The Government is consulting on a change in the rules for the PBRF or Performance Based Research Fund. This is meant to ensure excellent research in the tertiary sector. But now it is being changed to reward people for their ancestry. The changes are:

Partnership: the PBRF should reflect the bicultural nature of Aotearoa New Zealand and the special role and status of the Treaty of Waitangi | Te Tiriti o Waitangi; 

Equity: different approaches and resources are needed to ensure that the measurement of research excellence leads to equitable outcomes; 

Inclusiveness: the PBRF should encourage and recognise the full diversity of epistemologies, knowledges, and methodologies to reflect Aotearoa New Zealand’s people; 

› apply a funding weighting of 2.5 for Evidence Portfolios submitted by Māori staff; 

› apply a funding weighting of 2 for Evidence Portfolios submitted by Pacific staff; 

› increase the subject area weighting for Evidence Portfolios assessed by the Māori Knowledge and Development panel from 1 to 3; and 

› increase the subject area weighting for Evidence Portfolios assessed by the Pacific Research peer-review panel from 1 to 2.5. 

Note that you get extra weightings not just for choosing a Maori or Pasifika subject area (which reasonable people could debate as useful or not) but you get a weighting purely on the basis of your skin colour or ancestry.

If you are a professor of classics who does research about the Roman Republic, then if you are Maori or Pasifika you will get a weighting of at least twice as much as a European or Asian professor of classics who submits the exact same portfolio.

Professor Elizabeth Rata has submitted the following:

Point 1: The Equity Principle and Funding Weighting

The enactment of the equity principle by increasing the funding weighting for Maori and Pacific researchers will actually increase inequities between science[i] researchers on the one hand and Maori and Pacific researchers on the other hand.

This is the case because:

Two different categories are conflated – those of ‘scientific research expertise’ and ‘distributive politics’. Academic research refers to knowledge generated “by people with specialist knowledge about the theories, methods and information concerning their field of enquiry” (Consultation Document, p. 11). ‘Equity’ refers to the politics of resource distribution. But what is being redistributed by the proposed PBRF funding weighting? It is the measurement being redistributed not the scientific expertise. Redistributing the measurement criteria will not achieve equity. The only way to achieve equity is to increase Māori and Pacific access to the scientific research expertise that is being measured.

It is illogical to use the PBRF (a measurement tool to evaluate knowledge expertise) as a means to achieve a political objective. Redistributing the measurement of knowledge expertise is not the same as redistributing access to knowledge. It is an unconscionable sleight of hand to a) alter the funding weighting and b) claim that the altered measurement criteria increase research expertise.

Support programmes for Māori and Pacific academics can help build expertise but the PBRF is not a support programme. Using it as one destroys its integrity as a scientific research expertise measurement tool.

The issue is the research expertise itself, not its measurement. This takes me to the principle of ‘Inclusivity’. What research is considered to create the expertise that is worthy of funding as science?

Point 2: The Inclusiveness Principle and Funding Weighting

The claim that there are “epistemologies, knowledges, and methodologies” equivalent to science is false.

There are two belief systems:

1. Beliefs that are subject to “enquiry of an experimental or critical nature driven by hypotheses or intellectual positions capable of rigorous assessment by experts in a given discipline etc” Consultation Document, p. 12.  The knowledge produced by this universal scientific method is science[1].

• Beliefs that are the “epistemologies, knowledges, and methodologies” of “New Zealand’s people”  (Consultation document).  This is the cultural knowledge described by the NZ Royal Society in its definition of mātauranga Māori:  

“Mātauranga Māori is the intellectual capital generated by whānau, hapū and iwi over multiple generations. It is a shared community knowledge that is embedded in lived experience and carried in stories, song, place names, dance, ceremonies, genealogies, memories, visions, prophesies, teachings and original instructions, as learnt through observation and copying of other community members. It is a holistic system of orally passed knowledge, concepts, beliefs and practice”.  

Royal Society Code of Professional Standards and Ethics in Science, Technology, and the Humanities: Interpretation. Commencement Date – 1 January 2019. Page 4. Footnote 10.

The Consequences of the PBRF Review

• The decline of science in New Zealand
• Damage to New Zealand’s international research reputation
• The diversion of Māori and Pacific researchers away from science to the cultural knowledge of mātauranga Māori.

[1] Science’ is used as defined by the International Science Council, chaired by Sir Peter Gluckman. “The word science is used to refer to the systematic organization of knowledge that can be rationally explained and

reliably applied. It is inclusive of the natural (including physical, mathematical and life) science and social (including behavioural and economic) science domains, which represent the ISC’s primary focus, as well as the humanities, medical, health, computer and engineering sciences.” (Science as a Public Good, ISC Position Paper, October 2021, page 1, footnote 1.)

