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October 24, 2026 8:00am by Kokila Patel

General Debate 24 October 2026

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General Debate

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Cassandra

The UK has committed to the NATO/Trump target of 3.5% GDP on defence by 2035. First step is 3% by 2030.

So far there’s no plan. Prime Minister Burnham has insisted that national security “can’t come at the expense of social security”. So welfare can’t be reduced, where does the (considerable) money come from?

Note that NZ has neither commitment nor plan.

NZFirst has committed to 3% but the chances of that are zero, particularly if it includes their daft idea of a Marine Corps. (A thousand Marines embarked would need 2,000 more in the pipeline, a base near the navy and some ships. Australia wants NZ to integrate with them ie frigates).
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October 24, 2026 8:01am
- NeverMindTheBollocks
  
  If Andy Burnham’s plan is to use beneficiaries as cannon fodder, then including social security as a subset of national security makes perfect sense.
  
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  October 24, 2026 8:07am
- Quail
  
  Cassandra,
  FYI,
  NZ has just purchased @ 1.6 bn. 5 new multi purpose helicopters .
  A substantial start to their defence spend.
  
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  October 24, 2026 8:39am
  - Cassandra
    
    Thanks Quail. It doesn’t change anything, although of course very welcome. FYI my grandson works on that project.
    
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    October 24, 2026 8:44am
  - Paulus
    
    Along with the resignation of the CDF (Chief of Defence Force) for personal reasons !
    Who will take over – Rose perhaps.
    
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    October 24, 2026 9:02am
    - Nobby2
      
      Paulus, I bloody well hope not.
      
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      October 24, 2026 2:08pm
    - Pineapple Lumps
      
      I thought our defence strategy was taken from the pirates in Asterisk and Obelisk. Sink the ship before the enemies can attack. Last tested in Samoan waters.
      
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      October 24, 2026 2:45pm
      - Individual Responsibility
        
        Pineapple Lumps – you’re on fire with that comment.
        
        NZDF the way our enemies want it, eh!
        
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        October 24, 2026 3:37pm
- imalwaysright
  
  NZ is currently being destroyed from within.
  
  Foreign enemies will have to wait.
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:25am
- AitchW
  
  Burnham is just another lazy, ideologically driven wokester. Labour governments all over the western world promise the world and deliver nothing but platitudes and societal regression.
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:41am
- rouppe
  
  We aren’t going to war with anybody alone.
  
  We could have a useful detachment of well trained soldiers, supported by existing air assets.
  
  If we do peacekeeping (which a marine corps would never do) they can get there with commercial aircraft.
  
  In a war we would be a battalion or company attached to a better resourced ally.
  
  I just do not get why people think we need a full gamut of all arms at a full strength.
  
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  October 24, 2026 6:44pm
Tomtoddy

Someone called Joel Maxwell is ‘senior journalist’ for Stuff. He is Māori.

He has penned a piece suggesting we should fear billionaires far more than Māori gangs. Sadly, it is a small window into the way too many of ‘his people’ think.

It is an effort to excuse the Labour candidate’s dalliance with the Mongrel mob. Of course, he says he hates gangs but just below the surface he is finding creepy little ways to make her misguided actions legit and the lying cover-up an OK reaction.

The harsh truth is that it is the Maxwell’s ultra-thin opposition that helps gangs exist. “Hard case fella’s, eh bro” instead of a totally genuine abhorrence of their behaviour, their crime, their ruining lives, their attitude to women, their wrecking of lives with drugs.

He plays down the naive and deluded actions of the Labour candidate – she was “just campaigning”. He suggests these ugly examples of humanity are just “boogey men”. Then comes the left’s usual excuse – “the poor people around them” are the real victims.

While Māori keep playing these games, excusing violence, explaining away atrocious behaviour, failing to call out these vile activities and cozying up a tad to their gang family members this blight on our community will continue.
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October 24, 2026 8:01am
- Colville
  
  Also from Stuff.
  It’s worth a read even just to be surprised that it’s not anti National.
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361050349/how-one-mp-torpedoed-lefts-election-campaign-chaos
  
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  October 24, 2026 8:15am
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    Colville – I also read that. Where Jenna Lynch shows her lack of critical thinking is that she takes the same stance as Greens et al that gangs exist because of the failures of the state – “80 to 90% of mongrel mob and black power members were state wards”.
    
    Where is the “why” question? As in why were these gang members failed by their families and the state had to fill the gap?
    
    Or how about looking at the percentage of state wards that chose not to go into gangs?
    
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    October 24, 2026 9:56am
    - artemisia
      
      Agree Pineapple. Who is asking the why? Maybe not worth the effort as (already) knowing the why does not mean widespread family neglect and abuse are fixable. Lots of OPM doesn’t seem to work.
      
      What happened to – our tamariki are our taonga?
      
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      October 24, 2026 10:30am
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        I heard Seymour saying on the radio to Hosking, the left are always playing the victim card and not accepting personal responsibility. As long as they play that card then things have no chance of improving. Well said David Seymour!
        
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        October 24, 2026 2:58pm
    - David Garrett
      
      Pine: Two excellent questions there mate.
      
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      October 24, 2026 1:26pm
      - Jack5
        
        Tomtoddy above on Joel Maxwell: … He is Māori …
        
        Part-Maori Maxwell climbed on the indigenous band wagon fairly late; he learned Maori as an adult.
        
        His academic background seems to have been studying creative writing at Massey University.
        
        The blogger No Minister in a post 12 months ago reckons Maxwell’s writing is saturated with the language of Critical Theory. That is the foundation of Woke politics.
        
        Critical Theory moved from Marxism’s economics base towards “culture, ideology, psychology, and social institutions.”
        No Minister on Maxwell:
        
        https://nominister.wordpress.com/2025/11/15/joel-maxwell-journalism-as-ideological-performance/
        
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        October 24, 2026 1:44pm
      - TJEC
        
        Labour,the Greens and Te Pati Maori ganging up on New Zealand
        
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        October 24, 2026 1:58pm
- Scott
  
  One thing I will say about stuff journalism is they ran this piece about the demise of the left just before the election:
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361050349/how-one-mp-torpedoed-lefts-election-campaign-chaos
  
  Normally stuff and the rest of the mainstream media would quickly bury stories like the Labour MP hosting gang events. But to their credit they’ve run with it. This story is really really damaging Labour.
  
  It’s almost like fair minded and objective journalism? 🤔
  Well done them. 😊
  
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  October 24, 2026 8:40am
  - Paulus
    
    Media getting panicy perhaps so the can say later they are not all pro Left wing after the election.
    
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    October 24, 2026 2:05pm
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      I was going to say the same. Stuff has seen the writing on the wall?
      
