Periodically I do something stupid in some way to do with activity. A few bike crashes, stopping myself with my face when running down a forest track, ripping my knee open in an off-road duathon, a bee sting to find I had an allergy …
You get to test out the A&E Departments around the country.
After a concussion and a bit of blood flowing on Saturday I eventually ended up in the North Shore Hospital A&E about 3pm. There was about twenty people waiting in a range of states and ways.
The short story is the one that many people tell from NZ A&E experiences; i.e. I finally made it home about 3am.
The other experiences were much more remarkabe.
Every nurse, nurse assistant, administration person was remarkable. No one apperared stressed, every question was answered positively, they were entirely professional and explained why they were doing each task – including asking me repititive questions to ensure I was on the right planet.
The doctor did not become available for me until 9pm. He also took time, explained things clearly – including why they were taking next steps (CT of head and neck). For the next while I was in the emergency ward where the atmosphere was equally positive and it was also very clear that the staff treated each other well – not just the patients.
At about 1am the doctor appeared again – with good news. I had avoided skull and neck fractures but that it was now his job so sew up the cuts in my scalp. He took an hour, apologised every time I just about leapt off the bed, explained what he was doing and talked sport throughout.
I had to ask – nicely; “why does the whole A&E process take so long?”
His response was that it is something all of the front line staff desperately want to change and that they have worked hard to get their systems and approach right but that so much resourcing is soaked up by policy and administration. His previous experience overseas had seen a minismisation of the number of non-medical middle managers and external, Ministry, resourcing. He also noted that here any decisions seem to take 20 people to make just because so many have an oar to stick in that has little to do with patient care.
I tell the story because this week the nurses are on strike for pay and conditions. Hospitals are for providing care for paitients when they need it. Like education – clearly a massive amount of resource is diverted away to people and places that really do not achieve very much at all re the true purpose.
I also have no doubt that a lot of the non-medical people – and the Ministry people – are paid a lot better that the vast majority of those doing a brilliant job in the ward.
To the North Shore Hospital A&E people. I appreciated your care!
To the Nurses – all the best with your fight.
Alwyn Poole
Radio NZ reported:
The government wants to divide New Zealand along ethnic and economic lines, Chris Hipkins says, and he wants to be the leader who brings it together.
Is he serious? He led a Government that tried to see everything in ethnic terms, and caused the huge division we still have today.
And for the party of the wealthy urban elite professionals to talk about economic division is equally hilarious. They look upon many working class voters as a foreign species.
Grant Duncan writes:
If a vote for Labour means, in effect, a vote for Green and TPM leaders in cabinet, then many centrist voters will reluctantly stick with National, thanks all the same. Chippy can’t control those other parties or explain them away over the next two years.
Labour is polling in the high 20s or low 30s. They will only be able to become Government if Greens and Te Pati Maori deliver a further 15%+ to them. That means they will be able to demand a full three way coalition, with seats in Cabinet. Neither party has ever had to grapple with the responsibility of being part of Cabinet.
It is hard to describe how left wing and woke such a government would be. It would make the Ardern Government look like a moderate deliberative government.
Some very good humour from Chris Luxon in the adjournment debate, which I enjoyed.
And to all of my haters over there, to all of my haters over there who say I use too much management speak, well, I don’t know how I can be any clearer. What I would say to you is that we have some big goals to chunk down so that we can grip up the deliverables and benchmark our KPI targets.
Heh nice self parody.
Now, to my friends in the Green Party—Julie Anne, no need to get up. I saw recently that there’s a new Green MP that has a member’s bill to liberalise the use of parody, and I just think it’s just great—it’s just great—to see the Greens live those values by being a parody of themselves each and every single day. I have to say, if you folks weren’t so opposed to it, we would have happily—happily—added Darlene Tana’s resignation to our fast-track list.
Not sure which jibe was better the JAG one or the Darlene Tana one.
To my friends in the media: can I just say thank you for always holding me to account and for always being so fair and balanced! I wish you a very happy and safe holiday—please do take as long as you need.
Heh.
I saw a lovely headline—it was an absolutely lovely headline about David Seymour finding love. And while I know David and Winston’s working relationship has been stronger than so many predicted, to be honest, I did think it was still quite a bold description of their relationship.
That one had me LOL.
Secret Santa with ACT this year was a disaster, though. They wouldn’t stop taking credit for every present.
Heh.