A reader writes in:

The Walk to Freedom

I’ve looked at the data and the facts and done the math and sadly I am still confused as to the
direction we are taking and why. Based on what I have researched I am led to believe that the
one thing that will contribute most to our future freedom is self testing. So here’s how I arrived at
that conclusion. I haven’t shown the source of info but it has all come from publicly available and
official sources. So it’s accurate and reliable.
What exactly is the problem and how can we solve it?

The Problem

The initial problem statement was the potential for 80,000 deaths. So pretty frightening. For
context in 2019 there were 34,000 deaths in NZ. Heart Disease, Diabetes and Cancer account for
around 70% of deaths. The number of deaths in 2020 after a year of lockdowns and Covid was
32,000.
The death rate in NZ for Covid is a little under 6 per thousand infections. For the current outbreak
it’s a little over 1 per thousand. For context the US death rate is 160 per thousand. If NZ’s public
health system was as bad as the US then at 160 per thousand NZs total deaths right now would
be around 800. In Sweden which avoided lockdowns the death rate is 14 per thousand. It would
seem that a lot of deaths in the first year of Covid were as a result of poor isolation in retirement
villages. This has since been addressed in most countries.
So those are the facts. We have over the last 18 months relied on experts manipulating data to
provide forecasts in order to predict our possible future in order to take corrective and
preventative action. Like the initial 80,000 deaths number these forecasts have proven inaccurate
yet they appear to be the single most important input to our Strategy.
So what are the possible solutions to be considered?

Lockdowns
Vaccinations
Testing
Treatments
Health Care Capacity

Lockdowns clearly helped in the first stage of elimination. Of course there are economic and
social downsides to a Lockdown. The second lockdown has been less successful. Partly due to
fatigue and for many a frustration of a strategy that for many makes no sense – especially when
comparing projections to reality. A case in point is “Delta is more deadly” – it may be more
infectious but the facts show that it has caused less deaths.

Vaccinations may have started relatively late – maybe because we stood aside for more needy
countries to get early supply. Actually it was probably a good thing to let others effectively test a
new virus. The worst aspect of the vaccine roll out is the insistence of control from the
government and MoH. Vaccine roll out would have been much faster if it had been more localised
via trusted health advisors – GPs. Not only is this logistically more effective but would probably
have been more successful in addressing mis-information. The 2018 survey by the government
identified GPs as by far the most trusted advisor for health – yet ignored this for the roll out.

According to our PM today 5% of people with first doses don’t get the second. Another reason
why a locally trusted resource may well be the most effective method of ensuring people
complete the vaccination process.

Testing like vaccinations have been centralized. During times of infection large queues for testing
seem to go against the grain given the isolation strategy of a lockdown. Home test kits are cheap
and have been available for over a year. They are a good complimentary solution to a full test.

Given the actual infections per number of tests this is both logistically and economically more
effective. Rapid testing is also more effective for testing essential workers. The current process
expects a negative test within the last 7 days which permitted and unvaccinated truck driver to
travel to Palmerston North and then test positive. Rapid testing minimizes this risk, but for some
reason has been avoided as part of our strategy.

Home/Rapid testing is effectively used in the UK to re open schools.
Treatments have been slow to evolve but it would appear that experience over the last 18
months has enabled the world in part to reduce the death rate. New treatments have now been
tested and are available which will presumable reduce the death rate even further and reduce
hospital time.

Health Care Capacity has not increased given the projected number of deaths. One would have
thought with an initial projection of 80,000 deaths, emergency health care capacity would have
been planned and executed across New Zealand. It does not appear so and NZ is at the bottom
of the list globally in terms of ICU capacity. A quick glance at the MoH website shows the last
update for NZ ICU beds is 11th June – 2020. This does not inspire confidence.
What does this all mean?

Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing but overall it would seem to me that the problem was
significantly over exaggerated from the get go and subsequent updates have been equally as
inaccurate. This has created unnecessary fear that many are now questioning the resulting
strategy.

The Team of 5 mil has fallen in behind the government, but any team requires trust both ways.
Trust has been missing. GPs should have been trusted to administer the vaccine which would
have been better informed and quicker. Trust should have been place in individuals to self test
which would have been way more effective in identifying and isolating infection and cost less in
time, resources and money.

What we should not trust are the predictions being made by the experts as they are notoriously
inaccurate and feed strategies and activity that fall woefully short of what is required to return
New Zealand to as close to a normal way of life as possible.

So my summary is that 18 months in, we need to use the knowledge we have gained to
understand how we can do things differently and how these 5 solutions can be combined to give
us freedom. Lockdowns are being eased in place of vaccinations, but if 5% don’t get the second
jab then our target needs to be higher than 90%. New Treatments are hard to define but it would
seem there is a lot of positivity in this regard. Hospital Care is surprisingly under planned given
the severity that was indicated at the outset. The people were scared but maybe not the
Government.