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      October 24, 2026 8:00pm
  - AitchW
    
    That genie was well and truly out of the bottle, they had no choice. Once they admitted there was a story they jumped into it, pots and all. I do wonder if there will be any examination of the facts.
    
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    October 24, 2026 3:38pm
  - igm
    
    Read elsewhere “Parachute Potaka” is not too flash in the closet either!
    
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    October 24, 2026 6:23pm
    - R
      
      i’m…..the media are barking up a non existent tree; trying to create some credibility for a major political fail by the Labour Party. This behaviour gives an insight to the calibre of the Labour Party candidates.
      
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      October 24, 2026 8:26pm
- KKNZ2025
  
  Maxwells colleague Jenna Lynch likewise attempts to blameshift excuses for gang members onto the State care their extended families received “These are people the state not only turned its back on but a lot of them are survivors of abuse inflicted on them by people the state ordered to care for them.”
  
  Ignoring the fact that they ended up in State care in the first place because of their irresponsible / abusive / uncaring parents & families.
  
  https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361050349/how-one-mp-torpedoed-lefts-election-campaign-chaos
  
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  October 24, 2026 8:41am
- pdm
  
  TT you are a braver man than most here Gunga Din.
  
  I read a couple of Maxwells pieces – the English versions (does anyone read the other incomprehensible, tokenism, option?) – a couple of years ago and have avoided him like the plague since.
  
  I think he edits and writes for some local New Plymouth rag as well.
  
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  October 24, 2026 8:57am
  - Positan
    
    There’s discernible bias in his perspective. Some things cannot be defended – and if Joel Maxwell was a proper “journalist” he should have been able to recognise such instances.
    
    In making analogy such as to compare gangs with billionaires whom he fears – he comes across solely as an idiot apologist who’s let his non-objective bias form his rationale.
    
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    October 24, 2026 11:44am
- greybeard
  
  The Scouting movement involves the awarding of badges ( “patches” ) for achieving success in certain skills and activities. None of these skills or activities harm other people, nor are they illegal or immoral or despicable.
  
  Gangs such as the Mongrel Mob award “patches” to those aspiring members who pass required milestones: these are invariably illegal, violent, antisocial in the extreme.
  
  By the time a Mongrel Mob member has a patch to wear that person is by any interpretation of NZ’s laws a criminal.
  You must be a criminal to be a gang member.
  
  Let us have an end to all of this tripe from the media about some perceived worthiness of gangs. They are not worthy. They are criminals. At large.
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:06am
  - David Garrett
    
    Grey: On a few occasions during my short political career I made speeches highly critical of gangs. Each time I did so Tariana Turia, who sat front me, would just “they are just a whanau” – but never loud enough for the Hansard reporters to pick up what she said.
    
    So I would say loudly “Mrs Turia has just said they are just another form of whanau” so that her sentiments were recorded. Not much point I suppose, but it made me feel much better.
    
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    October 24, 2026 1:34pm
    - Pope Punctilious II
      
      People seem to forget those sorts of “details” when they insist that TMP was a very different outfit when John Key got into bed with them.
      
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      October 24, 2026 8:31pm
  - sungsamning
    
    Having a gang patch should qualify the wearer for preventive detention next time they appear in court. Same for multiple recidivists.
    
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    October 24, 2026 3:08pm
- slightlyrighty
  
  Mr Maxwell sees the world through a Left Leaning Ethnic lens. He forgives the actions of Gangs as a symptom of the evils of colonialism, while remaining blind to the suffering they inflict on the very communities he claims to stand up for.
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:16am
- kevn
  
  TomT… A … ‘voter’ runs amok.
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/winitana-dellow-and-mongrel-mob-associates-sentenced-for-attacks-on-patrons-at-common-room-bar-hastings/N32VYP3Z3NE6VGKFSCWCQU26HY/
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:17am
- Clyde
  
  Liemore, the Watermelons and the Racist Pardy just love the gangs. They are their sort of people.
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:29am
- Benedict Yu
  
  The astonishing part of the saga was Chris Hipkins claiming that he could not remember being present at any cabinet discussions in the last government that approved funding for gangs.
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:42am
  - Flossie
    
    Don’t know why that would astonish anyone!
    
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    October 24, 2026 9:47am
    - imalwaysright
      
      I think the funding came directly from the PM Department and may not have needed Cabinet approval.
      
      Is Hipkins lying by omission perhaps?
      
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      October 24, 2026 9:58am
    - Benedict Yu
      
      In this case we have a prospective PM telling lies. Which are easy to prove. The cabinet office keeps records of who attends cabinet meetings. They don’t throw them away.
      
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      October 24, 2026 11:20am
      - alwyn.a
        
        He didn’t say he hadn’t attended any meetings did he?
        He said he didn’t remember attending.
        I’m quite willing to believe he has a very bad memory.
        
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        October 24, 2026 11:39am
      - cmm (semi-retired edition)
        
        Cindy told numerous lies too.
        
        Bottom line is that the media won’t hold feet to the fire. If they are not properly reported then nobody really cares. It just becomes a beltway issue of no consequence to Joe Average.
        
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        October 24, 2026 12:38pm
      - Keith White
        
        He may even be telling the truth – his mental vacuity means he has no recall…
        
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        October 24, 2026 1:24pm
      - Ra Henare
        
        Its facts versus memory of an event many years ago.
        Also a standard politician response to a dodgy situation
        
        Not a big deal in the real world.
        My wife reminded me many times when my memory was different from her facts
        
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        October 24, 2026 4:52pm
    - Pineapple Lumps
      
      Indeed Flossie, lying and breathing are equivalent for Hipkins. Now if he were to ever stop lying that would be astonishing.
      
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      October 24, 2026 2:43pm
  - NK
    
    He also claims he could not remember receiving the briefing paper on the massive harm the Covid vaccine would cause those under 18 (I think) when Minister of Health.
    
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    October 24, 2026 12:01pm
  - rouppe
    
    Several times when he was prime minister Mike Hosking would ask him about something that was in the news or in an important report, and Chris Hipkins would say he’s not had time to read it.
    
