202400866#page=1
  
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  September 8, 2026 4:10pm
- Damocles11
  
  Paris was a ‘do what you feel, pay what you feel’ agreement. It was all entirely voluntary. While other countries essentially committed themselves to not much of anything, New Zealand straightjacketed itself into wildly ambitious targets with huge financial penalties if we didn’t meet them. An act of monumental self-sabotage. National are the party of maintaining the status quo so of course they are just going along with the madness that Labour and Luxon’s mate James Shaw signed us up to. If you want to get us out of this quagmire, vote accordingly.
  
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  September 8, 2026 4:23pm
- Ghost
  
  imagined peer pressure, no, it is part of the free trade agreement. We know very well what the repercussions are if we were to pull out before the EU. sanctions, financial compensation, tariffs being placed on our goods.
  
  the wilful ignorance is coming from people such as yourself who have imagined a false reality of what faces us if we are to go down the path you wish. We aren’t leaving the Paris accord until our trading partners do, the damage to NZ would be far too much if we did.
  
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  September 8, 2026 6:00pm
  - NeverMindTheBollocks
    
    We’ll just renegotiate any Trade Agreement.
    
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    September 8, 2026 6:35pm

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