So that leaves us with testing. Of all of the options, the self and rapid test is probably the MOST
effective way of protection and prevention. So the government should empower us all to take
ownership of our own destiny. Effective and timely testing is the single most effective way of
moving forward not only because it clearly detects risk from what until now has been a hidden
enemy, but it also impacts positively on the other four options. The best option is to “go hard and
go early” to identify and flush out the enemy. The silence is so far deafening on any change to
testing yet it is clearly the best option. Will the people in control listen and give New Zealanders
the freedom to self test and manage their own walk to Freedom?

Africa Brooke wrote an open letter on why she is leaving the cult of wokeness. It has been read by almost five million people, and has struck a chord. And no she is not an old white male (an oppressor), she is a young black female.

If there’s one thing I’m NOT afraid of, it’s being ‘cancelled’.

​If being cancelled means me living in integrity as a human being who thinks for themselves, CANCEL ME TODAY!

​I repeat; I am not afraid.

​What I’m truly afraid of is existing in a world that forces me to submit to an ideology without question, otherwise I’m to be shamed (or pressured to shame myself) and cast out of the community.

​A world that tells me that because I inhabit a black body; I will forever be oppressed and at the mercy of some omnipresent monster called ‘whiteness’.

​That because of the colour of my skin; I am a victim of an inherently racist system by default – and me rejecting the narrative of oppression means that I am in fact, in denial.

She continues:

What I’m truly afraid of is existing in a world that forces me to consider the colour of my skin and my gender (and that of others) at every fucking turn, instead of living by Martin Luther King’s teachings and prioritising the content of mine and other people’s character.

​I dread the prospect of a world where context, nuance, critical thinking, meritocracy, mathematics, science, and rationality are considered tools of ‘white supremacy’, and the rule is that you’re not allowed to question or argue this senseless statement – especially if you’re white.

​A world that is conditioning you and I to believe that we will always be trapped in some weird hierarchy because of our race, our genitals, our physical abilities, our neurodiversity, our sexuality, and our politics.

​And that if we do not agree on every single thing, it’s a sign that we are interacting with an enemy – or at the very least, someone to be wildly suspicious and judgmental of…instead of another complex human being worthy of being seen and heard.

​We’ve seen this in NZ. I’ve seen strong left women be shunned from the rest of the left because for example they have a different view on gender identity issues. Doesn’t matter that they may agree on everything else – you must agree on everything.

This absolutist, authoritarian world is being fiercely crafted under the guise of ‘social justice’, and I want no parts in this. I AM OUT.

​As someone that, politically speaking, leans left on most things (although I’m neither left or right) – the current state of affairs and this push for obedience at all costs is NOT what I signed up for.

​I never signed up to be hit over the head with disempowering narratives that tell me that I need to refer to myself as a ‘person of colour’ (how is this different being called a ‘coloured’ person?), a minority, a marginalised person, and BAME (UK version of BIPOC).

​I cannot stand any of these terms.

At least she isn’t hispanic, as in the US mainly white activists lecture hispanics on why they should identify as Latinx!

​Read her entire essay. It is worth the time.

d

Item 1: Another International Award for NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern

Talk Radio TV UK late last week presented Ardern with the Plank of the Week for clarifying the medical class-system in our nation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCO8tJ6MKiU&ab_channel=TheBuzz

Interviewer: “… two classes of people. If you’re vaccinated or unvaccinated … “

Ardern: “That is what it is! Yep.”

In making the award the panelists had a great understanding of aspects like – the single source of truth and don’t talk to your neighbour. They mention coercion and even hint towards a tourism award too when the host says – “I always wanted to go to NZ but now I don’t want to waste my time going there.”

Item 2: The Prime Minister has put herself out in the public this week.

Kawakawa was a classic with: “People need to be able to ask questions.” So someone does and the PM’s response is to say that he can’t because he is not an accredited journalist. She then closed the press conference down and moved it indoors so the pesky public can be kept out.

Karen and I grew up in Wanganui. Yesterday it was good to see that the peasants are still revolting.

The PM’s event didn’t even start down in The Nui.

Item 3: Christmas may well be cancelled.

People are starting to use the Grinch word. C.S. Lewis is more apt from The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe where under Queen Jadis (aka The White Witch) it is always Winter but Never Christmas.

“How dare you ask me a question you’re NOT accredited. You minion!”

Item 4: The USA has gone from TDS to BBR

It has surprised commentators that Joe Biden could sleep at all when in Scotland (along with the 400 private jets, and those in his 85 car motorcade) when his approval ratings have dropped below 43%. Also of note is that 71% of the US population believe the nation is heading in the wrong direction and it became clear that the new Virginia Governor was going to be Republican.