    “Got a few things on” was one of his reasons
    
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    October 24, 2026 6:55pm
- Inandout
  
  Tom, this Maxwell chap was an ordinary minimum wage reporter when he worked for a rural giveaway publication. I think he then hung around a Kapiti freebie publication for a while and then discovered the born again Maori lurk. Somehow he managed to convince Stuff he was a real Maori despite his European appearance and the rest is hitoria.
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:43am
- Damocles11
  
  ‘As violence spread across a crowded bar, a senior gang member punched a woman repeatedly in the head and stomach, causing her to lose consciousness briefly and collapse.
  As she pitched forward, he grabbed her by the collar of her dress, pulled her back to her feet, and delivered a final uppercut to her face.
  She fell heavily to the ground.’
  
  https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/crime/winitana-dellow-and-mongrel-mob-associates-sentenced-for-attacks-on-patrons-at-common-room-bar-hastings/N32VYP3Z3NE6VGKFSCWCQU26HY/
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:47am
- RW Capitalist
  
  “….fear billionaires far more than Māori gangs”
  How many billionaires are there?
  How many violent crimes have they committed (evidence of any crime)?
  Personally I would hope the number of billionaires was growing at the same rate as the gangs.
  Unfortunately, billionaires get there due to a strong work ethic, sacrifice and smart thinking.
  Gang members get there due to a belief that it is the easy way forward and the gang will be their family, progressing using crime violent, drug, extortion etc
  the result ..more broken children as fodder to replenish the number of gang members in the next generation. Closest thing to a perpetual motion machine you’ll see.
  
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  October 24, 2026 10:16am
- DimChappie
  
  Yes TomT, most Kiwis hate gangs and are tired of complaints from radical Maori. Fatigue is setting in.
  
  https://youtu.be/lix51Vs3ZHU
  
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  October 24, 2026 10:50am
- Gravelroad
  
  I read this opinion piece a couple of times.
  I didn’t see any reference to the gang involvement in drug dealing,which finances their gold plated motorbikes and annual new Ford Rangers.
  Until the gangs and their supporters and apologists, acknowledge that their meth businesses cause huge societal harm, then I have no fond feeling for them at all.
  Mr Maxwell, your article was disingenuous.
  Meth and other illegal drugs are being made, imported and peddled to the people (and their children) – Maori and non Maori – and causing them to live in poverty and ill health.
  How come you didn’t mention that?
  
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  October 24, 2026 11:22am
  - Colville
    
    I was more pissed off with the cultural appropriation of the Mob as Maori.
    The Mob was started by a couple of white boys here in Hawke’s Bay.
    
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    October 24, 2026 1:24pm
- Mr Nobody NZ
  
  If anybody is in any doubt about the mentality of the misunderstood whanau members who belong to the Mongrel Mob might I suggest they take a look at Ross Kemp’s On Gangs episode on them.
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4-xiynq6V4
  
  It is also worth noting that it was a condition of their participation that the episode not to be aired in NZ……. I wonder why?
  
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  October 24, 2026 12:12pm
- Mobile Michael
  
  The Left are really doubling down on this “what they did was okay” BS. Willie Jackson said it was racism to say gangs aren’t bad. Keyboard warriors are trying to say it’s an MPs job, and the right are weaponising family members being gang members.
  
  All that stuff resonantes with the hard-left. Centrist voters just hear, “We like gangs.” So they’ll vote National.
  
  If there was one moment that torpedoed the election for the left, it was Maxwell going to a gang meeting in candidate gear.
  
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  October 24, 2026 1:06pm
Yvette

Under New Zealand electoral law if you are eligible to vote and live in New Zealand, you have a legal obligation to enrol. Failing to do so without a good reason can result in a fine.
Once enrolled, voting is entirely your choice. There is no legal penalty for choosing not to vote.

It is that simple, so why is Chloe Swarbrick, and now Hipkins, trying to label Luxon as having committed some vast devious fowl deed?

Chris Hipkins has voiced major concerns over what he terms “reckless” changes to the law. He maintains that the Electoral Commission has not done enough to publicize the adjustment, raising fears that a significant volume of citizens will see their votes discarded, damaging overall public confidence in the electoral system – Google Overview

In all of this, how often has it been mentioned it is illegal to not be registered if you qualify?
And as an aside, do you want someone who won’t observe the responsibility to enrol, to exercise a right to vote?
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October 24, 2026 8:01am
- Gravelroad
  
  Ask the fowls.
  They know about the pecking order.
  
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  October 24, 2026 8:12am
  - David Lenny
    
    ‘Pecking order’ is a very paltry example.
    
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    October 24, 2026 9:21am
  - David Garrett
    
    Gravel: Comment of the day!
    
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    October 24, 2026 1:37pm
- Cassandra
  
  Chickens not involved. And enrolling should be voluntary too. Easy but voluntary.
  
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  October 24, 2026 8:14am
  - peterwn
    
    It is easy. If you have received your Easyvote letter you are correctly enrolled. If you have not, you pick up the phone or get on your computer before midnight Sunday. The last thing electoral staff want is a heap of last minute enrolments on election day clogging the system and delaying things.
    
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    October 24, 2026 8:24am
    - MCōs
      
      The system wasn’t delayed anymore last time than this time inasmuch as the time period between polling day and the release of final results is the same. Twenty days
      27 November Official results for the 2026 General Election declared
      
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      October 24, 2026 8:53am
      - wsk12345
        
        Perhaps not but the review found that the count of specials was rushed and was lacking in integrity. Saw an article about it this week, can’t recall where though.
        
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        October 24, 2026 9:08am
      - imalwaysright
        
        Correct.
        
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        October 24, 2026 9:26am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Come on. The last thing polling officials want on polling day are people coming in not just wanting to vote but enrolling to vote. 🙄 That we even are having this conversation tells much about the mindset of too many people in New Zealand.
        
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        October 24, 2026 11:23am
      - RoboRob
        
        They had about double the staff last time and at least half the venue was taken up with people special voting or enrolling. There is no need for any of that. I is incredibly easy to register, if you cant be bothered to enrol you dont get to vote. Its your choice.
        
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        October 24, 2026 3:13pm
  - pdm
    
    Cass I disagree.
    
    We should continue to have a law that requires enrolment at 18. But, that law must be enforced and it seems to me the Electoral Commission is abrogating its clear responsibilities by not enforcing it.
    
    How does the Head Honcho Le Quesne keep his job?
    
    If you do not enforce enrolment then compulsory voting is the next step and I personally do not favour that.
    
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    October 24, 2026 9:04am
    - MCōs
      
      It’s a criminal offense therefore a police matter which they don’t waste their time enforcing.
      There are tens or hundreds of thousands of people unenrolled. Do we want our police tied up in knots chasing these people while burglaries go uninvestigated?
      I note there is no threat of prosecution accompanying the ads to enroll.
      If you do not enroll we will find you; you cannot hide; you WILL be prosecuted
      
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      October 24, 2026 9:23am
      - AitchW
        
        I’m not sure it’s a criminal matter. Perhaps DG might enlighten us on the legal niceties of neglecting to enrol?
        
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        October 24, 2026 9:45am
      - pdm
        
        I doubt the Electoral Commission has referred anyone to the Police on this matter in the last 10 maybe 20 maybe even 30 years.
        