Radio NZ reports:
Labour’s Willie Jackson has taken aim at the coalition government for what he called “taking Aotearoa down a path of division and hate.”
It is a trick in politics to accuse your opponent of what you yourself do.
Which side of the debate on TPB uses violent rhetoric and demonises those who oppose? It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it.
The Herald reports:
Staff at a charitable trust working with Northland’s most vulnerable kids held crying families as they told them their services were under threat.
Stand Tū Māia plans to take Oranga Tamariki to court over its decision to terminate a three-year funding contract worth $21 million a year.
The organisation is seeking a court injunction and the existing contract enforced, to stop the government department from acting as if it has been cancelled.
I know nothing about this, but when I read a story like this I wonder why. So I do research. I look for their annual accounts. They are not on their website, but the charities register have them.
A wise accounting professor once told me to ignore income and expenditure and balance sheets as they can be easily adjusted through decisions such as whether you classify something as expenditure or capitalising an asset etc. He said always look at the cashflow. So I looked at their cashflow surplus in recent years. It is:
That is just from operating activities. Their total cash on hand has grown from $5.2m in 2018 to $28.0m in 2023. Now I don’t know if this is related to the OT decisions, but it certainly seems interesting that in five years their cash on hand has increased by around $23 million.
The Post reports:
A district court judge and her reality TV star partner have apologised for “verbally attacking” Winston Peters, Casey Costello and other New Zealand First members at a Christmas party.
Chief Judge Heemi Taumaunu has also apologised on behalf of the court.
Judge Ema Aitken and intensive care specialist David Galler were attending an end-of-year bash for district judges at Auckland’s exclusive Northern Club last month, when they gate-crashed a private function for Peters’ party in a neighbouring room.
The rumpus started as Peters was making a speech. It’s alleged Aitken tried to enter the room and shouted: “He’s lying! How can you let him say that?”
So Judge Aitken was presumably drunk (it is worse off she was sober), gatecrashed a NZ First party and abused the Deputy PM – calling him a liar.
This would be terrible behaviour for any person, but for a judge it is fatally inappropriate.
A video clip from the party also shows prominent barrister, Michael Reed KC, refusing to stop taking photographs of NZ First guests, including Shane Jones’ wife Dot, despite strict club rules.
That is creepy.
Attorney-General Judith Collins, who is the Crown’s senior law officer, said she was aware of the incident and “appalled by it”.
“I have told the Chief Justice that such behaviour is completely unacceptable and I expect it to be addressed,” she said.
The appropriate way to address this is by resignation.
According to an incident report, compiled by an independent lawyer acting on behalf of Northern Club and NZ First, based on witness statements, Aitken left the dinner to use the bathroom and heard Peters’ speech as she passed.
The report says she accused Peters of lying, in a comment to Holly Howard, who asked her to leave.
“However, Judge Aitken continued to shout and make a scene … Judge Aitken then told Ms Howard that there was a room full of judges next door, and they would be very interested to hear about this,” the incident report said.
Threatening and bullying behaviour.
In the second video, the report reveals, Reed tells the staff member: “Don’t touch me because you will be sued for a lot of money.” He also tells him “Can you be quiet, can you be quiet?”
The sense of entitlement is high.
Nicola Willis announced:
The Government set the public service a target of eliminating $400 million in operating expenditure on contractors and consultants by 2024/25.
In 2023/24 savings of $274 million were achieved. This year the public service is on track, after the first quarter, to achieve savings of about $500 million. These savings are forecast to continue over the next three quarters, which means savings over the two-year period could total more than $800 million, according to the update.
It shows operational expenditure by departments on contractors and consultants fell a further 46 per cent in the September quarter on an annualised basis, after a 31 per cent drop in the previous financial year to June.
Great news, except for consultants.
The Public Service Commission’s September Quarterly Workforce Data Update also shows the size of the public service has decreased 2.2 per cent from September 2023 to September 2024, and 1.1 per cent for the quarter.
In real terms, this is an annual drop of 1,402 full-time equivalents (FTEs).
“I feel for anyone who loses a job, but no government can live beyond its means indefinitely,” Nicola Willis says.
“The growth in the public service under the previous government was not sustainable if we also want to fund the health, education, welfare and other services New Zealanders depend on.
So for all the wailing and gnashing, the actual drop over 12 months has only been 1,402 FTE staff. This is partially because in a fit of of irresponsibility there was a huge increase in the last quarter of 2023, despite the election.