Welcome to the new world of Biden Buyer Regret (BBR) and Let’s Go Brandon.

Item 5: The Cost of a Single Health Focus

• A $75.8 million mental-health programme that was ANNOUNCED has achieved nothing.

• There are now 24,456 people on the Social Housing Waiting List (5844 in September 2017). In the last four years the wait time has gone from 104 days to 293. Grant Robertson show behavioural traits of twins separated at birth and often do pinky finger snaps when the repeat “Nine Long Years of Neglect” but forget to add “followed by Four Rapid Years of Carnage.”

• The NZ education was at demonstrable tipping point two years ago. This utter mismanagement of the decile 1 to 3 schools in the last two years has been like piling the aspirations of thousands of kids into a bus and driving it off a cliff. Young people have lost their sense of purpose. In 2020 just 58% of NZ students attended school 9/10 days. In the UK it was 87%. For decile 1 – 3 student in NZ it is now below 40% – even when out of lockdown.

• As at September there were 81,000 delayed hospital treatments or appointments. There have also been at least 85 cancer treatments cancelled or delayed.

• Internationally Standford’s Dr Jay Battacharya has detailed to impacts of the Western nation lockdown decisions and the return to the 2008 phenomenon of “deaths of despair”. The UN has estimated 250,000 child in Asian have died of starvation due to lockdowns and worldwide the starvation estimate from the same cause is 130 million. He also details the increase in alcohol & opioid abuse, domestic violence, child abuse, mental illness and suicide.

Item 6: Clarity on THE most Dangerous Job in the World

It has become clear from recent media items that the most dangerous job in any country – or indeed the whole world is to be the Oldest Person.

Just in the last month there have been recorded Oldest Person deaths in France, Brazil, California, New Zealand and one in Saudi Arabia who died at 120 and left behind 477 family members.

Having cancelled my Teacher Registration over the mandate I am looking at options; Oldest Person is not one of them.

Item 7: Can New Zealand defeat Afghanistan?

Like many in the Team of #%$@^%@# I love cricket and clearly the last 6 years has been the best time to be an NZ fan. The Black Caps under Brigadier General Williamson have to beat Afghanistan to make the semi-finals. Can they do what Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, the British Empire, the USSR and the USA could not achieve?

Everyone thought the Virginia election would be close, despite Biden winning it by 10% last year, but no one really thought New Jersey would be close as Biden won that by 16%. As I write this the Republican candidate for New Jersey Governor is 600 votes ahead of the incumbent Democratic Governor. The Democrats will hang on, but to be neck and neck in a state that was 16% ahead last year shows how much the tide has turned.

In Virginia, the Republicans won all three state wide offices – Governor, Lieutenant Governor and Attorney-General. Youngkin won by over 2%. It also looks likely the Reoublicans have won the majority of the Virginia House of Delegates.

The Democrats made the mistake of running against Donald Trump. That worked in 2020, but not 2021. And the Republicans have identified a backlash against identity politics which will be potent in 2022. Having Democrats complain that parents want too much of a say in their kid’s education is not a winning strategy.

51% of voters in Virginia think parents should have a lot of say in what their local school teaches and Youngkin win that group 76% to 23%.

I’m not sure if the Government wants 50,000 people to turn up to the next protest rally in Auckland, but they seem to be doing everything possible to create a horrific wave of resentment.

First of all you have the PM saying the Aucklanders who refuse to get vaccinated may be banned from leaving Auckland over summer. I’m all for incentives for vaccinations, but internal travel is a fundamental human right. It is in the UDHR:

Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.

Now you can have justified restrictions such as everyone is locked down due to a pandemic, or that people have to have had a negative test. But considering that both vaccinated and unvaccinated people can spread Covid-19, a policy to lock down 10% of Auckland because they have not been vaccinated is grotesque, and almost certainly unlawful.

Of interest is that the demographic most unvaccinated is Maori, so the Government’s view of the Treaty of Waitangi is that it will disproportionally imprison Maori in Auckland while disproportionally allow Pakeha to travel around.

But the PM’s brain fart diminishes in comparison to Chris Hipkins who is working out how to carry this out, and he said said:

The old maxim that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely is proving itself correct. The Government is looking at dictating time slots to 1.5 million Aucklanders as to when they can and can’t leave Auckland. Can you imagine it – think of the MIQ lottery but 10 times worse. You have been allocated a departure time of 3.35 am – 4.15 am on 25 December.

They really have lost the plot.

Madness 1:

A mariner who has spent 36 days in Covid isolation – more than twice the required time – is begging authorities to release him from MIQ so he can be with his cancer-stricken partner and her children.

