General Debate 22 September 2026

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NeverMindTheBollocks

Go woke, go broke.

NZ Rugby carries a structural deficit of $20m pa. All teams and competitions lose money, except the All Blacks – international games make big money.

Except, they don’t. The Black Ferns lost $11m. Super Rugby Aupiki lost $8m and the Farah Palmer Cup $2m. There’s your $20m loss, right there.

It’s true that Super Rugby and the NPC lose money also, but they at least are our pathway to the money-making All Blacks. The fact remains that despite media cheerleaders of both sexes, few people attend women’s rugby games nor watch on the tellie, which means that sponsorship offers are low. The interest just isn’t there.

If NZ Rugby wants to return to the black, the quickest way to do so is to ditch women’s competitions beyond club rugby.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/361036272/why-northlands-npc-dream-meets-nz-rugbys-financial-black-hole
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September 22, 2026 8:00am
Cassandra

There’s been a lot of criticism of Trump here. Much of the personal stuff I totally endorse! But does it really matter if he’s an immoral so and so with a penchant for intemperate social media comments? The “child in the White House” – who cares? I know DG does but does it really matter?

The most important topics for me are my physical and economic well being and that of my family and friends. National security, the health system, crime prevention, the cost of living – all those things. Is Trump a plus or a minus for that?

I thought a brief balance sheet might be worthwhile. Note “ brief”, this is a blog, not my Oxford PhD dissertation. Which I’ll supply on request, of course.

1. Do New Zealanders want to live like Americans or Chinese, Russians or Iranians?
2. Is democracy – the rule of law – preferable to “the rule of Xi”?
3. Should Israel exist? Within secure borders?
4. Should Iran have the bomb?
5. If a government abuses its people eg the Yazidis in Syria, women in Iran, is another country entitled to step in?
6. Should NATO members fund their own defence?
7. Would you rather have Trump’s America or Putin’s Russia on your border?
8. Who should control the Panama Canal?
9. Is Venezuela now better or worse? How about Cuba?
10. Is America entitled to seek parity in trade with every country it wants to?

I could dream up a very long list.

On all of these topics Trump has done a better job than his predecessors.

America has had some terrible results over the years eg Vietnam and Afghanistan. Trump’s errors pale in comparison. His achievements outweigh them. Okay, he’s a crass boor. So what?
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September 22, 2026 8:02am
- Benedict Yu
  
  I don’t understand #10. What is “parity in trade”? Trump does not understand trade and his policies are insane.
  
  The answers to your general questions are fairly obvious. Yes I would rather live in the USA than Russia.
  
  But the role of a USA President is not judged by such blunt metrics. To go back to trade, his trade policies are insane and damaging. The war in Iran was stupid and damaging. And costly.
  
  I would judge him by the outcomes of his policies. There are not many bright spots. Border control.
  
  What else?
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:17am
  - mike
    
    Nothing else, and many things made much worse. But nice to know he still has some Kiwiblog fans – most seem to have abandoned him.
    
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    September 22, 2026 8:28am
  - Cassandra
    
    The basis for my post is a comparison between sides. In absolute terms of course there are problems. Tell me who does better! Everywhere in the world there are immense challenges. But I was thinking along the lines of NZ’s choice. In the longer term we’ll have to make one.
    
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    September 22, 2026 8:32am
    - mike
      
      You would have to do better than that set of statements to make a case. Try arguing Trump’s success on one or two and see how it goes.
      
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      September 22, 2026 8:37am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Our choice about what? Between the USA and Russia?
      
      To be clear I would like New Zealand to be an ally of the USA with US Navy ships visiting. I would like to see credible defence spending.
      
      Trump won’t be there forever.
      
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      September 22, 2026 8:37am
  - David George
    
    B.Y.: “The war in Iran was stupid and damaging”
    
    What should have been done about the Islamic regime and their murder of a hundred thousand Iranians, their threat of nuclear Armageddon, their commission and sponsorship of terrorism, their overt and covert attacks on their neighbours and their death squads hunting dissenters around the world?
    Sanctions (gleefully undermined by China) have achieved nothing but still there is this delusion that they’ll magically start behaving like civilised human beings.
    Apocalyptic death cults have to be destroyed. That’s it.
    