        If they don’t receive a complaint the Police cannot enforce the law.
        
        I ask again how does that man Le Quesne keep his job?
        
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        October 24, 2026 9:57am
      - Don Beckett
        
        It would not be a criminal offence, but a civil offence. Quite a difference.
        
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        October 24, 2026 10:39am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        “It would not be a criminal offence, but a civil offence. Quite a difference.”
        
        Really? That’s not my reading of the Act. How did you come to that conclusion? I would actually like to be proven wrong. Because my assumption was the same as yours.
        
        This is not like a parking fine. It requires a police prosecution through the courts. It results in the person then having a criminal record.
        
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        October 24, 2026 11:26am
      - Don Beckett
        
        Just my understanding Benedict, but am no lawyer, so subject to error.
        
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        October 24, 2026 1:07pm
    - Benedict Yu
      
      Whoa. It cannot be enforced. There are no resources to do so. It would require police prosecutions. It also has a threshold in the Act of “knowingly and wilfully” failing to enrol.
      
      I will need David Garrett to come along to confirm, but I would argue that many of these people have no idea. Some would willfully not enrol. Others are in a drug and chaos induced daze.
      
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      October 24, 2026 9:54am
      - pdm
        
        BY why not instant fines like traffic violations?
        
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        October 24, 2026 9:59am
      - Benedict Yu
        
        Good question. Fines like a parking ticket would make sense. But the Act would need to be amended.
        
        If you are prosecuted and fined under the current Act you have an actual criminal record. So pointless. A $200 fine in the mail like a speed camera fine would actually be a real incentive to get people to enroll.
        
        Again, if David Garrett is around happy to be corrected.
        
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        October 24, 2026 11:17am
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        pdm – how would we go about finding the unenroled?
        
        I’m don’t really care about unenroled voters. If you can’t be bothered to enrol then you won’t be informed enough to vote. What do we lose by not having them on the roll?
        
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        October 24, 2026 2:49pm
      - cmm (semi-retired edition)
        
        According to the stuff I saw, the guidance is to give a warning on the first offence then a fine if they fail to register within a reasonable period after that.
        
        But of course it is not enforced, so it is all academic.
        
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        October 24, 2026 3:44pm
      - rouppe
        
        Pdm:
        
        Traffic violations have a hook to hang the infringement on. A person can be located by way of the registration plate.
        
        For enrollment, you have to find out who they are first. How do you do that? Maybe collate ird records with the electoral roll. But then the address ird holds might not be current. Afaik there’s no requirement to keep ird addresses current.
        
        Assuming this or something similar is the way to do it, the electoral commission should do that the January after every election and send a communication of some sort saying “we noticed you didn’t enroll. There is a fine associated with that. Please enroll before the next election, because of we see the same thing next time you will be prosecuted.”
        
        Could even do it every year. Get some IT wonk to create, and a junior to run, an automated task every January.
        
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        October 24, 2026 7:12pm
    - Cassandra
      
      pdm: why do you disagree? Why should enrolment be compulsory?
      
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      October 24, 2026 11:51am
      - Pineapple Lumps
        
        If they can’t be bothered voting then it is better they aren’t enrolled.
        
        However , the real reason Hipkins is raising this is deflection from his party being gang enablers. Here we are electioneering to the Mongrel Mob, no wait , look over there at this enrolment issue. If he points out enough squirrels many people will run off and chase them!
        
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        October 24, 2026 2:40pm
      - R
        
        With the demise of regular Census taking, enrollment for voting will be one of the few opportunities to count the population in NZ.
        Not enrolling may mean that you may become ineligible for welfare benefits and similar, as you may not be recorded
        
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        October 24, 2026 6:06pm
    - Sane Voice
      
      It is a crime/criminal offence.
      
      It is a breach of a statute set by parliament and subject to state enforcement.
      
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      October 24, 2026 12:01pm
    - RoboRob
      
      Agree. If there is a law, even if it is stupid, it should be enforced. If Le Quesne is trying to get people enrolled (as he claims) wouldn’t advertising that it is a legal required be something you would do?
      
      While I am at it,
      
      a) there is no need for it to take 20 days to process votes. That’s stupid.
      
      b) Which moron decided that expensive footpath ‘stickers’ outside of libraries to encourage voting was a good use of money? 99.9% of people wouldn’t even know these exist. Let alone be looking down at an angle to actually read them!
      
      c) There are a pile of minor IT ‘innovations’ that could be implemented to maks voting faster, safer and reduce staff.
      
      For example, the digital ‘easy vote card’, why is this stuck in an email? Shouldn’t it have an add to google wallet / apple pay button. Then when you are voting you can ‘pay wave’ your phone. This would mean, no (slow) manual paper lookup and the system could automatically advise of you have already voted at another booth. This would remove the labor intensive process post election of going through paper records from every site and checking if someone has been crossed off twice (or more). Dead simple, faster voting, less staff and less post voting processing.
      
      Since we only vote every three years, what are the electoral commission actually doing during that time? Surely someone at the brains trust must have thought of that?
      
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      October 24, 2026 3:33pm
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    If it is the law then the law should be enforced.
    
    If it is not enforced, then it should not be a law.
    
    Pretty bloody simple.
    
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    October 24, 2026 12:41pm
    - Pineapple Lumps
      
      Or if its a stupid law then it should be changed.
      
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      October 24, 2026 2:50pm
    - RoboRob
      
      My thoughts exactly. If they aren’t going to enforce it, or even advertise that you are legally required to enroll, scrap the law. I cant see the reason why people should be forced to enroll, if you dont want to vote that’s fine.
      
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      October 24, 2026 3:26pm
      - Steve Otto N Shore
        
        Nobody said you have to vote. Just be enrolled – it is a tracking/spam thing.
        
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        October 24, 2026 4:04pm
- Notsofast
  
  It is likely this change will cost the left, being heavily youth, enough votes to lose them the election, and for social stability to continue for now.
  The polls can’t pick this up.
  The other side of the coin is wanting 16 year olds to vote.
  Youth not voting is a good thing with their deficit in real world experience.
  
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  October 24, 2026 8:22am
  - lifesgood
    
    16 year olds voting is utter nonsense. So few of them have any common sense these days. They have a sense of entitlement developed by their indulgent parents so will only ever vote for what will profit them personally. Even 18 is early to vote since general medical opinion is that brains don’t really mature until 25 however, since 18 is considered an adult in our society, leave it at that.
    