Here’s the change by quarter:
So the EFT staff total in the public service at September 2024 is only 296 less than in June 2023.
The House has just passed the first reading of the Gene Technology Bill. Judith Collins said:
Our current regulations for genetically modified organisms are some of the most backward looking in the world. New Zealand has lagged behind other countries, such as Australia, Canada, and England, which have safely embraced these technologies for the benefit of their people and their economies.
Despite gene technologies having been in use in New Zealand since the 1970s, the restrictive rules and time-consuming processes we have imposed on researchers have made testing and embracing innovation outside the lab all but impossible. But no more. This Government has listened to our research, primary industry, and medical communities and the frustrations that they have felt over many years. Today, New Zealand moves into the present with a safe enabling regulatory regime. The legislation will enable the sorts of innovation that will benefit New Zealand while effectively managing risks to the health and safety of people and the environment.
After 25 years of dithering, we finally have a Government that is not letting hysteria trump science. Amazing that this legislation has been introduced in the first year of office – rather than just another working group.
I knew Greens and Te Pati Maori would vote against, but very sad that Labour did also. They really are stuck in the 20th century.
The ABC reports:
Victoria’s Opposition Leader John Pesutto has lost a defamation case against former Liberal partyroom colleague Moira Deeming.
Ms Deeming brought the lawsuit against Mr Pesutto, alleging the Victorian Liberal leader had defamed her as a Nazi sympathiser in the wake of an anti-trans-rights rally.
She won $300,000 damages plus costs.
I can’t recall a party leader being sued for defamation before by someone who was in their caucus.
His mistake was repeating smears that attending a gender-critical rally was somehow aligning with Nazis. He threw his own MP under the bus to try and appease the wine mob, and has ended up fatally wounded.
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau is finished – either this week, or at the election.
Any tiny chance of victory has disappeared with the dramatic resignation of not just any Cabinet Minister, but his Deputy PM and Finance Minister. And she did it a few hours before the release of a major economic statement.
Trudeau’s GST holiday has backfired, with her implicitly calling it a costly political gimmick.
Trudeau will go one one of four ways:
The Herald reports:
The public won’t learn the findings of an investigation relating to allegations of the misuse of personal data at Manurewa Marae until at least the end of January.
But it is expected the findings will “impact all of the public service” and some matters relating to the investigation will “require referral to other authorities for further consideration”.
It doesn’t sound like they found nothing, does it?
I also note that Te Pati Maori are now five months overdue with their audited financial accounts – a legislative requirement under the Electoral Act. They have been referred to the Police, yet there has been no decision two months on.
Radio NZ reported:
A man who died of a gunshot wound on the Coromandel Peninsula on Friday has been described as a “loveable ratbag” and father of five boys.
Kevin Mark Mabbott died about 2pm at Waiau on The 309 Road, and another man was airlifted to Auckland City Hospital with a gunshot wound. Police said the latter remained in a serious condition.
A third man was taken into custody later that afternoon, and on Saturday the 77-year-old was charged with murder and attempted murder. …
On Friday, she wrote: “Rest in peace and love our son. We are all broken. Your two sisters, numerous cousins, aunties, uncles, friends and five sons.
“A needless end to your vibrant lovable crazy ratbag free-spirited self.”
I understand that there is huge community support for the elderly farmer and not so much for the poachers.
Now let’s be clear that no one should be killed for poaching. The dead man was a son, a father, a brother, an uncle etc. The loss of his life is devastating to his family and friends – especially his sons.
But the 77 year old was well known as someone who doted on his pigs. They were his pets. To have people come onto his land and kill them would have been terribly upsetting to him. Did he crack in a moment of despair. Did he fear for his life as armed men were on his property. We may not know until the trial.
He should not have shot the men unless he was in fear of his life. They should not have been on his property firing guns and killing his pets. Those two wrongs are not equal – it is worse to kill a man than pigs, even pet pigs. But they would be alive if they had not done what they did.
I understand the level of support for the 77 year old is so great that they would be hard pressed to find a local jury that would convict him. So do not be surprised if there is an application to move the trial to a more distant venue.
With over 1,500 votes in 12 hours we have the winners.
National MP of the Year
Labour MP of the Year
Minor Party MP of the Year
MP of the Year
Also on my Patreon (paywalled), I have done my own personal choices for MPs of the Year in the following categories:
These are not always based on whether I agree with their policies or actions, but how effective they are for their own party’s supporters and voters.