Daniel White, a fumigator of Tauranga, thought he’d be able to go straight home after the ship he travelled on from China arrived in Wellington on October 16, because time spent at sea can be counted as isolation as long as a negative Covid test is returned.

White had been at sea for 23 days and was symptom-free throughout that time, keeping daily temperature records.

But no-one from local health authorities was available in Wellington to test White and the foreign crew. The ship sailed to New Plymouth and there was no-one available there, either.

White said he was told health staff were too busy giving vaccines on Super Saturday to carry out tests of shipping crews.

Eventually the ship’s agent arranged a spot in MIQ for White, and he was bussed to Rotorua, where he was put into isolation at Rydges Hotel.

The rest of the crew left New Zealand with the ship.

White said he had since returned three negative tests.

“If anyone who’s waiting overseas for an [MIQ] room, if they knew I was sitting here on day 36 taking a room when I don’t need to be here…,” White said. “It’s unbelievable I’m here at day 36. You’d think common sense would prevail here.”

What a waste of an MIQ room and shameful he is being kept from his wife who has cancer.

Madness 2:

In less than 24 hours, Brad Stephenson has been let out of quarantine in Auckland, driven to Tauranga, driven back to Auckland, only to be officially released from quarantine after a final night in his isolation hotel.

“I did try and push the point when I got this one day release that would it just not make more sense to release me 18 hours early,” he said.

“It makes no sense.”

Stephenson’s case has been highlighted by opposition MPs as an example of how unfairly MIQ is being run with National Party leader Judith Collins calling it “utterly cruel”.

MBIE is blaming a points system for the situation, saying the formula it has created means he is assessed as high risk despite being double vaccinated and having returned more than four negative tests in 14 days.

A top lawyer says it will take a lot for the courts to intervene, but we might be reaching such a point.

Stephenson arrived in New Zealand from Britain on October 15. He had travelled home to see his 71-year-old dad, Alex, who is fighting liver cancer.

He expected to do the full 14 days in quarantine, but on arrival Alex developed an infection and was given days to live.

But Stephenson’s application to leave the Crowne Plaza facility early was declined on the grounds he posed too great a health risk to New Zealand.

This is what you get when you empower the bureaucracy to decide if family members are allowed to see dying relatives. It is inhumane. The risk of a double vaccinated person who has tested negative four times is close to zero. The fact there are over 1,000 people who have actually tested positive to Covi19 isolating at home makes the decision to not give him full early release even more bizarre.

Konstantin Kisin writes:

You’re struggling to understand where all this vaccine hesitancy comes from. Let me help you.

I was interested in this because I am puzzled by the level of vaccine hesitancy in the community. This is a US piece, but relevant elsewhere.

You’re more concerned with how best to protect yourself and your family from this deadly disease than with its origins at this point anyway. You consider buying surgical masks, or using homemade ones—you’ve seen visitors and tourists from Asian countries wear them, and they’ve been through things like this before, so maybe it’s best to follow their lead.

But the country’s chief medical experts tell you not to wear masks, and to focus on washing your hands instead. As lockdowns are introduced around the world, you diligently follow all the rules. You stay at home. You only go out once, and live off savings or government grants. You do your best to keep your hands clean, to not touch other surfaces that other people touch. Some political representatives make the solemn decision to shut down beaches, parks, and playgrounds, encouraging everyone to stay indoors.

You are proud to be doing your part. Thanks to you and millions of your fellow citizens, the first wave of the pandemic overwhelms certain hot spots, but it does not devastate the health care system at a national level. While thousands sadly die, you’ve helped to protect those around you.

Imagine your confusion as the same people who spent three months telling you not only that masks don’t work, but that there are several reasons you shouldn’t wear or purchase them, suddenly introduce mask mandates. We’re “following the science,” they tell you. This seems to make little sense, but a pandemic is no time for questions. And who knows, maybe our understanding of the science evolved?

As you cautiously go to the supermarket, you notice that masks have made people less likely to socially distance. You remember reading somewhere that bicycle helmets work similarly: They give the wearer more confidence, and the result is often more accidents and injuries, not fewer. “Silly people,” you say to yourself. “If only they would follow the experts.”

You turn on your TV and learn that shoppers at your local supermarket aren’t the only ones who have been ignoring the rules. Nancy Pelosi arranged for a salon, shutdown by government decree, to open privately for her—then publicly blamed the business owner for violating the lockdown. California Gov. Gavin Newsom is seen eating dinner at one of the most expensive restaurants in America with a large group of unmasked people indoors. In the U.K., Neil Ferguson, the epidemiologist whose projections were used as the basis for lockdowns, appears to have broken his own rules to get some action with his married lover. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s chief adviser, Dominic Cummings, drove halfway across the country to ensure he had a better place to isolate. The journalists who berate him for this are later found to have attended an unmasked, indoor birthday party in breach of the rules. The lockdowns continue.