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    October 24, 2026 9:53am
- Flossie
  
  What a ridiculous load of nonsense Hipkins is trying to create about voting enrolment.
  It always used to be the rule that in order to vote you had to be enrolled on a specific date before election day. I can’t recall but possibly two weeks? This situation only changed in the last few years – was it because of the pandemic? Don’t recall. However in this day and age it could not be easier to enrol as you can use all kinds of electronic devices. How on earth did people cope when they probably had to get themselves into town and collect a form, fill it in and mail it off!
  
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  October 24, 2026 8:37am
  - MCōs
    
    2005 election as a random example
    21yrs ago
    
    Fri 16 September Enrolments cease
    Last day to enrol for the election.
    Sat 17 September Election Day
    Sat 1 October Official Results declared
    https://elections.nz/media-and-news/2005/general-election-preparations-in-full-swing
    
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    October 24, 2026 9:01am
    - Flossie
      
      Election 2008
      Date of election 8 November – date of enrolment cut off 8 October.
      IRC there was a Labour government up to then so it rather suggests Labour made that cut off date.
      
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      October 24, 2026 11:13am
  - R
    
    Back in the era to which you allude, Flossing, people had a sense of responsibility and more importantly personal ORGANISATIONAL skills. Usually instilled by their parents, and reinforced in the school classroom.
    
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    October 24, 2026 9:06am
  - pdm
    
    `How on earth did people cope when they probably had to get themselves into town and collect a form, fill it in and mail it off!’
    
    I bet most of the people active in this forum did that Flossie.
    
    What is more my parents made sure I did and there is the intergenerational difference. These days too many parents do not give a stuff about their children fulfilling their legal obligations.
    
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    October 24, 2026 9:09am
    - MCōs
      
      People had a sense of responsibility and more importantly personal ORGANISATIONAL skills. Usually instilled by their parents, and reinforced in the school classroom, apparently!
      
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      October 24, 2026 9:26am
    - Flossie
      
      As of course did I pdm. I was being somewhat sarcastic there.
      
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      October 24, 2026 9:37am
      - pdm
        
        I was trying to reinforce the point you were making.
        
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        October 24, 2026 10:00am
    - Paulus
      
      But they had top education, as we know too !
      
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      October 24, 2026 2:17pm
  - nova
    
    2023 was the first election that allowed you to enrol on election day itself. Not much evidence it was a positive change. In fact, voter turnout was 4% lower than 2020. Prior to 2023 you could enrol up to the day before, but not on the day itself. The change to 2 weeks prior is still fairly lenient compared to other countries. Particularly as registration is compulsory, under section 82 of the electoral act 1993, within 1 month of becoming eligible. The fact that a third of 18-24 year olds are not enrolled is a shocking indictment on the electoral commission and society at large.
    
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    October 24, 2026 9:14am
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    The change was clearly to be able to allow impulse-driven people to vote.
    
    And we all know who which way impulse driven people are going to lean.
    
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    October 24, 2026 12:42pm
- crash
  
  It is also worthwhile to to be reminded that:
  
  1. Of the 356 weeks (or so) between elections roll changes can be made in 354 of those weeks.
  
  2. The ability to enrol and vote on election day was only available for the 2020 and 2023 elections. For all other elections roll changes were not allowed in the lead-up to elections.
  
  3. Polling booths for the 2020 and 2023 elections had no extra resources (staff or reserved queues for those enrolling) meaning that those enrolling on the day held up everyone else. It takes much longer to process enrolment than it does to process enrolled voters.
  
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  October 24, 2026 10:19am
- RW Capitalist
  
  They are just copying the Democrats in the US. (Any attempt to make sure only Americans vote in their elections)
  Any attempt to normalize the procedure (back to how it used to be BEFORE Hipkins changed it) is called vote suppression.
  Building your excuse for losing Chippie????
  
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  October 24, 2026 10:22am
- RoboRob
  
  I am more than happy that the criminals who have not followed the law don’t get to vote. I see it as a great filter that removes the uninformed voter or those that just don’t care. In the previous system some of those people might show up on the day and vote Green or now TOP. Which of course is why the left are unhappy. Just like the overseas vote there are a large people who vote Green just because of the word. We don’t need those people;)
  
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  October 24, 2026 11:43am
  - Taieri
    
    there are a large people who vote Green just because of the word. We don’t need those people
    ————–
    
    Why?
    Should there be a law saying who we are allowed to vote for?
    Whether they vote Green because of the word or for any other reason it is exclusively their business and none of yours. It’s called the freedom of choice.
    
    BTW: I wouldn’t dream of voting for the Greens. Never done and never will, but if Joe and Jane Bloggs do, good for them.
    
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    October 24, 2026 12:27pm
  - cmm (semi-retired edition)
    
    Well there’s more to it than that.
    
    If you are a criminal, especially if you end up in prison, then you clearly cannot make good decisions for your own life. You’re in prison because your decision making is harmful to society.
    
    If so, then why the hell should you be allowed to vote and make decisions that impact on society?
    
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    October 24, 2026 12:45pm
    - RoboRob
      
      Taking your suggestion to the next level, should the punishment for the ‘crime’ of failing to vote be that you dont get to vote in the following election either? After all, you are a criminal.
      
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      October 24, 2026 3:43pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    Labour need those votes badly!!!!
    
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    October 24, 2026 4:10pm
Simon

It will be a National led govt after the election.
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October 24, 2026 8:15am
- JerJer
  
  Yep. Bigger majority than last time I’m picking. Poll yesterday has National at 38 and Labour at 26 in Auckland, and if you lose there you have lost, period. Chippie was hoping Auckland would forget the disaster he foisted on them during Covid, seems they haven’t. I’m picking 67-68 seats for the coalition, Hipkins will be gone, and the left will continue to argue about gangs for several months. Chloe will be furious and very few people will care. I’ll keep my self entertained telling the furious left on stuff how they have three more years. This was the lefts best opportunity, since it has taken so long to clean up their mess people can’t quite see the positive change enough yet, and once that is bedded in, they won’t get close next time.
  
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  October 24, 2026 10:42am
TripeWryter

I watched the 6pm news yesterday.
My jaw slowly dropped to the floor as I watched an item from Dunedin about how voting day is just so bloody awkward and hard for students of the University of Otago.
It coincides with Exams. And also Moving out of Halls.
Oh, God, just So Bloody Hard.
I hope these future leaders of our society grow up a bit after they leave university because in the future they will have to manage careers, businesses, and families.
Children: you have to learn to juggle.
I woke up last Sunday morning to listen to an interview with a woman earnestly telling Francesca Rudkin how young people these days Just Find it so HARD to take the time to enrol to get on the roll to vote.
Despite the efforts and expense of the Electoral Commission to pander to them and spoonfeed them and try to make it as easy as possible to vote.
How did this generation of yoof become so helpless?
Instead of lowering the voting age to 16 I’d suggest putting it back up to 21.
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October 24, 2026 8:58am
- kowtow
  
  ‘in the future they will have to manage careers, businesses, and families.’
  