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    September 22, 2026 8:35am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Yes but the Iran regime is still in place. I am not placed to judge if its nuclear programme has been ended.
      
      If Trump had literally taken out Iran with the women in Tehran cheering with their hair flying in the breeze, I would be a fan of the policy.
      
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      September 22, 2026 8:40am
      - David George
        
        The war is still happening, the Iranian people are desperate to see the end of 47 years of tyranny.
        I follow a few Iranians and this is what they are saying, that the Iranian people would give anything, their lives, to be free.
        
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        September 22, 2026 8:59am
    - mike
      
      The US and Europe had an agreement that was working well to limit the chance of a bomb. Trrump tore that up. Further, he has started a hugely costly war that the US can’t win and actually incentivises the mullahs to acquire a nuke.
      
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      September 22, 2026 8:41am
      - David George
        
        You think we should just ignore the egregious crimes against humanity?
        While the worthless “agreement” was in place the Islamic regime was busy building their nuclear program deep underground and everyone was just supposed to believe it wasn’t happening.
        They were busy, with help from China, building a vast conventional missile network to defend, not the Iranian people but their offensive nuclear capability.
        They are the very definition of a rogue state and a real and terrifying threat to everyone.
        
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        September 22, 2026 8:54am
    - MCōs
      
      There is nothing to suggest that America under President Trump has reversed any of that, but then I don’t know what to believe anymore.
      Trump has made a long string of wild claims that have proven to be just that and he’s supposed to represent good over evil
      
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      September 22, 2026 8:56am
- Damocles11
  
  Our values have of course more closely aligned with Western democracies than with repressive communist and post-communist states, but this long pre-dates Trump. We now have a situation whereby Trump is making traditional ally Canada into an enemy while trying to get Ukraine to halt attacks on Russian refineries. We were told Operation Midnight Hammer had ‘totally obliterated’ Irans enriched Uranium stockpiles, then a short while later we were told that the Operation Epic Fury attack was necessary because Iran were on the cusp of having a nuclear weapon. Both things can’t be true. When the US and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury they didn’t just seek to ‘totally obliterate’ (again) the Iranian nuclear programme, they also assassinated the Iranian head of state. The Iranian regime is now hell bent on revenge. The US has no off ramp out if this mess at the moment. An impartial observer may assess what has happened as a bungled operation which has resulted in a total strategic impasse. The US has expended a vast quantity of munitions in this conflict with Iran this year, munitions that were needed as a strategic deterrent in the geopolitical arm wrestle with China and Russia.
  Your post equates Trump with the USA as is the two were indivisible. But the USA existed long before Trump shuffled onto the scene and will exist long after he shuffles off. We make a mistake if we treat Trump and Trumpism if they are ubiquitous and forever – just look to the tale of Ozymandias, King of Kings, for confirmation on that point.
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:22am
artemisia

The NZFirst health policy, focusing on prevention, could be a game changer, if implemented. Particularly research into inexpensive nutritional interventions as included in the policy. Actually there is already a lot of this research, not just wrt chronic diseases like diabetes, but also mental illness. Are any of those running huge health budgets looking at the research? And doing something about it. Or simpler to park a very long row of ambulances at the bottom of the cliff because OPM.

Even leaving aside treatment costs, consider the number of people not employed and on welfare, often for decades, due to years of rubbish nutrition.

From the NZF policy – A small proportion of what we currently spend treating established disease could fund serious independent research into whether inexpensive nutritional interventions can help prevent diseases developing or progressing in the first place. If it reduces diabetes, cardiovascular disease, mental illness, infection or hospital admissions by even a modest amount, the return will dwarf the investment. That is what prevention should mean.
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September 22, 2026 8:05am
- Benedict Yu
  
  Not my area but surely New Zealand can tap into global knowledge about nutrition. Why would the New Zealand government need to commission research?
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:10am
  - wsk12345
    
    Because we have the leading world expert Dr Julia Rucklidge already doing it here in Christchurch.
    