And in NZ the then Minister of Health broke the rules.

While the lockdown rules remain in place, the protests against injustice spill out into public spaces. Tens of thousands of people crowd into the streets of major cities. Few of them wear masks, and social distancing is nonexistent. Clashes with police ensue, and in the United States, protesters loot stores, destroy businesses, attack residents, and start fires. A retired African American police officer from St. Louis named David Dorn is among dozens of people who are murdered in the chaos.

The media describes these events as “mostly peaceful protests,” as broadcast reporters stand in front of burning buildings. 

This actually happened.

After months of harsh restrictions, the media and political class offer no criticism of protests that violate every element of lockdown policy. 

Same in NZ. Anti-racism protests are good during a lockdown, but anti-lockdown protests are bad.

It is at this point that vaccines become the main focus of government policy and media commentary.

The same people who told you Brexit would never happen, that Trump would never win, that when he did win it was because of Russian collusion but also because of racism, that you must follow lockdowns while they don’t, that masks don’t work, that masks do work, that social justice protests during pandemic lockdowns are a form of “health intervention,” that ransacking African American communities in the name of fighting racism is a “mostly peaceful” form of protest, that poor and underserved children locked out of shuttered schools are “still learning,” that Jussie Smollett was a victim of a hate crime, that men are toxic, that there is an infinite number of genders, that COVID couldn’t have come from a lab until maybe it did, that closing borders is racist until maybe it isn’t, that you shouldn’t take Trump’s vaccine, that you must take the vaccine developed during the Trump administration, that Andrew Cuomo is a great leader, that Andrew Cuomo is a granny killer, that the number of COVID deaths is one thing and then another … are the same people telling you now that the vaccine is safe, that you must take it, and that if you don’t, you will be a second-class citizen.

There is a reason trust in traditional authority figures has declined.

Stuff reports:

The statistics tracking how long government agencies take to answer Official Information Act requests are “close to useless”, a Stuff investigation reveals.

The OIA generally requires agencies to respond to requests within 20 working days. However, the statistics count extensions as “on time” responses.

So some agencies who report 100 per cent compliance “within legislative timeframes” are actually extending half of their requests, or taking up to five times the 20-day timeframe.

An advocate for open government says the statistics incentivise extensions and are designed “for nice headlines for government, not better results for requesters”.

In September, Public Service Commissioner Peter Hughes announced that, in the six months to 30 June, 61 government agencies completed 100 per cent of their OIA requests within the legislated timeframe.

Overall, agencies responded to 97.8 per cent of requests “on time”. In the face of increasing requests, the numbers were “a good result”, Hughes said.

But those numbers mask a very different reality. The SIS reported that 100 per cent of its responses were returned within the statutory timeframe. During the same period, however, 54 per cent of those responses were extended beyond the 20-working day benchmark.

The Education Ministry also reported 100 per cent compliance, and told Stuff they were “very proud of our track record regarding the quality and timeliness of our responses”. Their average response time was 25 days, and almost half their responses (47 per cent) were extended.

The PSC should report more useful information in future on the OIA. Sure it is good to know what percentage of OIA requests are completed within the legal requirements, but they should report more than this bare minimum. I’d love to see.

• 25th percentile, median and 75th percentile for each agency in terms of time to supply a response
• How many complaints about that agency go to Ombudsman
• How many requests take more than 90 days

The ODT reports:

Media comments about council staff have landed Otago Regional Council deputy chairman Michael Laws in hot water and could see him lose his leadership role.

A code of conduct complaint was lodged by council chief executive Sarah Gardner on August 16 and an investigation is ongoing into whether Cr Laws breached the code.

Cr Laws said the complaint was in regards to comments he made about council staff in two stories that ran in the Otago Daily Times in July of this year.

In a July 21 story on illegal dumping into the Clutha River he said it was “extraordinarily embarrassing” that the council had given advice to a company that it later took enforcement action against for dumping construction waste in the river.

He also said he was unhappy with a lack of transparency between council staff and councillors.

In a July 23 story about a report on public submissions on flow scenarios for the Manuherikia River, Cr Laws said he was annoyed staff had released the report which he described as “bogus” and “crap”.

“It is in relationship to both those articles that the allegation of endangering regional council staff psychologically and physically has been made by the chief executive,” Cr Laws said.

Having a CEO try to silence legitimate criticism of the Council by a Councillor is worrying in the extreme. And whenever you see the claim that some feels endangered merely by criticism you should be suspicious.

Over five million adults in Virginia are about to vote for a new Governor. The race shouldn’t be close.

Joe Biden won Virginia by a massive 10%. It is basically a blue state, not a purple state.