  Or they could just get on board the climate/race/public service gravy train ,like their very well paid Vice Chancellor et al.
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:22am
- Hugh Jarse
  
  Perhaps they keep off the piss over the next few days and vote early at one of the two voting places set up at Polytechnic or the University itself. If that’s too hard for them then I am pleased they won’t be voting. They don’t deserve it.
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:28am
- All_on_Red
  
  Rudkin is full of crap. My 18yo enrolled to vote online yesterday. All he needed was his Drivers License (Govt issued ID) and it took about 10 minutes.
  Have a look how easy it is.
  https://vote.nz/enrolling/enrol-or-update/enrol-or-update-online
  You just cant hate these lying media scum enough.
  Oh, and he’s Electoral Vote Nat, Party vote Act
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:38am
  - Keith White
    
    I’ve worked hard on hating the lying media scum and I think I’ve got that job done.
    
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    October 24, 2026 1:29pm
  - greybeard
    
    Buy that kid a beer !
    
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    October 24, 2026 1:31pm
  - RoboRob
    
    My son, studying in Singapore, has downloaded & printed his voting form, scanned it and voted. All without handholding. Don’t know who he voted for but I would suspect at least National probably Act.
    
    For the losers who cant get out of bed before 2pm on Sunday, there are still some hours in the afternoon to vote. The both is likely less the 500m away. If all that is too hard, you can (sadly) early vote too. So if that is all to difficult I am happy that we dont have your Green party vote.
    
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    October 24, 2026 3:48pm
    - Steve Otto N Shore
      
      I did that from Alaska! of all places.
      
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      October 24, 2026 4:12pm
  - Sir Cullen's Sidekick
    
    18 year old voting National and Act??? Yeah right bro.
    
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    October 24, 2026 4:54pm
    - Flossie
      
      Exactly what my 18 year old granddaughter is doing.
      
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      October 24, 2026 10:03pm
  - rouppe
    
    Just reminded me. I’ve had my overseas paper validated, just need to upload it once I get back to the condo
    
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    October 24, 2026 8:42pm
- Damocles11
  
  They have two weeks to vote. If you can’t get organised to cast a vote during a two week period when polling booths are open, then you are probably unemployable and incapable of functioning in society.
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:50am
- Biscuit
  
  Tripe, ain’t it strange that the Vice Chancellor of Otago University is one Grant Murray Robertson, the former Chief Stuffer Up of the Finance portfolio in the Ardern/Hipkins Governments.
  
  How difficult would it have been for him to use some of his reputed $800,000 salary to hire a few OU folk to set up a ‘Make Sure You’re Enrolled’ booth or two on-site?
  
  Hell, the change (to enrolment dates) was announced way back in March…
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:54am
  - AitchW
    
    To be fair that only gave 7 months to enrol.
    Young people today, we are told by Labour, the Greens, and the Maori parties, are incapable otpf enrolling in that time.
    The left hates it voters and holds them in deep, deep comtempt.
    Except the gang whanau. Them it idolises!
    
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    October 24, 2026 10:13am
  - Flossie
    
    Wasn’t the point of the news item rather about election day being inconvenient for these terribly busy students and not about enrolment?
    
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    October 24, 2026 10:15am
    - peterwn
      
      Especially as there are three polling places within the University precinct, two of which offer advanced voting from next week.
      
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      October 24, 2026 10:44am
    - Paulus
      
      Diddums !
      
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      October 24, 2026 11:45am
    - cmm (semi-retired edition)
      
      Gosh the wee petals are going to struggle when they get a 9 to 5 job and find those bastard bosses expect them to turn up every day.
      
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      October 24, 2026 12:59pm
      - Paulus
        
        But they only want a Four Day week, and working from Home !
        
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        October 24, 2026 2:18pm
  - Benedict Yu
    
    This nonsense is a window into why the census return rate was so low. If these people can’t enrol to vote they were never going to complete a census form.
    
    Previously what would happen.. On election day a sober auntie would drag the family to the polling booth where they could vote. That option is now gone.
    
    Some other examples of things with deadlines that are much, much more complicated than enrolling to vote. Car registration, warrant of fitness, registering your dog.
    
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    October 24, 2026 10:21am
    - Boy Geoff
      
      Heh, it was quite funny a couple of months ago when the parties of the left did seem to angrily acknowledge that a sizeable portion of their votes each Election Day did indeed come from absolutely last minute enrollees who got bussed into the polling booth…
      
      Oh, how undemocratic!
      
      It’s compulsory to vote in Aus but you still have to be enrolled a couple of weeks before the actual day.
      
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      October 24, 2026 10:42am
    - Pineapple Lumps
      
      BY – I suspect many who don’t enrol won’t be registering dogs or cars etc either. They will also be the ones ignoring simple health advice around smoking, food intake, drugs and alcohol consumption. Of course the fact they have a shorter lifespan than others is the fault of the system which is against them.
      
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      October 24, 2026 3:09pm
      - RoboRob
        
        They will also be ‘struggling to find work’ and have applied for ‘10,000 jobs but never heard back’.
        
        Translation, happy to be one the dole.
        
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        October 24, 2026 3:51pm
  - R
    
    ‘set up…….booth’. Such a community responsible activity would be well beyond the capability and cognitive initiative of the overpaid vice chancellor
    
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    October 24, 2026 10:46am
- lifesgood
  
  Hear, hear, TW. I commented re this above. Spoilt brats don’t deserve to vote. I don’t want them having a say in how this country should be run.
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:57am
- RW Capitalist
  
  A few points.
  It is no longer just one day to vote and exams aren’t every day
  Polling booths are open for 10hours on election day, exams are only (at most) 3 hours.
  
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  October 24, 2026 10:30am
- R
  
  I would suggest 25 for the voting age. Allows time to complete maturing, probably gain some real world employment experience; and most likely be about three years beyond the indoctrination lunches of the so called educators
  
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  October 24, 2026 10:41am
- rouppe
  
  Voting opens many days beforehand. This is just media trying to manufacture an outrage
  
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  October 24, 2026 8:40pm
sungsamning

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_czGX4sAn_o

Elon Musk Officially Buys CNN.