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    September 22, 2026 8:18am
    - mike
      
      One expert psychologist?
      
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      September 22, 2026 8:43am
- BarryB
  
  The man who is regarded as the father of Singapore (I forget his name) set up two objectives to get Singapore to be a great society. They were:
  A decent health system to make the population healthy, and
  A decent education system so that they had a highly educated population
  and that was it. No other crazy ideas that many countries have.
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:10am
  - mike
    
    You can achieve a lot in a one-party state.
    
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    September 22, 2026 8:45am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    Lee Kuan Yew
    
    That is not quite correct. He did many other things. Forced savings. The government planned all housing and forced people to save for it. The government became a huge owner of enterprise. The Singapore government is still a majority owner of Singapore Airlines. This is via the investment arm of the Singapore government Temasek Holdings. This is beyond gigantic.
    
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    September 22, 2026 8:53am
- Handyman
  
  Let’s not spend any money until we sort the obvious elephants in the room…
  Obese people with diabetes who refuse to acknowledge their ability to change their diet, but have their hand out for expensive surgery.
  How about we ringfence health spend on weight loss surgery and start issuing “green prescriptions” — follow the diet plan and walk some.
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:28am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    How about every year everybody gets weighed. If you are obese you pay a tax surcharge. If you are in the healthy weight range you get a rebate.
    
    Yes I am kidding. But to be honest that is a less crazy idea than the policies I am seeing at this election.
    
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    September 22, 2026 8:55am
Benedict Yu

It will be amusing to see the topic of this Hager book this evening. I had to remind myself who is is and what he has written in the past.

I have no inside knowledge. However I speculate that it may be a breathless account of the “extreme right” in New Zealand. Perhaps the Taxpayers Union is controlled by the German right parties. Or the IMF. Or Benedict Yu.

In turn these far right groups control the neoliberal National Party. There will be tales of blackmail, honey traps and villains masquerading as bloggers. 🙂
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September 22, 2026 8:05am
- BarryB
  
  I saw a comment somewhere which speculated that Hagers great disclosure would be that Luxon sleeps with a teddy bear…
  I thought thats an unusual name for his wife…..
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:12am
- Boy Geoff
  
  You know Hager looks through your rubbish bags each week, don’t you?
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:12am
- O C Smith
  
  What ever it is it will certainly be anti CR
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:14am
- Damocles11
  
  ‘The Atlas Network : The Horrifying Truth’
  ——
  ‘The Atlas Network’s agenda is to drive change in ideas, culture, and policy by promoting individual liberty, property rights, limited government, and free markets. They aim to empower individuals to live a life of choice and remove barriers to opportunity. This involves supporting a global network of think tanks and related organisations that share these core values and advocate for policies aligned with them.’
  
  Sacre bleu!!!!
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:27am
- pdm
  
  I think you are on the right track BY.
  
  Maybe it will be an expose of the Head Honchos for the Atlas Group in New Zealand.
  
  If you browse Facebook threads Atlas seems to worry lefties more than anything else at the moment. Every ACT MP and all of the Taxpayers Union are said to be Atlas activists put in place to destroy New Zealand.
  
  Hager might name names and so on and so on and so 0n and it will all be drivel and fantasies.
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:29am
- mike
  
  Nothing so sinister. The Taxpayers’ ‘Union’ is a national party astroturf operation, that’s all.
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:31am
  - Benedict Yu
    
    “astroturf”.. A useful trigger word to cause me to stop reading and never read anything by said person ever again.
    
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    September 22, 2026 9:03am
- Maggy Wassilieff
  
  I’m not too interested in the Hager reveal…
  
  Much more interested in todays launch of the Parents’ Alliance and their views on Education.
  
  Hence the formation of a new education lobby group: The Parents Alliance of which Bagrie is the inaugural chair.
  