No republican has won a state wide office since 2020. The Democrats are the majority in the State House and Senate.

And the Democratic candidate is a high profile former Governor while the Republican candidate is a businessman who has never stood for office before.

But amazingly Glenn Youngkin is ahead of Terry McAuliffe by 1% to 2% in the most recent polls. I won’t be surprised if McAuliffe still wins, but the fact it is so close is quite incredible in a state Biden won by 10%.

Education is now cited as the biggest issue in the election, and this is what Youngkin has been campaigning on – both opposition to critical race theory being taught in schools, and the arrest of a father who protested at a school board meeting over the sexual assault of his daughter in a bathroom (the assault was denied by the school administrators for a long time, until it was revealed the Police had in fact laid charges).

If Youngkin does win, or even lose narrowly, I think we will see education issues dominate in other races next year.

It will also show how vulnerable the Democrats may be in the mid terms where the lose of the House is probable and the Senate possible.

Of the 1,515 current cases only 129 are in MIQ and 32 in hospital. Over 1,300 are basically at home.

So we have 20,000 Kiwis waiting to get home. They are double vaccinated and have to test negative to board a flight. Yet the Government says they must go into MIQ yet allows over 1,000 people who have actually tested positive for MIQ (and are largely unvaccinated) to be at home.

It is a farce.

A reader writes in:

The roadmap out of lockdowns announced by the government is a Claytons roadmap.

Predictably, it was greeted mostly favourably by the media. However, this time even some business groups appear to have been suckered.

The minimum vaccination requirements are probably unachievable.

Firstly, Dr Bloomfield has said that around 5% of people receiving their first dose do not go on to get their second dose.

If this remains consistent, then a 90% full vaccination rate would require a 95% first dose rate – an unlikely prospect.

Secondly, the 90% requirement is not an average rate. The lowest performing DHB area must reach the 90% (for Auckland this is the Counties-Manukau area).

On Saturday, this area was about 4% behind the average (and 8% below the best performing area), based on figures published in the herald.

If this relationship remains consistent, then to achieve 90% full vaccination rate in this area would mean attaining around 94% average vaccination rate across Auckland I doubt any developed country has achieved 94% full vaccination rate  –  though they all started well before us.

I am also unaware of any country in the world which has set such a high vaccination requirement to end lockdowns. Melbourne and Sydney are moving out of lockdowns at 80% (average).

The vaccination requirement in the roadmap is unlikely to be achievable in any realistic timeframe. In the meantime, more businesses will go under, their owners lose their livelihoods and homes, and their staff their jobs.

The October 2021 Roy Morgan is out.

Party Vote

• Labour 39.5% (-6.0% from September)
• National 26.0% (+3.0%)
• Greens 10.5% (+1.0%)
• ACT 16.0% (nc)
• Maori 2.0% (nc)
• NZ First 2.5% (+1.0%)

Seats

• Labour 51 (-14 from election)
• National 33 (nc)
• Greens 13 (+3)
• ACT 20 (+10)
• Maori 3 (+1)

Governments

• Labour/Green 64/120
• National/ACT 53/120

Direction

• Right 48.0% (-9.0%)
• Wrong 38.5% (+6.5%)

The change in country direction is the most significant part of the poll. If right direction stays under 50%, the government struggles.

A bad poll for Labour as they fall under the psychological 40% barrier. National will be happy to be up 3% but just being back to where you were at the election is not enough. National needs to get into the 30s. ACT will be very happy to stay at 16% and Greens also happy to be up a bit.

The gender gap has shrunk. National/ACT is 4% (+2%) ahead of Labour/Greens with men but gone from 34% behind with women to 19% behind. This is important as closing that gender gap is critical.

Rako Science developed last year a epidemiological method to calculate the effective reproduction number or R0 for pandemics. They have applied this to NZ data, so one can see what the R value was at different points in time.

Of concern is that they have the current R value at 1.9 – a lot higher than the 1.2 to 1.3 the Government has been saying.

They have also provided as a public service a website where you can see the R value for any country over the last 18 months. They have Australia at 0.87, US at 2.0 and Singapore 0.9.

With 162 cases yesterday, the seven day rolling average (which I prefer as takes account of fewer tests at weekends) hits 119. A week ago it was 97, a fortnight ago 57 and a month ago 20. It was around six weeks ago that the Government lifted Level 4 in Auckland and you can see that average start to rise in late September.

25% of over 12s are not fully vaccinated, or 37% of the total population.

Dear Chlöe Swarbrick

I found this article interesting as it is about the type of student I have dedicated my life to working with. Highlights for me were:

• [Chlöe Swarbrick] the MP, known for tackling prickly topics in Parliament, brought the same energy last month when she first shared her adult ADHD diagnosis. In doing so, she used her platform to highlight the issues many with neurodiversity face in getting a diagnosis.