The ABC reports:
Facebook, Google and TikTok will be forced to fund Australian journalism regardless of whether they host it under a federal government plan to impose a new tax to push the tech platforms to make funding agreements with news organisations.
The tax, which could also apply to Apple and Microsoft, would be applied to the platforms’ Australian revenue, but can be reduced to zero if they sign agreements similar to those Google and Meta (the owner of Facebook) signed in 2021, including with the ABC.
This is outrageous legalised theft and blackmail.
Basically the argument was that social media companies unfairly profit from news media, and so a law was needed to force them to fund news media.
The social media companies said that actually they make a tiny amount from news media, and they’ll simply block news stories from their platforms.
Now the Australian Government has said they will pass a law that will force social media companies to hand cash over to news media companies, regardless of whether or not they carry any links to news media on their platforms.
This is truly repulsive. The social media companies should not give in to this blackmail, and instead announce that they will remove Google and Facebook etc from Australian access, if this law passes. 20 million pissed off Australians will turn against the Government for their brazen blackmail attempt.
I’d rather the Government doesn’t own any banks (except the Reserve Bank) but as it does own Kiwibank, I’m wondering if it should be mandated to provide banking facilities to customers who can’t get banking service elsewhere?
Organisations and businesses simply can’t function without a bank account they can receive money in and pay money from. It isn’t a nice to have, but a must have.
The Herald reports:
The Bank of New Zealand’s chief executive has admitted the decision to deny a business account to a women-owned sexual wellness brand was the wrong one and strayed into acting like the “moral police”.
Girls Get Off, a New Zealand-based sex toy and accessory brand, had its application for a business account denied last week as the nature of its operations were “outside of BNZ policy”.
I don’t think banks should have policies about what types of customers they have, so long as they are law abiding. But a bank as a private company can decide otherwise. BNZ now refuse to allow Gloriavale to bank with them, and are saying they will ban petrol stations from 2030 from banking with them. In a few years their woke agenda may see them refuse to lend to dairy farmers.
Now this is in theory ok, if those declined at BNZ can bank with ANZ etc. But what if no bank will take them as a customer. You basically have the banks deciding who can and can not operate a business in NZ, rather than Parliament.
You could require banks as a condition of their licence, to not decline legal customers, but an easier way to deal with this problem is simply use the ownership of Kiwibank to direct that they can’t decline banking facilities for any legal customer.
So if a customer is fundraising for a terrorist organisation, they could still be declined. But if they simply provide a service a bank doesn’t approve of, they could not.
Voting is now open for the 2024 Kiwiblog Awards.
Finalists were selected based on the number of nominations they received.
The contest for National MP of the Year is between
The contest for Labour MP of the Year is between
The contest for Minor Party MP of the Year is between:
Finally for overall 2034 MP of the Year, it is between:
You can vote in the embedded survey below, or at this link.
This graphic from Nate Silver is fascinating. Up until 2010, Democrats were mainly seen as representing the working class, but now they are mainly seen as standing for marginalised groups and only 11% now identify them as representing the working class. This partially led to Trump winning white working class voters in 2016, and a greater share off Asian, Latino and black working class Americans.
Audrey Young gives ratings for the new National MPs elected in 2023. They are:
These are of course Audrey’s ratings, not mine.
New MPs who have won electorate seats are encouraged in their first term to focus on their seat. If they lose their seat, then it won’t matter if they were a regular speaker in the House. So it isn’t surprising that many new MPs are only a C – it may just mean they are focused in being a great electorate MP.
It will be interesting in 2026 to see how many retain their seats. Only one National MP has a majority of less than 1,000 and a further four under 2,000.
However boundary changes are likely to be significant and affect many seats, so that could well be the biggest factor – plus of course who stands against them.
The Herald reports:
The Supreme Court has ruled the majority of the Court of Appeal “erred” in a major decision that ultimately eased the test for Māori to gain customary rights for use of the foreshore and seabed.
Its just-issued ruling allows an appeal by the Attorney-General against the Court of Appeal’s decision last October, at a time the Government is pushing through contentious legislation to overturn it.
The Court of Appeal decision was appallingly bad, and was clearly going against the clear intent of Parliament. That is why Parliament moved to overturn it. It is good to see the Supreme Court, also overturn it (even if I am suspicious of their motives and speed).
The usual suspects have all called the Government racist etc for the law change to make sure the original intent stands. Now that the Supreme Court has done likewise, will they also be calling the Supreme Court racist?