  The organisation, launching officially on Tuesday, 22 September, has lined up some heavy hitters and well connected types to make the parents’ case in the education of their children.
  
  https://pointofordernz.wordpress.com/2026/09/21/the-parents-voice/#more-52997
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:54am
cas

Just reading a Steve Braunias column in this week’s Listener about the CRL which he thinks is fantastic.

He ran into Chloe Swarbrick on opening day while there and said she was swanning around on a platform. The next stuff is a quote.

I said ‘isn’t it great!. She said ‘ Well it took a million years’. It’s strange how she always seems to have a complaint close to her lips. I asked how’s it going. She said it’s always the best of times and the worst of times, isn’t it. I said that the CRL, on day 1, in this moment of history was the best of times.

Later he meets train buff Marcus Lush who when asked isn’t this great, replied It’s fantastic.

I thought the quote about Chloe and the complaint and her negative attitude summed her up.
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September 22, 2026 8:08am
Ra Henare

Interesting to see STUFF doing a report card on the Governments progress against Election Promises.
Todays was health
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361036244/report-card-did-government-fulfil-its-promises-health-system

Monday was Economics
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361034859/report-card-did-government-fulfil-its-economic-promises

While the election news bits favor labour. I found these reports interesting.
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September 22, 2026 8:08am
Ipanema69

This has flown under the radar a bit but it seems germane given the supermarket election issue.

At the moment New Zealand has three separate and independent mobile telecommunication companies thar provide cellphone services to New Zealanders. These being Spark, One and 2degrees.

In August One and 2degrees announced that they were seeking regulatory approval from the coomerce commission to combine their radio access networks into a single entity.

This entity would then wholesale the network back to one and 2degrres.

If approved this would return the New Zealand mobile market from three physically competing networks to two. A situation thar last existed in 2009 prior to 2degrees entry into the market.

There are a lot of technicalities that I dont want to ger into on this brief post relating to this proposal.

However IMHO the major political parties should be asked what their position is on this proposal.

If the a party approves of this proposal there is arguably no issue with the current supermarket duopoly.
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September 22, 2026 8:08am
Master Mariner

So will Jacinda Adern hand in the Fund / Grant bequeathed to her by the Bill / Melinda Gates “foundation” ?
I have been following the Canadian Covid Allison inquiry and more and more evidence is pointing towards his “Foundation”.
Here is a close look by Senator Ron Johnson.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHEMoBfHppU

‘Bill Gates’ finger prints are all over…’: Johnson exposes how Fauci ‘scared people during COVID’
And there are too many circumspect scenarios involving Epstein that needs sunlight.
Surely you would by now have doubts and do the honorable thing and pass in your Grant //
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September 22, 2026 8:19am
- Ghost
  
  All that happened with that fund is that it was put into an account, Ardern instructed those running the account who to give it to. Why try to make this into a hitjob on Ardern. She is gone, move on.
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:36am
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    ” She is gone, move on.”
    
    Oh, she’s very much not yet gone.
    
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    September 22, 2026 8:44am
    - Ghost
      
      is she going to run for parliament? no. Is she just a private citizen now, yes. Clean the monster out from under your bed and move on with your life. Don’t be like the people that still attack Key after all these years. move on
      
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      September 22, 2026 8:49am
      - mike
        
        He needs to show us on the doll where Jacinda is hurting him.
        
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        September 22, 2026 8:56am
- mike
  
  Ron Johnson is an anti-vaxxer kook.
  
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  September 22, 2026 8:54am
Swifty

The organised strip-mining of the American taxpayer by recent immigrants:

https://x.com/EricLDaugh/status/2102073028544729113/video/1?s=46

I wonder to what degree it’s happening here?
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September 22, 2026 8:37am
cmm (semi-retired edition)

Cut this prick’s dole

https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/361036234/councils-were-told-pirates-boats-were-blasting-music-claimed-there-was-nothing-they-could-do
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September 22, 2026 8:43am

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