Every lib who bought a Tesla to save the planet is now fuming. Karen Fisher has rage quit. Ms Amanpour is gone. [Let the purge begin. And let the liberal tears flow.]
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October 24, 2026 9:03am
- In Vino Veritas
  
  Lol Sungs, he bought a 2% or so stake in Skydance, which owns Warner Bros. Discovery. So a very minor stake. Bigger ticket stakeholders are Larry Ellison, Saudi, Qatar and UAE Wealth funds along with RedBird Cap Partners run by Gerry Cardinale (and is funded by Arabs from UAE). Larry Ellison and RedBird hold all the A class voting shares I think. I believe Musk (along with others including Laurene Jobs) have non voting B shares.
  
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  October 24, 2026 3:19pm
- RoboRob
  
  ‘Amanpour’, just threw up in my mouth.
  
  Paramount actually own it and Elon is just a funder, so he didn’t ‘buy it’, but he is a part owner.
  
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  October 24, 2026 3:53pm
- Ra Henare
  
  And you base your so-called news on a Youtuber??
  Maybe need to get out more?!!!
  
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  October 24, 2026 5:21pm
sungsamning

https://nypost.com/2026/10/22/opinion/team-trumps-vast-war-on-fraud-should-pay-dividends-for-decades-to-come/

Team Trump’s vast war on fraud should pay dividends for decades to come.

Here’s one war that should’ve started years ago: Team Trump’s drive to stamp out fraud is still ramping up, but is already saving the public billions.

This week alone, federal, state and local authorities conducted a string of fresh raids and made arrests, including in New York and California, as part of a nationwide crackdown on Medicaid fraud. [This is right. Nick Shirleys efforts with ‘Quality Learing Centers’, and hospices should not be forgotten. With USAID gone, the Dems are short of campaign money. And ANTIFA have ben very quiet. No ‘summer of love’ this year.]
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October 24, 2026 9:04am
- RichardX
  
  Why is Trump granting pardons to convicted fraudsters, even where they have not yet paid their reparations?
  
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  October 24, 2026 11:37am
Paulus

Tauranga Council are in a quandry over• Mauao (The Mount): A 232-metre extinct volcanic lava dome and sacred Māori site (tapu).
Considerably more money is being sought from the Council (read Ratepayers, but not including those wh0 do not pay rates) for the Maori owned lumps repairs.
But the problem arises that a large sum has already been paid to the owners,but more is needd to continue,
No, it is not Koha, really, but details are being sought as to where this additional money is going, hence the kerfuffle.
Local Iwi own the lump but Ratepayers pay for it.
Being asked where, and to prove where Ratepaers money has been spent (by Audit) appears to be causing consternation.
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October 24, 2026 9:14am
- MCōs
  
  Mauao was owned by the crown until 2008. Perhaps the current owners, the Mauao Trust, should give it back and let the taxpayers worry about the place
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:38am
  - Pineapple Lumps
    
    I think they would prefer ownership but socialise the losses.
    
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    October 24, 2026 2:53pm
- AitchW
  
  We hear regularly about the multi billion dollar Maori economy. See where I’m going?
  
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  October 24, 2026 9:53am
- RW Capitalist
  
  Looking from afar (Wellington) and not actually knowing that much. Please correct my understanding.
  The council and the local Maori authority have “joint” say over the mount?
  If so why is it that it is only the council, that appears to be getting the blame for the incident and the decisions make re the mount before hand.
  Also it appears to be only the council (rate payers) who are paying for the mitigation?
  Please correct my misunderstandings.
  
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  October 24, 2026 10:36am
- Ra Henare
  
  just a small fact to add to your opinion.
  
  Tauranga City Council: Remains the statutory administering body under the Reserves Act 1977. The council handles physical maintenance, track upkeep, safety closures, flora/fauna management, and operational expenses for public access
  
  Ownership is symbolic in this case.
  
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  October 24, 2026 5:24pm
Damocles11

“A state becomes almost unreformable at the point where the majority of the population is financially or structurally dependent on the state (state employees, civil servants, recipients of subsidies or grants, recipients of welfare payments, etc.) As soon as the group of those who net benefit from or are supported by the state is larger than the group where this is not the case, the system blocks reforms, since the majority votes out of self-interest for the preservation or expansion of state services.”
– Ludwig von Mises
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October 24, 2026 9:57am
I remember when

Rotorua councillor booted after tense clash with mayor over land decision: Stuff.
He questioned a proposal that Rotorua Lakes Council reliquish its role as administering body for reserve land occupied by Rotorua Thermal Holiday Park.
His argument was that they were giving up more than $200,000 in annual lease revenue.
This will “pave the way for Pukeroa Oruawhata Trust, a Ngati Whakaue entity to take over.”
The previous month the transferral of Waitoharuru, better known as Tarawera Landing, which provides access to Lake Tarawera and includes lakeside facilities and The Landing Cafe, was approved by the Council.
Stuff reported that the issue has been bouncing around council, iwi and government agencies for years.
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October 24, 2026 10:00am
Boy Geoff

Why are so many lefties on social media whining about the Labour candidate pulling out and blaming right wing bullies for it?

The seat is now a gift for TPM and assists them with their overhang ambitions. Maybe left wing whingers don’t understand MMP!
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October 24, 2026 10:35am
Yvette

New Zealand First promises to buy back the BNZ, establish a $100 billion infrastructure fund, increase defense spending to 3% of GDP and give every newborn citizen $1,000 in KiwiSaver.
https://www.brashandmitchell.com/post/richard-prebble-grievance-politics?
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Google estimates –
• Financial analysts and commentators value a potential buyback of the Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) from its Australian parent, National Australia Bank (NAB), at roughly $15 billion to $30 billion.
• New Zealand’s nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) sits at approximately $455 billion (in current market prices). Defence 3% of $455 billion equals roughly $13.65 billion per year
• According to Stats NZ data for the year ended March 2026, there were 57,027 live births registered in New Zealand. Under a $1,000-per-newborn KiwiSaver policy, this would represent an initial baseline government cost of roughly $57 million per year (before factoring in investment returns or administrative costs)

So a $100 billion infrastructure fund, $15 billion BNZ buy-back, defence $13.65 billion per year and $1,000-per-newborn is $57 million per year = $128.7 billion

$25,741.40 per man, woman and child of the New Zealand Team of Five Million

That is if whoever Winston will coalit with has no intentions of spending anything themselves.
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October 24, 2026 11:04am
- RoboRob
  
  Yeah, as per the tax payer unions bribeometer, NZFs policies are ‘out there’ in relation to spending. Labour is at about $33b EXTRA spending, Winston is about $51b.
  
  Whilst I appreciate NZFs stance on mining and their socially conservative ideals, their spending is outrageous. No wonder Winstons portfolio is the only one that didn’t manage to find any savings this term.
  
  I am glad we have Act and to a much lesser extent, National, to tone down NZFs spending.
  