• Swarbrick speaks on the New Zealand Herald about her ADHD journey and why things need to change. This began after years of grappling with depression, when she says it felt as though something was coming unstuck and had to give.

• Retrospectively, she puts this down to her “masking” her symptoms. This concept is common with women who have ADHD and describes when neurodiverse people try to cover up their symptoms by copying the behaviour of neurotypical people to fit into the “neurotypical” world.

• “If, as a younger woman like myself, you were sat in a corner trying to read something but you were reading the page 100 times over and absorbing none of that information. You fit the bill of someone that looks studious but, you know, nobody’s necessarily seeing the things that are going through your brain.”

• Throughout her first few years at school Swarbrick says she was relatively decent, but she says the wheels “fell off” in her later years. Had she known more about ADHD back then she says she would have arranged things differently and had a higher level of wellbeing.

• Getting a diagnosis can end up becoming a “really expensive” process … “That lack of formal diagnosis then stands in the way of, and is a barrier to, what for some people is massively helpful medication.”

• Part of the reason she decided to participate in the conversation surrounding ADHD is because of the privilege she holds as an MP. “I have a job to do as a representative that I take really seriously.

• “Not only are her solutions quite different, she’s quite focused on them as well, so I think it helps make her a politician of the future. She’s not a normal politician.” “Having a role model like that is just massive. Oh goodness, it’s a little bit emotional when you think how brave Chlöe is, full stop. I think having a role model who isn’t the stereotype also really shakes it up in a useful way.”

• “There’s a big conversation to be had about how we can recognise it in a way that’s helpful and how we can validate people’s experience in a useful way. I think Chlöe’s probably done a great job of starting that in a really positive way.”

• ADHD affects 2 to 5 per cent of all children.

Here is the kicker though!

As you are aware, Chlöe, we have twice applied for a 480 students Designated Character School (non-zoned) for Neuro-Diverse learners in or near your electorate but available to Year 7 – 13 students from across Auckland. Many of the students who come to the school with be Maori and Pasifika and low decile. It would be called the Mt Hobson Academy.

We have shown significant demand and the ability to deliver in our applications. Students from the private version of this school (Mt Hobson Middle School) have been deeply cared for and have gone onto NCEA Level 1 at 96%, UE at 69% and many have found their adult niche – like you have.

In turning us down the Minister/Ministry had tried to say that neuro-diverse are fully cared for in ordinary State schools. However, in Parliament last week Jan Tinetti told the House that there are as many as 80,000 of children with needs being under-cared for in our education system. We are supported in our application by many families and organisations such as Autism NZ.

Your article notes there could be a many as 5% of children with ADHD. Add to this children with high anxiety, dyslexia, FAS, experiences of violence and other trauma in the home …

The 480 children per year we can help with our superb professionals and teaching staff need your help. Minister Hipkins has refused to meet with us for four years. You have stated to me that you are hesitant to help as I had been critical of some Green Party policies! It is not about me. Please see your way past that.

This school is desperately needed. You can make it happen. Please help. Turn your informed sympathy to practical empathy.

There is already a superbly funded “Green School” that you guys funded in Taranaki, with 72 students (60 Euro, 7 International, 3 Maori) so that name is taken. We could call ours “Swarbrick School” if it would help. Everyone needs a legacy.

Alwyn Poole
[email protected]

Tim Black at Spiked writes:

During a press conference last week, a journalist said that this sounded like Ardern was creating ‘two different classes of people’, the ‘vaccinated [and the] unvaccinated’. Yes, Ardern responded, ‘that is what it is’. ‘If you are still unvaccinated’, Ardern continued, ‘not only will you be more at risk of catching Covid-19, but many of the freedoms others enjoy will be out of reach’.

There is no getting away from the draconian, illiberal implications of this policy. Ardern’s government has effectively created a two-tier society, a nation of first- and second-class citizens. What’s more, this divisive policy cleaves along ethnic lines. According to recent reports, only 57 per cent of Māori and only 73 per cent of Pacific peoples have had their first jab. That compares against 80 per cent for white New Zealanders. This lack of protection has meant that Māori and Pacific peoples make up 83 per cent of all recent Covid cases. And now it seems that the same ethnic groupings will also be deprived of their basic rights during any future Covid outbreaks.

This raises an interesting point. If the vaccine mandates lead to a large number of Maori being forced out of work, might there be a Waitangi Tribunal claim lodged about it?

So since 2000 US emissions are down around one billion tonnes. The EU is down almost one billion tonnes. Russia and Japan are constant. India is up around one billion tonnes and oh yeah China has tripled to 12 billion tonnes.

What do we think it will look like in 2025 or 2030? Anyone want to bet China will be lower than 2020?