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  October 24, 2026 3:57pm
peterwn

So Kerrin Leoni has ‘resigned’ as a Labour candidate. As far as Elections NZ is concerned nothing has happened. They cannot accept her resignation meaning that her name is still on the ballot paper as a Labour candidate and if elected she will be declared an electorate MP. If that happens, she can immediately resign forcing a byelection. So her ‘resignation’ simply means that she has ceased campaigning and sends a message to voters to vote for someone else (Any party vote for Labour remains valid). There is no indication whether she has resigned from the Labour Party and the leader and party have more important things on the plate at this stage, although they would probably strongly recommend she resign from the party – or else.
All election candidates are expected to be ambassadors for their party (including campaigning for the all important party vote) so it goes without saying that they need to put the party’s interests ahead of their own thoughts, actions and views in the run up to the election. Those who offend can expect to have no political future in the party. Katrina Shanks for example ended up in the political wilderness because she campaigned for her vote at the expense of the party’s interests and ended up in a dead end job (lobbyist for funeral directors). She was apparently another victim of the ‘Smiling Assassin’.
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October 24, 2026 11:08am
Yvette

Kerrin Leoni’s name will remain on the ballot paper (and on EasyVote packs and the website) as the Labour Party candidate.

Polling booth staff do not and cannot verbally inform voters that a candidate has stepped down or try to guide how people vote.

If Kerrin Leoni receives the most votes on election night, she will be officially declared the winning electorate MP.
If that occurs, she can indeed choose to immediately resign her seat, which would trigger a by-election in that electorate. Any party votes cast for Labour remain entirely valid and unaffected. – Gemini AI

Morally then, if she doesn’t immediately resign, will Hipkins expel her Labour and invoke the waka-jumping law?
An immediate possible by-election would be interesting if coalition numbers are close enough that one seat will make the result Left or Right.
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October 24, 2026 11:40am
- artemisia
  
  Ms Leoni’s extended whanau and their associates might be annoyed enough to mobilise and vote for her. It was very close in 2023 ….
  
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  October 24, 2026 2:39pm
kevn

Yvette.. Are you suggesting a moral and ethically correct decision by Leoni or her handlers?
Gosh… aiming high.
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October 24, 2026 11:52am
- Yvette
  
  Kevn – I mean Hipkins – if margins come down to one seat between the Left and Right will he take a step that will result in a by-election?
  
  News of Green MP Hūhana Lyndon and Te Pāti Māori MP Oriini Kaipara visiting a Mongrel Mob gang pad for a whānau day first emerged on Wednesday, October 14. Apparently, Leoni had belatedly withdrawn from that visit on the advice of Labour leadership.
  https://newsroom.co.nz/2026/10/23/the-real-reason-kerrin-leoni-had-to-go-is-not-about-the-gangs/
  
  “Difficult questions still to be asked and answered”
  Apparently, Leoni had belatedly withdrawn from that visit [with Greens and TPM] on the advice of Labour leadership – who in Labour leadership?
  
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  October 24, 2026 12:21pm
cmm (semi-retired edition)

Some people at my alma mater, University of Cape Town, are trialing some new way of administering AIDS medication for young adults. This allows a single dose administered occasionally to replace daily meds and vastly increases compliance.

Now it is true to say that UCT has lead to some extremely important, and game changing, HIV breakthroughs that have completely changed the prognosis for HIV/AIDS, however this one has me scratching my head.

How can someone really forget to take their AIDS medication? Oops! I just forgot I have a life threatening disease. Does that sound plausible?

Sure, I occasionally forget to take some minor heart meds (maybe once every 2 months), but I think if I had the threat of HIV/AIDS hanging over my head my compliance would be extremely high.
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October 24, 2026 12:56pm
- Colville
  
  Given that you are at least semi literate and possibly not addicted to a number of mind altering chemicals you just possibly have a bit of an advantage over some of the African AIDS sufferers.
  
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  October 24, 2026 1:30pm
- Benedict Yu
  
  It is plausible. People who are homeless, drunk, on drugs, have mental illness.. Quite likely to forget medication.
  
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  October 24, 2026 2:18pm
  - Steve Otto N Shore
    
    They NEVER forget their special medication——–
    
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    October 24, 2026 4:27pm
Crafty

That moron Hipkins trying to compare the photo of Tama Potaka with a gang member and his numpty MP! One was a fundraiser for a gang and the other was a photo at an event not organised by a gang! Does he think the public are stupid????
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October 24, 2026 3:53pm
cmm (semi-retired edition)

Paywalled, so few will read it.

Now here’s a crap idea that shows itself now and then. Why not use your EV battery as a storage battery to power your home?

One family is supposedly saving $2k a year. Hmmm, I doubt it.

One of the biggest problems is that this is going to increase the number of charge/discharge cycles on your car battery. That will make it wear out faster and mean you need your EV replacement sooner.

What happens when the car is needed to be used as a car? Sorry everyone – no power.

What happens when someone uses all the power roasting dinner – and now the EV doesn’t have any range left?

It is a fundamental principle of engineering that engineering is all about making choices (aka compromises) to fit the solution to the problem. An EV battery is designed for EV uses and is not a good way to design a stationary battery. An EV battery has to be compact, light and survive crashes. A stationary battery can be much loser cost and does not need to meet those constraints. Therefore it would make better sense to use a proper stationary battery for home power and keep your EV battery just for the EV.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/companies/energy/powering-your-home-with-your-electric-vehicle-trio-of-trials-underway/premium/Y7ZBNGFGWFGOVFLRQZFMCUCFJ4/
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October 24, 2026 3:58pm
Sir Cullen's Sidekick

Tama Potakka has been caught out by the media now… Game over for Luxie boy…
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October 24, 2026 5:00pm
Benedict Yu

The media in New Zealand are so pathetic. Being photographed adjacent to a gang member is not the same as campaigning with gangs.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/politics/361050603/picture-emerges-national-minister-posing-gang-members

Politicians are everywhere. Sadly so are gang members. Eventually a politician will be gang adjacent.

I have concluded that most journalists in New Zealand are stupid, childish people. It is that simple.
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October 24, 2026 6:18pm
- Prince
  
  TVOne news had a full three minute advert for the Maori Party candidate in the Waikato.
  Can you do this during the news? There was no ‘authorised by…’message, the narrative was spoken by Te Aniwa Hurihanganui, who I believe is the TV One Maori Affairs reporter. No other party was given the opportunity to present their views.
  It was all very odd. Don’t the usual rules apply when it comes to Maori reporters ?
  
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  October 24, 2026 7:02pm
- Notsofast
  
  Jenna Lynch is not a child, she is a despicable adult for this disformation (new word?)
  
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  October 24, 2026 8:01pm

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